Mercenaries and Adventurers

Elsewhere, Kiel's nightmare takes a turn for the worse.

Just when many of the members of the Scar Chamber of Commerce who were shot by them last night and killed by Kiel moved to the fallen Kiel on the ground.

The surroundings did not know when it turned into a piece of earthy yellow, and the nightmare that was originally dark and without actual boundaries suddenly became a tangible entity.

The ground, which used to be the small pebbles of Dead Leaf Village, quickly and inexplicably turned into moist, soft soil.

Puff, puff.

A lot of mushrooms emerged from the soft ground, and these mushrooms grew up as quickly as if they had eaten manure, forming a mysterious mushroom circle, surrounding and protecting Kiel who had curled up on the ground.

The phantoms of the dead who wanted to eat Kiel seemed to be subconsciously afraid of these unknown types of colorful mushrooms.

Like blowing up a balloon, those mushrooms grew up like flying, and soon became more than two meters high. These mushrooms are fat and fat, with human-like limbs growing horizontally on their thick umbrella necks. After squeezing, the muscles on their strong arms are bulging, which is very scary.

The phantoms of the dead were more frightening.

There was a sound of waves.

A khaki bearded old goblin suddenly appeared above the suspiciously bright canopies of these mushrooms.

It sat on a big snail shell, giggling and waving its arms vigorously, the huge mushrooms under it immediately grew human faces on one side of the canopy, moving the hyphae at the roots fiercely, towards the surrounding surrounding The phantom of the dead rushed forward.

The old goblin pointed at the phantom of the dead, and then the strong mushroom used his muscular arms to catch the phantom of the dead who was moving on the ground and trying to escape.

"Hee hee, quack!"

The old goblin danced wildly on the snail shell, and the burly mushroom also followed the instructions to squeeze the captured phantom of the dead onto its poisonous and suspicious canopy.

"Ouch, ouch, this thing is poisonous!"

Another one was caught by the strong mushroom, and it also rubbed against the umbrella cover.

"Toxic, poisonous! Don't rub it! Don't rub it!"

One by one, these phantoms of the dead were caught one after another, and then they couldn't stand the play of these strong mushrooms, howled and exploded into pieces.

The old goblin jumped up excitedly, controlled his 'mount', and rushed over to **** the shattered phantoms of the dead into the snail shell.

After a while, all the phantoms of the dead disappeared, and the sturdy mushrooms took root in place, and the muscular arms crossed their chests calmly.

Mushroom faces that were originally blurry, twisted and changed into Kiel's appearance one after another.

The old goblin danced and came to the side of Kiel's head lying on the ground, and chirped, as if asking Kiel to open his eyes to see what he was capable of.

However, Keir seemed to have stretched his brows, and fell asleep again in his dream.

After chattering and chirping for a long time, the old goblin realized that Kiel hadn't seen what he had done just now when he saw that Kiel didn't respond.

It disappeared with a bang, but returned to the lady's dream, and went to ask for a reward from Ms. Apolfina.

-

real world.

For a while, Knight Crowe and Knight Rumi did not hear Kiel's uncomfortable humming and the sound of twisting himself in his sleep from the carriage.

Knight Rumi frowned, while Knight Crowe insisted on maintaining a confident face.

The two looked at each other.

"Ask someone to take a look? My armor is too heavy, and I can't get on this little carriage."

Rumi Knight raised his eyebrows and said.

There was nothing wrong with Knight Crowe, and he confidently waved his hand to let him do it.

Soon a guard was called over and jumped into Kiel's carriage, who spontaneously followed the convoy.

Lifting the curtain that covered the hood, he went in to check on Keel who was sleeping.

"My lord, Keir is fine. It's fine. It's just that he sweated a little earlier. It may be because the curtains in the carriage blocked the wind outside, making him a bit stuffy."

The guard jumped down from the carriage and reported to the two knights the odd incident that had led him to do such a thing.

The two looked at each other again.

But this time Knight Crowe puffed up his chest more confidently, raised his chin slightly, and said in a good mood: "Very good, you go down."

When the bewildered guard walked away, Knight Crowe couldn't bear it any longer, and chuckled softly: "How? What did I say, this young man has a firm mind and won't be troubled by these so easily. "

"Yeah, he's going to get through it, and he doesn't need help. But why did I see a bottle of calming potion on your belt?"

Knight Rumi couldn't see Knight Crowe being so arrogant, so he immediately punctured the opponent's backup preparation. In other words, this potion, which can stabilize the mental state of the user, was the main preparation and response plan for Knight Crowe before.

"Ahem. That's what I reserved for myself. Recently, my strength has increased a lot. I need them to stabilize my spirit."

Knight Crowe explained stiffly, and then gently urged the horse: "By the way, I have to lead people out to investigate. You can watch here."

"Don't you want to take a break? All the people who participated last night rested."

"What's the rest? That's where I go. Last year, I participated in the intra-group competition with the Border Knights. In a few days, I was airborne, transferred in the wild, and fought one after another. I didn't even eat a bite. I felt even worse. Didn't sleep at all, won't it affect my winning the championship?"

Knight Crowe said this, and raised the long sword on his waist. This well-made long sword, inlaid with many magic gems, was the prize he won in that competition.

-

Keel woke up in a daze.

He felt sore all over, and he didn't have the relaxed spirit after a normal rest. On the contrary, he felt more tired than before going to bed as soon as possible.

He got out of the carriage and looked up, only to realize that it was already afternoon.

At this time, the army logistics team where the carriage was located was resting in the open space on the side of the road, replenishing water and food for the livestock, and letting the militiamen rest in place.

Looking at the hot sun above his head, Keel felt thirsty for a while, so he found the water jug ​​in the carriage, picked it up and drank half of it in one gulp.

"Phew. Feeling better now."

He heaved a sigh of relief, vaguely unable to remember what happened while sleeping, only the shadows of mushrooms and some people he killed.

But now that the sun was shining, he didn't have the feeling of worry and fear that he had before.

Although he still feels sorry for those members of the Ska Chamber of Commerce who surrendered and was killed, Keir shook his head and decided not to think about those things.

And he vaguely felt that the test arranged for him by Knight Crowe was not good. Even if those merchants forcibly occupied the local village and intercepted the village's taxes, it seemed that they should not be executed in such a violent way.

Because the villagers of Dead Leaf Village were obviously helping the people from the chamber of commerce.

He lowered his head, looked at the hard cowhide gloves on his hands, and shook them, feeling a little bitter in his heart.

Keel stood up suddenly, looked around from the driver's seat, and saw Knight Crowe who was about to lead a small forward force at a glance.

The opponent was wearing heavy armor and riding on a monster-like tall armored horse, very conspicuous.

Next to his carriage, Keir found the horse being fed weeds by Knight Crowe's guard, walked over to thank the guard, turned around and rode on the horse, and prepared to go to Knight Crowe.

"By the way, Keir. Lord Crowe told you to wake up, so go find him. He said he has something to tell you."

The personal guard stopped Keel.

Kiel nodded: "I see, I also happen to have something to ask Sir Knight."

"Walk."

Patting the horse's head and lightly knocking on the horse's belly, the horse moved its hooves obediently and walked forward.

Walking out of the repaired team, Kiel quickly caught up with the Crow Knight team.

"My lord. Here I come."

Keir rode beside Knight Crowe, hit his chest with his fist, and saluted the knight.

Knight Crowe nodded, and said to Kiel: "Are you awake? How about it, is this sleep okay?"

?

Keir was a little puzzled, but he still replied: "I'm not feeling well, I feel a little more tired."

Unexpectedly, Knight Crowe laughed softly: "Haha, your situation is still very good. Most people, after killing so many people overnight, can still fall asleep, because they are already in good psychological quality And you, Joe Keel, can wake up after falling asleep, thinking clearly, and in good spirits, which is beyond most people."

"Well, I read you right. You are a good seedling."

Kiel came back with some recollection: "Master Knight, did you predict what happened last night and what happened just now?"

"I'm not kidding you, Kiel. This is a matter of course. I said it." Knight Crowe turned his head to look at the distant scenery, lush forests and mountains, as well as large fields and villages. There are large and small caravans on the commercial road, travelers on horseback, travelers with luggage on foot, and large flowers blooming beside the commercial road.

"I said it was a test. A test is a test. Do you understand?"

"The test is difficult?" Kiel pursed his lips, looking at Knight Crowe and asked.

"Of course, if it's not difficult, it wouldn't be called a test. Do you think that with the assistance of other militiamen, killing fifty enemies in a battle is a test? No, that's just a prerequisite for the test."

"What kind of test is it? Such a cruel prerequisite?"

Keel jumped out word by word. He looked up and glared at the Klau knight who was higher than him, but because of the cover of the helmet, he could only see the opponent's nose and mouth.

"Huh." Knight Crowe didn't answer Kiel's question directly, but talked about other things instead.

"Kiel, you know my kind of knight. I mean, in the entire kingdom, knights are most likely to die. Under what circumstances?"

Kiel shook his head. Of course he didn't know, but he could guess: "I think it should be when knights fight knights, right? After all, you are so powerful that ordinary soldiers are no match for you. If you meet on the battlefield , the one that can bring danger to the knight should only be the opponent's knight."

Unexpectedly, Knight Crowe waved his hand. He shook his head and said heavily, "No. You guessed wrong. It's a big mistake."

"Huh? How come? It wouldn't be old age, right? Just like the old Gurov knight before, he slowly died of old age on the bed in the retirement manor he carefully prepared for himself."

"Haha, you're pretty good at guessing. But unfortunately, it's not right. Let me tell you, the place where knights die most often is when they deal with all kinds of weird monsters and warcraft that emerge endlessly in the vast land. Of course , and had to include some weirder stuff that's hard to describe with common vocabulary."

He pointed to the mountains in the distance: "Don't look at the peace and tranquility around you, but believe it or not, you climbed a few high mountains toward the inside of the mountain, and entered those ancient mountains that no one has ever been to. Hiding things you never imagined."

"The intelligent non-human race that has never been recorded in the records of race; the terrifying invisible ghost that can kill people invisible; the monster as tall as a hill; there are some powerful monsters that are completely difficult to deal with. There is also an activated forest. , giant rocks that can talk and eat people, soft tentacles with viscous and corrosive acid protruding from the cracks in the ground, huge underground insects that are more numerous than the population of the entire kingdom, and giant man-eating birds that swarm in the sky .”

Knight Crowe talked more and more. Obviously, some of the things in his words were not just casual examples, but most of them were things he had seen and dealt with before.

"Hey, these things are the biggest reason why knights sacrificed, at least in this kingdom under our feet."

Kiel was silent for a while: "So, what does this have to do with my test, my lord?"

"What do you think is most needed in the face of these things? This question is also a test, three chances."

Keir didn't dare to guess wildly, so after thinking for a while, he raised his head and said his first guess: "It's about being alive, it's about the ability to survive. You have to be alive before you can deal with the enemies you mentioned."

"Hehe, it's interesting, but it's not accurate enough, it's too broad."

Keir thought about it for more time, and he continued: "It's the ability to detect. I think knowing the opponent's situation in advance, and our side is prepared for contingencies, so that we have a chance of winning. There is a saying in my hometown, knowing your own Every intelligence with the enemy can achieve victory in every battle."

(Know thyself, ever-victorious.)

"The truth is this, but there are so convenient things in the world, even the great gods of all walks of life, they dare not claim to be omniscient. Omniscient means omnipotent, but there are many gods in this world, and no **** dominates the world. So your guess makes sense, but it's not what I think really affects the death of so many knights in various incidents."

Keir carefully considered what Knight Crowe had said several times before, and then thought of the previous test, his vague dreams, and the feeling after waking up just now.

Then a vague answer appeared on his lips: "Yes, yes."

Knight Crowe turned his head to look at Kiel with encouraging eyes.

"Is it mental calm, and the ability to self-control emotions?" Kiel said what he guessed.

He is not a knight, let alone a particularly good and powerful knight like Crow Knight. He does not have the height of others, so naturally he will not really feel how amazing this kind of calm spirit and ability to control emotions is.

So not sure what to say.

But the result is exactly the opposite. Knight Crowe nodded silently.

"You are right. I have been in the army for more than ten years, and I have personally fought countless difficult enemies. Many of them have died. Those who are stronger than me, those with deeper wealth than my family, and those who are much higher than my family , so many knights have died. And I and other people fought out from the pool of blood, why? Everyone has been writing and exchanging letters over the years, and some people have even sought evidence from various sources, asking the gods, asking the well-known wise men Questions, questions to some well-known heroes of the empire.

The answers are different, but they are more or less related to the importance of calmness of mind and emotions when knights face unknown powerful enemies. "

Knight Crowe lowered his voice when he said this: "The vast majority of knight deaths are related to these. You don't know, although knights are far stronger than ordinary people in terms of physical strength and combat skills, most knights have personality They are perverted, and their spiritual practice is not much better than ordinary people. This has caused them to face all kinds of enemies that they have never faced before, especially some rare and powerful monsters and magical beasts with strange abilities. died at the hands of the enemy."

Kiel listened silently. This was the first time he knew about the powerful enemies and the actual difficulties faced by knights like Claude Knights.

He had always thought that these strong men lived an easy life and had no enemies. Although he was well aware of Knight Lanisa's difficulty in facing the Northland Wolf King, he had always thought that it was just a matter of Knight Lanisa's lack of strength. He never knew that in the eyes of Knight Crowe, all Cavaliers are facing this dilemma.

It's not that the strength is not enough, there are always ways to quickly increase the strength, such as powerful and convenient weapons, and sturdy and easy-to-use armor, or riding beasts that are not as powerful as knights, etc.

Nor is it a matter of intelligence, or in other words, this aspect of intelligence has never existed.

In the vast mountains, in the deep dark forest, on the uninhabited wilderness, and deep in the thick earth, there will be some monsters and warcraft that no one has ever seen before. There is never any intelligence, unless you ask an astrologer to predict today's weather and fortune, otherwise how will you know the strength and capabilities of the new enemy.

Thinking about it this way, the knights can only make sufficient preparations in terms of their own spiritual preparations in addition to material preparations.

-

In the evening, Keir fought hand-to-hand with the idle and boring militia guards in the encampment camp.

This time his shots were faster and fiercer, always attacking the weakest one among the many people surrounding him.

Use the movement of your feet, try not to let yourself be surrounded by people, but face up to three enemies in the front, and don't expose your back to others.

He will first destroy the weakest enemy, and then maintain his fast movement to confuse the enemy's position and prevent them from rushing forward together.

After doing this several times, Kiel let go of the fighting guards one by one, and finally achieved the result of defeating ten guards with his bare hands in one battle.

The militiamen who were not as strong as the guards dared to leave the field, and the guards also showed enough respect for the rapid progress of the young boy Kiel.

They all knew that Keir was selected by the Crowe Knights~www.readwn.com~ but no one had much respect for this lucky young boy. But now Keir not only overthrew them one-to-ten in the fight, but also heard that in a temporary mission last night, Kiel killed fifty enemies by himself.

fifty people.

A lot of people don't get fifty kills in a fight, and Keel not only killed that many, but he did it in a single night fight.

This made some people consciously give up the possibility of winning the battle with Kiel after being fully armed.

You can't fight with your bare hands, and most of the time you can't fight with real weapons.

Keel was sweating all over, took the clear water handed by his companions, and gulped it all down. Most of these people made money buying Kiel to win when he fought.

Keir chuckled, and didn't think it was annoying for these people to be courteous, after all, he didn't reach out to hit the smiling face. Although the other party relied on him to win money on the gambling table, Keir also felt that it was nothing. After all, in the business world where there is no one, there is only this little entertainment at night.

Unlike many merchants traveling on commercial roads, the army does not need to calculate how far it needs to travel every day, and then carefully select a safe place to stay.

They will never have any hard-headed bandits coming to rob them.

In this way, the combined caravans who followed the Kendall County Army also camped and rested in the deserted places with the troops from the same country boldly and reassuringly.

"Keil, Knight Crowe has something to do with you. Let you go there."

A personal guard came over and told him not to leave, and turned to watch Kiel, who was fighting with his bare hands.

Keel nodded, knowing what was going on.

He had passed the test, the one that Crow Knight felt was the most important. So it was agreed during the day that the knight will officially lead him into the road of knight tonight.