Chapter 55: Alton

"Clang!"

The metal pot bottom collided with small stones in the soil, producing a crisp sound.

The iron pot emanating the aroma of food landed heavily on the grass.

"Eat up quickly, I stewed it for a long time, it's definitely delicious!"

What appeared before Xia Nan at this moment was a little person whose height only reached his waist.

A pair of light brown eyes gleamed slightly in the reflection of the sky's twilight; fair and rosy skin, short brown curly hair topped with a feather-decorated pointed soft cap.

The clothing was the simple and practical style of an adventurer, but the color combination was eye-catching and bright. Looking closely, you could even see small, delicate decorations like "four-leaf clover patterns on the shoes."

Alton,

A halfling, and also one of Xia Nan's companions for this mission.

Unlike the "dwarves" he had seen, who seemed to have been flattened and stretched horizontally, solid as tree stumps; and also unlike those gnomes with large heads and light bodies.

Although halflings were similarly short, standing only three or four feet tall even as adults.

Their body proportions were more similar to humans.

At the same time, their limbs also had brown fur like small animals.

However, the Alton before him seemed to be a "lightfoot halfling" of their race.

Making the fur all over his body much less abundant, probably only his two legs were fluffy—though with thick linen pants on, Xia Nan was only speculating.

"Radishes, honey, and I even added a bit of secret pepper I brought from my village."

"This flavor, you've definitely never tasted before!"

Alton held the pot lid in one hand and placed the other on his waist, his smiling face full of pride.

Xia Nan quickly took a couple bites of the dried meat in his hand, putting on an appearance of being about to eat his fill, while recalling in his heart the information he'd learned from various places during this time about "halflings."

Compared to dwarves, who had numerous dwarf subspecies such as "hill dwarves," "mountain dwarves," "gray dwarves," etc., based on different factors like living environment and clan origin.

The halflings on Ephara Continent were mainly divided into two types: "stout halflings" and "lightfoot halflings."

The former had denser hair and slightly sturdier builds.

Passionate about comfortable home life, they would often choose to settle in one place and live there long-term.

Harmonious neighborly relations, a warm fireplace, and a freshly baked walnut pie were what stout halflings pursued.

In contrast, lightfoot halflings were more passionate about traveling far.

They didn't deliberately pursue any particular goal, only enjoying all the interesting things during the journey.

In the vast majority of cases, those willing to leave their community and become adventurers moving between various missions were only the "lightfoot" type.

Worth mentioning was that compared to the love-hate relationships between various "subspecies" of the continent's major races, the relationship between lightfoot halflings and stout halflings was very good.

Although they would sometimes have conflicts due to their different pursuits, with their race's family-like way of getting along, it was just like daily squabbles between brothers and sisters, nothing serious.

He ultimately couldn't avoid it.

When Alton looked at Xia Nan with those sparkling big eyes, with an expression of extreme anticipation and desire for recognition.

He still agreed to try a bite.

Hiss—

The taste was unexpectedly quite good.

The numerous and varied seasonings mixed together actually neutralized each other's conflicting flavors to a certain extent, leaving only a mild and comfortable aroma in the orange-red soup.

Add to that the lean-and-fat meat chunks stewed until tender, and the radish slices that had absorbed the soup...

With some surprise in his eyes, Xia Nan gave Alton a thumbs-up gesture and praised aloud:

"The taste is indeed good, not much worse than the food in the inn."

And regarding Xia Nan's praise, Alton also very much in line with his racial characteristics, maximized the emotional value.

Laughing happily and heartily:

"Hahaha, thank you! It's not that good."

While also ladling two more spoonfuls into his bowl.

It wasn't that Xia Nan had any prejudice against Alton, it was just that these two days, the personality the other party displayed was really somewhat too "vivid."

Like most lightfoot halflings, he had an easygoing and open personality, was full of curiosity about everything encountered during travel, and was passionate about trying all kinds of new things.

Whether it was the specific working method of wheels, or the daily hay expenses for draft horses...

Almost everyone in the caravan from front to back had been enthusiastically pulled into conversation by him.

He had tried driving wagons, and also learned trap-setting techniques from a certain adventurer with a relatively amiable attitude, but the final results often didn't turn out as hoped.

He was even a bit superstitious—

Xia Nan had personally witnessed Alton doff his cap and bow to some unremarkable roadside shrub.

According to him, this was paying respect to one of their halfling deities, the nature goddess "Sheela Peryroyl" who held dominion over agriculture and weather.

In short, although he seemed somewhat strange at times, Alton, at least for now, seemed like a decent person.

Gulp—

His Adam's apple bobbed.

Xia Nan scooped two mouthfuls of stew into his mouth, casually chatting with Alton beside him.

"So, you believe in your race's agricultural goddess?"

There were numerous deities on Ephara Continent, various divine pantheons were intricate and complex, and those with overlapping domains were not few.

The halfling race alone had seven deities protecting them, each governing different domains.

They called it the "Hin" pantheon.

——"Hin" was the halflings' self-designation for their own race, originating from rural colloquialisms and later gradually spreading across the continent.

Xia Nan was thus somewhat curious about how halflings themselves viewed these deities who were like affectionate parents yet difficult to contact.

Unexpectedly, regarding Xia Nan's confusion, Alton shook his head.

The halflings' family-like community relationships made them also treat the deities protecting their own race as part of the family.

In this situation, wanting halflings to devoutly serve like those priests from the outside world, offering up all their devotion, wasn't quite appropriate.

"So, you..."

Just as Xia Nan thought the other party, like himself, had no deity of faith.

Alton suddenly smiled slightly.

He took out a metallic-lustered coin from his pouch.

Ding—

With a flick of his fingertip, the coin flew high.

Spinning, falling.

Alton opened his fingers. In his palm, the coin landed face-up.

Revealing the pattern carved on its surface:

A long-haired woman with an indistinct face, but with a faintly visible smile at the corners of her mouth.

"Lady Luck,"

The goddess of fortune who held dominion over "Fate"—

【Tymora】

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