Mercenaries and Adventurers

"Get up! Get up! Get up and cook!"

Early in the morning, the first ones to get up from the tent are always the cooks who have to cook early.

It was still dark before dawn, so they woke up from their sleep on time every day, and then woke up the other boys who were helping in the kitchen.

A dozen people used the same wooden basin to get some ice water, rub their hands, and then their faces. Then many people shared a linen towel to dry their hands and faces. It was not too cold in the early morning of late spring. Everyone said hello and started working one after another.

The young men who helped cook carried the precious large iron pots in pairs, and then placed them on the campfire designated by the cooks. Add two handfuls of half-dry firewood, and then use a thin iron pick to stir up the embers of the campfire that burned all night to make the campfire prosperous again.

Then a young man came over with a small wooden bucket filled with water in both hands, and poured the dry water into the iron pot to heat it.

The cooks got busy, using portable daggers with wider blades to cut all the common ingredients they could find on the small chopping board. Doo doo doo, doo doo doo, the fresh melons and fruits traded from Yemei Town were cut into small pieces and poured into the iron pot of gradually boiling water. Then the cooks pour the appropriate amount of god-given grain according to the size of the iron pot.

These grains that glow slightly in the dark always make people like them, because no matter how you look at them, these plump grains are not good things that ordinary people can eat on a daily basis!

Finally, under the eager gazes of many people around the iron pot, the cooks raised their chins and proudly stirred all the food in the iron pot with the big wooden spoons that represented their small power.

As the water is heated, the ingredients also release their original flavors.

The fresh and slightly sour aroma of melons and fruits, and the food aroma of wheat grains waft out one after another. Then the cooks took out a handful of crushed salt grains from the leather pockets on their waists and put them into the iron pot.

After adding salt to the food, the aroma became even better, so with the rare sound of poultry crows within the walls of Yemei Town not far away, more people got up.

It's hard to tell whether they woke up on time or were tempted to wake up by the breakfast stewed in the iron pot.

Or maybe both.

-

"Wow! I slept so well——"

Keir sighed with contentment in his tent.

Last night's sleep could be said to be the most solid sleep he had in recent times. The last time I slept like this, I probably slept in a hotel inside the White Rock Wall level.

Lifting up the sleeping bag, Kil got up from the sleeping bag with stiff hands and feet. He had no choice but to go to bed last night in a hurry, and this was what happened before he had time to take off the armor he was wearing.

But it wasn't a big problem. After getting up, Kil took two deep breaths of the cool morning air, then opened the curtain of his tent, moved his hands and feet, and walked outside the tent.

"Good morning!"

Kil greeted the two guards who were on duty outside his camp in the middle of the night, but he was unable to deal with the two young men.

"Uh, good morning, good morning, Lord Knight!"

"Hello, Mr. Keir!"

The two young men stumbled to respond. It seemed that it was the first time that Keir was greeting them, which made them very confused.

There is no way, we have not known each other for a long time. Ever since Kiel took on the responsibility of the refugee team, he has never had a good night's sleep. Naturally, when he wakes up every morning, he is not in a good mood to ask others.

Looking at the looks of these two people, Kil laughed loudly, moved around in the open space outside the camp, and then straightened out the wrinkles caused by the new cloak behind him after being pressed for a night.

After the physical activity began, his stomach growled. Kil said to the guards: "We will continue to set off in a moment. Pack up my tent and load it into my carriage."

"Yes sir!"

"We'll do it right away."

It seemed that after being ordered, the two young men began to speak and move fluently. They quickly dismantled Kiel's brand-new single-person tent with their hands and feet, skillfully packed the tent together tightly, and finally hung it on the back of Kiel's carriage and took the rope. Tied up.

Keir, on the other hand, wandered around, found a place to eat where there were few people, jumped in the queue and ordered two large bowls of freshly cooked vegetable and wheat porridge.

The cook in charge of the spoon scooped out a few extra vegetable leaves and red and green sweet and sour fruits for him. Keir took a big mouthful of wheat porridge and took two bowls of vegetable wheat porridge into his stomach without any help from a spoon. inside.

"Full! Not bad!"

After Kiel finished eating, he praised the cook and then went to find his horse.

Two young grooms prepared enough beans and water for the blood-licking grass early in the morning. The blood-licking grass was busy eating. The two of them squatted aside, holding wooden bowls and spoons, and ate happily before queuing up. Breakfast is coming.

"You eat yours, and I'll brush my war horse!"

Keir took the brush, walked over to the blood-licking grass, and after stroking the horse's long head, he turned over the ears of the blood-licking grass and checked whether there were any insects that had flown into the horse's long ears. Then he picked up the big brush and brushed the hairs of the blood-licking grass bit by bit.

This not only cleans the knotted hair, but also cleans the dust and bugs on the hair. The brushing is smooth, and the blood-licking grass can also eat comfortably and shake its head.

Finally, Kil filled another basin of water and picked up a smaller brush to clean the dirt on the four hooves of the blood-licking grass.

Yesterday was another long-term operation, and they trampled all the parasitic monsters to death in the battle. Although horseshoes were nailed on the hooves, there were still some unexplainable suspicious things mixed in the gaps.

After a nice cleansing, Kil, together with the two grooms who had finished their meal, put on the entire set of horse armor for Blood Licker.

Originally, Blood Licker was a tall and strong prairie horse with excellent bloodline. Now, after wearing a complete set of horse armor, it becomes even more majestic. Keir estimated that the naturally aggressive blood-licking grass could even defeat a smaller armed squad.

After the armor was put on, the riding saddle and reins were put on. The weapon rack was also fixed behind the saddle. The two grooms carried Kiel's all-metal spear together and fixed the spear on the weapon rack.

Then they asked Bloodfangster for unstrung bows and arrows from Kiel's carriage, as well as two large bags of bows and arrows.

In this way, Kil supported the horse with one hand and unfolded the cloak behind him. The horse's hooves clattered, and the cloak slowly fluttered against the wind blowing as he moved.

"ready to go!"

Kiel shouted loudly, and the sound echoed throughout the place where the refugee team was temporarily stationed.

Not far away, on the wall of the northern town, some guards from the town gathered at the wall, looking curiously and pointing.

While Kiel was packing up his horses, the entire team of people got up, had their meals, and took the time to relieve themselves. Then everyone got busy. Although everyone was busy, there was no confusion at all. Everyone knew what they should do at this time.

The pits where feces and urine accumulated were filled up by young men with shovels.

More young men and women dismantled the simple tents that had been set up for two or three days. The girls rolled up the entire tarpaulin and wrapped it with hemp rope. The young man lifted the support pillars of the tent out of the soft ground, wiped the bottom of the pillars with linen cloth, and then several people carried them together and placed the strong pillars on the largest and strongest carriage in the team.

The cooks took the time to clean the used iron pots, which was not necessary. The iron pots used for cooking were cleaner than those licked by dogs. The cook immediately tied the iron pot with a rope and carried it behind his back. This was the person they lived and worked for, and every cook had to protect the pot he was responsible for.

More young men and young girls loaded the team's huge supplies onto horse-drawn carriages and donkey carts. Some carts were also filled with supplies of suitable sizes and weights. The remaining small supplies were tied up with ropes and carried on their backs. Take it with you.

Among all the busy people, some of the new entrants stood awkwardly together. These people wanted to help, but no one around them seemed to need help, so they approached Priest Batal, who led people in morning prayers, hoping to help the team do something to make it appear that they, who had just joined, were ineffective.

Priest Batal, who got up from the ground, reassured them with a smile: "Don't be too nervous, everyone. Everyone will always find their place in the team. There is no need to be anxious, just try to keep up with the team first! You know , Our team’s walking speed is not slow. Before the team sets off, hurry up and eat something and drink some water to ensure that everyone has sufficient physical strength."

The newly joined people from outside the town looked at each other in confusion, but the matter of joining the refugee team was arranged by Priest Batal. Naturally, they could only listen to the young priest's suggestion at this time and eat the scarce food they could find alive. Then he took a wooden bowl and asked for some water from the person responsible for distributing water in the team. After eating and drinking, he was ready to set off with the refugee team.

Leave this place that disappoints them.

The people from outside the town who followed the priest had all sold the deeds of their houses and fields in the villages outside the town at low prices yesterday. At this time, they had no way out and could only follow the refugee team.

The older ones among these people have some confidence in this. After all, many of these people themselves are the first generation of immigrants. They have settled in the villages near Yemei Town in Saskatchewan for ten or twenty years. These people have not forgotten how they were originally moved. How to start a business from scratch by moving on the road.

On the contrary, the young people outside the town, who had fought with the town guards and had yet to recover from their injuries, were confused about leaving the hometown where they had given birth for the first time. But at this time, if they were asked to go back and kneel down to please the unfriendly Yemei Town people, they couldn't do it.

Therefore, these young people who were simply cured by the priest held their heads high tenaciously and followed the team without turning back, heading south.

-

Keir was riding on horseback and did not follow the starting team. Instead, he turned around and waved to the wall on the south side of the town, raising a shining golden object in his hand.

He shouted loudly: "Goodbye! According to the agreement, after I finish my work here, I will come back to assist in the counterattack!"

On the wall on the south side of the town, the town guards who had gathered around to watch the excitement had been dispersed, and elite soldiers stood guard. Bel-Sass, the heir to the Sass family and the eldest son of the baron, stood here in aristocratic casual clothes.

He looked at the reflective object waving in Kiel's hand with regret, and responded loudly: "As a knight, you must do what you agree on! This is the most basic rule of a knight, don't forget it What you promised!”

Kil laughed a few times, turned around and led the team away from here.

In the end, he asked the armed team at the back of the guard team to each have a shovel. While leaving the open space on the south side of the town, he re-dig the trench originally dug by the people outside the town to ensure that parasitic monsters would not sneak in. .

After finishing all this, Kiel led his people to catch up with the refugee team that had gone away.

-

On the wall, Bell Sass muttered dissatisfiedly: "What a redundant action. I dug the way in and out. It's not easy for people to come in and out here."

He originally wanted to replicate yesterday's carriage battle, letting elite soldiers and priests in the town ride in sturdy carriages. This time, he learned from experience, prepared more long-range weapons, and used mobile combat to clean up the villages and areas outside the town one by one. The parasitic monster.

As a result, Kiel led people to dig out the trench channels in and out, which made him quite annoyed.

"Forget it, the south side of the town is not the main direction for counterattack. Butler!"

cried Bell.

The second housekeeper of the family who was serving him immediately came forward from the side: "Young Master."

"Notify the officials of the town government office and ask them to readjust the residential area for residents outside the town on the south side of the town, and fill the vacancies left after the foreign refugee team leaves. In addition, when adjusting the residential area for residents outside the town, we will I will free up the position on the main road in the northwest of the town, and then dispatch four teams of town guards to build their sentries and access channels inside the ditch outside the town."

He brushed the edge of the wall with both hands and said seriously: "The northwest direction is the main direction for the family and the town to counterattack. Facts have proved that those enemies are not impossible to deal with. As long as you master the composition of the new team and gather the best in the town Elite strength can suppress those troubles on a small scale like a stone hitting an egg with strong force."

The steward should quickly record these instructions in his notebook.

"What the territory was like when my father left, it will still be like when he came back! We can't just wait for the troops to return and solve the trouble. I will prove it to everyone in the territory."

After saying that, he pulled out the sword from his waist. The slender noble ceremonial sword sparkled against the rising sun.

-

After Kiir's refugee team walked a certain distance south, they stopped according to Priest Batal's wishes.

It is no longer easy to see Yemei Town in the distance from this distance, so the team stopping will naturally not cause people in the town to have other ideas.

Of course, Keir didn't have any thoughts about Yemei Town. On the contrary, he wished that everyone in the team could ride on the wind and rush to Changmai Village as soon as possible. The main reason why the team stayed in place at this time was because humans were walking, and they had to walk for a while to rest.

Drink some water, take a rest, and if you have an upset stomach, you will have time to deal with it quickly.

The secondary reason is to wait for the previously agreed upon agreement that some wealthy religious people in Yemei Town who believe in the God of Agriculture will join the team and follow the team. No, the main reason is to follow the priest of the God of Agriculture, Priest Batal, in the team. .

Eggs cannot be put in one basket, this is obviously understood by many people. Keir didn't have any objection. One sheep was driven, two sheep were driven, and a hundred sheep were driven in the same way.

Anyway, he is mainly responsible for force and decision-making on major matters in the team. General team management does not require his intervention to manage it personally.

Things that can be arranged will be arranged, and if he can find someone to help manage it, Kiel also asks reliable people in the team to help him manage it.

"Are you coming?"

Kil rode the blood-licking grass to his carriage. On the carriage, Bloodyaster was driving, and sitting beside him was Priest Batal.

The priest was a little embarrassed. After hearing Kiel's inquiry, he quickly responded: "It should be fast. It was agreed yesterday that they would climb over the ditch on the east side of the town at dawn. There are few of them, so they should be faster than us. The team is right.”

After speaking, he climbed onto the roof of the carriage from the carriage stand next to it, stood on the specially reinforced roof of the carriage, set up a shading pergola with his hands, and looked to the north and northeast.

"Will we encounter parasitic monsters on the road?"

Bloody Fangster licked the beard on his chin and made a random guess.

"It's best not to! It's relatively safe to stay in the town. Don't leave the town just to be safe. Instead, it will be delivered to the mouth of a monster. That would be really bad."

Kil rolled his eyes at Bloodfangster: "It would be fine if they were completely destroyed when they encountered monsters. If they ran out and joined us halfway, I can't even imagine how resentful these people would be against the church. What would happen on the road later? How difficult it is to appease and manage.”

Hearing what Keir said, Bloody Fangster laughed playfully: "You're right. In fact, you shouldn't take into account what the town thinks. You should go directly with our team in the morning. It saves time and is safe. This way we can separate and rendezvous. , which simply adds a lot of risks.”

Priest Batar's face on the hood of the car turned red and white. He also mentioned this matter to his fellow priests in the town last night, but the Saturn priests who had fought with the parasitic monster yesterday felt that the flesh-and-blood demon they had been worried about The parasitic monsters are nothing more than that. In addition, their convoy collecting firewood had attracted and killed a large number of parasitic monsters outside the town yesterday. They insisted on allowing some people to believe in religion while taking into account the face of the Sass family and the opinion of the town. The people left the town alone and met at an invisible distance outside the town.

Fortunately, things were not so unlucky. Priest Batal shouted excitedly: "I saw them! The number of people doesn't seem to be small, uh, it's just that everyone carries a lot of things."

Kil rolled his eyes: "I know why they are so slow."

Bloodfangster teased: "I guess, each of these people must be carrying a lot of luggage, right? And in order to cross the blocking ditch outside the town, they didn't bring their livestock? Ha, there are no livestock. It’s hard for those people to help carry things.”

Kil winked at Bloodfangster, then rode away from here: "I'll go over and escort them for a while. Priest, you'd better convince them not to bring too many things on the road. They won't be able to walk very far. "

Priest Batal awkwardly climbed off the roof of the carriage: "I'll try, I'll try."

-

After leaving the team, Kil happily rode the blood-licking grass towards the slowly moving religious people. He took off his helmet and shook his head, letting his hair spread naturally in the wind.

After thinking for a while, he took out the shiny golden object from the leather pocket on his waist and held it in front of his eyes to observe carefully.

Muah——

Kil kissed the thing hard. He couldn't help it. Not only was this thing a valuable card made of real gold, but it was also said that this thing could be found in a bank-like vault run by the local earl in the capital of the southern province. , directly exchange for cash coins up to 300 gold coins!

That's right, this thing is what Kil promised Bell in exchange for fighting hard against the parasitic monster yesterday. This thing was originally used by the young baron heir to arm himself with wealth in the provincial capital. Now, it is convenient for Keir himself.

"Haha! So much money! I've made a lot of money! This man is quite generous, and he's very rich!"

Keir kissed the gold card again and again, and then observed it carefully.

The gold card is half the size of a palm, with neat edges on three sides. Only one side has large and small irregular rectangular tooth marks. It is obvious that this thing is a password-like design.

Of course, the gold card itself cannot be worth 300 kingdom gold coins. From the weight point of view, it is only worth four or five gold coins at most. Obviously, if you take this thing to the vault to exchange money, it must be tightly connected to the other side of the vault archive. Just fine.

In addition, there is a number on the front of the gold card. There is no point in making such a card randomly. It must match the other half of the card with the corresponding number. And the other half is in the hands of the treasury. It is almost impossible for anyone to successfully imitate this thing without revealing a mole.

There are patterns and text on the front of the card, which are nothing more than explaining what it is for and how much it is worth.

On the back is a tattoo of a god's emblem and a short article asking for the god's supervision.

Those who can manage this are obviously under the jurisdiction of the God of Wealth.

With the endorsement and supervision of God, and the consequences of counterfeiting this thing, Keir thinks that no one would dare to take the risk of doing anything wrong, right?

Probably not?