Mercenaries and Adventurers

While Kiel and the others were talking, the trunk of the big tree that had been retrieved by his horses and the young refugees was now being split open by two young men holding small axes.

But the one-handed axes in their hands were not big enough. The two of them worked hurriedly for a while before they chopped off a small section of wood on one side of the slender trunk.

The weather in the mountains changes quickly. At four or five o'clock in the afternoon, the sky begins to darken slightly, and the clouds drift in. The dusk time is actually very short.

The young refugees who were logging couldn't quickly get the firewood to burn, so they were running around in a hurry.

The people who were out logging gathered around and complained mercilessly about the two people working there, who were so soft-handed and unable to do such small things, which delayed everyone's meal.

At this time, the two people who were busy stopped, chopped the tree trunk with the one-handed ax in their hands, fixed it, and then shouted: "We can't do it, right? Well, don't just stand around and watch, who is it?" If you think you can do it, do it yourself!”

With the ax down, they crossed their arms and stood aside.

Immediately, someone took advantage of himself and took a few steps forward to grab a one-handed ax. Without saying a word, he just started chopping down the tree trunk.

However, the weight of a one-handed ax is still limited, so it is okay to chop down some smaller trees. The trunks of such big trees are not only dense and strong, but also thick in size. If you want to cut a gap with the small ax blade, you even have to bury it completely and use the bow from left to right. OK.

In fact, for tasks like sawing off the trunk of a large tree, you actually need to use a two-man saw with two people pulling back and forth. This kind of one-handed ax is not impossible, but if it is done by force, the efficiency will definitely not be improved. At least, before dark, there will not be enough firewood for everyone to raise the whole fire.

People who think they are good will end up like this, and others will say nothing.

The young refugees who were idle and waiting for dinner also gathered around, covering their stomachs with their hands and asking when they would be ready. Everyone was hungry.

At this time, Kil, who saw the situation in the distance, patted the arm of Priest Batal who wanted to say something: "Okay, be careful tonight, protect yourself first, and then protect the young people under you who believe in religion." .As for the others, try to arrange them outside the open space."

Kil paused for a moment and then added: "Don't you think those young people who are likely to cause trouble and join gangs are very powerful? Then put them on the outermost edge of the open space. If there is no attack, stay the night like this. If someone attacks, , let them be the first to confront the enemy."

Priest Batal frowned and looked at Kiel with an incredulous expression: "How could you do this? If someone attacks, those people on the outside will definitely suffer heavy casualties!"

Shrugging his shoulders, Kil reminded Priest Batar: "It's as if I killed the person. Since you don't want to, just arrange the young religious people outside the open space and put them in the innermost part of the open space. "

These words made the priest speechless. After thinking about it, he said helplessly: "Is there no other way? And you did this on purpose today, right?"

Keir's expression changed: "Why did I do this on purpose? Let me explain it to you. Even if I didn't decide to spend the night here just now and let everyone walk for a few more hours, how far can you go? Anyway, riding a horse is not tiring, but they walk on their own feet. After all, if you spend the night here or there, you will not be able to escape the attacks of the bad guys who may be nearby. You said I am right. wrong?"

Being confused by what Kiel said, Priest Batal had no choice but to say it right.

"So, the knife is hanging above the head and will fall at any time. If you extend your head or shrink your head, it will be a knife. You can't escape. It's better to let them rest for a while, warm up by the fire, eat something, and use the best In this way, it is many times better than not being able to eat a hot meal, walking exhausted for a day, and then being suddenly attacked by the enemy. In short, the attack is unavoidable with a high probability, and those who have some combat ability, And placing gang members who dare to fight on the outside of the open space is also the best move in this situation."

"Since these people are following us out, this level of difficulty is unavoidable, do you understand? Especially since they are unarmed."

Priest Batal looked helpless: "Then why do you have to accept the things proposed by those old people in the morning and bring so many people out? If they are still in the checkpoint, they are probably still alive."

Kil looked at Priest Batar who wanted to get rid of his responsibility with a sarcastic face: "Can you survive in the checkpoint? I tell you the truth: you can't survive! Even if these young people are alive, other elderly people, children, and pregnant women who have fled to the checkpoint can't survive." They will all die miserably as refugees in the same village. The Whitestone City Wall Checkpoint is an iron cage trapping many voles. A large group of voles are crowded together and locked up, but only a small amount of food is fed every day to keep some people alive. Come in and you can only feed part of the voles. Tell me, what will be the end of this iron cage?"

The priest was speechless. He had never thought about what it would be like to lock a group of field mice together. He had never seen such a crazy thing in his life.

Kiel gave the silent priest an answer: "If there is not enough food, the voles will kill each other and even eat each other. The first ones to die are the young ones who can't do anything, followed by the old and weak ones." Voles, perhaps the social ethics of voles drive them to give up their lives, and then the mother rats who are pregnant with mice are protected by the strong voles. In the face of their own survival, their partners and offspring will also be given up. Finally, they are fighting A young vole who was injured and weak while grabbing food. Phew, by the way, you understand I'm not talking about a vole, right?"

The priest nodded heavily: "I understand that field mice are these poor refugees, but when such a cruel thing happens, won't the soldiers in the checkpoint ignore it? And the church, not only the Church of Saturn, but also other churches, They won’t sit idly by!”

But this last hope was shattered by Kiel: "Who do you think gave those small amounts of food to the field mice? There is no church that needs to win the faith of some people, and there is no need for those small amounts of food. And soldiers, to be honest, refugees They are not from the Western Province, but the soldiers in the level are all from the Western Province. I don’t need to say more about the rest, I think you understand what I mean.”

The priest was suddenly discouraged and squatted in the shadow of the backlight of the carriage, feeling a little decadent and depressed.

Not far away, Kiel saw that the refugees seemed to be unable to pull back the thick tree trunk due to a lack of tools, so he moved over to help.

The priest raised his head and asked one last question: "Does someone have to die tonight?"

Kier said without looking back: "Did you kill those people? Huh? Or, did I kill those people? No. Then, whoever killed them, who do you want to hold accountable? Accusations, criticisms, beatings, The punishment is up to you. In the final analysis, the basis of all relationships in this world is derived from the comparison of strengths between the two parties."

Bloody Fangster, who was sitting on the top of the carriage, listened clearly to the argument between the two. At this time, he was finally amused by Keir's words: "That's right, whoever killed him will be responsible. Lord Priest, Please stop being sentimental. Sometimes human life is like this. Sometimes it is extremely precious. Those who kill will die and those who hurt others will be punished. But sometimes it is even lower than weeds, falling down, drying up and dying in batches. .”

"Why? Why on earth is this happening?"

Priest Batal raised his head and asked the original caravan guard on the roof of the carriage.

"Uh, probably, maybe, maybe. Is it related to the disruption of public order? Well, no, is it that the original order of a place has been disrupted? Yes, I think so. Hey, Mr. Priest, don't ask me, hurry up Go and get busy. Time waits for no one. It's getting dark soon. Show your hand and give these young people food. Use food to drive them. They will definitely be obedient."

Xueyaster scratched his head and scratched his head before he could say the above paragraph. After finishing speaking, he felt that answering questions was indeed more difficult than making money.

He is really not this kind of person.

"I understand, let everyone eat first."

Priest Batal rubbed his face vigorously with his hands, then stood up and remained silent for a while, then strode towards the place where the Saturn believers gathered.

He decided to distribute the food produced by the 'Blessed Bread' to the believers first, and then let the believers pass it on to others, using this method to organize and control everyone.

-

There was no need for Keir to push away the people blocking his way. The crowd spontaneously made way for him, leading to the trunk of the big tree.

"Okay? Get out of the way, it's up to me."

Keir shook his head and moved his golden brown hair away from his eyes. Then he took off the Yueshui head hanging from behind and held it with both hands. He came to the place where the others had moved aside, followed the marks of their previous chops, raised the ax high, and then struck down hard.

null!

With a click, large pieces of sawdust broke and flew out.

Such a heavy blow with an ax is far more powerful than the previous felling of trees. At least a quarter of the trunk's thickness was split.

Then Keel went around to the opposite side and struck again with a heavy blow. It was empty, and there was another crackling sound. This time, half of the tree trunk was split open.

Kiel stretched out his foot and kicked hard, causing the round tree trunk to roll forward half a circle. When the ax struck, Kiel raised his foot and kicked, bang! A section of trunk half a meter thick was cut off from the trunk of the big tree.

"Someone, take this aside and chop it into firewood with a small axe."

After Keir finished speaking, someone immediately came forward and dragged a heavy tree trunk to the side. The young refugee who had been unable to hold the trunk before was holding a one-handed ax this time. Starting from the outer bark of the trunk, he split the logs bit by bit and pulled them into long strips. shaped firewood.

It only takes four or five logs of this length to start a fire, so when the young refugees carrying the freshly cut logs and twigs left the place, the fire started quickly.

On Kiel's side, he was busy chopping firewood, while on the other side, the Batar priests gathered among the religious people, raised their hands high, and dropped the plump grains that kept falling from their hands on a piece of strong linen specially laid on the ground.

Some cloth bags and leather bags taken out from the carriage were in the hands of the believers waiting nearby. When the food was piled up in the shape of a hill on the linen, these young people followed Priest Batal's previous instructions and collected about twenty grains at a time. The rations required for a person's meal were pulled by hand into the bags issued to them.

When the load is almost full, the religious young man carries the heavy load of food and walks away, followed by a few familiar friends or brothers and sisters, who together carry the food to the fire that has been lit.

Facing the other villagers who were eagerly watching them distribute food, the young man carrying a food bag said unceremoniously: "This is the rations given to you by the priest. You don't have to eat sparingly. The Lord said, follow them here." If you complete your mission, you can eat these full grains of wheat every day! Take it. For twenty people, one fire and one pot, and eat twenty people's food. The extra people will gather in front of the next fire and wait. Distribute food. The order is that whoever lights the fire first gets the food to eat first. Go and raise the fire."

This is what the priest specifically told them, asking everyone to spread out, twenty people to each fire, and not all gather together.

Moreover, the location of the fire was also specially explained. The gang members should build the fire in a relatively outer place, while they, the religious people, could arrange the fire in the center.

The young refugees from the gang were a little dissatisfied, but everyone was hungry, so they were still dissatisfied, so they still held firewood and set up a fire in the open space facing out, and started the fire.

-

"Those guys, do you think this can show off their status? It's ridiculous. They are just dogs for the priests. If they really think of themselves as dogs, they will really be dogs of adults. It is not necessary to use them."

Near a fire near the periphery of the open space, more than a dozen men and women, most of whom wore self-defense weapons around their waists, sat together. A small iron pot snatched from the level was propped on a stone, and the aroma of cooked food was emitting from it. .

More than a dozen men and women listened to the leader's complaints while holding their wooden bowls and wooden spoons tightly, waiting for the boiled wheat grains in the iron pot to be ready.

They are all the finest plump wheat grains. When they were in the village, they were reluctant to eat them themselves. It was often the elders who picked out these plump grains and waited until the next farming season to plant them as grain seeds. Where can it enter the mouth of young people.

While the leader was arranging the previously domineering religious people, he was stirring the food in the pot with a wooden spoon.

He smelled the aroma, scooped out a little bit with a wooden spoon, blew on it, and put it into his mouth to taste. Chewing with his teeth, he was a little surprised by the plump wheat grains: "Really, those nobles must be able to eat these things every day. They all watch what I do. When they are cooked, eat them."

As soon as the leader spoke, the people around him immediately rushed forward and used their wooden spoons to ladle thick boiled wheat grains into their own wooden bowls.

Everyone didn't care about burning it and put it directly into their mouths.

While breathing in the heat, he chewed the plump and elastic wheat grains in his mouth with his teeth.

Eat a big meal, everyone has a satisfied look on their face.

-

On the other side, a young man who had pulled some wild vegetables by the stream dropped a small handful of torn wild vegetables into the clay pot on the fire. The wheat grains inside were tumbling up and down in the boiling water, which was very tempting.

The young people were a little cautious. They only used part of the rations for twenty people. In addition to the portion for tomorrow morning, they also only ordered part of the food for tonight's dinner.

The remaining missing food was supplemented with wild vegetables picked up.

-

Priest Batal sat with his followers of Saturn and ate the freshly prepared dinner together.

"Master Priest, don't your companions need something to eat?"

A true Saturnian was closest to the priests and asked this question that concerned them.

Priest Batal shook his head: "There is some dry food in the carriage. They will find a way to fill their stomachs by themselves. Don't worry about them. Come on, everyone eat more. After eating, don't lie down. Don't lie down before it gets dark. , pick up some stones from the stream and come back. I have use for them."

"Hey, okay."

Everyone sitting around the fire spread the order to pick up stones, and soon some people finished their meals, stuffed the licked clean wooden bowls into their clothes, and went to the creek to pick up stones together.

-

On Kiel's side, he sat by the fire closest to his carriage, stuffing a finger-long brown-black stick into his mouth and grinding it with his teeth.

The people around the fire were all young refugees who had been rewarded with twice the food at noon. At this time, these people gathered around him and listened to the young 'knight' telling them about the Kendal people's march. s story.

"It rained a lot in that area. It rained every day without stopping. Fortunately, my teacher and Knight Rumi had prepared rain gear for the soldiers in advance, so we could walk through that area very well. Where it rains.”

"When you step on it, the ground is so soft that the entire sole of your foot can sink in. It's so deep." Kil indicated the depth.

"But fortunately, the ground is not mud, but grass. The grass in that area has a very developed root system. Only grass can be seen on the ground, not a piece of soil."

Keir's words caused exclamations from some young people who had never seen a grassland.

Just when Kil was about to tell them about the Baron's magic ring that could emit the shadow of suspended flames, the Bloodfangster on the top of the carriage next to him shouted to him: "Kiel, you'd better come and take a look."

As soon as Keir heard this, he knew something had changed.

It was already dusk at this time, and the areas covered by the forest were gradually getting dark. Only some orange sunset glow could still be seen in the sky on the east and west sides.

Of course, due west, you can still see a round of white light rising from the ground and spreading toward the sky.

It was an ancient white stone wall built by the dwarves.

It emits a long-lasting and constant light no matter day or night. After walking for half a day, they can still see the bright light.

Keir sat up from a small wooden box taken from the carriage. As he walked towards the carriage, he said to the people beside the fire: "Take the sticks I prepared for you. It may not be peaceful tonight."

The sticks were made of wooden sticks that could be used to swing and beat. After finishing cutting down the trunk of the log, Kil cut down a short tree on the wasteland on the other side of the road. In the hands of these young refugees who obeyed his orders.

Since these people listen to him, they must first be armed. Even if it's just this kind of weapon that's better than nothing.