Mercenaries and Adventurers

In the early morning of the next day, after Zhao Ji had dinner at the public security station, he returned to the Iron Palm Hotel, packed up briefly, and went out. Most of the things he brought from Kendall City this time were placed in the hotel room, and he only took the supplies that could be used in the field for about two days before setting off.

Because Zhao Ji himself is very unfamiliar with the situation around the village, Zhao Ji decided to spend about two days to investigate the terrain and environment around the village, focusing on the south of the village, because according to the information he inquired, the goblin The settlement should be near the foot of the low mountain in the south of the village.

Because goblins always attack from there, and some people have found strange gatherings of goblins in the southern forest.

Walking south from the square in the center of the village, Zhao Ji walked out of the surrounding walls and gates of the village wearing a rainproof cloak.

At the south gate, Zhao Ji greeted the two militiamen guarding the gate. When these militiamen had dinner together at the security station in the morning, Old Domo had already introduced Kiel to all the militiamen on duty today.

After going out, Zhao Ji could already see some industrious farmers trimming the land, preparing to plant cold-resistant oats that can grow in winter. Zhao Ji heard that this kind of oats can grow normally even on land covered with ice and snow, as long as the fertilizer is buried in the soil in advance. This kind of winter oats promoted by the Saturnalia Church can borrow the ice and snow covered on the soil to obtain water, and obtain the nutrients needed for growth from the soil fertilizer buried under the soil. Due to the scarcity of birds in winter, it grows freely in the long winter. In the spring of next year, the oats will grow rapidly with the help of spring rain, and then mature.

But this kind of cold-resistant oat can only be planted on land with snow in winter. Without winter ice and snow, this kind of oat will be difficult to grow.

Zhao Ji has been walking along the road to the south. The weather in late autumn is changeable, especially this year. Zhao Ji can often hear old people basking in the sun by the roadside in the village cursing the excessive rain this autumn. The older they are, the harder it is to resist the wet and cold weather. Whenever there is a good day when the sun comes out, they pray to the benevolent sun god to show up more, regardless that they are believers in the God of Saturn.

Zhao Ji went all the way to the end of the road to the south, and at the end of the road was a big house with a strong wall. Looking beyond the fence, you can see the coat of arms of noble knights on the house.

It is estimated that this house is the manor of the local lord knight. Zhao Ji knew that the owner of the manor, the old knight himself, lived in the villa in Kendall City, so he guessed that the people living here should be his descendants or other relatives.

Not wanting to get involved with the other party, Zhao Ji walked into the decaying grass from the road, bypassed the manor and continued south. And the sentinel holding the pebble on the tall sentry tower in the manor just silently watched Zhao Ji, a foreigner, approach and then leave.

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After walking for a long time, until he turned to the north and could not see Doral Forest Village in the distance, Zhao Ji was sure that at this time, he had entered a wilderness area completely free of human beings from human society.

In the morning, there was still a warm sun in late autumn, but before noon, the dark clouds in the sky completely covered every corner of the sky.

The birds on the tall shrubs are vigilantly watching this strange visitor who has broken into their lives. The feathers on these birds are exactly the same color as the withered and yellow shrub branches and leaves around them. As long as they don't call, it is difficult for the naked eye to spot them motionless. . And once Zhao Ji is far away, they will return to the noise and noise before.

Zhao Ji trudged towards the tallest hill in the distance, while rubbing his chin with his hand, thinking. Judging from the reactions of the alert birds just now, there should be predators nearby that can catch them. It's not a feline, it's a goblin. After all, it is difficult for other large animals to prey on these birds.

The hill in the distance is the highest point nearby.

Zhao Ji planned to go over and observe the surrounding terrain by standing high and looking far away.

Under the tall hill, Zhao Ji also found a puddle of water. It was good news to have water, but he didn't dare to drink the water in this puddle of unknown origin. In his last life, he had seen the once-hot Master Beiqiu Survival, and he knew that the water in this kind of puddle was not clean at all. Dust, dead branches, dead leaves, dirt, rotten wood, insects, insect carcasses, animal hair, feces, urine, etc. What's inside is a hodgepodge of the natural environment, not to mention germs and parasites.

So unless he drank the water that Zhao Ji carried, and he hadn't drank it for a long time, and there was no other way, he would drink it. And it’s not just drinking it directly. Drinking it directly can easily lead to diarrhea and dehydration. He will think of some other method to filter before drinking.

When Zhao Ji went out, he packed two days' supplies in a soft cowhide water bag in the backpack behind him. He only planned to go out for about two days for this investigation, and he didn't need to drink all the unclean wild water sources at all.

He has also prepared the food, and the owner of the Iron Palm Hotel is very happy that the home bread made by his mother-in-law will be bought by the Kiel warriors with money. When Zhao Ji was in the hotel, he tried the bread of the hotel owner first. After all, he was a wealthy family in the village where the grain was produced, and the wheat flour used for the bread was finely ground wheat flour. It doesn't make your throat or teeth when you eat it. Except for the bad taste, everything else is good. Of course, it is also a failure if it has not been well-fermented, but there is no need to ferment and fluff up the dough for the things that people produce and sell at home, and it is not a bakery in a big city that specializes in this kind of business.

In order to improve the delicious taste of the bread, Zhao Ji went to the grocery store and successfully obtained a small jar of pickled radishes. Serving this salty strip of pickled radish with matzo is the best match Zhao Ji can find in a short time.

Of course, if Zhao Ji didn't care about the time and prepared for the adventure slowly, he could actually go to the tavern and let someone roast a delicious fat chicken, put it in a clay pot and take it away. But who told Zhao Ji to be afraid of the recent rainy weather, if he could take advantage of the good weather in the morning and set off early, he would be able to travel farther in the wild in normal weather.

Carefully breaking off the thorny bushes that blocked the way when climbing up the hill, Zhao Ji slowly came to the top of the highest hill nearby.

Once up, Zhao Ji noticed the dead bones scattered in the center of the top pack on top of the hill. Pulling out the long sword at his left waist, Zhao Ji looked at the dense yellow bushes on the top of the hill, but found no hidden monsters or beasts in ambush.

Only then did Zhao Ji feel relieved and carefully looked at the scattered dead bones in the center of the bush.

After a rough look, there was no fresh flesh and blood, which reassured Zhao Ji a lot, at least it showed that no predators came to eat with their prey recently. He broke off a relatively straight shrub branch, and Zhao Ji used it to pull the dead bones on the ground.

Zhao Ji found the spine of a sheep, and after searching carefully, he found the leg bones, ribs and pelvis of the sheep. It appears that a sheep was eaten here.

When the people in the village introduced the situation to him, they said that there was only a case where goblins snatched the sheep raised in the village, and there was no case of wild beasts preying on goats.

Obviously, this is the final result of the robbed goat, but Zhao Ji did not find the goat's head. He estimated that the goblins might have brought the sheep's head back to their settlement as decorations or sacrifices?

Taking out the map from the backpack, Zhao Ji carefully marked the hill on the map with a charcoal pen.

Zhao Ji also found many other animal bones from the dead bones on the ground. For example, those of snakes, lizards, large rats, birds, etc., but without exception, there are no heads in the bones of these animals. It seems that these goblins like animal heads quite a lot. I don't know if they like human heads or not, but they should also like them.

Zhao Ji recorded the name of this goblin settlement at the bottom of the map. The name was just chosen by him, and it was called the headhunting goblin settlement as shown.

Standing on the top of the hill and looking around, in the north, you can clearly see the appearance of Doral Forest Village, although it is only a dark piece, and you can't see any details. At the same time, the knight lord's manor not far to the south of the village can also be seen, and Zhao Ji can see the tall sentry tower in the manor clearly.

The tall windmill in the southeast of the village can also be seen clearly.

Standing on a tall hill and looking south, Zhao Ji could see a forest in the distance. The forest was relatively dense, and the Goblin settlement must be hiding in it. I heard old Duomu said yesterday that the settlements of goblins are a bit strange. They don’t always stay in one place like humans. Goblins will often move their settlements. The crusades initiated were all in vain. Although the knight himself is unparalleled in force, he can't do anything if he can't find a large group of goblin settlements. He can't go to the forest alone for ten days and a half to eat chaff and vegetables to solve the small troubles in his territory, right?

Then who is the lord of the territory? Anyway, the goblins did not attack the village on a large scale. Dale City has gone to fawn on Baron Kendall.

Although "Big Brother" doesn't care about these small things that affect the income of his territory, the other partners who stay in the village have to face the frequent harassment of goblins. In the end, apart from posting rewards in the village and Kendall City, and using rewards of silver in exchange for the lives of goblins sporadically. They also established a guard mechanism for the militia's outskirts of the village.

Zhao Ji felt that although these were passive, they were actually quite useful. After all, it doesn't cost money to instruct the militia, especially the farmers in the slack season. And building those simple wooden sentry towers will not consume anything other than some labor. Such a mechanism that costs less money and can do things is already good.

In the stories that Zhao Ji had heard in his previous life, there were many things that cost less money than that.

Further south of the southern forest is a low mountain range running from southwest to northeast. This mountain range is the natural dividing line between Kendal County and the neighboring eastern counties.

Zhao Ji heard from the old fox tail and Jamla that if the forest is a place that is difficult for humans to gnaw, then no matter what kind of mountains it is, it is also a place that is difficult for humans to enter.

In the empire, many mountain ranges are actually the land of another alien race. It is only the gods' regulation that the two sides cannot invade, which guarantees the survival of human beings and the survival of alien races in the mountains.

The kingdom under his feet is different. This kingdom is a new kingdom that has been established for less than a hundred years. Among the mountains and mountains, besides the alien kingdom tribes, there are also many ferocious monsters.

The knights united together and wiped out the wandering monsters on the plains and hills piecemeal, and only then did the current space for human existence be established. But the mountains can't do it. After all, the Imperial Knights stationed on the border do not belong to the kingdom, and they don't know where they are stationed, just for the benefit of them.

As for the direction of the tall hills to the east, there are still low hills there, but the vegetation on the hills is much denser. Zhao Ji estimated that there might be a small river there.

Looking west, what Zhao Ji saw were endless hills and sparse groves. Zhao Ji knew that if he walked westward for a day and a half, he could see the rushing Kendall River.

Carefully draw everything you see on the map. Zhao Ji was a little disappointed. He didn't find anything like a thick tree trunk, because although the sky was cloudy, it was still daytime at least, and no bats were found. No trace of the elf's ancient ruins has been found.

Finding this ancient elf relic is actually the real purpose of Zhao Ji's trip to Doral Forest Village. Hunting goblins is actually just a incidental thing. Although the lady who gave him the clue explained the environment around the ruins clearly, she didn't make it clear which direction the ruins were in the village.

The ruins won't be in the other three directions of the village, right?

Zhao Ji scratched his head and vetoed his own thoughts. First of all, the most unlikely direction is the west side of the village. After all, it is close to Kendall City, and there are many caravans coming and going every year. If there was such a stump as thick as a house, it would have been cleared up by curious people long ago. It's Zhao Ji's turn to find out.

As for the north of the village, this direction is also unlikely, after all, the lady said it was the outskirts of the ruins found between two hills. On the north side of the village, apart from the reclaimed fertile land, there is a large forest, and there are no hills in between.

As for the east side of the village, there is this possibility, but there are no monsters to harass the east side, and the villagers have a lot of development and exploration there. Of course, maybe the ruins are really there, Zhao Ji is not sure.

The most likely place is the south of the village, because of the goblins that come and go from time to time, there are no humans here at all, and the village doesn't know much about it.

But how did the young lady escape here safely without being caught by goblins?

Zhao Ji thought about it for a while, and decided to put this matter aside. After all, the ruins can't run away. In the evening, he just pays attention to the direction where the bats first appeared. After all, what the lady said clearly was that she found the ruins by looking for the way the bats came and went.

Zhao Ji can handle it accordingly.