Mercenaries and Adventurers

When Kil was looking for Knight Crow, he first went to the opponent's camp to search.

However, where the knight's carriage and tent were parked, apart from the knight's two bodyguards and Bloodfangster sitting by a small fire, the Knight Crow he was looking for was not there.

"Your Excellency has not come back. He should still be at the Baron's place. You can go there to look for him."

The guard reminded me this way.

Keir nodded and looked for the past.

Near the baron's camp, several priests were giving final treatment to the soldiers who had lost their ears yesterday. This is the last group of people. The remaining soldiers are restless, but the few priests are pale and have sunken eyes. It is obvious that they have been using divine power to treat them continuously for the past two days, and their own spirits have also been greatly tested.

But no one among the four backed down.

Several people seemed to be silently curing the soldiers' deafness without any mutual communication, but in fact they were silently competing with each other.

They calculated the number of people they had cured among themselves. Although the two priests of the Church of Saturn had cured the most people because they were two priests, they were not reconciled.

Because the soldiers come from farmers' families from all over the county, they are basically all natural believers in the god of agriculture.

But because of this incident, the other two churches benefited from curing the soldiers who suffered from deafness, which made the soldiers have a good impression of the Church of the Sun God and the Church of the God of Wealth.

It is hard to say what the future religious tendencies of these people will be.

The Church of the God of Wealth is fine, because the God of Wealth does not help the poor, and if the family has no property or business, it is not easy for the Church of the God of Wealth to cooperate with these soldiers.

But the Church of the Sun God is different.

As we all know, a large part of agriculture depends on light and heat, and the sun is the main source of light and heat. Plants need light and heat so that they can finally grow well and reap a bountiful harvest.

At this point, the Church of the Sun God still has some appeal to farmers.

Moreover, human beings are naturally afraid of darkness and like light. The shining performances put on by the Church of the Sun God at every festival will make many people who have no worries about life move closer to the Sun God faith with love.

This is something that the Church of Saturn, which is relatively simple in dress and conduct, is not good at.

Although the Church of Saturn in Kendall City is doing well, other places are very average. Even everywhere, the Church of Saturn is the largest faith in human society.

But if you defend for a long time without attacking, you will undoubtedly lose. The Church of Saturn has always been wary of the Church of Sun God.

Gere passed through several priests who seemed ordinary, but were actually fighting overtly and covertly. When passing by, he bowed respectfully to each priest, which was regarded as respect for their healing work, rather than respect for the status of the priests.

After questioning the indifferent baron's bodyguard, he learned that Knight Crow was indeed talking to Knight Rumi in the baron's camp, so Kil asked for a report.

"Knight Crow specially sent a message for me to come to him. Please pass it on."

The stern-faced baron's bodyguard who was standing guard was one of the bodyguards who had a conflict with him yesterday. Naturally, he would not look down upon Kiel.

But he kept his responsibilities in mind. Although he felt unhappy and wanted to find another opportunity to practice with Kiel and regain his face, he would not delay anything in his official work.

Because compared to them, the baron's trusted bodyguards, in fact Kiel, a young boy who only appeared in Kendall City last year, often works for the baron and knights because of Knight Crow.

Not to mention that at this time, Kil was essentially the knight apprentice of Knight Crow, and his identity was the knight attendant of Knight Crow. His status was higher than that of the soldiers and guards in the army.

"Just wait, I'll report it right away."

The guard said this indifferently, staring at Keir, then turned and walked towards the baron's tent.

The other baron guards beside the fire were also chatting in low voices, pointing at the man and Kiel.

The corners of Keir's mouth curled up, but he didn't do anything.

These people are all about saving face. Usually, because they serve the baron himself, they do not have a good relationship with the town guards and militia teams led by Knight Crow, which can only be said to be average.

'Still not convinced, find an opportunity to provoke them and knock these guards to the ground one by one. I guess you will be able to correctly understand the new relationship between the two parties. ’

Kil thought happily, this method is simple and direct. In the army, everyone relies on force to survive. Defeating you, or even defeating all of you, is the correct way to make them no longer hostile to Kil.

If they are defeated once, they may still be unconvinced. If they are defeated again and again in battles, these people can only understand the relationship between the two parties 'correctly'.

Soon the man came back: "Kier, Knight Crow lets you in, the Baron and the others are eating, so move more gently."

"Oh, looking for a chance to practice? After leaving this strange wind grassland?"

Kil rubbed his chin with his hand, scratched the nascent beard on his chin with his thick leather gloves, and asked this man with squinting eyes.

"As expected, how many of us can you handle? Just the same number of us as yesterday?"

The corners of the baron's bodyguard's mouth curved downwards, and his eyes narrowed.

But Keir's reply made him very angry: "Why don't you let all your people come over and have a look? It's a lot of fun."

"It's not a small talk. We have practiced martial arts for many years. We are not comparable to those farmers who were still farming before. Even the town guards usually maintain order. Only those with the most superb martial arts can join us. You have this Confidence?”

"I don't have the confidence, but I can give it a try! You know, I like to challenge myself."

Keir's face was full of indifference.

"You said it yourself. With a broken leg and foot, you crawled to the priests for treatment!"

"It's okay. There are many of you anyway. Those who don't have broken legs or feet can help those who have broken legs and feet find the priest."

"You have such a tough mouth, you little boy."

Keir chuckled lightly: "It's not only hard with the mouth, but also with fists. I'll let you have a good taste when the time comes. Let's go."

The two bickered for a while, and then Kiel passed the baron's personal guard and walked away.

-

Although it was indoors, the indoor floor where the carriage could be parked was spacious, so the baron's and knight's tents were still set up.

This is ostentation, representing status and power, which cannot be missing at any time.

Of course, there are some more practical reasons here.

Soldiers must always be able to find their superiors, even the most superior.

When the tents with noble badges can be seen at any time, not only will the soldiers not be nervous, but if something big or small happens, they will also know that in addition to their direct superiors - the chief and deputy militia captain of the unit, they can also Finally, the actual owner of the army, Baron Kendall, was found to deal with the problem.

There were also baron guards standing guard at the entrance of the camp. When he saw Kiel coming, the man announced in a moderate voice to the tent: "Knight squire Kiel has arrived, Lord Knight Crowe."

"Let him in."

The voice of Knight Crow came from the camp.

Keir opened the curtain, and inside was the baron and two knights.

But the difference is that Knight Rumi is fighting against a huge cold wing, which looks like he is cutting something with a sharp dagger, while the Baron is drawing something with a pen on a large piece of sheepskin spread out.

However, Knight Crow was busy around the fire in the middle of the camp. As soon as Kil smelled the smell, he felt something was wrong.

"Kiel is here, come and eat this, the heart of an ordinary harpy monster!"

Knight Crow turned around, and in his hand was a monster heart pierced on a thick iron stick. As soon as Keir saw this, his feet became weak and his mouth became bitter. The way he looked a moment ago, he immediately flew away at this moment.

These monster meats are all weird, looking like inhuman challenges to the limits of conventional food.

The water ghost meat has a weird color and an indescribable taste.

At this moment, the heart of the harpy monster in front of me looks similar to an ordinary pig heart or cow heart, but why is there a twisted smoke lingering on the surface of the slightly burnt and yellow heart?

These weird smokes come out of the heart, like grasslands swinging in the wind, lingering on the surface of the heart and swaying left and right, but they don't fly away directly.

Knight Crow still had a look on his face as if he had earned it. He placed the thing back on the fire and brushed the surface of the heart with a brush dipped in salt water.

Turn it in a circle and brush it with a layer of animal fat to prevent the monster's heart from burning.

"Sir, is this really edible?"

Keel asked.

As he spoke, this ordinary man opened his palms completely, and his palm-sized heart was like a steam boiler, with blood-red smoke emitting from the broken blood vessels.

A broken blood vessel in the left atrium sucked in the hot air around the fire, while another broken blood vessel next to it was constantly pumping out hot blood-red smoke.

The right atrium was not to be outdone, sucking in air in big mouthfuls, and then spitting out the blood mixed with the monster in the atrium.

The fun here is even more exciting, with blood-red aerosol circles spraying out from the incisions with neat blood vessels, just like smoke rings.

Keir's face was ugly, he pointed at this thing and kept asking questions.

"Is it really edible? It's still moving!"

Knight Crow chuckled and shrugged: "How can it be still alive? It's just the residual magic power on it and the monster's unwilling spirit. This is what you need. It's almost baked, so eat it while it's hot. "

The knight placed the heated and beating heart of the monster on the plate next to it, and then removed the iron pick that passed through it.

He stretched out his hand to indicate that Keir could start.

-

Although he was reluctant, he ate all the weird-colored water ghost meat. How could he not eat the heart of the harpy monster he defeated?

Anyway, if you look left and right, you can see that this thing is almost like an animal heart, except that it is still beating and there is a strange smoke wrapped around the surface.

Not liking its beating, Kier picked up the iron fork next to the dinner plate and pierced the thing with one swoop. After shaking it left and right, the thing was severely damaged and stopped beating.

Then Kil waved his hand and blew hard to disperse the smoke that lingered on the surface of his heart.

If you smell it carefully, you will find that in addition to the smell of blood, this thing also has a charming aroma.

"My lord, have you added any spices?"

Kil asked Knight Crow who sat back in his chair. Knight Crow shook his head: "The best way to eat this kind of monster organ is to simply heat it and eat it. Why add spices?"

"But it smells pretty good to me, right?"

Knight Crow looked surprised, silently pointed at Kil's tongue, then shook his head and said nothing.

Using a fork to stab the heart that was still beating slowly, Kil took out a dagger from his waist and cut it, took off a piece, and put it into his mouth to chew.

The heart of this monster in the mouth is still barely twitching, which is quite novel.

At the same time, a salty and spicy feeling came from his mouth, and Kil's eyes lit up. Not to mention, it was quite delicious.

He moved quickly, constantly cutting open the pieces of meat on the monster's heart and eating them.

Except for the fishy smell brought by some monster blood remaining in the ventricle, the taste of this thing is really not bad. The beating heart looks very weird, but it actually brings a good taste when it is put into the mouth. taste.

"Sir, this thing is quite delicious. It's spicy and full of salty taste."

Knight Crow looked at Baron Kendall who was sitting at the head of the tent and said, "No spicy seasoning? Could it be that the heart of the harpy monster is naturally spicy?"

Baron Kendall carefully rubbed his beard, thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it's the monster meat that's eroding the mouth? I've heard some magic apprentices I know say that the spicy taste in the mouth is actually pain. Humans There is no spiciness, not only humans, but other races also don’t have the feeling of spiciness.”

But when these words were spoken, Kil had already quickly finished a plate of monster hearts.

He opened his mouth wide and kept breathing, looking like he was being burned.

"How about we try it tomorrow too?"

Baron Kendall asked tentatively, and Knight Crow nodded cautiously. The two of them were also curious, is this food really so delicious?

-

Asking Kil to eat monster meat was just a trivial matter, but the real thing that called him here was mentioned after eating.

"Magic ballista?"

Kil had a curious look on his face. He couldn't figure out how something like a ballista, which he thought was 'primitive', could be connected with a mysterious thing like magic that only existed in other worlds.

"What's it like?" he asked.

"What kind of thing?"

Knight Crow was asked.

"I mean, what does it look like, its size and so on? You said you want to take it away tomorrow, and you can't use too many people. So, what I mean is, can it be carried by manpower?"

Knight Crow laughed after hearing this: "If it is an ordinary mechanical ballista, that won't work. The crossbow itself includes the crossbow arm, main body, crossbow string, charging mechanism, winding mechanism, and transmission mechanism. This set of things Not to mention the weight, the size and the number of parts alone make it impossible to carry it simply by manpower.”

"It must be disassembled by specialized craftsmen. Especially this fixed ballista installed on the top of the arrow tower has more complicated functions, more volume, weight and more parts. Not to mention dismantling it, even using it Their soldiers must be specially trained."

But Knight Crow changed his tone: "But the magic ballista is different. It is more concise. All the complex mechanisms are replaced by the magic array carved on the main cylinder of the ballista."

The knight looked at the baron, and the baron nodded, indicating that Crowe was right and continued.

He stretched out his hand and gestured with three fingers: "There are only three main components, the half-cut cylinder that launches, the cannon base that tilts up and down, and the magic source that continuously supplies energy."

Knight Crow glanced at Baron Kendall, and then said: "In fact, we only need to take away two: the magic source and the main body of the ballista. As for the gun mount, we are not a local army, so naturally this thing is used for moving. Use, rather than stationary use, no gun mount required.”

"Kiel, although stealing this thing is disrespectful, it can help our army win the battle in the future! Think about it, we have traveled so far not just to fail."

Then Knight Crow approached Kil and whispered in Kil's ear: "The Baron is a little anxious about this. As a minister, I should share the monarch's worries. I will take you out later, and let's first investigate the tower where the magic ballista is located. In fact, , I just went over and took a look at it, you should take a look too, I have designated a plan and we will do it tomorrow."

Kiel also asked quietly: "Will you wait until the army leaves tomorrow?"

The knight nodded. This was obvious. As long as they left and kept moving forward, the people in the town chasing after them would probably not have time to catch up with them. Unless the opponent dares to venture forward during the day when the wind is strong, or moves on the grassland at night.

Keir did not refuse. He was very interested in this matter. Not only did the seemingly upright Baron Kendall suddenly say that he would send his men to steal important property and weapons from the passing town, but also Knight Crow's attitude towards this.

Feeling a bit eager to try.

Although Knight Crow is usually not bitter or bitter, he is also upright and sophisticated in his behavior, and always has a reliable and confident feeling that everything is under the control of his force.

It was this feeling that made everyone in the army very convinced of him.

Gere would sometimes imitate Knight Crow, and the effect was pretty good on unimportant things.

He feels that people will always trust someone who looks confident, especially when that person is far better than others in an important ability or skill.

This self-confidence will easily gain the trust and control of those around you for those who use it. For the people affected, it will make people feel at ease in unfamiliar places and times, making everyone act more orderly.

It's like a backbone.

Of course, self-confidence does not come for free. You must really have the real strength to create and maintain self-confidence.

In particular, don't lose on the source of your confidence.

You can be embarrassed, but you can't be embarrassed in a place where others trust you.

At this time, Knight Crow gave people an unusual kind of confidence. He seemed to be more active, more enthusiastic, and more enthusiastic.

Knight Crow may not have noticed this interest, but at this time several other people in the camp, including Kiel, found it very interesting.

The old-school positive Knight Crow was actually very excited in such a place that was disrespectful to his honor.

Knight Rumi, who seemed to be concentrating on handling the wings of the giant frozen monster, had actually been secretly listening to the conversation between Knight Crow and Kil. He was curious about what Crow had done and experienced in the Kingdom Guards Knights. What.

Baron Kendall carefully drew the terrain around the magic ballista tower. In order to avoid suspicion, he would not get involved in this matter in front of outsiders.

Even if the locals later guess that he sent someone to steal the precious magic ballista, he will not admit it unless the earl of the Western Province sends someone to ask for it. But according to the time of development of the matter, it will be delayed until this year. It's time for the war in the South to end.

By then, he had already led his team back, and he was still debating whether to give it to him or not.

He might be able to shirk the loss of the magic ballista in the war, or maybe the owner of the Western Province has long forgotten about it, and the local town doesn't have the guts to expose it.