Mercenaries and Adventurers

The sun does not slow down or speed up according to the joy, anger, sorrow, and joy of all living beings on the earth. After the refugee team was attacked, the entire team came to a complete stop.

Kiel rode his war horse and shouted for everyone to gather together, temporarily staying in place to defend against bandits who might appear again. He actually wished that those bandits would come out to attack the team again, so that he would have the opportunity to execute those cruel and greedy bandits one by one.

But the bandits didn't get what he wanted.

Just as the refugee team was cutting firewood under the command of Kiir, burning the bodies of the dead on the trade road, and the priests were treating the injured in the attack, the bandits seemed to have retreated into the depths of the woods on both sides not far from the trade road. None of the attacks occurred.

However, Kiel, who had a good view on horseback, could be sure that, in addition to the stalking hunters on the hilltop not far away, there were more than one pair of eyes staring at him and his team in the mountains and forests on the left and right of the refugee team. .

In places with many mountains, it gets dark early.

Even though Kiel himself felt that it would still be some time before dark in late spring, the cook came over to remind him: If the whole team is not going to walk for a while today, then today's dinner must be prepared now.

Taking into account the previous attacks and the casualties of the people, Keir gave instructions to the cooks: "Get some dried meat cooked on the road, and make several large pots of bean broth with the dried beans obtained in Dorne. Let’s have some good wheat porridge for everyone tonight.”

The dried meat that Keir was talking about was the small animals that he and some of his team members who were former village hunters hunted along the way. For the fatter parts, they made some coarse salt and spread them evenly, then marinated them in wooden barrels. As for the leaner animal meat, after removing the blood and water, it is roasted with fire to become dry and hard cooked meat.

The former can be kept for a long time, but cannot be eaten alone, while the latter can be used to reward people who have performed well along the way.

"Listen to your Lord Knight. However, if everyone in the team can eat a few bites, almost half of the meat must be consumed at one time. Do you think?" the cook asked carefully.

Keir waved his hand casually and told him to do just that.

Seeing that the young knight insisted on doing this, the cook didn't care, and trotted to take people to find Mr. Barfoot, who managed the team's supplies, to beg for something.

"Three villages, three large-scale bandit gangs?"

Kil looked at the sun that was approaching the mountain forest in the distance, lowered his gaze and followed the trade road at his feet, and let out a sullen breath.

The trade road turned a corner a few kilometers away, following the direction of the mountains and forests, and disappeared into the distance. If you follow what Priest Batal said and keep walking along this road, you will be able to get out of here in three days. In a mountain forest with few villages, in the southeast direction they were walking, in a relatively wide river valley, there was a large town that was larger than the town but not smaller than the city.

However, when Priest Batal passed by before, the town no longer welcomed outsiders and teams to approach. Only a small number of farmers could go out of the town gate every day and take care of part of the farmland in the fields of noble families near the town. Grow some fast-growing vegetables and root crops to provide to the town.

As for the villages and more open land near the town, they are completely unmanaged. People there only hurriedly sow crop seeds in early spring, and nothing else is done. No one is doing anything like watering, weeding, repelling birds, fertilizing, etc. It seems that how much food can be harvested in the fall depends on the wishes of the gods.

-

"Boss, you are injured! Come quickly, bring out the water and ointment!"

A bandit who had been following the bandit leader for several years loudly greeted other people nearby, while the bandit leader with an unlucky face hissed and endured the pain caused by the crossbow arrow that penetrated his entire arm.

This is their group's temporary camp in the woods on the other side of the trade road. People usually stay here, so all kinds of materials and tools that can and cannot be used are basically available here.

One of his men brought a pair of small iron pliers and wanted to help the bandit leader cut off the crossbow arrow on his arm, but the bandit leader pushed the man away, looked around, and asked the people around him: "My bastard What? Where did he die? "

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, no one knows where that guy went.

"Leader, I know!" A new bandit who had officially joined the bandit shouted weakly.

"If you know, then call him here!" The bandit leader waved his hand and motioned for the man to call his henchman.

This made the newly promoted bandit look embarrassed: "Leader, when we rushed out of the woods to attack the refugee team, that guy wanted to steal the war horse that the damn knight left outside the woods."

"That guy managed to escape?"

The bandit leader asked doubtfully.

"No, he's dead. He was trampled to death by that war horse. I saw it with my own eyes!"

The new bandit who spoke patted his chest to ensure that he was telling the truth.

"Spit! Stupid bitch! Just die." The bandit leader cursed, and then he didn't care. After all, that guy had just helped him do the deception before. This kind of person who knows everything will just die. Just die, so that he won't have to give that guy a lift himself.

"You, come here and cut the crossbow arrows for me." The bandit leader pointed at the new bandit who had just spoken to him, but did not let the experienced bandits around him help deal with the injury on his arm.

He has been in this business for seven or eight years and has heard too many news and stories about bandit bosses being poisoned to death by his cronies. Although these guys with loyal faces are willing to die for him during the robbery, if there is a good chance to kill him, the bandit leader believes that these guys who look "loyal" will definitely not do anything. If you think about it, you will do it.

We all work in this field, and we all know our thoughts and ideas very well.

The bandit leader here is taking care of his injuries, and the other bandits next to him are excitedly counting the harvest of the robbery in the temporary camp.

Although this refugee team with several hundred people is very difficult to chew, the harvest of this robbery is very rich. Not to mention other things, it is just seven or eight barrels of magical luminous food filled with wooden barrels. This group of robbers with no culture I think it's worth a lot of money.

These guys, all familiar with each other, gathered around the open grain barrels and carefully took the luminous grains in the barrels into their hands to look at them.

"It's so beautiful, these grains. I can guarantee that if my old man saw these things, he would be crazy with joy."

A short and stout bandit fiddled with a handful of luminous grain in his hand and muttered something.

"You haven't been home for several years. Why, you still want to go home and farm?"

The bandit companion next to him asked curiously, while he himself picked up a grain of luminous grain and wanted to put it into his mouth to taste it, but he didn't dare.

"Farming? Planting ￥%￥ # ￥ land! I just can't grow the land. I don't want to work hard all year round. As a result, half of the harvest is taken away and paid %% tax, so I come out to do this. But. My old man thought it was okay. I heard from him that when he was a boy in the empire, except for the year's grain left by everyone according to the number of people, all the harvest in the village had to be handed over to the lord's grain collector. Those were hard days. Well, no one has had enough to eat."

After the short and stout bandit finished speaking, he grabbed a handful of luminous grain and let it slip from his fingertips. He looked at the full luminous grain in his hand with fascination: "This must be eaten by those nobles. , that’s why those nobles are shining all day long.”

"That makes sense."

The bandits were talking a lot.

Someone suggested cooking a pot of this luminous food so that everyone could taste the food eaten by the nobles.

This proposal was immediately approved by almost all the bandits. The bandit leader was applying sticky and pungent ointment to the wounds on his arms and shouted loudly: "Yes, ￥%￥%, so many brothers have been lost." , we also have the opportunity to taste what those damn nobles eat today. Who thinks he cooks well? He set up the iron pot in the camp and lit the fire on the stove! Dozens of brothers cooked three big pots! Everyone is full!”

"The leader is right!"

"Long live the leader!"

-

The sun sets into the mountains, and darkness suddenly covers the entire sky like a dark cloak.

The refugee team on the trade road had food. According to the requirements of Knight Kiel, today the cooks used their best skills to make a bowl of minced bean soup for everyone, as well as unlimited thick soup. Thick wheat porridge.

The people who were not directly attacked by the bandits during the day ate happily. Although the team had a fierce fight with the bandits today and there were some losses and casualties, the people who did not face the bandits didn't care at all and kept their stomachs full. Good is what they really value.

Everyone, regardless of gender, showed off that they had more minced meat in their bowls than others. If anyone could fish out a piece of fat meat with white fat, they would raise their noses to the sky with pride. The beans soaked with gravy are even more filling and delicious. The cooks put all kinds of beans into the iron pot, so the colorful beans of various colors and flavors are also very good in the people's bowls.

The people who were at the back of the team and were attacked by the bandits were restlessly eating the food they couldn't usually eat.

Ever since everyone left their hometowns and became refugees, many people have not had such good food for most of the year. The last time I ate like this was during the Harvest Festival celebration last year.

But no matter how delicious the food in your mouth is, compared with the fact that you may die at any time, even a fool knows which is more important.

Kil was in no mood to eat. He was feeding a lot of beans to the unarmored Blood Licker. There might be another fight tonight.

Therefore, if a man does not take off his armor, neither will a horse.

Bloodfangster came over carrying a whip used to drive horses. The whip in his hand was still dripping with blood and even had suspicious human skin tissue.

"Kiel, I interrogated several captured bandits. The leader of the bandits who led the attack on us today is nicknamed 'Iron Bucket'. This area is his territory. There are two mountains on the left side of the camp, including a village on the mountain. , and the mountain forest on the right, the territory extends to a river opposite the mountain. In terms of front and back, half a day away from the direction we came from, and half a day's walk along the trade road, it is his territory. "

As Bloody Fangster spoke, he took out a clean cloth and wiped the driving whip in his hand. Horses have very sharp noses. If the whip used to drive the cart has a strong smell of blood, it will easily make the horse pulling the cart feel uneasy and nervous.

Kil patted and licked the blood grass, letting the war horse let go of its bit and eat the beans in the small bucket.

He walked over and said to his companions: "Village? Territory? Oh, these bandits really think of themselves as characters. What is the situation in the village like?"

"The village is called Xin Qingquan Village. It is a small and medium-sized village. Although it is in the mountains, it is not far from the trade road at our feet. As long as you know the way. Because it is close to the trade road, it is not the kind of village that does not pay to the lord. The villages outside the country's jurisdiction have always paid taxes on time, so before the lords from various places led their troops to leave last winter, the security here was not good, but it was not bad."

"The situation in the village was told by the interrogated bandits. There were more than ten large houses, which could accommodate more than two hundred people. Of course, when the group of bandits occupied the village, there were only less than fifty villagers, old and young, who refused to flee. . Just like other bandits, those bandits enslaved the original villagers, and then captured many people who fell into their hands from various places to serve the bandits with status and strength in the bandit gang, or to replace the bandits. By reclaiming the farmland of the original village. And relying on this group of bandits to plunder, there are more and more people in that village."

Kil snorted and said, "So this bandit gang called 'Iron Bucket' is doing quite a lot of work? Is there any news about the other two bandits?"

"The bandits I interrogated didn't know much, and the information was relatively confusing. You know, the bandit community is always full of rumors and stories they made up at will."

"Speak to someone you can trust."

Bloody Fangster nodded: "There are three groups of bandits nearby, each occupying three villages along this trade route. The one who fought with us today was the 'Iron Bucket' gang. The boss is 'Iron Bucket'. The other two are in front of us. One group is a bandit gang organized by a middle-aged mercenary nicknamed "Ken the Killer". The gang's external name is "Dead Spot". They occupy a village called Spotted Wood Village, which originally produced a kind of A timber-producing village called Dappled Slippery. It's pretty much a logger's camp."

"However, those loggers took their families and took refuge near the town ahead in the spring, and 'Ken the Chopper' gathered a group of people to occupy the place. According to the guy who was interrogating, the relationship between the two gangs It’s not good, these days there are often conflicts over who robs the caravans and pedestrians on the road.”

Keir felt a little amused: "Then how did they solve it? Make them fight hard?"

Bloody Fangster shook his head: "The 'Iron Bucket' side took a step back and focused more on the caravans and pedestrians coming from the direction we came from. The 'Dead Spot' side can only eat The scum leaked from both ends of the trade road."

Kil rubbed his teeth and felt that this might be a breakthrough direction.

After all, if it were him, he would naturally know that there were gangs of bandits at both ends of the trade route that would eat up all the fat, so it would be almost impossible to leave enough resources for the family in the middle. In such a position, one is basically waiting to die slowly.

Not only is it difficult for the bandits in the gang to be supplemented by outsiders, but as long as they cannot make money for a long time, the good players in their own team will run away or defect to join the other two.

If it were him, he would definitely not sit still and wait for death.

At this time, there was no large-scale confrontation. It can only be said that the middle-aged mercenary nicknamed "Ken the Slasher" had no chance to take action. It was not that he didn't want to. This was the situation. He couldn't help but think about it.

If you don't want to give up your identity as a mercenary and become a bandit, and you can't seize the current opportunity to become a bandit, you have to find a way to become bigger and stronger and create glory.

After all, even if the war ends and the noble lords and knight lords from all over the country return with their troops, if the bandit gangs can occupy several villages and have hundreds or thousands of men, they may be able to come to the negotiation table and change their legal identities through negotiations.

After thinking about this, Kil asked Bloody Fangster again: "Then do you know how these bandits knew in advance that we people were going to pass the trade route?"

After all, looking at it now, unless the bandits have been setting up probing sentries for a long time on the trade road, it will be difficult for the village lair in the mountains and forests to come out with all the people to rob.

You must know that the refugee team under Kiel is not moving slowly. During the day, except for a short rest on the road, it is basically moving all the time. From the moment this gang of thieves discovered them, to gathering their men and chasing the refugee group, they basically had to almost cross their territory.

As a result, as soon as the refugee team entered the territory of this group of bandits, these people had already organized their manpower and launched an attack first.

"The person being interrogated does know. I heard that there is someone who specializes in passing on information about caravan sales. He sold the information about our team to that 'iron bucket' for a gold coin about half a day in advance."

Having said this, Bloody Fangster smiled: "However, this news is equally true and false. Most of the information about the number and size of the team is true, but the value of the materials and items we carry, and the sales information are specially exaggerated. . In addition, there is no information about you Kiir in the news. This is why the 'Iron Bucket' suffered a big loss when he launched the first wave of attacks on us at noon."

"I see."

Kil smashed his fist, and first of all he wondered if he was someone from the Church of the God of Hunting. Was he doing this to cause trouble for him and his team, and to avenge his fellow hunters who died before?

But Kil also thought that it was impossible. This method and style really didn't match the hunters he had fought before. Those people were powerful and had strong backgrounds. It was basically impossible for them to look down on these people who had just emerged and grown on the trade route. gang of thieves.

As for the two hunters that Kiel fought before, they could basically kill hundreds of bandits in one night.

The Church of the God of Hunting could not use such unreasonable means to cause trouble for him. After all, the other party is a hunter, and he is hunting an ancient primitive god that is on the verge of disappearing.

From this point of view, the people who cause him trouble are simply some information merchants who have been in this business for many years and are well-informed. They are usually located in towns at trade nodes. When they see profitable opportunities, they specialize in selling caravan information to bandits. .

These people are really benefiting themselves at the expense of others, Kil cursed.