Mercenaries and Adventurers

There was a sticky and warm feeling of blood coming from the barrel of the long gun in his hand. Kiel gripped the barrel of the gun in his hand and ran with all his strength into the dark forest in front of him.

The bandits behind did not come after them, they were gathered together in surprise and fear, their weapons, shields and other things in their hands were facing outwards, pointing at the dark forest, their respective bodies were back to back, half squatting In a shallow pit dug before them.

It was just a short period of time from afternoon to dark, half of the ten-man team that came out from their lair to chase the people were killed one after another.

The bandit who used the sword and shield had his left arm broken when he was kicked before. In order to be able to survive, he had no choice but to tie his wooden shield to the upper arm of his injured left arm with a rope. The forearm was already swollen. He tied the forearm and fixed it with a few branches and ropes. Only then was he sweating profusely and told his colleagues how he and the bandit wielding the wooden mace were defeated in an instant, with one dead and one injured.

The other four bandits looked at each other after listening, and the five of them finally discussed it, and decided to take precautions for the night, and when the morning dawned, they hurried back to their gang's territory and stronghold at full speed.

The task that he received before, to track down the fleeing people, is now impossible to accomplish.

As for the punishment for failing to complete the pursuit task assigned by the leader, compared with death, it is not very important. They would rather suffer punishment than the threat of death.

Keel, who entered the woods but did not run far, listened carefully to the discussions of the bandits not far away from the place where the light from the fire did not shine. Hearing that they were going to retreat back to their lair at dawn, as he had expected, Keel finally showed a smile on his face.

Although his body was reacting strangely and his eyes were hurting, Kiel slowly evacuated from the place where the bandits were staying and found his companion who had been hiding before.

Enduring the slight stabbing pains that began to occur in various parts of the body, as well as the dizziness and pain in the mind and eyes, Keir called them up, and in the dark, it took some effort to find the place where a bandit was stabbed to death with a spear. Time, a burden that fell to the ground.

There were no weapons in it, and all the weapons were taken away by the man's accomplices. There were only some supplies in the bag to survive in the wild mountains and forests.

A few people fumbled around for a while, and found that if they counted the food that Kiel left in the backpack and saved it, the food in this bag could meet the supplies for the few of them running all the way back to Bingxun Pass.

Several other companions exchanged in a low voice, and proposed to Kiel an idea of ​​running back to Bingxun Pass in one go, regardless of the old and weak people.

Kiel knew that these people were afraid of those bandits. Although his own continuous battle victories gave them some encouragement, although these people seemed to be the strongest among the people, they were actually They didn't dare to fight the bandits, and they probably didn't have the intention or courage to take revenge.

I didn't directly criticize them. After all, not everyone will have a firm will to fight when the strength is not as good as the enemy. Keir didn't say much, but firmly expressed his own meaning:

Those people who are still waiting for them, he must go back and take them away.

Seeing that Keir insisted on this, the other people had no choice. After all, the area around here was still in the bandits' territory. Although there was no pursuit of bandits in Pocket Hole, the gang of tooth ghosts and bandits was not a fuel-efficient lamp.

If they left Kiel alone and ran into a patrol of bandits, they would surely be recaptured or killed.

Therefore, after asking Kiel not to tell the rest of the team what they did just now, these people still had to follow Kiel.

Nothing on the way back. Without the threat of chasing the bandits, everyone relaxed a lot, and along the way they could follow the traces they had deliberately left before returning, so the direction was easy to identify.

After a little more than a day, the few of them finally found the other people who had been gathering together and waiting for them to return.

Keel counted people and found that there were a few missing, and they were all men.

As soon as he raised his head, Mr. Simmons Jr. walked over with a wry smile, and told him about the night after the detachment, those who were missing, forcibly left them together under the excuse of going out, and left.

It's hard to say whether this is good or bad, after all, the other party is just more confident than those who trust him, Keir. If those few people can escape to Bingxun Pass without encountering some scattered gangs of bandits along the way. When we meet again, Keir will only tell those people that you are not wrong.

There is no right or wrong in survival actions, only whether you really survive.

It was said that the bandit's pursuit group had been killed by him five people, and they had already retreated a day ago. They, these people now, can finally be said to be without the biggest crisis.

For the rest of the journey, as long as you are careful and pay attention to the distribution and collection of food, you will definitely be able to reach Bingxun Pass safely.

After appeasing the people who had been waiting for a long time, everyone packed up and returned to a frozen pond they found before. Everyone brought enough ice cubes and warmed water. After eating some food, they headed toward the Head east by north.

-----

On the road for the next few days, except for two scattered bandits, the group of them did not have any accidents.

It's funny to say that after discovering the small gang of bandits, Mr. Simmons stopped Kiel who was trying to go up to fight, but asked everyone to take out their weapons and approached the small bandit camp slowly.

The small group of bandits was really not many. Seeing the team of nearly 20 people approaching, although they could see that they were not capable of fighting, the bandits still only uttered some cruel words, and then ran away .

The whole little camp is gone.

In this way, they occupied all the supplies in this small camp without bloodshed.

After many days of escape and rest, the health of some people has improved. Seeing that Mr. Keir and Mr. Simmons did not stop them, the people took as much water as they could after they brought enough water. The small camp of bandits was looted.

This barely made up for some of their previous losses.

Keir didn't care about this either. He himself found a small box of creamy white delicate candles from the bandit's small camp. This thing looks easy to use, and it is estimated that the price is not cheap. He can use this thing by himself, so he put it away.

In the next small bandit camp, they still followed suit. When the gang of robbers was still running away, they asked loudly which gang they were and why they were so unruly.

This soul asked a question, which made everyone on Kiel's side happy, and everyone laughed happily.

In this way, after walking for more than a day, skipping the sparse woods, I can finally see the bustling Bingxun Pass again.

-

Outside the south gate of Bingxun Pass, a middle-aged bandit pretending to be selling charcoal has been guarding here these days. There is another one with the same task as him at the north gate of Bingxun Pass, but instead of selling charcoal, the other party bought a batch of rough and low-priced miscellaneous leather gloves from a shop in the pass, and opened them outside the north gate. Pedestrian business travel sales.

What's interesting is that although the two of them haven't seen the escaped people in the past few days, one of them sold charcoal and the other sold low-priced gloves, and they both made a little money.

Of course, it is impossible to hand over the money they earned. That is begging for beatings. They both bought spirits with the extra money and secretly put them into small oak wooden bottles. They planned to follow the leader this time. After the task is completed, these spirits will be sold back to their lair.

Many bandits and the women who live with them cannot resist the temptation of strong alcohol. After all, the life of bandits is still boring, and those women who surrender also have unspeakable depression and pain in their hearts. These strong alcohols are something they cannot resist thing.

Although the bandit guarding outside the south gate made money by pretending to sell charcoal, he still paid great attention to the tasks assigned by the leader. Ask questions.

Moreover, compared to a little money, the bandit who was negotiating with a merchant understood that in their pocket hole, if he really wanted to climb up, he still had to gain the trust of the leaders. In particular, their pocket-hole bandits have been increasing in scale in recent years. If they become bigger in the future, they will not be more powerful than others.

The opportunity came just like that. The bandit had just completed a deal and sent away a stingy businessman, when he saw a group of down-and-out people walking out of the forest not far from the south.

At the same time, the soldiers at the gate also saw it. In order to beware of daring bandits, these soldiers put wooden refusal horses horizontally to block the opening of the south gate, and then put spears and spears on the refusal horses. At the same time, more than a dozen archers appeared on the city gate and on the wall next to it, aiming at the unidentified people approaching from a distance.

The person in charge of the south gate of Bingxun Pass is not the captain of the soldiers, but the tax officer behind the city gate who calculates and pays taxes for business travelers. Here, his power is the greatest. After all, the money that the soldiers get is all from their government affairs. The lord of Bingxun Pass is not here himself, and they, the senior clerks of the government affairs office, are the most useful people in the entire Bingxun Pass.

As long as there is a lot of money handed over to the lord every year, the Crow knights who are busy with things in Kendall City will not come to ask how they manage the ice flood pass.

The tax official went up to the top of the city and used a telescopic crystal mirror to observe for a while the unidentified people who were walking towards the gate of the city. It was found that those people were men and women, and the clothes on their bodies were made up of some rags and animal skins. At a glance, they knew that those things were not particularly warm.

And the expressions on those people's faces didn't look like they were looking for trouble, they were all excited.

"Come here." The tax official thought for a while, and called a soldier: "Those people don't look like looting bandits. Send someone over and ask them what's going on."

"Yes! Sierte tax." The soldier ran downstairs holding his sword.

A moment later, a skilled soldier among the soldiers guarding the south gate put on a neat and complete soldier's armor, drew his sword, and approached the unidentified people approaching for questioning.

The Sierte tax collector saw in the crystal mirror that those people surrounded the brave soldiers who went to inquire, which made his heart lift. Fortunately, those people didn't hurt him. After they surrounded him, they seemed to be saying something to the soldier.

Through the powerful crystal mirror of far-sighting, the Stuart tax collector saw the shocked faces of his soldiers.

After a while, those people approached the south gate and stopped. The soldier sent by the south gate hurried back and reported to the tax official.

Underneath, the caravans and pedestrians who were waiting in line at the city gate to enter the checkpoint, all dodged to the side of the road in order to avoid these unknown people. The bandit who pretended to be selling charcoal also took over the stall and hid aside.

He stared at these people closely, and from the clothes and weapons of those people, he recognized the things in their bag holes. Some of the weapons were their former owners, and the bandit still knew them.

Knowing that they were the ones who had been waiting these days, the bandit grabbed a handful of charcoal and wiped it on his face, making his face smudged. Because among those people, one or two were people captured during the looting he participated in in autumn.

He was waiting, and after a while these escaped people were put into the checkpoint, he followed up secretly, and when he found the other party's foothold, he had to report the news to the leader as soon as possible.

---

Keir finally breathed a sigh of relief, he finally rescued these poor people. The soldiers in the south of the city did not embarrass those people, mainly because among these people, there are some people with a little bit of status. In addition to Mr. Simmons who knows the captain of the soldiers, there are two middle-aged men in the team who actually know the tax collector here at the city gate.

With this relationship, they, the people who fled all the way, were not severely criticized and treated by the soldiers. The two middle-aged men first borrowed a sum of money from the tax official, and arranged everyone who was in trouble together in a high-end hotel on the main street of Bingxun Pass, so that everyone was always worried. You can take a little rest.

Waiting until tomorrow, the gatekeepers will send someone over to inquire about their affairs carefully.

Naturally, Mr. Keir and Mr. Simmons Jr. would not live with them. Keir helped Mr. Simmons, who was still a little sloppy, and led him to his home---Simmons Chamber of Commerce.

---

The charcoal-grey bandit saw the sign of the people staying in the hotel, and confirmed that the sign above was an iron sign of a galloping horse pulling the bed. The bandit pretended to be unintentional and followed behind these happy but tired people, noticing that these people would be questioned by the clerk of Bingxun Pass tomorrow, and tonight was their good chance.

After remembering the location, the bandit picked up the pannier full of charcoal and walked away quickly.

He came to the most crowded street in Bingxun Pass. There are casinos, red houses, fighting beast rooms, taverns, and small theaters, but if you don't have money in your pocket, you are not welcome here.

The bandit stared fiercely at the balcony outside the wooden house opposite, a few women with heavy make-up deliberately set up a charcoal stove to warm up the fire in this cold winter. Compared with those women in their bandit lair who had no or never used cosmetics, although the women in Bingxun Pass were ordinary in appearance, but with the help of cosmetics brought in from afar, at least in appearance In terms of appearance, it is far beyond too much.

And it's fragrant!

Unlike the stinky smell in their lair cave, the road at Bingxun Pass is just as stinky, but it is winter anyway, and all the filth has been frozen on the road to form a hard, solid ground, but there is no smell .

In this way, the scent of the women who deliberately put on airs on the opposite balcony and posed for a pose drifted a long way along the road.

The bandit looked around and saw at least five rough men like him walking around pretending to be loitering.

The thugs of the brothel saw that there were so many idlers waiting in front of their shops, hindering their business, so they came out of the warm room and drove these idlers who had no money in their pockets and could only smell the smell.

The bandit happened to be passing by, and he inhaled hard through his reddened nose, wanting to smell more of the smell that made him dream. After driving away other idlers, those thugs came to him.

The thug in the lead saw the charcoal in the back basket of the opposite person, and snorted disdainfully: "Go away if you don't have money."

When the bandit heard this, he stared fiercely at the thug on the opposite side.

It was uncomfortable to be stared at by this man. After a pause, the thug said: "You can play if you want, you can give some of the charcoal behind you to the girls in the room, and we will let you go in and find a girl to play with." Let's play?" The thug figured out that there was a lot of charcoal in the basket, and if he could buy some charcoal for heating for free, then he could keep the money for today's charcoal for himself. As for finding a girl for this dirty and smelly charcoal seller, this is just a matter of saying a few words to these thugs.

If the girls in the house want to live a happy life, they have to curry favor with their thugs who can do things normally. As long as you find someone easy to bully and make a few threats, you don't have to obediently entertain this charcoal seller.

Where does this bandit have time to play with girls, he has to tell the news to the leader who lives here as soon as possible. He bluntly pushed away the thugs blocking the way, but this action annoyed these thugs~www.readwn.com~Huh? Do you want to die? I don’t know where there are people nearby who dare to provoke us like this. You charcoal seller, heh, don’t you know our names. "The thug at the head was pushed and immediately lost his temper.

He didn't need a stick pinned to his waist, he just rolled up his sleeves, and he wanted to teach this charcoal seller a lesson.

This bandit had never been afraid of a fight, and when he saw that the other side was about to fight, he also rolled up his thick fur sleeves.

At this moment, three rough and strong men walked out from the nearby tavern. When they saw the charcoal seller, they rushed over to help.

The robbers turned around and found that they were three accomplices. The leader ordered everyone to stay in the house where they were placed and not to show their faces except those who were watching at the north and south gates and at well-informed places in the city. But after all, they are all bandits who only know **** and rob, and they always want to give those who are waiting a place to relax.

So the leader chose this tavern as a place for his bandits to relax, but it could only be in this tavern, and no other places on this street were allowed to go.

The three bandits who came out to relax today happened to see the people on their side being entangled by a few trash thugs after drinking a little wine. The red house thugs used automatically push back.

"Are you all right?" the friend asked.

"It's okay! I have urgent news for the leader, our target is here, come back with me?" The bandit said to the three accomplices who had just helped him.

"It's finally here. I've been stuck in the house all day, and I'm not allowed to go anywhere. My brothers are all out of order. Haha, let's go." The four of them crowded together and walked towards a dark street on the side of this bustling and corrupt street. Walk down the alley.