Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil strode towards the gangster organization member who was staring at him, and swung the long knife in his hand to shake off the stained meat and the blood that was about to solidify.

The gangster on the opposite side didn't dare to move, and just stood there, motionless. When Gere walked in, he put a long knife on his neck.

"You know I carry a lot of gold coins with me. Where did you get this news?" Kil asked while glancing around.

There were only two gangsters left, and one of them was using his hands to crawl away from this place. It was clear that this person's legs and feet were fine, but it seemed as if his legs had been chopped off. Keir guessed that this man might have been frightened. His feet were pricked by his own sharp knife, and he subconsciously felt that his legs were ruined, so he could only crawl with ridiculous arms to try to get out of here.

There is another gangster, a young man about the same age as him, or maybe a little younger than him. At this time, he is squatting blankly next to the bushes not far from the river bank, holding some scraps he dropped in his hand. Coin, stared blankly here.

Keir narrowed his eyes and realized that the little guy was not looking at him, but at the leader of the gang who was being held captive by him with a knife.

He didn't know what was going on, and he didn't care.

Seeing that the gangster did not answer his question, Kiel swung his sword and knocked off the thick linen hat on the gangster's head: "What do you want me to ask you? Answer!"

But this man only cared about his teeth chattering. It was clear that Geer had not knocked off the kitchen knife in his hand, but this guy seemed to have forgotten that he was still holding a weapon.

"Hmph!" Kil snorted coldly, and without looking at the long knife, he put it into the scabbard on his left waist, and then used his right hand to grab the kitchen knife in the man's hand.

Keir grabbed the man's palm with his hand, then twisted the man's arm with force, and slowly made the kitchen knife in the man's hand touch his neck.

"Spare your life, spare your life, spare your life, spare your life. Please spare your life. Please." Only then did this man come back to his senses and beg for mercy. He seemed to have sensed his own death, so even though his teeth were chattering, he was still Keep asking for mercy.

Keir looked into this man's eyes: "I won't ask any more questions. Let's just discuss the matter."

After a pause, Kil felt the man sinking, and grabbed his cloth belt with his left hand, holding the man up so he wouldn't fall to the ground.

Looking down, he saw a rush of heat coming from the bastard's crotch. Kil snorted coldly, gave up asking any more questions, used his right hand hard, and cut the kitchen knife into his neck.

Turning in one direction, Kiel exerted force on his hand, and hot blood spattered. The main artery in the man's neck was severed by his own weapon.

After pushing the guy to the ground, Kil ignored him and took off the hatchet hanging from the leather shield on his left arm. He shook it in his hand and then threw it out with all his strength.

The whirring ax whirled past, directly knocking off the skull of the gangster who couldn't crawl far after crawling for a long time.

"Actually, I'm quite talented in throwing." Kil muttered to himself, then strode towards the young man who was still standing there blankly.

Seeing that the little guy was still holding the coins he had discarded along the way, Keir kicked the guy's palm away.

Coins were scattered all over the floor.

"Don't kill me, please, don't kill me." This little guy didn't run away. He probably saw that he had no chance of escaping, so he simply curled up on the edge of the cold river bank and kept begging for mercy. .

Kiel grabbed the guy's collar and lifted it up. He found that the guy was only thirteen or fourteen years old, but he was thin because he had not lived a good life. Kiel only used one hand to lift him up, with his feet dangling in the air. .

After taking a look at this guy's face, he didn't look like the gangster leader he had just killed. Kiel asked directly: "I saw you staring at that useless guy just now. What is your relationship with him?"

But this little guy only wanted to beg for mercy, and kept saying the same sentence over and over again.

Keir lost some patience. He changed his hand and lifted the little guy's neck and shook it, making the little guy cough. Then he let go and put it down: "Let me ask you again, what is your relationship with that guy?"

"He is mine, my father." The little guy replied tremblingly.

"Father? Don't they look alike?" Kil asked doubtfully, touching his chin.

The little guy trembled and shook his head: "It's not the first father, it's the third father. The first father died, and my mother found another one. But that guy wanted to sell me and my mother, so my mother found him as the third father. After three fathers, the second father wouldn’t dare to sell us.”

"Hey, it's quite complicated. So let me ask you, do you know where your news comes from?"

"It's been rumored on the streets and everywhere that everyone is short of money. We are really short of money, so we decided to give it a try. Please, I don't want to die yet. My mother is still here, so I can't die." He said here , the little guy fell to his knees, took hold of Kiel's boots, and begged him.

After Kil was silent for a moment, he kicked the little guy away: "Go away, don't look back."

After the little guy fell to the side, he got up and ran towards Bingxun Pass in a panic without looking back.

Gill picked up the scattered coins on the ground, then came to the river bank where dead bodies were strewn, and collected the weapons of each gangster, as well as the coins on their bodies.

To be honest, it was too few, not as many as the coins he had thrown away to lure them along the way, and his own silver coin that attracted attention was not found. Could it be that he was taken away by that little guy?

Shaking his head, Kil thought it was impossible. After all, one silver coin could be exchanged for a thousand iron coins. For these gangsters who were worse than ordinary people, this was a lot. It was unlikely that a child would take it. With.

In general, the greed of these people has completely killed themselves. The current employment situation in Bingshuguan is so good, why not work hard and make money. You have to do this kind of bloody business like those bandits.

You still dare to come and rob him. Please, why don't others dare to come? It's not because people who know Kiel's strength don't dare to come. Only these low-level gangsters who don't understand dare to come and take the risk of causing trouble for him.

With these people's lack of brains, even if they really grabbed the money, it was still unclear whether they could keep the money in Bingshuguan.

Keir shook his head again, put the collected useful things into the backpack hanging on the horse, and then chopped off the heads of the corpses of each gangster and threw them into the Kendall River, hoping that this great flowing river would wash away their ignorance and greed. , if there is an afterlife, don’t be a human anymore, living a hard life will be painful.

It just so happened that they could also feed the fish in the river. Usually humans eat them, but today, they also had a taste of humans.

-

Kiel returned to Kendall City in the evening. He found a place on the road to wash off the blood on his body. When the cold wind blew, the water on his coat froze into ice. He rubbed it with his gloves and dried it. .

Except for being a little cold, everything else was good.

He first took out all the money he had hidden outside the city and returned to Kendall City with all the gold coins he had.

He felt much more relieved when he returned here. He knew several of the guards. And he also knows many powerful senior people in the city, whether they are in the military, religious, or business circles. Hey, when others ask, he can tell that there are people above him!

It was a little late today, so Kil returned directly to the hunter stronghold.

As soon as he walked in, everyone was eating. Kil himself had no appetite at all. After riding a horse for a day, he just wanted to lie in bed and have a good sleep.

-

The next morning, the wooden door banged.

Kil squeezed out of his clothes and quilt, opened the door and saw the old hunter standing at the door.

"Kiel, come and practice archery when you come back! If you don't practice your hands for a day, you will get sick, let alone you, a raw melon and an egg. Come clean up and come! By the way, wear thicker clothes, it's snowing outside." He saw Keir was wearing a pair of underwear. He stopped waiting for Keel and waved his hand as he finished speaking and went downstairs.

Keir stuck his head out of the door to look and found that everyone else had already gotten up. Not caring about what happened next, Kil quickly got up, put on thick clothes and a new wolf fur cloak, kicked the money bag in his backpack under the bed, then locked the door and went downstairs.

The bread bought yesterday was baking beside the fireplace. Keir picked one up and poured himself a large glass of warm water to drink. Afterwards, he packed warm bread into his chest to warm it up, went to the front yard to use the toilet, and then fed his horses.

Although they are kept in the hunter's stronghold, other hunters will help Kil feed them after seeing them, but if you want to make friends with these smart guys, you have to feed them yourself.

After cutting some hay and pouring some ice water into the water trough, Keel took a boar bristle brush and brushed the horses, crushing some parasites that fell on the ground. Seeing the horses' satisfied expressions, he Then I wiped my hands and walked to the backyard while eating bread.

The bread was protected by the clothes on his chest, so it didn't cool down. He took small bites of the surprisingly tough bread, often chewing it for a long time before he could swallow it.

"What's taking so long?" The old hunter was waiting here with his arms folded, and most of the other young hunters were also talking. They were all talking in turn, and then practicing bows and arrows.

"I went to feed the horses. I also brushed the horses. They have horse lice on them." Kiel said as he ate the bread.

"Who doesn't have some parasites on their body? Our place is considered clean. Okay, let's get started!" He saw that Kil was still eating something in his mouth: "Practice while you eat. After all, bows and arrows don't use your mouth!"

"Mo Mou." Kil's mouth was full of chewy bread and he responded vaguely.

He took the bow body and bow string from the old hunter Tost.

Of course, the first step is to warm the bow string. Kil puts the cold bow string into his arms and rubs it. When it is warm, he takes it out. One end of the bow string is hung on one end of the wooden bow, and the other end needs to change the direction of the bow body. Bend the bow body to secure the other side of the bow string.

Then Kil hung two pots of training arrows on his waist, pulled out one, nocked the arrow, stretched his arm, aimed and let go.

Whoosh!

After Kil's precise aim, the soft tip of the arrow hit the animal board on the opposite side of the yard.

"Not bad, keep going!" Tost praised.

Kil swallowed the last bite of bread in his mouth and fired the arrow again quickly.

Whoosh!

Missed.

Tost glanced at Kiel dissatisfied: "Aim slowly. Beginners should not omit the time of aiming."

"Yes!" Keir responded. Then continue practicing.

Soon, the morning practice was completed, and Kiel's shooting percentage was about 30%, which was considered a beginner's score. It couldn't compare with the accuracy of the young hunters next to him.

After practicing his bow and arrow, Kil returned to the house and took out his wooden sword and shield training supplies, and found a place in the corner of the backyard where he would not disturb other people to practice this.

The young hunters next to him saw it in amusement and asked Kiel if he had any other spare protective gear. Kiel went up and brought down another set of wooden training protective gear.

The young hunters had a lot of fun. After Kil practiced for a while, he panted and handed the protective gear he was wearing to others for use, and explained that after using it, he could just put it directly at the door of his house.

Keir returned to the house and counted the coins in his backpack, then put them into his backpack and took them all with him.

Head out to the Artisan District.

-

The craftsman area was as lively as ever, with craftsmen scolding their apprentices scolding and clanking sounds everywhere. Black smoke, representing human vitality and development, rose from some chimneys, but there were only a few people on the streets.

After all, it's snowing again.

Farmers all like snow in winter, which means there will be too few pupae eggs in the ground next year. Through the explanations given by the pastors of the Church of Saturnalia, everyone already knows that in the past, when it didn’t snow every winter, insect plagues of various sizes would break out in most cities the next year.

Therefore, after learning about it, farmers and women would go to the church under the statue of Lady Winter under the command of the God of Agriculture and pray to the great god Cui Ernes to send down snow that would not collapse the roof and freeze the eggs and pupae of insects.

It may be useful, or it may not be useful. After all, during the Harvest Festival, the shepherds of the church said that compared with other goddesses of the four seasons under the god of agriculture, the lady in charge of winter is not a conceptual god, but a goddess. A god of life who ascended the throne from a great creature in the North.

Ms. Cui Ernais, who has a physical form, may be drinking heavily at this time, and how can she think of taking care of the believers who believe in Him.

When he arrived at the weapon forging workshop, he was greeted by the mysterious tall and strong craftsman who was both the god of craftsmen and an excellent craftsman.

"Let's talk here, still?" The craftsman who didn't give his name saw the backpack Kiel was carrying. Just from the sound of coins rubbing inside, he knew that Kiel had brought all the money he could.

Keir smiled: "Still inside, right? I brought too much money. Of course, you may not think it's much, but I think it's an incredible amount."

The weapon forging workshop is completely different in size from Ganner's armor workshop. After all, it can't be done without armor, but it can't be done without weapons. High-level armor can be specially ordered in big cities. Ordinary soldiers and civilians can wear a few thick clothes and it will be enough for daily battles.

But weapons are not good, and there is no way to win without a good weapon.

Therefore, from the very beginning when Kendall City was founded by the first Baron Kendall, the weapon forging workshop here has always been outstanding.

Even now, the technology of forging ordinary weapons has declined somewhat. After all, the most skilled craftsmen are focusing on the research and forging of more powerful magical weapons. Ordinary weapons can be made casually, mostly for new craftsmen. Work.

There is an independent room in the workshop. In a room that is obviously used to place important items, Keir took out the purse filled with gold coins from his backpack, and then neatly stacked the gold coins on the solid stone table. Set up.

Although this mysterious craftsman also took a few more glances at the gold coins that were placed on a third of the table, he focused more on Kiel who could produce these treasures.

"It seems, Warrior Kiel, you plan to take down all the magic materials I can come up with? I have to say you really surprised me."

Kil shrugged: "It's not easy. I can only say that I was surprised. I didn't expect that among the things seized from the robbers before, there were some valuable treasures. It can only be said to be good luck."

The mysterious craftsman shook his finger: "Luck only favors powerful people, and that elusive lady seems to prefer some unexpected young people."

"Who?" Kil didn't understand what this person was talking about.

"Nothing. Let's calculate the money. Wait a moment." After saying that, the craftsman left here and used a key and some magical means to open a metal door. After waiting for a while, he showed Kiel the previous The passing tray came over.

Putting the things on the stone table, the mysterious craftsman told Kil the prices for each magic material. They were all the same prices as last time, and there was no change.

Then, Keir paid the gold coins one by one according to the type of magic materials.

The most expensive thing was the metal piece blessed by the Church of the Sun God. A small piece cost more than a hundred gold coins.

Then there is the fire-absorbing gold, which is very expensive, and according to this mysterious craftsman, there are not many of them in the church, and even less if they are assigned to his weapon forging workshop.

When asked where Kil planned to use this thing, Kil replied to the craftsman: "I plan to use it on my new metal armor. After all, it seems a bit strange to have fire protection effects on weapons or shields. Especially me The shield is a bit strange and inconvenient. Moreover, the shield must actively resist the opponent's attack. I am afraid that it will be scratched off after being hit by the enemy's weapon."

"Haha, that makes sense." The craftsman said with a smile.

Then there is the spherical moonlight iron made by the tree heart of the Church of Saturn and the new shepherd of the Moon God. Since there is only one piece of everything or Kir only uses one piece, although the unit price is expensive, the total price is still cheaper than fire-absorbing gold.

As for black iron and red copper, Kiel bought the largest quantities he could.

Even so, if you don't look at the ugly expression on the face of the craftsman opposite, Keir's gold coins have not been spent yet.

The craftsman repeatedly took out the magic materials purchased by Kiel from the warehouse, weighed them, paid for them, and then put these precious materials into bags and handed them to Kiel.

The bag was even the same bag that Kil had used to hold gold coins.

Finally, Kil asked carefully: "Um, if you forge and modify my long sword, do you charge for this?"

The craftsman shook his head: "I won't accept it this time. After all, I didn't expect you to apply five magic materials to the contaminated sword. In fact, I am also very interested in what can be made. "

"Thank you for your support." Kil put the remaining gold coins into the largest money bag, then put it into his backpack, and then put a piece of Sun God Church blessing metal piece, a spherical moonlight iron, a piece of agricultural The blessed wooden cores of God's church, and bags containing red copper and black iron materials, were placed on the stone table in turn.

"Please accept the materials."

"Let me take a look. One piece of each of this thing, this thing, and this thing is enough." The craftsman collected the metal pieces, the moonlight iron, and the blessed wood core, and then took them from the cabinet in the house. He took out Kiel's hunting sword. After pulling it out, he carefully judged the contamination of Kiel's sword, the length and thickness of the sword's blade, and then removed the red copper and black iron from Kiel's bag. Weigh out the amount of magic materials needed.

Not more or less, only one-sixth from each bag.

Seeing what Kiel wanted to say: "Young man, although the amount of red copper and black iron is small, their weight is not light. If you use these two materials to make weapons, it is not impossible, but your arms are too thin. No, you can’t use it. If it’s a knight, it’s okay.”

The craftsman laughed at Kil's arm, and then gestured to his powerful arm: "It's not good for my arms to be so thick. After all, using weapons is not like blacksmithing. The range of movements is not only large, but also changeable. The movements of the arms The force received and exerted is beyond what ordinary people can bear."

He put away the materials given by Keir again and put them together with Keir's long sword: "The forging starts tomorrow and will take a whole day. If you are free, you can come and take a look. This opportunity is very rare. , the apprentices in the workshop have no chance to visit. If other craftsmen want to help me, I have to see how their forging skills are. Guys who can only make ordinary weapons are not qualified at all, you know?"

"Okay, I'll be here early tomorrow morning!" Kil agreed. He didn't care how the craftsmen were divided into different ranks. All he wants now is to wait until tomorrow and witness his weapon being reborn.