Mercenaries and Adventurers

Keir scratched his head: "Were you killed by a wild beast in the wilderness?"

The wilderness in this other world is actually quite dangerous. It's better if there are more people. But if there are fewer people, all kinds of things will come and take people's lives.

The drinker shook his head: "It's just a wild beast, so it has nothing to do with Todd. After all, this kind of entrustment is done voluntarily between you and me. It costs a lot of money to complete the entrustment, and you will naturally bear the corresponding risks." .”

Kil nodded. The other party was right. Rights are equal to obligations. There is no risk in farming at home, and the corresponding value of the grain harvested every year is fixed. Going out to complete a dangerous commission, although the client gives a lot of money, but the risk conceited.

"How many people died? How did they die? You always go around and around." Seeing that the drinker opposite kept lingering on the key points and never mentioned the specific situation, Keer couldn't help it. Pull the plate with the roasted peanuts back a little.

The drinker on the opposite side immediately responded: "Not many people died. How dare so many people die? It's just that a young man fell into an abandoned ditch and froze to death."

"ah?"

This was something Keir didn't expect.

"But what does this have to do with Todd? He accidentally slipped into the ditch and froze to death. The other two living people should be responsible for this." Keir made a direct judgment.

"Hoo ho." The drinker opposite glanced at Todd and saw that Todd was already stunned. He then said with a smile: "But if the client specifically said to pay attention when entrusting, pay attention to it many years ago. Abandoned and dangerous water canal, but Todd didn’t tell his men about it when he explained it to them?”

Keir immediately looked at Todd, who had already covered his face with his hands. Apparently, what the drinker said was not a problem.

"what happened?"

Keir narrowed his eyes and asked, "What's going on?"

Todd's voice came out hesitantly from under his palm: "When the client said it, I, I forgot to write it down on the paper. I didn't think of telling them after that, hey."

The drinker next to him gloated: "Then the people came back with the body, and they clamored to question Todd and the client. This incident attracted the attention of Clerk Fulen, who was responsible for the security of the town. The person who called in the original client The owner of the farm, combined with the onlookers who heard the commission at the time, confirmed that Todd failed to inform people who were out of this dangerous and important situation. This led to the accident."

"I heard that the abandoned canal was planned and prepared when Kendall City was built decades ago. But later because there were not so many people to deal with the large fields in the north of the city, the canal was abandoned. After waiting, the population increased. Later, it was opened separately. The owner of the farm also came up with the idea of ​​​​this aqueduct after hearing the elders in the family talking about it."

"Although the northwest of Kendall City does not have as fertile fields as the northern part near the river, the terrain is relatively flat. If there is a canal for water supply, it will definitely be a good land. But this happened, ah." Speaking of this, the drinker couldn't help but He didn't say anything more, just sipping his own beer with Kiel's roasted peanuts.

-

Keir bumped into the speechless Todd: "So, how will things be handled after that?"

Todd pursed his lips and said in embarrassment: "The client explained the dangers, but I didn't explain them to them, causing them to pay attention to the dangers when walking in the snow-covered wilderness. The main responsibility lies with me."

"I have to compensate people."

Keir was a little surprised: "No need to go to jail? Or get a few whippings?"

Todd punched Kil, but Kil couldn't stand it.

He rubbed his fists: "After all, it is a dangerous commission. You are at your own risk. Moreover, one person fell into the ditch, and the other two people who were traveling with him did not find help immediately. Mr. Fullon said that they are also responsible, so we don't have to be punished, but for the dead It is necessary for people to lose money.”

Seeing what Kiel was going to ask, Todd spoke first: "They each have five silver coins. I bear the main responsibility. I have to pay at least two gold coins, plus all funeral expenses."

Kil blinked, not knowing what to say, and finally just complained softly: "Hey, human life is so cheap."

A young laborer was only worth three gold coins, which left him speechless.

-

After drinking, Keer hinted that if Todd didn't have enough money, he could ask him to borrow it, but Todd said that he had savings, and Keer's previous commission still brought him some extra income.

After walking out of the tavern, Kil went all the way down to the small stone castle at the gate of the city.

I asked the guard guarding the door and confirmed that Knight Crow was inside at this time, training the guards and some of the strongest militiamen. He asked the gatekeeper to tell the knight to come.

Soon, the guard came out and motioned for Keir to follow him into the stone castle.

Keir has been to this place once and it looks low and low from the outside, but in fact most of it is hidden underground.

Following the guards who led the way down, Kil guessed that not far from the underground stone fortress, there should be the drainage outlet of the city's underground sewer. Thinking about it this way, the construction of the entire Kendall City is still very complicated. Some key places seemed to be placed in the underground area. If the rumors he heard in the tavern were correct, then there should be complex terrain underneath the upper town of Kendall.

In the training ground below the ground, Crow Knight is training the guards to fight in teams with selected elite militiamen. He wore a set of khaki scale armor, with a bright thick silk scarf around his neck. He did not wear a helmet, but hung the helmet that matched the armor on the right side of his waist.

He was holding a thick and long wooden stick in his hand, and was using the stick to move the militiamen who were moving out of position.

"Stay closer! When fighting in such a narrow place, raise your shields and stand close together." He said loudly, and at the same time waved his hand, asking the second row of militiamen to hold up the front row of militiamen. back.

"The people in the front hold the shield and let the people behind push you away. Remember, hold the shield with both hands to save energy!"

The militiamen were driven by his wooden pole into a pile and walked back and forth around the underground training ground.

Noticing Kiel come down with a guard guarding the door, he waved his hand for the deputy to take his place.

Knight Crow glanced at Kiel, nodded with satisfaction and said: "The physical training is okay, follow me to Kiel. Talk here." Then he asked the guard to go up to see the door, and he opened a wooden door on the side of the training ground and walked out Go in.

There were some people handling paperwork working inside. When Keir looked over, he felt they looked familiar. He was led by Knight Crow to a person. Knight Crow pushed Kiel up and said, "This is Joe Kiel. You have seen him in the camp, right."

The person in question quickly stood up and tidied up his appearance, glanced at Kiel and said: "Yes, sir, I have seen this brave militiaman in the camp. Uh, young man." The man seemed to remember after he finished speaking. Kiel is not a local, and naturally he is not a member of the militia this winter.

But despite this, Kil is obviously a Kendall, and he has made some contributions in the process of conquering the bandits in the mountains and forests.

"Very good. He hasn't received the reward for defeating the bandits before. Now let's get it from you." Knight Crow patted Kil's shoulder: "Follow the other party and get the reward for your previous achievements in fighting the bandits." , I will direct the training outside. Come out to me after you get the money."

Kil nodded quickly: "Yes, Lord Knight."

The knight walked out of the room, and the staff in front of him also sat down, and asked Keir to sit opposite him. Then, the man rummaged around and found a newly made thick book. He flipped through many pages before stopping on one page.

Kil looked over and found that some of his information was recorded on it, as well as various achievements he had made during his participation in this year's militia's campaign against bandits.

The other party began to ask about the specific battles that Kiel participated in and the results of the battles. Kiel answered honestly. Every time he confirmed one, the other party would make a mark with an ink pen on the back of Kiel's achievements.

Some of the things recorded above were not only battles, but also things like reconnaissance and map drawings, which was something Kiel didn't expect. After confirming the last item and killing one of the bandit leaders, the staff on the other side was a little surprised and asked Keir to calculate all the achievements and the money converted from them.

After the calculation, the other party told Kiel a number.

"So many? I didn't expect that drawing maps would have so many achievements." Kil didn't expect that after killing the bandit leader, the most important achievement was to draw the battle instruction map for the battle.

The other scattered killings of ordinary bandits have little value.

Compared with the previous two.

Later, after the staff confirmed Keel's bounty, he asked Keel to sign the page and press a finger print with clay.

Keir complied one by one.

Then the other party took out a metal sign, wrote an amount of money on a piece of wood fixed on it with silver ink, then dried the metal sign close to the candlelight next to it, and then handed it to Keir.

"Look for the metal window in front of the wall at the back. Give your stuff to the people inside and they will give you the money."

After saying that, the staff member motioned for Keir to come over.

After thanking the other party, Keir walked to the back wall and knocked on the closed metal window.

Boom boom.

The window opened, and a small metal window the size of a human head stretched out a hand, motioning for Keir to put things on it. Kil honestly put the metal sign into the opponent's hand.

Then the other party put away his hand, pulled a mechanism, and the metal window quickly closed again.

Kil looked back and saw that the previous staff member waved his hand to signal him to wait.

Soon, the metal window opened again, and a woman's voice came from inside: "Do you have your own money bag?"

Keir quickly responded: "Yes."

"Okay, I'll give you some money."

Then, first eight gold coins were piled into a pile and pushed out by the woman inside. Keir took them and clicked them, which was correct.

Then six more silver coins were pushed out. Keir took them and counted them correctly. Finally, there was a small tray with dozens of copper coins on it and a few iron coins pushed out together.

"Return the tray to me after ordering."

This time, Keir opened his money bag without looking and poured the coins on the tray into it. The gold and silver coins were received in the money bag in the inner pocket of the clothes.

There was a chuckle from inside the metal window, which made Keir feel a little embarrassed.

After returning the wooden pallet to the owner, the metal window quickly closed.

Turning around, Kil took out a silver coin from his arms and quickly threw it on the desk of the staff member just now as he walked through the room.

There was a laugh from behind, and Kil turned his head to look. The other person nodded to him, said nothing, and quickly put away the coins with his hands.

-

Walking out of the house, he suddenly entered the lively training ground from the quiet room just now.

At this time, the guards and the militia were colliding with each other as two training teams. Both sides were wearing wooden armor for training and holding large thick wooden shields in their hands. People were squeezing and pushing each other.

"Strength, charge!" The guard quickly regained his footing after the impact, and then pushed forward as a whole under the command of a guard from behind.

In one fell swoop, the militia team that had not joined forces was defeated, pushing dozens of people from the other side back all the way to the wall of the training ground.

Seeing this, Knight Crow, who had been following both parties, shouted: "Stop!"

"Okay, you lost again this time. Do you know what the problem is?"

Facing the knight's question, a young man who was the commander of the militia nodded: "We are not working as a unit."

"That's right, although you are trying to control everyone in the team, you have forgotten that at the critical moment of the battle, your extra command is not needed. Just yell and let everyone come on, which is better than letting someone How so and so is more important. Although the team is not large, it is impossible to command, and there is no need to command everyone. Each team has their captain, and they who are crowded in the front row know who needs assistance, and there is no need for you to leapfrog behind. command."

"do you understand?"

"Understood!" was the resounding reply.

Then, Knight Crow turned his head and saw Kiel coming out, and waved to everyone: "It's getting late today, so that's all for training. Go down and eat more and train more. In a low-level battle, every soldier's Your weight is more useful than your talkative command. Okay, let's all go away."

When the guards heard that they were leaving, they immediately dispersed in twos and threes. This level of training, no, sparring, they had long been bored.

The militiamen argued with each other aggrievedly. Although they all heard what Knight Crow and the militia commander said just now, that was the consideration of the people above. The people in the team evaluated each other's responsibilities and who was who. insufficient.

When Knight Crow saw these militiamen accusing each other, he threw his cloak angrily, ignored the militiamen, and walked directly towards Kiel.

"Follow me." He said angrily, obviously having accumulated a lot of anger in the process of training elite militiamen to become a new batch of town guards.

Knight Crow's office room is also within a circle of the training ground. There is an attendant at the door. After entering, Keir took out the wrapped element crystal from his pocket.

Knight Crow didn't waste any time, took the things and put them into a small leather bag hanging around his neck. Then he asked about Kiel's previous campaign against the Northern Wolf.

It has been told twice today, and the third time Kil condensed the story. He knew that Knight Crow did not pay attention to the battles of ordinary people like them, so he only told the battle between the Wolf King and Knight Lanissa.

He still didn't say what happened to the Wolf King in the end, only that he threw the ax at the last time, and the ax hit the Wolf King in the middle of his forehead, killing him.

Knight Crow didn't sit down. He leaned against the stone wall and commented to Kil: "Your 'Water-Breaking Head' is a typical spiritual weapon, but it's just a little too active. But that's not a problem, as long as you Find the character of your weapon and just follow it."

"Follow it?" Kil was a little embarrassed.

"Do you still need to figure out its character?"

Knight Crow snorted: "Haha, this is why this kind of spiritual weapon is generally unpopular in the army. A weapon is a weapon. It only needs to be swung with the warrior's arm, and there is no need to decide who to hit!"

As he said this, he pointed to some of the swords he had in the house.

The most conspicuous thing in Knight Crow's room are the several display swords hanging on the wall. Most of these swords are different in length, width, material, shape, decoration, pattern, weight, color, etc.

"When I hold them, only I decide who to kill, not the sword in my hand! Kil, do you understand?"

Knight Crow asked, staring into Kil's eyes.

Stared by these murderous eyes, Kil swallowed hard and nodded to express his understanding.

He couldn't speak.

After learning about Kiel's recent battle situation, Knight Crow no longer dared to be interested in other things. Then Kiir was asked to leave on his own, while he went out to communicate with the new militiamen.

"Gather them all! We are all on the same team. How can we shirk responsibility from each other and blame our companions? This is just training. If in a real battle, after the battle, are you going to do the same thing?" Knight Crow's loud voice rang out again stand up.

When Kil heard the sound from behind, he shrugged his shoulders and hurried away.

-

After he walked out of the small stone fort, he chatted with the city gate guard next to him for a while. During the chat, the guards told Kil apologetically that they had been stepping up training recently and had no time to train Kil in combat skills.

Although they didn't know what the nobles above were going to do, they all felt that something might happen in the coming year, so they stepped up the training of the guards in winter.

Kil had received a hint from Knight Crow. When the spring comes, Baron Kendall will participate in a war. At that time, Knight Crow will also join the war. Kil wants to learn from Knight Crow to become a knight-level warrior. When the time comes, you have to go out together.

Not only did he have time to train him along the way, but also because Knight Crow's method belongs to the army, so naturally it has to be learned in war, so that the effect will be the best.

Kil bid farewell to the guards and looked at the sky. He felt it was still early, so he turned and walked into the craftsman area.

It's not too late yet, so the various workshops in the craftsman area are still clanging. When I walked to the door of the armor workshop, I saw that craftsman Ganner was making a new set of guard armor with his new apprentice.

"Kiel, you're here, wait a minute. Let me finish the work at hand." Ganner didn't move his hands and asked Kil to sit casually in the workshop.

As soon as Kil came in, he saw a complete set of new metal armor designed by him and made by Ganna craftsmen, put on a dummy displayed in the workshop.

This new set of full-coverage armor generally has the same style as the hard cowhide armor he wears now. But similar appearance does not mean the same on the inside.

On the contrary, because the new armor is made of all metal and is very heavy, the internal load-bearing structure in contact with the body is very different. Kiel uses the design of inner and outer armor. The inner armor is close-fitting and tough, while the outer armor is connected to the inner armor through buckles. The outer armor is also connected with hooks, which will greatly preserve the flexibility after wearing thick armor.

The armor designed by Kiel not only pays attention to protection, but also ensures the sensitivity of the wearer's movements.

At least some of the parts of traditional armor that restrict a warrior's movement have been removed with the new design.

The more he looked at it, the more satisfied he became, and he couldn't wait to put it on quickly.

But he knew that although the armor had been produced, the new armor would have to wait until it could be officially used, because it still had to undergo actual wearing experience before modifications could be made.

Some unexpected aspects of the design can only be discovered after wearing them.

In fact, there are armors that don’t require so much trouble.

It is similar to the armor worn by the Kendall guards. It is said to be armor, but the various armor parts are not mainly connected. The helmet is a helmet, the breastplate is a breastplate, and the skirt is a skirt. These parts seem to be worn between On one person, but in fact the various parts are not connected to each other.

This kind of armor does not require much complicated design, but there are large gaps between the connected parts of this kind of armor.

Generally speaking, within this thick outer armor, chain mail made with small lock rings is worn, or another set of close-fitting precision scale armor is worn, and the inside and outside are matched into one.

Whether due to production costs or technical issues, the local lord did not equip the guards with chain armor. Instead, thickened hard cowhide armor was prepared for the guards.

He had heard that in the southern region, soldiers there liked to wear chain mail armor and then cover it with a cloth armor made of strong cloth.

After wearing it like this, it is difficult for the stabbing and cutting of ordinary swords to hurt the warrior itself, and the weight is not heavy when worn this way, and the flexibility is very high.