Mercenaries and Adventurers

The next day, after packing up all the things he was going to take with him, Keel pushed his trolley and went out.

He first bought a batch of freshly baked bread at the bakery on the side of the street, and then went to the table corner tavern to order a batch of frozen meat to take with him. Now that the temperature outside has dropped below freezing, Keel no longer has to worry about whether the food he brings will go bad when he goes out.

Meat and bread alone were not enough, so he went to the grocery store in Chengmen Square and bought a small pot and a jar of dried mushrooms.

Greeted a few city gate guards at the gate of the city, and everyone chatted for a while.

Knowing that Kiel is also going to the west of Kendall City to find the culprit of the mysterious incident that has been tossed recently, several guards at the city gate advised Kiel to be careful. If something unusual happens, he must escape first and survive. is the most important.

After thanking a few guards for their reminders, Keir tightened his wolf fur cloak and set off with the cart.

He first went down the gentle slope outside the city gate, and then proceeded north along the road outside the city wall.

On the baron's field not far away, some old sheds can already be seen erected from a distance, and the village soldiers who came from far away in the county have gradually begun to gather recently.

It hasn't come yet, but it is probably already on the way. I heard that the militiamen of these villages will conduct regular training here for more than ten days, and then they will set off south to clear the bandit-infested mountains and forests near Bingxun Pass.

Of course, the militiamen of the brigade will not enter the depths of the mountains, but only go back and forth between the east and west sides of Bingxun Pass and the southern area.

Experienced bandits took the risk of being attacked by various monsters deep in the mountains early in the winter, and went into the mountains to avoid the militia. After all, compared to the large number of well-organized militias, brainless monsters are still better. Deal with it a little.

Keir walked along the road outside the city wall, and after he made a detour to the north side of Kendall City, he saw a strange mechanical lifting platform on the city wall on the north side.

In the open space outside the dungeon of this elevator platform, there are a lot of tree trunks piled up.

Kiel immediately guessed that this was the source of firewood fuel for cooking and cooking in the city. After walking for a while, Keir saw a man-made canal on the road.

This canal divides the road and the fields to the north in two, and extends to the Kendall River to connect them together. At this time, he saw that a thick tree trunk was floating on these canals, and under the guidance of the person standing on the trunk, it gradually approached Kendall City along the canals.

With temperatures below freezing, the canal, which branches off from the Kendall River, has seen some scattered ice buildup on its surface. A young child, dressed warmly, was squatting in front of the trunk of the tree that ran along the canal, beating the broken ice in front of him with a long wooden pole in his hand.

The two people on the tree trunk saw Kiel passing by on the road, they greeted each other friendly, and Kiel returned a friendly greeting. It is probably for this job, and I rarely see people, especially in winter, so after seeing Keir's friendly response, the two asked loudly from a distance: "Hey! Where are you going? ?”

Kiel also yelled playfully: "Go west."

Hearing Keir's answer, the two were silent for a while, and then responded loudly again: "Don't go! Many people died on the road to the west!"

The child sitting in front of the thick tree trunk retorted to his companion: "It's not dead! It's missing! Missing!"

The two argued: "Isn't it dead after being missing for so many days?"

"No, you can come back if you are missing, but you can't come back if you die."

"Hey, the longer you've been missing, do you know it's me who came back?"

"Why are you like this, don't say these things that sound terrible."

Kiel was amused, and answered them loudly: "Look! I have this thing in my hand,

Not afraid of things in the wilderness. As Kiel said, he pulled out the long sword from his waist, motioned to the two of them, and inserted it into the scabbard.

Then he took out the two-handed ax that was on the trolley, and raised it with one hand, so that two people not far away could clearly see the strange color of the surface of his axe.

It seemed that Kiel's actions gave confidence to the two who were transporting the thick tree trunk along the canal: "Can it work?" They asked Kiel loudly.

Keir laughed loudly and shouted at them, "No problem! Leave it to me!"

Pushing the cart across the wooden bridge where the road and the canal meet, Keir waved and said goodbye to the trade guild clerk who happened to supply the city with firewood.

The village to the west of Kendall City is not very far from Kendall City. After all, Kendall County is an area that is long from north to south and narrower from east to west, and Kendall City itself is located on the west-south of the county. superior.

So after leaving Kendall City, it takes about two days' walk to arrive at the westernmost village in the county---Gloomy Forest Village.

He asked Todd curiously why the village was called this name, but Todd didn't know much about it. So he asked Jamla again, who had been to various villages in the county to know why this village had such a disturbing name.

The reason is very simple, because the north and south of the gloomy forest village are surrounded by large forests and mountains, and their entire village is just located in this small plain between two forests to the west from Kendall City.

Zhao Ji went west along the road, and there was no fork in the road, because after half a day's walk west from Kendall City, the originally wide field of vision was eroded by the large forests on the north and south sides.

The reclaimed idle farmland that can be seen everywhere has gradually turned into shrubs that have lost their leaves and tall weeds withered and yellow.

The more he moved forward, the more Zhao Ji felt that walking on this road, it should be normal for anything to jump out of the forest on both sides. No one was attacked for so long before, but looking at it now, it is a rather strange thing.

Unlike the forest south of Doral Forest Village, the forest there has a transition. And there is no transition at all on both sides of the road here, and it goes directly from the not too open grassland to the dark forest with tall trees.

No wonder this village is called Yinyulin Village.

Looking at the forest that was still dark after the leaves had fallen, Zhao Ji felt that if people who have been looking at these forests all year round just feel gloomy, that is the feeling that only the most optimistic people can come up with.

Unlike outside of Kendall, Keel didn't feel the wind blowing around him on this westward road. On the plains near Kendall City, the wind there is not small. He had to tie the cloak tightly so that the cloak would not be blown away.

But here, the surroundings are quiet, the birds have already passed the winter and flew away to the south, and the insects hide themselves deeply in the ground, quietly waiting for the heavy spring rain in the coming year.

Some large beasts are probably hibernating in the caves they dug themselves, preparing to rely on a long sleep to survive the cold winter of another year.

At this time, only those small, herbivorous animals were left making noises in the forest.

Zhao Ji heard the movement sensitively. He stopped the squeaky trolley, and carefully took out the bow and arrow tied to the vehicle without making a sound.

Hanging the quiver on his belt, Zhao Ji put a strong bowstring on one end of the short bow, and then stood the bow on the ground. With the strength of the arm, the bow is bent by the weight of the body, and then quickly put the other end of the bowstring on the bow.

After pulling the bowstring twice, Zhao Ji felt that the cold weather did not affect the bow of this simple bow and arrow. He took out an arrow and put it on the bowstring, and stared at the bush not far away that kept making noise.

'Listen, it's not a big guy. Shouldn't you have encountered the culprit of the disappearance just after arriving on this road? ’ Zhao Ji thought to himself.

Experience told him that it shouldn't be possible. But Zhao Ji was still ready to fight.

There seemed to be something moving in the bushes in the distance. After the other party's body touched a bush that was as tall as a person, it caused a rustling sound from the top of the bush.

Zhao Ji looked at the approximate position, raised his hand and pulled the string until it was full, and then let go of his fingers.

With a whoosh, the feather arrow drew an arc and plunged into the place Zhao Ji was aiming at. This simple bow and arrow is quite good for him, but it is a bit too weak.

"Hey!" A small animal howled miserably.

Immediately afterwards, a gray-white-yellow figure sprang out from behind the bushes, and jumped out staggeringly.

But before the thing could take two steps, Zhao Ji released another arrow, which hit the animal's hind legs. The animal couldn't jump up all at once, and fell to the ground, howling.

Zhao Ji leaned over without hesitation, he was still pushing the trolley forward on the road, beware of something coming to ambush him in the bushes.

A small animal that fell down in the distance struggled to stand up and wanted to run. Zhao Ji let go of the car to stop the car, raised his bow, drew the arrow, set the arrow, pulled the bow and let go in one go.

Due to the shortened distance, Zhao Ji's arrow just hit the animal's stomach.

I don't know if it lacked strength, but after being hit by another arrow, the little animal nestled peacefully on the ground, only whining, but stopped running away.

Seeing that the animal stopped running, Zhao Ji slowly pushed the cart closer, and when he reached the place where the road was closest to the little animal, Zhao Ji put down his bow and arrow, pulled out a bundle of strong thin rope from his waist, tied a slipknot, and If he didn't go there, he stood on the road and put the rope around the small animal's neck.

After pulling it a few times, the slipknot tightened, and the little animal had to stand up and pull close to Zhao Ji.

It turned out to be a fawn.

However, different from Zhao Ji's impression, this deer actually has six legs, which makes its body appear longer. Its mouth is wide, filled with molars for chewing plants. There is only one single horn on the head, and the top of the single horn is covered with mud, and there is also some mud around its mouth.

It seems that this guy was digging the roots of the bushes before. I don't know if he wanted to eat the roots of the bushes, so he shook the bushes and let Zhao Ji find it.

The deer was dirty, and it seemed that the bow and arrow Zhao Ji shot at it had hit three times, but after Zhao Ji pulled out the arrow, he found that the guy was not injured at all. Ji attacked, and was so frightened that he couldn't run, so he could only lie on the ground and be captured by him.

This six-legged deer was tied up by Zhao Ji and placed on a cart. He planned to wait until night before trying to find a way to eat the captured animal.

It's cold, and it's pretty good to eat the wild deer that I heard can make up the body.

I just don't know if something will attack him at night.

The arrow wound on the six-legged deer stopped bleeding quickly. Although Zhao Ji tied him up, he kept trying to get out of trouble. It's a pity that it has no hands, so it can't untie the rope that binds it. Soon it calmed down and no longer tried to break free from the rope.

Zhao Jimei happily pushed the car forward, thinking about what to do with the six-legged deer before dark, whether to roast the meat or cut the meat into small pieces and cook it.

patter.

The six-legged deer actually urinated on Zhao Ji's cart, and it even deliberately watched Zhao Ji's reaction.

"Damn it!" Zhao Ji quickly picked up the deer and kept it on the ground, checking whether the supplies on his trolley were wet. Fortunately, he fortunately covered the supplies with a piece of sackcloth to waterproof them, and this little thing's piss only wetted his sackcloth.

The little deer couldn't be put on the cart anymore. Zhao Ji untied the ropes on the legs and feet of the little deer, but tied the rope around the other's neck to the trolley, so that the six-legged little deer had to follow his trolley forward.

The six-legged deer was a little reluctant and kept trying to escape, but was pulled back by the rope tied around Bo's neck. After a while, it had to follow the trolley obediently and move forward with Zhao Ji.

--

There was silence around the road, and Zhao Ji couldn't even be sure what time it was if it wasn't for the cloudy clouds in the sky that could vaguely see the position of the sun.

As he walked, he found a small camping area by the side of the road.

After approaching, Zhao Ji found that there were a little scattered blood on the ground, and there were traces of a campfire that had been extinguished in the center of the open space.

Judging from the traces, the last time a fire was lit here was at least many days ago.

Zhao Ji's expression became serious, and he carefully observed the open space where the camp was set up. Before the discovery, there were three traces of bedding here. Could it be that this is the place Todd said, where the merchant travelers found only three pairs of feet left in place?

Zhao Ji squatted down and picked up a small stone on the ground. On the top of this small stone, there is a small dark dark mark.

Rubbing it down with his fingers and smelling it, Zhao Ji immediately smelled the smell of dried blood.

It seems that this is the place where the three hunters who died when they came to investigate the disappearance before camped.

Zhao Ji looked up at the sun and felt that if the three hunters were not as fast as he was, they would have to camp here when it was getting dark.

Zhao Ji looked around, and found that the surrounding area of ​​the camp was relatively open, without touching the distant forest, and there were no particularly tall shrubs around to block the line of sight.

It's a great place to camp.

So here comes the question, these three people, three hunters, three cautious hunters. How could they lose the ability to resist without leaving a large amount of blood, leaving only three pairs of feet and shoes in place, and their own bodies disappeared directly.

And Zhao Ji looked at the place where there were not many blood stains left on the open space. It was found that these three people were basically standing in place, and then they were attacked and lost the ability to resist.

How is this possible?

Zhao Ji couldn't figure it out, just glanced over and saw the six-legged fawn he had captured, and thought of a plan.

He picked up the ax and came to the forest not far away. He only felled a small tree, and then returned to the clearing immediately.

Remove excess branches, then use this sharp and tough two-handed ax to hack young trees into knotty, easy-to-burn patterns. Then Zhao Ji broke the branches of the young tree into a ball and lit them on the campfire with flint and steel.

After the fire started, Zhao Ji added firewood to the campfire to let it burn slowly.

Then Zhao Ji came to the opposite side of the road facing the open space, and dug with a shovel near the road. He sprinkled the dry and hard soil on the open space, and dug out a space for him to put down the trolley and himself. , Keel covered the trolley with a large piece of burlap that was used to set up a tent in the wild among the materials on the trolley, and drove wooden nails into the ground around it to fix it.

Then Zhao Ji tied the six-legged fawn he had captured firmly to the opposite campfire.

The deer seemed to be very afraid of the flames, so it just nestled down, ignoring the burning campfire, and curled up with its head down.

On Zhao Ji's side, he put on his armor, put his spear on the ground in front of the pit he dug, and covered it with grass. And he himself is fully armed, with long swords and daggers hung on his belt, knapsacks and shields fixed behind his back, and an ax hung on the knapsack.

In the backpack, there are some things to be used in the battle.

After finishing everything, Zhao Ji put on a wolf fur cloak and hid in the dug hole sideways. He covered the hole and the sackcloth on it with the branches of the shrubs and a layer of dry weeds outside the hole. Even if you look closely, it is not easy to see where he is hiding.

In this way, Zhao Ji hid in it, and only let himself poke his head out a little, and he could see what happened in the open space opposite the road very clearly.

Before it was dark, Zhao Ji dared to eat some bread mats to cushion his stomach, and drink half of the water that was kept from freezing by body temperature.

He didn't make a sound, just lying on his stomach along the edge of the pothole, squinting at everything on the opposite side. He breathed very lightly, and a large bundle of withered grass was tied to the hidden helmet protruding from the hole. Even if he stood beside Zhao Ji, if he didn't tell others that someone was hiding here, no one would see it.

After eating and drinking enough, Zhao Ji put down the visor on his helmet, and waited for the darkness little by little.

--

In places where the wilderness is not open, the sky is dark in the evening, that is to say, it is dark. This is especially true when there are clouds in the sky that block the sun.

In just an instant, everything around him went dark.

The dark clouds in the sky blocked the light of the stars and the moon. Even if the three moon gods were all full moon today, there was no light from the sky on the side of the road surrounded by large forests.

All the surrounding lighting comes from the campfire not far away.

Probably because Zhao Ji added a lot of firewood to the campfire, so the campfire was even brighter after dark.

The six-legged fawn was held in place by a rope, which was firmly nailed to the ground by Zhao Ji with wooden nails. The deer's slender legs alone cannot break free.

It seems to be full of sleep before dark, but the deer is very energetic after dark. Although it does not dare to approach the campfire for fear of igniting its fur, the warm fire still makes it feel warm, so the deer does not stop. Turning his body left and right, let both sides of his body receive the warmth of the campfire.

I don't know how long I waited, it was so long that Zhao Ji's feet were numb.

The deer on the opposite side is still very active, no, it seems a little strange.

The fawn was supposed to accept the warmth of the campfire honestly, but at this moment, the six-legged fawn seemed to be in a frenzy, jumping and jumping non-stop on the spot.

But because of the strong rope around his neck, and the pegs nailed to the ground. This little deer can only jump repeatedly in a small place, as if trying to escape from something.

'what exactly is it? ’ Zhao Ji swallowed lightly and spit.

Then he suddenly discovered that the large surrounding area that could have been illuminated by the campfire turned into a vast expanse of white within a few seconds, and he couldn't see anything clearly.

Even if Zhao Ji was no more than eight or nine meters away from the campfire on the opposite side, he could only see a blurry bright cluster and the faint figure of a terrified deer.

'coming soon! ’ Zhao Ji held his breath, not daring to make a sound.

He opened his eyes wide, looking at the blurry scene on the opposite side, and then, what happened suddenly took him by surprise!