Mercenaries and Adventurers

Keir smiled and waved to his horse: "Come on, it's time for you to contribute."

The young man next to him who was planning to pull the heavy tree trunk himself realized that Kiel was willing to let his horse help pull the tree trunk together.

Many people were a little surprised that Kiel felled the tree himself, but they didn't expect that Kiel, a young knight master, could really do things with his hands instead of lashing them with a whip to show his authority and status.

The blood licking grass excitedly approached, and then was greeted by Kiel to let the young man put a thick rope around the horse's neck and saddle, and then prepare to tie it to the tree trunk.

Near one end of the trunk, young men who had already been felled cut out grooves on the trunk sideways for tying ropes. Then the thick rope was spun through and tied a few times, and it was firmly fixed.

"Come on, you push the trunk in the back, and I'll let my horse pull it in the front!"

Kiel said so, except for the young people holding a bunch of scattered branches in their hands, the other empty-handed people gathered in the middle and back of the trunk, leaning sideways to support the mottled bark on the trunk, waiting for the knight's horse pull.

Kiel stood on the horse's head, stretched out his hand and pulled the rein to signal forward: "Lick the blood grass, go, go forward!"

The horse is very human, immediately took a step, pulling the rope forward.

The rope was straightened immediately, and then the heavy tree trunk that fell made a creaking sound and slowly moved forward.

It wasn't that the horses were weak, but that the resistance here was the greatest at the beginning. When the big tree fell, it made a groove, and the ground was soft, so the resistance was great. It should be much better when you get out of the forest.

"Push hard! Hard!"

Kiel called to the ten men at the edge of the tree trunk behind him. Only then did the young men yell and push with all their might.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Push—!"

As everyone exerted their strength, the movement of the tree trunk accelerated, and everyone pushed the tree trunk and slowly walked out of the forest.

Keel saw a few people picking up the fallen branches at the place just now, so he let go of the reins and let the horses pull to the previous clearing, while he walked back and urged the stranded people to keep up with the team: "Don't stay here. We're here, everyone is far away, keep up! Be careful there are monsters in the forest, it's okay when there are many people, but once there are fewer people, maybe they will jump out and eat people."

These threatening words, Kiel himself heard a little funny, but it frightened these young people, so he immediately ran out staggeringly with a large pile of branches in his arms, following the crowd.

Keir was at the end of the team, looking at the deep woods, chuckled, turned his head and walked away.

-

"Brother, the guy in the armor won't find the two of us?"

Behind the undergrowth deeper in the woods, two people wearing colorful animal skins were lying on the ground. Because of the brown-black animal skins they were wearing, they were lying on the ground, almost blending with the rotting leaves on the ground.

Without speaking, no one would have expected that there were still two people here.

"Keep your voice down, if you can't see it, follow up."

The other person responded in a low voice, and then crawled and moved his body. His limbs collided and squeezed slightly with the soft and wet dead branches and leaves on the ground, and there was a slight gargling sound.

The one in front moved, and the one in the back followed the path of the person in front and continued to crawl. The two were like vigilant wild mice, moving carefully, turning their heads three times at a step.

One has to be careful, the woods near the mountains are not only dangerous from the targets themselves, but also from all kinds of dangerous and strange things in the mud and above the head.

The two quietly followed Kiel, who was in the rear, to the edge of the forest.

The two of them no longer moved outside, but squatted in the lush bushes that could hide their figures, and slightly moved the branches of the bushes, revealing two pairs of cruel and vigilant eyes, watching the logger go away.

"The blue ax must be a good thing. The forest guard trees growing on the edge of the forest are so dense and tough that they can be chopped down in a few strokes. It is estimated that they can be sold for a lot of money."

"Well, the other things look good, not to mention other people, just selling this guy's equipment, our team can eat enough for a year without busy work."

"Do you want to?"

"What are you thinking! Only 20 of us can take down that person? Go back first, explain the situation to the boss, and see if we can join other teams that have all been lost recently. Let's work together to attack him. .”

"The big ones? Just those poor refugees with only bones and flesh left? They have already drawn money when they went to the checkpoint, so how much money can they have?"

"You don't know this. I heard from the boss that there is a secret news in the east. Recruiting people, no, accepting people, one silver coin per person, these refugees, where are they, they are all long-legged people who can walk Coins."

"Really? Then what are you waiting for? Go back to the temporary camp. Let's tie up more than a dozen people each tonight. The money and the future will be settled!"

After the rustling two people finished discussing in the bushes, they quietly retreated back to the woods. After they could no longer see the scene outside the woods, they crawled up and down, first hunched over and walked quickly, then they got up and ran quickly He ran towards a raised hill not far from the ups and downs.

It was the place with the best view nearby, and it was the temporary camp where their gang used to 'hunt' every time.

The distance was not far, and the two quickly ran over.

Before approaching, they slowed down their pace. On the road close to the top of the hill, relying on a set of patterns on the trunks of the surrounding trees that only they knew, turned left and right to avoid some traps laid in advance, and then came to camp.

It is said to be a camp, but it is actually just a low cave specially excavated on the top of a small mountain.

The narrow entrance of the cave even has a net tied with many dead branches and leaves. The net blocks the entrance of the cave, and the naked eye cannot see the mystery behind the net.

They threw back the nets, and behind them sat a guard with a long sword on his lap.

They are all a family. Although they have different responsibilities, they are familiar with each other. The two people who entered and the guards nodded to each other.

"Looking at the hurrying looks of the two, there is a large group of people staying in the open space on the roadside in the distance, is there any goods?"

asked the guard.

They are all from their own family, so there is no need to hide it, so the two detectives in charge of the investigation nodded. They pulled off the colorful cloth towels covering their faces, and replied affirmatively: "Not only are there goods, but there is a guy inside. We can eat all the equipment if we sell it." One year. The others are refugees who were released some time ago and returned. Although it is estimated that the poor are only skin and flesh, there are also people in the east who are collecting this, and it is all money."

"Hey, if the news had spread earlier, we would have stopped those refugees before they went to the checkpoint, stripped them of their belongings, and sold everything they brought with them. These days it wouldn't be such a hassle."

The guard answered: "Who said it wasn't. Go in quickly."

The guard sat without moving, and the long sword in his hand was not out of the sheath. He pointed to the low cave passage behind him, and the two scouts sneaked in skillfully.

The channel with mud mixed with rocks tilted and twisted all the way down, and when it reached the bottom, the terrain opened up, and a hole the size of a house appeared here.

There was no torch lighting inside, but relying on some cracks in the roof of the cave, and a few beams of light coming in from the cliff on the side of the small mountain as lighting.

The smell inside is bad, the excrement is mixed with the smell of body odor and the smell of smelly boots and smelly feet. The two people who just returned from the outside were overwhelmed by the smell, and after a while, they bypassed the wooden bed set up in the narrow cave and a hammock, to the only wooden chair with a backrest.

The leader of this gang of bandits is sitting here, with a small table propped in front of the chair, on which is a detailed map of the vicinity. There are also some colorful wooden chess pieces placed on the map to observe the situation.

As soon as the two arrived, their leader looked up from the map.

"How is it? Can you see anything when you get closer? Who is it, what is the situation, is it fat?"

The two investigators immediately half-kneeled on the ground, lowered their heads and replied to their boss: "We hid in the big tree by the road in advance, and in the woods where those people stopped logging later, and looked carefully."

"Most of them are the fleeing villagers who received money to let them go. This time, I don't know why a large group of young people came out together and walked eastward. Among them, two people took the lead. One was a young priest of the church. Although I can't see it clearly from a little distance, I can roughly confirm that it is a member of the Saturnalia Church. He is riding a horse, and his clothes are not the same as those of the ordinary Saturnalia Church, and he is carrying a glowing staff."

"The other leader is wearing a suit of armor, which is tightly wrapped, but it doesn't look like a knight lord or the like. The armor is neither gorgeous nor heavy, and the horse is an ordinary prairie horse. Boss, but this warrior What kind of person, not only is he wearing metal armor, but he also has a blue axe, the kind that can emit light, it looks unusual."

"what else?"

"Boss, is there someone taking people from the east? Isn't it just those poor, jingling refugees?"

Faced with the 'hint' from his subordinates, the bandit leader snorted and said, "The refugees with more than five hundred people are five hundred pigs and sheep. We can't catch them all. They all ran away."

The two scouts became sluggish when they heard it, as if the money they got was about to run away.

"but."

After a short cry, the spirit of the people was raised again: "Boss, don't hang us up, come up with an idea! The life of the brothers depends entirely on you!"

While talking, two women's cries of pain came from the narrow wooden bed not far away, and it was also accompanied by the laughter and beating of several young robbers.

The bandit leader's face changed, he turned his head to look at the place where the sound came from with a cold face, and shouted loudly: "Pay attention, don't play %￥%￥ to death. After all, we got the money and goods before. The maids in the hotel I often go to, before you were very flattering to the baby, now you are doing this, what about your face? You have no face but you are driven by the middle leg, I still want to show face! If you are dead, you give it to the brothers How are you playing?"

The last sentence of questioning was quite lethal, and in the depths of the closely arranged wooden beds, the noisy movement immediately became quieter. Soon, a few smiling young bandits walked over with their animal skin pants on, half kneeling on the ground to complain and apologize to the bandit leader.

These young people are also afraid. After all, they understand that the bandit brothers who live in the same cave seem to have a good relationship, but if the boss really orders punishment, the rest of the gang will not mind whether they are male or female. .

A bunch of people, after night, brother? Take a photo brother!

-

After dealing with a few young bandits who had joined for less than two years, the bandit leader went on to say: "However, if we join forces with several other gangs, it is not impossible to catch them all. And two of those people sound difficult." The guy who gnaws can just be pushed to other gangs to take action, let's cut it off according to the situation, refugees are worthless silver coins, valuable weapons and equipment are also money, and may even be more valuable."

The leader stretched out his hand and shook it: "I want it!"

The two scouting bandits and the young bandits who were kneeling together cheered with the atmosphere of cooperation. The whole gang was established by the bandit leader, so if you curry favor with this guy, you can get more benefits from the gang.

For money and other benefits, not to mention flattering the leader, even kneeling down to lick the leader's stinky boots like this, everyone in the gang can't do it.

"In that case." The bandit leader looked up at the light gaps in the rock wall that provided lighting in the cave, and judged the current time based on his experience.

"In this case, the action of contacting has to be started now. It's just right, you guys." Several young bandits who were spotted by the bandit leader immediately raised their heads, puffed out their chests, and showed a fierce and capable expression.

"You guys take a trip, go here, here, here, and here. Four nearby places, look for the gang members there, and inform them to take action together tonight, and see how hard this gang of fat sheep can get their mouths Swallow them all. Remember, explain to their boss that tonight each act according to his ability, don't %￥% hold back others, the refugees who let go are not human beings, but white silver coins! Remember it?"

Several young people immediately nodded their heads: "Remember, each should rely on his own abilities. Don't hold back. Refugees are money."

The bandit leader waved his hand: "Okay, each choose a nearby gang site, let's go quickly, we are going to have a big fight tonight! Hahahaha."

The bandit leader smiled, and the others immediately returned their smiles, but this time, the smiles were all from the heart of these bastards, happy smiles, proud smiles, and rewarding smiles.

Not far away, on the wooden bed in the dark part of the cave, two naked former hotel maids were sobbing softly and shivering into a ball. They never imagined that the few poor young people who were looked down upon in the hotel before turned out to be like this.

Not only that, the healthy-looking middle-aged man who often came to the hotel to spend money and meet foreigners and merchants turned out to be the leader of a bandit den so close to their hotel.

A few young robbers who had just bullied them came quickly to the bed, excitedly picked up the weapons and equipment that had fallen under the bed, without even looking at the two maids, after quickly tidying up, they left the cave excitedly .

-

After the feeling of being watched disappeared, Kiel, who was at the back of the team, strode to catch up with the others who had gone far ahead.

He estimated the possibility of being attacked tonight, but he didn't expect to hear words that made him feel excited from the worried Batar priest after returning to the open space for the night.

"Keil, that companion of yours said that something is wrong in the distant woods across the creek. It seems, it seems."

Keel continued: "It seems that someone or a beast is in the woods, right? Relax, think about it, if it's in the opposite forest." Keel pointed to the opposite forest.

"If there are real people or beasts and monsters in the woods, they might all be people, or all beasts or monsters. Right? After all, the forest hides people and beasts and monsters together, and they can fight on their own. Haha."

"You can still laugh. Tell me, what are your plans?"

Priest Batar looked nervous, and pulled Kiel to the side of the carriage. There were no refugee young people near Kiel's carriage, so it was appropriate to speak here.

Kiel took off the metal helmet on his head and hung it around his waist, then carefully scratched the hair on the top of his head with his fingers wearing steel gloves: "It's nothing, I just think tonight might be a good opportunity to give these gangs a chance to fight with bare hands." young people with weapons and equipment. After all, if they want to help them, they have to have something at hand, right? But with so many people, it is impossible for us, you and me, to make this fated fortune The cost of weapons and equipment."

"Hmph, I can't afford the money if I sell you. And I, to be honest, I'll help you. Although I have some ideas of helping justice, I'm still in it for the sake of profit. For these~ www.readwn.com~ Kiel said here, pointing to where the blessings on the two of them are: "For these and those, it is impossible to post your own wealth, right? And I'm not that rich either. "

Here Kiel turned his head to the side, not daring to speak into Priest Batar's eyes.

But it looked like he was lying, but Priest Batar felt that there was nothing wrong with what Kier said. Although Kier was equipped with good equipment, it was impossible for him to spend a lot of money to arm these eight people. More than a hundred young refugees.

What do you think, an armed force of this scale must at least be armed and supported by a knight lord.

A young man like Kiel, who is training as a knight and has not yet been awarded a territory by the nobles, is still far behind.

But Keir remembered the many elven silver plates in the dream provided by the lady.

A palm-sized silver plate contains hundreds or even more silver coins.

After all, silver plates are made of pure silver, and silver coins, including gold coins, copper coins, and iron coins, are said to contain metal mixed with other materials in order to circulate as coins.

Precious metals are relatively soft, so it is necessary to add metals that can increase the hardness to reinforce them. Copper, iron and base metals are easy to change (oxidize), so metals that can improve rust resistance should be added to reinforce them.

In addition, in order to reduce the use of precious gold and silver in minting coins, the purity of the circulating gold and silver coins is not consistent.

What Kiel didn't know was that in order to be able to trade with the neighboring empires, the Kingdom of St. Holes not only made the kingdom's coins in the same shape as the empire, but even tried to keep the gold and silver ratio as consistent as possible with the empire's standards.

However, the precious coins of the empire are often of varying purity, and they are not even as good as the coins of the Kingdom of St. Hoss.