Mercenaries and Adventurers

Moving forward a little in time, Kil was entangled with bandit monsters on the trade road northwest of Yemei Town.

Outside the town of Dorne, a dilapidated debtor's shack.

In a shabby 'house' built simply with some dilapidated building materials that no one in the town wanted, seven or eight men and women who were not only penniless, but also owed a lot of money were taking advantage of the scorching sun at noon, when they were at their strongest. Save precious rest time and gather here specifically.

He knelt down to the wooden statue on a dirt platform in the middle of the dilapidated house.

If you look in through the cracks in the house at this time, most people will regard it as a common spontaneous religious ceremony.

But of course there are different things about this place at this time. Although the wooden statue that people kneel down to worship is made of ordinary materials, it is carved with fine craftsmanship. However, the problem is that this wooden statue is not humanoid.

Not only is it not a human form, but the god's head and face are in the form of a bird.

This wooden statue that was worshiped by people turned out to be an animal image that almost no gods use nowadays.

Too primitive and backward.

However, these debtors, who were not even considered poor people, were kneeling down at this time, but they all looked enthusiastic and the atmosphere was warm.

"O great Lord of the wilderness! We surrender to you."

"O Protector of the Night! Save your followers!"

Most of the debtors had little education or knowledge, so as they turned over and over again, they only kept saying these two sentences. Generally speaking, even the most widespread believers of the God of Agriculture, farmers and women who have to work hard in the fields every day, can say seven or eight variations of the prayers they hear.

Logically speaking, these two simple prayers of these debtors will not only not please the gods, but will also be disgusted by the low-level priests who manage believers.

But at this time, the god who accepted people's kneeling prayers was quite useful.

Lo and behold, because of the joy of the new believers, God decided to give these believers something sweet.

"Gah! Gah!"

The cawing of crows gradually came from the direction of the town not far away.

Originally, this was a sound that people didn't like and even thought was unlucky. At this time, these believers who were kneeling and praying were uncharacteristically uncharacteristic. When they knelt and kowtowed instead of facing the statue of the god, they would even show surprise on their faces in excitement. No, it was the smile that should be there.

"Ga! Ga! Ga!"

There was more than one crow. After the first one landed on the roof of the dilapidated house, three more came in succession. They communicated noisily and jumped around on the roof of the low, dilapidated house.

After waiting for a while, just when the patience of the people in the room was exhausted and they were about to take action, the wooden statue on the earthen platform suddenly shook. The dazzling sunlight leaking through the hole in the roof brought the wood to a halt. The shadow of the statue swayed strangely, sliding past the figures of several believers in the room, and rushed to the door.

Snapped!

The broken wooden door was suddenly opened wide.

The believers in the house were trembling with fright at this unusual scene, but soon, the four crows wandering on the roof flapped their wings one after another and scurried into the house like dark shadows in the sky.

The last crow to come in even hit the door opened by the statue, and slammed the dilapidated wooden door with gaps everywhere.

Four huge crows were flapping their wings in the air in a small dilapidated house. This scene was so terrifying that if you were the first to see it, you might even be so scared that you might pee your pants if you are timid.

But at this time, these few believers who had nothing were not afraid. Instead, they were lying on the ground one by one, but they boldly raised their heads, breathing rapidly and greedily staring at the crows that gradually landed on the edge of the soil platform.

This is because crows are messengers of gods, and human believers stare at them with burning eyes, not because they have respect in their hearts, but simply because each crow is holding something wonderful that they desperately desire in its paws.

"Gah——"

The leading crow jumped and came to the front of the wooden statue. Then there was a jingling sound, but it was this guy who was larger than the average crow, and he threw out a coin caught on his left paw.

On the solid dirt floor trampled by human feet in the room, the small golden-brown coin was spinning for a while before the Prince Regent's head lay on the ground.

The believer at the front showed an annoyed expression for a moment after seeing clearly that the coin in front of him was not silver-white. But under the scrutiny of crow-like black bean eyes, he quickly put away this annoyance and instead showed an expression of gratitude.

There seemed to be a hint of contemptuous sneer on the crow's face. But few can tell anything from a bird's face.

Then, the crow cried out "Quack!", and the human below kowtowed a few times, stretched out his hand tremblingly, and held the copper coin that fell in front of him in his hand.

In fact, for debtors who have nothing, one copper coin is really a lot.

Take this person at this time, for example. He owed two silver coins and thirty-eight copper coins to a small casino in the town due to gambling. After being sold to a nearby farmland to take care of the orange trees needed by a businessman, , he worked hard for a day and could earn the so-called 'income' of two copper coins. Calculating it this way, without calculating the interest on the debt, he only needed to work there for one hundred and nineteen days to pay off his debt. .

He could go from a debtor that no one looked at seriously to a poor man with almost no property in the town of Dorne.

It's gratifying, it's gratifying.

Of course, things won't go so smoothly. Not to mention the debt interest, which is worse than skinning and cutting flesh, and whether a middle-aged man like him can survive hundreds of days of hard work, let’s just talk about the businessman’s orange field, which does not require care and attention all year round. .

When oranges are harvested on a large scale, there is basically no need for debtors to help. As a job that requires a little bit of skill, this kind of job doesn't happen every day.

And growing food in the farmland further outside the town is a job that requires more people, is harder, and has lower daily 'income'.

By then, this person's debt will naturally be repaid within a long time.

But fortunately, now they, the poor debtors, finally have their savior and look upon the generosity of these humble people.

They believe in the God of the Wilderness, the protector of wings, and the patron saint of the night, and come here to pray and worship every day. Even if there is no official priest of this god to support them, they can still be under the claws of the envoys randomly sent by the god every day. , a wealth of income beyond hard work that is rewarded by the gods.

Although it looks like just a copper coin, it’s really a lot!

After all, it is possible for a great god to reward you with gold or silver coins! Just one! As long as you are lucky enough to get one, the debtors of these men and women here can quickly escape from this invisible prison and toil with no end in sight.

Two days ago, someone got a gold coin brought by the angels, and got rid of his status as a debtor. With the remaining money, he could eat, drink and have fun in the town of Dorne!

This was something they had seen with their own eyes, not some nonsense told by a drunkard in a tavern.

At this moment, after the man received the coins given by the gods through the crow messenger, he moved his knees to the side, allowing the next person to come forward and receive the divine grace.

The next person is a woman, about thirty years old, but her years of hard work have already made her look quite different from the wives of businessmen in the town who go shopping with their pets.

Even though this woman was a beautiful girl with many suitors in the village when she was young, her messy hair, simple and even shabby linen dress, and a pair of strong and rough palms have completely changed the story of this woman over the years. , put it in front of everyone in a way that does not require anyone to tell it.

If you want to ask a girl who was beautiful when she was young and had many suitors, how did she end up like this and in this situation now. I can only say that it is just like the many love admonishment stories whispered by many bards in taverns during their breaks. A girl who was favored by many in the village bravely followed a caravan and a certain person. A story about young men of different identities going to big towns to make a living together.

At the common beginnings of these stories, bards always use sensational singing to promote the greatness and passion of love, the simplicity, kindness, and most importantly, beauty of the village girls. In addition, there is a bohemian outsider man who breaks into the girl's monotonous village life. At this time, the bards will often cunningly 'package' the important characters in the story, with passion, bravery, Handsomeness and affection are always attracted to foreign men in one way or another.

In the middle of the story, the bards, accompanied by the sound of the piano, used uplifting tunes and gorgeous lyrics to tell how the country girls in the story danced in the prosperous civilized world.

But at the same time, these cunning bards gradually revealed their hurtful fangs and claws in the story. The man who takes the girl out of the village will most likely reveal his previous disguise at this time, and completely throw the burden of the gloomy prosperous society and the deteriorating life on the simple girl.

At this time, the story often has multiple directions, depending on how much the drinkers in the tavern rewarded the performing bards, and whether the drinkers shouted out the direction of the story they wanted to hear. .

Of course, the curve of the final story is naturally all the way down, otherwise how can such a story show a warning? However, if there is a generous guy among the drinkers and rewards the bard with some coins at his own expense, the story will automatically spread in the mouth of the bard, and the story will turn into a happy ending.

But what has been said above about this woman who is kneeling on the ground, praying for a reward from the Crow God?

Oh, this, her life experience is very different from that of the girls in the story. At this time, her life situation is probably the same as that of the bard who has no one to reward her. She is sinking deeper and deeper. He fell headlong into the abyss of life.

I even heard that a local bard composed a thousand-word song based on her life story.

But this woman probably never had the time or wealth to go to town and hear her own story.

"Submit to you, great god of the wilderness, and please save your followers!"

As she spoke, the woman banged her forehead hard on the dirt that had been stepped on repeatedly.

Boom, boom, boom.

The crow, which was holding a copper coin, tilted its head, squawked, and jumped to the side. Then another smaller crow next to him jumped over, released his two claws one after another, and dropped a copper coin and a shiny hairpin.

"Thank you to the great gods. Thank you to the great gods."

The woman did not raise her head, and her disheveled hair obscured her expression and eyes.

However, the crow as the messenger of God and the wooden statue in the center of the platform did not care.

They watched, they waited, they didn't care. After all, the scene in front of them was a gift from gods to believers, rather than a crudely packaged 'transaction'.

One needs the power of faith, and the other needs the meager wealth that can change lives.

To each his own, to each his own.

The woman kneeling in front of the earthen platform quickly grabbed the copper coin in her hand, and then picked up the silver-white shining hairpin in confusion. She looked at the exquisitely crafted hairpin through the messy hair hanging down, and was stunned for a moment. Then tears fell from her eyes, but she didn't know it.

She had never seen this thing before, so it couldn't be the hair accessory she had used before.

She shed tears unconsciously, maybe they were tears of regret left by the injured and scarred former self in her embarrassed body.

After all, when she was young, she was as shiny and delicate as this silver-white delicate hair accessory, and the previous owner of this hair accessory may have been a beautiful, young, slender girl, just like she once was.

But soon, she came back to her senses and realized her situation at this time. Then she put the silver-white hair ornament into her mouth and bit down hard.

It's silver!

There was a snicker in her mouth, but she quickly came to her senses and remembered what she really needed to do at this time.

"Thank the gods! Thank the gods! Thank the gods! Thank the gods!"

The woman kept kowtowing her head. Through her constant thanks, especially the excitement and sincerity in her words, everyone else in the room seemed to feel something. Immediately, envious and jealous eyes were cast on this woman.

The woman tightened her grip on the copper coins and the exquisite hair accessories made of silver, and moved her body to the corner of the room, hoping not to make herself too special. But no matter how she huddled together, there were still eyes around her looking at her secretly.

Those gazes were like the whips of overseers, ruthless and greedy.

"Gah!"

The crow with its paws free suddenly called loudly.

This sudden cry made the humans in the room come back to their senses and realize that the generous reward was given by the god they 'believed in'. Unless you no longer want to receive generous gifts from gods in the future, you cannot rob believers who deceive other gods into giving gifts.

Some smart-minded guys quickly prayed to the wooden statue on the platform in a more respectful voice.

There may not be more generous gifts today, but it doesn't matter. Such a generous god may give such a gift to one of them every day in the future.

Thinking of this, everyone became more pious.

So pious.

-

"Are they all in there?"

a young voice asked softly.

"Of course, Master Priest, those damn guys are all inside. Not only here, but also in the nearby farmland and two other places where debtors gather, manpower has been arranged."

A cold voice respectfully replied to the former's question.

Not far from the dilapidated wooden house where the debtors gathered at noon, in a berry bush, several strong figures wearing colorful cloaks were half-kneeling in a circle, all facing a young man.

This young man is wearing a somewhat special priest's robe. Different from the cloth or silk robes worn by other priests, his robe is made of a huge yellow animal skin, which is strong and flexible. Behind the priest's head, in place of the hood, is a huge lion's head.

Of course, this majestic lion head has undergone complex processing. It not only removes the biological tissue in the head, but also uses exquisite technology to fill in the collapsed and sunken areas, making the head lifelike even after death, and can be used as a The helmet or hood was placed directly on the head of the young priest.

There were several figures around the priest, each of whom was carrying a bow that was more than half a person's height. This forced them to lean forward when they were half-kneeling on the ground, otherwise the bottom of the bow would be stuck in the soil on the ground.

"As long as I give an order now, will everyone start taking action?"

The young priest was a little cautious and asked in a low voice the respectful elite hunters around him. These people were all elite hunters under the Church of the God of Hunting. Each of them had a legendary story that could be recorded in books or worthy of being sung by bards.

These hunters can't wait for this god hunting event.

Although the target mentioned by these people does not seem to be an animal, to these hunters who are skilled in hunting, apart from the difficult monsters of Warcraft, where are the targets of hunting in this world with humans of the same identity? What about those ancient, great, primordial gods?

It’s not the best hunting target, but it’s exciting for hunters.

The opportunity to hunt gods is not very common. Many elite hunters unfortunately do not have this opportunity in their lives. This made these hunters excited today, and they were determined to achieve the goal assigned by the God of Hunting to everyone in this event.

"Please give the order, Lord Priest. At noon in the hot weather, there is almost no activity in the fields. This is an excellent opportunity. The followers who have been impatiently developed by the hunting god are also careless at this moment like the birds controlled by the hunting god. Stay together.”

The cold voice continued to talk, analyze, and urge the young priest in front of him.

"As long as you give the order, your companions will take action at the same time. In this way, all the power of the hunted god outside Dorne Town will be wiped out."

The young priest looked at the town not far away: "Are the believers also going to be eliminated? Can't we let them go? This is not a war between gods, and if we do this, the locals will hate us, right?"

"Sir." The cold voice continued: "This is not a war between gods. This is just a church hunting activity. This is not the first time. Other churches have also been greeted. It will not cause panic or misunderstanding. . In addition, it is necessary to eliminate the believers who believe in the hunted god. Before the final hunt begins, we must cut off that power."

The young priest curled his lips: "But we deliberately gave him space and time to develop his power..."

Hearing the young priest's complaints, several elite hunters around him had smiles on their faces.

One of them, the owner of the cold voice, said: "Sir, this way the hunting activity will not end quickly, and it will not be so monotonous. After all, this is a hunting dedicated to the great God of Hunting, who is watching us. Please give the order Bar."

The young priest took out a bone protective statue from the small leather bag on his waist. It was a small statue of the God of Hunting. He was holding a hunting bow, wearing a cloak, with a falcon on his shoulders and a hound at his feet. of a human figure.

The bone statue was smooth and seemed to have been held by many people.

At this moment, the young priest took the protective statue in his hand and looked at it. He found that the small god statue smiled at him and nodded encouragingly.

This seemed to make up the young priest's mind.

"Let's do it. End them before the sun starts to deflect from the sky. Then, let's go to this town and deal with the remaining power left by the hunting gods."

"As you command, lord priest."

All the elite hunters said in unison.