Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil ignored the surrendered bandits and looked at the still lost Priest Batal in silence for a while before letting out a breath.

"Stop it, this is just the fate of every ordinary person."

Keir comforted his companions in this way, but he himself did not believe in similar truth.

"Me." The priest spoke, his voice choked with sobs: "I had a chance, if I had run faster. Before entering the woods."

But at this time, the surrendered bandit intervened again: "Sir, Sir, you have no chance. This is a trap, waiting for you."

Just now in the slow dim light, this man also kicked Priest Batal who fell to the ground, and now he was paying his respects.

The priest raised his head, wiped his face with his dirty robe, and stared at the bandit: "What do you mean?"

Kiel did not speak or blame him. The surrendered bandit had nothing to say in order to survive: "From the time we attacked and captured the refugees, our leader planned to set a trap to lure you when we first started to drive the refugees away. Defeated in the woods.”

"No way! Me, me, me."

I called him several times, but the priest couldn't say anything nutritious, because he himself also realized at this time that the previous actions of the bandits were strange.

"But why did you lead me to the woods to set a trap?" Batal looked confused. He couldn't understand that the mess in this place now, the harm, persecution, and killing between people are all... for what?

The bandit lay on the ground, but raised his head and looked greedily at the amber metal staff standing beside the priest. Although he didn't speak, he didn't say anything.

Kil and Batar followed each other's eyes and looked at the much darker amber gem on the metal staff. Kil sneered, but Priest Batal felt even more uncomfortable.

"For this?"

This is what Keir said.

"Yes, yes, our leader said that this treasure can be sold for at least 200 gold coins, but I said, this thing can suddenly emit a large amount of light just now, I think it can be sold for at least 300 gold coins. That guy, he made a mistake. ”

The more the bandit talked, the more absurd he became. Kil couldn't help it and burst out laughing.

This man himself was within the range of the dim light, so he didn't realize the true power of the amber metal staff just now, two hundred gold coins? Three hundred gold coins?

These guys really don’t know what they are thinking.

So uninformed.

Kil shook his head and did not give the bandit anything to say on this point. He allowed Priest Batal to squat aside and be depressed, and then asked the surrendered bandit: "Then among the corpses here, which one is your bandit?" Leader?"

But after Kil asked this, the bandit lying on the ground showed a strange expression. After struggling for a while, he answered decisively: "No! He is not here. After the previous attack on the priest began, , I didn’t pay attention to whether others were there. And some other people who were not fighting were not there either.”

"We should have gone back to a nearby lair. The leader's plan is to take down the priest and then retreat to the lair in the forest to wait and avoid any future troubles. Anyway, he said that we have obtained the biggest advantage of this joint attack. A bite of meat was eaten. The remaining soup and water of the refugees were given to other bandit gangs."

"Where is your lair?"

"Why are the refugees just like water? They have nothing!"

The two questions before and after were asked by Kiir and Batal at the same time. Kil shrugged and motioned to the bandit to answer the priest's question first.

Faced with this question, the bandit who had spoken enthusiastically before started hesitating, looking like he didn't want to say anything.

Kil wiped several of his weapons with a piece of the bandit's clothes that he had torn off, and did not rush him, but Priest Batal couldn't help it. He raised the protective statue with his left hand and pointed it at the surrendered bandit lying on the ground: " You better answer!”

"Yes, yes, I answer, I answer."

The bandit glanced at the knight who was silently wiping his weapon, and for the first time he stammered about the value of the refugees.

The more Priest Batal listened, the angrier he became. His face, which had been pale with sadness and guilt before, now turned red.

Seeing that the priest's palms were trembling with anger, as if he was about to launch a fatal attack at any time, Kil quickly intervened and stopped him: "I have to follow your request. Don't make a mistake and surrender soon, and you are willing to share the news with us." The robber was beaten to death."

"I, I'm just angry! How could they do this? Who is not born and raised by his parents, but he wants to kidnap people and sell them to scum for money! The kingdom has inherited the imperial decree and strictly prohibits human trafficking!"

Kiel left the blood-stained tattered animal skin clothes on the ground and said mockingly: "The southern province is in such chaos. It seems that some people have returned to the old ways of making money."

Kiel added: "By the way, the southern province is in such chaos, where are the local nobles and knights? Why don't they maintain social order? Let these old ruins resurface?"

Priest Batal was not sure and couldn't answer for the moment, but the bandit who surrendered and lay on the ground knew something.

"Sir Knight, I know this." The young robber was obviously more than ten years older than Kil. He was a young man, but at the moment he had a fawning expression on his face.

"If you know it, just tell me, what are you holding back here?"

But the bandit told Keir about the deal: "Sir, please let me get up and don't lie down in such discomfort. I will tell you."

Kil smiled and patted the long sword on his waist: "Can it allow you to speak?"

"I can say it, but I might also choose to die."

"Oh, do you have to get up?"

"Sir, although I have done a lot of bad things, I am always well-informed. I rode all the horses stolen by the gang and collected them elsewhere and sold them."

Kil thought for a moment, slapped his hands and asked him to stand up: "But his arms must be tied."

"Of course, of course."

The robber suddenly got up from the ground. Before the robber could rub the arms that had been folded behind his back, Kil came up and pulled off a circle of rope from the robber's waist, and directly wrapped the robber's arms in a large circle. The whole body was tied up in a circle.

"Say it, don't talk nonsense."

The bandit's answer was simple and direct, which made Kil regret a little.

"Those gentlemen all led their troops, and I heard they were gathering at the provincial capital. Our area has many mountains and rivers, and there are not many people doing our job, so those gentlemen led their troops and left. Later, I heard that after the bandits in various places settled down for a while, they became completely active. Moreover, some soldiers who were dispersed last year fled back home, but they did not dare to live directly at home, so many people joined nearby Joined the gangs of bandits everywhere.”

Kil snorted, while Priest Batal had a very ugly look on his face.

Because the bandits on the western border of the province have much more sensitive information than the people in Changmai Village. If they had known that the nobles and knights who had been maintaining local peace before had led people to the provincial capital, then they should have Like other towns or villages, they must either be closed down or flee early.

At least half of life and property can be saved.

After all, he had heard from the refugee youths under his command that if those bandits and bad guys were not engaged in production, the farmers' biggest asset, their land, would not be taken away.

Therefore, as long as the villagers bury valuables such as farm tools and furniture deep in their yard before the villagers flee, most of the time they will come back and dig into the ground and the things will still be there.

As for the houses, although it was not easy to build, there are not many daring bandits who would dare to live alone in an empty village with empty houses throughout the village.

This will prevent the bandits from becoming angry and setting fire to the village. But even so, the losses of the villagers who chose to flee would at least be limited.

-

After asking a few more questions about what he wanted to know, Kil then laid out the corpses of the bandits one by one, wrapped any valuable items in the bandits' clothes, and then handed them over to the refugees who did not have weapons.

He put the body here first. Although it might attract a large number of wild animals, the body was heavy and troublesome. Kiln didn't want to make several trips back and forth to transport the body out of the forest.

After daylight and everything settled tonight, he would bring someone over to dispose of the body.

He still remembered that the priests of the Church of the God of the Dead in Kendall City preached to him that human corpses should be burned as much as possible after death. Otherwise, the wandering evil spirits will drive these dead bodies, gather the breath of death, attack and devour the lives of living people and animals.

Every time Keir thought about this, the corner of his mouth would twitch, because he himself came to this other world through the resurrection of a dead body.

No one knew his other identity, his other name - Zhao Ji.

Blood Licker was carrying various bandits' weapons and items packed with ropes. These items were all wrapped in smelly animal skins and carried on the backs of horses on both sides.

This made Blood Licker a little unhappy. When it walked out of the forest, it kept nudging Kil's shoulder with its long horse face, trying to explain that it was OK to ride it but not to carry goods.

It is not an ordinary horse without dignity and status. In the old owner's stable, any horse that sees it will be bullied by it.

Kiel was walking to escort the surrendered bandit whose arms were tied, urging him to walk faster and not to delay.

"Go quickly, don't think that your leader, nicknamed Mountain Wolf, can come to save you. Smart people are the best at settling accounts, you understand."

Kil gave the thieves a hard push. The bandit lowered his head and continued to grind, as if he still didn't want to walk out of the woods after understanding that his capture was a foregone conclusion.

Priest Batar, who was following him, was riding a prairie horse. On the horse's back in front of him was a parcel of animal skin clothing dripping with blood.

He held the animal skin clothing package that was still dripping with blood with his heavy hands, and his face looked very ugly. Inside, accompanied by Keir, he tried his best to search for the part of the female refugee among the severed human limbs that he had recovered.

"Batal, don't be like this. At least we have brought some of the people back." Kil comforted his companion, but in return, Priest Batal glared at him.

Kil didn't care, and raised his hand to point to the open space next to the trade road, the only bright spot in the darkness not far away.

"You don't think you have suffered heavy casualties here, do you? Do you know how many bandits have joined forces to attack from the south of the clearing? Guess."

Kil's relaxed tone seemed to be talking about something irrelevant, which misled Priest Batal's judgment: "Forty people?"

The priest was talking about the number of people he thought was too many, but as soon as the number was spoken, the captured bandit wanted to turn around and speak, but Keir raised his hand and slapped him on the head: "Did I let you speak?"

The bandit suppressed his words, but still turned to look at the innocent priest of Saturn.

Priest Batal was not stupid. He knew that he had guessed wrong: "Just tell me clearly. How many people are there? How many casualties do we have?"

Kil shrugged: "There were three waves of bandits, with a total number of about one hundred to one hundred and ten people. The first wave retreated and escaped, about ten people, and the rest fought to the death with the refugees and, of course, me. Phew—there is also a descendant of a former noble who calls himself the King of White Walls, and he has some difficult magic weapons and props in his hands."

Kiel changed his words: "Of course, except for those who escaped, the rest were killed and captured by me and the people who fought bravely."

Kil's words made all the captured bandits gasp, let alone Priest Batal.

"How many casualties do we have?"

"Huh, the bandits all have weapons, but most of the young refugees have nothing or only stones. A few of them have short daggers that look like iron sheets."

"I ask you, how many people were killed or injured!"

Priest Batal's eyes widened, and his face turned completely pale due to nervousness and fear. He asked Kiel hoarsely. He couldn't tell if he was afraid of hearing the number that frightened him, or because he didn't dare to face Kiel's next words, so he had to pour all his heart-wrenching emotions on Kiel.

Kil turned to look at the young priest, who not only questioned him loudly, but also nervously grasped the flesh and blood bundle in front of him with his hands. He clearly looked cautious before.

The steel helmet visor did not reveal Kil's expression at this time, but the voice under the visor had a hint of ridicule: "I didn't count, but there were probably hundreds of casualties. At least, no less than a hundred people died. .”

Then came the first wave of bandit raids, and how many people were killed in the panic. The bandits who came after that fired volleys of short bows, knocking down how many young refugees who dared to fight.

These words only buzzed in the priest's ears. His breathing was rapid, his eyes were dull, he staggered, and fell off his horse.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?"

-

When Priest Batal woke up again, he found that the surroundings were bright as soon as he opened his eyes.

At this time, he was lying in the middle of the open space on some of the bandits' smelly animal skin clothes. His surroundings were relatively spacious and there were no other people or things. But looking outside, it was full of injured young refugees moaning and screaming in pain, as well as a large number of female refugees taking care of them.

Speaking of taking care of them, what they can do is very limited. Most of them just follow the requirements of the Kiel Knights and use ropes to tightly tie the limbs of the wounded whose hands and feet were cut by arrows to prevent the wounded from bleeding to death.

At this time, he didn't care that his limbs turned purple and black after being tightened for a long time.

Anyway, Knight Kiel said that when Priest Batal wakes up, he will be responsible for treating the wounded.

Bloody Fangster was also taking care of the wounded at this time. According to Keir's instructions, he took out a small amount of healing ointment from the carriage and used it on the young man who was most seriously injured at the moment.

Not to mention whether it can save lives, at least the ointment's effect of numbing wounds and relieving pain can still make the seriously injured who died of serious injuries less painful before death.

"Me." Priest Batal hurriedly got up. At this moment, he finally had a real understanding of the hundreds of casualties. Interestingly, at this moment, he no longer felt the worried feeling he had when he heard Keir talking about the heavy casualties before he fell into coma.

The priestly training from the Church of Saturn allowed him to know what he should do even under such circumstances.

"I'm awake, come here! Where are the seriously injured people who are dying? Someone come and take me there."

As soon as Priest Batal shouted, someone came over immediately and dragged Batal to a place where several people were surrounding him.

"Who is in command now? The Kiel warriors? Or the Bloodfangs? Or someone elected by one of you?"

He looked around while running, but didn't see Kil in armor, so he asked.

The two female refugees who were guiding him immediately replied: "Master Priest, Mr. Sturt is now in charge of the arrangements here. He is leading people to deal with seriously injured people. Come over and see this person first. He has an arrow in his chest." , it’s very dangerous now!”

When Priest Batal didn't care to get up, the long amber metal staff was still placed where he was walking. He was pulled to a bright fire, where a young man with an arrow in his back was walking. people.

The bow and arrow penetrated his body and torso, not directly killing him, but it was not easy either.

At this time, the clothes on the upper body of the young man who had been hit by the arrow had been taken off, and he was lying on his side, with blood dripping from his mouth, but he was still holding a girl's hand, and was delivering his last words to the girl he loved.

Taking a deep breath, Priest Batal flattened the sleeves of his priest's robe, first slapped off the hands held by the man and woman, and then said to the confused young man who was hit by the arrow: "Your mouth is bleeding, it means you have injured your stomach. The blood flowed out. There was still a small amount of blood flowing out from the mouth, and most of the blood that was lost was all in the stomach!"

The young man's face turned pale, and he had obviously lost a lot of blood.

"I want to break the arrow and pull it out. Although it will bleed a lot, with the blessing of healing magic, it can still stop the wound from bleeding. So and so, find something for him to bite on. I have to deal with the bow and arrow."

After saying this, the priest remembered that he didn't have anything suitable to break the arrow: "Find me a short knife and dagger. It needs to be sharp."

As soon as he finished speaking, a companion of the young man with an arrow handed him a sharp dagger.

The priest looked at the weapon and the other party, and the other party immediately explained: "The Lord Knight asked those of us who dare to fight to clean the battlefield before. This was captured and distributed to us, not stolen."

Priest Batar was stunned for a moment, took the weapon, and prepared to cut off the arrow shaft: "I don't care if you stole it, but where are the other Kiel warriors?"

Everyone around looked at each other and said in unison: "The Lord Knight is leading his men to attack the bandit's lair!"

"What? What did he do?"

The priest didn't hear clearly. He cut the arrow shaft with a short knife and asked again in surprise.

The young refugees around him repeated: "The Lord Knight led his men to attack the lair of bandits who attacked us. I heard that he spared one alive for every bandit who attacked us during the battle. After you passed out, he tortured you Those bandits took the people to destroy the lair of those bandits."

Faced with this answer, Priest Batal took a deep breath and felt that he still didn't know much about the 'comer', Kil.