Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil frowned and looked at the huge flames burning in the sky, while in his narration, several young male refugees who were soaked in water were picking up the hands and feet of the dead bandit's body in pairs, carrying the high-temperature flames of the fire. , quickly approached, swung his hand vigorously, and threw the bodies of the bandits onto the fire.

In just a few seconds, the wet water droplets on their bodies would quickly evaporate into water vapor and dry up. They had to return as soon as possible, and then let their companions pour the stream water on them.

Even though Kil was more resistant to heat, he could not get too close to the fire. He stood near the fire as a safety net, and directly lifted the bodies that were not thrown into the fire into the fire with a full-metal spear. Do a job of checking for omissions and filling them in.

Not far away, Priest Batal was leading his believers to pray facing the fire that was emitting black smoke.

It's not about the bliss of the afterlife, it's just words like prayers to cheer up all the young refugees. After all, the corpses burned at this time were all those of bandits. So many people died last night, and the refugees didn't have a good attitude towards the bandits. Now, sharing the same hatred and hatred is a good time to accept and recognize each other.

When everyone curses the bandits together, the relationship between them will naturally become closer. When Priest Batal stands in front of people and denounces the crimes of the bandits, it can also greatly increase his status among the refugee group.

This is what Priest Lothar Batal, who has been conducting church activities in the village for the past few years, is what he is best at.

Except for the first generation of immigrants from the empire, most of the immigrants from other countries and the descendants of immigrants from the empire do not have much quality and civilization. In rural areas, due to backward production and unused culture, the villagers in various villages, The actual quality cannot be said to be that good.

Everyone often cares about each other, but since they are all from the same village, internal disputes are often less severe. But when facing outsiders, they would be different. This was something that Priest Batal, who first came to Changmai Village to preach and stay in the village, was quite aware of.

The simplicity and stupidity, unity and xenophobia of the villagers in the village made him suffer a lot.

Of course, later on, relying on the knowledge taught by the church, he quickly mastered the 'correct way' of dealing with the villagers.

That is, convince them verbally.

Many people have lived and grown up in the village since they were born. They have very little experience. A trip to a nearby town is the biggest talk for them in a year or two. Therefore, when faced with young priests who have been trained by the church since childhood, they often cannot speak to the priests themselves no matter how much they struggle.

Clumsy-tongued villagers often can only sit down on the ground angrily during arguments and cover their ears with their hands, trying to face the eloquent priest Batar in this way.

The villagers who were somewhat eloquent could only use limited vocabulary and imagination to repeat their opinions in a monotonous manner, and were then verbally silenced by the priests.

Relying on his mouth, Priest Batal won over the believers of the God of Agriculture one after another. Only then did he truly realize the limitations of a single person's power.

It was difficult for him to build the Church of Saturn alone, but believers could do it when they gathered together. You bring the bricks and I build the tiles; you bring the pillars and I support them.

At this moment, looking at the eyes looking at him, Priest Batal again thought of the familiar villagers and familiar believers who had been kidnapped.

His eyes were filled with tears again, and he had no choice but to turn his head and look at the raging flames, then pretended that his eyes were irritated by the flames, and then carefully tried to remove the tears from his eyes with the sleeves of his robe.

"Let the last traces of these bandits left in the world fade away. No one will remember them. Their ashes will be scattered into rivers and mixed into the soil. But our lost friends and companions will be remembered by us for a long time. Their souls will also go to the place where they should go, sharing endless peace and prosperity. We will each grab a handful of their ashes and take them far away, moving forward with us."

On one side of the fire were the bodies of the bandits, while on the other side of the fire were the bodies of the young refugees who died last night. They were both men and women, some were injured to death in sudden attacks by bandits, and some were unfortunately killed while fighting bravely.

The young man who was throwing the corpse of his companion here was much more cautious in his actions, and there was no need for Keir to repeatedly pick the corpse up to the huge fire.

Not only were corpses being thrown in, but firewood that had been cut into small sections was also being thrown in from a distance by people around to increase the intensity of the fire. After all, there is a lot of water in the human body, and whether bandits or refugees, they are not wealthy people who can accumulate much fat.

The only ones who were farthest away from the scene and didn't care about this matter were the businessmen and women who had been rescued from the bandits.

Since the refugees seemed unable to finish the weird shimmering food in their hands, these people gathered around their iron pots and fires, cooking pot after pot of wheat since dawn. Porridge.

The first pot was made by an old businessman himself. It was naturally thick and thin, and full of fragrance. The old businessman handed over the next few pots to the young man he had been looking after to cook them.

The young man who was taught step by step carefully followed the steps taught by the old man, cooking pot after pot of wheat porridge, and filling in other people around him who had been detained by the bandits for a long time.

They all seemed to have been tortured by hunger for a long time. No matter how many pots of fragrant wheat porridge the boy made, the others would drink one bowl after another and drink them all.

They also had no shortage of wheat grains for making wheat porridge. They asked any refugee around the fire, and the other party would give them handfuls of plump grains.

And due to their different identities, they were both young refugees working in the village. When they gave grains of wheat to the hungry rescued businessmen, they often smiled and spoke with a happy, even proud expression. Do this emotionally.

-

The rescued people who were also in the open space on the roadside of the business, far away from the fire, were the first to spot an approaching donkey cart.

The businessman, who only cared about filling his never-full stomach, didn't pay much attention to a donkey cart coming from nowhere at first. Only when the old businessman looked over, he immediately knew something was wrong.

No one dared to cross this trade road where bandits frequently ravaged with just a donkey cart that couldn't run very fast. It’s not like people who have taken refuge in various places with nothing, nor is it an extremely stupid businessman.

The old businessman, who noticed something was wrong based on his experience, stood up suddenly and carefully looked at the donkey cart that was gradually approaching from the west.

The young knight and the young refugee dealt a heavy blow to the bandits. Did it happen last night? How did the direction of the White Stone City Wall checkpoint know about this?

When the old man saw the strangely dressed church priests on the simple donkey cart, even he frowned and couldn't figure out the purpose of the visitors. (The old businessman has not seen the special divine robes with divine power of the Church of the God of the Dead. This kind of protective robe is different in image and material from the robes of ordinary priests. He cannot recognize it.)

Ms. Fenia noticed the old businessman who suddenly stood up, and turned her head in the direction he was looking. Only then did she notice a donkey cart and several priests wearing strange clothes.

Moreover, she saw one of them sitting in the front take out a bright sphere as big as a human head from behind when the donkey cart was far away from them.

She was instantly fascinated by that beautiful thing. She swore that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life.

Complete spherical shape, transparent crystal or glass spherical shell? And inside were colorful luminous gems, far more colorful than the most beautiful bouquet she had ever seen.

Not to mention that compared to flowers, they are luminous gemstones and jewelry.

‘Oh my God, how much is this thing worth? ’

This was her most important thought later.

The old businessman frowned tightly. Although he did not recognize the Rejection Orb held in the arms of the leading priest, the other party stopped the donkey cart at this moment and lined up several priests with the person holding the orb as the center. Why? It didn't look like he was approaching with good intentions.

He lowered his head and patted the boy who was still working hard to make porridge, said something in his ear, then tidied up his dirty and smelly clothes and walked straight towards the priest.

The young man put down the wooden spoon and sneaked away first, then quickly ran towards the crowd surrounding the fire not far away with their backs to them.

-

The priests of the God of the Dead, who formed a four-sided battle formation, of course saw the crowd of refugees gathering in the distance, and also saw the huge corpse-burning fire surrounded by those people.

But that doesn't mean anything.

It is still unclear what happened here last night, where so many corpses came from, and whether the person leading the team is good or evil.

To be cautious, the leading priest still took out the treasure he was carrying this time - the Orb of Rejection.

With the existence of this thing, they can at least be invincible. Whether it is the large number of young refugees who have been brainwashed and deceived by the members of the Evil God Church, or the brutal bandits who are surrounded by them and controlled by them, they can do nothing to stop them in the orb. Five.

The Orb of Rejection will repel all unauthorized natural and supernatural forces. Even the divine power and magic of the priest of the God of the Dead cannot invade the area covered by the Orb of Rejection without his permission.

Swords cannot reach you, arrows cannot come close.

Magic went around it, and he taught divine magic to avoid it.

Naturally, the wrath of heaven recedes and the curse returns to the giver.

With this treasure in hand, he dared to personally lead the other four priests and rush to deal with it as soon as possible.

"who are you?"

An old man who had been gathering by the fire to rest and eat came towards them. The young priest in the front left of the square formation asked loudly.

After getting closer, the old businessman saw clearly the emblems and patterns of the Church of the Dead on the priests, and then confirmed the identity of the visitor.

The old man elegantly and standardly performed businessman etiquette and replied: "A few of you, the priests of the Church of the God of the Dead, I am Nobi Fentiga, a businessman from the deep Vita Kingdom in the south of your country. I don't know how many priests there are. Why is Your Excellency making such a hostile gesture at this time? There are only businessmen and people rescued from the bandits, as well as many poor and helpless refugees."

After the old businessman got closer, he could tell from the divine symbol on the other person that he was from the Church of the God of the Dead. However, it was also the short staff of divine power in the other person's hand. He had seen a lot and knew that it was the magic in the hands of the nobles. Dangerous things like weapons.

It is far more dangerous than a flashing sword, and most of the nobles only have one long or short magic wand, but each of these priests has one.

The purpose of these people's arrival was unknown, and he couldn't help but worry about how the young Knight of Kiel had provoked such a group of powerful armed priests.

"Get out of the way, businessman. We will examine and distinguish the identity of these people here and what you are doing now, so don't block the way."

The priest who led the team ignored the old businessman's words and did not drive him away. He just led the team forward. As soon as he left, the four priests surrounding him also moved. The old businessman was about to speak more, but his body was suddenly pushed aside by an invisible force. Although he was not hurt, this force The force of repulsion and push away is simply unstoppable.

The old shoes on his feet rubbed against the sand on the ground, and he was pushed sideways in a strange posture.

When his body was level with the side of the man walking in the center of the formation, the force of pushing him disappeared. The old businessman suddenly sat down on the ground and looked blankly at several priests of the Church of the God of the Dead.

He was a little confused. Although many priests of the Church of the God of Wealth had received various magical treatments and blessings in his life, this was the first time that he had been pushed away so invisibly by the other party.

"What power is this?"

None of the priests answered him, and they all looked forward, because the young man had gone ahead to deliver the news. At this moment, the crowd around the fire opened a gap, and Priest Batal was running towards him.

"Everyone, everyone, I am Lothar Batal, the priest of the Church of the God of Saturn. What is going on with you? What are you going to do?"

Priest Batal's hands were empty, and he did not bring his amber metal staff with him, mainly because it was too heavy, and the metal staff was not suitable for burning corpses to appease the people at this moment.

As soon as he saw the opponent maintaining a four-sided fighting formation, he got a headache because he had learned similar knowledge in the church, although he had never used it. This is the opponent's state of war and treats them as enemies.

"The Church of Saturn? Show us your divine power!"

When the other party said this, Priest Batal's face was full of bitterness. All his divine power had been used up just now when he was comforting the injured who was in an unstable condition. Although there was still a little bit left to prevent him from fainting, it was so small that it couldn't be shown.

He had no choice but to tell the truth: "I'm sorry, my magical power has been used to treat the injured, and I really can't show it to you at this moment. Please believe me, I tell the truth. The God of Agriculture is above, and He is watching me. "

Although Priest Batal looked innocent on his face, the blood all over the robes of the other party's Church of the God of Saturn, as well as the believers of the God of Agriculture who kept coming from behind with weapons, all looked very suspicious.

"Who are you? Why should you wrong our priest!"

"They are the priests of the Church of the God of the Dead."

"So they are the priests who deal with the dead? So they look like this."

The Church of the God of the Dead is not as widespread as the God of Agriculture or other gods in rural areas. Most of them establish local churches in towns in the center of rural areas. Many young refugees who were former villagers are not familiar with these people.

If you live in a town, you may be familiar with them.

"Did they come to help?"

"Idiot, with their attitude, do you think they are here to help?"

The four priests around them all held magical short staffs in their hands. They were not blind or stupid. They knew at a glance that the person coming was evil.

At this time, Kil pushed aside the people blocking his way and strode out from the crowd. He came late, mainly because he was wearing armor and weapons just now.

Keir stood in front of everyone and said loudly: "Good morning, priests. I wonder why you are here?" He turned to look at the flames that were devouring the corpse behind him, and chuckled: "It can't be just right. Come and help us conduct the ceremony of burning the corpse?"

The leading priest of the Church of the Dead's eyes flashed, and he asked directly: "Burning corpses, how did so many corpses come about? Answer me!"

Kil was also rude. He lifted up his steel visor and stared at the people who questioned him. The anger in his eyes could even spurt out: "Where did the corpse come from? Bullshit! Of course, human beings are killing each other, and living people turn into corpses. , that’s how it came about!”

"Human beings are fighting? Who are you and this Saturn priest? Don't think that because there are so many people around, you can use the opportunity to cover up or get away!"

Keir sighed and spat on the ground: "What are our identities? What are your identities? Do you want to see what the identities of these people around you are? Tell me, how many of you know their identities?" ?"

The leading priest wanted to ask Kier, a young man, not to evade the question, but a young priest in front said: "They are rural people who took refuge in the checkpoint, but you took them away from the White Stone Wall Checkpoint and massacred them here. , what is their identity? What are their thoughts? People, the identities of these two people are unknown, don’t be deceived."

But the young priest's impassioned speech was met with disgrace.

What he said not only did not make the young refugees who gathered around him feel that they had seen through any deception or conspiracy, but instead made them angry.

"￥%￥, seeing that you are priests, we respectfully call you adults, but it turns out you are all guys who have ￥% filled in your heads!"

"Fart! If Lord Kil hadn't fought so hard last night! We would all be prisoners of the bandits right now!"

"More than that, if we don't leave that cannibal level, you're going to give us a bite to eat? Or the great God of Agriculture took pity on us. Not only did he try his best to raise food in the level to help us, but he also performed a miracle and sent Batar The priests come to our rescue!”

"Yes! You guys who deal with corpses all day long didn't show up when my family was starving. Now you smell it and follow the smell of the corpses. Ha! They say we have been deceived? I￥%￥% ￥￥ # ￥.”

The surrounding people were excited, but everyone was still afraid of the identity of the church priests. They scolded each other, but no one really dared to take action.

Several priests of the God of the Dead blushed after being insulted by the surrounding obscenities. They were usually called masters, but how could they receive so much insults today.

Several people clenched the Death Grip Divine Power Short Staff in their hands, and even held the protective statues carried on their belts in their hands and squeezed them tightly.

Breathing becomes more rapid.

The priest who was leading the team had seen big scenes. In the messy quarrel between his men and the people around him, he did not intervene in the argument. Instead, he blocked out the noisy sounds around him and concentrated on observation.

There were traces of blood spraying and dripping on the open space under their feet.

Having dealt with these things for many years, he knew that the chaos and blood stains all over the surrounding ground did not seem to be the result of an orderly ritual sacrifice and massacre. That way, the blood should be concentrated and have some symbolic pattern as it drips and splashes.

He secretly touched a piece of dried crimson and black blood with his foot. He judged that it should have been dripped last night.

He glanced at the most agitated young refugees around him and found that everyone was wearing crude animal skin clothes with blood stains and damage. This does not look like what the refugees in the level are wearing. If they are indeed the young refugees who escaped from the level yesterday, then these rough clothes that do not match their identity and attire should not be their original clothes.

Damage is proof of battle. If it has blood stains and the person wearing it is in good spirits, it must have been captured.

There was a battle last night, a large-scale battle, because the young refugees around had a lot of clothes on them. There were so many enemies, so what about them?

The priest who led the team held the Orb of Rejection and felt a little calm.

The orb can be controlled according to his will, and the divine power gem inside the spherical crystal shines with the beautiful but dim divine power of the God of the Dead.

The Orb of Denial worked a little, but instead of building an outward protective barrier, it was a powerful barrier to prevent the attack power from being spilled outward.

The priest who led the team blocked the possibility of outward attacks by his priests.

I am afraid that in the chaos, they will do something they will regret for the rest of their lives out of anger.