Mercenaries and Adventurers

The suddenly widened view in front of him made people step back, but when Kil thought that there were many hateful dwarves in the forest behind him who wanted his life, he stood firm.

Whispering the prayer spell taught to him by the Big Bird God, Kil temporarily gained the ability to see far away.

Looking carefully at everything ahead this time, Kiel could clearly see the walls on the other side of the valley. They were all tall and solid stone walls built with rocks and stones. The gentle slopes of the stairs for people to carry supplies up and down the walls were all in Kiel. He saw this side, so he knew that this stone wall was used to prevent the other end of the valley from stretching into the forest deep in the mountains.

Keir's eyes carefully examined the tall wall at the other end of the valley. Comparing the scale of the construction with the scale of the nearby villages, he immediately noticed something strange.

The village is too small, and the stone wall is too tall and spans the opposite ends of the valley. With just a rough calculation in your mind, you can tell that this is not a gathering place of this size that humans can build intermittently over decades. of.

After all, no one can work on an empty stomach. The village is small and the natural population is not large. How can there be enough labor to build a stone wall of this size.

There must be aliens involved, and the leader is most likely a dwarf.

Even at a glance, Keir could tell that the shape of the rock wall opposite was a common human structure.

"Hey, it's not easy to deal with. I thought the humans here were the oppressed people who were ruled. Now it seems that in this hidden valley, the relationship between the two is very difficult to tell."

Kil spat and gave up on his originally expected identity as the savior of mankind.

While he was on his horse, he knocked on the horse's belly to make the horse run forward.

The blood-licking grass couldn't hold back its desire to have fun. After carrying its owner, it quickly opened its hooves upon receiving the signal and ran forward like a wild dog. The huge hoofs trampled the low shrubs and flowers blocking the road, trampled the grass into the soil, and finally brought up the splashing soft soil with the movement of the hoofs.

Keir's body rose and fell slightly as the horses ran. He put his hands on a pergola to block the sun and looked at the village in the distance.

At this sight, he frowned.

Although the village is not big, the wooden houses that are clearly inhabited by humans and another kind of rock houses with an alternative feel are actually built scattered and intertwined together.

Apparently the dwarves and humans here live together, which makes it more difficult for Keir to judge the relationship between the local dwarves and the local humans.

The previous relationship model of simple binary opposition seems to have to be scrapped.

"Is my arrival a good thing for the local people? Or a bad thing?"

Kil muttered, and casually picked up a bunch of bright wild grass as the war horse galloped by.

He sniffed the bright, fragrant flower, then rubbed it in his hand and crushed it. So, he made up his mind: "This is a good place for me to put aside the unnecessary responsibilities I am carrying at this time. I'm sorry, maybe people who have lived in 'peace' for a long time, I am here."

The face under Keir's helmet gradually became cold. He made up his mind to let hundreds of refugees settle here to avoid disaster no matter what. He has been delayed for a long time these days. If he does not solve the settlement problem of the refugees, these refugees will have to follow him to rescue the abducted villagers, and they may have to follow him to catch up with Kendall's army.

What is this?

It's just asking for trouble.

After all, these refugees were originally villagers from all over the southern provinces, and it was not his turn as a young man from the northwest province to lead them.

Even if most people in the team trust him.

-

Kil's eyes repeatedly scanned the distant village. Although he could not determine the specific population of the dwarf stone houses in the village, he had some idea of ​​how many people the human houses could accommodate.

After a little calculation of the human wooden houses in the village, Keel judged that the number of humans here was about two hundred, and they all lived on a family basis.

The scale of land reclamation around the village roughly matches that of less than a hundred male laborers cultivating farmland.

"The total number of people is not large, but it just so happens that when the refugees come, these people do not have the strength to refuse this and oppose the development of things."

The corners of Keir's mouth raised slightly, then flattened again.

There was nothing interesting about the village where the two ethnic groups lived together. Kil turned his attention to the left side of the valley where he was facing. In front of a large brown gentle **** at the foot of the mountain, there was a low grave surrounded by a large pile of gravel. The low building is very conspicuous.

Keir noticed that there was a wide and smooth road connecting the tomb-like buildings to the village.

It's interesting, because there is only a scrawled dirt road connecting the village to the pond on the right side of the valley. You must know that the water source is the most important place in a gathering place. There is only one dirt road connecting it, so what is this tomb-like building with a good road connection for?

Considering the small size of the thing and the unusually large amount of mounds and gravel scattered around it, Kil made a bold guess that this might be the entrance to the underground settlement of the dwarves?

Well, as for the dwarf stone house in the village, no one can say that the dwarves only have one underground house, right? Maybe the dwarves are switching places. Today they will live in a safe place underground for a day, and tomorrow they will live in a village on the surface for a day to bask in the sun and smell the fresh air.

Keir guessed this.

In short, we need to get closer and investigate carefully.

As for a pond with water on the right side of the valley. Keir was a little confused. That place was obviously the only source of water for living and production in the villages in the valley, and most likely the only source of water. But why does the river look so polluted and unclean after it flows into the forest?

The big trees in the forest have absorbed the unclean river water and become wilted, yellow and low, and the river water has a bitter smell. How do the people in this village use it to water the ground and drink it?

Aren't you afraid that you will die from drinking it for a long time?

This is also a problem that can be seen intuitively through observation.

Kil put aside his doubts first, because as he moved quickly on horseback, he was approaching the farmland cultivated by humans in the valley.

When he was on the horse, the height of his head was almost three meters. With the blood-licking grass covered with horse armor and the metal armor, he was very conspicuous. At the same time, the breeze blew through the valley, and outside the village, there was only the slight sound of grass and crops being blown by the wind. These relaxing natural sounds were soon covered by the sound of galloping war horses, and the sound of Kiel's armor on the war horse. The clang of weapons.

A few young people on the edge of the farmland noticed an unusual noise, and then looked back towards the forest. It didn't matter what they saw. They saw a knight on a horse, which frightened them.

"what!"

"Horse! Horse! Is that a horse? Is it the horse in the story?"

"The man on horseback, wow, still wearing armor and holding a weapon! Where did he come from?"

"Doesn't it look like the dwarf in the village is from outside?"

"Look! He's coming towards us! What should we do? What should we do?"

Several young people who were working in the surrounding farmland were at a loss. The small shovels they were holding for digging weeds unconsciously fell to the ground. Several people looked at each other, then shouted in unison, turned and ran towards the farmland behind them where other people were working.

They were barefoot and wore tights made of an unknown beast's hairless skin. Around their waists was a crude leather belt with small wooden signs and colorful stone chips as decorations. Their upper bodies were made of sleeveless animal skin tight-fitting vests that were convenient for working, and their heads were wrapped with turbans made of crude textiles to wrap their hair.

These young men ran towards the surrounding farmland, shouting and yelling, shouting randomly as they ran, attracting the attention of more men who were working in the fields with their heads down.

People followed the waving arms of these nervous young people and saw the armored knights on horseback who were slowing down and approaching. Suddenly some people fell limp in the field in panic, while others looked blankly at Keir and his strange companions, holding hands. The various farm tools are overwhelming.

But as a middle-aged man with some authority shouted, the people around him either actively or subconsciously moved faster and moved closer.

Of course, Keir also noticed all this. In order not to scare these 'missing' people, he deliberately slowed down and approached after being discovered by them.

At this time, these people gathered together, which saved him a lot of effort.

So Keel carefully stopped the blood-licking grass from stepping on the field after approaching the farmland, and slowly walked around the field ridges towards where the crowd gathered.

Of course, Kiel did not dismount and approach carelessly. The opponent's attitude was unclear. As he was riding on the horse, the initiative was with Kiel anyway. It would be best for him not to dismount before confirming the specific situation here.

As Keir approached the crowd, the group of farmers, all composed of human males, subconsciously took a few steps back.

"Don't worry! I mean no harm!"

Keir shouted loudly.

A middle-aged man standing in the center of the farmer group took the initiative to step out of the crowd, took two steps forward, carefully avoiding the crops in the field, opened his eyes and observed Keir, and at the same time said: "Excuse me, please. Sir, are you a human being?"

Kil chuckled and lifted up the visor of his helmet, revealing his young face that was protected under the visor.

This face is not only the face of an ordinary young boy, but also a remarkable human face.

"Of course, of course I am a human being. Haha, I don't think there is anything different about me from other people."

Kil said deliberately cheerfully, but when Licking Blood Grass was five meters away from the opponent, he pulled the reins to make the loyal horse stop. The other party obviously noticed this.

"My lord, are you a knight?"

As soon as this sentence came out, many farmers had different expressions.

Some people waved to Kiel excitedly; others looked puzzled, obviously they were real 'locals' who were born and raised here; and there were others who looked at Kiel's tall horse with worried expressions, and they didn't know what to say. They were muttering something; most of them turned their heads frequently to look in the direction of the forest, hoping to see the dwarves guarding the forest appear and explain the current situation to them.

When Kil heard the question, he naturally patted the hunting sword on his waist and the armored neck of the war horse: "As you can see, I am a knight."

"Well, the knight you are talking about is not the kind of knight I asked about?"

Kil smiled and replied: "If you are talking about the kind of noble knights who have territory and force." He shrugged: "Then I only have the latter, but I don't have the former yet. You see, I am so young after all. .”

Seeing that the other party wanted to ask, Kil took the initiative this time and took over the initiative of the conversation: "Speaking of which, I didn't expect that behind the forest, there is such a peaceful and peaceful valley, as well as a peaceful Village? Everyone, can you tell me, what is the name of this valley? What is the name of your village not far away?"

"As for me, I am a young apprentice knight from the far northwest province, Joe Keel. I come from Kendal County, which no one has ever heard of. I was newly trained by the local Dodel Crow knight. Young Knight.”

As Keir spoke, the farmers were talking in low voices. They whispered the name of the Northwest Province, and they were even more confused. They didn't know where the Kendall County the young knight in front of them was talking about. Who was that Dodle Crow? Who is it?

But more farmers looked back to the forest, discussing in low voices why the dwarf hadn't appeared yet.

The middle-aged farmer talking to Kil rolled his eyes, absorbed what Kil said, and then responded: "Lord Knight, young Lord Knight, the valley under our feet has two names, and the village also has two names. "

Keir raised his hand to signal the other party to continue.

A middle-aged farmer, maybe this person was not originally a farmer. The man carefully paid attention to Kil's expression and continued: "The human name of the valley was given by the first people who came here..."

The man paused for a moment. Kil noticed that when the other party was speaking, the farmers behind him had different expressions. Some people were indifferent, some lowered their heads and could not see their expressions, and some simply stamped their feet in anger. .

"Those people call it Barbotari, which means prison in a certain dialect of the empire."

Keir stretched out his hand and rubbed his chin: "A prison? Hmm, that's a bit interesting. The immigrants in the empire were very clear about their situation at that time. Then continue, what is the other name of this 'Prison Valley'?"

The middle-aged farmer also glanced back towards the direction of the forest, and after finding that no dwarf had appeared, he said: "The other name, sir, is a name only used by a dwarf, %%￥%##@, which translates to ' The Valley of the Lesser Treasure Mines. The dwarves never call this valley directly, they only recognize the mine by its name."

While speaking, the middle-aged farmer held Keir's hands behind his back and kept making gestures to the farmers behind him. The meaning of the gestures was to keep everyone quiet and calm.

All the farmers were quite convinced by this middle-aged farmer, so even if he mentioned the dwarves, there was no strange change among the farmers.

At this time, even the real fools realized that something was wrong. The dwarves in the center of the valley, as the main body, not only allowed the horseback knight to break through the forest, but also never appeared until now.

Did they take a nap?

still…

Some people shuddered as they thought of something, carefully glanced at the weapons and equipment on the knights on horseback, and lowered their heads.

While signaling to the farmers behind him, the middle-aged farmer also paid special attention to the expression on the face of the young knight in front of him, especially the part about the dwarves.

When Kil heard the dwarf call this valley's name, he blinked with slight interest and muttered in a low voice: "Smaller treasure? Why smaller? Scale? Or category? And treasure What is it again? As for the mine, well..."

When he mentioned the mine, he straightened up and turned around to look to the left and rear. He saw the low, tomb-like building surrounded by mounds of dirt and rubble that he had no idea of ​​its purpose before. He finally figured out what it was, a dwarf mine.

Things have become troublesome. In other words, Kil has known that this place must be troublesome since he first encountered the dwarves in the mist of Huitou Forest.

I hope the trouble can be solved properly and that I can bring him some surprises at the end. Treasures and stuff would be great.

The middle-aged farmer was very observant, and he was a well-known and capable guy before entering the Huitou Forest. At this time, just looking at the expression on Kil's face, he had a judgment in his mind.

Considering that the dwarves in charge of the valley had not yet appeared, he knew that the young knight must have had a fierce fight with the dwarves in the forest.

Who loses and who wins?

Do you still need to watch it? The young knight was able to ride his horse openly in front of everyone at this time, which naturally showed the winning and losing situation in the forest.

Thinking of this, the middle-aged farmer's heart sank. Although life in the Prison Valley is far less good than before, there are not many disturbances from the outside world here.

And the friendship he had only established with the dwarves in the past two years was probably in vain.

Sighing secretly, the middle-aged farmer continued: "As for the two names of the village. Sir, we call it Torito Village. Like the valley, it also comes from a certain dialect of the empire, which means [free place]. Please forgive me. I offend you, it’s just a name with no specific meaning, please don’t take it seriously.”

Kirsten tasted the name, oh, a place of freedom. Isn't the valley still a prison? This has become a place of freedom?

It seems that the mood of the first batch of immigrants from the Kingdom's early empire who broke into the Huitou Forest and were later detained in the valley by the dwarves changed quickly!

It can be seen from the initial panic and calling the place where the dwarves detained them a 'prison'. What's very interesting is that, without knowing what exactly happened, these people soon began to build villages here and openly called this place "the place of freedom".

Very interesting, very interesting.

The story here, Keel felt, could have been performed on the park stage in Kendall City by the amateur theater actors in the city for two whole days!

Ah, a strange place in a newly built country, a chance encounter with a foreign race that shouldn’t be there, the stranded and complex dilemmas of the immigrants, the possible limited struggle, the difficult initial communication, and maybe the existence of working together to overcome difficulties and reconcile. The two ethnic groups made an agreement, a newly built village, and two ethnic groups living together.

These contents can produce wonderful scenes of dramas.

When Kil thought of this, the corners of his mouth curled up in excitement.

The middle-aged farmer noticed the corners of the young knight's raised lips, and was a little confused. [Free Place] What's wrong with you? What's so funny about you! Damn it, you, a warrior whose brain is all about muscles, simply don’t understand how difficult it is for us commoners to find a peaceful place that is not oppressed by the brutal aristocratic rule!

"So what do the dwarves call this village? I noticed that there are some low stone houses in the village. Those are the residences of the dwarves in the village, right?"

Kiel said. UU reading www. ｕukanｓhu.net

At this time, Kil stopped hiding and openly talked about the dwarves in this valley.

As soon as these words came out, the farmers panicked. Some people in the back quietly bent down and slipped away, while some in the front row sneaked into the crowd behind them.

The middle-aged farmer swallowed dryly and put on a smile on his face: "Sir, uh, dwarf, uh, dwarf."

He lowered his voice a little: "The dwarves call the village @@@#￥%￥, which translates to [a fragile house with a roof and walls]."

When Keir heard this, he raised his eyebrows. Just as he was about to say something, a rapid ringing of a bell suddenly sounded in the direction of the village.

Bang bang bang bang, bang bang bang, bang bang bang, bang bang bang.

Urgent and urgent, people will know something bad has happened as soon as they hear it.

Keir touched his chin: ‘Does the bad thing refer to me? ’ he thought.

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