Mercenaries and Adventurers

Keir once again explained to the middle-aged man Wick who volunteered that a group of small but experienced fishermen were needed. The key point was that they had to voluntarily participate in this action.

We cannot force the villagers to participate in such a very dangerous plan.

Wick patted his chest and agreed.

Then Kil asked 'Lake Diver' Boss to go to the village chief's house with him and ask him to provide resources to support their plan.

The three of them walked out of the dock manager's house and went their separate ways.

The village chief Corydon's home is located near the center of the village. It doesn't mean that the village chief has to live in the center of the village. It's simply that the most central area of ​​the entire village is a house where Knight Lanissa does not usually live. .

He and Bose came over quickly, and after Bose's guidance, Keel found Corydon's home.

Like other villagers, this house does not have a front yard. But the good thing is that there is a well next to the house, which is very convenient to get water.

The house is three stories high. Obviously the village chief's family has a large population.

Keir stepped forward and knocked on the door, and the thick wooden door made a dull sound. "Kiel, you have to use this." Bowes pointed to a small metal rod installed on the wooden door. Next to the metal rod, there was another small metal ball that could move freely hanging on a rope.

Just look at Kiel and you'll know how to use it.

This thing is a primitive doorbell.

He twisted the metal ball with his fingers, and then tapped twice on the short metal rod fixed to the door.

Ding ding!

There was a clear sound of metal collision. Not only were there sounds outside the door, but the metal rod passed through the other end of the wooden door, vibrating and making a crisp sound that attracted people's attention inside the house.

Soon, there were two or three footsteps approaching the door.

The thick wooden door opened, and Kil saw a middle-aged woman and a man and woman of similar age to him.

"Who are you? Oh, Grandpa Baos, you are here too. You are here to be the head of the family, right? He and my husband are still at Ximen. It's cold, and they would rather stay at the village gate to train the boys than go back. Home, really.”

The middle-aged woman was a little cautious when she saw Kiel, but after seeing the old man Baos next to Kiel, she relaxed a lot and knew that she should be here to see her father-in-law to deal with village affairs.

The young men and women nearby returned to the house, leaving only the man waiting impatiently for the middle-aged woman to chatter.

"Oh, thank you, thank you for letting me know. Warrior Kil and I will go to the west gate of the village to find Corydon. Sorry to disturb you, and say goodbye." Boss thanked him, then took Kil and left.

When they were far away, Bowes complained that the Corydon daughter-in-law was a complete nag, and could repeat the same thing three or four times.

Passing through the village streets due west, we quickly arrived at the west gate that we entered Wumihu Village yesterday.

Unlike yesterday, when I came back today, the militiamen guarding under the gate immediately opened the small door leading up to the house above as soon as they saw Kiel.

After thanking the unknown militiamen, Keir and Boss walked through the stairs behind the wooden door, turned back and went up, and arrived at the room above the west door.

The place here is quite large, with simple wooden beds for the militiamen to rest without going home, racks for placing spears, two unstrung longbows, and large pieces of linen hanging on the wooden walls.

The map of Umihu Village and the general topography of the surrounding area are painted on the linen cloth with dull paint.

There are many openable wooden windows on the wooden wall on the side facing the outside of the village, but because it is winter, they are all closed at the moment. In the spacious house, multiple fire-resistant stone basins were used for heating. Some militiamen who had just walked half a circle along the village wall were warming themselves around the flames in the stone basins.

There were also several militiamen lying on wooden beds soundly asleep. It seemed that these were militiamen who needed to watch at night.

Keir glanced around and didn't see the old man Coryden with a messy beard, but the old man's son happened to be there.

After walking over and explaining his purpose, the other party asked Kil and Bose to wait a moment, because his father was leading people to patrol the wall. Because it is just a short section of the wall heading north from the west gate to the pier, you will be back soon.

They found a stone basin with few people around, and the two of them warmed themselves over the fire for a while before the waiting people came.

-

A dog-skin curtain facing the north at both ends of the house was forcefully opened, and the village chief, Coryden, rubbed his cheeks and led the two in.

As soon as he came in, he saw Keir and 'Lake Diver' Bowes waiting at the edge of the nearest stone basin.

"Ha, let me just say, the people sent by the lord are definitely not wrong. No, the two of you came to me together. Does this mean that you already have a plan, Kil?"

The bearded Coryden was very excited, rubbed his hands and strode over, but his legs and feet seemed to have old injuries, so he was limping.

"Yes, old man. I had a brief discussion with Mr. Wick and Mr. Boss at noon and learned some specific information about sunken fish and their complicated relationship with the fishermen in the village."

Coryden narrowed his eyes and then looked at Bos: "You also told me about your son, right? I hope you didn't forget to mention it."

Boss nodded silently: "If Keir can deal with those capsized fish, there's no need to hide the matter, right? Both Wick and I told him what happened at the beginning."

Coryden patted Bos on the shoulder hard. There was still a certain size difference between the two, which made Bos shake hard before he could stand still.

"So Kil, what do you say?"

Taking into account that there were many village militiamen around, Kil pulled the two of them to the closed wooden window and whispered here: "Mr. Boss has fought against the sunken fish alone before, but obviously, They are not existences that we can easily fight against. But Wake and his fishermen came up with an ingenious way."

"Oh, tell me." Coryden urged, excited.

"Well, don't the sunken fish like to eat prey that moves on the ice of the water, so we prepare some food specially fed to them. However, the stomachs of these 'foods' are filled with sharp and tough blades and iron thorns. As long as the capsizing fish swallow the food whole, even if they crush it with their teeth, those blades will still enter their stomachs."

His fist hit his palm with a snap, and Coryden shouted excitedly: "That's right! No one's intestines and stomach are as solid as the outer shell. Those blades and spikes will cut the stomach and intestines! Ha! Bleeding will cause the stomach and intestines to break apart." They bleed to death!”

He quickly reacted: "So you came to me to ask me to prepare things, right? Don't worry, although we will have to farm again next spring, I know that there are still some remaining iron ingots in the blacksmith shop. If it doesn't work, just Melted the treasure that the drunk guy had in his house."

Then he muttered: "Anyway, he is the only one who treats me as a treasure, so ugly."

"Oh, yes, there are also prey that can be equipped with blades. I will arrange for people to go to the forest to find a way to get them."

Kil interrupted Coryden: "No, as for the prey, I should prepare it! You see, this plan can't have nothing to do with me, right? After all, I was sent by Knight Lanissa to carry out this plan. The person chosen for the task must contribute to the plan.”

The two old men looked at each other: "Okay, I'll leave it to you."

-

Early the next morning, Keir was awakened by the tinkling sound of forging in the blacksmith shop not far from the hotel.

Unlike other villages, these main buildings in Wumihu Village were built on the original central square of the village, and they were all very close together.

So as soon as the sound of blacksmithing was heard over there, in the third-floor room of the hotel over here, Keir couldn't sleep anymore.

In fact, he heard a lot of people in the blacksmith shop last night.

First there was a quarrel between Coryden and the blacksmith, and then there was the blacksmith's soft plea. After waiting for a while, there was the noise of militiamen carrying charcoal and coal from the village warehouse. By dawn, the blacksmith shop was very busy, and many people were helping to raise the stove.

No, as soon as it gets dark, they will start making the knives and iron thorns that will be used later.

Yesterday afternoon, Keel asked Mr. Boss to design a rough shape of the knife and iron spur that should be able to kill the capsized fish based on the size of the capsized fish and the possible size of its digestive system.

The next morning here, the village became busy.

"I have to hurry up." Kil poured water from the kettle into the basin, washed his face with cold water, and became completely energetic.

He made some preparations and then loaded his backpack with a small barrel of ale bought from the village tavern yesterday. This is the 'special prop' used to open the mouth of the drunkard in the mill.

Keir has gradually mastered a gentle method of making people speak.

There are few middle-aged men who would refuse a bucket of wine brought to their lips, let alone a heavy drinker.

Picking up the horse's saddle, Kil locked the door and walked out of the house.

First, they had a quick bite to eat in the hotel lobby, and then Kil got a bundle of long loaves of bread tied with a rope from the hostel owner's daughter. This is the food he ordered last night and the money was paid yesterday.

"Here you go, please eat it as soon as possible. Even though it's winter, if you keep it for a long time, you have to soak it in water before you can eat it. It will be so cold that you can't bite it." Amy also specially gave Kil a small reminder. Awake.

"Okay, I understand. It seems like I have to prepare a small iron pot later?" Kil thought after eating.

When I arrived at the village house where the horses were stored, I saw Mr. Wolf entertaining a group of new business travelers as soon as I entered the door. These people had just arrived in the village in the morning, and were now inspecting the quality of the materials shipped in the caravan trucks by the village chief Corydon and the village stewards next to the village house.

"Good morning." Kil said hello to Mr. Wolf with a smile on his face.

It seemed that he was a little distracted, and Wolf came back to his senses at this time: "Ah, yes, good morning. I didn't expect you to move so fast, Kiel Warrior. Yesterday, when Coryden called everyone to take action, I was shocked. But that’s okay, I just hope you can be careful. Those things in the water are really dangerous.”

Immediately, he put down the notes in his hand, quietly came over and whispered to Keir: "You may not know that our village has never been killed by sunken fish. In fact, many people died."

Kil's body almost tensed up when he quietly came over. He resisted to prevent his palm from touching the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Hearing Wolf's whisper, Kil nodded: "Thank you. In fact, Mr. Boss told me this specifically yesterday. His youngest son also died in the mouth of the sunken fish."

"You know? That's good. It turns out that Baos's youngest son is also dead. That guy kept saying that his youngest son ran away to make a living and never came back. Humph, it turns out he was dead a long time ago."

Kil glanced at him secretly: "You don't know? They are all from the same village. It seems that this matter is kept secret very well."

Wolf's voice became even softer now: "Of course, didn't you see those businessmen next to you? The invasion of northern wolves would have been very troublesome. Once they know about the sunken fish, they will be like lice." Damn this guy, I don’t know how much property he is going to take away from our village!”

"Oh, I couldn't agree more." Keir shrugged.

No more talking, and after asking where his horse was, Keir walked over holding the harness.

After not seeing each other for two days, Kiel's horse was obviously in much better spirits and no longer as tired as when he first arrived in the village. Seeing the appearance of its owner, Kil, it happily raised its head and shook it up and down.

"Come on, friend, it's time to go out for a walk." Kil called the village groom who took care of the horses and asked the other professional to install a complete set of harness for his horses.

Just as Kil was leaning on the edge of the courtyard of the village house waiting for the horses, the hidden werewolf Wolf appeared in front of Kil again.

"Kiel Warrior, I don't know where you are going? Aren't you going to deal with the sunken fish? Are you leaving so soon?"

Kil smiled: "Oh, of course not. I am going to hunt some prey around the village. This is specially prepared for sunken fish. You know, in order to deal with them, you have to prepare some bait first. A few are delicious and juicy. How about the forest deer?”

"Forest deer? Please be careful. Although our knight lords and you hunters defeated the northern wolves in the big forest, it does not mean that the surrounding area is completely safe. You know, there are always endless deer in the forest. Weirdness and monsters. They fascinate and kill, declaring that this is no place for us humans.”

Wolf said with a serious face.

Keir almost couldn't help but mock, should your name be added to those monsters? How many fatal things are related to you?

But he still held back and didn't say anything. If he did, he wasn't really afraid of the other party. He just started fighting in the village like this. He didn't know how many innocent villagers would be killed before he completely defeated the other party.

Moreover, Knight Lanisa also explained that there was really no other way, and asked him to go to the young priest of the church first, and let the two of them deal with the werewolf Wolf together.

But this will make Knight Lanissa bear some costs.

Kil nodded silently, which meant that he knew and there was no need to say anything.

When Wolf saw that Kil didn't seem to want to talk, he left here on his own and continued to entertain merchants and caravan guys in the village house.

After thanking the groom, Keir got on the horse and rode out through the open back door of the backyard. Some children gathered around the door of the blacksmith shop and looked inside. He saw a horse riding a horse, wearing armor and a wolf fur cloak. The children in the burqa came over in a swarm.

For fear that the horse would be frightened and hurt the children who were approaching, Keir quickly got out of the saddle and led the horse slowly toward the east gate.

His little hands, which were red from the cold, were touching the cloak, and Kil had no choice but to laugh and ask the children not to touch it again. Those innocent eyes looked at the armor inside the cloak curiously, and they kept commenting on how it compared with Knight Lanissa's armor.

"Okay, okay, please stop talking. My armor is far inferior to Knight Lanissa's armor." He was really frightened, but he had no good way to get rid of these little guys.

He had an idea, took out a few iron coins from his money bag, shook them at the children, and then threw them out where they came from.

Ouyang Wuyang, a large group of children ran over to pick up the iron coins, but some little ones who had not yet realized what a good thing the coins were, insisted on touching Kiel's horse.

"Oh my God." Kil was convinced. After thinking for a while, he took out a bundle of bread from the backpack hanging on the horse. These were soft bread with orange crust baked just last night. , this is the most delicious time.

Kiel tore a loaf of bread into small pieces and fed them one by one to the children surrounding him.

The little guys held the bread given by Keir in their cold red hands, and put some of it directly into their mouths, making their little mouths bulge. And some of them ran away holding the bread in their arms.

Keir looked at them and found that some of their homes were nearby, so he sneaked back home and gave the delicious little piece of bread to the adults in the family.

Not wanting to see such a sad thing, Kil remounted his horse and let the horse trot away.

-

The militiamen at the east gate had been notified by the village chief Coryden and his son in the morning, so as soon as Kil came over, they immediately opened the gate diligently for Kil.

Therefore, the huge wind mill tower that can be seen as soon as the door is opened is on the gentle slope in the distance directly opposite the east gate.

"drive."

Keir identified the vaguely visible roads and was careful not to let the horses step into the long-abandoned fields around the village.

The environment at the east gate is similar to that at the west gate of the village. It can be seen that there used to be large fields surrounding the village. Wumihu Village should still be very comfortable and wealthy. However, the difficult environment in these years has made the villagers of Wumihu Village eat a lot. of suffering.

But at that time, it was better to suffer than to die.

But now, with the efforts of Kiel and the others, this remote village should be able to overcome all its hardships.

It was not until this time that Kiel realized that they were in the dangerous and cold forest with hundreds of northern wolves and their leader, the sad wolf king who was trapped in the body of the wolf. What did men's fighting bring to the people on this land?

It was the hope of a new life, the farewell to the hard old days.

"Huh." He galloped against the cold wind.

Horse hooves carry snowflakes to the mill that once represented wealth.

You may be able to survive by praying to God, but if you want a new life, you have to rely on the weapons in your hands. Only then did Kil understand a little bit why Knight Lanissa and her fellow hunters had to fight to the death against the Northern Wolves in winter every year.