Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil rode on the horse for a while before he regained his composure. The spring afternoon sun was rather dazzling. He squinted his eyes, holding a wooden water bottle in one hand and wrapping the horse's reins in the other.

Without any urging, Kiel's horse followed at a small pace behind Knight Crow's horse. Behind Kiel, the guards and militiamen who were following on foot were either humming leisurely or talking about what happened to Kiel before.

Being able to run so many circles in such a wide range of gear while fully armed was completely beyond the imagination of these people.

"He is simply a natural runner. If anyone wants to chase him in the city, no one will be able to do it, as long as he is familiar with the terrain in the city." A town guard thought so.

"Let me tell you, with this physical strength to work in the fields, he must be the best farmer. How much work can he do in a day? And, hey, whoever girl can marry him will make the whole village jealous to death. ?" A militiaman with a beard on his face was smiling and laughing with the militiamen from the same village next to him.

These words made the surrounding militiamen laugh, and the conversation quickly turned to other imaginative things.

Kiel had sweated a lot while running around the open space. At this time, he was drinking water in a daze to replenish his fluids. When the team went south along the river, the road passed through a sparse riverside forest, shielding him from the heat. The shade of the hot sun made Keer feel energetic again.

"Are you feeling better?" Knight Crowe had been paying attention to Kiel's condition. After seeing that Kiel's expression improved, he slowed down his horse and kept pace with Kiel's horse.

After drinking the last water in the kettle, Kil nodded to Knight Crow, who was much taller than him next to him: "It's much better. I was a little hot and confused from running just now. Huh, ride on the horse and move forward. The wind keeps blowing. It’s okay if you blow it.”

After saying that, he put the kettle into the horse bag beside him.

Taking out a clean cloth, Kil wiped his face and the top of his neck with a dry cloth, wiping away some of the dried sweat stains on it.

Seeing that Kiel's condition was normal, Knight Crow continued to talk about Kiel's physical fitness.

"I know you borrowed some special abilities when running just now, but that's okay. Of course, these help are included in everyone's strength."

Knight Crow pointed at the long sword on Kil's waist. Although he himself had never used Kil's weapon, when chatting with Kil, the kid Kil told him what this weapon was used for. Material.

The heart of the big tree worshiped in the Temple of the Church of Saturn can provide the user with continuous additional recovery of physical energy. In his opinion, this thing is of no use when mounted on a weapon, and it is even more useless for a knight like him. There is no battle that can exhaust his physical strength.

However, this is quite suitable for Kil, a young warrior who is still an ordinary person.

"Physically speaking, after seeing your performance just now, I can't ask for more from you. But." When Knight Crow said this, Kil pricked up his ears.

"But I have to see what level your skills are at this time."

Keir asked curiously: "What do you think?"

Knight Crow smiled: "Let's talk about it when we set up camp at night. You will know how many people you can deal with with your bare hands at a time."

Kil's face dropped. He felt that Knight Crow had another test waiting for him, which didn't make him feel good.

-

The average marching speed of Crow Knight's team is slightly faster than the large army following them because there are fewer people.

Although it is not noticeable in a short period of time, when the marching time becomes longer, this difference will soon become apparent.

The team walked up and down all afternoon, walking for about an hour and taking a short break. At this time, the road had long lost traces of the flow of floods. Although the precipitation in the previous days made the wild areas relatively humid, the water vapor soon evaporated with the sunlight, and along with the various flowers blooming beside the road, the water vapor was inhaled. The nasal cavity of passers-by is also smeared on the face.

Overall it's very comfortable, but some people occasionally get choked by the scent of wildflowers and sneeze. Locally, people often say that when you sneeze after smelling the fragrance of flowers, you may be teased by the fairies in the flowers. The fairies rush into the human brain along the nose, making the farmers working in the fields forget to go home. Let the young men and women in the growing stage do some stupid things in the wild that will bring shame to the two families.

When Keir first arrived here, he believed it to be true for a while, but soon realized that this was just a scapegoat made by the residents of the countryside for the stupid things they did when they were young.

Anyway, as long as something goes against common sense and people can't find the reason or don't want to find it, they will blame it all on unexplained mysterious phenomena and mysterious creatures.

At dusk, Knight Crow found an open space next to the road and next to the woods. Just like he did at noon, he asked everyone to tidy up the place and pick up dead branches and saplings in the woods next to them.

Since the outer perimeter of the forest was not large for easy access, the guards and militiamen struggled for a while before they managed to get the branches that could barely raise two fires. This made Knight Crow a little dissatisfied, but it was difficult to blame these men.

He happened to see the big blue ax that Kiel was carrying behind him, and immediately instructed Kiel to chop down two trees nearby. Others helped pull the fallen tree back.

Kil had nothing to do. After feeding the two horses, he sat aside to rest. At this moment, when he heard Knight Crow's call, he immediately rubbed his hands and removed the two-handed ax stuck behind his armor from behind.

"Look at me!"

Keir picked two big trees. In order to avoid being bitten by snakes and insects, he did not go deep into the woods where it was about to get dark. He directly selected the trees, stood with his legs front and back, held the middle and rear part of the ax handle, and turned his waist. Swinging his arms, he struck the big tree with a sharp axe, close to the root.

Duo! Duo! Duo!

With three axes, less than half of the trunk of the big tree was cut off. After each swing of the ax, the entire tree's branches trembled, and the new buds on the top of the branches also trembled.

Soon, Keir turned around and came to the other side of the trunk to chop down the tree with his axe.

The few militiamen who followed also tightened their grip on the rope and pulled it little by little, pulling the entire tree in their direction.

The tree trunk on the other side was chopped into pieces with a few axes. The whole tree was shaking. Seeing this, the militiamen immediately stepped back and took a step. The whole tree was pulled in this way and collapsed directly in the direction of the militiamen. Come down.

"The tree fell!"

"The tree has fallen! Watch out!"

The collapse of the big tree was not unexpected. When Kiir chose a big tree, he chose a short and thick one, and the ropes in the hands of the militiamen were long. When the big tree collapsed, they were all within a safe range and Will not get hurt.

The big tree fell with a rumble, crushing many other small trees, but these were not what they needed. The guards rushed over, untied the militiamen's ropes, and let Kiir and the militiamen go to the next tree. Dozens of them used shorter ropes to drag the heavy tree to the clearing.

"Remove all the branches from the big tree, and let Kil do the rest. He has a sharp axe." Knight Crow arranged this.

The guards used their spare weapons to chop off branches of varying thicknesses, and then broke the branches into pieces suitable for firewood.

However, these branches at this time have a lot of water, and if they are used directly to make a fire, there will be too much smoke. So Knight Crow arranged for the guards to place these suitable firewood next to the fire made of dead branches, light the fire made of dead branches, and bake and dry the moist firewood.

At the same time, the guards also shot some birds, which were all migratory birds that were resting next to the Kendall River. They were about to fly from south to north and when they rested by the Kendall River at night, they were stoned by the guards. I knocked down a few of them.

Knight Crow played with these fat migratory birds that were half a man tall and thought they were okay, so he asked a few of his men to clean them up. After the large army arrived, he asked the cooks to roast them all and give one to them. Baron, one was left for little Kil, who had consumed a lot of energy today, and the rest was eaten by the guards.

Soon, the militiamen and guards worked together to drag another big tree out of the woods. Kiel received instructions from Knight Crow and used an ax to chop the trunk of the big tree into sections one by one, and then cut the tree stumps into pieces. The trunk of the big tree was split lengthwise into pieces of firewood.

Others directly picked up the firewood that Keir had chopped, and then placed it next to the two fires that had been lit, using the temperature of the flames to bake out the moisture in the wood.

After the firewood was roasted, the water mist evaporated. The wood, which had absorbed the rainfall of the previous two days, lost the moisture it had worked so hard to absorb from the ground. It had to be dried and hardened unwillingly, and then was guarded. The guards of the fire kicked it away and fiddled with it into a pile.

While they were busy here, the sky gradually darkened, and the afterglow of the setting sun hung stubbornly on the horizon, not wanting to be blocked by the distant mountains so quickly.

To the north of the road, a troop illuminated by torches was approaching quickly. The large group of militiamen saw fires rising in the open space beside the road, and Kiel and the others also saw a long snake illuminated by torches sliding along the road.

This time, Kiel and the others stayed where they were and did not leave early when the large army came over.

Because it’s time to eat.

-

After marching all day, people and horses were exhausted, but it was not the time to set up camp yet, it was just time to eat.

The dry firewood prepared by Kiel and others in advance came in handy. The cook in the team commanded an entire small group of militiamen as their helpers to move the still warm firewood and place them in the open space where everyone rested. It is to provide better lighting, so as not to waste the high-bright lighting torches carefully made by craftsmen. Secondly, it is convenient for everyone to prepare meals quickly after the meal is ready.

If they all cook together, it will be convenient for their cook, but it will be very confusing for the entire team to cook. After all, although many militiamen have become familiar with camping outside Kendall these days, they still rarely experience marching outside.

Rumi Knight has made explanations and arrangements in advance for some areas that may cause confusion in the team.

"What? This whole roast goose belongs to me?" Keir pointed to several packed roast geese, a little unbelievable.

Knight Crow chuckled lightly: "It's yours, but you can't eat it for free. There is one more test before setting up camp at night."

"What is it?" He was very hungry at this time. Looking at the delicious goose meat that was officially placed next to the fire by the guard who claimed to have roasted goose, he felt that if he could eat these things, he would not be afraid of other things.

"I want to judge your combat ability. There is nothing to test the situation now, so I can only take a look with bare hands. Let's do this for now. When we get out of Kendall County, I will find a suitable opportunity to truly test it. Look what you’re capable of.”

Knight Crow leaned close to Kil's ear: "If you want to become a knight, there are many ways, and the methods are also controlled by various forces. Either it is a family inheritance, or you have to join a large organization. I myself got it through meritorious service after joining the kingdom's army. A chance to become a knight.”

He saw that Kil was a little nervous: "However, I happen to know a way to become a strong knight. Although it is not that easy, at least not as easy as passed down by various knight families, it is very effective."

The knight patted Kil on the shoulder: "You have to experience some dangers and endure some hardships."

"But I know, I can see from your eyes that those are not problems. Ah, it is a bit like me when I was young. I feel that I can cope with everything. Even if I don't have much foundation, I have the courage that others don't have. .”

After saying that, Knight Crow left and went to have dinner with the Baron and Knight Rumi.

Keir stood there, sniffing the aroma of the roast geese that kept coming out. Although he felt anxious, he was not afraid.

This road was right in front of him. As an ordinary person, he had no choice but to give it a try, even if he guessed from Knight Crow's words that the other party was not the knight he was about to use on Kil. Training methods to officially become a knight. But Kil is not afraid. After a series of recent experiences, he is already a qualified warrior.

He has no shortage of courage, fighting wisdom, and strong will, and he doesn't think he will be unable to cope with the upcoming knight training. After all, he has been coveting the tyrannical skills of knight-level warriors such as Knight Crow and Knight Lanessa for a long time.

With that strength, ordinary monsters and warcraft will not be his opponent, and it is obvious that when the strength reaches that level, his status in this society will be further improved.

-

The guard who was roasting the roast goose was not a boaster. Although it was not as delicious as he said, the resting space still had this wonderful aroma that made people gulp down their saliva.

Kiel and some of the guards stood guard next to the roasted goose and watched with their own eyes as the guard turned the wooden stick inserted into the goose. The whole wooden stick was inserted from the goose's butt and came out from an opening in the neck, and the whole stick was inserted into the goose's butt. The plump goose, slightly shrunk by roasting, is firmly held in place.

The belly of the roast goose was cleaned, and some of the edible offal was left with the army cook to make soup. It was said that it could add some offal meat flavor to the tasteless soup.

Listening to the sound of the militiamen snoring and eating dinner next to them, you can tell that these cooks are right. Even if a little goose offal is added to the soup made from wild vegetables, roots and wheat grains, the militiamen will Most of them are satisfied.

Of course, it would be even better if you could take a bite of the roasted goose.

They also thought about it, after all, it was not something they could eat. If they want money, they have a clean pocket, and if they want status, the several lords in the team naturally do their part.

However, it was beyond the expectations of the militiamen. Although it seemed that the best roasted one was dedicated to the leader of the entire team, Baron Kendall, the remaining ones were not eaten by Knight Crow and Lu Knight Rice ate, and what the two people ate was just dinner cooked by the accompanying bodyguards alone.

The remaining roast goose was enjoyed by the young man Kiel and some of the town guards who brought the delicious food.

More than a dozen guards gathered in a pile. When several roast geese were delivered, they swarmed over them. Even though they had eaten just now, they still didn't care about much at this time. You grab a big goose wing, and I'll break off one. He snatched a long goose neck from the big goose legs.

well? How could it be the neck?

In an instant, even the skeleton of the heavy goose was gone, and the dry bread stuffed inside was snatched away by someone with a bowl, leaving only a wooden stick with a glossy grease in the hand of the guard who brought the food.

The guard was stunned for a moment, and then he realized what he was doing. He took out a piece of toast from his arms, rubbed the grease on the stick and put it in his mouth.

On Kiel's side, he had the opportunity to enjoy a whole roast goose alone amidst the envy and jealousy of everyone around him.

At this moment, at least Keir enjoyed food on the same level as Baron Kendall.

He couldn't wait to tear off a goose leg and smell it first. A sweet and sour aroma of jam mixed with the fat aroma of roasted goose.

Just now he saw how the guard made it. Through the relationship of the cooks, the guard got a small bottle of wild fruit jam from last autumn's bush picking and brewing. He used a brush to brush these things on the baked Goose surface.

With one bite, the tight muscles mixed with goose fat and the aroma of jam completely ignited Keel's desire to eat. Keel's stomach occupied the high ground of consciousness, driving Keel's mind off the throne. Commanding his body, he took the food into his mouth, tore it, chewed it, and then swallowed it, giving it to the Great Stomach King to enjoy.

Keir took out the steel dagger from his waist and cut open the roast goose's chest, exposing the bread stuffed inside the chest.

The bread is moistened with fat from the holes in the roasted goose, making it piping hot and full of flavor.

He grabbed another goose leg with one hand and took out a piece of oily bread with a dagger in the other hand. Keir was extremely satisfied. He gulped it down, and his own digestive system seemed to have no end. The amount of physical energy and energy expended today.

On the other side, the Crow Knights were dining together, unlike the guards and militiamen who were sitting on the floor. On the Baron's side, at least there is an exquisite folding wooden chair made by Kendal craftsmen.

Several priests accompanying the team were also here. The baron casually cut a small piece of goose breast and the bread stuffed inside the roast goose, and then gave the rest to the priests.

Although various churches have many conditions prohibiting eating, at least roast goose is not among them.

The priests, who had been jolting all day, had a great appetite, but the baron had little appetite.

The baron ate something casually, and then talked to the two knights who were eating heavily next to him about whether he could make it to the Ice Flood Pass within the scheduled time today.

This is important to him. If troops are sent out in one day, they will be able to reach the north gate of Bingxun Pass that night. This will be a good deterrent to those in Bingxun Pass.

He wants to tell those guys that he can take Bingshuguan back at any time if he wants.

Although the count behind him had a high status, he was still too far away, and it was impossible for those people to count on him.

Knight Crowe and Knight Rumi both knew what the baron was thinking, so they talked quietly and then told the baron: "No problem, sir, I guarantee you will feel the ice flood gate at the north gate tonight. I have already sent someone to inform them in advance. , Presumably those people are also waiting for us at this time."

After looking at it, the first moon rose in the distance. Knight Crow continued: "There is still some time to repair and eat. We might as well let them wait a little longer instead of rushing over as soon as possible. This will allow them to wait more anxiously. For a while.”

Knight Rumi next to him took over: "And it can also truly hide the real time when your troops actually set off from Kendall City and arrived directly outside Bingxun Pass."

Hearing this, the baron smiled and his appetite improved. He asked the attendant at the side for a pot of non-alcoholic drinks and distributed them to everyone present. After everyone thanked the baron, they all drank.

After a while, the satiated Knight Crow summoned his vanguard team, and Keir reluctantly mounted his horse while gnawing on the skeleton of the roast goose.