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*****
Three days later, in the morning.
With the help of the Imperial soldier Hadvar, the protagonist of this world, the Dragonborn, finally escaped Helgen and arrived in Riverwood.
"Huh, how are there so few people in town?"
Hadvar led the Dragonborn into the town through the south gate, and his face immediately revealed a look of confusion when he noticed that, aside from the elderly and children, there were hardly any adults around.
Although he was garrisoned in Solitude, he still returned to his hometown of Riverwood almost every year to visit his uncle, Alvor, and his family. Therefore, he was generally familiar with the situation in Riverwood.
"Could that dragon have attacked here?" the Dragonborn standing beside him guessed thoughtfully.
When they escaped from the underground passage in Helgen, they had happened to see the dragon flying north, so perhaps it had passed right by Riverwood.
"That's unlikely. Let's go check my uncle's place first!"
Hadvar frowned, first dismissing the Dragonborn's speculation, and then ran anxiously toward the town's blacksmith shop. Although, looking from the south gate, it didn't seem like the town had been attacked, one couldn't be sure about such things.
What if the dragon had attacked the north gate, or some other accident had occurred?
"Aunt Sigrid, where is Uncle Alvor?"
Arriving outside the blacksmith shop and seeing that it was actually closed, Hadvar's heart skipped a beat. He quickly pushed open the door, only breathing a sigh of relief when he saw his aunt calmly knitting a sweater.
When Sigrid saw Hadvar, a look of joyful surprise appeared on her face: "Hadvar, you're back! Your uncle took Dorthe up the mountain to Bleak Falls Barrow."
"What? Bleak Falls Barrow?"
Hearing his aunt Sigrid's words, Hadvar's expression changed instantly: "That place is too dangerous! Why would Uncle Alvor take Dorthe there!"
Having grown up in Riverwood, he had heard many terrifying legends about Bleak Falls Barrow. It was only after he went to Solitude to become a soldier that he realized most of those legends were false.
However, it was precisely because his horizons had broadened in Solitude that he understood better than anyone just how much danger was hidden inside a massive tomb like Bleak Falls Barrow.
Previously, when General Tullius was continuously dispatching men to find the Jagged Crown, Hadvar himself had led a team to explore some Nord tombs in the Haafingar hold.
Those tombs were far less vast than Bleak Falls Barrow, but they had still suffered heavy losses.
One must understand, he was leading one of the Empire's most elite exploratory squads, well-equipped and supported by both mages and priests.
"Don't worry. A few days ago, a powerful adventurer came to Riverwood. When he was clearing out the bandits at the watchtower, he also cleared out Bleak Falls Barrow."
Sigrid then recounted the whole story, starting from when the trading post owner Lucan's Golden Claw was stolen, how the adventurer George accepted the quest, and the subsequent events of him returning with a sack full of treasure.
"Just this morning, the first groups have already come down the mountain carrying things they collected from Bleak Falls Barrow. It's truly very safe there now.
Your uncle wanted to see if he could find any ancient Nord smithing techniques inside, and Dorthe was curious and wanted to see Bleak Falls Barrow, so she went up the mountain with the main group."
"He cleared out Bleak Falls Barrow all by himself... What a powerful adventurer. It would be wonderful if he could be convinced to join the Empire and serve."
Hadvar couldn't help but exclaim with admiration after hearing the story.
Two days later, Alvor returned from the mountain with his daughter Dorthe and the main contingent from Riverwood, pulling cart after cart loaded with ancient Nord weapons, armor, and various other items that seemed somewhat valuable.
Among these items was the Dragonstone that George had not taken, which now became part of Dorthe's collection.
After learning about the dragon attack on Helgen, Alvor requested that the Dragonborn help by traveling to Whiterun to report to Jarl Balgruuf, asking him to dispatch soldiers to garrison Riverwood.
The Dragonborn accepted this request. Taking the two hundred Septims Alvor provided as funding, they hired a carriage and embarked on their adventure to Whiterun.
At that very same time, George, accompanied by his follower Avel, was already not far from Whiterun.
Pulling back the carriage's window curtain, he saw a vast expanse of golden wheat fields outside. The main road, wide enough for five carriages to travel side-by-side, was bustling with merchant caravans coming and going.
Looking far into the distance, one could see the spectacular and grand city of Whiterun, situated atop a high slope.
Setting down the book in his hand, which explained the basic principles of magic, George instructed Avel: "Tell me about this city."
Over the past few days, he had already finished reading all the books he purchased from the Riverwood Trader, which included some introductions to Whiterun's history.
Combining this with the knowledge he had from his past life playing the game, he could be considered quite knowledgeable about the city.
However, he still wanted to hear from Avel, this "local snake" adventurer, to provide a more detailed account as a supplement.
"Sir, Whiterun is..."
Hearing George's query, Avel naturally did not dare to dally. He quickly began to report everything he knew, including all of Whiterun's history and various bits of intelligence he had picked up from the grapevine, relaying it all to George in thorough detail.
And after Avel had filled in the gaps, George finally had a relatively complete understanding of Whiterun.
Whiterun was the capital of Whiterun Hold. The city proper was encircled by the White River. It was the most prosperous trade city in all of Skyrim and also occupied an extremely important strategic position.
Its history could be traced back to the First Era, when King Olaf One-Eye, in what was then just the small town of Whiterun, used his Dragon Shout to engage in a world-shaking battle with a dragon.
In the end, he subdued the dragon, brought it back as a captive to the burgeoning town, and built the magnificent castle.
That dragon's head still hangs in the great hall of Dragonsreach in Whiterun as a decoration to this day.
Whiterun maintains a neutral stance in the war between the Empire and the Stormcloaks.
Within the city, aside from the continent-famous Companions, there are two major family factions: the Gray-Manes and the Battle-Borns.
The Gray-Manes support the Stormcloaks, while the Battle-Borns support the Empire.
However, as far as George was concerned, none of this was particularly important.
He had come to Whiterun for two main reasons: firstly, as a transit point on his way to Winterhold to study magic, and secondly, he wanted to browse around and see if he could dig up any new magic books.
As Skyrim's most bustling trade capital, Whiterun saw a great many merchants passing through, so naturally, there was a much better chance of being able to buy a good selection of magic books.
From the books he bought at the Riverwood Trader, he had already grasped the basic principles of this world's magic.
Unfortunately, aside from some books explaining basic magic theory, the Riverwood trading post only had one true magic skill book: the most common one in Skyrim, Flames.
Just as the name implied, it allowed the caster, through casting the spell, to continuously spray a tongue-like stream of fire from their hand to burn enemies.
The length and size of the flames primarily depended on the caster's understanding of magic and their own magical aptitude.
But a basic spell like Flames alone was not enough to pass the entrance examination for the College of Winterhold. He still needed to buy some more advanced magic skill books.
Although, he mused, thanks to his own abilities, the Flames he produced would likely have a destructive power more terrifying than this world's most top-tier fire magic.
(End of this chapter)