Mercenaries and Adventurers

It was getting dark quickly, and everyone didn't have much strict discipline. The young people who had experienced the fighting and fighting last night had already realized what this cruel world was like. , everyone showed a smile.

Some particularly lively young people sang songs and danced around the fire.

Even though he looked exhausted before, after the dancing posture was shown, his energy seemed to fill his body again all of a sudden.

Most of them can only do simple country dances, stomp their feet, hold the hands of their partners, lift their legs forward together and kick back and forth, or they all laugh and turn around and exchange partners.

There are not many dance rules, and you can be free and indulgent.

Some young guys who fought bravely last night were especially welcomed by the girls in the team. With the warm barley porridge, everyone ate and drank enough to rejoice on a village-by-village team scale.

"The bluetail flower is not as fragrant as your body."

"Butterflies always fly around you, too."

"The bees are also drunk this spring, collecting the sweat and tears of every girl."

"And I bravely take honey, just want to taste the sweet and greasy taste with your taste."

"Please don't be shy, the reddest flower is not as high as your cheek."

"Please don't be shy, the most beautiful flower is not as good as your cheek."

"Your cheek."

Blood Yaster didn't know when, but he also showed his singing voice beside a fire. Although he couldn't sing well, his singing level was already higher than those around him.

Kiel smiled, at the moment he was sitting by the fire next to his carriage, relying on the lighting of the fire, carefully wiped his armor with a damp cloth, then removed the moisture with a dry cloth, and then oiled the armor.

If he came across scratches on the armor that were hit by the arrows of the robbers last night, he would take out a small metal hammer and tap on the slightly damaged places.

But if the scar is too big, he can't handle it, and it must be handed over to a professional blacksmith.

Repairing armor damage does not require a professional armor craftsman like Ganner, an ordinary blacksmith is roughly enough. But ordinary blacksmiths can barely maintain metal armor. It is difficult for these people to make one from scratch, and many people have not received professional training.

The ring mail made of similar metal rings does not require the skills of craftsmen, and craftsmen who can make iron nails can generally make this thing.

However, ring mail is time-consuming and labor-intensive. It takes half a year for a blacksmith to make a ring mail, which leads to the limitation of this kind of defense. The light metal armor that is easy to damage can only be prepared for rich and leisure fighters who do not have the strength of knights. .

Formal knights are all using powerful knight armor, the lightest of which is close to a hundred kilograms, and ordinary people cannot use it at all.

After a while, priest Batar wiped the sweat from his brow and walked over amidst the sound of singing and dancing deliberately induced by others.

He sat down on Kiel's narration regardless of his image, panting: "Your method is not bad, everyone finally got emotional. Change the atmosphere of confusion and silence in the afternoon."

"It's not important, small things, come, come and see, my plan."

Kiel moved his metal breastplate to the ground between the two of them, using it as a low table.

Then he took out a map.

The map is unfolded, with writing and drawing on it, marking a lot of marks and text phrase descriptions.

Priest Batar quickly followed Kiel's fingers and found the Whitestone City Wall checkpoint and their location.

After a small distance to the east from the checkpoint, Kiel drew a red cross: "This is where the battle last night was." He explained.

Then Keir went a little further east and clicked here: "This is where we are now."

There are still a few small red dots around them: "This is the place where several bandit lairs were wiped out last night."

Kiel followed the two dotted-line marked commercial roads all the way to the east: "According to the current speed, of course, it may be a little faster, we can walk for three more days, and we will be able to get out of the gap between the north and the south of the mountain range. Then you can see the first town—Dorne Town on the barely open land.”

"You've been there, right? How was it?"

Facing Kiel's question, Batal replied directly: "It's not that good. It's a smelly, dirty and chaotic little place. It's not a big place, but there are a lot of jerks. When I passed by there, I couldn't stand it. It can only be said that the rotten guys who gave up being bandits on this commercial road are probably gathered in that place at this time."

Kiel rubbed his chin: "Well, I probably understand, what about the others? Who is the ruler? What is the population and what is the local industry like?"

Priest Batar rolled his eyes: "Let me think about it, hey, I don't want to recall that kind of bad place. I remember that there is no main ruler in the local area, and it is under the management of a local baron in name, but the other party also knows the history of this place. It’s special, so I didn’t directly intervene in the management, but delegated the local management power to several large chambers of commerce. The nobles only need the taxes paid by the other party, and don’t care about the rest.”

The priest complained: "Let the black market be everywhere in that place, prostitutes and gambling halls are everywhere. Many businessmen are there legal and illegal, and they do everything. The population is about 2,000 people, and there are still some kinds of people around. People from the local area, I remember that there is also a special farm, raising chickens to produce eggs for meat consumption in the town."

"Industry? You can imagine it, Kiel. You copy the Whitestone City Wall level, then remove the soldiers stationed there, and double the chaos. Dorne Town is almost like that."

Keir nodded: "It looks like a good place with a lot of wealth?"

The priest shook his head: "From the perspective of the Church of the God of Wealth, it is a good place. But if you look at it from the perspective of a priest of the Church of the God of Saturn, the place is terrible. The farmers around the town who farm and raise animals, They don't live off it, they're debtors forced to work. It sucks."

"Oh, debtors? Then they probably will never pay off their debts. After all, they have just paid off their debts, and they will probably owe a lot of money to go to the cannibal gambling table in the town."

Kiel stretched out both hands, and raised his left hand: "Desires, all kinds of desires that lead people to fall."

Right hand raised: "Labor in debt, almost endless labor for free."

Clenched both hands together: "The combination of the two, ordinary people will only sink deeper and deeper, and they will not be able to escape, and they are not willing to be 'rescued' by others."

Priest Batar let out a sigh of relief: "Who says it's not."

After being silent for a while, Kiel continued to point to the location of Dorne Town and moved towards the southeast. He slid his finger across the map, passing several towns and a city along the secondary branch trade road, and there was only one point sporadically. Indicates the village.

Finally, on this map of the Western Region of the Southern Province, a place near the southeastern border mountains, there is a small red dot next to a name—Longmai.

That is Changmai Village.

It looks very remote, and in terms of distance, it is not far from the border front line where the southern provincial army was defeated last year.

It's just that Changmai Village lies on the border of the map next to a mountain range, which is a wide mountain range facing southwest-northeast.

It seems that the straight-line distance on the map is very close, but if you don't actually plan to cross the mountains, the actual distance is very long, and even that distance can directly reach the capital of the southern province.

Kiel said: "To be honest, in this way, considering that after the rescue of the population of Changmai Village, it is no longer easy to resettle in the burned Changmai Village. I plan to take the young refugees around me and find a suitable place to live. The villages where no one has fled have settled down."

"Most of these people around are placed there. Let's take a small number of those who can fight, and then go to Changmai Village. From there, we will start looking for traces of the retreat of the defeated army that robbed the population, find a place, and break there. Then we will bring the rescued people Return to a safe place. The people of Changmai Village live together with these young refugees."

"In this way, as a priest, you can also have a supporter in your hands. Instead of the so-called 'believers' who are difficult to distinguish between true and false."

Priest Batar pursed his lips, knowing that Kiel saw through that many believers did not really believe in Saturn, and those people just relied on his identity to get rid of danger and gain a false sense of security from being together.

The priest still reminded: "Don't say this everywhere. If you don't say that everyone knows it, but you can still maintain it. If you say it, some people who could really convert into believers will run away. There are no people under my command." People are uh."

Keir smiled and waved his hands: "I won't make trouble for you, don't worry. Anyway, this is roughly the process, how is it? Do you have anything to add?"

After listening, the priest lowered his head and looked at the complicated map carefully. After looking at it for a while, he said, "So, the only problem is a safe settlement that can avoid the chaotic period in the next few years." , where should I choose?"

The priest scanned most of the map with his finger: "Even Changmai Village will be attacked, plus many whole villages have fled to escape the chaotic countryside. I feel that unless a town or city is willing to accept us, nowhere is safe. I I know that the village will definitely train some village militiamen who are willing to fight and protect themselves, but the bad guys also have legs on their feet, and they will continue to attack my village, which is not as defensive as a town. And the bad guys also have ears and mouths, They will unite, just like last night, discuss how to divide up the wealth and lives of these innocent people, and then attack together."

Priest Batar looked downcast, and flicked his fingers on the map: "I can't find a place that looks safe. There are naturally many bad guys and bandits near cities and towns, and abandoned villages have their own reasons for fleeing and abandoning. There will always be people watching."

Kiel nodded: "So this is a question worth discussing. I'm not familiar with your land. The method and plan have been proposed, and the rest is to find a suitable place."

Keir scratched the itchy back of his neck: "Why don't we find some reliable people and discuss it together?"

The priest wondered: "Who are reliable people?"

Keir stood up and called a young man with quick legs who was listening to his orders from a nearby fire: "Go, call the four guys under my hands, and just say I called you."

This young man was about the same age as Kiel, only sixteen or seventeen years old, but there was a huge difference in height and weight, probably only reaching Kiel's chest. He nodded continuously, remembering what the knight had explained.

"Well, call Nobi Fentiga, the rescued old businessman. Lothar, do you want to call Ms. Feneya?"

The priest quickly refused and waved his hand: "Forget it, this one listens to you, she will probably leave in Dorne Town, it is better not to involve this person."

"Well, in this way, you will end up with Lon Barford, the middle-aged businessman who was in charge of distributing everyone's cargo before, you know this person?"

The young man nodded. He didn't remember the name Kiel said, but the characteristics of the person he was looking for. For example, the old businessmen among the rescued people, and the middle-aged businessmen who assigned and managed the transportation.

"These people, call Blood Yaster over again, tell him not to sing idlely, and come over to discuss things, go."

Kiel waved his hand, and the young man got the order, turned and ran away to call someone.

"In this way, let's briefly explain the matter to everyone, and let everyone discuss and discuss a safe place. These people are either experienced caravan guards who have traveled far and wide, or are the original villagers in this area, or are middle-aged backbones. A businessman, and an old and experienced businessman. The understanding of the region must be higher than the two of us."

Keir smiled and pointed to the priest and himself: "After all, one of us is a foreigner, and the other is a resident priest in the most remote village in the area."

Priest Batar curled his lips and retorted: "Although Changmai Village is remote, it is not small in scale. The village has a large population, and it is stronger than many fleeing villages as a whole. You know, if it was not attacked by the defeated army that suddenly appeared , just based on the defense and population of our village, ordinary bandits are no match for us at all."

"Yes, yes, yes, that's right." Keel said perfunctorily.

Priest Batar thinks Keir is mocking him, but he has no proof.

-

After a while, the people who were called came over one after another.

They came one by one, and Kiel arranged to sit together, and then Kiel briefly told these people the current situation. After the plan, I didn't say much about Changmai Village, but I found a place that could avoid the chaotic situation in the southern province for a long time, safely and stably, but clearly informed everyone.

Bloodfang was the first to arrive. After he came, he observed the map spread out on the metal breastplate for a while. After asking what the marks on the map meant, he pointed to one of the places and said: " How is this place?"

The knights and priests poked their heads over to look, and found that Bloodfang was pointing at a place close to this area, the only place that could be regarded as a big city-Belisfal City, and a small plain area nearby.

As I said before, there are large mountains on the west, south, and east sides of the southern province. On the whole, there are no large mountains in the province to block and divide the entire region. But there are no big ones, and there are quite a few other small mountains and forests. Not only that, but also the large and small rivers that rely on the mountains have also divided the originally vast southern provinces into small pieces of small plains along the rivers.

Many towns and villages rely on those modest plain areas to produce food crops to feed the population.

Therefore, if a city has a large population, there must be a plain area around it that can satisfy the urban population.

This is the case with the city of Belizefa. It is surrounded by a relatively wide grain-producing plain that is nourished and divided by multiple rivers.

Logically speaking, not to mention the surrounding villages where a large number of farmers lived, at least there must be many similar villages on the entire plain.

Especially with the protection of city guards in big cities, the law and order there should be very good?

While Keir and Batar were analyzing the reasons for choosing this place given by Bloody Gaster, the middle-aged businessman, Lon Barford, walked over quickly, and after figuring out what he was going to do, he proceeded secretly. Denied reminder.

"Ahem, around Borisfa City, before I was captured by the bandits, I just escaped from there with a caravan."

"Escaped? Did something happen there?"

Priest Batar immediately asked with concern that there was a relatively large parish of the Saturnalia Church in that city, and it was there that he spent nearly twenty years before growing up.

In other words, Priest Lothar Batar, not to mention his blood origin, is himself a native of Belizefa.

However, he always thought that it was safe there. When he set off from Changmai Village, he hadn't passed by here, so he hadn't heard any news about Borisfa City for several years, let alone the latest news.

Long Barford blinked his eyes, coughed lightly and said: "Last winter, that is, last season, most of the army in the city of Beresfa was taken away by the Viscount Beresfa. My lord's army has suffered losses in last year's war. As you know, most of the army has been emptied, and the city has increased the collection of food. Well, the collection has more than tripled. Although it is said to be compensated, And after defeating the enemy, there will also be tax reductions.”

The old businessman also came over, along with the four refugee leaders who commanded all the young refugees who could fight.

The old businessman shook his head: "I heard, I just heard that the neighboring country, that is, the country that is fighting, sent someone to release the news that the Viscount Beresfa had a duel with someone in the provincial capital here, and died in the Outside. Heh, the demand for food requisition in Bolisifa City is all fake. It is all fabricated by some people for profit. The food requisition is real, but it is not necessarily used for the consumption of the army, UU Reading www.uukanshu.com will be resold to other places in the southern province that lack food due to chaos. After all, the price of food is very high now."

A young man wearing a damaged simple leather armor took the words: "My village is adjacent to the area where the city of Bliss is located. I heard that even the compensation and tax relief are fake. The local village that feels cheated is surrounded The whole city is asking for a letter from the viscount family of the city to see if there are any of those things."

The old businessman tapped himself on the back, shook his head and said: "The reason why the rumors of the enemy country can incite a large number of farmers to surround the city is because the rumors are not all false. Some are true, some are false; half are true, and half are false. ; Most of them are true, some of them are half false; even all of them are true, but they will only say part of the truth in the process of mutual rumors, but it is not good for the situation."

"In fact, these are not problems. The key problem is that there are few armed people in the urban army. It is precisely because of the small number of people that they dare not send people to dispel rumors in chaotic situations and contact calm farmers. Because compared with other people, the noble families in the city Safety is the most important thing.”

"The situation is chaotic and stalemate. We are all waiting for Viscount Borisfa to return from the provincial capital to lead the army to explain clearly."

Kiel opened his eyes wide: "The viscount is not dead?"

The old businessman smiled: "Everything is said to be rumors. Even if he really died, there is still a noble heir. The key is that the army is fine. But in this way, some rumors passed on will mess everything up After the assembled army set off to the place, they had to return, not to mention the consumption and involvement of going back and forth, it is the front line where your southern army is confronting each other, without such a few people, what do other nobles think?"

Keir clicked his mouth: "It's amazing, no wonder there was a fiasco last year."