Mercenaries and Adventurers

The three windmills east of Wumihu Village are not far from the village.

After coming out of the east gate of the village, as long as you pass through a stretch of open abandoned fields, you can feel that the ground is gradually entering a rising gentle slope. This gentle slope faces the northwest and is greeted by the humid water vapor from Lake Umi every day.

From a distance, Kiel could see that even though the villagers had rarely used these mills in recent years, the tall windmills on those mills were still turning briskly.

Each wooden windmill has four blades. When Keir rode closer, he could hear the squeaking and turning sound coming from the tall windmill.

There is only a small wooden door at the bottom of the mill, and there are basically only some small windows that provide lighting inside. Keir observed and did not see any other entrances and exits.

"Is anyone here?" he shouted loudly towards the mill.

Just after shouting twice, a man's face appeared behind the small window in the middle of the tallest mill.

The man looked at Keir with an expressionless expression. Of course, Keir was also watching him from his horse. This man must be the drunkard who guards the mill as mentioned by the sloppy man living in the alley inside the east gate.

Kil lifted up the front of his cloak, revealing the armor he was wearing underneath, and also lifted up the cloak and wolf-head hat covering his helmet.

"Hello, I am a hunter under the lord of your village. My name is Joe Kil. You can call me Kil."

The man finally spoke, perhaps because he was drunk a lot, but his voice was dry and hoarse and he couldn't speak clearly: "Oh, then, is there anything that brings you here?"

Kil raised his head slightly: "Please come down and talk. The Northern Wolf has been wiped out. There is no need to be so defensive."

"Okay, okay."

As if being frightened by Keir's attitude, the man behind the small window disappeared immediately, and then amidst the periodic sound of the wooden shaft turning, the sound of his staggering footsteps going downstairs from inside the mill was very clear.

There were sounds of several latches opening behind the small door at the bottom of the mill, and then the thick and small wooden door opened silently. A middle-aged man who was not very tall and a little cramped appeared at the door.

Keel jumped off his horse and let the horse roam freely within the fence between the three mills.

He himself took the backpack tied to the horse's back in his hand and walked towards the open wooden door.

The sword and dagger on his waist were exposed as he walked. The man at the door of the mill suddenly seemed to be frightened and closed the wooden door again with a bang.

"What's going on? Why did you close the door?" Kil walked to the door and asked dissatisfiedly.

A panicked voice came from inside: "I don't have any money here, go away! Go and rob somewhere else! I am a watchman who guards an unattended mill. I used all the rewards given by the village to drink, and my hands I don’t have any money left!”

Kil rolled his eyes, lifted up the visor on his helmet, then removed the buckle of the money bag from his waist, held it in his hand and bumped it against the wooden door.

Cross rub across rub.

It was the crisp sound of coins colliding with each other.

Kil smiled, because after the money bag rang, the scattered sounds and restless footsteps behind the wooden door disappeared.

"Listen to the wonderful sound of the coins. Sir, I am not the robber you imagined. I came from Wumihu Village and rode a horse. How could I be a robber?"

Then, Kil yelled loudly: "So, open the door now! I have something to ask you! Otherwise, I will immediately return to Wumihu Village and tell your village chief Coryden that between now and the beginning of spring Does the guard job need to be replaced by another person?"

He continued: "I think since the Northland Wolf was defeated by Lanisa Knight and his men, there should be many people in the village fighting for your job, which has a lot of money and little work, right?"

There was no need to say anything more. As soon as Kil finished speaking, the closed wooden door reopened.

A helpless middle-aged man was revealed inside the door.

Keir lowered his head unceremoniously and walked through the small wooden door, then pushed away the middle-aged man blocking the door and walked into the interior of the mill.

-

The most conspicuous thing in the mill is a stone edged stone platform and a stone mill that repeatedly and slowly grinds on it. A thick wooden pillar passing through the stone platform from the center is slowly rotating and extends from the bottom to the windmill at the upper part of the mill. .

In addition, there are some sundries used for daily life in the free space at the bottom.

There was a small wooden barrel that was tightly closed, with a few wheat grains scattered on the side. It seemed that it should be a wooden barrel for storing grain. There is also a stone basin with a fire next to it. There is also a small iron pot hanging on the stone basin. There seems to be some sticky stuff in the iron pot.

There was no wooden bed next to it. Instead, there was a bedding spread on wooden boards on the ground. The bottom of the bedding was filled with messy dry weeds. These weeds must have been specially pulled out and dried by this man in order to sleep comfortably.

There was a lone wooden barrel at the far end opposite the wooden door. Keir guessed that it was the thing that this person used to relieve himself.

Eh~ Then the villagers thought that the place where they grinded grain was once the caretaker's toilet. I don't know what they would think.

"grown ups?"

Although the middle-aged man could tell that Kiel was young from the raised visor, considering the weapons and equipment he was wearing, he couldn't identify Kiel, so he addressed him very highly.

Kicking the wooden door behind him with his heels, Kil put down the backpack he was carrying: "I'm not an adult."

"What about you?" The other party was still cautious, obviously afraid that Kil, a strong young man, would either sue the village chief for his actions just now, or beat him up right here.

Anyway, he didn't think that his stiff body, which was damaged by alcohol, could defeat a young warrior wearing armor.

"Huh, I'm just passing by to take a look." He found a place to sit down, took out a piece of bread from his backpack, took off his gloves and pretended to eat it.

It seemed that the man was not looking for trouble. The middle-aged guard finally breathed a sigh of relief. He first turned around and inserted the fixed wooden pins into the wooden door as usual, and then started a spark to rekindle the remaining firewood in the stone basin.

He took out a wooden kettle and poured a small amount of water into the iron pot on the stone basin. The man stirred with a spoon while talking to Keir.

"Are you going to eat? I still have some wheat porridge here that I made yesterday. When I saw you eating, I remembered that I haven't eaten anything since I woke up this morning."

Kil had not the slightest thought of eating the suspicious oatmeal in the iron pot.

In order to strike up a conversation, he simply talked about his mission this time.

"So that's it! This is a good thing, a good thing. Well, well." After the middle-aged man saw the steaming wheat porridge, he picked up a stone lid from the side and covered it on the stone basin, which just covered the stone basin. Cover it tightly and extinguish the fire in the stone basin by controlling the combustion-supporting oxygen.

When Kil saw it, he just paid attention to these subtle differences in the other world, and then used his mission to enter the forest around the village and bring back some deer-like prey as food for the sunken fish. The meat bait led the conversation to the surrounding things.

"Speaking of which, you've been guarding the mill all these years, right?"

"Yes, you must have heard what the owner of the tavern told me. I often go to his place to drink. After I finish drinking, I will bring back one or two jugs of wine to continue drinking."

"Well, in that case, do you know where there are some big animals around? I need to hunt some back. By the way, have you seen this thing? If you know, tell me. After I hunt the prey, I will send the corpse back to the village. How about I reward you with some coins?"

Kiel used his coin-throwing technique again, which was basically irresistible to guys who had no money or were not well-off.

Sure enough, when he saw Kiel take out a handful of copper and iron coins from his money bag, this guy's eyes widened.

"I know, I know." The middle-aged man stood up excitedly and walked back and forth in front of Keir. Apparently trying to remember where the animals were.

Keir waved the coins back and forth in his hand, making a crisp sound to tease this man who basically had nothing.

"Yes, yes." The middle-aged man who couldn't help but be attracted by the sound of coins while walking around quickly thought of something.

"Logically speaking, there aren't a lot of large animals around our village. After all, those beasts don't like to get close to the village. But there is only one exception."

"What is it? Don't show off, my patience is limited."

"Yes, yes. The ones that like to be close to the village are wild boars. In previous years, they often came to the fields to destroy crops. When there were no northern wolves to harass, the most important task of the village militia was to prevent those big guys from breaking in before the autumn harvest. Village fields.”

Having said this, the middle-aged man shrugged: "But you also know that since the Northland wolf came, people in the village have not farmed anymore. The fields have been abandoned for a long time."

"What about wild boars? Northern wolves also eat wild boars."

"It's for eating. I also saw northern wolves hunting wild boar on the top of the mill from a distance. It was in the abandoned fields of the village."

Kil rolled his eyes: "If wild boars don't stay well in the woods, why are they running into fields that have been abandoned for a long time? Is there anything for them to eat?"

The middle-aged man smiled mysteriously: "Yes. Although the fields are abandoned, it is impossible not to leave some scattered wheat seeds in the fields during harvest every year. And although these wheat seeds are not taken care of in the fields, But there will still be a lot of scattered ones. Those animals like these unattended grains, and they can smell them from a long distance. They will eat everything, wild flowers, grass roots, wheat, field mice, insect."

"There is far more food in the fields than in the forests, so wild boar will also be caught by the northern wolves who often hang out outside the village."

Kil nodded, he felt that the prey could fall on these wild boars. I guess the sunken fish haven't eaten wild boar yet, so I can give them something good for their last meal, and it will not be in vain for the sunken fish to guard the waters of Wumi Lake Village in the past few years.

"So." He asked: "Have these wild boars been around recently?"

"Yes, yes, yes. We only came out two days ago. When I was oiling the windmill on the top of the mill, I saw them a little to the south. Many heads gathered together to lift the snow and look for food."

"A little further south, okay. If I find a large herd of wild boars in the future, you can grab a handful of coins from my purse and take them away. How about it? How much can you get? Whether you can get more copper coins or iron coins, it all depends on you. Your own luck!"

As soon as Keir said this, the middle-aged man opposite had a face full of surprise, and he couldn't help rubbing his hands together, as if he couldn't wait to grab the coins now.

But as Kil poured the coins into the money bag and patted the shiny sword at his waist, the man immediately calmed down.

"Hmph, I'm talking about the discovery of a large group of wild boars! After that! Do you understand?"

"I understand, I understand." The middle-aged man nodded with a flattering look on his face.

Then Keir casually chatted about the other person's job of guarding the mill alone, which aroused the middle-aged man's rare desire to talk. He talked endlessly to Keel, an outsider who had asked about his depression for the first time, saying: He told the story of the fear he had lived here alone in the past few years.

This is what Kil was waiting for. After the other party talked for a while, he calmly told the strange story that Kil himself heard when chatting with the militiamen when he came out of the village.

The story was naturally told to the militiamen by the man on the other side, about the "unknown northern wolf howling at the moon on top of the mill."

-

As soon as this topic was brought up, the middle-aged man opposite turned visibly pale, with a particularly frightened look on his face, and he became even more unsteady on his feet.

"Sit down and talk, sit down and talk." Keir quickly asked the other party to sit on the wooden floor of the mill.

Seeing that the other party seemed to be here, in the mill where it happened at that time, he fell back into the horrific memories of that time. Kil quickly took out the props he had prepared from his backpack.

Drinks bought from the pub.

Seeing the drink handed to him, the middle-aged man came back to his senses, weakly picked up the drink, and drank it in one gulp.

"hiss."

After drinking the cold drink, the man quickly recovered.

"What circumstances can scare you like this?" Kil asked with a frown.

The middle-aged man poured himself another glass of wine, then took a sip and retold the story that scared him like this.

"Guarding the mill is a dangerous job. No one in the village wanted to do it, including me."

"But one day the wall of the village was breached by a pack of wolves. They rushed in. I resisted with all my strength, but I was still knocked down by a wolf as big as me. Whoop, whoop, whoop. I don't know why I didn't die. But all my family members died in that attack. I was alone, so the village asked me to come and guard the mill and take care of the windmill on top of the mill."

"They gave me a lot of money, but what was the use of those coins? So I drank. I never drank alcohol before, and I was also good at farm work. But after I got to the mill, only alcohol could make me feel better. None of my family members are dead yet.”

Kilburn wanted to remind the other person of the important point, but it was obvious that this person's experience was too painful, which made him a little embarrassed to speak, so he just let him continue.

The middle-aged man then became excited. He had not been excited when he told his family before: "That was my second year guarding the mill! One summer night, I was suddenly awakened by a howling wolf. You know Yes, the wooden door of the mill is very thick and cannot be destroyed by wolves, so since I came to the mill, I have always ignored the howling of the Northland wolves outside."

"But the wolf howling that night was too close. After I was awakened, I carefully looked out through the wooden window in the middle of the mill. But I looked around and couldn't find the northern wolf whose fur would reflect in the moonlight. "

"Wait, you mean you first discovered that thing when there was a moon?"

"Yes, yes. Not only for the first time, but actually every time when the moon is particularly bright, that is, when all three of them hang in the sky together, that thing will appear."

"Go on."

The middle-aged man poured himself another glass of wine: "I looked around and couldn't see any Northern Wolf around, but the howling wolf was clearly nearby, which made it impossible for me to sleep at all. You know , I have been worried that the Northland wolf, just like breaking through the village wall, would suddenly break through the protection of the mill, break in and eat me."

"I searched and searched, following the general source of the sound all the way to the top of the mill at night. Through the gap between the rotation of the windmill, I suddenly saw a huge shadow crouching on top of the mill opposite."

"I was so frightened that I rolled down the stairs. I fainted immediately and didn't wake up until dawn."

"Then what?"

"Then? That monster is like my nightmare. It will come every time the moon is at its brightest. Sometimes it will even run to the top of the mill where we are now and roar at me from above!" The middle-aged man His eyes widened, and it was obvious that he had returned to his memory, and was frightened to death.

Keir pushed the drink towards the other person, and the middle-aged man subconsciously poured himself a glass and drank it, and then he regained his composure. Kil slapped the wooden floor with his hand, and after waiting for the other party to recover for a while, he asked: "What do you think of this?"

"How do you see it? That thing, that monster is mocking me. It knows that I can only shrink in this small place and rely on wine to numb myself. I also told the people in the village, but they may think that I am older Stories I made up when I was alone in one place, or mocking the lies I told to get more money. Huh, the best thing is that I just thought I was drunk and mistaken for the howling Northland outside the mill. The wolf went up on top of it as a mill."

At this point, the middle-aged man was obviously angry that the villagers did not believe what he said, so he drank another angrily.

Kil saw that the other party was fine, and judging from his demeanor just now, he probably wasn't making up the story.

So he stood up and patted the hay stained on the wolf fur cloak: "I guess what you said is not a lie."

"Of course not, I swear this on my dead family members!"

"Okay, okay, but I want to prove that there is really that monster. Since it howls, it is obviously a very powerful northern wolf. There are no flying types of northern wolves, so let's go look outside the mill. We will definitely be able to find it. Find many traces of it climbing to the top of the mill. After all, you said it had been there a lot over the years, right?"

The middle-aged man's eyes lit up: "Yes, it must have climbed to the top of the mill. Finding traces of its climb will prove that I'm not lying! I'm not crazy!"

Having said this, he didn't even care about the drink that was brought to his mouth. He stood up directly, picked up a tattered old coat from the bed, put it on, and opened the wooden door in a hurry and went out.

Kil shrugged and followed out.