Mercenaries and Adventurers

"Boru! How are you?" After cutting off the head of the blinded northern wolf, Kil and other young hunters gathered around him.

Bolu's face was full of pain. His arm was bitten and dragged by the northern wolf, and bitten repeatedly here. The whole arm was in tatters. At this moment, it was stuck in the sharp teeth of the wolf's mouth, and it was bleeding profusely.

"My hand, it's finished, it's finished, save me, save me." There was a lot of blood on Bolu's arm wound. At this moment, his face was a little pale and his voice was weak.

After seeing this, Kil quickly put down the weapon he was holding and opened the wolf's mouth. Everyone scrambled to take out the horrible arm that was stuck between the sharp teeth.

"It's all like this." A young hunter gritted his teeth and looked at Bolu's arm. He punched the snow with his blood-stained fist sadly, causing a few snowflakes to fly: "How will he use a bow and arrow in the future?"

"Don't worry about that for now. He's bleeding. Quick, squeeze his injured arm tightly. It can't bleed any more, or he'll be dead!" After Kiel finished speaking, he demonstrated how to control the blood in the arm where the wound was located. After that, he and the two hunters lifted Boru and moved him to the carriage.

The other two hunters held Polu's elbows and armpits tightly, holding the blood vessels in their arms tightly to prevent blood loss.

This trick is very effective. The blood that was dripping stopped quickly. Although Bolu whispered that he was cold, everyone knew that Bolu, who was wearing a thick hunter suit, was not really cold, but because he was cold. It is the loss of warm blood in the body that makes the whole body feel cold.

-

Everyone quickly carried him to the carriage, opened the wooden board at the rear of the carriage, and sent him inside the carriage.

First, ropes were used instead of hands, and the arms were tied tightly to prevent bleeding. Then, the old hunters took out the ointment prepared in advance from under the carriage driver's seat, and washed Poluna's bloody arms with the water that everyone drank from their arms, and then Apply dilute light green ointment to the arm where the muscles have been chewed open and spliced ​​together.

"Ah!!! It hurts!!" Bolu yelled and exhaled in pain.

The two old hunters looked happy and said in unison: "It hurts, it means your arm is not finished yet! You can save it!"

Bolu cursed loudly. He really couldn't bear the pain. He didn't care that the two old hunters were elders, so he uttered all kinds of obscene words.

Everyone ignored him and watched nervously as the two experienced old hunters treated Bolu's wounds.

Along with the hemostatic ointment, there was a roll of clean cotton cloth. After unfolding it, it was cut with a clean sharp blade and wrapped around Bolu's arm.

Finally, the knot was tied tightly, and after waiting for a while, the rope that bound the arms was untied.

With the very effective ointment to stop the bleeding, Polu was finally able to save his life and half of his arm, even though he was still crying out in pain.

One person took care of him while the others got out of the carriage and began to discuss Polu's situation.

"There is no problem. Although the injury is like that, at least the arm is saved and will not be amputated and become a disability." An old hunter wiped the blood stains on his hands with snow.

Only then did everyone notice that each of them was more or less stained with blood, so they all imitated it and wiped their palms with the snow at their feet.

Another old hunter looked at the northern wolves that were killed nearby: "I didn't expect them to try to ambush us. It seems that those beasts are also cunning. Well, and there are no more escape routes. This time I can do it in one breath Killing so many northern wolves was thanks to Kiel’s ability.”

Kil pulled out the long sword from his waist a little, and let everyone take a look at the long sword that now looked ordinary.

"Is it a one-time thing?"

Keir shook his head: "No, you have to bask in the sun."

Everyone looked up at the sky and found that although it was no longer snowing, it was still cloudy and there was no sun above them.

The old hunter waved his hand and asked the young people to drag the dead northern wolf over and try to recover the arrows that had been shot before. Now that Polu was seriously injured, they had to rest here for a while, or at least make a fire to keep the wounded warm.

-

Kil came to the place where Bolu was dragged by the northern wolf before, wiped the ax that was placed on the spot briefly, and then put it behind his back. The shield was also moved from the belt to hanging on the back. Then he grabbed the head of the northern wolf with one hand and walked back while holding the wolf corpse on his shoulders.

This northern wolf was not light. No one except Kiel carried the wolf carcass. They all grabbed the wolf's tail and dragged the killed northern wolf to the carriage.

"Skin all these damn things!" The old hunter rubbed his waist and said angrily to the young people.

So, everyone took out their daggers and hatchets, cut open the northern wolf from one side of the abdomen, and carefully peeled off the wolf's skin. Another old hunter simply dealt with the snow on the ground beside the carriage, raised a fire, and then took Boru off the carriage and leaned against the fire to keep warm.

"How's it going? Is it still cold now?" The old hunter fiddled with the fire to make the fire burn brighter.

"It's much better. I'm not cold anymore. It's just that my arm hurts." Bolu hissed in pain, but he still stubbornly endured most of the pain. After all, although everyone was busy working, they were all secretly working. of looking at his situation. Bolu, who wants to be strong, doesn't want to leave a weak image to everyone.

"It's okay if it hurts. Remember not to sleep for a while, wake up and eat more."

After a moment of silence, Polu asked about the condition of his arm: "My hand?"

The old hunter thought for a while and then said: "Well, I saved it. If you are sent back, maybe you can be cured by the church. But this is the decision of the Lord Knight. We have to send the supplies to the supply point camp first. That’s the most important thing right now.”

"I know. Let me lie down for a while." Polu's expression changed, and he finally leaned on the carriage wheel, using his other good hand to tighten the cold-proof hunting cloak.

-

"Hush!" After Kil dealt with a wolf, he took the spear that his companion had removed from the northern wolf and whistled towards his horse.

"Hu Lu Lu Lu." Soon, his horse came trotting over. There was a circle of snow hanging around its mouth. It was obviously that it had secretly tried to clear the snow on the ground and was looking for hay to eat.

"You just know how to eat, are you not injured?" Kil waited for the horse to come over, then touched its ears and checked its condition.

Very good, the wolves did not attack it just now. Those wolves come specifically for human hunters.

It seems that for several years the Knights of Lanessa organized winter hunter crusades, letting these clever beasts know of the ambush in advance. To be honest, if the old hunters hadn't had sharp eyesight and discovered in advance something was wrong with the snow-covered branches on the hills on the roadside, they might have been ambushed by these beasts.

By then it will definitely not be the case where only one person is injured now.

After processing the wolf skin, everyone gathered around the fire to eat something, put the gradually freezing wolf skin on the carriage, and everyone set off on the road again.

"Kiel, why do you still keep this wolf head?" In the carriage, a young hunter held a wolf head that had been decapitated by Kiel and asked Kiel, who was following the carriage.

"Ah, um, I have a friend who likes to collect the heads of monsters and beasts. I thought it would be a pity to throw those things away, so I wanted to take them back as a gift for him."

"There are still people who like this thing? It's really strange." The hunter muttered.

Next to him, an old hunter who was resting in the carriage explained: "Don't be surprised, there are many rich people who like this thing. They don't have the guts to hunt in dangerous uninhabited forests, so We had no choice but to collect some animal heads from us. But, Kil, it’s okay if the temperature here is low now. Once we get to the camp, it will be warm inside. You can’t take these things directly in, or they will stink after a few days!”

"What should we do?" Kil was dumbfounded. He thought it would be okay in such a cold winter.

"You just need to dig out all the flesh and blood inside the head, leaving only the fur and bones. Then you can let the other party find something to refill it." The old hunter talked eloquently.

"Okay! I'll do as you say, or throw the head over and I'll deal with it with a dagger right away."

-

After setting out on the road again, their group finally reached the supply point camp the next day.

Knight Lanisha had not returned from Wumihu Village yet. After Kil and the others arrived at the camp tower, they quickly unloaded the supplies and moved them to the small warehouse on the second floor. The injured Bolu was asked to rest by everyone, so he had no choice but to sleep in his own room.

Taking into account the future situation, the four old hunters asked the young people to go to the nearby forest to cut down some thick wood and return. There were sufficient tools in the camp, which could be used to get the resources needed to advance to the camp before the knights brought people back.

After all, the supply point camp is still some distance away from truly going deep into the northern forest. It may be closer to Umi Lake, but it is still not far away from the forest that the hunters will enter some time later.

So, Keir took three young hunters to cut down trees at the edge of a forest in the distance that protruded from the whole.

They have a reconnaissance alert from the distant sentry tower behind them. If the people on the sentry tower see some danger, they will blow the whistle to remind Kiel and the others to quickly retreat to the sentry tower.

Dressed neatly, he took two axes specially used for logging. After leaving the camp, Kil first sharpened these rusty logging axes on nearby rocks before setting off.

Cutting wood is not difficult. Most hunters who often wander in the forest know how to cut wood.

The first step is to choose the right tree.

A tree trunk that is too slender will not work. After all, you cannot use it even if you cut it down, and you will waste your energy and time in vain. Secondly, old trees that are too thick will not work, not only because they are difficult to cut down, but also because in such deep mountains and old forests, everyone is afraid that such old trees have mysterious powers. If you cut them down, you will be punished. Its revenge is not good.

The people, including the hunters, believe this, and so does Keir. After all, this is not the previous life. There are really all kinds of weird or incredible things in this other world.

In addition, the inside of the trunks of some old trees are mostly occupied by some animals. These animals have hollowed out part of the trunks as homes for their families. If you cut down such trees, you must be prepared to be attacked by these small or large animals. plan.

The type of tree is also very important. Some large trees look leafy and grow well, but their wood is soft, contains a lot of water, or has a lot of oil inside, which are not suitable for making things.

It is necessary to choose good materials with less moisture in the trunk, straight trunk, and dense wood. It would be better if the material of the tree itself can repel insects. This will avoid the wood being eaten by insects and ants after long-term use.

But Kiel and the others were just making simple things, so they just messed around with the choice of wood.

Several people came to the outermost edge of the protruding part of the forest and directly selected a waist-thick tree as their target for felling.

Next, there is the second point of logging. They have to choose a suitable felling angle so that the big tree that will fall down faces outward, so that they can simply trim the excess branches and then pull the entire trunk upside down with horses. Go outside the camp.

Kil had little experience at this point, so he followed the instructions of a hunter, grabbed the ax tightly and started chopping.

Where to fall, you have to chop down more trees in the first wave of swinging the axe. In this way, after the opposite side of the tree trunk is cut in half, the side with the big gap will naturally fall to this side.

Of course, it is better and safer to tie a rope to the tree before cutting it down, and then use people to pull down the tree when the cutting is almost complete.

But Kiel and the others did not bring such long and thick hemp ropes for logging. Secondly, this safe method of logging required a lot of manpower. It was difficult for the four of them to pull down the big tree after simply cutting it down. .

Lanissa Knight might be able to.

But is it possible to let the knight do this?

Of course it's impossible.

So, after Kil cut off his side in one breath, he took off his helmet while panting, hung it on his waist, and breathed in the cold air.

"Kiel, look at your head, it's steaming!" His companions laughed and teased when they saw the steam coming out of Kiel's hair.

"Hey, wait a minute, so are you. Who are you laughing at?" Kil replied. Swinging the ax at full capacity like this is very tiring, but it is indeed a good way to exercise. Not only did he exercise his body, but it also allowed him to spontaneously master several horizontal ax swinging techniques while continuously swinging the axe.

Soon, Keir learned the technique of using body breathing in conjunction with swinging the ax from his companions who were cutting down the tree trunk on the other side.

The movements of his arms are not affected by his breathing, and he is not swinging the ax continuously in one breath like Kil. Instead, two people were rhythmically using a wood-cutting ax, and they were chopping one side of the big tree back and forth.

"The tree has fallen! Be careful to avoid it!"

Everyone heard the crackling sound of the last part of the wood on the trunk of the big tree, so they all hid in a safe place that they had planned in advance to prevent being crushed by the fallen trunk of the big tree or being scratched by the branches.

boom! There was a continuous sound of crackling branches breaking.

This big tree fell down.

The top of the tree fell to the outside of the forest. A large amount of snow was blown away by the fallen tree. The snowflakes flew and hit people's faces.

When the snowflakes floating in the air fell again, the four of them walked over and chopped off the branches with axes. Thick and usable branches were taken one by one to a clearing outside.

Other small branches are also taken over. These can be used to make a fire for heating and cooking, or they can also be used to make torches.

Split one end of the thick branch, and then insert two thin branches in a cross shape. Then clamp the opened branches with more materials, fill them with animal fat or oil, and finally fill the center of the torch with some flammable material. stuff on it.

After clearing the branches except the trunk, Kiel and the others cut the trunk into sections at a distance of three meters. Otherwise, the entire heavy trunk would be impossible to move, regardless of manpower or horse power.

"Kiel, look, it's a rabbit!" A companion suddenly pointed to a piece of ground not far away that was crushed by the trunk of a big tree. Under the snow-covered ground, there was a nest of ash that was frightened by the falling tree. The rabbits carefully poked their heads out of their burrows.

The surrounding snow was blown away, and they saw the rabbit hole. Otherwise, there would be a thick layer of snow on the ground, and the rabbit would not be found anyway.

My companion is a hunter, so hunting naturally does not require him to do anything. Sure enough, with the sound of two bow strings vibrating, the gray rabbits who poked their heads out from the two cave exits very close to each other were each hit by an arrow.

"Ha, how about eating this at night? You can just peel off the skin and make a handbag for Bolu to hang around your neck." The young hunter was very happy.

He grabbed the rabbit's ears with his hands and pulled them out in one go.

Interestingly, he then lay down at the entrance of the rabbit hole and listened with his ears into the hole.

"What's wrong, is there a girl inside calling you?" Keir squatted beside him and said jokingly.

"There is no girl, but there is still a nest of little rabbits." After saying that, he got up, rummaged through the cut branches, and found a slender, soft branch.

He used his dagger to cut off one end of the branch, and then carved out a wooden hook.

Keir squatted and watched him perform.

The young hunter stretched the long branch into the rabbit hole, fiddled with it a few times, and finally stuffed his entire arm into the rabbit hole.

After a while, the branch with the wooden hook stretched out from a hole next to it.

"Wrong, wrong! Come out from the side!" Kil quickly reminded him.

"Yeah, it seems we had to go in another direction just now." After saying that, he took out his arm, and then extended the branch into the rabbit hole again.

Keir waited for him for a while, then suddenly laughed when he saw him.

"Ha, caught it. Let's go!" With the movement, he pulled the branch away from the rabbit hole.

Keir saw that hanging on the end of the branch with a wooden hook was a rabbit that was not much smaller than the gray rabbit that had been shot to death.

"Rabbits live in nests. There must be more." He grabbed the struggling little rabbit, removed the wooden hook from its fur, then broke the rabbit's neck and threw it to Keir.

Keel took the rabbit and pinned the ears of the smaller rabbit to his belt. The two largest rabbits had their ears tied in knots and rested on his shoulders.

He continued to squat next to him, watching his companion's performance while waiting for the other two companions to drive the three horses over to pull the wood: "I want to see how many rabbits you can hook out using this method!"

"Hahahaha, then you have to be prepared to be surprised. I am not bragging. This year, I have made more than 30 of them in one go at most. Although the tools are better." The young hunter said confidently.