Mercenaries and Adventurers

Zhao Ji observed these young people, and these young people also observed him.

The young people's clothes are very ordinary, because it's winter, so they wear thick clothes. In order to keep warm, some warm plant silk is filled between the two layers of clothes.

Those plant silks were all picked from the Kendall River outside Kendall City. Zhao Ji had heard of this. Compared with cotton cloth and cotton sold from the south, or a large number of animal skins sold from the northeast, this kind of warm material that does not cost money is still quite popular among poor people who do not have much property.

Logically speaking, this large family called Gu Snow should not be so poor. After all, there are so many young people in the family, no matter what they do, they should be able to get a lot of income. Especially with so much land outside of Kendall.

Wanting to know this question, Zhao Ji approached these young people from the Xing Si Nuo family and struck up a conversation.

They must have been busy for several days without a good rest, so on the surface they seem to be very wary of outsiders, but in fact, under Zhao Ji's smiling and methodical speech, they quickly opened their mouths and let down their vigilance , chatted with Zhao Ji.

After asking, I found out that due to different beliefs, the Gu Snow family did not believe in the Saturnalia Church, which is the majority of people, but always believed in the God of Mercy brought from their hometown.

But the God of Mercy is a small god and a small sect, with a small population, and Kendall County, which has not been developed for a long time, has no other people who believe in this god except their family.

Zhao Ji hadn't heard of this loving God before, but just by the name, he knew that he didn't have much influence. After all, although everyone has such a thing as love, it is generally those who can eat and drink without worrying about it.

Because of their beliefs, the Snow family is not protected and accepted by the same people around them, so they have no part in various affairs. When they first came to Kendall City, the elders of their family were busy caring for the poor in the city, and neglected to cultivate and occupy the fields.

After all, the first Baron Kendall promulgated the land laws of Kendall County, and farmers who worked hard to cultivate the fields could own the land. Not many years later, the good land near Kendall City was divided up by everyone, and the people of the Snow family, not to mention the land, could only own some not-so-good fields.

Of course, I heard these young people proudly say that because they believe in the God of Mercy, their family’s reproduction is very good. Over the years, no baby has ever had any regrettable things at birth. young people have successfully grown up.

Although the family property is not much, and the younger generation has a large population, which makes their family quite poor, but they all believe that the family's situation will definitely change in their generation.

Zhao Ji felt that it was as they said.

From his understanding of Kendall City, the Baron Kendall family seems to have no intention of relying on agriculture to develop Kendall City, but to rely more on handicrafts, and it is an important metal processing industry for this world, that is, iron smelting and blacksmith.

Just as a few people were chatting at the entrance of the alley, two people walked out of the alley.

One of them was a young man who went to find someone first. When he came out, he was a little surprised to see a few people talking speculatively, but he didn't say much.

The other person was a middle-aged strong man. He seemed to have some senior status in the Snow family. Several young people greeted each other, and he also replied to the greetings of the young people one by one.

After looking at Zhao Ji's whole body, he probably had a good impression of Zhao Ji's resolute face and the long sword at his waist. He didn't say anything, but asked Zhao Ji's identity clearly, and asked Zhao Ji to come in with him.

Zhao Ji has nothing to do with himself.

Walking on the road, the other party first introduced himself: "Hello, Keir Warrior. I am Scar-Jin Snow. My brother and daughter are missing.

These days has been what I've been looking for in hosting. My brother has heard about your deeds before, so I approached Todd at the Table Corner Tavern and told him about this matter, mainly hoping that you, who are capable, can come to help find the missing girl. "

"Yes, Todd told me. I have been hunting goblins in Doral Forest Village for a while, and I just came back. Do you know Goblins? They are green-skinned, fierce little monsters , the kind that wander in the wilderness in groups."

The other party scratched the cold-proof cloth hat on his head. He probably had never seen a goblin, and he had rarely even heard of it in stories and legends.

Feeling that it was boring to tell the other party about the goblins, Zhao Ji said again: "As soon as I came back, Todd told me what happened to your family, so I hurried over here. The past few days have passed, Have you found the missing girl?"

Speaking of business, the middle-aged man became serious. After thinking for a while, he said, "We haven't found that child until now. A few days have passed, and everyone is a little discouraged."

"Where have you been looking?"

"My brother's house, our family's alleys, all the alleys and public places in the slums, all the places in the craftsmen's district, the roads and gateposts in the rich district, as well as the city gates and the inner and outer walls of the outer city walls, and even both sides of the main road Various chambers of commerce, cemeteries, and parks have also been searched. No one has seen the child, and there is no trace of the child."

Zhao Ji's face turned serious when he heard the other party's search range. It sounds like the young people of the other party's family have searched all the places they could find in the city. Not only was the girl not found, but even a person who saw the girl's figure was not found.

interesting.

"I heard that you reported the matter to the government affairs office. Did the adults in the government affairs office discover anything? They are professionals, so they should have discovered something?" Zhao Ji knew that someone from the government affairs office had come before, so he asked What the other party knows.

The two walked to the house of the missing girl's family. The middle-aged man pushed the door open and asked Keir to follow: "Nothing, they just looked at my brother's house and said what Mona There was no violence involved in the disappearance, and I asked the girl's clothing style and color on the day of the disappearance, stayed for a while and left."

Mona should be the name of the missing girl. Her house is not small, and she even has a small yard inside the main entrance.

In the freezing winter, many young people from the Snow family gathered in the yard. Most of them were exhausted, but they were still persevering. There was a wooden table in the middle of the yard, and a fine handwritten map of Kendall City was actually placed on it. On the map, every place in the city was marked with a yellow alabaster.

The older male elders of the Snow family gathered around the table, discussing what to do next.

Zhao Ji and the middle-aged man Ska walked into the courtyard. No one paid attention at first, but Zhao Ji was the only one in the audience who was not from the Si Nuo family, and he quickly attracted everyone's attention.

Scar's seniority was very high, and he introduced the Kiel warrior to all the men of the Snow family present. Zhao Ji stroked his chest with one hand, and introduced himself briefly.

"Is this the person Darth is looking for? So young?"

"It's been a few days, is it still useful to come here now?"

"I don't know, but the adults in the government affairs office can't help it. Now we can only try it."

"That's right, someone from the family who made a marriage contract with little Mona said that if the marriage contract between little Mona and their kid can't go on, the agreement between the two families can't go on together. Hey, how could this happen? .”

After Zhao Ji's sensitive ears saw him, all the men of the Xing Si Nuo family who had the right to speak heard what they said one by one.

It appears that the missing girl Mona has an irresistible engagement, which is an important message.

The middle-aged man Scar pointed to a middle-aged man who was sleeping on a wooden pier in the corner of the yard, and introduced to Kiel the father of the missing girl, who is now asleep because he has recovered after his daughter disappeared I haven't rested for a few days, and I just fell asleep at noon.

The other party was sleeping with a fur on his body, so Zhao Ji didn't bother him anymore.

He nodded at the elders of the Snow family, and said, "Everyone, can you tell me about the disappearance of the girl Mona?" He glanced at the map on the table: " Needless to say about the search situation, I am alone, and I am sure there is no better way and efficiency than so many of you are looking for."

Several people looked at each other, and the middle-aged man Scar said: "Just say what you want, everyone has been looking for it for so long, but there is no way, let the Kiel warriors try, I heard that the Kiel warriors not only wiped out many people outside the city The slime monster in the swamp, even went to the east village to wipe out the goblins a few days ago."

Zhao Ji raised his eyebrows slightly. He didn't expect that this serious-looking middle-aged man, Scar, still remembered what he said about the goblins just now.

Someone said: "Mona disappeared three days ago. His mother told her to get up and go to the house of the man who has a marriage contract to discuss how to get married after the beginning of spring."

"It turned out that Mona's house was empty and no one was there. Her mother searched for her in the house, but couldn't find anyone. When she became anxious, she asked everyone in her family to ask other people in the family."

"But there is no Mona in all the houses. We have young people on guard at night in the alley, mainly to guard against some thieves and thieves, and they didn't see Mona go out that night."

"Mona just disappeared. We searched around first, and then searched the entire slum area, but we couldn't find anyone who saw Mona."

Zhao Ji said: "After that, you went to the people from the government affairs office, but they didn't find any clues, right?"

Another person said: "The adults in the government affairs office didn't find anything. The Shepherd of the God of the Dead just said that there was no sign of violence in Mona's house. Did little Mona leave the house by herself, or was she kidnapped? Someone Said that Mona was captured by a flying monster?"

The oldest one retorted: "Nonsense, I haven't heard of a flying monster for many years. How can there be such a powerful monster in this world? Even if there is, there are no such remote places as Kendall County." .”

Zhao Ji didn't think it was a monster or something. After all, the government affairs office said that there was no violence, so it was impossible for some monster to do it. People always push things that they don't know how to explain to monsters. This kind of statement can relieve people's stress and depression of not knowing the truth.

"Let me see the room where Mona disappeared first. By the way, Mona was at home the night before she disappeared, right?" Zhao Ji asked.

A young man standing in the yard stood up and said: "I am Mona's elder brother. She was in the house the night she disappeared. After the family had dinner, they talked for a while around the firepit. Several of us brothers and sisters went back to our respective houses together. My father closed the door of the house himself, and the next day when he and I went out in the morning, he opened the door of the house."

Zhao Ji nodded, and the middle-aged man Scar asked Mona's brother to take Kiel into their house to have a look.

---

Walking into Mona's house, the other women in the family stayed in the house. Because they were women, they couldn't participate in the search for Mona. They could only fidget and wait in the house.

Mona's brother made an introduction to Kiel, and after getting to know her, Zhao Ji went upstairs and asked Mona's mother: "The day before, that is, the day before Mona disappeared, did she behave abnormally?"

Mona's mother thought for a while, shook her head and said, "Mona is a very well-behaved child. She has always been serious about her work. She was normal that day. There was no abnormal behavior you asked about." nodded.

Shrugged, parents always don't understand their children, he felt that it was useless for him to ask such things.

Walking to the second floor of the house, this is the resting room for the family. Basically, everyone in the family has an independent room. Children who do not live at home naturally do not have a house. Those who can live at home are generally boys who have not yet married, and unmarried girl.

Mona's elder brother is the third son in the family. Although he is an adult, he has not yet found a wife to start a family, and he has no intention of joining the Chamber of Commerce to venture out, so he lives next door to Mona.

Although the decorations and decorations in this family's house are not much, and everyone wears ordinary clothes, at least the house is big enough. Mona's house is quite big, at least bigger than Zhao Ji's house in the chamber of commerce.

The furnishings in the house showed signs of being tampered with, and there was nothing to do about it. The under the bed, the large wooden box, and the wardrobe had all been opened.

Zhao Ji asked Mona's family to wait at the door of her house, and he walked in by himself to observe carefully.

The girl's house is relatively neat. If you skip the traces that you searched for clues, you can imagine that this girl's house should be very neat before.

From this point of view, it really doesn't look like being kidnapped by someone or anything else.

There is a wooden window in the house, which is closed at this time. The quilt on the small wooden bed was fairly neat, with only traces of people turning it over.

Zhao Ji asked Mona's family: "I have three questions. Please help me recall the situation at that time to answer my three questions. This is very important, think carefully."

Mona's family members looked at each other, nodded and said, "Just ask."