Mercenaries and Adventurers

The harpy, whose mouth was torn open by its own initiative, flapped its wings with all its strength, staring in horror at the blue meteors flying straight up from the bottom.

But no matter how it dodges, the deadly weapon approaching quickly still locks it firmly.

"Hey!" The monster screamed in its throat for the last time, swung its claws and hit it.

But in its unbelievable and horrified gaze, the blue rotating weapon turned slightly to avoid its blockage, and then moved forward again. The sharp ax blade passed through its neck, cutting off most of its neck, and was firmly stuck in it. above.

The monster's blood spurted out from the edge of the weapon's blade, falling from the air in a trickle, gradually disintegrating into blood beads and fine blood mist.

It was blown by the strong wind and disappeared to no one knows where.

The harpy flapped its wings subconsciously twice at the end, and then seemed to have lost command or motivation, and fell downwards with a whine.

The sharp eyes of this monster have lost their original look, and it seems that the soul in the eyes has disappeared.

Amid the whining sound of the strong wind, the chewing sound of the soul seemed to be obscured.

-

"Good job!" Knight Rumi saw that the monster was hit in the neck and was falling without moving, so he judged that the monster was dead.

He gave an encouraging compliment to Kiir, and then looked in the direction of the militia team.

Not far away in that direction, a harpy monster with the roots of its wings broken was half lying on the ground, with a shocked and incredible expression on its human-like furry face.

It opened its mouth full of sharp teeth, its broken left wing hung crookedly on the ground, and it relied tightly on its right wing to support its body.

Knight Rumi, who had excellent eyesight, saw that the monster was trembling, and immediately called his horse, jumped up, and galloped towards it.

Boom, boom, boom--

Amidst the heavy sound of the horse's hooves, Knight Rumi picked up a new cavalry spear, mercilessly stabbed it out while galloping past, and plunged into the back of the monster on the ground.

The spear bent slightly, and then the war horse ran forward. The monster pierced by the spear head also moved forward against the ground as the knight moved.

It is said that it is moving, but in fact, the whole body is pressed against the grass and rubbed forward. The monster tried several times to use its claws to slow down and break free, but Knight Rumi swung his spear from side to side, suppressing it on the ground again and dragging it along.

The knight quickly approached the front militia team. Seeing Knight Rumi suppressing the monster to the ground so lightly, all the Kendall militiamen who saw this scene couldn't help but roar.

At first, a few people roared excitedly, then more and more militiamen joined in, and finally all the militiamen in the front row roared rhythmically together.

Or low, or warm, or high-pitched.

Knight Rumi raised his wrist, swung his spear directly, and lifted up the harpy who was suppressed on the ground and kept rubbing.

The shaft of the cavalry lance used by the baron's personal guard could barely support the entire weight of an entire harpy.

The knight picked up the monster and rode his horse around the densely arranged militia team, asking everyone to take a closer look. What does the monster that the locals are so afraid of look like? Is it powerful? They humans should not be afraid of them.

"Everyone look up and look!"

Knight Rumi shouted.

"Flying in the sky? Then break their wings!"

"Ho! Roar!"

The militiamen shouted in unison.

"Tall and strong? Then launch a fatal blow!"

"Ho! Roar!"

Another round of shouting.

The knight glanced at being provoked and then regained his composure, trying to break away from the spear head that pierced his back from behind. Seriously, these monsters are really strong.

But with a cold voice, he pointed the spear outward towards the militia team, and then pushed the barrel of the gun to let the monster being carried by the head of the gun slightly escape. Then he flicked the spear fiercely, and volleyed the still confused monster towards him. The assembled militia.

"It's yours! Kill it!"

the knight shouted excitedly.

All eyes were focused on the harpy monster that was pulled from the air. The spear-wielding militiamen at the landing point of the monster subconsciously held their spears with both hands and stabbed the monster with their trained skills.

Puff puff puff puff——

But more than one person did this subconsciously. Several people did this at the place where the monster was thrown.

In just an instant, several sharp spearheads pierced the monster's wings or body.

The head of a spear even penetrated through the monster's wide fangs, passed through half of the monster's face, and passed through the other side of the head and face covered with down.

Being pierced by several spears, even the monster with a strong body was helpless and tried to struggle with its last strength.

But the next moment, Knight Rumi's roar came over: "Why is the spearman still in a daze? Kill it for me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd around him was crowded, and then more than ten spears penetrated the body of the harpy monster from nearby.

Puff puff————, puff puff————

After someone pierced the monster's abdomen, he was still struggling to stir the spear in his hand. Someone stabbed the monster in the abdomen, got quite excited, pulled it out and stabbed it again.

There were also two militiamen who used their spears to pick up the monster's pair of variegated wings that could no longer hang down, and raised it high.

Knight Rumi was quite happy to see this: "Yes! That's it! Next, not only this monster, but every harpy monster that comes to attack us Kendal people will all end up like this!"

-

In the carriage convoy not far away, Baron Kendall coughed lightly, and in the wind that gradually became smaller around him, he asked Knight Crow standing on the top of the carriage:

"Isn't Rumi going a little too far by doing this?"

Knight Crow cautiously scanned the tall grass in the distance and replied calmly: "No, it's just right."

He paused and then continued: "Look, the soldiers are no longer afraid."

The baron waved his hand, and a luminous mirror light appeared in front of him. This thing, which was obviously made of magic, was showing the expressions of the militiamen in the front group of militiamen, which could only be seen clearly at close range.

The baron looked carefully and confirmed that the militiamen had indeed cheered up under this encouragement and truly believed that they could fight against the harpies.

His expression improved a little from this.

The baron then turned the magic direction and looked at the expressions and emotions of the soldiers on the left, right and rear of the militia team, and found that although there was improvement, it was very limited.

"At least, hundreds of people can fight normally." He said to himself.

After killing the last harpy in this attack, the army paused for a moment to recover the monster's body, and then continued to move forward.

I don't know if it has something to do with killing the harpy monster. The strong wind that suddenly rose just now gradually became smaller as the monster's life disappeared.

Knight Rumi seized this opportunity and immediately ordered the soldiers to seize the opportunity and move forward.

At the same time, he found a baron's personal guard to serve as a messenger and conveyed one of his soldier transformation plans to Knight Crow.

The plan was not complicated. It was to disperse the 150 people from the front team who had lost their fear of flying monsters and distribute them to the militia teams in other directions.

Since each militia team has an independent team name and organization, you only need to exchange twenty or thirty people with the same number of people from the teams in other directions.

Knight Crow quickly agreed to the plan and asked Knight Rumi to take the opportunity to complete the manpower exchange the next time he rested in place.

Even though the soldiers in the front team simply whipped the injured monster to death, this simple move effectively broke the common people's fear of flying monsters.

Not only that, but the knights, including the knight's apprentice Kiel, were also imprinted in their hearts. The knights had powerful force to take the lead and protect the Kendall militiamen who were their subordinates.

This belief and trust can make the knight more confident when commanding, and his combat power will naturally be greatly increased.

-

Baron Kendall stood in the carriage, freezing the corpses of the harpies, and murmured a phrase: "Belief is power."

Kil was standing nearby, holding a two-handed ax to cut off the wings of the harpy, then folded them and placed them next to the monster's body. The wings cannot be folded. The wingspan of the harpy monster is several meters. Even if it is only one wing, it takes up a lot of space when unfolded.

Next to Kiel, a military priest from the Church of the God of Wealth was murmuring and praying to cure Kiel's deaf ears.

The priest murmured something, holding a wet handkerchief in his hand, wiping the blood stains from Kil's ear. "How's it going? Little Kil, can you hear me?" the middle-aged priest tentatively asked in a smaller voice.

Kil felt a little itchy inside his ear hole, so he took the wet handkerchief next to his ear and dug into it.

The quiet world left him, and the noisy sounds returned to his mind.

It was now the marching break which was approaching noon.

Knight Rumi roared in the distance, directing the militia squad he called to alternate defense directions with other squads.

A large number of horses had their bits removed from their mouths by their drivers while they were resting. At this time, they were lowering their heads and showing off the delicious grass that was available everywhere on the ground. The whinnying and chewing sounds of enjoyment are clearly audible.

The uniform steps of the soldiers came from far to near, then from near to far, passing by here, and then nervously headed in the direction of the team in the order.

Baron Kendall was muttering to himself about the similarities and differences between the harpies he had observed up close. Next to the baron, his entourage was copying the baron's words into a book with a quill rustling.

Not far away, the loud sound of the army blacksmith striking metal with a hammer could be heard intermittently amid the noise.

The priests from other churches who accompanied the army whispered to the baron's guards who were also deafened. They were accompanied by the painful grunt of Bloodfangster as he was being healed of the wound on his leg by the healing spell.

Keir, who had experience, guessed that at this time, Ste must be biting a short wooden stick in his mouth to prevent him from making loud noises.

Gradually, as the priest of the Church of the God of Wealth around him asked again: "Little Kil, can you hear me?"

He nodded in response.

The priest breathed a sigh of relief when he received an affirmative answer. He lowered his finger from Kil's ear and cut off the divine power flowing into the ear wound.

"In this case, I will end the treatment."

Kil nodded, and suddenly he felt that his hearing was gradually returning to normal.

From not being able to hear anything just now, to being able to hear everything, and now finally returning to my normal hearing range.

He felt that the strengthening of hearing should be the divine power at work.

However, Kiel did not have the priests' exquisite and sensitive control over divine power, and the inside of the skull was the most complex part of the human body. He did not dare to allow the divine power and life energy of the god of agriculture in his body to move here to increase his five senses.

That's too dangerous.

Knight Crow had told him this taboo more than once.

Before he reaches a certain level of control over life energy, it is best for Kil to give up on this idea. Unless he himself dies.

Of course, with the accumulation of life energy in the human body, the abundant life energy does not need to be controlled. It is normally distributed in the body and will gradually strengthen and strengthen various functions of the human body.

Whether it's the density and hardness of bones, or the ability to form blood. The explosive power and endurance of muscles, toughness, etc. will all be enhanced. Even the sensitivity brought by the hairs on the body surface, the vision of the eyes, the hearing of the ears, the sense of space, and the sense of direction will all be enhanced.

The various organs in the body's internal organs will gradually become stronger, diseases will no longer easily erode the human body, the heart will be more powerful, and the lungs will be strong enough to suck in more air in one breath and compress it. The liver has a stronger ability to decompose toxic substances, and the gastrointestinal efficiency of digestion is higher.

In short, various common and uncommon abilities of human beings will be gradually strengthened in the hands of knights with sufficient life energy.

Of course, there are limits.

There is a bottleneck in the life energy that everyone can accumulate in the body. With enough monster meat to supplement it, it won't take long for ordinary people's life energy to be full, making it difficult to increase it.

And this is the limit for most knights.

It's not that there is no way, it's simply the difference in resources between the knights that determines the direction and extent of their respective developments.

When Kil thought of this, he understood why he gave the pure element crystal to Knight Crow in the first place, and the other party immediately agreed to his request for knight training.

Because for Knight Crow, he can provide knight training to anyone at any time. At this level, there is no problem in teaching others.

But for the Cavaliers, finding a way forward is obviously more important.

Keir felt that for a person with Knight Crow's level and connections, there must be more than one path in front of him at that time.

It's just that there are more or less differences in strength and weakness, freedom and restraint.

But in the end, Knight Crow chose the further method of pure element crystallization. Obviously, for the knight, this road was the best one he could access.

"Thank you, thank you for healing my ear." Kil put away his ax and expressed his sincere thanks to the priest who treated him.

The priest waved his hand and said politely: "Yes, your performance just now was really good. Little Kil, after officially becoming a knight, are you interested in learning more about the teachings and history of the God of Wealth?"

As soon as the priest finished speaking, Baron Kendall, who was not far away, coughed heavily and glared at the middle-aged priest with an unkind expression.

The priest of the God of Wealth smiled cheekily and patted Kil's armored shoulder familiarly: "You don't need to think too much. You can come to me to talk or ask for help at any time. After all, those who are dedicated to seeking wealth should Find the Church of the God of Wealth first. Just remember this."

The baron drove the talkative priest away, muttered a few words silently, and asked Keir to get out of the way. Then he waved his hand, and the ring on his finger shot out a thin column of white air.

After being shrouded in white air columns and strafed for a few seconds, the bodies of the monsters that had just died were frozen one by one in the large wooden box.

Kil glanced at the ring on the Lord Baron's hand. That thing gave him a strong feeling that it could kill him at any time. Obviously, the power of the magic ring was different between the owner of the ring and the one who lent it.

The Baron noticed Kil's curious gaze, nodded and said, "How is it? Kil."

He opened his palm and used the sunlight to show off several magic rings on the palm of his right hand: "Magic rings and similar props are superficial symbols of the power and status of nobles. If you become a knight, I can give it to you. One."

Seeing the surprise on Kil's face, the Baron laughed: "But instead of these in my hand, I will find magicians to make a new magic ring for you, with you as the main one. How about it?"

This is solicitation.

Although Knight Crow is a vassal knight of Baron Kendall, and Keir is a knight apprentice of Knight Crow, the tendency of power naturally leans towards him.

Moreover, Baron Kendall also intends to let Keir replace the original lord 'Knight' of Gloomy Forest Village in the future.

But after all, a tendency is just a tendency. Kiel was not from the military, had suffered amnesia before, and was definitely not a local. He rose to prominence in Kendall City by freely hunting monsters.

And he has a good relationship with the Church of Saturn. Although he had made some arrangements before to weaken the relationship between the two.

But it's still hard to say how you will choose after becoming a knight.

Especially this time they are going to participate in the war. As a knight who has not yet become a knight, whether Kiel can survive the battle is an unknown outcome that no one knows.

Not enough compared to the top, but more than enough than the bottom.

This is about Kiel’s combat strength level at this time.

This kind of knight apprentice who is still learning is most likely to die in a battle with outsiders, because compared with fighting against knights who can fight and escape, it is easiest for Kiel to concentrate his strength and eliminate the enemy for sure.

Generally speaking, knight apprentices in training are in a place with sufficient resources: trainers, a safe environment, a large amount of monster meat, and knight knowledge and skills. Study in a place and environment with sufficient resources, so that the selected candidate will have a reliable possibility of becoming a knight.

Knights like Crow and Rumi were selected from the kingdom's army and dedicated time to training as knights in specific safe places.

As for Baron Kendall himself, before he took over the title of Baron Kendall, he spent time and resources at the Noble Council of Organ Castle, the capital of the Northwest Province, to safely and securely become a noble baron with the initial strength of a knight.

Of course, becoming a noble does not generally require you to have the initial strength of a knight. This is not necessary.

It's just that border areas like the Northwest Province are not safe, and there are constant challenges in managing the territory. Only with the basic strength of knights can we manage and rule it safely.

This was true not only of Baron Kendall, but also of some of his other friends who had the same title and governed areas adjacent to each other.

As for the nobles whose territories are in big cities and developed areas in the eastern part of the kingdom, there is no need for them to spend time, energy, risks, etc. to train themselves into noble lords with the initial strength of knights.

The Baron once heard that the more prosperous the place, the more the nobles looked down on the vulgar border nobles like them. The nobles in those places advocate using wisdom and power to demonstrate the strength of the nobles, rather than naked physical violence.

-

Having said that, when Baron Kendall made a gesture of invitation, Keir fell silent.

Kendall County is not a bad place. He is familiar with it and knows the land in the county better than most people. The monsters up there have had countless interactions with the beast Kil.

It's just that I didn't think much of it before. I always thought Kendall County was very big. But this time after the army came out, Keir suddenly realized how big the world is.

Kendall County, which I thought was very large at first, appears to be much smaller in comparison.

If he was a local, he would naturally return to Kendall County, officially become a knight lord, manage a place, be loyal to Baron Kendall, and fight for him.

But he's not.

Not only is he not a native of Kendall County, he is not even from this world. He is Zhao Ji, a lonely soul from another world.

It comes mysteriously, with no choice.

Now, he wants to go out, go out of a small place, travel around, increase his knowledge and experience.

Go to every place where the heroic epics sung by the bards took place, go to the highest mountain in the world to shout loudly, go to the vast ocean to challenge the endless unknown, go to the empire where human civilization was born, go to this world The wisest library searches for the wisest existence to explore his own origin, visit every holy land of gods, go to every place, and challenge every strong person.

Perhaps, a legend will be left behind.

Or perhaps, the corpse was exposed in the wilderness early.

Thinking of this, Kil Wuxin's chest could even feel the beating of his own heart.

The Baron looked at the expression of Kiel who did not answer him, and chuckled softly: "It's the same as when I was young, haha. I also have the unique ambition of young people, and I always feel that this world is nothing more than this."

Kil came back to his senses and touched his nose awkwardly.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, little Kil, no matter how far you go, believe me, you will always come back to Kendall County. This is the answer and prediction that my wisdom tells me."

The baron tapped his forehead lightly with his finger and said softly:

"Falled leaves come from the soil and always fall to the earth."

"The migratory fish grows in the sea and swims back to streams."

"Migrant birds hatch in nests and fly thousands of miles back."

"When a traveler travels to a foreign land, he returns home when his heart is moved."

"Wise men and fools, insects and spirits."

"No matter the mountains or rivers, no matter the stars or the universe."

“Everything is a cycle.”

"We sprouted."

"We grow."

"We're traveling far."

"We reproduce."

"We grow old."

"We, hey-"

“We always come back to where we started.”

“It turns into dust and decay, the spirit nourishes all souls, and the soul becomes a seed.”

"Bury it deep and wait for the day it will sprout again."

Baron Kendall was talking and walked away minding his own business. It was obvious that after he read the poem, he no longer cared about Keir.

Kil scratched his head and sat on the edge of the carriage. Behind him was the cold corpse of the frozen monster, and in front of him were busy people.