Mercenaries and Adventurers

The hunter team, led by Lanissa Knight, walked north along the west side of the Kendall River for more than a day. That night, they went to the river bank by the roadside, cleared away the snow, and made a small open space where the carriage and three horses could be parked.

Everyone raised the heating firewood carried on the carriage and had a warm night's rest in the cold and snowy weather.

In the wilderness shrouded in heavy snow, it was difficult to find bushes and branches that could make a fire because they were all covered by the vast white snow. If it weren't for the veteran hunters who have rich experience in wild life and remind everyone, no one would remember to bring such things. After all, usually when making a fire, you only look for flammable materials after camping.

The horses were covered with thick cold-proof cloth, and Knight Lanissa also took off the entire external vest of her horse. Everyone huddled around the horses to keep warm, eating brown bread heated by the flames in their hands, listening to the strange stories that the old hunters seemed to never finish telling, and slowly passed through this unbearable night in the snowy wilderness.

The next day, they continued to walk along the barely distinguishable road. At noon, they saw wooden houses built on the river bank one after another along the river bank.

"That's part of Hekou Town." A young hunter who was familiar with him introduced the villages and towns ahead to Keer.

Keir looked carefully: "Are they too small? The farms we met along the way seem to be bigger than this river mouth town?" Keel counted the number of houses with his fingers and found that there were only more than thirty large houses along the river bank. Large and small wooden houses.

This number is even less than the average village, let alone a town. At least, you have to be much bigger than Doral Forest Village, right?

On the carriage next to him, an old hunter driving a carriage smiled and said: "Idiot, that's just a small part of the town. The town of Hekou is divided into three parts, and this is the part on the west side of the river bank."

He pointed to the other side of the Kendall River with the slender riding crop: "On the east side of the river bank, there is still a part of the area. And on the north side of the intersection of the Kendall River and the Umi River, is the main body of the river mouth town. Absolutely. Most of the population houses are there."

Keir put his hands in a pool: "Then how do we get there?"

"There is a ferry in the town. No matter where you want to go on the river, the boatman will take you there. But with this weather, it seems like you don't need to take a boat?"

-

Soon, after passing the fork in the road, the hunter team turned right and turned onto the road heading towards the town.

It was snowing heavily, so even when they got close to the town, they didn't hear much noise from the normal village. Like other villages in Kendal, fields outside the river mouth town were surrounded by wooden walls.

Arriving at the gate of the town, Knight Lanisa jumped directly onto the wooden gate tower of the town. After showing her identity, she opened the gate of the town.

Keir and his party walked into the town one by one.

Since he knew that this was just a subsidiary area of ​​the town and not the main body of the town, Keir had no expectations for the town.

Knight Lanissa jumped down from above again, hitting the ground with a thud, shaking away the snow at her feet.

After returning to her horse, she spoke: "It's still early. If you don't want to stay here, you can go directly to the ferry. I'll go find the clerk here."

After saying that, she hit the metal armor on the horse's belly with her metal boots. After making a collision sound, the war horse trotted towards a tall pointed building along the road.

The others, accompanied by a militiaman from Hekou Town, arrived at the ferry through snow as thick as outside the town.

Said to be a ferry, it was actually a small pier made of stones. In the pier that was frozen by the river water, Kiel and the others saw some ferries that were large enough to carry people.

These ferries have no sails. After all, they are just transport ships traveling back and forth on both sides of the river. There is no room for sails at all.

It moves forward by beating the water with large water wheels extending from both sides.

Keel found it very interesting when he saw it. After all, similar paddle wheels only appeared after the invention of the steam engine in his previous life. And he could clearly know that there was no steam machine technology locally, so what was that thing powered by?

Although the ferry is not big, it is still an important jurisdiction area, so there is a manager's house here.

Kiel and the others drove the carriage into the yard next to the ferry. After everyone tidied up briefly, they hid under the rain-shielding wooden porch of the house to avoid the snowfall and wait for the knight to return.

Different from usual, wading through the thick snow after many days of snowfall took a lot of energy from everyone, so Kil rubbed his belly, said something to the other young hunters, walked out of the yard, and came to Inside the town.

Needless to say, he was looking for a house like a tavern. As the most important facility in this small area, there must be a tavern and hotel outside it to provide services to the traveling caravans.

As expected, if you look carefully on both sides of the ferry, there is a hotel and a pub. The tavern is quite large, but it's snowing heavily, and there are only a few lines of footsteps walking through the wide doorway.

Opening the wooden door and pushing back the heat-insulating linen curtain, Keir suddenly felt warm.

"Welcome! Welcome to the Drunkard Tavern in this snowy day. It's even more difficult to meet new faces. It's all thanks to the damn weather. When it snows, you are willing to go out and come to our place to have fun. There are too few happy customers." A tall woman came over, she was dressed smartly, but she wore a water-coon scarf around her neck, which made her look warm and good-looking.

After she came over, she patted the falling snow on the outside of Keir's cloak with a clean rag. After an awkward thank you, Kil was led to the central bar of the tavern.

The Luoshui Drunkard Tavern looks big from the outside, but the space inside is indeed quite large. There are three rows of long wooden tables, and it looks like it can accommodate at least sixty people drinking, eating and enjoying themselves together.

In addition to the long wooden tables used by large groups of people, there are also many round tables for five or six people to sit around, or square tables for two or three people to discuss things in the corners of the tavern. As for solo guests, you can sit alone at the wooden bar in the center of the pub.

Although it was so good, it was probably because it was snowing outside at the moment, so there were very few drinkers in the tavern, so the store naturally did not light enough lights, and only lit oil lamps at the bar and where a few drinkers were seated.

"Young man, what do you want? Is this your first time here? The grilled river fish here is very good. The river fish in winter have thick fat on their bellies for the winter. When they are fried and grilled, you don't even need to add oil. Fat fish The belly will naturally be fried with fat." The waitress who entertained the guests introduced their signature dishes to Keer with gestures, and even took out a small wooden board with a dinner plate painted on it with a superb brush. Fat big river fish.

Kil swallowed and coughed: "Where is the drink? The food is good, I want it. But what do you have to drink here? Tell me."

The waitress snapped her fingers, and the male waiter behind the wooden bar opened the sliding wooden cabinet, revealing barrels of small wine barrels: "We have everything. What do you want?"

Kil doesn't drink much strong liquor, so he pointed to the barrel containing beer: "Here, give me a big glass. By the way, do you have any hot soup here?"

The waitress searched among a pile of small wooden boards beside the bar: "Look, we offer these kinds of hot soups. I don't know if you are used to it, but they are all fish soup."

Keir was curious and chose it. Under the introduction of the waitress, he chose a surimi vegetable soup with less spines. However, he ordered ten portions at a time.

"I have nine companions at the ferry. They also need these hot foods to keep warm. Can you send them there?" Kil asked.

Upon hearing that Keel asked for ten portions, the male and female waiters were very happy and said that any place in the town would be fine, let alone the nearby ferry management office.

The price of the food is not cheap, but the ingredients are very solid. The grilled river fish is as big as one of Keir's arms. He only ate one-third of the fish belly in one meal, and the rest had to be put into a clean muslin bag and left to eat later. Of course, it won't spoil at all in such a cold weather. If you leave it outside, you can eat it all winter long.

The portion of surimi vegetable soup was also very large, and Keir mainly used his stomach to hold it.

After eating a large bowl of hot soup containing fish, he became energetic.

As for the beer, he really couldn't drink it, so he had to pour out the water in his personal water bag outside the pub and ask the waiter to pour the beer into the water bag for him.

No one laughed at him. First of all, he was dressed like a poor man, and on his waist he wore a long sword with a scabbard that would emit a faint blue light in the dark. Whether it was a male or female waiter in the tavern, The drinkers not far away greeted Keir cautiously and did not cause trouble.

The waitress chatted with Kiel while he was eating, and curiously inquired about Kiel's identity.

I heard that Kil was a member of the hunter team under Knight Lanissa. Those who had heard this name finally felt relieved. In recent years, Knight Lanissa and her hunter team have been conquering the wolves in the North. Anyone who is well-informed knows this. The waitress even wanted to take a look at Lanissa Knight, the only female knight in Kendall County.

Keir was fine, after all, it was none of his business.

After paying the money, Kil walked out of the Drunkard Tavern with satisfaction, carrying a bag with uneaten fried river fish and a water bag full of beer at his waist, and returned to the yard of the ferry management office.

Knight Lanisa was talking to a well-dressed middle-aged man, and there were several locals following them. From what I hear, it seems to be a local guide.

The other hunters were holding wooden soup bowls in one hand and soaking bread in the hot soup with the other, enjoying themselves.

Seeing Kil coming over with his belly in his arms, they all nodded with satisfaction, and Kil waved his hand to indicate that they didn't need to care.

Knight Lanisa saw Kil walking over with a full stomach and glared at him: "You all have eaten what you have eaten and what you have eaten. Is this knight still hungry?"

Kil chuckled and said, "Sir Knight, the food in the tavern outside called Drunkard is good. You can go and try it. It's still early anyway."

The female knight snorted, and the middle-aged man next to her just said in a flattering manner: "Lady Lanessa, this young man is right. Our tavern here entertains guests from all over the world. The guest's satisfaction. Since you haven't eaten yet, why don't we go over and eat first, and use this time to let my men explore the ice on the river. What do you think?"

"Lead the way." Knight Lanisa was actually hungry. After all, compared to ordinary people, their knights generally eat more, so they were actually a little hungry now.

The middle-aged man gave some instructions to several local guides, and then accompanied Knight Lanisa to the tavern across the yard. The local guides first ran to their carriage and pushed it. This situation made Kiel and the others very nervous. After all, the things on the carriage were valuable. Those metal clips were not cheap, and other supplies They are also very important to their expedition and hunting.

But fortunately, after Keir passed with his sword, the guides explained the situation to him.

It turns out that there has been heavy snowfall recently and the temperature is very low, so the Kendall River has been completely frozen. The ferry that usually travels to and from various areas in Hekou Town has been frozen in the port.

It's not impossible to find a way to get the boat out, but it's not necessary. Because the current river channel is already suitable for pedestrians to cross it, and no one has ever been heard of falling under the ice.

In this case, a secretary responsible for managing the local area asked them, the guides who traveled on the river all year round, to see if the carriage brought by Knight Lanisa could cross the river on the ice.

"So that's it." Kil came closer and watched them push the carriage, testing the weight of the carriage.

After roughly estimating the weight of the carriage, the guides went to the ferry management office, took out some ice-breaking tools, and followed the rocky road at the dock to the frozen ice of the Kendall River.

Kil came to the entrance of the yard and looked at the guides.

They first used an ice pick to make a dent in the ice, and then used a long drill with a handle to press into the groove in the ice. Then two people held one on each side, grabbed the handle of the drill and started spinning in circles.

A long drill with a hard metal tip quickly drilled a hole two fingers wide. Then they took out the drill and inserted a wooden pole with a hook at the front into the hole to measure the thickness of the ice surface.

After measuring, they piled the drilled ice chips into the holes to fill them up, and filled the gaps with urine to harden the holes.

Repeatedly, they started from the ferry and measured straight to the center of the river.

Knight Lanisha and the middle-aged man who manages the local area returned soon. Lanissa Knight also held a wooden cup of cold beer in her hand, drinking it as she walked.

"The taste and portion of the dishes in your tavern are good, not inferior to the signature tavern in the main town across the river." Knight Lanisa seemed to be enjoying her meal, slapping the middle-aged man on the shoulder.

The middle-aged man distanced himself from the female knight without any trace, and said: "As long as you like it, to get such praise from you, I think this is the best honor for the Drunkard Tavern. "

The two came over. Knight Lanisa saw Kil standing at the door of the yard and asked, "How is it? About the ice." As she said that, she drank the remaining beer in the glass in one gulp.

Keir pointed to a few locals returning back on the river in the distance: "They are back, and the results should be available soon."

Nodding, the female knight handed the empty wine glass to a young hunter who was carrying nine empty soup bowls to the tavern to return the tableware: "Take this with you, no need to pay. This glass of wine was bought by the waitress in the tavern." of."

-

Soon, several locals who went to measure the thickness of the ice on the river returned. Their faces were flushed and they looked a little tired.

"How is the situation?" the middle-aged man asked, rubbing his sore shoulder from the female knight's beating.

Several locals bent down and said: "Reporting to your lord, the ice is already very thick. Although it is getting thinner from the river bank to the center of the river, the thickness of the ice in the center of the river can also withstand the carriages in the Lord Knight's team. "

But they added: "But the things in the carriage are very heavy. If you want to be safest, it would be better to unload part of the cargo and make an extra round trip."

The middle-aged man glanced at Lanissa Knight.

The female knight said: "It's already afternoon now. Let's unload the goods and then go over there. Come here and load the goods again. It's hard to finish before night comes. Can we finish it in one trip?"

The middle-aged people are in a bit of trouble with the locals, and there seems to be nothing they can do.

But Gere pointed to several wooden boats standing in the yard. These boats, which can accommodate at most three people, are small and light. At this time of winter, they are standing in the yard against the house.

Keir pointed to these small boats and said: "You can use these small boats."

"What to do?" Knight Lanisa asked, while the middle-aged man next to her asked someone to bring these boats over. These boats are indeed light enough that two people can lift them down and put them on the ground.

Kil walked over and pulled a small boat, and dragged it lightly in the snow-covered yard. Although he was young, his strength was better than that of several locals who were older than him.

The boat was pulled lightly by him in the yard. "You see, the bottom of this boat is not sharp, it is very flat. Just tie a rope to the back of the carriage and hit part of the cargo of the carriage onto the boat. The weight of the carriage is shared to other places. And the drag on A few of these little boats are nothing to three horses and six young men like us."

Knight Lanisa's eyes lit up: "Very good, let's do it. Everyone move quickly and try to reach the main town of Hekou Town before dark. There is a house of ours there, and we can spend the night there to rest."

The middle-aged man who managed the place obviously didn't have the energy to object or anything else, so he had to direct the people to move the wooden boats to the edge of the ferry, and then tie them together with ropes.

Keir put the belongings of the horse he had been leading into the wagon, and then used ropes to connect the saddle, reins and other items to the wagon.

Everyone came to the edge of the ferry and followed the gentle slope along the edge to the ice.

The thick ice was covered with snow, so it was not slippery and very stable.

The ropes connecting the three boats were tied to the back of the carriage, and then Keir and the young hunters removed many metal clips contained in sacks and placed them on the boats behind the carriage.

"Buffy, I'll put the boat in the ferry yard on the other side. Remember to send someone to pick it up later. I'm leaving. Thank you for your help." Knight Lanisa rode on her horse and headed towards the stone pier of the ferry. middle-aged man saying goodbye.

"Goodbye, Lady Lanessa, and welcome to come to our place again." The middle-aged man rubbed his shoulders and said insincere words.

Kil's face was full of weirdness. He didn't believe that the female knight with superhuman vision didn't pay attention to the other party's expression. This was probably due to Knight Lanissa's bad taste, or the two had known each other before.

"Let's go, honey. Everyone, I'm on the other side first. When walking on the ice, pay attention to the cracking of the ice. If something goes wrong, go back." After saying that, Knight Lanisha rode the heavy war horse, clicking, clicking. Start walking towards the opposite side.

On the hunter's side, an old hunter took the lead on Kiel's horse, and the remaining three old hunters were on the carriage controlling the direction of the carriage.

In the back, six young people, including Kiel, were in groups of two and two, holding the wooden boat on both sides and pushing it.

In fact, the main pulling force came from the horse-drawn carriage. The carriage pulled by three horses was still easier than before. The three small wooden boats behind did not bring any obvious resistance.

It seems that Kiel's plan is good.

They quickly crossed the spacious Kendall River. In the ice and snow, the gloomy weather is constantly scattering endless amounts of snowflakes. Looking north and south along the river, you can see the endless gray-white falling snow and ice. In the distance, it seems to have been connected with the same sky. How can Ren Kil I couldn't even see clearly.

The old hunters sitting on the carriage in front were afraid that the young people behind would be bored, so they simply sang a ballad to relieve their boredom.

"My love, when will you come back from this long war?"

"My husband, I never want to see that bloody relic."

"My child, I don't ask you to make meritorious deeds, nor do I ask you to be killed."

"My father, I hope to grow up quickly, fight alongside you, and let you go home as soon as possible."