Mercenaries and Adventurers

"Finally back." Kil sighed as he took a deep breath of the cold air.

The air in Kendall City is as cold as other places, but it smells more like the ashes of burning wood. It is the smell of burning wood fuel for the daily life of the people in the city and the production of the craftsmen in the Artisan District.

I didn't think these smells were good before, but after staying in a deserted place in the forest for a long time, I missed these smells that I didn't like before.

People are really strange.

The team went south around the outer wall of Kendall City, and then approached the main gate of Kendall City along the gradually rising terrain.

The ones standing guard at the door were still the town guards that Kiel was familiar with.

The guards greeted Knight Lanisa from a distance and then let the carriage driven by Kiel into the city without checking. However, the caravan following them was stopped and was inspected by the guards honestly.

-

As soon as they entered the city, Knight Lanisa signaled everyone to return to the hunter's stronghold first, and she jumped off her horse and walked into the guard stone castle at the gate of the city.

Kiel and the others turned right and walked along the main town avenue.

He quickly walked to the government office and turned into the side road.

Kendall City has sent people to clean even this kind of rarely traveled path. It is completely different from the large areas outside the city. For a long time after the previous snowfall, the snow in the fields still covered the ground. superior.

"Yo ho ho, we're finally back." The old hunter shouted cheerfully, but then he sighed and turned his head to look at the two tightly wrapped corpses stacked inside the carriage behind him.

Shaking his head, a young hunter jumped down and used the key to unlock the door of the hunter's stronghold, and pushed the door open to let the carriage enter.

The interior of the stronghold is in order, and there is no depression like a long time without people. It seems that during their absence, there will still be people here occasionally to take care of the house.

Keir dismounted and sent the horse he was riding and the two horses pulling the cart into the stable, and then removed the saddles, rein covers and other equipment from them.

The other young hunters began to move the supplies down from the carriage, unloading them temporarily in the middle space of the front yard. The old hunters walked into the house and lit the fire in the house.

The old hunter Tost looked at the corpses of his companions on the ground for a while, told everyone, turned around and walked out of the stronghold, and went to inform the families of the two deceased people about the specific situation.

Kil didn't care about that. After all, he had only joined the hunter team for a short time, so he took care of the three horses by himself.

Use a brush to brush the hair of the three horses vigorously, and use a fine brush dipped in medicinal powder to carefully clean the hair of the three horses, remove the dust, grease and parasites on it, and brush the knotted horse hair on the horses smooth. The three comfortable horses purred and neighed.

Then he would fetch water from the well and feed them to drink. He would also bring over the hay piled aside and break it into pieces for them to eat.

After Keir finished doing this, seven or eight people followed the old hunter Tost into the front yard.

These people were not in high spirits and gathered around the two corpses on the ground. They carefully removed the coarse cloth wrapping the corpse's face, revealing the two young and old hunters underneath who had been dead for a long time.

Their close family members knelt beside the corpse and cried and cried, while the family members who were not close to each other just gathered around and asked other hunters about the specific circumstances of the death of the deceased.

After hearing that both of them were killed by the Northland Wolf King after he collapsed the defensive wooden wall, they no longer cried so much. For the family members of the dead hunter, they died in the battle and were still alive. It's quite dignified.

At least it was much better than the three people before the hunter team who died inexplicably in the mouth of the monster.

At the same time, a young priest from the Church of the God of the Dead who came with the crowd also came out. He simply touched the faces of the two deceased people with his hands, spoke some lengthy eulogies in a measured tone, and expressed his feelings. Most of the souls have left this world, but there are still some souls left in the body, so the final farewell and cremation ceremony must be carried out early.

Tost promptly explained the funeral arrangements of the old hunter who had always believed in the God of Hunting during his lifetime. His family also expressed that they would prepare a posthumous ceremony in the style of the God of Hunting as soon as possible.

The young man who died had no faith, so his family carried the body and left here together with the priests of the Church of the God of the Dead.

Tost also whispered to the close family members of the two deceased people that they could go to Lanisha Knight to collect the deceased's pension. Although it was not much, it was not a small amount of money for ordinary families.

If they don't know how to find Knight Lanissa, they can always come here to find him and take him there.

The body of the dead old hunter was taken directly home by his family. They had one day to hold a simple farewell ceremony at home, but the body still had to be sent to the church for processing as soon as possible, and the church would burn the body to ashes. , it’s up to the family of the deceased to do whatever they want.

As far as Keir knows, the Kendal people generally follow the customs of the empire. Ordinary smaller families will put the ashes of their deceased relatives into strong stone boxes at home, and randomly select a stone of suitable size in the house to put them. Original building materials were exchanged for stone boxes containing the ashes.

It has the meaning of being reluctant to say goodbye to your family and allowing the souls of the deceased who may exist in the ashes to bless the family's house.

However, if it is a large family, most of them have a room dedicated to storing the ashes of the deceased. This is a common practice for families with a large population.

But if the family is stronger, most of them will like to put the ashes of the deceased into exquisite metal cans and store them in the hall of the Church of the God of the Dead. After all, the church has always claimed that storing the ashes of the deceased in the church can allow the remaining souls of the deceased to sleep peacefully.

On the next level, such as a noble family, there will be a special tomb dedicated to the ashes or corpse of the deceased. I heard that the church even sends priests to the tombs every year to perform magical spells and bless those who have long since died.

Let the body of the deceased grow healthily in the next life.

-

But these had nothing to do with Kiel. He took good care of the horses and helped everyone move the supplies to the appropriate place. After he was completely done, he returned to his house, lay on the wooden bed that had not been used for many days, and took a good rest.

Before noon, Kil was called by the young hunter Fick.

"Kiel, you haven't forgotten that thing we got before, right?" Fick was carrying two bags. The bags were quite big and there were things twisting inside.

Kil was a little confused, looked into the opening of the bag, and then remembered what was inside.

It was the strange silver lizard that he and Fick had shot on the road earlier when they returned to Bayou Town from the Watchtower Camp.

Knight Lanisa later said that this stuff was very filling and rare, and asked the two of them to find a place to dispose of it and eat it after they came back. It was good for the body. However, Kil had already forgotten about this matter. Unexpectedly, Fike was still thinking about this thing.

"Kiel got this lizard from you. I only need a little bit. These are all yours." As he said this, Fick took the small bag containing only the two front paws of the lizard and held the other one. The big bag containing the lizard's big head and long tail was given to Kiel.

Kil was confused, looking at the lizard head in the bag. The guy in the bag was still alive after so many days. He stared back at him, slowly opened his mouth and stretched out his tongue to sweep around. The silver tail next to him also twitched at the right time, announcing that he still had energy even after all these days.

Keir felt a little troubled. Does this thing look edible? And what should they do about it?

Facing Kil's doubts, Fike said: "You may have forgotten that Knight Lanisa told you that you can go to the tavern on the square at the city gate to find someone to deal with this thing."

But then he became worried: "But how to calculate the cost of cooking these things? If it costs too much, I won't be able to come up with the money."

"It doesn't matter. I think this thing can be put away for a while. I can find some snow piles and put this thing in it. I think it can be put away all winter. As for the cost of making it."

Keir touched his chin.

"Knight Lanissa will definitely need to treat her injuries after returning to the city. I guess she will give us a reward once her injuries are healed."

-

Kil tidied up the room and changed the clothes that Knight Eliza had given everyone to wear into a set of warm clothes that he usually wears. In addition, he hung the bag containing the lizard body parts outside the window. He was afraid that the room would be too hot and the things would die and rot early. You won't have to worry about this if you hang it outside.

After everything was done, he took his belongings, a wrapped pure element crystal, and a few other things, then went downstairs to say hello to everyone still in the stronghold, and went out.

The first step out was to walk up the road, and soon we came to Foxtail Chamber of Commerce.

He said hello to the doorman and made sure that President Foxtail was there at this time, so he walked up the grand staircase on the first floor to the second floor.

Half of the clerks from the chamber of commerce were in the hall on the second floor. Work was reduced in winter, so they had nothing to do. They didn't want to go home and be nagging their wives, so those clerks who had married families came to the chamber of commerce and sat here all day. .

When something happens, just do some work; when nothing happens, just chat with guys you’ve known for many years and have endless conversations.

Chamber of Commerce stewards and Chamber of Commerce clerks are two different circles. The stewards usually talk about the prices of materials in various places, and plan with their friends where to go, how long to go, and how much profit they can make from one business trip.

The topics the guys talked about were even wider, including anecdotes about various villages and towns, where were the prostitutes' huts that only accepted acquaintances, and even the difference in the taste of the wheat flour in that village compared to other places.

As soon as Keir walked up, they all greeted him.

And a bag in Kiel's hand also aroused their curiosity.

Kil winked and took out the contents of the bag for everyone to see. It turned out to be a complete head of a northern wolf. He hadn't dealt with it much since it was chopped off. He just rubbed some coarse salt on the broken neck to ensure that it would not rot.

It's a pity that after a few days, this thing is still a little wilted. The originally bright beast eyes now seem a little shrunken and they don't look very energetic.

Kil briefly talked about his experiences these days, which aroused the curiosity of everyone on the second floor of the Chamber of Commerce. Even the old President Foxtail walked out of his house and happily played with the Northern Wolf head that Keir wanted to give him.

"Where is Mr. Jamra? Why didn't I see him?" Kiel asked since he didn't see Jamra.

"Jamla went to Bingxengguan to handle some entry and exit procedures for next year." A steward explained to Keir.

It turns out that large local chambers of commerce like the Huwei Chamber of Commerce have preferential procedures for doing business at local checkpoints, and at this time, the chamber of commerce will also give gifts to some officials, big and small, who are responsible for this.

They are all gifts of various values ​​given according to the power in the hands of officials.

Of course, Foxtail Chamber of Commerce does not have many external trade routes. It mainly uses its influence with local nobles to be responsible for the circulation of local materials in Kendall. Many of the knight lord's affairs are handled through them. This is not only efficient, but also prevents the knight lord's family from secretly swallowing up the knight's property.

Of course, there are also knights who trust their family and friends more, and either handle their own affairs themselves, or let their own people be responsible for supervising the work of the Chamber of Commerce when dealing with the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce.

But even if this is the case, it is already a covetous thing for many small and medium-sized chambers of commerce that cannot get involved.

Anyway, it was still early, so Kil happened to be in the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce, sipping hot tea and cookies freshly baked by Aunt Luna, and briefly recounted the expedition against the Northern Wolf.

Even if he just spoke briefly once, by the time he finished speaking, it would already be afternoon. When he walked out of the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce, Kil had a full stomach of tea and snacks, but he was not hungry at all.

He then went to the Table Corner Tavern and met Todd who looked a little sad.

"What's going on? You look so ugly?"

Todd was absentmindedly wiping the wine table, but when he heard Keer's voice, he immediately turned around: "Kiel! Long time no see. How are you?"

Kil waved his hand and said: "I just came back from North County with Knight Lanisa. Ah, the winter forest is really difficult."

Todd looked excited: "I just heard that you completely defeated the wolves that were ravaging the north this time, and you also killed a huge wolf king, right?"

"Who did you listen to? The news spread so quickly?" Kil was surprised. They just returned to Kendall City in the morning, and now it was only the afternoon, and specific news had come out.

what happened?

Todd returned to the bar and drank a glass of the frothy beer that Kiel liked to drink: "Sent to you, winter news is the fastest thing in the sky. Hehe, I actually got it from a guy from the Chamber of Commerce who came for lunch. That’s what I heard.”

As soon as Kil thought about it, he guessed that he was from the caravan that was returning with them on the last journey, so he took the beer Todd gave him and took a sip of the foam on the beer.

"Ah, this tastes like this. If I hadn't drank so much tea, I would have dried up the beer I had been thinking about so much before." When he said this, Keir rubbed his belly with a melancholy look on his face.

When he shook his waist now, he could hear the water ripples in his stomach.

Todd ignored Kil's words, quietly leaned over and asked in a low voice the details of Kil's trip.

Kil had a helpless look on his face as he had to repeat what he had just said not long ago, but because of Todd's curiosity, he had no choice but to tell it again.

Similarly, taking into account the factor of fame, Gere spoke loudly so that the drinkers in the entire tavern could hear clearly.

Most of these drinkers who come to the tavern to chat and kill time during the winter day know little Kil. They know that this little guy who has only been here for less than a year is an out-and-out activist. Now when they hear the story of his crusade, they are rich in The details left no doubt in their minds that Keel's story was true.

Keir omitted some unimportant details and focused on the process of their hunters fighting on the rocky mountain. As for defeating the Wolf King, Keir just ignored it and only said that it happened, but did not tell the story at all.

The other drinkers didn't pay attention to this. After Keir finished speaking, they all gathered together in twos and threes and discussed the battles of the hunters enthusiastically.

Some people felt that it was inappropriate for them to stick to the rocky mountain. If they had not finally found a way down from the top of the mountain, they would all have died on the top of the mountain soon. Some people think that this is not the case. Even if there is no such road, no living person will die of thirst in the rain. Don’t the hunters have so many ropes? They can find a way to climb down from other parts of the mountain without hands. The Northern Wolf could only watch.

Todd felt that the final incident against the Wolf King was a bit strange from Keel's description.

He called Kil to the bar with a wooden plate of roasted peanuts and asked Kil in a low voice about things related to the Wolf King.

Kil raised his eyebrows. He was an eyewitness and participant in Knight Lanisa's battle with her father until the last moment. How could he tell the specific things without Knight Lanisa's permission.

So Kil just roughly gave the same explanation as other hunters. The battle was fierce, but the end result was mediocre. Knight Lanissa showed off her power, while Kil only made some 'small' contributions.

Seeing that Todd still had doubts, Keir changed the subject and asked about the work that Todd had organized by himself to handle public entrustments.

This time, Todd was stopped in his tracks. Seeing that Todd looked as sad as before he came to the tavern, Keir raised the corner of his mouth and continued to ask questions.

A drinker next to him heard this and came over to eat a few roasted peanuts on the Kiln plate. He winked and ridiculed: "Haha, little Kil. You just came back from the north. I don't know what those people Todd was looking for." , and now we are arguing with him to break up."

Todd gave the drinker a roll of his eyes, but didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything himself, so it was okay to let others speak out. Although it was equally embarrassing, at least he was not particularly embarrassed.

"What's going on? Please tell me carefully." Keir pushed the roasted peanuts and motioned for the drinker to enjoy them as he pleased.

The other party was not polite. He picked up his half-drunk glass and poured peanuts into his mouth.

"Although the few people Todd originally found are not very capable, they are still very familiar with our Kendall City. After discussing with Todd about taking your job, they have handled a few things in the city."

After taking a sip and eating a few peanuts, the man continued.

"But what's the point of just wandering around the city? Although our Kendall City is large and has many people, after all, there are not so many commissioned tasks that can make money. "

Keir raised his eyebrows: "So they all went out of the city? It's such a cold weather?"

When he Zhao Ji first started, it was still very hot in early autumn. At that time, even if he stayed outside in the wilderness at night, he could survive it by just wrapping himself casually. However, the person Todd was looking for came out in this cold, cold weather. A snowy winter.

Something must have happened.

He judged this. After all, the area near Kendall City was fine, but if you went a little further away from the town, the traces of human transformation of nature would be buried under the thick snow.

"Isn't that right? I heard that Todd found a job for them before. It was entrusted by the owner of a farm near the forest wilderness in the northwest outside the city. He said that he wanted to take advantage of the winter when there were no wild animals in the wild to carefully check whether A large area of ​​uncultivated land northwest of Del City.”

The man paused and then said: "Everyone knows that after snowing, the wilderness is completely white. Without distant indicators, it is impossible to distinguish the north, south, east, and west. As a result, something happened."

The man said this and glanced at Todd.

Todd pursed his lips tightly and looked down at the wooden bar. He wiped the smooth bar table with a dry cloth in his hand. He didn't know what he was doing.

"Something happened?" Kil still didn't know what exactly happened, but obviously, some of those people should have died.

"Yes, those young people got lost in the vast white wilderness and wandered all day. When they were exhausted and planned to camp, they realized that one person was missing." Speaking of this, the drinker used He flicked the three peanuts on the wooden plate with his fingers, and then suddenly caught a peanut and put it into his mouth.

So, where he pointed, there were only two lonely peanuts spinning in place.