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On the hillside east of the Riverwood sawmill, four children who were playing house were suddenly blown into a rolling heap by a powerful gust of wind.
Then, they saw two people slowly landing from the sky, which scared them so much they immediately ran home: "Mommy, mommy, I saw someone fly down from the mountain!"
"Sir, your lungs... they are simply stronger than a dragon's!"
After landing safely and calming his racing heart and trembling legs, Avel couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
Relying on the reactive force of exhaling from his mouth to decelerate—this was simply unheard of and unseen.
He must have incredibly powerful lungs to be able to blow such a strong gust of wind.
He felt that the gust of wind George exhaled was even more powerful than a storm conjured by a mage.
Even the slow-fall spells cast by Alteration mages wouldn't allow someone to jump from a 3,000-meter-high mountain and land unharmed. Surviving a fall from even a few dozen meters would already be considered extremely impressive.
"Go to the town's northern exit and wait for me. I will find you after I've taken care of my business, and then we will set off for Whiterun."
George paid no mind to Avel's compliments.
In terms of physical prowess, he was indeed stronger than the average dragon of this world. If he were to transform into his dragon form and engage in a purely physical brawl, even Alduin might not be his match.
After devouring the Black Dragon, the physical durability of his current dragon form was several times greater than that of the Black Dragon.
And the Black Dragon, in the Fairy Tail world, was also a world-ending dragon, in no way inferior to Alduin.
"Understood, sir. I will wait for you at the fork in the road that leads up the mountain, just over the bridge."
Avel nodded and turned, about to bypass Riverwood and head north, when he was suddenly drawn by a strange, faint roar, compelling him to look up.
The moment he looked up, he was so frightened that he nearly fell and sat right on the ground.
"Is that... a dragon?"
Dragons were creatures he had only ever read about in history books. Many people even believed that dragons didn't actually exist in this world at all.
After all, according to historical records, the last appearance of a dragon was over two thousand years ago.
He never expected that just moments after using one as a metaphor, he would actually see a real dragon flying directly overhead.
"Alduin. It seems things over at Helgen are completely finished. The Dragonborn should be arriving in a couple of days as well."
George had long since discovered Alduin's presence, but he wasn't too concerned about it.
Because after Alduin finished venting his rage over Riverwood, he normally wouldn't attack other human villages. Instead, he would be in a hurry to go back, rest, and resurrect the other dragons.
"Don't worry about that dragon. You'll have plenty of opportunities to see more in the future."
George picked up the large burlap sack of treasures, left behind a blurry afterimage, and had already dashed off toward Riverwood.
He wasn't worried about Avel fleeing. With his heightened five senses, he could keep track of Avel even from within the town.
If Avel didn't follow his orders to wait for him at the town's northern exit, and instead chose to flee, the only result for him would be a dead end—death.
After entering the town, George resumed a normal speed and walked toward the Riverwood Trader.
However, unlike before, every resident who passed him now stopped in their tracks, their eyes wide. The reason for this was quite simple.
They were all dazzled by the sight of the bag of treasures that George was carrying.
There were far too many valuable items in the ancient tomb, and the bag the bandit leader had been carrying simply couldn't hold everything. As a result, it was unavoidable that some of the contents were peeking out.
George, however, was not concerned about this.
There is a saying that one should not openly display their wealth, but that only applies to those who lack the strength to protect it.
With his strength, he had no need to worry about such details at all.
If someone became greedy because of these treasures, it would merely be an opportunity for him to acquire more money from them.
Arriving quickly at the trading post, George pushed open the door and walked inside.
"It's you! I knew it was the Golden Claw!!!"
Camilla, who was sweeping the floor with a broom, looked up to see George appear. At first, her face showed no particular surprise.
She had already been thinking that George wasn't a real adventurer. Besides, it had only been half a day, which wasn't even enough time to climb up to the bandit's watchtower.
He must have gotten scared along the way and come back to give up on the quest.
However, she had barely finished her thought when she saw George pull the Golden Claw out of a large, shimmering golden bag he was carrying.
At that, her expression instantly froze, transforming into one of pure shock and confusion.
Over at the counter, Lucan immediately popped his head up after hearing his sister's exclamation.
When he saw the Golden Claw in George's hand, he too showed a look of astonishment, but he quickly composed himself.
He had, after all, already sensed that there was something extraordinary about George.
"Mr. George, this is wonderful! It seems you have successfully completed the task. I will be more than happy to provide you with the appropriate payment."
"Take a look and see how much all of this is worth. I want to sell everything."
After handing the Golden Claw to Lucan, George lifted the massive, person-high cloth bag and dumped all of its contents onto the counter.
Golden chalices and plates, gems of various colors like red, blue, and green, ornate jewelry from the ancient Nord era, as well as Soul Gems and a few magical weapons that glowed with a faint, strange light.
Other than divine artifacts, holy relics, and daedric artifacts, normal enchanted weapons will slowly corrode as time passes, their power diminishing more and more.
Therefore, he had basically tossed aside all the bulky ancient Nord enchanted weapons and armor whose magical effects had almost completely vanished.
They wouldn't sell for much money and just took up space.
What he kept were all enchanted items that still had decent magical effects and were relatively small in size.
For example, some enchanted daggers, circlets, belts, rings, necklaces, and so on.
"Th-this many items from the ancient Nord era... did you empty out an entire Nord barrow?"
Lucan was instantly dazzled by the pile of treasures on the table, his voice even trembling slightly.
He was a well-traveled and knowledgeable merchant, but even he had never encountered so many treasures at one time, all of them so clearly bearing the ancient Nord style.
But very quickly, he felt that he might have actually guessed correctly.
Since the man had gone to retrieve the Golden Claw for him, he must have gone to the bandit hideout at Bleak Falls Barrow. It would only be normal to venture inside and explore while he was there.
Otherwise, how could he possibly have acquired so many Nord-style treasures?
But, that was Bleak Falls Barrow—a massive, ancient tomb from which countless adventurers had never returned. Yet, this George had managed to emerge completely unscathed, and had even brought back such a hoard of treasure.
And the crucial part was, it had taken him less than half a day.
It seemed George was even more mysterious and powerful than he had anticipated—a truly top-tier adventurer.
"You could say that. I brought most of the valuable items, but there is still quite a bit left inside.
If you're interested, you could organize some people to go in and scavenge again. You should still be able to find a good amount.
Don't worry, I've already cleared out all the bandits and Draugr."
George nodded and explained.
Bleak Falls Barrow really did still contain many valuable things. If one wasn't afraid of the tiresome work and took a cart up there for a few trips, they could probably still sell what they found for a decent sum of money.
For the residents of the town, it would be a considerable windfall.
Besides, those Draugr probably wouldn't recover for at least three to five months, and he had destroyed all the traps inside. It was completely safe.
(End of this chapter)