Mercenaries and Adventurers

"Finally back." Kiel sighed after taking a deep breath of the cold air.

The air in Kendall City is as cold as other places, but it smells like the ashes of burning firewood, which is the smell of the daily life of the people in the city and the production of wood fuel by the artisans in the artisan area.

I didn't think these smells good before, but after staying in a deserted place in the forest for a long time, these smells I didn't like before are so nostalgic at this moment.

People are really strange.

The team headed south around the outer city wall of Kendall City, and then approached the main gate of Kendall City along the gradually rising terrain.

Standing guard at the gate were still the few town guards that Keel was familiar with.

The guards greeted Knight Lanisa and saluted from a distance, and then let the carriage driven by Kiel and the others into the city without checking. But the caravan following them was stopped, and they were honestly inspected by the guards.

-

As soon as they entered the city, Knight Lanisa signaled everyone to return to the hunter's stronghold first, and she jumped off her horse and walked into the guard stone castle at the gate of the city.

Keel and the others turned right and walked along the main road of Town Avenue.

After walking to the side of the government affairs office, he turned into the small road next to him.

Even if it is this kind of small road that few people walk, Kendall City has sent people to clean it. It is completely different from the large area outside the city. For a long time after the previous snowfall, the snow in the fields is still covered on the ground. superior.

"Yo Ho Ho Ho, you're finally back." The old hunter yelled cheerfully, but soon sighed, and turned his head to look at the two tightly wrapped corpses stacked in the compartment behind him.

Shaking his head, a young hunter jumped down a few times and used the key to unlock the gate of the hunter's stronghold, and pushed the gate open to allow the carriage to enter.

The inside of the stronghold is in good order, and there is no depression after a long period of no one. It seems that during the time they are away, there will still be occasional people here to take care of the house.

Keir dismounted and sent the horse he was riding and the two horses pulling the cart into the stable, and then removed the saddle and bridle covers from them.

The other young hunters began to move down the supplies in the carriage, temporarily unloading them in the middle of the front yard. The old hunters went into the house and lit up the fire in the house.

The old hunter Tost stared at the corpses of his companions on the ground for a while, explained to everyone, turned around and walked out of the stronghold, and went to inform the families of the two deceased about the details.

Keir didn't care about that. After all, he hadn't joined the hunter team for a long time, so he took care of the three horses by himself.

Brush the hair of the three horses vigorously with a brush, and carefully clean the hair of the three horses with a thin brush dipped in medicinal powder, remove the dust, grease and parasites on them, and smooth the knotted horse hair on the horses, The three comfortable horses purred and neighed.

Then I went to the well to fetch water for them to drink, and the hay piled aside was also carried over and broken up for them to eat.

After Kiel finished these things, seven or eight people also walked into the front yard with the old hunter Tost.

These people were not in a high mood, gathered around the two corpses on the ground, and carefully lifted off the coarse cloth covering the faces of the corpses, revealing the two old and young hunters who had been dead for a long time.

The family members who were close to them knelt next to the corpse and wept, while the family members who were not related just gathered around and asked other hunters about the specific circumstances of the deceased's death.

I heard that both of them were killed by the wolf king of the North after collapsing the defensive wooden wall, so they stopped crying so much. For the families of the dead hunters, they died in the battle It is very dignified.

At least it is much better than the three mysterious deaths in the mouth of the monster before the hunter team.

At the same time, a young priest from the Church of the God of the Dead who came along with the crowd also came out, stroked the faces of the two dead with a simple hand, and said some complicated eulogies in his mouth, expressing that the two Most of the souls have left the world, but there are still a few souls left in the body, so the final farewell cremation ceremony must be carried out early.

Tost promptly explained the funeral of the old hunter who had always believed in the God of Hunting during his lifetime, and his family also expressed that they would prepare a post-death ceremony in the style of the God of Hunting as soon as possible.

The young man who died didn't have any faith, so his family carried the body and left here with the priests of the Church of the God of the Dead.

Tost also whispered to the close family members of the two deceased that they could go to Knight Lanisa to receive the deceased's pension. Although it was not much, it was not a small sum of money for ordinary people.

If they don't know how to find Knight Lanisa, they can always come here and find him to take them with them.

The body of the dead old hunter was taken home directly by his family members. They had a day to hold a simple farewell ceremony at home, but the body had to be sent to the church as soon as possible. After the church burned the body into ashes , so the family members of the deceased can deal with it at will.

As far as Keir knows, the Kendal people generally follow the customs of the empire. Ordinary, smaller families will put the ashes of their dead relatives in a strong stone box at home, randomly choose a stone of the right size in the house, and put Original building materials were exchanged for stone boxes containing ashes.

It contains the meaning of not being willing to say goodbye to family members and letting the souls of the deceased that may exist in the ashes to protect the family's house together.

However, if it is a large family, most of them have a room dedicated to storing the ashes of the deceased, which is a common practice in families with a large population.

But if the family is stronger, most of them would like to put the ashes of the deceased into exquisite metal cans and store them in the hall of the Church of the God of the Dead. After all, the church has always claimed that storing the ashes of the deceased in the church can make the souls of the deceased sleep peacefully.

On the next level, such as noble families, there will be special tombs for the ashes or corpses of the deceased. It is said that the church will even send priests to the tomb to perform magic spells every year to bless those who have already died.

Let the body of the deceased grow up healthily in the afterlife.

-

But these have nothing to do with Keir. He took care of the horses and helped everyone move the supplies to the right place. After finishing it thoroughly, he returned to his room, lay down on the wooden bed that had not been used for many days, and took a good rest for a while.

Before noon, Kiel was called up by the young hunter Fick.

"Keil, you haven't forgotten the thing we got before, right?" Fick was carrying two bags, which were quite big, and there were still things twisting inside.

Keir was a little dazed, and looked into the opening of the bag, only then remembered what was inside.

It was the weird silver lizard that he and Fick had encountered on the way back to Hekou Town from the outpost camp earlier.

Lanisa Knight said later that this stuff is very nourishing and rare, and it is good for the body to let the two of them find a place to deal with it after they come back. But Keir had already forgotten about it, and Fick was still thinking about it.

"You got this lizard, Keel. I just need a little bit. These are all yours." As he said, Fick held the small bag containing only the two front paws of the lizard by himself, while the other The big bag with the lizard's big head and long tail was given to Kiel.

Kiel looked at the lizard head in the bag with a dazed expression. The guy in the bag hadn't died after so many days. He also stared at him, slowly opened his mouth and stretched out his tongue to sweep around. The silver tail next to it also twitched at the right time, declaring that even after so many days, it still has vitality.

Keir felt a little troubled. Does this thing look like it can be eaten? And what should they do with it?

Facing Keir's doubts, Fick said: "You may have forgotten, Knight Lanisa told you that you can go to the tavern on the square at the gate of the city to find someone to deal with this thing."

But then he was worried: "But how to calculate the cooking cost of these things, if it costs too much, I can't afford the money."

"It doesn't matter. I think this thing can be put away again. Find some snow piles and put this thing in it. It is estimated that it can be stored all winter. As for the production cost."

Keel stroked his chin.

"Knight Lanisa will definitely have her injuries treated after she returns to the city. It is estimated that when her injuries are cured, we should be rewarded."

-

Keir tidied up in the house, and changed the clothes he was wearing as a gift from Knight Elisa to everyone, and replaced them with a set of warm clothes he often wears. He also hung the bag containing the body parts of the lizard outside the window, fearing that the room would be too hot and the thing would die prematurely and rot. You won't have to worry about this if you hang it outside.

After finishing everything, he took his belongings, a piece of wrapped pure elemental crystal, and a few other things, went downstairs to say hello to everyone still in the stronghold, and went out.

The first step out is to go up along the main road, and soon you will come to the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce.

He said hello to the janitor at the door, and confirmed that the old Foxtail President was there at this time, so he went to the second floor from the big staircase on the first floor.

Half of the clerks in the chamber of commerce in the hall on the second floor are there, and the work in winter is reduced, so they have nothing to do, and they don’t want to go home and be naughty by the women at home, so those clerks who have families come to the chamber of commerce, and sit here for a whole day .

When you have something to do, you can do some work, and when you have nothing to do, you can chat with the guys you have known for many years about something that can never be finished.

The chamber of commerce manager and the chamber of commerce staff are two different circles. Most of the stewards will talk about the prices of goods in various places, and plan with their friends where to go, how long to go, and how much profit they can make by running a business.

And the topics of the guys are even wider, such as anecdotes and strange stories in various villages and towns, where is there a prostitution hut that only accepts acquaintances, and even the difference in the taste of wheat flour in that village compared with other places.

When Keir came up, they all greeted each other.

And a bag in Keir's hand also aroused their curiosity.

Keir winked and took out the contents of the bag for everyone to see. It turned out to be a complete head of a northern land wolf. Since it was cut off by him, he hadn't done much with it. He just rubbed some coarse salt on the neck fracture to ensure that it would not rot.

It's a pity that after several days, this thing is still a little wilted, and the pair of animal eyes that were originally bright and energetic now seem a little shrunken, and it doesn't look very energetic.

Kiel briefly talked about his experiences these days, which aroused the curiosity of everyone on the second floor of the chamber of commerce. Even the old President Foxtail walked out of his room, happily playing with the head of the northern land wolf that Kiel was going to give him.

"Where's Mr. Jamura? Why didn't I see him?" Keir didn't see Jamura, so he asked.

"Jamura went to Bingxunguan to go through some entry and exit procedures for next year." A steward explained to Kiel.

It turns out that large local chambers of commerce like the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce have preferential procedures for doing business at local checkpoints, and every time this time comes, the chamber of commerce will give gifts to some officials in charge of the matter.

They are gifts of various values ​​given according to the power in the hands of officials.

Of course, the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce does not have many external business routes, and mainly uses its influence with the local nobles to be responsible for the distribution of local materials in Kendall. Many things of the knight lord are handled through them, which is not only efficient, but also prevents the family of the knight lord from embezzling the knight's own property without permission.

Of course, there are also knights who trust their family and friends more, and either handle their own affairs by themselves, or let their own people be in charge of supervising the work of the Chamber of Commerce in the dealings with the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce.

But even if this is the case, for many small and medium-sized chambers of commerce that can't get in, it is already greedy.

Anyway, it was still early, and Kiel happened to be in the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce with hot tea and the small biscuits just baked by Aunt Luna, and briefly described the crusade against the northern wolf this time.

Even if he just spoke briefly, by the time he finished speaking, it was already afternoon. When he walked out of the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce, Kiel was full of tea and snacks, but he wasn't hungry at all.

He then went to the Table Corner Tavern again, and saw Todd with a sad face.

"What's the matter, your face is so ugly?"

Todd was absent-mindedly wiping the wine table, but when he heard Keel's voice, he immediately turned around: "Keil! It's been a long time. How are you?"

Keir waved his hand and said, "I just came back from North County with Knight Lanisa. Ah, the forest in winter is really hard."

Todd looked excited: "I just heard that you have completely defeated the wolves that ravaged the north this time, and even killed a huge wolf king, right?"

"Who did you listen to? The news spread so quickly?" Keir was surprised. They only returned to Kendall City in the morning, but now it's only afternoon, and there is even specific news coming out.

what happened?

Todd returned to the bar for a glass of the foamy beer that Keel loved: "Here you go, winter news is the fastest thing that flies in the sky. Hey, I actually got it from a Chamber of Commerce guy who came to lunch I heard."

As soon as Keir thought about it, he guessed that it was the caravan that returned with them on the last journey, so he took the beer that Todd gave him, and took a sip of the foam on the beer.

"Ah, this taste, if I hadn't drank a lot of tea, this cup of beer that I had been thinking about before would have dried up in one gulp." When he said this, Keel rubbed his stomach with a melancholy expression on his face.

When he swayed his waist now, he could hear the sound of water waves in his stomach.

Todd ignored Kiel's words, quietly poked his head over, and asked in a low voice what happened to Kiel's trip.

Having to repeat what he said not long ago, Keel looked helpless, but because of Todd's curiosity, he had to tell it again.

Similarly, considering the factor of fame, Keel spoke loudly so that all the drinkers in the tavern could hear him clearly.

Most of these drinkers who come to the tavern to chat and kill time during the day in winter know Little Keel, and know that this little guy who has only been here for less than a year is a down-to-earth activist. The details left them no doubt about the veracity of Keel's story.

Keel omitted some unimportant passages, focusing on the process of their hunters fighting on the rocky mountain. As for defeating the wolf king, Keir skipped it and only said that there was such a thing, but he didn't talk about it at all.

The other drinkers didn't pay attention to this point. After Keir finished speaking, they all got together in twos and threes, discussing the battle of the hunters enthusiastically.

Some people thought it was inappropriate for them to stick to the rocky mountain. If they hadn't found a way to get down from the top of the mountain, they would have all died on the top of the mountain soon. Some people think that this is not the case, even if there is no such road, the living will not die of thirst in the rainy day, don't hunters have so many ropes, they can find ways to climb down from other places on the mountain, and those without hands The northern land wolf can only watch.

From Keir's description, Todd felt that the final deal with the wolf king was a bit weird.

He handed Kiel to the bar with roasted peanuts on a wooden tray, and asked Kiel in a low voice about the wolf king.

Keir raised his eyebrows. He was the witness and participant of Lanisa Knight and his father's fight to the last moment. Without Lanisa Knight's permission, how could he tell specific things.

So Kiel just roughly explained the same explanation as other hunters. The battle was intense, but the end result was flat. Knight Lanisa showed his might, and Kiel only made some 'small' contributions.

Seeing that Todd still had doubts, Keir changed the subject and asked about the work that Todd had organized to deal with public entrustments.

This turned Todd into questioning. Seeing that Todd had changed into the same frown as before he came to the tavern, Keel raised the corner of his mouth and continued to ask.

A drinker next to him heard it, and came over to eat a few roasted peanuts on Kiel's wooden plate, and taunted him with winks: "Haha, little Keel. You just came back from the north. I don't know, those people Todd is looking for , and now I'm arguing with him about breaking up."

Todd rolled his eyes at the drinker, but didn't say anything. It's not easy for him to speak, but it's okay for others to say it. Although it's equally embarrassing, at least he's not particularly embarrassing.

"What's going on, please explain carefully." Keel pushed the roasted peanuts, signaling the drinker to enjoy them as he pleases.

The other party was also polite, picked up his half-drunk wine glass and put peanuts into his mouth.

"Although the few people Todd found were not capable, they were still very familiar with our Kendall City. After discussing with Todd to take over your job, they can be regarded as dealing with a few things in the city."

After taking a sip and eating a few more peanuts, the man continued.

"But how can we just hang around in the city? Although Kendall City is big and has many people, there are not so many entrusted tasks that can make money~www.readwn.com~ Keel raised his eyebrows: "So they just Are you out of town? Such a cold day? "

When Zhao Ji himself first started, it was still very hot in early autumn. At that time, even if he stayed outside in the wilderness at night, he just needed to wrap his body casually to resist it. Snowy winter.

Something must have happened.

He judged this way. After all, the vicinity of Kendall City is okay, but a little further away from the town, the traces of human transformation of nature are buried by thick snow.

"Isn't that right? I heard that Todd found a job for them before. It was entrusted by a farm owner near the forest wilderness in the northwest of the city. He said it was to take advantage of the fact that there were no wild animals in the winter. A large tract of uncultivated land northwest of Del City."

The man paused, and then said: "Everyone knows that after snowfall, the wilderness is white, and there are no distant indicators, so it is impossible to distinguish the east, west, north, and south. Something happened in the end."

The man said this and glanced at Todd.

Todd pursed his lips tightly, looked down at the wooden bar, and wiped the clean bar table with a dry cloth in his hand, not knowing what he was doing.

"What happened?" Kiel still didn't know exactly what happened, but obviously, some of those people should have died.

"Yes, those young people lost their way in the white wilderness and wandered all day. When they were exhausted and planned to camp, they realized that there was one person missing." Speaking of this, the alcoholic used Fingers moved the three peanuts on the wooden plate, and then suddenly caught a peanut and sent it to his mouth.

So, where his fingers were, there were only two solitary peanuts spinning around in place.