Mercenaries and Adventurers

The next day, when Keir woke up early, he was awakened by the noise outside the camp.

"What are you doing? It's so noisy."

As soon as Kil shouted in the camp, the armed people guarding outside the camp explained to him: "Master Knight, they are those aliens who call themselves Maomao, uh, and there are also female people in the team. Everyone came over early in the morning to take a look. Strange. This is the first time for many people to see a living alien race."

"Really? There's no conflict, right?"

Kil asked while getting dressed.

The person outside the camp continued to answer: "No, no, Mr. Ste is watching. Although it is noisy, no one comes close. Those aliens look cute, but they are quite fierce."

Kil chuckled, poured some water into the basin with a kettle, scrubbed his face, then rinsed his mouth with saliva, then opened the tent and walked out feeling refreshed.

Sure enough, as expected by Keir, the campfire where the foreigners had rested last night had been surrounded by curious people from three to three levels.

Since the furries are not aggressive in appearance and are furry all over, even if the people know that they are aliens, they are not afraid of them and watch them curiously.

Kil stood on tiptoes and looked inside. Seeing that Bloodfangster was in control of the situation, he stopped caring about this place. He hung his long hunting sword on his waist, put on his new cloak, and faced the man not far away. Go to the place where the animals are kept.

As soon as he passed by, he saw that the blood-licking grass was bullying the new donkey again. The huge horse's head was swinging left and right, hitting the poor donkey who was twice as short as it.

However, these newly purchased donkeys were also stubborn. They were not convinced at all and kept trying to bite the blood-licking grass with their teeth to fight back.

This completely pissed off Kil's mount, who opened his mouth, bit the donkey's erect ears with his teeth, and pulled hard, making the donkey keep wailing and begging for mercy.

The people responsible for taking care of the livestock couldn't control Kiel's war horses at all, so they just stood around and watched the fun, waiting for the blood-licking grass to take care of the new arrivals before going to take care of the new arrivals.

"Sir, you are here, and your war horse is bullying our livestock again!"

When they saw Keir coming, they immediately pointed at the blood-licking grass that was doing evil and shouted.

Blood Licker's ears twitched, as if he heard Kil's steady and powerful pace, and seemed to understand that someone was reporting to its owner, "unjustly" accusing it, a model war horse. So, it immediately let go, stayed away from the yelping donkey, took small steps, and freely walked around the wooden stakes that bound the animal.

Yes, because of Kil's instructions, the blood-licking grass was never tied to the horse-hitting stakes in the team. This smart prairie horse will not run away. It will only rush to its owner's side with all its strength and participate in the battle when Keel whistles.

Even if it is not wearing a saddle and bridle all day long.

When Kil heard such complaints, he just laughed and waved to the Blood Licker, who was pretending to be innocent, and asked him to come over. Then he took the horse harness brought by the people and placed it with his own hands on the Blood Licker that came over in small steps. On the body.

"It doesn't matter, it is a war horse. To establish its status in the group, it is suitable for a knight to ride a war horse, just like me. Of course, if you see it trying to harm other animals, remember to separate them."

"Yes, sir. But the blood-licking grass is so fierce, it won't bite us, right?"

"Idiot, just ask for some beans and lure them to eat. That's it."

After saying that, Kil jumped on the horse and flicked the reins. The understanding blood-licking grass proudly raised its head to the people taking care of the animals and walked away at a brisk pace.

Only the donkeys were left braying beside them, and the other horses snorted and brayed in a similar manner.

-

Returning to the town of Dorne again early in the morning, Keir sat on horseback and pricked his ears, paying attention to the drunkards passing by and the chatter of the early people.

Contrary to his expectation, the people's conversations were quite related to the news he had just arranged yesterday. Some old drunkards who were sitting along the street drinking early in the morning were still arguing about whether to deal with some arrogant hunter.

Is this treatment something he understands?

And when he heard that some people had added some things and content that he had not explained to the news about the hunter, the corners of Kil's mouth had to curl up.

He secretly said to the black wooden bird sculpture hanging on his chest: "Listen to what people say! Are you surprised?"

Then a voice came to Kil's ears: "Rude boy, what do you mean? Huh?"

But Kil didn't say much. He just curled up his lips and rode towards the [Burning Furnace] Chamber of Commerce.

-

At the same time, in the lobby of a remote hotel in the civilian area of ​​Dorne Town, two back bow hunters were eating bean soup in silence.

These two hunters, who still wear large brown and green cloaks indoors, are one in his forties and the other in his twenties. They are both tall and strong men. On their cloaks, between the mottled camouflage patches, were finely sewn with patterns of various styles of beasts and monsters.

Originally, sitting in the corner, they would not have attracted the attention of others, but at this time, other people in the hotel lobby were all pointing at them in low voices. Everyone looked unhappy, including the hotel owner who was wiping the table.

"Did you get into trouble yesterday?"

The older hunter was still eating bean soup in silence, but finally he couldn't help it and asked a question to his younger companion.

The young man looked unhappy and stubborn: "No. It's just..."

"That's causing trouble. What did you tell me before you came out? Just follow in secret and keep an eye on it, and we are not responsible for anything else. If there is something new, other young hunters who need to advance and challenge will take over."

"no."

The young man explained: "Yesterday was fine. I just patrolled and investigated around the town at night, and someone I didn't know grabbed me and asked me to apologize to them."

"Apologise? Did you do anything unnecessary?"

The young man was speechless for a while: "I'm not a novice, so I didn't do anything unnecessary. Those people just suddenly found trouble. I originally wanted to throw a few coins to attract attention and go away, but those people didn't pick up the money and insisted on rushing up to fight. I."

"You fought back? How many locals did you kill?"

The young man rolled his eyes, slammed the wooden spoon in his hand into his bowl of bean soup, and retorted in a low voice: "I'll say it again, I'm not a novice. Judging from my hunting skills and past achievements, you and I They are both at the same level. Just put away your attitude, old man."

His last words were muttered under his breath.

But the old hunter probably guessed that the words were not good, but he didn't care: "So, why are the people in the hotel so hostile to us today? If we can't stay here, we can only settle outside the town. Dorne Town Unlike other places, the management and surveillance outside the town are stricter, and those guys who are wary of debtors running away and being lazy are far more troublesome than the occasional thieves seen in the town."

"I know, hum." The young man was still angry, not only angry at his companions for blaming him, but also at the unreasonable hostility and comments from the people around him.

As hunters, their ears are much better than ordinary people, so he generally listened to some people's seemingly lowered voices and discussions.

Why did the two of them boast that they could shoot eagles and that the whole town was weak? Although he had said similar things, how did the people know? And it was spread?

"Tell me, are they the thieves in the town? Are we underestimating them? Is this a stumbling block for us secretly, or is it a warning?"

The young man guessed and said.

The old hunter finished his food in advance, put down the wooden bowl and replied: "It's possible, whether it is or not, we can't stay in the town anymore. I will go back to the house to pack things now, and we will go outside the town after eating. Outside the town You can also monitor that knight and that being."

"Hey, that's it."

The young man picked up the wooden spoon and stirred his bean soup melancholy. This town was quite interesting, especially the various entertainment and low-level gambling facilities. In the past two days, every time he went out for patrol and surveillance, he would go to the casino and have some fun.

With his perception far beyond that of ordinary people and his intuition from a hunter, his wallet has been bulging these days.

-

Kil came to the [Burning Furnace] Chamber of Commerce. He first entered through the main entrance and found the businessman's deputy whom he had seen yesterday. Then, under the leadership of the other party, he rode the blood-licking grass to the chamber of commerce stable that he had seen yesterday.

The work here is in full swing at this time, with several craftsmen taking turns to work, while the apprentices have been working. When they feel sleepy and tired, they will casually dig some dry wheat straw in the stable, go inside, and take a rest at any time.

Through everyone's efforts, in just one day, the horse armor tailor-made for the blood-licking grass has begun to take shape.

At this time, in the middle of the open space of the stable building complex, a crude wooden model made one-to-one with the blood-licking grass already had a leather armor as the basis, and on top of it, a large piece of leather armor was cut, sewn and bound. Multiple layers of protective cloth have been draped on the wooden model with metal hangers.

Except for the front impact of the wooden war horse's body, the protective armor in other places has been completed.

Kil pulled the blood-licking grass and walked around the wooden model. Not only did he carefully examine the newly made armor, he also flipped it over with his hands.

Except for the head, neck, chest and other parts of the wooden model, other parts including the tail were protected by two layers of armor half a fist thick.

Except for the connecting buckles, there are no gaps at all on the back and sides of the body. At the same time, the lowest part of the armor is only a horse's hoof height from the ground, making it almost impossible to injure the horse body inside the armor before breaking the armor.

Seeing Knight Kiel coming over, the old Kent craftsman in charge of this set of horse armor personally came forward to explain to Knight Kiel the disassembly, assembly, cleaning, and maintenance procedures of this set of armor.

While listening, Kil curiously asked where the other three craftsmen were.

"Each of them is responsible for one, and they are rushing to make the most important metal parts of this set of armor. They are the anti-arrow face shield on the horse's head, the anti-chopping movable plate armor on the horse's neck, and the horse's chest. A metal composite breastplate that protects against the impact of long-haired spears.”

The old craftsman pointed to three areas on the front of the horse on the wooden model that did not have multiple layers of protective cloth.

These places are where horses are most vulnerable to attack during battle. For the army, knights on horseback are very difficult to defeat, so it is natural for ordinary soldiers to target knight horses that are larger, less flexible and less protective than knights.

Archers and crossbowmen shoot at the horse's head, heavily armored warriors chop the horse's neck with heavy axes and swords, spearmen form a formation and use spears several meters long, and reversely use the impact of the knights to deal with the horses. These are all top priorities. Protective place.

Of course, most knights and cavalry do not attack the army head-on. Instead, they mostly use their mobility to attack weakly protected logistics teams, or they use battlefield mobility to attack the flanks and weak points of the army on the battlefield.

These protective requirements are also the basis of tactics. It's possible to fight like this without one, but with better armor for horses, knights and cavalry will be more effective in combat.

There is no doubt about this.

Keir and the old Kent craftsman stood aside talking, while Bloodlicker tilted her head and looked at the wooden fake horse that was as tall as itself.

"Lulu Lu?"

It sniffed the wooden horse's head first, but found nothing except a woody smell.

Then it stretched out its neck and rubbed the side of its neck against the fake horse's neck, hoping to make friends with this fake horse that was as tall as itself.

But the other party didn't respond in a daze.

This disappointed Blood Licker. With a flick of its thick horse's neck, it knocked the stupid fake horse to the ground.

"Lulu lulu!!!"

There was a cry of triumph.

Keir laughed loudly, and the Kent craftsman muttered: "What a very aggressive war horse." Then he called the apprentice and used a rope to straighten the fallen wooden model.

This thing is quite heavy and cannot be easily lifted by ordinary people.

But for Kil, this was no big deal. He waved his hand to stop the apprentices' busy work, reached up and used his strength to straighten the fallen wooden horse model. In order to prevent the blood-licking grass from causing further trouble, Kil sent it to a nearby stable and let it bully the horses of the [Burning Furnace] Chamber of Commerce.

At noon, Mr. Scott came over, and he also brought with him the metal composite breastplate for horses, one of the three important protective components.

This thing is said to be a breastplate, but in fact there is more than just one piece. This includes the front body of the breastplate, the extended movable protective parts on the front of the front legs, and the most important connection between the fixed lock buckle and the belt.

This thing is the heaviest of the three metal parts, so it has the most locks and straps to secure it, and it needs to be fixed in the correct order to the basic leather armor as the base.

This basic leather armor, similar to the inner armor of Kiel's metal armor, not only provides the most basic protection, but also provides additional fixing points for metal parts and load-bearing connections for locking belts.

Without this thing, the horse breastplate can be installed on the horse, but in this way, the horse will definitely feel uncomfortable. If the armor is worn for a long time during battle, the hair and skin of the horse will be damaged due to friction.

In severe cases, it can cause wounds to fester due to wear and tear. If there is no treatment, no matter how strong the war horse is, it will become useless.

This was the first time Keir heard this from an old Kent craftsman.

The breeding and raising of horses, training and equipment, and even the further strengthening of knights' horses are all subjects of knowledge and technology.

Unlike humans, many of the basics of horse knowledge and technology are in the hands of the church, which is the god of animal husbandry. This means that horse equipment has become more widespread and has been mastered by craftsmen from all over the world, and knights' horses have been strengthened. , has become an important technology for various forces and organizations.

These techniques are an important part of mastering the power of knights. After all, there is a huge difference in strength between knights who ride beasts and those who do not.

Putting it on the battlefield, it is an important part of distinguishing whether the knight will dominate the battlefield situation.

For many knights, without the high mobility, protection, and load-bearing capacity of weapons and equipment provided by riding beasts, the knight is just a more powerful warrior.

At most, it would be consumed by competing with dozens of elite heavy-armed soldiers in local battles.

But with powerful riding beasts, knights have the ability to truly dominate the battlefield.

The high mobility and endurance make it impossible for even a large number of cavalry to catch up with the knights in a mobile battle. Not to mention the heavily armored knights and horses, which can penetrate the battle formation of infantry and directly capture the noble commander leading the army.

The riding beast with an amazing load capacity allows the knight to carry a variety of different heavy weapons at once, or hundreds of long and heavy arrows to kill soldiers one by one from a long distance.

If an army does not have a knight of the same level to lead the escort, there may even be a situation where several knights spend a whole day completely defeating an ordinary army of two to three thousand people.

When the time came in the afternoon, the last two metal parts were completed by several other craftsmen. After final polishing and assembly, they were delivered from the blacksmith shop of the [Burning Furnace] Chamber of Commerce.

"Come on, blood-licking grass, let us arm you!"

Kil greeted, and although Blood Licker didn't understand, she still snorted, responded, jumped out of the stable, and came to the owner's side.

First, they took off the saddle, stirrups, reins, bits and other harnesses on the blood-licking grass. Then the apprentices quickly took apart the armor on the wooden model, removed the leather armor that was no more than a finger thick, and put it on the blood-licking grass. On the grass.

Since it was the first time for the Blood Licker to be covered with so many and heavy things, Kil also personally took care of it, soothing the horse's emotions and allowing it to adapt and get used to this new 'fur'.

Then came three pieces of freshly made horse metal armor for the head, neck, and chest, completely protecting the front of the tall blood-licking grass.

The armor on the chest and neck was fine, and although it was uncomfortable to lick the blood grass, it still accepted it calmly. When Xian's handsome horse face was about to be obscured by these hard things, he was not happy anymore.

"Lulu Lulu! Lu Lu Lu!"

The tall and heavy war horse kept jumping and bumping on the spot. Kil first asked the apprentices around him to move away, and then he took action himself, 're-enacting' how he tamed this guy.

Everyone present, including Mr. Scott who rushed over, had their mouths wide open and looked in surprise at how the little knight, who was taller than the war horse, overturned the war horse and then lifted it horizontally. .

"Isn't that too exaggerated?"

"Is this something humans can do?"

"No, are all knights so strong? Can they lift the house in one breath?"

"Maybe, but the castle certainly can't be lifted."

Mr. Scott also glanced suspiciously at the main building of the Chamber of Commerce where he usually lived and worked, doubting whether the knights could lift that building directly.