Mercenaries and Adventurers

"I'm from the Union Kingdom in the south. I wonder if you know that place?"

Will looked up and asked.

The old businessman nodded: "When I was young, I went there a few times. Ah, it is a rich place full of wealth! It's just that the place is too noisy, and people are quite conservative in every city and place, and often look down on other cities. Man is the enemy."

After he finished speaking, he shook his head, thinking that the people there don't have to be like this.

The boy Bobo, who supported the old businessman, said, "I've been there once! Follow the big boat on the river and we'll be there soon! It's just that it took a long time to come back."

Keir coughed in embarrassment: "I only heard a song from the south in the stories told by the bards. I remember it was called "Evening Birds" or something. Understand, Kendall County is in the kingdom after all. The Northwest Province, this time through the entire kingdom from north to south, is already the farthest road I have traveled.”

Everyone present understood this, so Will went on to explain.

"It is said to be a kingdom, but in fact the king of the alliance doesn't care. It is a symbolic status. Most of the power of the kingdom is in the hands of the 30 big families that control the town. Everything is discussed in the parliament. And I am from one of the families."

Speaking of this, Will sighed heavily: "Now, I should be one of the few remaining members of the family."

Both the old businessman and Kiel took a deep breath. The meaning of this was self-evident. No wonder the survivors of the exterminated family would bring danger just by knowing the news.

Kiel rolled his eyes and made a joke: "Ha, a noble son in distress? Looking at your face, it looks quite similar. I think bards should be very excited to know the news, right? It's a pity We don't have a bard in our ranks, or your experience might be the classic beginning of a volume of adventure poetry, or a drama of your prince's distress!"

Will, who was ridiculed like this, was no longer angry, and even said in a low voice with self-deprecation: "Who said it wasn't? I never thought those classic dramas were interesting before. They were mostly places and conversation tools for elders to connect with each other. Wait until When I was deeply involved in the drama, I realized the taste of fate in it."

He smacked his mouth and frowned, obviously this feeling is not good, the pressure can drive a young man crazy.

"Then what is your family name? Will, what should we call you? Or, can we know your full name?" The old businessman raised his hand and patted Will, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, on the shoulder. Of course, he Be careful not to touch the wound on Will's shoulder.

"Will Guntenil, this is my name. I am a member of the Guntenil family, the ruling family of Stone Spire City and Purple Wheat City in the original alliance kingdom. Hey, a few years ago, I was in the kingdom I will learn advanced swordsmanship in the swordsman academy, and wait for the academy and family to train me to be a guard knight who specializes in melee combat."

He paused: "Just like in the classic story, a premeditated attack attacked my family. I don't know how many enemies there are in the family, but at least they came to the academy to attack me and my brothers in the family There are no less than five families who belong to the sisters. They first conspired to trick us out of the academy, but they were spotted by the teachers of the academy."

"And then? Why are you alone?" Keel asked.

Will pursed his lips, and clenched his fist tightly with his right hand: "In order to get rid of the young people of our families, they even obtained a document from the kingdom's parliament to lead troops into the swordsman academy In order to protect us and defend the dignity of the college, the teachers have been protecting us from the college and fleeing for our lives. Everyone died, and many teachers were knocked down and captured. I took the risk and forcibly climbed up Only a traveling griffin that took off escaped capture."

"A griffin? I've seen a griffin before. It's really big and mighty!" Keel praised.

On the contrary, Will blushed, and after hesitating for a moment, he reluctantly explained: "I didn't ride on the back of the griffin, but put it on the giant claw of the griffin with a belt, and was taken away secretly. After flying for a day The knight driving the griffin found me frozen. Fortunately, he didn't throw me directly from the sky. After interrogating me, he temporarily landed the griffin in the wilderness of the kingdom. paid me a sum of money and then let me go."

The old businessman nodded: "This is a Griffin Knight with a heart of justice. He can hand you over to other families who deal with your family in exchange for a large reward, but the other party does not. Even if you do so A knight would be suspected, and a great deal of trouble would ensue."

Will nodded, obviously he understood the reason and the knight's help.

"So, you fled all the way north and came to the Kingdom of St. Hollys?" Kiel continued.

Will sighed and complained: "Your Excellency, please don't use the word escape, is it okay? Although I was hunted continuously at that time, as I said before, the Kingdom of the Confederacy is a place actually ruled by dozens of families. I Although the enemy is powerful and sinister, the actual sphere of influence is mostly limited to one place. As long as I don't reveal my family name, there is no need to 'flee'."

Kiel snorted: "Then why don't you hide your surname, gather strength from the family territory or from other families that have good relations with your family, and then try to fight back? Why don't you run here?"

"Because they shamelessly used a large amount of money and promises to reward every last remaining member of the family!"

Will also went all out. He raised his head and said, "My head can be exchanged for thousands of gold coins from our place, or the century-old rule of a village. Do you understand?"

"Aren't you afraid that I will exchange your head for money?" Kiel joked with a smile.

Will glanced at Keir: "Speaking of this, I believe that you will not do this. You are a local knight of the Kingdom of St. Halls, and there is no need to take risks for the 'reward' of a kingdom far away. After all The distance between the two places is so far, and several years have passed, no one knows whether the previous promises and 'rewards' will be recognized."

The old businessman added: "Besides, when you go to a distant and strange place, it's hard to say that the other party will take the benefits and give a foreigner all the bounty as promised. You know, those people only need to confirm whether Will is dead, it's hard to say After receiving news of his death confirmation, he will honestly repay the original promise."

He turned his head and said to the young man beside him: "This is also a difficulty in conducting long-distance business and trade. When doing business, if the distance is increased by one noble territory, the risk will be multiplied, but the money earned will not be multiplied." Yes. You have to pay attention when you grow up, and pay attention to choosing one of the balance points."

The boy nodded, indicating that he remembered.

Having said that, the conversation is basically over. Keir said that Will will be recuperated first, and then he will be allowed to participate in the battle to protect the refugee team.

"Master Knight." Will glanced at the old businessman, who nodded encouragingly.

So he summoned up his courage and continued, "Master Knight, I will help protect the refugee team, but I hope to be by your side and fight together."

Keel glanced at the other party and immediately understood what Will meant. He smiled: "I am from Kendall, and I originally followed Baron Kendall to participate in the border war in the southern province. If you follow me, may you die on the battlefield?"

"That's because I'm not capable enough. It's my own business to die on the battlefield!" Will also went all out, and the opportunity was right in front of him, and he didn't want to miss it again. Just like what the old businessman told him last night, blindly escaping and fleeing will only end up dying in obscurity in a remote place far away from home. If you want to go back to your hometown for revenge, you must have power, the power to revenge.

Kiel was actually a little worried. After all, his identity was not that of a young knight from the north as claimed by the refugee team. In fact, he had just stepped into the road of knighthood not long ago. In terms of social status, he was actually just a knight attendant of Knight Crowe. Learn knight skills from Knight Crowe.

He himself is still a second sword, and he has no ability to teach others.

If this Will had been following him, he might be disappointed when Kiel returned to Kendall's army.

But Keir thought about it again, maybe the other party would not be disappointed, but would use Keir himself as a stepping stone? Thinking about it this way, Keel felt a lot easier.

"Okay, then you are my companion now." Keir stretched out his right hand, clasped it with Will's right hand who was sitting on the ground, and pulled him up.

Patting the other party on the shoulder, Keir asked Will to heal his injuries first. If possible, he should go to Priest Batar's side and ask the priest to heal Wildo's injuries.

"Of course, you need to eat more food. The healing of the magic still consumes a lot of energy and physical strength of the body."

Will nodded: "I understand all of this. When I was learning swordsmanship in the academy, the injuries I practiced were all treated with divine arts."

Hearing this, Keir couldn't help being curious about the academy where Will learned swordsmanship many years ago.

-

The next day, before dawn, Keir got up early in the camp and urged the team to get ready for the road.

Of course, dismantling the tents and having breakfast for everyone are indispensable. Even in order to speed up the walking speed of the people today, Keir asked Mr. Barford to inform the cook that the food for this morning needs to be made with more oil, water and food.

Let everyone in the team eat enough, so that they will have better physical strength and endurance when traveling today, and cross the previous section of the business road.

Although Kiel felt that a confrontation with the so-called "hanged ghost" bandit gang, which was actually the "flesh demon" force of the cult, was inevitable, the rapid movement of the team could still avoid the attack from the pursuit, and even make it difficult for the attacker to ambush in advance.

Not only are the people eating well, but all the animals in the team were fed a lot of beans early in the morning. I just hope that the animals pulling the carts will work harder today.

Although Keir didn't say anything, some sensitive people in the team already had a premonition from these details.

Of course, no one went to Keir to ask him what news to verify. What everyone can actually do is to hold the knives and daggers handed out by each of them, walk with acquaintances, and agree to run away when they are attacked. Run together, fight together.

The blood lick was also put on a new set of armor by the grooms early in the morning. When Kiel jumped on the horse in full armor, it also felt the master's tension and excitement.

On horseback, in addition to the all-steel double-edged spear, an additional two-handed ax with a blue ax body was added. Keir was not sure whether the humans parasitized by the "Flesh Demon" were human enemies or monsters, so it was better to bring this ax specially designed for killing wild beasts and monsters in advance.

In specific battles, let the ax distinguish the type of enemy by itself.

"Set off!"

Kiel shouted loudly and stood on the side of the trade road on horseback. Immediately, the huge team, like a giant snake waking up from hibernation, slowly stretched its body and began to crawl forward along the trade road.

-

The sparse woods not far from the commercial road are quite lush, and the trees are tall and block out the sun, which looks normal.

But after everyone had walked for a distance, some people saw that among the brown trunks, there were occasional red trunks mixed with them. The person who found it was amazed, and pointed to the companions beside him as he walked.

However, after all, there is a straight-line distance of tens to hundreds of meters from the nearest trees on both sides of the commercial road. From this distance, people can only see red or even dark red tree trunks, but they cannot see clearly at close range. Those tree trunks Why is it red.

On the contrary, the loggers in the team were usually very aggressive and spoke louder than the others. When they saw those red tree trunks, their expressions changed. They were repeatedly told not to tell the truth about these tree trunks by Knight Kiel and Priest Batar yesterday. Therefore, the loggers who usually have big mouths have become dumb at this time, with ugly faces and buried their heads without saying a word. just go.

Some people thought that these guys had changed their temper, otherwise they would have to comment on everything they saw, but it was quiet today.

The keen-minded people guessed something. It is estimated that something happened when these guys fled back to the camp yesterday evening, and it was related to the red tree trunk seen on the road today.

Kiel was slowly cruising around the team on horseback. He stared into the depths of the woods with red trunks, and easily felt a deep and evil gaze from that direction.

Therefore, he is also ready to fight at any time.

But the strange thing is that the whole team walked to noon at a slightly faster speed than usual, and none of their team encountered an attack from a team of "flesh and blood demons" composed of bandits on the surface, but actually parasitic humans.

"Strange? Where did those guys go?"

-

"Damn! What the **** are these guys!"

In the forest in front of the refugee team's trade route, two sturdy figures were running away quickly one after the other. Among them, the young figure who fled to the front complained while running.

He held a large hunting bow with a bowstring in his hand, and the quiver around his waist was almost full of excellent homemade arrows, and his right hand held several arrows in the gloved fingers. between fingers.

"Complain less, maintain a good breathing rhythm, and don't be caught up."

The old figure who fled behind walked steadily. Although he fell behind, it seemed that it was not because he was running slowly, but because he wanted to limit the speed of some things chasing them.

From the left side of the two of them, a middle-aged villager ran over with outstretched arms. The palm of this man was stretched out straight forward. Plant roots. The movement was a bit strange, but it made the two escaped elite hunters feel as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

"Be careful! Left side!" The young man in front reminded with a strange cry.

The old hunter behind snorted coldly and retorted: "Boy, take care of yourself!"

As soon as the words fell, the old hunter took out a special arrow backhand from the special quiver on his back, glanced slightly to the left while running, and then drew the bow very quickly to shoot the arrow.

hum—

There was a tremor after the arrow broke away from the hunting bow. Its flying speed was not fast, but it twisted abnormally in the air, and it was like a fish swimming towards the villagers who surrounded them on the left.

With a pop, the arrow deftly pierced through the villager's open mouth with great force, and the next moment, it came out forcefully from the back of the man's head with broken bones and flesh.

There seemed to be some tiny plant roots in the flesh and blood on the shaft of the arrow, but after the arrow shot through the heads of the villagers, it spun and swung vigorously in the air, like a domestic dog that was drenched in rain. Shake off the rainwater in the hair while moving.

After it shook off the blood and flesh all over its body, it spun around again, and flew back with the whistle of the old hunter.

While running, the old hunter only heard the special sound of his own arrow passing through the air, so he stretched out his right hand to catch it in the air beside him, and then volleyed to catch the flying arrow in his hand again.

Just as the old man wanted to be proud, the young hunter who was running away shouted, "No way! Your hunting arrow shot the man's head off, but he hasn't killed him yet!!"

With the last word, the young hunter literally screamed.

The old man turned his head and glanced to the left. Sure enough, he found that a villager who had been shot through the mouth and the back of the head just ran and fell into the woods because of a sudden loss of control. After a convulsion, he got up and chased them.

The seemingly fatal injuries of ordinary people are of no use to these half-human, half-monster villagers.

But fortunately, because of the delay due to the fall, the villager couldn't maintain the outflanking momentum, so he could only pursue with the large army behind the two of them.

Compared with running, the two elite hunters who traveled with their partners to the north and south were not afraid of anyone, so apart from being unfamiliar with the local terrain, they were not worried about the figures chasing behind them.

"Damn! A bunch of monsters in human flesh!"

The old man cursed, quickly judged the number of pursuers behind him, and had an idea in his mind.

"If you don't die by shooting the head, then shoot the knees! Ten people, five for each of you and me! Shoot off the knees on each side of the back!"

The old hunter immediately ordered, and as soon as the words fell, he didn't care whether his partner agreed or not. He drew the arrows twice from the quiver at his waist with his right hand, bit two into his mouth first, and then let his right hand hold three arrows arrow.

While taking the arrow, the whole person slides sideways against the ground to slow down. A pair of leopard leather boots with leopard soles are like bulldozing shovels, shoveling the fallen leaves and humus on the ground to slow down.

When he turned around and faced the pursuers behind him, the arrow in his right hand was already on the string.

Immediately, his eyes swept across the right knee of the pursuer one by one, and his hands kept moving, drawing the bow and shooting an arrow, and then switching fingers, put the arrow held between his fingertips on the bowstring again, and then drew the bow and shot again.

Repeatedly, the third arrow pierced the air and flew out.

His right hand was empty, but he loosened his mouth slightly, and with a push of his tongue, an arrow fell right from his mouth to his right hand.

As smoothly as tempered, the old hunter drew his bow again to shoot an arrow, and the last arrow fell from his mouth. The next moment, he followed the movement of his body and shot at the fifth pursuer who was swept by his sight.

All the arrows were shot, the old hunter gasped, turned around and ran forward without looking.

At the same time, his young partner also shot five arrows, whizzing past the old hunter, but the old hunter didn't even glance at the arrows flying past him.

"Let's go! I guess the knee is broken, and it can only slow down their speed. Let's get rid of them as soon as possible!"

The young hunter who shot five arrows a little later nodded, confidently not checking whether the arrows hit or not, UU reading www. uukanshu.com turned around and ran forward.

Behind the two, with the sound of arrows piercing through flesh and blood, a total of ten strange villagers who were chasing them all fell to the ground at the same time, trying to get up and run after them, but fell down again .

Because each of their right leg and knee was shot through by well-made arrows, the movable joints were severely injured and stuck, even though these half-human, half-monster villagers were not afraid of pain, their mobility was still greatly reduced. weakened.

-

"It's bad luck! What's going on with this place? Just go to the mountains to investigate, and you can encounter such strange things."

"Stop talking nonsense, those people have only been slowed down, but they are still chasing us."

"Then what do you say, old man?"

Facing the young hunter's rude words, the old hunter turned his head and came up with an idea: "Lead them to the young knight."

"Isn't this bad? What if innocent people are injured? How strange these guys look, my intuition tells me that I must not be caught by these people! Otherwise, there will be bad results."

"It's just ten half-human, half-monster villagers with broken legs. The knight should have no problem dealing with them. Come on, let's turn around."

"Huh? Are you really going to do this?"

"Anyway, these guys kept chasing the two of us, and we used that young knight to clean them up, no problem."

After the discussion, the two hunters turned around and ran quickly towards the sparsely forested trade road. Behind the two of them, ten villagers who had been shot in their knees were still persistently following the two bow hunters.

These two hunters inadvertently saw the process of their prophet baptizing and nurturing the captured people, and they had to get rid of them. This is the death order issued by the prophet!