Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil really didn't expect that the spear was just a short wooden pole with a short dagger tip. It could only be balanced to ensure a good flight path when thrown.

How can it be sold so expensively?

"What do you call it? How can this throwing gun be so expensive? The price has doubled?"

When Kil used to buy the guards' throwing guns in the local caravan, the price was only nine copper coins, but the blacksmith shop here actually dared to sell a standard throwing gun for eighteen copper coins.

The tall businessman waved his hand to help Kil relax. He went on to explain: "Actually, we have just recently acquired a batch of high-quality iron ore, and the price of iron is still a little lower. Otherwise, we will take action." This sold for twenty copper coins each. The real reason why it is so expensive is because of the wooden barrel!"

As soon as the other party reminded him, Kil reacted. It turned out that it was so expensive because the Qingfeng Grassland where Qingfeng Town was located did not produce wood, and all the wood was brought in by merchants from other places.

As for lumber, to be honest, those merchants who dared to risk crossing the Wei Feng Prairie trade route were unwilling to load such a commodity with no higher value on their own trucks.

Therefore, the only source of wood on the grassland is the Chamber of Commerce organized by the townspeople of Strange Wind Town. They go to Cavernland, a few days away from the Strange Wind Grassland, to the south, buy a forest farm, and transport the wood regardless of the cost. For sale.

Wood materials are indispensable materials needed in society for construction, home furnishing, life, production, and combat.

It needs to be used everywhere.

Even if it is more expensive, this material with very wide applicability cannot be separated from life.

The businessman opposite explained the reason, and only then did Keir understand: "It makes sense, but you can't tell me what the price is, and I really believe it. I have to ask around."

"Young warrior, feel free to ask around. However, please note that although ordinary wood is cheaper, they cannot be used to make spear shafts. The spear shafts for throwing spears are made of solid and tough wood, and the price is higher than ordinary wood. The wood that can be used is more expensive and is made by cutting down suitable straight small trees.”

The other party explained, and Kil nodded: "I understand this. Weapons are made roughly the same everywhere, and our throwing guns are also made using similar techniques."

He turned to the Conquinas blacksmith and said: "You can talk to the blacksmith shop owner here about replenishing repair materials. I will go and inquire about the price of local wood and I will be back soon."

The blacksmith with the army nodded and told the businessman opposite who took out a wooden board and paper. Every time he mentioned a shortage of materials, the businessman wrote a word on the wooden board, as well as the materials that the Kendal people needed. quantity.

After writing, the businessman called his assistant, a powerful blacksmith, and handed the paper to the other party: "Look, how much inventory we have and what is missing, I will ask someone to go to other chambers of commerce to adjust it on site. "

He turned to the Conquinas blacksmith and said: "How about buying it as a family, saving money and buying everything at my house? The price is guaranteed, and we can also send out, uh, one, two, three, four, four apprentices I’ll help you take it back and use the easy-to-go trolley in town!”

"That's great." The blacksmith who accompanied the army immediately thanked him. The two apprentices and the town militia behind him breathed a sigh of relief. If they are willing to help provide transportation services, they can save a lot of effort.

Several people glanced at each other secretly and snickered.

-

Keir walked out of the 'Metal Prairie Horse' blacksmith shop, caught someone at the door to inquire about it, and then followed the direction he directed to the chamber of commerce that sold wood.

The place is not far away, right next to the building where the blacksmith shop is located. The reason why it is not next to the blacksmith shop is mainly because the locals know from experience that the blacksmith shop cannot be placed together with the merchant house where combustibles are stored and sold.

He quickly walked through the crowd, and there were far fewer people here. On the contrary, there were more trolleys passing by him, with various raw materials piled on them.

Looking up, in the building where the chamber of commerce that sells wood is located, there are stores with storefronts in other directions, selling all kinds of basic raw materials. There is even a small store that is specialized in butchering and cutting meat.

This kind of shop will only appear in areas with relatively developed economy and trade. Most human villages and towns do not have this kind of specialized slaughtering shop. Anyone who wants to slaughter the livestock raised at home usually asks someone with experience in the family to do it. Or a familiar butcher can handle the slaughtering of animals.

Slaughtering and cutting meat is not a job that everyone can do. It is not easy for animals to be slaughtered. They will be afraid, run away, and even hurt people.

It takes a lot of experience to restrain the animals safely and kill them safely and quickly.

It's okay if you ask Keir to kill a big animal, but if you ask him to skin and remove the bones and separate the different bones and meat of the animal in a clear way, he won't be able to do it.

It was easy to chop off most of the animal's body with one sword, but he didn't understand how to carefully cut and separate it.

When he asked about the price of commonly used wood at the Chamber of Commerce store that sells wood, Keir was a bit speechless. It was indeed not cheap. In other places, prices are low, and even in areas where no one specializes in selling wood because it is close to the forest, here in Qiaofeng Town, not only the price of wood has increased more than ten times, but also the wood raw materials of various qualities and different tree species are provided in detail. Various prices were placed.

It simply squeezed all the profits out of it.

He rubbed his teeth with his tongue and felt that the residents of Strange Wind Town were really miserable. It was obvious that the local chamber of commerce that they had set up with money to obtain enough wood for their daily life had completely become an exploitative monopoly on the local wood consumption market. Profit monster.

He could openly defeat the man-eating monster with the weapon in his hand, but there was no reason to fight with his sword against such a 'man-eating' monster.

If he were a local of Strange Wind Town, he might still be involved in this kind of thing, but as a passing member of the out-of-town army, he had no reason to get involved.

-

He pretended to choose different woods a few times, using the excuse that he wanted to prepare a wooden scabbard for his sword, but he looked left and right and shook his head dissatisfied. He didn't like cheap wood. , but it seems too expensive.

So after dawdling for a while, he asked about the price and left.

Quickly returning to the 'Metal Prairie Horse' blacksmith shop, he saw his own people in a slightly empty corner of the blacksmith shop.

Under the guidance of the Conquinales blacksmith, they were counting the supplies arriving.

Kiel glanced at it and saw thick leather materials of the same size, blacksmith tools that were easy to damage and difficult to make, dark coal and equally dark charcoal blocks, as well as large metal needles and tough thin twine.

These things are all kinds of consumable materials used by soldiers for maintenance.

The damaged leather and wood protective gear needs to be repaired, the damaged sword needs fuel to be reforged, and the torn armor needs to be repaired and remade.

Although this blacksmith with the army, who had dealt with Kiel last year, was not as capable of making a complete set of armor as the Ganna craftsman whom Kiel knew, he was quite capable of making some repairs to various weapons and equipment.

"You came back just in time. Take a look at the quantity and price of these items and compare them. You will be asked to sign and pay for the final purchase receipt."

Keir turned out to be a piece of paper handed over by the craftsman, which was filled with the names and quantities of various items, the unit price, which company they came from, the total price, etc.

For some supplies that have been shipped, the prices have been clearly calculated and circles are drawn on the back.

For other materials that are being transported, the quantity is available, but the unit price is not filled in, so the total price is naturally left blank.

"Very good, please carefully control the quality of the supplies. After all, you are the one who will use them in the end. Take them apart and check them. Not only are they consistent in terms of quantity, but also take a closer look at whether the items are good or not. They are all idle anyway. , then they check and you confirm.”

Kil assigned the task, and the apprentices and militiamen who came with him got busy.

After handing over the preparation of supplies to the blacksmith accompanying the army, Kil found the owner of the blacksmith shop who was directing people to contact other chambers of commerce to transport supplies.

"How's it going? Am I right? The price of wood in our Guifeng Town is really expensive. Just ask anyone and you will know."

The businessman said with a smile, and at the same time he waved to the idle blacksmith apprentice to bring him a whole bundle of packed throwing spears.

"A bundle of ten. They are all short-throw guns with standard length and weight. They are one and a half meters long. The spear head is sharp and can penetrate ordinary leather armor. The total weight of the spear head and barrel together is two and a half kilograms. A young soldier can easily throw it tens of meters away, which is very powerful."

The businessman patted the throwing spears held by his apprentices. These throwing spears were obviously in stock, and there was still some dust on them, but it didn't matter. The metal tips were greased and very sharp, so that they could be pierced into the target's body after being thrown.

Of course, the sharp metal tip is also easy to break, especially when encountering metal shields and full metal armor with excellent defense, this kind of weapon is not very useful.

But the targets they deal with are not opponents with heavy protection.

The traditional attack targets of this lightweight short-throwing gun are light infantry without protection or with simple protection. It is very powerful and has fast response speed. It is also easy for soldiers to train, because not everyone can shoot a bow and arrow, but throwing things But it is a natural instinct of human beings.

To deal with heavily protected targets, there are corresponding armor-piercing heavy-throwing guns and armor-piercing long-throwing guns.

The length of the former's throwing gun remains unchanged from 1.2 to 1.5 meters. The tip is heavier, and the barrel is also a little heavier. A metal weight is also installed at the end of the throwing gun to ensure that the weapon of about four kilograms will not lose its weight after being thrown. Balance, roll occurs.

The latter directly increases the length of the throwing gun to about two meters, which is slightly higher than the average human height, but the weight is heavier than the short throwing gun. The increase in length directly increases the length and weight of the gun barrel, allowing soldiers to throw farther. , the increased weight comes from the lengthened gun barrel, which relies on longer attack distance and weight to increase armor-breaking capabilities.

Kil stepped forward and untied the neatly packed bundle of throwing guns. He untied the rope and took out one to play with.

First, I held one in my hand to feel the weight, and then took out another one to compare. I found that the weight of the two was the same.

Then there was a comparison of the lengths of the gun barrel and the metal tip of the gun. The front and rear guns were just like they were made from the same mold.

"It's very good. If it's all like this, the price should be more expensive. Take it out in the quantity I need. I'll pay for it when it's in stock."

The businessman laughed and said, "It's direct and efficient. Come on, go to the warehouse and take out this number of guns."

After the instructions were given, the merchant chatted with Kil again. Kil knew that a merchant who could open a blacksmith shop of this size was obviously very powerful in the local area and must be well-informed.

So he focused on asking about information about the Cavern Territory, which they were going to reach after passing through the Strange Wind Grassland, as well as news about the southern provinces.

"Caven Territory is a good place with a dense population and strong military force. The two local noble viscounts are well-known in the entire Western Province because they have a large population, a lot of materials, and a lot of money. . Horses are cheap there. If your army wants to improve, I suggest you replace all your horses with the strong grassland horses in our western province. Even if you don’t use them yourself, you can exchange them for three elsewhere. Exchange one for five for local ordinary horses.”

"He is tall, strong, and has strong endurance. Although he eats a lot, that's for sure, right? Only strong people can eat more."

But when talking about the southern provinces, the businessman showed hesitation: "I can only say that the local situation is not very good, and it is not suitable for businessmen like us to go there. If a sheep enters the tiger's mouth, a person cannot come back. Of course, the army will be fine. , no matter how chaotic the local situation is, it cannot be chaotic on the real battlefield. Hey, chaos is not without its benefits, look."

As he spoke, he picked up the iron ore waiting to be melted out by the furnace nearby.

"This is the iron ore that recently came from the south. How do you think it is? It looks good! It can produce more good iron."

Kil smiled bitterly: "Sorry, I don't understand this, but it looks pretty strong."

As he spoke, Kil squeezed hard and the ore in his hand was crushed.

The businessman opposite was stunned for a moment, then he picked up another piece of iron ore and squeezed it. As a result, his hand was sore and he could not move at all. He shook his head doubtfully: "It's a good thing anyway. Originally, my shop only made purchased iron materials." It was forged, but the war in the south brought this kind of iron ore that was cheap, good, and plentiful, so I prepared a furnace specifically to smelt iron."

Kiel put the broken pieces of iron ore in his hand back into the pile of raw materials next to the furnace. The businessman didn't care. Anyway, the iron ore had to go through crushing, screening and other processes before being smelted.

It breaks just right.

Kiel took another one and looked at it in his hand. This small mineral was gray-black with red. It looked ordinary, but Kiel felt that the red color on it was more like the color of blood.

Because of these things the nobles have started wars and will continue to do so.

The number of people who died last year is countless, the number of people who will die this year is still unknown, and the future is hard to say.

Perhaps it would stop here, but it is also possible that the associated deaths will not stop until the mineral veins are exhausted.

And it's not just the casualties caused by the army's struggle for mineral veins on the surface. Behind the scenes, in the chaotic rural areas of the southern provinces, in the dark and deep mines, countless humans are also silently dying and injured.

Kil pursed his lips and was silent for a while.

"Can you give me this raw iron ore? This is the first time I've seen iron smelted from something like this."

The businessman waved his hand and agreed easily.

He didn't talk about other daily business tonight. He made a lot of money from the business of the young soldier in front of him, and he was naturally in a very good mood at the moment.

-

After a while, the silver-white moonlight shone in through the gaps between the buildings in Strange Wind Town.

But these bright moonlights elsewhere are slightly inferior to the artificial lighting produced by humans.

At this moment, Kiel was leading people to the building where the army would spend the night. At this moment, except for him and the blacksmith who accompanied the army, everyone else was holding a cart, carrying a load of supplies and goods, walking along the narrow roads between local buildings. Squeaking and moving.

As promised, the merchant sent four idle apprentices from his shop to help with pushcarts.

Just in time, Kiel saw that the other party must be returning after delivering the goods, so he proposed to pay a small amount of money to rent the extra pushcart in their blacksmith shop, and asked his people to push the supplies back together, so that he could buy a throwing gun tonight. There is no need to make another trip with supplies.

The entire cargo can be returned to the military base in a single trip.

As for the extra trolleys, when the blacksmith shop apprentice returns, he can stack the extra trolleys on top of other trolleys, one on top of another, or even two on each side, and then he can easily take the extra trolleys back.

Seeing that Keel was quick to spend money and purchased materials that made him a lot of profit, the tall businessman agreed to this request.

So when Kiel opened the door of the building where the army was stationed and called a team of soldiers to help unload the goods, the apprentice in the blacksmith shop quickly pushed the cart away.

"Little Kil, Knight Crow said he has something to ask you, and asked you to go find him as soon as possible after you return."

A town guard leading a night patrol stopped Kiel and told him the news.

"Thank you. I will hand over the purchase of these supplies and will go there immediately."

After thanking him, Kil talked to the guard who had dealt with him, then found the logistics clerk who had not yet rested, and handed over the excess coins and material purchase list to the guard for inspection.

On the list was his signature, as well as the signature of Conquinas, the blacksmith who accompanied the army, and the emblem of the chamber of commerce of the merchant who owned the 'Metal Prairie Horse' blacksmith shop.

The so-called hot emblem is a simple tool modeled after the ring emblem of a noble.

The ring surface is equipped with an easily heated metal ring surface. The ring surface is engraved with the proprietary name and distinctive mark of the chamber of commerce, which is regarded as a simple trademark. When using it, put the back of your hand close to the hot metal to heat the surface of the ring, and then directly heat the pattern on the paper where it needs to be printed.

This has special requirements for paper, which requires special paper that can easily change color when heated, and is generally used in transactions between chambers of commerce.

Are you asking if the ring will burn the user's fingers if it comes into contact with hot metal?

When making this ring, the ring surface that contacts the hot metal and the ring body are connected with non-thermal conductive materials.

After the clerk confirmed that everything was okay, except that the price of the gun required Kiel to report to the senior clerk in charge of money, nothing happened.

Kil tidied up and went to look for Knight Crow to see what the other party wanted to do with him.