Mercenaries and Adventurers

The team on the other side.

The remaining people, led by the baron's personal guard Lubis, were led by Mr. Pavey, a crony of the local lord who knew the local area very well, and walked towards the pasture where the algae head had been exposed.

Mr. Pavey has reminded him before that the herdsmen in the pastures are all stubborn guys. Even if he takes them there to get people, he has to fight with those guys to achieve his goal.

So Lubis went back to the militia team guarding the corpse, called half of the militia team, and went with them to get the person.

Mr. Pavey and his three local soldiers looked at Kendall's militia curiously, and the militiamen also looked at the local soldiers' equipment curiously.

The soldiers' equipment in Grass Rat Town has been introduced before. Most of them are flexible animal skin clothing that has not been hardened, which is tough and flexible. This made the militia captain and militiamen of the Nightingale team look hot.

Even if this kind of leather jacket is not used for combat, it is still a very useful protective clothing for daily wear. He will definitely be envied by other people in the village.

The people in Grass Rat Town also looked at the simple crossbows of the Kendall militia with envy. Mr. Pavey was not ignorant, but he was very surprised after he found out that every Kendall soldier had a crossbow. .

"With all the equipment, it's not cheap, right? Just for maintenance, you have to have a workshop."

Mr. Pavey wondered how well the crossbows were managed and maintained after they were equipped to hundreds of soldiers.

Lubis smiled: "Generally, that's the case. But our Kendall City has two particularly powerful places. One is the vast fertile land outside the city. The other is a separate professional craftsman area within the city."

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and made a gesture with his arms spread wide: "That craftsman district is about half the size of your town."

Mr. Pavey opened his eyes wide and felt incredible. Then he came back to his senses and felt that Lubis was bragging and deceiving him: "Really, but I remember that the Northwest Province was the last developed area in the kingdom and the least populated area. ?”

"That's true. Generally speaking, that's the case, but you can ask the businessman and let him tell you the situation."

The businessman Ouluobi immediately came to Mr. Pavey's side and introduced the situation of Kendall County to him diligently, as well as Bingxunguan, where the businessman's power was the backbone.

Mr. Pavey was fascinated by stories from far away places, and local soldiers had to do the job of leading the way.

-

The terrain outside the town is gentle, with large expanses of grass and plants full of flowers and shrubs of various colors filling every field of vision under the sky.

The crowd followed a route with low weeds on the ground towards the place where there was smoke from cooking in the distance. Because there were some gentle rolling hills blocking them, they could only see the smoke behind the hills in the distance and could not look directly at the person near the mirror. Mirrorwater Ranch in Water Lake.

I heard Mr. Pavey say before that the best cattle and sheep in Caoshu Town can only be eaten in Jingshui Ranch. Because it is close to Jingshui Lake, the grassland there is the most tender and juicy, and the cattle and sheep that eat the grass are also there. Also one of the best around.

"Speaking of which, the ranch was established a few years earlier than our town, because at the beginning, the town was still next to Jingshui Lake. People had just moved here, and they didn't know that Jingshui Lake would rise every year during the rainy season. Arise and expand.”

Mr. Pavey introduced everyone, because just as they passed between two gentle hills, everyone could already see the sparkling Mirror Lake in the distance.

Mr. Pavey pointed to the surface of Jingshui Lake in the distance reflecting the blue sky. He also pointed to a series of low-rise mud buildings a little distance away on one side of the lake, as well as a large area of ​​cattle and sheep surrounded by wooden fences.

"Look, that's Jingshui Lake. Doesn't it look like a hand mirror lost by the gods? And not far away, there is Jingshui Ranch."

After seeing the target, everyone walked straight towards the pasture.

Soon everyone from Kendall felt something different. Different from the knee-deep grassland that everyone passed through before, although the grassland next to Qingshui Lake is often gnawed by cattle and sheep, it is not very high, but the grass blades here are wet and contaminated with a lot of water from Jingshui Lake. Moisture vapor.

Mr. Ouluobi picked a piece of grass at his feet. After a brief inspection, he found that the grass here was different from the grass near the town. The color of the grass here was darker. When he crushed it with his nails, more grass juice remained on his fingertips.

"No wonder the cattle and sheep here are the best. Look, the grass here is so good!"

Mr. Pavey smiled proudly: "It's all a gift from God. We are just enjoying this generous gift."

Due to the wide view of the lake, their group was seen by the ranchers from a distance.

Immediately, six or seven horses galloped out of the ranch building and approached quickly amid the urging of the herdsmen.

Mr. Pawei stopped chatting with the Orobi merchant and walked in front of the crowd. While waving high, he took out a large stone ax from the leather bag on his waist.

Miraculously, this stone axe, which was no bigger than a hand, actually emitted a cold and pale light. When everyone looked at it, their eyes felt as if they had been stung by a poisonous bee, which was quite uncomfortable.

Looking at Mr. Pavey, he didn't pay attention to what he took out, and his fingers cleverly held the end of the handle of the stone ax with the weakest light.

Even so, his fingers kept trembling, obviously uncomfortable.

"The visitor has seen it clearly. This is my uncle's token! I am Pavi Anvir!"

Mr. Pawei shouted loudly when he was some distance away from the herdsmen. He had to do this because when the herdsmen came from the pasture in a hurry, everyone with sharp eyes saw the herdsmen riding on their bare horses, carrying each of them on their backs. He was armed with several short spears and a sling in his hand. As he approached on horseback, he whirred and turned the sling that was already loaded with stones.

Although the three local soldiers who followed also had short spears for throwing behind them, the power of a short spear thrown by standing still and relying entirely on arm strength was completely incomparable to the power of a short spear thrown by riding a horse and relying on the speed of the horse.

Naturally, the shooting range is also one step behind.

Fortunately, Mr. Pavey took out the Lord Knight's token, and the herdsmen who were riding fast and approaching the circle immediately put away their fierce side obediently and honestly. Not only did they put away their slings, but also He slowed down his horse, jumped off his horse, and approached the crowd on foot.

This is considered a sign of goodwill.

Lubis and the two town guards put away their weapons and followed Mr. Pavey with a sigh of relief.

Mr. Pavey changed his hand and held up the stone ax token. It was not until he was very close to the herdsman that the other party could see and confirm the token. Then he put the stone ax token into the leather bag on his waist as if he were touching hot iron. stored in.

"You are so rude to your guests!"

Mr. Pawe waved his hands and scolded several herdsmen unceremoniously.

The herdsmen have brown skin and wear extremely simple animal skin clothing. They are not tall but extremely strong.

Lubis knew at a glance that with a little training, these people would be more elite soldiers than the militiamen and have more combat effectiveness.

"Sir, my lord. Spring is here, and there are really too many wolves that want to take away everyone's sheep. We have to guard against them."

Pawei rolled his eyes: "Wolves can't walk on two legs, and I'm saying hello to you."

But the leader of the herdsmen smiled slyly: "I can't say for sure."

"Okay, stop talking nonsense. If something comes up, let's talk about it at your ranch."

Mr. Pavey waved his hand, and everyone walked towards the pasture together. Although the herdsmen spoke with guns and sticks, they were still very flattering to Mr. Pawei. They immediately sent strong horses without saddles to Mr. Pawei. Immediately, a young herdsman knelt on the ground and asked Mr. Pawei to step on him. Mount your horse.

But it seemed that because of the presence of Kendal people from out of town, Pavey was embarrassed, so he showed off his skills.

He waved his hand to decline the herdsman's kindness, then walked to the horse's head and looked at the horse he was riding, and the horse also looked at him.

Then Mr. Pavey suddenly stretched out his hand and twisted one of the horse's ears. The horse lowered its head and neck strangely, and even its front legs dropped.

Pavel then lifted his leg on the horse's neck and turned it up. Then he released his hand and the horse stood upright again.

That's it straight up.

"Huh, don't underestimate me. My uncle taught me a lot of skills." Pawei rode on the horse and smiled proudly at everyone.

After seeing Pawei on horseback, the herdsmen led everyone towards Jingshui Ranch.

As they approached the pasture, several herdsmen whistled a few times, and then several herdsmen hiding among the sheep came out with bows and arrows in hand. They all wore woolen sheepskins, and even had a few sheep's horns on their fur hats.

"These herdsmen are really well prepared. Remember to be careful for a while."

Lubis whispered to the two guards and the merchant Orobi. Everyone else nodded.

-

From a distance, Jingshui Ranch is located on the edge of the beautiful Jingshui Lake, surrounded by vast grasslands. The sky is the same color as the lake. The scenery is extremely beautiful. It seems that Jingshui Ranch looks quite cute from a distance, especially the flocks of sheep that look like white clouds, and the cattle with the same coat color as precious carpets move slowly in the fence.

But as you get closer to the pasture, things you can’t see from a distance become apparent.

The damp wooden fence where mushrooms grew has been repaired for an unknown period of time.

The excrement of the cattle and sheep in the pen has a strong and pungent smell, although the herders seem not to be able to smell it.

Low and dilapidated mud buildings, even most of the buildings are primitive and semi-underground. The roofs are mostly made of stone tiles instead of special tiles to deal with rainfall.

The lighting in the ranch is even more inadequate, even if it is not far away from the bustling Grass Rat Town. Every low and wide mud building here is dark inside, and it is obvious that they are reluctant to light torches or oil lamps for lighting in broad daylight. , even though the local area is not short of animal fat at all, it is short of wood raw materials for torches.

"It looks quite dilapidated and backward." Ouluobi looked at it, shaking his head and sighing.

Then he felt strange: "It stands to reason that it's wrong. It's so close to the town, and according to Mr. Pavey, the cattle and sheep here are the most delicious in the area. It shouldn't be so poor. No one comes here to do business." ?"

Mr. Pavey snapped his fingers: "Ha, you are right, no one really comes to do business. Because there are too few businessmen recognized by these herdsmen."

He raised his chin at the short-throwing gun on the herdsman's back, and his meaning was self-evident.

Those who were not recognized were attacked as they approached the ranch.

"My family would sometimes buy some cattle and sheep for food. Other times, they would take the initiative to go to the town to get the cattle and sheep in exchange for things. I think Parian, the algae head, was the one who knew the ranch at that time."

he guessed.

The buildings of the entire ranch are roughly in the shape of a concave shape. After everyone walked to the center of the building, they did not enter the dark, low, semi-underground room, but directly talked to the leader of the ranch outside.

This place is said to be a pasture, but in fact it is more like a small semi-civilized tribe. Although it is composed of immigrants who have migrated from the empire, there are also people from different parts of the empire among the immigrants. I don’t know why, they are just like this. They chose today's life, stayed away from civilized society, and degenerated into the appearance of this primitive tribe.

But this is just the surface. It can be seen from the fact that most of these herders have some iron weapons and pure imperial accents that they are not retreating to barbarism, but actively choose to embrace this way of life.

The leaders of the ranch were several old men. The old men wearing spotted cowhide clothing walked out of the dark house surrounded by young herdsmen. They all knew Mr. Pavey.

"Oh, isn't this Master Pawei? Why did you bring so many soldiers here today?"

The oldest leader, the leader, looked at Lubis and others with the eyes of a falcon.

It seemed that Lubis and others were outsiders from their equipment and positions. The old man changed his tone and said, "Are you here to introduce us to a partner for cooperation? No need. Although life is poor today, this is the right thing to do." Isn’t it what we pursue in life?”

Mr. Pawei knew that the other party's guess was wrong. He must have thought that the businessman Oulu among the people must be the purpose of the trip, and Lubis and others were the businessmen's guards. He was here to introduce the connection.

"Haha, dear Mr. Arutukia, you guessed wrong. I'm not here to help your ranch this time. I'm here to talk about an outsider who was killed in the town."

Pawei's words caused the surrounding herdsmen to whisper among themselves. Some young people couldn't help but look at the houses in one direction. This was immediately noticed by everyone.

Obviously, Fanny and the algae head thug were hiding there, and the other party may have honestly explained to these herdsmen why they were hiding there, so when they heard about the murders in the town, these herdsmen reacted like this. So big.

The old man saw his men's self-promotion and coughed several times in anger. He had no choice but to do it. No matter how cunning and difficult the old man was, the children rarely dealt with outsiders. When dealing with things, they rarely dealt with outsiders. It would be so innocent.

Although he was angry, he was also very pleased.

Because this is what these old guys have been longing for all their lives.

There is no conspiracy, no oppression, no separation of wives and children, and no unbearable pain every day.

Most of the immigrants from the empire came here to get rid of one of the above, but these old guys came here from the empire to get rid of all of the above.

The leader of Arutukia took a deep breath and looked at Pawei: "It seems that the people around you are what you call outsiders." He paused the wooden stick in his hand on the soft grass. Dayton: "I know something, the poor girl said it. But before I make any judgment, I want to hear your side of the story. What happened? To find us here for a dead businessman .”

The old man closed his eyes and then opened them: "Although that girl is frightened and frightened, she is not a murderer. I believe in my eyes and the boys' intuition."

As soon as he finished speaking, the young herdsmen around him shouted loudly: "Yes, Fanny is so weak and won't kill anyone. Look at our strong arms, these are the strong arms that can defeat the enemy."

Some passionate young people took off their woolen coats, revealing their brown and black muscular upper bodies. An extremely excited young man was the strongest. He held a throwing spear in each hand and showed his strength while roaring.

The female herdsmen watched with amusement, cheered and applauded, or shamefully took back their children who were showing off their ugliness and showing off their treasures.

Mr. Pavey turned to look at the Kendal man: "Looks like I need to explain something to you, Lubis?" He spread his hands.

The baron's personal guard Lubis nodded, patted the businessman Ouluobi beside him on the back, stepped forward, and began to explain the morning's events loudly.

The businessman next to him also chimed in to explain.

The herdsmen listened carefully to this new murder case as if they were listening to a story.

The story ended quickly, and the old man at the ranch pondered for a while, deciding whether what Lubis and the two had just said was true or false.

He whispered a few words to a few old companions, then called a middle-aged ranch steward, asked the man a few questions in a low voice, and got an answer.

Finally, the old man looked at Lubis and others and said: "Although we can't tell whether it is true or false because of what we don't understand, there is nothing wrong with some of the relevant details. I agree with what you said."

Recognition?

Rubis is a little weird, is that all?

But then he remembered what Pawei said before, and it seemed that he had to do some activities next.

It was exactly as Lubis expected.

The old leader of the herdsmen continued: "But Fanny's child is taking refuge in our ranch after all, and we have the obligation to protect her. Even if she is involved in a crime and you want to take her away, then you must defeat the one you swore to protect this morning. Only a few of her boys will do.”

After saying that, the old man waved his hand, and six young, strong, apparently unmarried herdsmen walked out from among the herdsmen. They were in high spirits, shouting and saying things that would not let Lubis and others take the people away.

Mr. Pavey spread his hands toward Lubis, indicating that this was what he had said before, and at the same time made an expression of helplessness. He took three local soldiers and took a few steps back, saying that he would not get involved in this matter.

Lubis looked at the six young herdsmen and chuckled. Just as he was about to take a step forward and say something, Kayan, the town guard next to him, took a few steps quickly and walked in front of him: "Lubis personal guard, in this battle, let's Let me do it? How about it? I don’t think I’m any worse than that kid Kiel, there are six of them, I can beat them.”

Lubis looked at the old leader of the herdsmen, and the other party immediately said: "Since you three are here, it is three versus six. Although the number is twice as many as you, that's how it is. Defeat a few of them, and we will let you Take away that girl Fanny."

"What are the rules? How many versus several? Or one against one? Can you wear armor or use weapons?" he asked.

The old man just said: "Empty hands are enough, no other restrictions apply."

Lubis breathed a sigh of relief. After all, the short spear thrown by the herdsman behind was still very dangerous. That thing was not an attack that the armor on his body could withstand.

If it's just empty-handed, then it doesn't matter. There's nothing wrong with giving the opportunity to the young guard.