Mercenaries and Adventurers

The militiamen who had been waiting for a long time showed surprised expressions when they saw Kiel returning with the heads and weapons of the three bandits. The small captain of this militia was about to come over to say something, but Knight Crow waved his hand and directly instructed everyone to continue today's mission: "It's just a small trouble, don't worry."

Kiel found a branch to help the head. The bandits have long hair, so the head with disheveled hair can be easily tied to the branch and carried.

It wasn't that Kiel didn't tie the bandit's head to his belt. The main reason was that the smell of blood was unpleasant, and the bandits seldom took a bath. Besides the smell of blood, their heads also had a strong sour smell.

Although Kiel himself doesn't smell good, he can't smell himself.

In the afternoon, Knight Crowe and his party finally circled the mountain where the bandits hid their lair. Claw Knight drew on the map except for the front of the militia camp, and arranged four strongholds to patrol the area. The knight planned to arrange a group of melee militiamen in each stronghold to be responsible for encircling the other areas of the bandit's lair.

This is the arrangement that the militiamen will only make if the number of militiamen is very rich. If the number of militiamen is not so large, then it is estimated that Knight Crowe will completely let go of the patrol behind the bandits' lair, and deliberately let the bandits who have no fighting will to flee westward. Reduce the available number of frontal bandits.

Of course, there are a lot of militiamen every year, so he has enough troops to completely surround the bandit lair, so that no bandit will be spared in the subsequent battles.

In the afternoon, Kiel and the others returned to the militia camp.

During the day when Knight Crowe was away, the militiamen were just honestly conducting simple training, and the militia teams that went out probably came back one after another around this time.

As soon as he returned to the camp, Knight Crowe asked his various militia captains to come over to the door of his tent to wait for orders. Then, Knight Crowe took out his parchment scroll during the day, and asked Keel to find a wooden board and simply draw the contents of the parchment scroll on it with charcoal.

After getting the task, Kiel quickly put the collected weapons back into the camp, and then brought the branch with the heads of the three bandits to the artisan who accompanied the army. He left the heads agreed earlier on the artisan's table and hurried I found a clerk and asked for the planks that Knight Crowe needed.

Wooden boards are easy to find. For logistical supplies, you only need to take off the bottom compartment of an empty truck. As for charcoal, you can find this kind of by-product of firewood that has not been properly burned by a campfire.

Kiel held the large plank, ignored the call of the craftsman, and only said that he would come back at night for dinner, and came to the gate of the Crow Knight's tent with his things in his arms.

Knight Crowe went to inspect the militia camp. Only the guards in the same camp as him were guarding the gate. Keel put the board on the ground, scraped off some footprints and stains with a dagger, and cleaned the entire wide board. Clean it up so he can draw what's next.

Unrolling the parchment handed to him by the knight, Kiel first determined the north-south direction. When the knights were drawn, the militia camp was the main area directly below the map.

Then, the enemy's bandit lair is drawn in the center of the parchment scroll map. Surrounding it is a circle of routes they walked during the day. The knights have drawn some places that can be directly observed with simple icons in the places where the route passes and the places that can be seen along the way.

At the same time, the place and route where they climbed the bandit mountain before were also firmly remembered by the knights, which was also represented by a wavy line.

Kiel observed the contents of the parchment for a while, and the guards watching beside him also came over curiously to see what Kiel should do.

Unlike Knight Crowe, Kiel first confirmed the north and south positions according to his habits.

He is not completely unfamiliar with the surrounding terrain, he has memorized the direction of the surrounding mountains, and he knows where is in the south and where is in the north.

First draw the mountains near the battlefield and draw them on the edge of the board. The central place is naturally the mountain where the bandits' lair is located, the surrounding mountains and the militia camp.

Kiel drew the exact location of the militia camp in the lower right corner of the map, and he accurately drew the gate of the camp and several areas with different functions.

Immediately afterwards, Kiel began to mark the many strongholds identified by the Crowe Knights during the day that needed to be stationed for short-term investigations in the outer circle of the middle of the map.

The appearance of the stronghold is different from the simple black spot of the knight. Since the wooden board is large enough, Kiel carefully drew the simple observation watchtower that Knight Crowe said on the road.

This watchtower summed up what Knight Crow said, and it also added the look of the guard watchtower in Dorallin Village that Keel had seen.

After that, Kiel marked the several watchtowers under the responsibility of the militia team, and marked them in local characters. There are a total of ten watchtowers, which are under the responsibility of four teams. Some are more, and some are less, but the scope of care is large. The main reason is that there are not many flat terrains where watchtowers can be arranged, so this is the only way to do it.

Most importantly, Kiel marked the mountain where the bandits' lair was located and the simple roads for the entrance and exit.

The main road for the bandits to go out was blocked by the militia camp, so unless the bandits got rid of all the supplies stored in the lair, it would be impossible for them to transport so many things out of the mountains.

Looking at it this way, Keir found that the situation of these bandits was really bad. He was quite happy about this.

The worse the bandits are, the harder it will be for bandits who are bound by simple interests to unite against the militias, and it may be easier for them to fight.

One after another, the militia captains who were summoned by Knight Crowe gathered, and some clerks who had nothing to do also came to see how Knight Crowe came to attack this difficult bandit lair in their opinion.

Everyone gathered around Kiel, pointing to the map of the surrounding terrain that Kiel quickly drew.

Some militiamen from farms or remote villages had never seen a map, and asked the people around them what it was with a look of surprise. The principle of the map is easy for people to understand, so they quickly accepted this good thing that they had never seen before.

They pointed and pointed to find where they were on the map now.

Some people are guessing what the marked places around are for.

Some people said that they would ask Kiel to make a map of their village in their village. In this way, each family can confirm the location of each family's land according to the map. Whose field is good and whose field is far away from the water source can be clearly seen.

The clerks praised Keel, a guy who cut monsters for a living, to have such a skill. Someone said that they would recommend Keir to the senior political officials in their government offices, hoping to make an accurate large map of Kendall City, so that they will be responsible for where the tax collection work, or who is responsible for which area The law and order of the country don't have to be so troublesome. It will be much easier to do work without shifting the blame.

But there are also people who say that Keir's ability is actually mediocre. Among the Kendall craftsmen, the stonemasons who are the most skilled in technology actually have very powerful skills.

The clerk was not young, but his body was strong, and what he said caught the attention of Keel who had just finished painting.

"I know several excellent stonemasons, and they have all been praised by the Earl in the provincial capital. Of course, of course, they are all apprentices of Master Lian Xiude, so the most skilled stonemason is Lean Shude Master. Even the current King Regent is full of praise for his skills. I heard that even the elven envoys are going to leave the works of Master Lian Shude displayed in the palace."

The other clerk wrapped his thick clothes tightly and said: "Of course you don't need to talk about the master's skills. Everyone knows about this. Do you know about that?"

The old clerk asked suspiciously: "Which one? There are old things in Kendall City that I don't know about?"

"It's about the design of the underground waterway in that city. I heard it was also done by Master Lian Xiude?" Someone took up the topic.

The old clerk snorted: "I thought you were talking about it. You are young, so you haven't experienced it. When I was young, I personally built the underground waterway in the city." After a pause, the old clerk thumped his back: "It's too complicated inside. I heard that the mages from the provincial capital were invited to participate. I remember that everyone moved from the hills in the city to the baron's fields below to live simply. In order not to occupy the residents' fields and affect the harvest , Lord Baron gave up two years of field crops."

"The baron has so many fields, how much food and wealth will he get in two years." The clerks around were discussing in low voices.

Kiel leaned the plank against the door of the knight's tent, supported it with a wooden stick, and asked the guards he knew to light the surrounding area with torches.

The militia captains and the clerks did not get together, after all, their status and identities were quite different. Although the clerks are now accompanying the army to manage the logistics and take care of all the militiamen who have come out, in fact, the clerks' status is much higher than that of the militia captains.

Except for those small captains who may be descendants of important families in the village, who are higher than the clerks in terms of property and status, most of the small captains are children of peasant families, just how much land they have. difference.

Since the next thing was mainly explained to the militia squad leaders by Knight Crow, they were all very close to the wooden map drawn by Kiel, while the clerks were further behind.

The clerks simply had nothing to do in the camp, so they came to join in the fun, but due to their status and work reasons, everything in the entire camp was inseparable from their management, so it was okay for the clerks to watch.

As for some ordinary militiamen, as soon as they approached, they were driven away by the squad leaders and told them to wait for a while to eat.

After finishing what the knight told him, Keir wandered closer to the clerks and eavesdropped on the story about the underground sewer in Kendall City that they had told before.

He was also very curious about this. After all, in this remote and backward area of ​​feudalism in the Middle Ages, it was inconceivable that such a city with perfect underground water supply and drainage in residents' houses would appear. Just now I heard that magicians participated in the construction of the city's sewers, and Keel wanted to hear more.

Different from the others, the clerks are all well-informed guys. They at least know that the young man in front of him wearing a full armor and a wolf fur cloak is a guy who has been in the limelight recently in Kendall City.

And for some reason, this young man seemed to know Knight Crow, the real power in Kendall City, and he looked very familiar. .

Kiel approached to listen to them, but the clerks didn't drive them away, and let Kiel listen casually.

"I was still young at the time, and it was time for me to work hard. I was in charge of the construction and management of the outer area of ​​Kendall City, which now includes the wealthy area, the civilian area and the underground part of the artisan area. It is a job, but actually It is to direct the people who joined to move building materials and dig tunnels and waterways." The old clerk pointed at the sky while talking, as if he had returned to the scene at that time.

Another clerk interjected: "I don't think the people will spontaneously help the lord to build those things, and I remember that Kendall County doesn't conscript people's labor, right? The whole province doesn't."

The old clerk replied: "That's right, there is no such decree. After all, our kingdom is formed by immigrants from the empire. Everyone is tired of the endless labor of the empire. So when the country was founded, His Majesty the King I heard that I swore an oath to the gods and never conscripted the people for labor."

Stuffing his beard, the old clerk went on to say: "Actually, it is not difficult to use the power of the people. At that time, the baron and the church made a special contract. The church served as the witness and supervisor of the contract. The baron made a guarantee: all participants are willing During the process of Del City’s transformation, and families who have worked to a certain level, they will have convenient water supply wells and sewers that their families can use.”

The other clerks became excited and talked about how their houses came from. Some clerks who were the heads of the family said that when they took over the family, they did take over a simple luminous contract from the elders. Unexpectedly, it was the contract that the baron entrusted the church to conclude for each family to participate in the labor.

The old clerk then talked about the story of the original construction, but the other clerks' topics shifted to whether those contracts are still in force today, and whether the divine power shining on them has magical power.

Keir leaned closer to the old clerk, and listened intently to the story the old clerk told.

Seeing that a young man like Keir was willing to listen to him tell the story of the past, the old clerk was also excited, so he talked in detail about his situation when he was young.

The story was maintained until Knight Crowe went around the entire camp and confirmed that the militiamen in the various militia tents did not fight during the time he was out, and no one had an exchange of fire with the bandits during the day and was injured or injured. The bandits seemed to be disturbed by their group during the day, and they focused all their attention on them.

When Knight Crowe came back, he saw that the militia captains were in place, and Keel also got the contents of his parchment onto a truck floor.

Not bad looking.

With just one glance, he could see that Keel had rearranged the positions of the militia camp and the bandit lair in the correct north-south orientation instead of taking the militia camp and bandit lair as the center of the picture on his parchment.

"Oh, this is not bad, not bad, at least some people with bad sense of direction will not be mistaken." He came to the wooden board, coughed lightly, and the audience fell silent.

The militia captains sat down according to the gestures of the knights. The ground was covered with frozen soil, nothing unclean, and it was not the rainy muddy ground in spring and summer.

The clerk and Keir stood behind the militia leader and watched, barely able to see the contents of the wooden board.

Clang, Knight Crowe drew the sword from his waist. As Kiel had expected, a powerful warrior like Knight Crowe used unusual weapons.

It looked ordinary in appearance, but the blade hidden under the scabbard was extremely gorgeous and mysterious. It is bright golden all over, and the surface is covered with an unknown type of writing, and a bright luminous energy flows in the imprints of these writings. The source of energy is a row of five red gemstones inlaid on the middle spine of the sword body in sequence. Those gemstones radiate a faint light, which looks inconspicuous, but it is conceivable that there must be powerful energy hidden inside.

After the knight drew out the sword, he pointed to the wooden map with the tip of the sword: "During the day, I took people around the mountain where the bandits were hiding. Hmph, the level of the bandits is limited, and they only have one main entrance, which is here .” He clicked on the entrance of the Bandit Cave.

"Here and the large area in front of us, all the way to the entrance of our camp, are the main battle areas in the future. The main militia will fight for this place, and then attack from the entrance of the bandits."

Then he went on to use his sword to draw a semi-surrounding net around the mark left by Kiel: "It is possible that the bandits may have escaped, or raided to try to escape from the end of failure, and they will definitely escape from these places. But the surrounding area can There are not many places for people to go, only here, here, and here, here." He clicked four directions in a row for the main mountain passages for people to walk.

He looked at the crowd and found that everyone was focusing on his sword, which made Knight Crowe helpless.

After thinking for a while, he put the sword back into its sheath, and then said to Kiel: "Kiel!" He waved his hand twice.

Keir understood, knowing what Knight Crowe meant, he drew out his long hunting sword, twirled and threw it over.

The knight didn't even look at it, he just grabbed it in the air, and Kiel's hunt flew into the knight's hand like a suckling swallow. Due to the rapid movement of the two, everyone present did not realize that it was not Kiel who threw the sword at the position of Knight Crowe, but Kiel threw it at random, and his long sword automatically flew into Knight Crowe's hand .

Kiel's hunting sword is much more ordinary than the sword. Although it is also a tough and sharp weapon with reflective dents on the surface, it is at least not as special as the sword just now.

Re-continuing what he said just now, Crow Knight once again pointed to four possible directions and passages for the bandits to escape: "The Eagles, Lions, Mountain Leopards, and Wild Boars~www.readwn.com~ You four teams are the best in the team now. I want you to be in charge of these four areas."

"Yes!" "Yes!" "No problem!" "Okay!" The four should be.

"As for who wants to be responsible for where, then discuss with me. Because the four places look different, and some places are spacious, so it is necessary to build a denser wooden detection tower. It is what Keel painted on it, and your main force As a mobile team within the range, rest at ordinary times, and when you see the warning signal from the detection tower, you must immediately rush to eliminate the bandits who are trying to escape."

"We have already prepared the wood for the surveillance tower for you when the day passes. As long as you bring enough tools, it can be built quickly."

"Master Knight! Is this guard tower the same guard tower that guards the fields in the village to guard against things like wolf goblins?" a militia captain asked.

"That's it. My name is the Guard Tower. As for what you call it, I don't care. In short, I request that when the main force attacks the bandit's lair, you can't let any bandit go out. Four teams, who will kill the most bandits in the end?" , whose team will have the chance to become the official guard of Kendall City."

As soon as the knight said this, the eyes of the squad leaders of the four teams lit up. Compared to farming in the village for a lifetime, it is still better to become a prestigious guard in the city. Especially as team leaders themselves, they each have some status in the village, but the militiamen under them don't. It would be even better if young partners from the same village become town guards and can provide various conveniences for the village in the future.

Not to mention anything else, just the news of the cheap prices of various materials in the towns, all of which will not be too harsh on the village when it trades with caravans.