Mercenaries and Adventurers

There were about a hundred militiamen who stayed here overnight. When they saw Baron Kendall and Knight Crow coming to inspect, they immediately lowered their voices when talking.

It is probably because Knight Crow has trained well along the way. Although it is the first time to spend the night in such an underground building, the militiamen still gather together according to their respective teams, with simple bedding laid on the ground next to each other. But it is separated from other teams.

“Where should soldiers go to relieve themselves at night?”

The baron looked at it and asked a local villager who was adding fuel to the fire in the middle.

Being asked by a noble who led troops, even the young villagers who were responsible for the caravans were a little nervous at this time. They were speechless and could only raise their arms stiffly and point to the side of the circular room. a small door.

Keir guessed that it was a place for people living here to relieve themselves. After all, there were monsters in the sky outside, and people couldn't just go outside the building and relieve themselves in an uninhabited place. Sanitary issues are a trivial matter, but being spotted and snatched away by monsters flying from the sky at night is a big problem.

When someone disappears overnight without any reason, although everyone who lives here knows what happened, the resulting disputes and the possibility of borrowing a knife to kill are actually a source of trouble.

So might as well keep everything that might go out at night inside the building.

The Baron was quite satisfied with this, and took the people around the entire circular room again, and found that in addition to the entrance to the stairs where they came from, there was an underground walkway leading to other places, a simple toilet, and a Water storage room with sink.

These four places are located in the four directions of this indoor space.

The stairway we came from still leads to the next floor. I asked the local villagers, but they hesitated for a long time before they dared to speak, explaining that the next floor was where supplies were stored.

In terms of space, it is smaller than here.

Then he asked why he didn't go to other buildings through the ground. The villager pointed to the small door where he came with the cart and said that he could go to other buildings through the underground walkway there.

The Baron led Keir and the others into this place with great interest, and found that compared to other narrow spaces and passages, this passage connecting the underground buildings of various villages was wider.

"This is because the top of the passage has been reinforced and there are no other overly heavy buildings pressing down on it. If you just dig a passage in the ground, the reinforced passage will not collapse easily."

The baron explained to the people around him, tapping the wall of the passage twice with the short gemstone staff in his hand as he walked. These walls are reinforced with adobe bricks. Even so, among the bricks overhead, there are still some deeply extended grass roots squeezed out from the gaps in the adobe bricks.

It should be mentioned here that there was no lighting arranged by the locals in the passage at this time. It was clear that the surrounding light came from the white light emitted by the gemstone on the top of the short gemstone staff in the baron's hand.

The baron carefully looked at the sparse grass roots at the top of the passage, and asked Knight Crow to jump up and help him pick a handful.

He took a look, smelled it, and then crushed it with his fingertips to distinguish it. After finishing, the baron shook his head disdainfully and said to the people around him: "That's all."

He went on to explain, regardless of the fact that Knight Crow was not interested in this: "The locals just laid a full circle of simple fired adobe bricks in the excavated soil channel. There was no further processing, so the above The grassroots will extend here.”

Keir said: "Sir, if you say this, it is obviously not a good thing, right?"

The Baron nodded: "Of course it's not a good thing, this kind of place." He pointed to the surrounding passages: "If no one lives in and maintains it, it will take five years!"

He stretched out an open hand and said, "In five years, the adobe bricks at the top will collapse. Although the entire passage will not collapse together, it won't take long."

"And if there is someone to maintain it, it will last twice as long at most. Although the locals have put in a lot of effort to do this, it is still too simple. If it were me, huh."

The Baron snorted contentedly: "With the same materials and manpower, we guarantee that it can be done without maintenance for fifty years."

Kiel didn't believe this, but the Crow knights and baron guards around him felt that this should be the case.

-

Everyone walked forward along the passage, and not far away, a small door opened on one side of the passage. The small door was open and not closed. The baron shined the light in his hand, revealing the messy stacks of fuel hay stems and livestock hay leaves inside.

It was probably the place where the villager just fetched something.

This place was not interesting, so the group moved on.

After turning a small angle, we followed the passage and entered another circular room. The place was also filled with the Baron's soldiers. When they saw the Baron and Knight Crow entering through the small door in the corridor, the militiamen all stood up and saluted.

Some people were eating dinner. They didn't care much at this time. They put the wooden bowl on the ground and hit their left chest with their right fist.

The baron looked at it, but just waved his hands and said nothing. Knight Crow asked them to rest directly after eating. They might have to fight tomorrow.

The structure here is basically the same as the previous underground building. After a brief look, the Baron found a passage leading to another place.

Obviously, unlike the underground building they entered before, where there were only four spaces for soldiers to live, here there are walkways at both ends because it is connected to other places.

Go along the new corridor. This time, there are more things in the corridor.

Unlike the previous corridor where there was only a place for storing supplies, the corridor here has small doors on both sides, but they are all locked from the outside. There is obviously no one inside, and I don’t know what is behind these doors. of.

Kil soon learned this.

The group passed through five buildings, including the first underground building, each of which was home to about a hundred militiamen. The sixth building was home to support staff, including the baron and two Some of the knight's janissaries, clerks, church priests and conscripted town guards and militiamen.

Knight Rumi was also here at this time, ensuring the safety of these non-soldiers.

In fact, it is useless. After all, the combat effectiveness of the baron's personal guards is higher than that of ordinary town guards, and the town guards are much higher than ordinary soldiers. In a real fight, these dozens of people could easily defeat a hundred militiamen.

After walking through several underground buildings that looked exactly the same, Kil and the others didn't know where they were in the village at this time, but seeing the confusion on Kil's face, Knight Crow smiled.

"Kiel, why can't you understand such an easy thing? Why don't you go out and have a look." The knight reminded, and Kil immediately climbed up the stairs in every underground building, and then followed the slope where livestock can be walked. The road continued up half a floor.

When he came out and took a look, he discovered that the building he was in was not far from the first underground building he entered.

It can even be said that the straight line distance between the two buildings is very close.

Keir couldn't figure it out and scratched his head, looking at the darkening sky outside and the militiamen and guards wrapped in heavy clothes standing guard under the logistics carriage not far away.

The wind blowing around them became stronger again, and the dark sky was only dotted with stars and strange celestial bodies of gods.

At this time, the moons did not rise.

Kilmer calculated the days and found that today was the last quarter of the moon. If he wanted to wait until the three moons rose and showed the crescent moon, he would have to wait until midnight.

The first half of the night will be much darker than the last half of the night.

Thinking of this, Kil slapped his forehead and figured out what happened just now.

It turns out that the local passages connecting various underground buildings are not connected to each other, but start from the outermost building of the village, go around the outer circle, and then continue inward.

It goes in the same direction as the shells of snails, conches and other animals.

Basically a clockwise spiral channel. This passage connects the underground buildings one by one, and should become denser toward the middle.

At the same time, the villagers should all live in an underground building in the center of the village.

Kil judged the direction and remembered that if he walked along the passage, the next place should be where the military caravan and local caravans stayed overnight.

When Kiel went down again and told Knight Crow his guess, he was immediately confirmed by the knight.

"Yes, it's just as you said."

Although he didn't go out to see it, Knight Crow directly discovered the architectural patterns through his walking pace and his intuitive sense of going around. He subconsciously used the knight's sense of space that is better than ordinary people's to discover the architectural patterns.

And the Baron himself saw it immediately as he walked down the first aisle.

Perhaps he had already guessed what was going on when he was watching his soldiers and businessmen entering different underground buildings outside the building.

After telling this interesting intelligence news, Knight Crow took Keir to the place where he had been arranged to live.

"You and my guards will rest here tonight."

Seeing that Knight Crowe had no intention of resting, Kil asked: "Sir, what about you?"

The knight patted his magic gem sword: "I discussed with Rumi before that the two of us should rest at different intervals. Someone must watch the carriage outside. I am worried about so many people standing guard under the carriage."

After saying that, he walked away to say something to the baron and walked out of the passage.

That's right. The army deployed its formation during the day, and I don't know if it scared off the monsters flying in the sky. But no matter what, humans are considered capable of fighting during the day, but the night does not affect the flying and "hunting" of monsters, but the same cannot be said for humans.

Not only were most of the militiamen unable to see at night because they couldn't afford meat, even the Baron was not stingy with logistical food these days.

The militiamen's biggest source of combat effectiveness, the crossbow, is difficult to function at night without lighting.

After all, if you can't see it, you will definitely not be able to shoot accurately.

At night, except for the knight-level combat power, other ordinary people are a little reluctant.

Knight Crow went out on watch just in case.

-

Kiel's dog-skin sleeping bag had been brought down by a personal guard. After a brief meal, he sat on his sleeping bag to rest.

Compared with the outside, it is very warm inside the underground building, and it is not stuffy. Obviously, this was considered when the vents were built. Kil sat in silence for a while, and then he used the light here to see several guards entering the passage leading to other underground buildings arm in arm.

"What are they going to do?"

Hearing Keir's question, the knight's bodyguard sleeping nearby explained: "They were visiting the merchants. Our merchants just came over to remind us that it turns out that the local villagers will provide additional services to the passing business travelers."

"Extra services? Is that that?"

Kil chuckled, and the knight's guard shrugged: "Probably not. After all, it's just a small village. Where are the women willing to do this? But there must be a lot of food and drink. People who have been walking in this ghost place for a day, I guess You all want to eat something good, right?"

Fortunately, he didn't hear it. As soon as he heard the drink, Keir became greedy. His stomach felt like a rope was tied up, and the other end of the rope was where he could drink.

"Where are you going Kiel? Aren't you going to sleep?" the knight guard asked as he watched Kiel get up and walk away.

"I'll be back in a while. You have to drink some anyway. You can't miss it." Keir waved his hand and kept walking.

"Bring some for both of us!"

"good."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kil followed the direction of the town guards just now and entered the passage connecting another underground building.

There is no lighting here, but the few guards who came in before brought an oil lamp for lighting. Kil didn't have to go to the trouble of asking the logistics clerk to borrow a lamp. He just pulled out a little of the hunting sword on his waist.

Following his thoughts, the end of the long sword emitted a white light that was enough to illuminate.

Recently, Kil has become more and more proficient in using the blessing ability of the Church of the Sun God in hunting. Now he can only control part of the sword to emit white light. In this way, when he fights with people, the tip of the sword facing the enemy can only be used. Use much less accumulated divine power than before to achieve the same effect as before releasing all your divine power.

In terms of lighting, the consumption is much less than before.

Moving along the slightly curved passage, he soon heard the voices of people much noisier than Kendall's army.

After walking a few steps, I saw through the light the place where the merchants spent the night.

Messy and noisy.

This was Kiel's first impression. It was obviously different from an organized army. The caravans came from various places and were managed by different chambers of commerce. No one could control anyone.

Therefore, it was okay before, when the army could be seen with the naked eye, the merchants were living in peace, but tonight everyone lives in such a semi-enclosed independent space, and the influence of the Kendall army has disappeared.

At least it disappeared on the surface.

Keir saw that the personnel of each caravan, except for a few unlucky ones who were arranged to guard the goods under the caravan carriage outside, were all gathered here.

The place was as big as other underground buildings, but at least two hundred people were crammed into the circular space.

Each caravan occupies a small area, and there is no need for each person to have a bedding or sleeping bag for sleeping. A blanket is simply spread on the ground, and the young caravan guys and guards just lie on it and eat dinner casually.

The steward of the caravan could be a little better. There was a small blanket by himself, with a barbecue and a wine bottle that he got from nowhere, and he was happily talking, eating and drinking.

The fire pit in the center is even more impressive. The fire pit is covered with a kind of charcoal made of thick grass stalks, and roasted sheep are placed on it. The local villagers are constantly turning the grill to let the heated sheep roast. The fat flows evenly throughout the roasted lamb during turning.

Surrounded by the truly powerful stewards of each caravan, they held daggers and used them to eat. They used the daggers to cut off the roasted lamb directly, and then dipped it in with the fine salt and dipping sauce on the plate in front of them. Eaten.

Next to them were village girls holding earthenware jugs protected by straw ropes. The jugs were filled with fine wine. As long as the caravan stewards picked up the metal wine glasses at hand, a girl immediately stepped forward to fill them with wine.

It looked like there was good food and drink there, but Kil didn't see any of the guards from before.

So Keir asked a caravan man casually, but the other party pointed to the passage from this underground space to another underground building: "The villagers have opened some temporary shops in the passage to facilitate us. Your people may be there. .”

This caravan man regarded Kiel as a manager in the army, and he thought that Kiel came to call people back.

Bypassing the fire pit in the middle that attracted him, Keir came to the door of the passage.

Sure enough, the scene in the passage here is very different.

Not only was the passage clearly illuminated by oil lamps, but in the relatively spacious passage, there were also many street stalls set up by local villagers against the wall. There are all kinds of things on the stalls, from sheepskin boots to beast skin cloaks, from small to precious local wooden dishes and bowls, to various utensils made of straw, from various daggers for self-defense, to small axes, short swords and long knives. .

He even saw that the locked rooms on both sides of the passage were opened, and the voices of people inside were heard frequently.

He walked around here curiously and found that some town guards from his side were also hanging out. However, the villager from Thor Village saw the Baron Kendall family mark on the town guards. Although he would not refuse to speak, there was a smile on his face. But he didn't have a good expression.

There was no other way. As a way to show their strength and forcefully enter the village for the night, the two knights collapsed the walls and gates of the village and beat some people.

The villagers did not dare to refuse or curse them, but their good looks were gone.

However, the guards didn't care, and were even a little proud of it. It was obvious that the actions and results of the two knights made the guards very happy.

They had come across so many villages like this along the way. Anyway, they only went back and forth twice when going to the southern province and on their way back. For the vast majority of Kendal people, it was unlikely that they would ever be exposed to these villages in their lifetime. There is no relationship between people who met each other.

Kil said hello to the few guards who saw him, and then started walking around in the aisle full of trading goods.

There were a lot of people visiting here, and many of the caravan guys who had eaten couldn't sit still. They stopped to rest and followed the excitement and came over one after another. Not only did people from the caravan come to this passage from the underground building that Kiel just passed, but the other half of the caravan members who lived at the other end of the passage also came to hang out.

Most of the things displayed on the street stalls are cheap and cheap local products. It seems that the materials are basically made by the villagers in the village in their spare time, and are traded here to the caravans passing by in exchange for money.

Kil asked about the price. A set of leather clothes only cost a dozen copper coins, which was much cheaper than in the town.

Although they didn't look good, Kil still spent money to buy the two pairs of thin sheepskin boots he needed. These thin sheepskin boots looked more like socks and could be put on the feet to walk.

Of course, for life on the grassland, since the ground is soft and there are few stones to scratch the feet, wearing these thin sheepskin boots is enough.

But Kil was different. He bought these boots to wear them inside the armor-plated boots matching the armor and put them on his feet to prevent his feet from being worn and injured by the armor-plated boots.