Mercenaries and Adventurers

"The God of Agriculture asked me to focus on rescuing the believers and villagers in Changmai Village, but the matter in the city of Belisfa, um." Priest Batal sighed: "He asked me not to get involved."

"Why? Compared to the dozens of believers and hundreds of villagers in Changmai Village, the big city as a local parish is relatively more important, right? Isn't that the truth?"

Kil asked doubtfully.

"I have the same idea, but the God of Agriculture has his own arrangements for this, and He said that it is like a swamp, easy to fall into, and impossible to escape." When Priest Batal said this, he looked helpless and clenched and loosened his hands. Open, release and tighten.

At this time, Kil comforted Priest Batal: "Don't think too much. Since your god has arranged it this way, let's do it. You must know that sometimes people in the mountains cannot see the road ahead and the surrounding situation clearly. Because of the height of its location, and the view of people in the mountain being blocked by the woods and the mountain itself. Only by climbing to the top of the mountain can you see the situation clearly."

Shrugging, Kil said: "Needless to say, gods naturally see things more clearly than us mortals. Since you are his priest, you must believe in your gods unconditionally, right?"

Priest Batal was silent for a moment and muttered in a low voice: "Balisfa, my hometown, eh..."

The priest covered his face with his palms and remained silent for a long time.

Seeing that the priest fell silent, Keir stood up and said loudly: "The morning after tomorrow, we will continue on the road, direction. Well, walking in the direction of Changmai Village, we will not get close to the city of Belisfa."

The priest didn't respond, and Bloodfangster shrugged: "I listen to Keir."

-

That night, the tent grocery store sent more simple tents.

Keir was very curious about how the other party made so many new tents in such a short period of time. Although it is a simple tent that eliminates many necessary and unnecessary processes and components, it is still not easy to make enough tents for hundreds of people.

In the same afternoon, rain gear was also delivered in large quantities, which made Mr. Barfoot extremely busy. Keir had to also help, so that the store clerk who delivered the items did not have to wait for a long time.

Afterwards, Kiel found the businessmen who had been rescued and hoped that they could help.

The old businessman was willing to help, but he was old and his physical strength could not keep up, and the torture he suffered in the bandits' lair made him weak in energy and unable to help. Several other young or middle-aged businessmen were not seriously injured, and some of the injuries sustained during the abuse gradually healed in the days after they were rescued.

But the spirit of these people is completely broken.

Keir went over to ask them for help, and promised happily, and they all nodded in agreement, but when Keel left, these people were still sitting around the fire, staring blankly at the iron pot where the wheat porridge was being cooked.

This made Kil angry but unable to express it. The spirits of these people were already finished. He asked Bloodfangster to go over and help inquire about it. Only then did he realize that these people were completely trapped in their personal business failures. ,Inextricable.

They talked about the debts owed by their families after the business failed, or the land or house property that was destined to be confiscated. They counted the interest and fate of every loan they made during the days when they were captured by the bandits. Unpaid debts.

A few people were a little nervous and calculated for each other the interest payable on the loan, as well as what they might have been like if they had not been robbed and captured by bandits at that time.

Sometimes they would even quarrel over whether they should pay compensation if the companions and friends who came out with them died, because if this money was not included, some people with smaller debts might still have a glimmer of hope. And if you have to pay compensation and pensions to the gangsters and friends who died under the machetes and axes of the bandits, then the money they owe will be even more.

At night, when he heard Bloody Fangster tell him the things he had learned, Keir was quite speechless.

It seems that until these people fully understand their failures and recover, these businessmen will be of no use at all.

It's also strange that they were in similar situations, but Mr. Barfoot cheered up extraordinarily quickly. Almost on the night of being rescued, he began to help Keir with various affairs for the people, such as distributing supplies and carrying things for everyone. Type and weight, or organizing people to do the things Kiel asked, etc.

This person quickly cheered up, as if the previous failure was just an accident and had nothing to do with his own ability. If you are unlucky and fall down, just get up and look for opportunities to move forward.

"It would be great if everyone else was like this." Kil sighed.

"What are you thinking about? Kil. Not everyone can cheer up so quickly. Most people, oh, most people, will completely lose their confidence and ability to act once they fail, including myself."

Bloodfangster and Kil were sitting by the fire, stirring several kinds of beans floating in the small iron pot. Yesterday, everyone got a large number of various beans sponsored by Ms. Fenea. At this time, Mix the beans with the plump wheat grains and cook them into a fragrant bean porridge.

"In the first few years when I worked as a caravan guard, I saved a lot of money, and I wanted to follow the merchants' example and run trades on the several trade routes that I was familiar with as a guard. You know, I calculated the common trade routes in various places. price of goods, and then transport goods with a low price in one place to another place with a high price.”

Kiel has monster jerky, so there’s little need to eat anything extra, especially when you’ve had several steaks for lunch. He fiddled with the wood on the fire to make the flames smoother and burn longer: "Sounds easy. So, how did you mess up?"

Bloodyaster stared at the various beans in the iron pot. Some of them that were easy to boil had broken open their shells, revealing the beans inside, while some of the sturdy and tenacious ones had just absorbed the water at this time. , round and round: "Everything is far harder to do than it sounds. When I was working as a guard, I watched my employer and merchants simply write calculations, eat and drink, and then sell the goods in their hands locally. And it was my turn. When I was on my own, I realized that it was far from easy.”

"I tried it three times in total!"

He made a hand gesture with the number three and explained how he messed up these three times: "The first time, I knew a relatively remote place where iron tools were always in short supply and the price was higher than in other places. Some, some made money. So I rented a carriage and spent money to buy several large boxes of nails."

Keir thought for a while, should he be able to do this business? How did it go wrong?

"Encountered bandits on the road? No, in the Western Province, horse bandits?"

Xueyaster shook his head: "It's my first time doing business, so of course I will be extra cautious on the road. In fact, these few times, I have never failed because of things like banditry and horse banditry."

"Then I don't understand? How did you mess up?"

Seeing Kil's curious face, Bloody Tooth relaxed his shoulders and said helplessly: "I didn't expect anyone else to have the same idea as me. You know, if I can find out, other businessmen can naturally find out. This matter. A chamber of commerce happened to have signed a deal with the locals before, and they regularly transport a batch of iron products there every year."

He paused for a moment: "So when I detoured through some dangerous sections of the business road and ran to the place, I found that the price of local iron products had been severely slashed! Not only did I not make any money on those boxes of iron nails, , and the purchase price is higher than the local selling price. Although the local area also welcomes me to ship a new batch of iron nails."

He shook his head: "If I don't want to lose more, such as transporting the iron nails that I finally transported back, I have no choice but to sell them locally at a loss."

Keir smiled and said: "If you think about it inside and out, you still lost money, right? But it's okay. It's just a small loss due to the floating price. A small loss is not a loss. It can be regarded as accumulating experience."

Bloody Fangster muttered, and then talked about the second failed business trip.

"After a few months, I learned from experience and didn't collide with the Chamber of Commerce's affairs. After all, I was alone, with a small transport capacity, a small quantity of goods, and not much advantage in price. So I looked at Given the opportunity, a church in a town in the northern part of the province wants to build a new batch of religious wall paintings surrounding the walls. This requires a lot of colored stones and paints, because this cannot be completed in a short time. So there is no possibility of crashing with the Chamber of Commerce."

"So? What went wrong?"

Bloody Fangster had an ugly expression on his face: "I transported several barrels of paint that can be used on the walls properly. But the problem is that the local church does not accept paint from unknown sources and will only accept it from other places. Paints sent by the church.”

"Then didn't you just throw these things into your hands? How did you solve it in the end?"

"I stayed there for several days. Anyway, the church wouldn't accept the paint from my unknown source. I had no choice but to drive the rented car to a neighboring town and collect the paint. The paints were sold to the church in this town.”

"The people here just accept your goods?"

"I accepted it, and the price is very fair, slightly higher than the market price."

"Didn't you make a profit? Why did you fail?" Kil asked doubtfully.

Bloody Fangster exhaled: "It looks like I made a profit, but in the final reckoning, I still lost money. For the extra days, the rented carriage also has to be paid for, and there is also food for myself and the horses pulling the carriage. Expenses, the cost of parking the carriage and the hotel I rented when I was pestering people at the church, these are all additional expenses. These unexpected things led to days of procrastination, which led to the final sale of the things and the money earned. It’s not enough to cover the expenses.”

Keir commented: "Your business is too small. A little delay will be troublesome. If you can't do it as you expected before running the business, you won't be able to make a profit on the goods you handle. If everything goes well, you can make a small profit." Money, though." He shrugged.

"Everyone knows that when something is not under your complete control, then as long as the situation can go bad, it will definitely go bad. The reason why everyone likes good luck is because it is uncommon. It is not good or bad. And bad things are the majority of possibilities."

"You're right, Kil, you're right."

"What about the third one? Tell me quickly."

Seeing Kil's expression of listening to the story, Bloody Fangster curled his lips, recalled it, and then said: "After the second failure, I was silent for another half a year, mainly to tell you while working as a caravan guard. Just like everyone else, looking for a business opportunity that can make a lot of money.”

"Then, in the spring of the next year, my opportunity came. Man, it was an opportunity to make a lot of money. In the eastern part of the province, near the foot of the mountains in the central province, there was a sudden outbreak of Warcraft there. I heard it was very powerful. The local nobles and knights could not deal with the several monsters, so they had no choice but to delay, let the local people evacuate, and wait for our lord, the Earl, to send knights and troops to support them."

"This kind of chaos is an opportunity to make a fortune! The businessman I was escorting directly gave up a deal he was doing at the time and directly invested a large amount of money to support the evacuation of people. You know, When people flee, the prices of things used to be different. Valuable items become heavy and useless, while the prices of some necessities for fleeing change day by day, just like climbing a mountain."

"So, what did you do?" Kil asked.

"I saw the opportunity and got rid of the guard job at hand, even if the other party raised the price to keep me. Then I rode a horse alone to other places where nothing happened, and took out all the money I had on hand, except for renting a carriage. Also try to buy large pieces of bread that can be stored for a long time, as well as blankets to keep out the cold, comfortable boots suitable for long walks, and several sets of healing potions that you are lucky enough to buy from the herbal merchant."

"Healing potion?" This was the first time Kil heard this thing, so he asked.

"No, don't you know?" Bloodyaster was also very surprised to see that Kil didn't know what a healing potion was.

Kil rolled his eyes and explained: "We in Kendall County are used to using healing ointments, and the churches there are very open. The priests' magical healing skills are also very common among believers. This is the first time I have heard of the ointment. arrive."

Bloody Fangster was slightly surprised by this explanation: "It seems that one place is really different from another. The people in our western province live in scattered places, and the church is not very powerful. As for this healing potion, it is just a pretense. There are many types of herbal water in sealed bottles, and they can treat everything. From cheap ones to treat mosquito bites, to those that can quickly repair injuries after drinking, they are called healing potions, but they are often subdivided according to their functions. "

"Then what specific healing potions did you buy at that time?"

"Let me think about it. I remember that the herbalist recommended a very expensive injury treatment potion to me, but all my wealth could only buy one or two bottles of that stuff, and of course I didn't buy this one. I bought several sets of injury treatment potions. Mild cold and fever treatment potions. There are six in a set. These potions for treating common diseases are not expensive."

"Then I took all the goods I had acquired in exchange and hurried to the place where the accident happened. Finally, I was lucky this time and arrived in time and ahead of schedule."

Kil squinted at Bloodfangster and asked in a gloating tone: "So, how did you mess up?"

Unexpectedly, Xueyaster took a deep breath and looked up at the dark night sky.

Above the sky, there are stars. One of the two moons is rising from the cover of the mountains, and the other is getting ready to sink below the horizon.

The strange celestial bodies representing the gods patrol the sky with erratic trajectories, and the emblems of the gods on the surfaces of the celestial bodies scrutinize every mortal who looks up at the sky.

Neither of them spoke, and Kil lay down on his new cloak, supporting his head with his hands, leaning sideways and waiting for his companion's answer. The crackling sound of firewood brought back Bloody Fangster. The middle-aged caravan guard clasped his beard with his hand and said in a relaxed tone: "I didn't understand one thing until I got there."

"Oh? What did you understand?"

"Well, I saw every frightened people fleeing, and that's when I realized that I couldn't use the cheap things in my hands to pay a high price for all the remaining wealth of those poor people."

Kil was stunned and looked at his companion with whom he had a life-long friendship again: "Then what did you do?"

"I drove the carriage and patrolled back and forth along the route that the fleeing people must pass. I gave food to the hungry, cold blankets to those shivering from the spring freezing rain, and comfortable boots for the journey to those who were staggering on their way. In the hands of barefoot people. And, he personally fed the most valuable healing potion into the mouths of every sick person."

"You have nothing left, Mr. Sturt."

Unexpectedly, Bloody Fangster laughed loudly, stretched out his left hand towards Kil, and showed off a mottled copper ring on his finger: "No, Kil, no."

The copper ring is mottled and old, simple in style, and even has a lot of scratches on it.

But he is Bloodfangster's treasure.

"You see, I got to know my wife and her family because I cured her mother with healing potion. The old man was already sick because he was caught in the rain on the way, and because of this, her family fell behind the rest of the people in the same village who were fleeing. Key factor."

The corners of Kil's mouth also turned up slightly, and he gave a thumbs-up with his right hand to Bloody Fang Stern: "You are a conscientious person, Mr. Stern, and you do not have nothing."

"Ha, yes, yes. Although that time was an excellent opportunity to make a lot of money, hey, I gave up running a business to make money. Instead, I drove my wife and her family in a carriage and left the knights and the family early. A battlefield where an army fights with several monsters."

"I heard that the place was completely destroyed later. The knights and the heavily damaged army killed all the powerful monsters. However, those who failed to escape from the place in time, as well as those who were lucky and did not want to give up their property, all died there. To this day, my wife’s hometown has not recovered from that battle.”

Kil thought for a while and said: "To deal with Warcraft, the more people the better. At least in our place, to deal with Warcraft, knights lead a small number of elite hunters to gradually weaken the Warcraft by entangling them without giving them a chance to recover. The monsters will eventually explode and kill them. The advantage in numbers is just a good thing for the monsters. Because they can quickly recover their physical strength and physical injuries by preying on people who have ordinary combat capabilities and cannot resist those who hurt them."

Hearing Kil's words, Bloody Fangster sighed heavily: "It seems that your people are better at dealing with monsters. Kil, have you ever fought against monsters?"

"Didn't I tell you? Ha, call Priest Batar quickly. I will tell you tonight how I defeated two powerful monsters with Knight Lanisa!"

Keel was excited and ready to brag.

Unfortunately, there was no wine, which made him a little regretful.