Mercenaries and Adventurers

"Ride, Sir Knight. My name is Ranu, and I am actually not a villager from Lanjing Village."

The young man named Ranu shrank, followed Kil slowly, and whispered.

"Oh, then why are you here? Where are the rest of the village? Answer me."

Seeing that he was walking slowly, Kil grabbed Ranu's shoulders and half pulled and half pushed him to walk ahead.

"Master, Joey is from the village, and the yard where we were hiding just now is his home. As for the rest of the village, they were all called to the town at the beginning of spring. Oh, not just this village, but all the villagers in the surrounding Yemei Town , they were all called over by the tax collector and his soldiers."

Having said this, Ranu was a little angry and a little scared. He went on to explain: "Those soldiers said that the lord led the troops to fight, and all the bandits in the mountains came out and killed everyone on sight. Several remote villages were destroyed. After the attack, no one survived, so we asked the villages from all over the country to bring people to the town, and when the lord finished the battle, he would lead his troops back to destroy the bandits. Hey, bah, it's all lies and bullshit."

Kil snorted, laughed twice and said, "You're not a robber, right? From the looks of you two, you have discovered what happened?"

Ranu bowed and smiled humbly: "Master Knight, you must have met those man-eating monsters on the way here, right? You must have met them, otherwise you would be so nervous when you look at the red tree trunks in the yard .”

Kil shrugged, without saying yes or no, and came to the next yard to be inspected. He kicked open the wooden door of the house with his foot. With a bang, the relatively strong wooden door flew into the house.

Ranu was startled, shrank his neck and muttered: "Old Tudou will squat on the ground and cry bitterly when he sees the door of his house when he comes home..."

Kil asked an armed citizen behind him to put a torch around the door of the house. By the light of the fire, Kil took a closer look inside the house. Basically, he was as poor as other villagers in the village.

This made him walk out of the house and asked Ranu, who was standing cowering among the armed people: "Why is your village so poor? Every household is a pile of broken wood, houses, cellars, yards, the poorest beggars in Kendall City , they are probably richer than farmers like you."

"Sir, I'm not from Lanjing Village. But everyone's life is pretty good. After all, it's the same in all the surrounding villages. The lord pays a lot of food and taxes, but at least everyone always has enough to eat. I was born here, and My parents were immigrants from the Empire. I heard from them that everything in the Empire was good, but the people were always suffering. Everyone was born with all kinds of debts that could never be paid off, and there was no land to farm. The food you grow is not your own in the end.”

Keir stopped the young man's complaints from his parents, dragged him, and continued to inspect other houses with his men.

"Stop beating around the bush and tell the truth. Since everyone else was brought to the town by the lord's soldiers, why are you two here? It seems that you didn't just return to the village in the past two days, but it has been a while. "

When the young knight asked this question, Ranu wrinkled his face, hesitated for a moment and then asked: "Sir, kind and mighty knight, please let me go after listening to what I said? "

"You say it first, and I will judge after I hear it. However, from your tone, did you and the injured guy commit a crime in the town, and it was a serious crime, and you can't stay here any longer? That's why you risked being called ' Is it possible to kill the bandits who came out of the mountain and live in this deserted village?"

Hearing the words of the knight master, Lanu tried to keep a humble smile on his face, but he couldn't smile no matter what: "Yes, that's it, master, Joey is my good friend. Although we are not from the same village, But we’ve known each other since childhood. In the early spring, villagers from various villages were taken to the town for refuge, so not long after we were in the town, Joey and I started playing together.”

"Escape..." Kil pondered for a moment: "People from nearby villages have come to the town. Not to mention whether so many people can stay here, how can the food and security situation be solved?"

"Well, there's not much food, but each person can get a bowl of wheat porridge every day. It's fine if you lie down and don't move." Ranu smiled, but this smile was mostly mocking, and I don't know if it was. I'm laughing at myself that people will believe this nonsense.

"As for public security, people in each village live together, and everyone protects themselves. Soldiers will also patrol the streets. Oh, sir, the villagers who have taken refuge in the town basically gather on the streets in the town. Above, and under the city wall outside the town.”

"Keep talking about your business."

Keir kicked open the door of a farmer's house again. There were no monsters or people inside, but a weasel jumped out from the corner of the house. Ranu was so excited when she saw the little beast that she pounced on the animal to catch it.

Of course, he failed to catch it. The little thing was very flexible and kept running around in the farmer's yard after being frightened. It wanted to escape, but as Kiel's armed people stomped their feet in fear, the weasel kept turning around and running away, while Ranu was always slow to jump on the ground, trying to catch it.

"Okay, okay, the people outside the town are still waiting. I don't have time to watch you play, the game activities can be found at another time."

After saying that, Kil took two steps forward, then raised his foot slightly and kicked out with his low leg without looking. The weasel just happened to pass by Kil, and this time it hit its body.

The iron-clad combat boots were like war hammers. With a click, the little animal was kicked and broke many bones in its body. It vomited blood and fell to the ground at Kil's feet.

Kiir picked up Ranu, who then rushed towards him, and asked him to continue his explanation. However, Kiel asked the armed people who followed him to carry the small animal that was kicked to death.

"Go on."

Being pushed away by the knight, Ranu scratched his head and continued awkwardly: "It's not bad to start life in the town. At least young people of my age don't have to work hard to serve the farmland, and they can still receive a salary every day. A bowl of wheat porridge with salt. Although I’m not full, I’m not hungry either.”

Then his expression changed: "But as the days passed, strange things began to happen. There were 'bandits' taking advantage of the night to attack the villagers in the villages under the city wall outside the town. Those guys shouted hang, hang, etc. It frightened us, and also frightened the soldiers guarding us. Not only were some people taken away, but some people woke up very strangely in the morning and ran directly to the uncultivated farmland outside the town, roaring."

"And at the same time, the lord's officials in the town were probably frightened and asked everyone to dig soil outside the town to build a second wall around the town. But the problem is that there is still so much food, and many people are exhausted . Although everyone has grievances, we still work hard to build those things because they are for our own protection."

"What happened next?" Kil continued to lead people to inspect the uninspected farmers' houses. Basically, except for the small animals that occupied human houses, every house had been moved cleanly by the fleeing villagers.

In other words, these villagers themselves do not have much property.

Keir estimated that not only the villagers in Lanjing Village, but also the villagers in other nearby villages, most of the property is the farmland on the land deeds of each family, as well as their own yards and dilapidated self-built earthen houses.

Even the hinges and wooden shafts on the door are simple things made of pure wood.

Easy to make, cheap and not durable.

Barely a shred of metalwork is visible.

"Later, Joey was a brave and reckless guy. He didn't like digging soil all day long outside the town, so he often sneaked to Yemei Town and squatted outside the town tavern to listen to the bards singing inside. Later, trouble began Here you go, sir."

"Trouble, what trouble?"

Kil glanced around and found that in the entire small village, only the last few farmhouses had not been inspected.

Ranu also saw what the knight master was doing with his people. He knew that the village was relatively safe, but he also knew that others would not believe him if he said it was safe. He had to check it himself.

“The trouble is that Joey has been hanging outside the town’s tavern, watching the rich townspeople eating and drinking in the tavern every day, and he is very envious. Until one day, he reached out his hand to a townie who was drunk outside the tavern. .”

Ranu felt a little ashamed when he said this. Although it was not the things he had done, it seemed that his good friend did this and he felt ashamed.

"Vanity turns a young man into a thief." Keir said flatly: "And I'm sure he is a bad thief. He was seen stealing things, right?"

"Uh, yes, sir, you are right. Joey came back that night and told me excitedly that he took out a total of more than ten copper coins from the drunkard's personal purse, and drank in the pub as he wished that night. A large glass of chilled ale and a plate of fried chicken breast were served. It cost him five copper coins, and with the rest of the money, he planned to take me with him the next day."

Ranu swallowed and seemed a little envious.

"But when I went with him the next day, security soldiers from the town rushed out of the back kitchen of the tavern and caught him and me. The drunkard was a middle-aged businessman who ran a shop. He ran away that morning. When the police arrived in the town, they said that he had been robbed, and the security soldiers went to the tavern to inquire, and some people saw that it was Joey who helped the drunk guy away from the door of the tavern."

"Although Joey took out the man's money bag, he only took a small amount. The man was quite rich, and in the end he did not just throw the man on the roadside, but took him back home properly. But when When the security soldiers caught the two of us, the middle-aged businessman claimed that the money he had prepared for business that night, uh, up to several hundred copper coins, was missing."

As soon as Keir heard this, he chuckled a few times and said, "Obviously, that person wanted to try and turn losses into profits. I believe that the soldiers were also happy to see this. That’s how it goes. Keep talking.”

Ranu's face was full of resentment: "I know what kind of person Joey is. He will not lie to me, and he knows what he is doing. He can't take that person's money. This is a frame-up." , a shameless frame-up."

The armed people who had been listening around finally laughed in a low voice. This laughter seemed to sting Ranu. The young man raised his head excitedly and wanted to argue, but when he saw the armed people With the wooden shield and machete sword in his hands, he immediately realized that he was no match at all.

It's better to be cowardly and save yourself a beating.

So he had no choice but to laugh awkwardly a few times.

While talking, Keir kicked open the wooden door of the last farmer's house, checked it by the light of the torch, then opened the cellar in the yard, poked his head in to confirm that there was no sign of life, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He turned to one of his men and ordered: "You can inform Bafoot at the entrance of the village and ask him and Bloodfangster to arrange for people to enter the village and set up camp. In addition, let the loggers cut down all the fruit trees in the yards of every house in the village. , used as fuel for cooking and campfires. The broken beds in various houses were not suitable for sleeping, so they were also chopped down and used as firewood."

"Yes, Lord Knight!"

The armed man took the order, shouted loudly, and then trotted straight towards the entrance of the village where the torches were bright.

Kiir then said to another armed civilian: "Go to Priest Batar and cut down the red-painted fruit tree for me in advance. Well, hide it to avoid causing unnecessary panic."

"Understood, Lord Knight! I will do it right away."

The armed man shouted and walked away quickly.

Ranu looked at these young men with shields and knives with envy. With their powerful steps and responses, it was easy to see that they were the spirit of a well-fed man. A bowl of thin wheat porridge every day, normal people can't shout so loudly.

After everything was arranged, Kil led the people to the well in the center of the village. He said to Ranu: "Continue, continue what you just said."

"Oh, oh yes, Knight, Lord Knight."

Lanu followed the example of arming the people and did not call him "Sir", the knight of Kiel. It seemed that he himself found it inappropriate to call a young knight of about the same age as "sir".

He felt much better after changing the title.

Keir also felt much better. Master, master, I called him old.

"Hundreds of copper coins, that's not a small amount of money. You can only get that much money by selling part of your house and land. Of course, Joey doesn't recognize what he didn't do, but those greedy security soldiers don't care about the truth. Is that so, after capturing the two of us, we were taken to the underground of the police station for torture and interrogation."

Ranu lifted up the linen clothes on his chest, revealing whip marks and wounds carefully cut with sharp weapons on his abdomen and chest.

"The devils beat us repeatedly with whips soaked in water, and used knives to cut wounds on our bodies. The copper coins Joey had with him at the time were naturally regarded as stolen money. Those 'evidences' were displayed In front of his parents and my parents, they forced my two families to pay compensation."

"Then what? How did you two get out? And take the risk to come here."

Keir was a little curious. Generally, when things develop to this extent, the solution can basically only be solved by paying money, or without paying money, and being punished with actual punishment.

Ranu smiled bitterly and continued: "My father thought that I would become bad by playing with a bad boy like Joey, so he would rather have my hand cut off than destroy the house. When he saw me in prison, he told me that this was a lesson in my life and he asked me to remember it well."

"And Joey is even worse. His family doesn't care about him at all. He has a large family and a poor family. As the 'chief criminal', he has to pay most of the compensation. But even if their family sells the title deeds to their house and farmland, Even if he lost it, it wouldn't be enough to pay hundreds of copper coins for 'compensation'. So his family ignored him, and the nasty businessman even went to his family to put pressure on him. As a result, several of his brothers claimed that even if Joey had his hands chopped off, Or the head, their family will not compensate.”

"continue."

"I was very desperate at that time, not for myself, but for my friend. I knew he had done something wrong in this matter, but it was never that serious. It was just the nonsense of that hateful greedy businessman, exaggerating his losses. Just to extort more money from us farmers. Those security soldiers were also working with him. I saw the middle-aged businessman more than once in prison handing money to the security soldiers responsible for interrogating us, just to use it. More severe methods were used to intimidate us into confessing, which we refused to admit."

"and after?"

"Later. Sir Knight, you can't imagine what happened next!"

When Ranu said this, he changed from the sadness and anger just now, and his tone became high-spirited.

"Oh, let me guess, it has something to do with the 'bandits' outside the town, right?"

Ranu looked surprised: "How do you know?"

Kil shrugged: "In your town of Yemei, this is the only additional factor that can cause drastic changes in events. Am I right?"