Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil turned his head and looked at the lobby of the hotel behind him. He realized that there were all kinds of people inside and it was not a suitable place. So he took the initiative to walk down the steps and said to the elderly among the more than ten refugees who were approaching: "If we want to discuss For some things, it’s more appropriate to do it here.”

Priest Batal also walked down and nodded to support Kil's decision, although he didn't know what these old people were coming to do at this time.

The leading elders looked at each other and agreed to the matter.

They first paid a solemn courtesy to the young priest Batar: "Thank you, God of Agriculture, for your love and your bravery and kindness. Let everyone not be hungry for a long time, and let the children not suffer from So that women will not sell their bodies because of hunger, and young people will not take risks because of hunger, making an already bad situation even worse."

Priest Batal's face turned red when he heard this, but he immediately made a gesture of courtesy to show his humility.

The leader among the old men turned to Kiel and said, "Thank you, Lord Knight, for being able to control the situation appropriately without causing any trouble, allowing the soldiers in the local level to take advantage of the situation to attack."

Kil waved his hand: "Hmph, I can't stand what's happening here. It's clear that the white stone city wall, a magnificent and sacred great creation, exists and is looking at everyone, but it deliberately embarrasses everyone and artificially creates pain."

After the greetings were completed, the old people cautiously asked the two of them about their identities and itinerary.

It's not that it can't be said. Priest Batal briefly explained the reason.

Changmai Village, Montoka City, Comers, Blessings, God of Agriculture, Rescue, etc.

After talking about this, the old people realized that Priest Batal was also from the southern province, and he was also a resident priest who was attacked by the defeated army and robbed the village's population.

Some old people winked at each other and looked excited, as if they had hope again.

"If this is the case, please let the young people in our hands who have been favored come to help you two. You have to repay the favor. If you do this, the beans will not bear fruit and the wheat will not sprout. Even if it is a gift from the God of Agriculture, , we, the embarrassed people, have to do the only thing we can do, ourselves, to assist the two of you in their mission."

The leading old man said so.

As soon as Keir rolled his eyes, he understood what the other party wanted to do.

Therefore, before Priest Batal subconsciously refused, he reached out to stop his fellow priests and responded: "Very good, thank you for your help. I think the great God of Agriculture will also be happy to see this. He belongs to Our people are all simple and loyal people who will definitely repay favors received.”

Behind Kiel, Priest Batal whispered quickly behind Kiel's helmet: "Kiel warriors! It doesn't have to be like this. How can so many people save people? You don't really intend to let the people who have been hungry for a long time and the armed forces Fight with a complete defeated army, right? Are you crazy?"

Turning a deaf ear, Kiir took the initiative to take off his steel armor gloves, hung them on his waist, shook hands with more than a dozen old men one by one with his palms, and asked them how many young people in the southern provinces each could mobilize.

Not all the people in the White Stone City Wall Checkpoint come from the same place. People from the western side of the southern province will only actively and passively leave their hometowns under the chaotic regional security environment, and go to the towns if they have connections. , and it didn’t matter, groups of people tried to pass through the White Stone City Wall pass and reach the Western Province to avoid disaster.

This is mainly to explain that although the people from the southern provinces who were stuck in the checkpoint at this time were all people from the southern provinces, and most of them had the same reason for fleeing, they did not know each other.

Even if people who know each other in a village are trying to make a living in a checkpoint, they will actively gather among people they know in the same village. At this moment, these more than ten old people represent the vast majority of the people who are somewhat organized.

They were all prominent figures in the village who had some ability.

Of course, the best people and families in the village will be the relatives and friends who have taken refuge in the nearby towns.

At this time, Keir agreed to what the old people had discussed last night, and asked each of them one by one how many people they could allow to act with them.

"Ahem, I can have twenty young people here, both men and women, please don't dislike them."

A tall and lean old man first told Kiel about the number of people.

Keir nodded: "I don't mind, they are all young people and they will definitely come in handy. In fact, you have all seen that I am also a young man."

With the beginning, other old people reported the numbers one by one. An old man patted his chest and said: "Our village has a large population. The whole village has fled here. In addition to taking care of injured, pregnant and families with children, A total of one hundred people can be produced. Although they have been a little listless recently due to hunger, please believe that they are all good boys and girls who can work in the fields better than cattle."

Kil was satisfied and kept nodding his head, but Priest Batal felt more and more strange the more he listened.

He initially blocked Kiel's attempt to bring the young refugees. After all, he was in urgent need of saving lives. If he delayed for one more day, the villagers in his village would suffer for one more day. But as each old man reported the number of manpower they could send, he also fell silent.

It turned out that he didn't understand an important truth until just now.

The villagers of Changmai Village were robbed and suffered by the defeated army. At this time, the number of people fleeing from other villages was many times greater in the Baishi City Wall Pass. Aren't they suffering?

They are all the same people, they are all believers or pan-believers of the God of Agriculture, and there should be no distinction between each other, you and me.

But he still subconsciously felt that the villagers of Changmai Village whom he knew well were more important.

And it is far more important than the refugee people in other places who are many times more numerous.

So after thinking about this, Priest Batal fell silent.

-

"So, the total number of people is 887? Right?"

Keir said this after finishing the conversation with all the old men.

His question stumped many villagers who had not done a lot of numerical calculations. Each of them knew the number of people in their village, but they did not expect that the number of people gathered by everyone would be so large!

"If you feel that there are too many people and it's a bit embarrassing, we can have fewer people here." someone said.

Keir waved his hand: "No, no need to be small, more than 800 people, nearly 900 people, that's fine too."

Last night, Kiel probably noticed how many people Priest Batal could prepare food rations for just using the 'Blessed Bread' blessing. An inaccurate number was approximately 1,200 people.

Nearly nine hundred people, still within the blessing capacity of Priest Batal.

Even if the possible rescued population of Changmai Village is added later, and everyone saves some food, it will generally be enough.

He clapped his hands and attracted everyone's attention: "In this way, let all of you go together and wait for me outside the east gate of the White Stone City Wall Checkpoint. I asked, the soldiers at the checkpoint are not allowed to go west, but I did not say that they cannot return. Eastern and southern provinces, right?”

Someone immediately answered: "Yes, \u0026*￥%. When entering the checkpoint, they only charged normal money. As a result, if you want to pass the checkpoint, you have to pay fifty times the customs fee."

Kil smiled slightly: "That's good, we can return to the southern province normally. In this way, all the old people, please send someone back to inform their respective people to leave the checkpoint now. There is also one more thing I have to ask everyone."

The old people looked at Kiel, and they gradually discovered that among the equally young priests and knights, this young knight held the real dominance, rather than the Saturnine priest who could conjure food blessed by the gods. .

"Please speak, Lord Knight."

Kil did not defend himself as a knight yet, and continued: "I need a map. A map of the southern province. Mountains, rivers, bridges, roads, towns, villages, dangerous areas, areas where monsters have been infested, areas where defeated armies or The direction of the bandit attack, etc.”

"I need detailed map information, and I hope you can provide it to me. After all, everyone has arrived at this damn place from their respective villages, and they must have one or several maps in their hands. Please give me one. I need to send you all The map in your hand, the intelligence you gathered along the way, and the news you heard in the past are all brought together. This is very important, not only related to the mission of Priest Batal and I, but also to the lives of the young people you entrusted to me. related."

Kil breathed out: "After all, you don't want to see me, an outsider, leading so many young people to the lair of Warcraft or some dangerous death place, right?"

The old people looked at each other. Some smart old people took out the leather maps that had been prepared from their arms. Some old people who did not expect this quickly asked the girl who was supporting them to go back and use the future tense. Get the map quickly.

On the street outside the hotel, Kil asked the male waiters in the hotel to bring a round table and put the maps of the old people on it.

Every map is different, not only the materials used to make the map, but also the content on it.

An old man looked at other people's more sophisticated maps, and then looked at his own home's ridiculously crude and clumsy graffiti-like map. He had no choice but to clasp his hair on his head and chuckle: "The maps in our village are a bit crude. Well, anyway, the general direction is fine, I still guided the villagers here."

His map was simply outrageous. Except for the places where he could see several villages and towns around the original village, and the other places a little further away, the direction of the city was a mess except for the roughly correct directions of southeast, northwest and northwest.

There aren't even any mountains marked on the map, the terrain is completely flat.

The other old people laughed for a while and then ended their good-natured ridicule. They were all poor people, and everyone was here at the moment, so it was meaningless to joke about it.

Kil also laughed, and then picked out the largest and best map as a base, using maps of other villages as a reference, as well as the actual escape experiences of the old people along the way, and summed up all the key points and errors. This map has been modified one by one.

First determine the north and south directions, and then use the words of an old man who visited various big cities when he was young to mark the major cities such as Montauca City on the map according to the actual schedule distance.

Next, after determining the distance from the city, the direction and size of the mountains are followed.

Then there are the detailed locations of the villages where each old man lives. This can be determined very well through the connections between the villages.

Priest Batal also pointed out the place of Changmai Village.

Keir looked at where the priest pointed, and used the ink quill borrowed from the hotel steward to draw a small circle in the designated place, and mark the name of Changmai Village next to it.

Keir looked closely and found that the place in Changmai Village was very subtle.

It is actually the village on the western side of the southern province that is closest to the southern border and close to the disputed iron ore veins at the southernmost border of the war-torn southern province.

It is attached to a short horizontal mountain range. If the army in the disputed area is defeated, it can reach Changmai Village by simply climbing over this mountain range.

Of course, this is difficult. You must know that according to the scale of the map in front of Keel, the small and short horizontal mountain range is as wide as half of Kendall County. If it is a field march, even a formal army with sufficient supplies cannot cross it. This mountain range, not to mention the defeated army that was not fully equipped after the defeat.

"Priest Batar, tell me, how could the defeated army that attacked your village pass through such a wide uninhabited mountain range?" Kil asked this question.

This question confounded the priest who had never thought about it.

"Say, it's true, damn it! No one thought of this, because with the Qingxi Mountains at our back, we have always focused on the north and east."

Seeing the unimaginable embarrassment on Priest Batal's face, Kil stopped his random thoughts: "Don't think too much, I'll look at it later and analyze the matter."

Later, based on the news heard by the old people, Keir also marked some loose information on it.

For example, the town of Bowen Ling, to which Changmai Village belongs, was also attacked by unknown gangs. People in half the town were killed or disappeared. There is also a certain forest that seems to be the nearest shortcut, but it is inaccessible because of the presence of mysterious and unknown monsters. Even though the old map indicated that there was a major road, it is now impossible to walk there.

In addition, there are also the general directions of the lairs of some famous bandits, areas where monsters infest and kill people, unknown death places, abandoned alien fortresses, etc.

These are all current news that cannot be seen on the map unless you ask carefully.

Kildu marked them one by one with solid and dotted lines, making possible dangerous and non-dangerous routes.

"Okay, thank you all. This trip is very dangerous. I can't guarantee to bring everyone back, but I can swear, swear with my heart, to try my best to bring back the young people entrusted to me alive."

When Keir said this, the old people believed him.

Have to believe it.

Before parting, Priests Kiir and Batal once again shook hands with the old people. After shaking hands with each other, the old people were helped to leave.

When they walked further away, Priest Batal grabbed the bulge on Kil's armor and pulled Kil: "You are crazy. You want so many people to follow us. What do you want to do?"

Keir patted the map in his hand: "This is one."

"anything else?"

Keir smiled slightly: "Let's go on the road first, and we'll talk about it on the way."

-

The two came to the backyard of the hotel. After Kil paid the hotel steward's accommodation fee, he jumped directly on the blood-licking grass: "Let's go, Mr. Sturt. Priest Batal, you ride a horse, and we'll talk on horseback."

The three of them quickly drove the horses and carriage out of the hotel, towards the main road in front of the hotel, and towards the city wall on the east side of the checkpoint.

Priest Batal approached Kiel on horseback. He looked at the young refugees who were gradually gathering on the street and then walking eastward. He said to Kiel: "So, can you say it now?"

Kiel pointed to the young people around him who were persuaded by the elders of the villages to follow them: "Hungry young people are very dangerous. Not only for the soldiers who need to maintain law and order in the checkpoint, but also for those who are fleeing. It is also very dangerous for the people of the southern provinces. That is why these dangerous young people need to be 'excluded' to ensure the survival of others."

"how come?"

Seeing the disbelief on Priest Batal's face, Kil added: "The reason is very simple. When I saw that the people who came to talk about things were more than a dozen elders from each village, instead of one or two middle-aged people who were young and powerful and were surrounded by others. , I realized this.”

"In the eyes of outsiders, the refugees from the southern provinces are a group of people, a group. But in fact, they are more than a dozen groups, and apart from the fact that they are all people from the southern provinces who have fled here, there is no connection at all between them. There is nothing in common. Not only that, some villages that are close to each other may not only not be companions, but companions who fled together to help each other, they may actually be enemies who usually compete for water sources and fields. "

When Kil said this, Priest Batal, who had also been stationed in the village for a short time, understood.

The refugees who appear to be a group to outsiders are actually not together. Not only are they not related to each other geographically, but the time from when the village decides to flee to when they arrive at the White Stone City Wall checkpoint is not necessarily the same.

Not to mention that some villages already have conflicts. After being blocked in the checkpoints, the refugees in each village have to compete with each other for various subsistence resources.

Presumably, in a place where the locals can't see it, this kind of competition will cause death and injury to each other.

This is very dangerous for the vast majority of refugees.

Because the refugees from other villages who have bad relations cannot defeat the young people in your village, can they also defeat the old, weak, women and children in your village?

Just thinking about it made Priest Batal shudder. He felt that on this spring morning, the day was clear, and he felt chilly all over.

"Why are you like a beast!"

Kil obviously heard the priest's muttering: "Beast? If the scene in the orderly level feels like a beast to you. Then when we arrive in the southern province and see the current situation, what should you say? .”

"What do you mean! Warrior Kiel, what do you mean!"

Kil's face turned cold and he gave the priest further psychological preparation: "Perhaps the beast is the most kind-hearted thing we will encounter in the next period of time."

Bloody Fangster listened all the way, and when he heard this, he also shook his head. Unlike Kil, who seemed to be a stable group, and Batal, who looked disappointed and had never seen the war, Bloody Fangster had. After the war broke out, all the normal rules of survival were changed.

War, that is the highest masterpiece of expression that every intelligent life needs to face, must be tasted.