Mercenaries and Adventurers

Zhao Ji paid the money to the armor craftsman, and when he had nothing to do, he went to the blacksmith workshop opposite to make metal civilian products.

There are more people here, blacksmiths, apprentices, helpers, farmers, farm stewards, chamber of commerce buddies, and Saturn's apprentice shepherds are all crowded in the workshop.

Those who came to buy things, those who were waiting to repair farm tools, and those who promoted the teachings of the God of Saturn all gathered in the special waiting shed of the workshop, and an apprentice specially received them.

Those who forge iron, those who carry water, those who add firewood to the stove, and those who instruct the blacksmith craft are all busy in the bustling workshop.

Zhao Ji saw the familiar blacksmith apprentice who helped him sharpen his dagger, and was setting the handle on a hoe. Zhao Ji waved to him outside the workshop, and the apprentice came over and chatted with Zhao Ji for a while, then gave Zhao Ji the dagger that had been polished.

Zhao Ji also gave him a copper coin as a fee for his hard work.

Pulling out the dagger, I felt that the blade of the dagger was a little small.

"The blade feels a little small, won't it all wear off?" Zhao Ji asked.

"That's right, it's all worn away. The parts that have been damaged by the acid have lost the toughness of the metal, and they can only be used after they are all worn away. There is no other way, this is the only way." The blacksmith apprentice pointed to the small A circle of daggers said to Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji had no choice but to shrug and leave. "I'm leaving, have you found the right person?"

The apprentice blacksmith rubbed his nose in embarrassment: "Not yet, many people have their own jobs, and no one comes over."

"Then add more money, and you will definitely find someone who is willing to work. You can try to find some vendors in the market in the slum area to inquire about the situation. They have the best information. If you ask them, they will know who is looking for a job!" Zhao Ji had an idea.

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Back at the weapon workshop, the weapon craftsman has already finished Zhao Ji's weapon, and the action is really fast.

The whole spear is a little taller than Zhao Ji. A long spear of this length is actually considered a short spear in the local area. The real long spear is twice as long as Zhao Ji's now, and it is a special weapon for pikemen used in war.

On the battlefield, a dense phalanx can stab people to death from a long distance. However, I heard in the tavern that this kind of spear phalanx is not very popular in the current war. In the military training every winter, in recent years, the barons and knights have let the citizens practice new weapons and phalanxes. Instead of holding spears and forming a phalanx to obey orders, the barons and knights have replaced it with shields. Medium and long spears, and some people hold large shields, and some people change them to sword shields.

"The craftsmanship is really good, it looks very sharp." Zhao Ji carefully observed the sharpness of the edge of the spear head.

Hearing Zhao Ji's praise, the weapon craftsman proudly raised his neck, saying that Zhao Ji had better buy another whetstone, so that he could sharpen the weapon at any time and keep it sharp.

Zhao Ji shrugged, he didn't really need this, and it's okay if the weapon is not too sharp, so he declined the craftsman's kindness.

When we came to the armor workshop next door, the armor apprentice was still competing with Zhao Ji's shield. The master of the apprentice was cleaning a bronze medal of his own, while instructing the apprentice how to add leather to the wooden shield.

Zhao Ji saw that two handles had been added to the shield. One grip is semicircular, this one is for the forearm, and the other grip is rectangular, this one is for the hand. Two handles secure the shield securely on the left arm.

The apprentice's job of adding leather was not going well, and Zhao Ji was watching him, and he was a little flustered. His master got angry when he saw his apprentice's frantic actions, so he moved the apprentice aside to do it himself.

The armor craftsman spread a piece of ordinary leather on the shield, then used a chisel and a hammer to punch five small holes along the middle of the shield, and cut ten grooves along the edge of the shield in sequence.

The armorer then inserted rivets through the five central holes, then turned the shield over and flattened the rivets with a hammer. In this way, the leather is fixed on the shield. Then the armor craftsman took out ten small iron pieces, and fixed the iron pieces along the side grooves of the shield with large iron pliers.

After each iron piece stuck in the groove was fixed, the armor craftsman took a hammer and smashed the iron piece firmly on the shield.

Then he used a knife to peel off the excess and irregular leather on the back of the shield. The craftsman clapped his hands and told the apprentice a few key points when he made the shield leather just now. He waited for the apprentice to nod before leaving the workshop and went to the next door to chat.

Zhao Ji took the brand-new shield handed over by the armor apprentice, smiled at him and nodded, and left here.

On the way back, Zhao Ji held the shield in his left hand and held the spear on his shoulder with his right hand. Waving his left arm from time to time feels really good. It turned out that when using this shield, he always held a piece of rope tied to the shield with his hand, and the weight of the entire shield hit his fingers, which made him feel that the shield was heavy and tiring to use.

Now that the shield is refitted, most of the weight is supported on the forearm, and the rest is in the hand, and the hand can also easily swing the shield to turn. It feels much easier to use than before, and the weight does not feel good. So sinking.

That is, the two grips are made of iron, which hurts the skin when worn.

Zhao Ji hurried to the leather shop, bought two long strips of soft leather with a copper coin, and wrapped them around the shield handle. In this way, Zhao Ji will not be strangled again after trying to use it a few times.

The Punica craftsman looked at Zhao Ji's new equipment and knew that Zhao Ji might go hunting new slime monsters again at night. Specially supported Zhao Ji with two big bags, and asked him to use them to transport the slime monster back tomorrow. Their people will leave the city tomorrow morning, waiting for Zhao Ji's harvest.

Zhao Ji nodded with a smile, and told the craftsman of Punica that he must prepare the agreed cart and ax in the afternoon, as he needed them.

"By the way, do you remember the four acid sacs in the slime monster mentioned earlier?" Punica craftsman asked.

Zhao Ji hurriedly nodded to show that he did not forget: "How is it? Have you taken it out? Where is it?"

"I took this thing out yesterday afternoon. I didn't see you. Because it's not easy to keep it directly, I sent it to the stone workshop. You went to find Master Lian Xiude and talked to him about the price. He settled it for you." money." The Punica craftsman said embarrassedly.

"Master Li'an Xiude? Are you very old?" Zhao Ji asked.

The Punica craftsman waved his hand and corrected: "It is not because of his age that he became a master, but because of his high technical level, he was honored as a master. Of course, he is also very old, and no one knows how old he is." Make it clear. Anyway, when Kendall City was built, he seemed to be a stonemason here. It may be a hundred years old now."

"Good guy, isn't that old grandpa? At this age, can he still work now?" Zhao Ji was quite surprised.

"That's right, but it's nothing. The king of our kingdom is a legendary hero who can live for hundreds of years. Even his son, our Regent, is over a hundred years old. Well. There are always people in this world who can live so many people. Have you heard of it? It is said that elves can live for thousands of years! You said that before the empire was established, a child of an elf was born, what would he get now? How is it?" As he spoke, the Punica craftsman chatted with his apprentices.

"You have to be a young adult no matter what?" said an apprentice.

"That's right, it's probably like this. Our empire has been born for generations, and a child of the elves has just grown up. Don't you think it's scary?" Craftsman Punica rubbed his beard Said loudly.

Hearing that these people talked more and more, they didn't know where they were talking. Zhao Ji took his shield and spear to find the master Lian Xiude.

The masonry workshop is not far away, just on the side near the outer city wall.