Mercenaries and Adventurers

The White Stone City Wall Pass is still prosperous. Even though the southern provinces connected to the pass are currently in war and chaos, there have always been many businessmen who want to take advantage of the chaos to make a fortune caused by the war.

If you just want to do this business, it is different from ordinary merchants. At the very least, you must have some basic armed forces.

Kil followed Priest Batal in a low voice and looked at the streets in the morning, where a few armed caravans passed through the White Stone City Wall from east to west.

The refugee youths walking eastward did not dare to approach these armed caravans because some of the caravan horses and the weapons of the caravan guards were stained with crimson dried blood.

It looks scary.

Of course Kiel and the others were no longer afraid. When the teams of several people and the armed caravans passed each other on the street, Kiel even doubted whether the blood stains were really blood stained due to the battle.

After all, horses have to clean their body fur every day, and good warriors also have to take good care of the weapons they rely on after fighting.

Just like that, stained with blood, it looks a bit pretentious no matter how you look at it.

Secretly laughing twice, Kil narrowed his eyes and noticed that the goods transported by the passing caravans turned out to be heavy rough iron.

Crude iron with many impurities is close to the middle ground between high-quality iron ore and smelted pig iron. It can be regarded as a kind of goods with a high consumption ratio in transportation.

After all, metal materials sell well no matter where they are.

Through a large hole cut in the tarpaulin of a carriage, Keir saw the goods inside.

He was a little surprised. Didn't he say that the security in the southern province was in chaos? Moreover, a war is breaking out in the southern border iron ore area. So where does this crude iron come from?

Although he was curious, Kil was not stupid and could not just go up and ask the businessman in charge of the caravan. Aren't you looking for a fight? Didn't you realize that although this caravan was not large in size, when it was traveling through the checkpoints, there were actually local checkpoint soldiers who specially guided and cleared the way.

With this appearance, it is said that even the local nobles appear without such pomp. Obviously, either this caravan has people in the local noble circle, and they are people from above, or it is a caravan that transports a large amount of metal materials, which can give a level to the level. A lot of tax money.

Although the tax money will not really be distributed to the grassroots soldiers, the managers of the checkpoints will get the meat, so they can probably get a sip of soup, right?

That's why he looks so attentive.

-

The two teams passed by each other, and without thinking much, Kil continued to lead his companions all the way east to the gate of the city wall on the east side of the checkpoint.

The city wall here was completely built by humans. Compared with the luminous white stone wall opposite the level, which is as scary as the sun, the city wall built by humans is really low and ugly, if it were not built with solid rocks. , the style of this city wall will be even lower.

"It's shameful. How could those dwarves build such a spectacular creation?"

Listening to Kil's sigh, Bloodfangster snorted and smiled: "Maybe those dwarves are particularly good at this skill? After all, they spend all day digging holes in the ground to make a living. They are naturally good at this, but we are not bad either, humans Be good at a little bit of everything.”

Bloodfangster pointed to the surrounding buildings and the north-south mountains in the distance with the arm holding the riding crop: "Look at all this, the land under our feet, but the legendary bard and his companions follow the crowd through music and poetry. It was won by God! The dwarfs probably could only moan and sing some shoveling songs in their rough voices when digging holes. Haha."

Both Kil and Priest Batal were amused. Although he had never seen what a dwarf looked like, whether it was as similar as in the artistic fantasy works of his previous life, but through the 'stereotypes' of his companions, he felt that he had a little understanding of what a dwarf was. Looks like it.

When exiting the city gate on the east side of the checkpoint, the city gate soldiers saw that their carriage was carrying a lot of things and wanted to stop it for inspection. However, Kier and Priest Batal, each with a horse, blocked the carriage on the left and right. No words or other actions made the checkpoint soldiers give up the idea of ​​checking.

"When you two adults arrive in the southern province, please be careful of all kinds of dangers."

The captain of the city gate soldiers waved to the two of them and shouted a reminder from a distance.

Keir waved his hand: "I know, thanks for the reminder."

Priest Batal nodded and said nothing.

After passing through the city gate hole less than ten meters long and the wooden and iron-clad city gate that opened inward, the southern province finally appeared in front of Kiel.

Contrary to his expectations, there was nothing special.

Wasteland, woods, creeks, river banks, and mountains not far away.

Everything looks normal -

What a ghost!

Comparing the two sides of the White Stone City Wall level, you will know that the west side is the ancient White Stone City Wall of the dwarves. Not counting the noble viewing manor and small castle outside the White Stone City Wall, other large areas of farmland have never been cut off. From the White Stone City Wall, we can It extends all the way to the city walls of Montauca.

It is clear that the land development has been completed to a high degree.

But as soon as he exited the White Stone City Wall and headed east, he saw that there were not even ten houses within Kiel's visual distance. There is no cultivated farmland at all.

"Obviously the terrain here is relatively open and it is close to the river. Why is there no development at all? Has no one settled here?"

Kil turned around and asked Priest Batal.

The priest looked embarrassed: "When I came to Montoka, the city was not like this. Although it is desolate, there are still houses and hotels where you can stay on the main commercial road."

As he spoke, the priest himself lowered his voice: "It has only been more than twenty days, why is it like this?" He looked at a dark stone house with no roof next to the trade road not far away, and vaguely remembered I stayed there for one night when I came here, but I didn't expect that in the past few days, not only had there been a fire, the roof of the house was burned down, but the entire spacious stone house was blackened by the flames.

There is also no family that once ran the accommodation.

"I hope people are okay and the God of Agriculture bless them."

Priest Batal prayed quietly.

-

Kil exhaled, looked around, and asked everyone to follow him to get out of the way and come to where the young refugees gathered on the grass at the gate of the city.

There were more than 500 people, and it was obvious that they hadn't arrived yet, so Keir jumped off his horse.

"Bloody Fangster, stay here, priest, and follow me. Let's organize these people."

Priest Batar, who had been praying for others just now, saw Kiir striding towards hundreds of young men and women and trying to organize these young people from different villages in various places. He immediately wailed in a low voice: "I hope his head will... It’s not broken, may the great God of Agriculture bless me.”

After a while, the young priest, who was also in his twenties, reluctantly dismounted sideways, took out the stuck amber metal staff from behind, coughed a few times, smoothed his throat, and then slowly followed Kil.

"Everyone!" Keir shouted loudly. The young people who were sitting cross-legged on the ground and separated from each other stopped talking and turned to look in the direction of the loud voice.

He is the knight companion of the priest who can receive food from the gods.

Most of the young refugees present had received food in person, so they knew who they would follow and whose instructions they would follow after they were voluntarily kicked out this time.

However, although Kiel was speaking at this moment, most of the young people's eyes were focused on the imposing Priest Batal, who was walking slowly.

"Everyone, please pay attention. The gods have given you enough food to feed you, not just for you to sit on the ground and chat and laugh. Everyone get up and gather together according to the original villages. I want to get to know you, and you also need to get to know me. and the Battar priests of the Church of Saturn.”

When they were asked to stand up and receive the food given by the gods, most of the young people stood up hesitantly, and gradually gathered together in accordance with the principle that people in familiar villages stay together.

But naturally there are still some people who have not only never seen Kiel and the others feeding grain, but also have some resentment about being kicked out of the checkpoint by the village elders because they have found a job that can make a living in the checkpoint.

In addition, there were some people who did not want to listen to Kiel, a young man in his teens, even if they had received food from God. Taking advantage of the fact that they had many brothers, they sat on the ground and watched Kiel shouting with a smile.

Because new refugees kept hearing the news and walked out of the east gate of the checkpoint and gathered on the grass outside the city gate, so Kiel walked around the place where the young refugees gathered, shouting loudly and waiting.

Priest Batal was very popular, and many grateful young people spontaneously gathered around him. Some just wanted to talk to him and express their gratitude, while others boldly approached the priest and stretched out their hands in front of him. Waist, stretch your hands forward and raise them.

Priest Batal, who had been a priest in a village, certainly knew what he was doing.

He smiled and nodded, gently touching his chest with his free right hand, and then lightly touching the young man's bent and stretched out palm.

This is a blessing with only symbolic meaning, but only church believers will use it. Non-believers will not get a response from the priests. Of course, Priest Batal did not know at this moment who among the well-meaning young people in front of him was a believer and who was not.

He treats everyone equally, and responds boldly to anyone who makes such a gesture of longing for blessing.

Of course, there will be some young villagers who were not believers before, but this means nothing to Priest Batal. He doesn't care whether they believed in it before. Anyway, in his opinion, these people in front of him must have believed.

They will all be his disciples.

-

Priest Batal saw that not far away, Kiel was still greeting the new young people to form teams according to the village. It might not be completed in a while, so he got busy here and held a small prayer ceremony. .

The priest stuck the long amber metal staff in his left hand firmly on the grass and then took out a wooden statue of the God of Agriculture from the leather bag on his waist.

This is a talismanic statue lent to him by the Diocese of Montauca.

It has many functions, and of course it can be used to conduct believers’ prayer activities in the wild outside the church.

Carefully placing the shimmering wooden statue on the top of the long metal staff, Priest Batal then asked the surrounding 'Saturn believers' to kneel down and circle around the statue, while he himself Kneel down in front of the statue.

Some of the young people gathered nearby quickly followed suit and knelt down to pray to the wooden sculpture of the God of Agriculture. However, some young people who were not believers moved much slower. Not only did they sit comfortably on the grass, but they also spoke. Li didn't know how to pray, so he had to whisper in his mouth to seek benefits from the statue of the God of Agriculture that was too small to see clearly.

"I hope that the God of Agriculture can end the war, so that the whole family can have enough to eat, and get rid of today's miserable situation of hunger. I also hope that the God of Agriculture can help my sister who died of hunger not to have enough to eat after her death. If possible, I will work hard, I can do whatever you want, I must be well fed."

"Please, Lord God of Agriculture, you can still be kind and let this priest continue to give us food to eat. I gave all the food to my father and mother. I hope they and my brothers and sisters can eat for a while longer. I If you come out this time, you will not go back. You will either be killed or starve to death outside!"

"Please, please, I just want to be full. I just want to be full. The grandfather in the village said that if you come out, you can have enough food. I don't ask for anything else. I just want to have enough food. If the knight can reward me, Just a piece of land will be great. Then I will marry Nikki who came out with me and start a family. I will work hard to farm and support her and me, as well as the children we will have together in the future, if we have children. Isn’t it too much to ask for, farmer? God, if you are in a good mood, can you fulfill one or two of my wishes? Well, well, eat first. This is the first one. Of course, Nikki must also eat. She cannot die. I will put my Give her some of the food. This is the second and third. I hope the young knight can reward me with a piece of land. Forget the land in our village. Everyone has run away. It is not safe. It is best to have this. A piece of land in the Lord Knight's own territory, this is the third one. The fourth one, uh, would it be too much to wish for? Then three will be fine. If not, the first two will do."

Priest Batal silently walked carefully amidst the buzzing sound, taking care not to bump into anyone as he moved, and at the same time, he carefully considered praying to the gods and making requests and wishes to the gods, which were unrelated things, as prayers. What 'unbelievers' say.

He shook his head. If you make a wish to the great god casually, do you really think that your wish will come true?

Then everyone doesn’t have to do anything. Can’t it be enough to just look at the statues of gods and pray for wishes all day long?

It's ridiculous. True believers understand, or generally understand, that faith is essentially a fair transaction of mutual choice. This is not to say that fanaticism is not possible, but there is never love without reason in the world, and there is no hatred without reason.

There are many gods and many churches, which one do you believe in and why? And what's the difference?

The reason lies in the comprehensive act of faith, which is good for God, the church, and the believers themselves.

The difference naturally lies in which god the believer believes in and which church he approaches. The final results and rewards will be very different.

He is also a farmer. He believes in the God of Wealth and believes in the God of Agriculture, and the results are very different.

The Church of the God of Wealth will help farmers find ways to safely find loans to expand agricultural production, or use money to rent fields for farming, or use money to buy cattle to improve farming efficiency, or buy better farm tools to ensure production. , or hire people to help cultivate the fields.

The Church of the God of Agriculture will help you unite other farmers, mediate disputes between farmers' fields, use water for irrigating the fields, learn some effective farming methods, and if something happens to someone's family, all farmers can bear the crisis together. Experienced agricultural priests will also study the planting and breeding conditions in various places and choose the best production directions and methods.

The Church of the Sun God, under the organization of the priests, will have a limited influence on the local climate conditions so that the crops will receive more sunlight. It will also organize other farmers to work together during the day and release light at night to learn knowledge and get rid of the life fate of farmers at the bottom of society. Those with a talent for fighting will become warriors to protect the property of the church and believers. Those with a talent for business will sell local products, buy things that everyone needs, etc.

Those who believe in the March God can, with the guidance and help of the March God Church, sleep peacefully at night without fear of the fear and intrusion of the night. They can also enjoy harmony and friendship in their families and gain spiritual satisfaction.

Those who believe in the God of Craftsmen can improve their creative skills under the guidance and arrangements of the church, and there will be enough space and occasions for display. Craftsmen with outstanding skills will develop in all walks of life, even if their skills are not outstanding. You can also have the ability and reliance to support your own family.

Having said all this, it means that there is a mutually influencing combination between believers, gods, and the church.

Gods need the faith of believers, but no matter how powerful the gods are, they cannot be divided into millions of themselves, communicate with each believer, and guide their faith. At this time, churches and priests are needed as intermediaries to assist the gods in developing people's understanding of themselves. Belief.

Priests can also obtain the power and authorization given by the gods in the process, and use various incredible abilities to not only gain more faith from the gods, but also provide strength help and guarantee to the believers.

At the same time, the priests themselves also received many benefits in this process, including but not limited to longer lifespan, higher social status, more social power, more power to use material resources, and more control of actual power. The development of civilization brings progress and so on.

-

Therefore, the wishes and desires that Priest Batal hears from some 'non-believers' today have no effect at all, they are just some weak voices that disappear after they are spoken.

Don't say that the gods can't hear it. Even if the gods hear it in person, the gods will ignore it as if they haven't heard anything.

Why do we need statues of gods, and why do we need priests to teach believers to perform prayer activities correctly? It is to use a series of rules and means to put the gods, priests, and believers among the believers into a correct series of behaviors. among the locations.

If the position is correct, the gods can gain faith, the priests can obtain the divine power given by the gods, and the believers can get direct and indirect help from the priests.

Therefore, the first step often has several beginnings, but as the first step to communicate between the people and gods, the 'god-given food' last night and as early as possible has allowed non-believers to enjoy the system of belief in gods. Benefits.

Nowadays, people who want to get closer are needed to pray correctly and offer qualified faith to the gods.

Priest Batal is a priest who has received formal church training, so he has already understood the above-mentioned relationship. At this moment, he began to systematically correct the prayer behavior of the "praying" people.