Mercenaries and Adventurers

As soon as it dawned, Kil went to sleep in his tent.

In fact, he didn't sleep all night. On the one hand, he was very excited after eating water ghost meat, which made it difficult for him to fall asleep. On the other hand, he practiced controlling his life energy last night and was busy all night.

Although he was mentally exhausted, his body was unusually healthy and energetic.

Not much inking in the sleeping bag, Kil climbed up and put on the full leather armor he usually wore. His helmet hung on his waist, and his sword and dagger hung on his belt. Then he rolled up his dog-skin sleeping bag and climbed out of his tent.

There was a faint morning light, and the whole camp was already bustling with activity. In the distance, there were the shouts of the militiamen who had already gotten up, and the shouts of the chefs who were busy making breakfast.

After loading the sleeping bag into his carriage, he kicked the tent down three or two times, rolled it up randomly, tied it into a ball with a rope, and threw it into the carriage.

He went outside to take a pee, and when he came back, Kil asked for fodder for two horses and two buckets of water from the logistics carriage.

Seeing Keel coming with food and drink, his two horses came over and nudged him with their heads.

"Hey, don't make trouble, don't grab it, one share per person, the fodder and water are the same." After saying that, Keir put the two little stamped fodder blocks on the ground, and placed a bucket of clean water next to them for them to drink.

While the two horses were showing off their hay quickly, Keel took out a stiff-bristled comb from under the carriage chair and stepped forward to brush the fur of the two animal companions who were only focused on eating.

After all, they are in the wild, so they must be brushed with a comb every day to remove as many small parasites as possible from the skin under the hair.

After every few strokes, Keir reached out and pinched the horse lice hanging on the comb, and brushed the two horses quickly and efficiently using the familiar technique.

He threw the comb into the carriage, and just as he was about to wash his hands and go to eat something, one of Knight Crow's bodyguards came over: "Kier! Lord Crow asked you to go over there, at the door of the Baron's tent. A place to eat.”

When he finished speaking, the guard threw a piece of hard bread to Keir.

"Here, the logistics bought fresh bread from the nearby town. They said it was just made yesterday. God knows how many truths those guys have in their mouths." As he said this, the guard used another piece of bread in his hand to rub the leather armor on his body. Knocked it upwards, and there was a banging sound of a hard object.

"Remember to go to the cook for another soup. You have to soak this thing until it's soft before you eat it, otherwise I think my teeth won't be able to hold it."

Kil thanked the knight's bodyguard. After these days of familiarity, he was already very familiar with the two bodyguards of Knight Crow. After all, we usually eat together and chat together. Occasionally, he even dragged his armor to compete in front of Knight Crow, but Knight Crow looked down on the low-level sparring of ordinary people like them and rarely expressed their opinions. Only when Kiel was one-on-one with other people in the military camp would Knight Crow and Knight Rumi come over to take a look and show some interest.

Kil asked Knight Crow privately, and the answer he got was that the strength gap between knights and ordinary people was too big, and the combat competition of ordinary people had no actual reference value for them.

In other words, some of Kiel's combat tactics and strategies in one-to-many situations are a little interesting.

Having said that, Kil thanked the guard, and while tapping the armor with hard bread, he went to the cooks in the center of the camp to get a thick soup that had just been made in the morning.

It's basically a similar meal. After all, there won't be enough time to give the cooks a chance to perform during the march. Especially in the morning, time was precious. They had to get up in advance to cook food. This was because the camp was next to the town. They had not left the Northwest Province a few days ago. When they camped in the wild, they couldn't eat well, and the chef They work even harder.

As soon as you wake up in the morning, you have to mix wheat flour with water to make a dough. You can either take the time to make bread or wheat cakes, and then boil many pots of vegetable soup with soup and water at will. Add in the vegetables you have according to logistics. What's the matter? What to eat.

It is often much better to camp next to a village or town. Logistics secretaries will take people to the village or town to buy some fresh food overnight, or order a batch of bread in stock in the bakery overnight, eliminating the need for chefs to work early in the morning. Mostly tired.

At this time, cooks can play some tricks in the morning vegetable soup.

The militiamen disliked the lack of oil and water, so they cut some strips of fat meat marinated in clay pots that came with the truck, cut them into the finest particles and boiled them into the soup.

The militiamen disliked eating only a few types of vegetables, so they rummaged through the logistics carriages for more variety vegetables and added them to the morning soup.

Sometimes they would use the army blacksmith's hammer to crack the remaining prey bones they caught last night, and add the meat bones to the soup to add some nutrients to the bland vegetable soup.

But this would inevitably lead to some careless militiamen having their mouths torn open by pieces of bone in the soup, at which point the impatient-looking priests would have to appear.

When Kiel took today's breakfast and soaked bread, he walked towards the door of the baron's tent. He saw several businessmen in conspicuous clothes kneeling on the ground at the door of the baron's tent, looking at the baron who was sitting and eating with grief and indignation. say something.

Baron Kendall listened to the words of these businessmen expressionlessly, and then slowly ate the breakfast that the chef had made for him alone in small bites.

After the merchants finished speaking nervously, he nodded and looked to both sides: "You two, what do you say?"

Knight Rumi raised his head at Knight Crow, and then he gulped down his larger portion of vegetable soup. Knight Crow put down the bowl and returned: "Sir, it is difficult to rule out the various circumstances of that man's murder. Was he killed because of an interest dispute, or because of a woman? A quarrel is not impossible, there are many reasons, and we can only know it after careful investigation. How did he die last night?"

The silver fork in the baron's distant hand said: "But here's the problem. Although the march has been faster than we expected, it is still some distance from the southern border of the kingdom, so we have to set aside enough time. We would rather arrive earlier. , nor can they arrive at the place where each unit agreed to set out after the agreed date."

After he finished speaking, he stretched out his head and said to the several businessmen kneeling on the ground in front of him: "Don't worry, you have been helping to purchase various supplies needed by the army these days. Not only have you saved a lot of expenses, but you have also prevented the logistics from being messed up by local businessmen. I’m troubled by the price increase. Especially your Karpas Chamber of Commerce has done a good job.”

Seeing the Baron praising them, these businessmen, who were nervous even though some of their accompanying companions were killed, still showed expressions of excitement and gratitude on their faces.

The Baron continued: "You did what you promised, and I will naturally protect you as promised. Since someone was killed in the town, no matter what the reason, I will give you a result."

He looked at his two knights: "So, two of you. Which one of you is willing to stay here temporarily and find out how our merchants accompanying the army were killed in the town?"

"Sir." Knight Crow pointed at Kil who came over to salute and said, "This boy told me some things about him. Maybe our little Kil can stay and solve this trouble."

Several businessmen pretended not to hear Knight Crow calling the killing of his companions a trouble. After all, as merchants whose main activities were at Bingshuguan, they really knew too much about Knight Crow.

However, these people still turned to look at Keir. They had heard a lot about this young man who had finished his salute. Well, he was very good at fighting. I heard that he could fight many of the town guards in Kendall City with his bare hands. people. In addition, they also heard something about the Simmons Chamber of Commerce.

Perhaps this young man recommended by Knight Crow can? After all, he was a ruthless man who could rescue the kidnapped little Simmons from the robber's den. He not only rescued one person, but also rescued many people together.

At the same time, these businessmen thought of the bandits attacking the rescued people. In the Bingshuguan Pass, the businessmen did not think that the soldiers of the pass had annihilated the bold bandits, and the young man Kiel was involved. It was hard to say Just to confirm, was it this young man who dealt with those robbers?

"Ah?" Kil looked a little flustered when he was handed over by Knight Crow, and everyone looked at him, but he didn't embarrass himself, but smiled confidently: "Sir, what's the matter? Can I help?"

Knight Crow raised his chin at Baron Kendall, and the baron nodded slightly and agreed.

"Kiel." Baron Kendall said to Kiel: "Last night in the town, one of our army merchants was killed."

Kil blinked and immediately realized what these people were doing. He put down the wooden bowl he was holding and knelt down: "Baron, I am willing to seek justice for the murder of our businessman. I will definitely bring the murderer to justice." Find and catch them."

The baron waved his hand: "I agree to your request. But you have to pay attention, this matter is not easy to solve. If the matter were simple, I would have people catch the murderer right now. When the man was killed last night, No one saw what happened, or his companion didn't come back all night and went to check, only to find that the person was already dead."

Knight Crow said: "No one saw it, so we don't know who killed him and why. It might be jealousy, it might be uneven distribution of interests, it might be murder, or it might be someone who offended someone. It's all possible. Possibly. This is not something that can be asked just by talking. It requires careful investigation. But you know that the march of the army cannot be delayed by this matter. "

Knight Rumi put down the big wooden bowl and continued: "So I will leave a few people for you, and the army will march normally. You and your people stay here to find out and catch the murderer."

Baron Kendall knocked the precious metal wine glass with the silver fork in his hand. Of course, the wine glass was not filled with wine. It made a crisp sound, attracting everyone's attention: "No need to live, murder is a capital crime everywhere, please communicate with the local lord knight, Once you catch someone, just behead them."

Keir lowered his head: "Yes, sir."

Then Baron Kendall arranged the matter: "This matter is simple to say, but complicated to do in practice. After all, it is not our own territory. Even if the person killed is one of us Kendall people, this is the Western Province after all. No one cares about the murder of an outsider. You need to communicate well with the local knights. This is a revenge investigation after one of your own was killed. It should be taken for granted and is applicable to all countries. Be tough. .”

"After all, you are young. Crowe recommends you. I naturally believe that your bravery can handle this matter. But I have to arrange a few people to assist you. Crowe, arrange a small group of militiamen for Kiel. At least ten people should be left as Minimum deterrence, otherwise no one will listen.”

"Okay." Knight Crow nodded.

"Two more town guards will be assigned to you, guards who have handled murder cases in Kendall City."

"No problem." As the captain of the town guard, Knight Crow naturally knew that he had to arrange for people who were familiar with the matter to attack Keir. In this way, even if Keir was a brave and brainless guy, at least there would still be someone like this holding him back. It won't be in vain in the end.

"I will give you one of my personal guards, Kil. He has seen the world and will help you communicate with the local knight lord."

With that said, Baron Kendall called a guard who was standing guard around the area: "Lubis, you heard me, follow Keir to handle this matter."

A middle-aged guard named Lubis came over and half-knelt on the ground and said, "Yes, sir. I will assist the knight of Kiel to communicate with the local lord."

After speaking, the guard nodded to Kiel, who also nodded in a friendly manner. He knew that this was the informant of the Baron faction who was watching beside him. After all, it was impossible to take people away from the large army without arranging people to watch. If Kiel made a command mistake or something happened, there would be at least one person who could lead others to catch up with the army and report.

"Finally, in accordance with my rules, I will send a clerk to follow you. He will record your investigative deeds. I will check his records later. Rumi, you are responsible for arranging this matter. Go and find the person now. , remember, we need a young and capable secretary.”

"I understand, sir." Knight Rumi stood up and walked towards the logistics convoy.

The baron looked at the merchants in front of him: "Leave one of you to follow Kiel and the others, and the others can continue to march with the army. How about that?"

"Thank you, sir, for the arrangement. Your wisdom and determination make the gold coins shine."

Several businessmen all knelt on the ground and praised. After some discussion, they decided to leave one who was most familiar with the murdered businessman, while the others continued to march with the army.

-

Soon, Knight Rumi found the secretary. He was a young man with a strong body and shrewd eyes. He didn't look like he was holding back.

Knight Crow also thought for a while and called two town guards. Kiel looked and saw that these two guards had interacted with him before and were very familiar with them.

"Kayan, Zambirus, and Kil, you all know them, right?" Knight Crow winked at Kil.

Keir nodded: "Not only do we know each other, but we also communicate regularly and fully."

The guard named Kayan was the first young guard who had a formal encounter with Kiel in the ring a few days ago. The other person was a middle-aged guard named Zambirus, who was covered in tendons. Unexpectedly, he had handled a murder case when he was in Kendall City.

In fact, they said they had handled similar cases, but for most of the matters, Mr. Fulen, whom Kiel had dealt with once, and Nita Shepherd of the Church of the God of the Dead were mainly responsible for such matters.

However, the two of them had indeed made contributions in similar matters, so they left an impression on Knight Crow.

"That's it. You two will handle this matter with Kil. If you can't find the murderer, don't rush to catch up with the team." After explaining, Knight Crow asked the two to stand behind Kil.

"In addition, I will leave the Nightingales to you, Kil. The entire team is good at close combat. Don't let them die or be injured in this kind of thing."

Faced with Knight Crow's rude remarks, the businessmen just smiled calmly and didn't care. They also didn't expect that Baron Kendall really kept his word. He said he would look after the caravan accompanying the army and protect them, and he really put in all the effort and manpower after something happened.

It seems that they will be able to deal with this nobleman a lot in the future. Even if these people cannot find the murderer during this trip, at least the baron's attitude has been shown.

People really take their businessmen's affairs seriously.

Finally, Baron Kendall waved his hand and motioned for them to go down and do their business.

Kil then picked up the food, said goodbye to the adults, and while eating, he greeted the people around him.

"What to do now?" Lubis, the baron's bodyguard, asked.

After Kil gulped down all the food, he threw the wooden bowl in his hand to the cook aside, causing the other man to curse. Then Kil said with a smile: "Look for the closer one first. That's right."

Kil turned and looked at the businessman who was following them: "I haven't asked you your name yet? How do you call it? And the murdered businessman, your friend, where is his body now?"

-

The businessman named Pus-Oluobi was nearly thirty years old. He brought several members of the slightly reorganized 'investigation team' to the merchant camp opposite the military camp.

It was a mess here, with human and animal excrement everywhere, and because they were about to set off with the army, all the caravans at this time were eating, packing, and preparing to set off.

The dead man's caravan belonged to the Red-haired Chamber of Commerce, a large-scale chamber of commerce formed by several familiar businessmen. "Why is it called red hair?" Kil asked.

Ouluo Bi forced a smile and said, "Because no one else was satisfied with the name we all came up with, we chose a friend's red hair as the name of the Chamber of Commerce. As a result, the Chamber of Commerce grew bigger and bigger. I have answered this question over the years. Quite a few times.”

The Hongfa Chamber of Commerce's caravan consisted of seven carriages, which was considered to be a large-scale caravan following the army in Bingxun Pass.

It's not that there aren't more and bigger caravans following, but that many caravans have stopped along the way before, and they feel that they have gone a lot southward with Kendall's army. After all, there is no need for many caravans to explore the northwest. Trade routes outside the province.

The red-haired chamber of commerce can still stay at this time. According to Ouluobi, it is simply because the managers of their chamber of commerce are relatively young and very aggressive. They want to take this opportunity to explore new areas, namely the western tour. Province.

"But now it seems that the population of this western province is larger, and the hard conditions for doing business are much better." He said that here on the trade road, you can have a place to stay every day, and you don't have to live in the wild.

"But it seems that the locals don't welcome outsiders like us."

Ouluo Bi was a little emotional.

Next to Kiel, the muscular middle-aged guard came closer and whispered: "Pay attention to Kiel, don't think that people are not killed by one of their own. Outsiders may kill some, but because of conflicts, our own people are killed." It’s not uncommon for murders to occur. Not to mention businessmen, I’ve also seen families kill each other over their houses.”

Kil nodded and thanked Zambirus for the reminder. It seems that compared to the other young guard, this one takes things much more seriously and is more experienced.

Even though he beat them all up more than once before, in the ring.