Mount & Blade: Wind of War

Chapter 37 The Original Essence, Blackwater Swamp

With a sound of "whoosh" breaking through the air, the sharp crossbow arrow flew out.

In the middle of the blue sky, there was a woman with eagle wings and claws.

At this moment, she was holding a young man who was struggling hard in her claws. After being wounded by the arrow, he had to fly down and approached the relative distance from the chasing knight below.

"Gah! Gah!"

The woman with dirty and messy hair and extremely ugly face waved her wings and roared at the man riding a horse.

However, the knight's eyes were cold and ignored him. The speed of the horse charging did not decrease at all. The moment the two sides passed by each other, a cold sword light slashed through, and the next moment the dark red blood mist splashed and spread.

This woman, who had no hands and feet, an ugly face, only had yellow claws (feet) and wings (arms) like an eagle, only let go of the young man she was holding tightly until this moment, and fell into the snow with a bang.

Hot blood spread, and life was cut off.

[Experience +86]

A row of words appeared in the left line of sight, and then gradually faded away. Rhode was a little surprised that the system experience provided by this creature in front of him was so high. The combat power of the jackal was much stronger than her, but the experience was far less than hers.

"Thank you, Lord Rodhart, thank you for saving my brother."

A man who had been running behind Rhode rushed over and hugged the young man who had fallen into a coma in the snow, and then kept expressing his gratitude to Rhode.

He and his brother were not soldiers of Redwood Town, but people from the caravan, so he didn't expect that the lord in front of him would lead his men to save people so wholeheartedly.

"You should thank Lord Fatis. If his arrow didn't hit, I would have no way at all. At that time, you could only go to the nest of these monsters to save your brother." When Rhode said this, at least half of it was sincere. At this moment, he had accepted Fatis's "Soul Redemption 2/5 Mission". If it weren't for the support of increasing Fatis's favorability, Rhode really wouldn't run so far.

It was a great luck that the rescue was successful this time.

"Sir, you are too modest." With Fatis's temperament, he certainly would not take credit for such a thing.

At this moment, the knight rode to the side of the monster's corpse and observed for a moment.

"This is a wild harpy, which is basically extinct outside. Now the caravan is attacked by this monster, which means that we have already gone deeper into the wilderness. Here, it is not far from the Black Water Swamp."

Fatis had also traveled alone in the wilderness. At that time, he was at the time when his self-hatred was the strongest. He almost committed suicide, but he finally came out alive, so he also had a certain understanding of this place.

"Since we will encounter it sooner or later, it is a reminder to encounter it now." Rhodes said.

Next, Rhodes, Fatis, they took the body of the harpy and the two caravan members and returned to the caravan after a short rest.

Many people came over and whispered around the body of the harpy.

Arlos and Rui'er did not stop them. The deeper they went into the wilderness, the more magical creatures they would see. Even the sudden attacks like today would become more and more frequent. It was good for everyone to be mentally prepared.

"When sailors sail on the sea, they will be confused by the mermaids' singing. If they are not careful, they will get lost on the reef and die in the sea. Lone traveling merchants passing through swamps and forests will be attacked by harpies. They will catch him in their nests, force him to reproduce, and then eat him when he is pregnant!"

"But we are not lone merchants. There are so many people, and it dares to come and catch people in the middle of the day. Being killed can only mean that it is not smart."

Encountering such things will affect the morale of the caravan, but it will not be too serious. Whether it is a slave trader or a caravan guard, it can be said that they live on the edge of a knife. As long as there is enough gold, death cannot scare them.

Among the nearly 200 people, the morale of the soldiers in Redwood Town was the highest. Both Arlos and Gunnarsor thought that Rhode was good at commanding. This was one aspect, but another aspect was that Rhode knew clearly that:

A lot of exercise and extremely high military discipline can greatly relieve personal psychological pressure.

The former is a physiological mechanism, and the latter is a herd mentality mechanism. Rhode used both of them, which eventually led to the fact that the knowledge and experience of the soldiers in Redwood Town were far inferior to those of slave traders and caravan guards, but their psychological pressure was relatively the lowest and their state was naturally relatively the best.

Traveling in the wilderness, even if the route is a road that has been explored by predecessors, there will still be many emergencies and problems, just like when everyone was having lunch at noon today, they were suddenly attacked by a harpy. If Rhode and Fatis had not reacted quickly enough, and the person who was caught was lucky enough, he would have died.

In addition, there are all kinds of miscellaneous matters. In terms of patiently handling these matters, Rhode's performance is even better than that of the experienced Gunnarsor. This is the difference in knowledge and experience from another world.

Gradually, it has been two weeks since we entered the wilderness.

One day, everyone was walking on the snow. When Rhodes was on horseback, he unexpectedly met the female knight Rui'er.

Because of Rod's performance during this period, Rui'er's favorability towards him has greatly increased. At this moment, when they met, the little beauty was also smiling. The two of them rode side by side and chatted naturally:

"Mr. Rodhart, I find that you never seem to care much about your aristocratic demeanor. The nobles I have met before basically care about these things. Why don't you care at all? This way Come on, I see you exercising and working together with those soldiers. Aren't you afraid that this will make you lose your majesty and power?"

"Have you? Well, maybe there has been. Then Miss Ruier, why don't you ask Lord Yalos? He usually doesn't seem to care much about this."

"That's different. My master has engraved all of this into her bones. Even if she doesn't do it deliberately, every move is still a noble code." Before the last "style" was uttered, Rui'er seemed to realize that she had let it slip. , but this is not a big deal. After entering the wilderness, especially after going so deep, Alos no longer has the need to hide it anymore.

"The vast majority of nobles in this world use cumbersome rituals and complicated etiquette to distinguish themselves from ordinary civilians, because without these, there would be no big difference between them and ordinary civilians."

"So these things are important even if they are not important. But, I don't need..." When Yan said this, Rhodes turned his head and looked at Ruier and smiled.

"My existence itself has surpassed the vast majority of people in this world. Everyone in Redwood Town is willing to trust me and recognize me, so I have become their leader, because only I can create the best future for everyone. It is they who cannot lose I, not I can't lose them."

These words are not only the self-confidence accumulated by Rhodes in his two lives, but also the sense of destiny that comes naturally as a time traveler.

"Tsk, tsk, you are so proud. In this aspect, you are very similar to my mistress. My mistress doesn't usually say this, but she is also extremely proud."

After Ruier returned to Yalos and recounted her conversation with Rhodes, Yalos, who was drinking tea, naturally raised the corners of his mouth slightly, vaguely feeling like he had met someone of the same kind:

"This is the original nature of the nobility. In the primitive and ignorant era, no nobility existed. We are the most rational, intelligent, strong, and self-disciplined people among all people. Because we are different from ordinary people, So the nobles appeared. Most of the nobles now no longer have the qualities of the first generation of nobles, so they created numerous rituals, etiquette, blood relationships, and rules out of fear to ensure their superior status."

"Ruier, you have to remember that a person humiliates you because he wants to control you. Any comparison other than objective existences such as wisdom, strength, wealth, and power are restrained by vested interests at the bottom. a means."

"But, miss, your style is what countless ladies and ladies in Bright Moon City strive to imitate?"

"Yes, that's because I am the biggest vested interest, so I strictly abide by these rules. When I am no longer a vested interest, guess what I will do?"

At this moment, Yalos also smiled gently at Ruier, but this scene made Ruier feel inexplicably that the two people he was talking to today... seemed like.

As the caravan passed through the mountain wall and stone path, it entered an area with low trees. After pushing aside the ice and snow, they discovered the ice under their feet. Everyone gradually became certain that the caravan had entered the Blackwater Swamp.

If it were spring, summer and autumn, two hundred people and dozens of carts might have stopped here, but now they can continue to move forward on the solid freeze. In fact, these have been deduced repeatedly.

A few days after the caravan resumed its journey, Alos suddenly issued two seemingly incomprehensible orders to Gunnather and Rhodes: She asked them to each bring several carts of food supplies to her designated place. location.

"But if you do this, our food reserves will be tight. Next, do you want to reduce everyone's food supply?" Rhodes has always been cautious in doing things. After this period of time, he has already roughly calculated the time travel plan. The total amount of food required in the wilderness and the total amount of food for the caravan are not difficult to solve with Rhodes' computing power.

"Have you already done the calculations? I didn't expect you to be quite knowledgeable in the field of mathematics."

"I have my own arrangements, just follow my orders." After Yalos said this, Gunnather and Rhodes had nothing else to say. After all, Yalos was the leader of the caravan. However, Rhodes didn't care what happened to Gunnather. He still made two preparations. On the one hand, he slightly reduced the food quota for the soldiers in Redwood Town to leave some room. On the other hand, he replaced the food trucks containing sausages, dried meat and other foods with Got on a food truck filled with goblin and kobold meat.

Rhodes vaguely guessed what Alos wanted to do, so he dared to do it. Because there is not much difference between the two, especially for the barbaric races in the wilderness.

However, one night after traveling safely for several days, Rhodes, who was lying on the hammock sleeping with his sword on his back, was awakened by Raymond's voice.

"Sir, we seem to have found traces of the enemy nearby! Because the number is not large, we have not issued a warning yet."

"Understood, I'll go out right away." Rhodes was suddenly awakened from his deep sleep, and he felt his forehead swell a little. Cress was also awakened by Raymond, and she quickly got up to put on leather armor for Rhodes, with quick and skillful movements.

The soldiers in Redwood Town, led by Raymond, were elite, and the other people in the caravan were also alert. When Rhodes walked out of the tent, he found that Arlos, Rui'er and Gunnarsser, each with several subordinates, had gathered together.

"Gunnarsser, Rhodes, did you do what I told you to do?"

"How dare I neglect what the noble ordered."

"I did it, and there were not a few less food carts."

"... So they treated us as fools? Unwilling to keep their promises?" When Arlos said this, he did not lower his voice too much, so people nearby heard it.

During this process, the shadows that were swaying faintly in the darkness around them became more and more numerous. Finally, when they were close to a certain distance, what Arlos, Rhodes, and Gunnars saw was a group of creatures with human limbs, seven parts fish and three parts human: the natives of the Blackwater Swamp, the swamp fishmen.

At this moment, these guys surrounded and stared at the caravan with dull eyes, and basically still held iron weapons in their hands, which showed that the wilderness had also developed to the point where they could use iron tools. Because the number in front of them was unlikely to be obtained from humans.

"Elder Huen, we have not missed the offerings that should be made. What do you mean now? Have the arrogant fishmen stopped keeping their sacred promises?"

In the dim moonlight, at least hundreds of fishmen could be seen surrounding them from all directions. Although it was winter, and Rhodes, Gunnars and others were also confident in their fighting power, they still felt that if a fight broke out, they would probably face a fierce battle.

"Mercemen, never, break your promise... There are too many of your people." Along with this somewhat unfamiliar common language, a colorful merceman slowly walked out from the crowd of mercemen. The scales on its body were very brightly colored.

But in nature, such bright colors often mean: poisonous! The brighter the color, the more deadly the toxicity.

"Our previous agreement was a caravan of 100 people. But, 200! It's you who didn't keep your promise, you have to pay double, double the tribute!"

At least the civilization of the mercemen in this swamp is still primitive and uncivilized. Therefore, although the merceman elder tried his best to show his anger, almost everyone on the caravan side saw that the other party just wanted to make more money.

"Give double the tribute, or leave half of the people here. You make the choice, betrayer!"

"..." Yalos fell into silence for a while in the face of the threat of the colorful merceman elder. In her previous life, she rarely encountered characters who played such low-level tricks, so it was a bit difficult to make a decision for a while.

"Lord Alos, it's hard for my cavalry to exert their combat power on such an ice surface." Gunnarsor came behind Alos at this time, and he whispered, but his meaning was very clear: Don't fight if you can!

However, Rhodes looked around, looked at the greedy fishmen around, frowned slightly and had to come behind Alos.

"Lord Alos, these fishmen are a kind of beast that has not yet been fully civilized. They fear majesty but will not appreciate kindness. If you take a step back today, they will come again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow for other reasons, because the benefits you give are too great, so that they can't restrain their greed. What's more, once we agree to them, it will not only be a shortage of food, but our morale will also be greatly damaged. We have just entered the wilderness not long ago."

Rhodes is a very selfish person. Unless he is very close to someone, he doesn't like to teach others how to do things, and he doesn't like to teach others how to do things wisely. However, the current situation is that everyone is on the same rope. If Alos and Gunnarsor collapse, the warriors of Redwood Town who are also in the wilderness will also fall into a huge crisis.

This time, taking advantage of the situation to train soldiers is one of the needs, and taking as many warriors as possible back is a more important need. Therefore, even if he is not used to it, Rhode still put forward his own opinions.

"Rhode! This is the home of the fishmen. Do you know how many people are on the other side? Do you dare to fight here?" Gunnarsor frowned slightly. The venue here is indeed not suitable for cavalry to fight and exert their combat power.

However, Rhode ignored him and continued:

"If you hand over a few more carts of food now, there will be an irreparable gap in our food supply. This is their home ground. Next, they will attack, harass, ambush, and assassinate at night. Our morale is greatly damaged, food is insufficient, geography is unfamiliar, and the future is uncertain. How long can our people last under such circumstances? Maybe we really can't get out of this swamp."

"If it wants to fight, then fight! Even if they will keep their promise, we must never hand over the initiative to decide our own life and death to them."

When Rhode said this, there was no hesitation in Arlos's eyes.

She just has less experience in this area, but it is not that she can't figure it out.

"Our team now does not have 200 people. It is indeed a caravan of 100 people. If Elder Hu En disagrees with this and insists on fighting, then we will fight, but there will be no more transactions like this in the future."

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