Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil panicked, picked up the broken small metal window from the silver metal plate, put it back in place and stuck it. He opened and closed it twice and found that it was still broken. It couldn't be seen when it was closed, but it would fall off when it was opened.

"It's not useful, it's too sophisticated, but it's because I've only scratched the surface of furniture design." Kiel said nonsense, trying to find someone else's fault for his own stupidity.

He became more and more enthusiastic as he talked, and even made sense: "Human wooden windows are made of wood and are lightweight, so the opening and closing parts can support the overall weight of the wooden window. As for this little thing, the wooden windows are all made of metal. , but the opening and closing structure has not been strengthened or redesigned. It’s really hard to find a sword.”

Kil believed what he said, so after closing the small metal window again, so that it was almost invisible, he quietly moved his butt away and sat on the edge of the pond to eat.

After a while, the little goblin came back on a huge snail shell. When Kil took a look, he realized that the snail shell also carried many little mushroom 'people' dangling around. These were the same ones he had seen before. A walking poisonous mushroom boy.

The little goblin was so proud that he rode the snail shell around his metal house a few times and whispered something to his mushroom friends.

Those poisonous mushrooms have no faces, mouths, or even eyes. Although they have small mycelium legs that can move, Keir doesn't know if they are intelligent.

Several mushrooms shook their bodies, as if they were 'saying' something, and the little goblin screamed with joy.

Stopping the snail shell, a group of them came down. The mushrooms fell off the snail shell one by one, but these mushrooms were strong. After shaking their bodies, the little feet of the fungi at the roots twitched a few times, and then started again. Climbed up.

Under the leadership of the little goblin, they circled the small metal house several times and soon got into the metal house.

Kil lay lying outside the door of the hut, looking inside with wide eyes, and found that the happy little goblin had prepared several plates of rotten sawdust as a delicious treat for his mushroom friends.

I have to say that this guy has some skills when it comes to taking care of mushrooms.

Poisonous mushrooms of all sizes are very fond of the rotten sawdust on the small metal dinner plate. The mycelium entangles it, and after a while, it is wrapped and tied to the fungus rod.

Probably eating and walking at the same time.

The goblin and his friends began to walk towards the second floor of the metal cabin. At this time, Kil held his breath and watched carefully.

The small metal window of the first room on the second floor was opened, and the little goblin introduced some unintelligible words to the mushrooms. Then they walked to the second room on the second floor.

Squeak——Bang!

The little goblin had just opened the window halfway when the metal window fell to the silver plate outside with a bang.

The little goblin who was mumbling in mid-sentence stopped talking, and the mushrooms swayed around trying to get closer to 'see' what was going on, but the little goblin screamed, pushed his friends and walked towards the third room.

It seemed like nothing happened just now.

Only then did Kil exhale, but when he raised his head, his glowing eyes met the little eyes of the little goblin who turned his head and looked over.

Kil had good eyesight. He saw the confusion and sudden understanding in the goblin's eyes, so he quickly said: "Wait a minute, there is something wrong with the design of your window."

So Keel spoke out all his so-called assumptions and theories. At first, the little goblin thought it was his own problem, but then it repeatedly opened and closed the small metal window in the third room, but this window After opening and closing it for more than ten times, it is still stable.

Now it didn't believe Kiel's lies, and jumped up and down in the room angrily. Kiel laughed in embarrassment, picked up the removed steel helmet, and prepared to run away.

Seeing that the 'huge' human was about to run away after destroying its new house, the little elf rolled his eyes a few times, rubbed his hands on his mushroom friend, and then moved hard towards the human's back. One wave.

A small stream of glittering powder flew out, flew up to catch up with him, and fell all over Kil's body.

The little elf laughed happily, but Kil felt a little itchy on the back of his neck.

-

Kil climbed out of the carriage. Although in his dream he was watching goblins tinkering with the house, inviting mushroom friends to visit, and eating some chewy monster jerky, in reality only a few breaths of time had passed in the outside world.

After coming out, Kil looked at the sky, then held a rope, picked up the suspicious wooden box dug out of the bandit's lair, and walked towards the creek in the south.

Bloodfangster was curious about what Kil was doing, so he followed him.

"I originally thought this thing could be some kind of treasure, but at that time I thought it was very likely that this thing was just a trap."

Kil briefly told Bloodfangster what happened before.

"Then you will bring this thing back? Wouldn't it be better to leave it where it is and let it be forgotten?"

Bloodfangster was a little puzzled. Kil shrugged and explained: "The metal box with the murder mechanism before actually had coins hidden in it. This box is much bigger, so there shouldn't be any valuables in it, right? ? I see that the bandit leader has a cunning mind. He needs to set up an emergency escape route in the trap area and put coins in the box with the mechanism, so what about this? "

The meaning is self-evident. A cunning bandit leader will not do anything wrong with such a cunning trap. There will always be room for him to quibble.

That is to say, there is a trap left, and there is also room for him or other close confidants who know the matter to make excuses.

Regarding this complicated thought, Bloody Fangster was speechless and could only curse a few weird people.

"He's a dead man, haha. How can I care so much? I can't trust such an insidious guy. After asking him questions, I broke his neck. Humph, that guy wanted to take his with him before he died. The old lover will die together. But the price offered by Ms. Fenia is not low."

Keir said how the two were tit-for-tat, and Bloody Fangster gritted his teeth: "This lady doesn't sound like a good person, so why did you bring her back?"

Keir waved his hand: "It doesn't matter, she can't hurt us people. This kind of person cannot do evil alone. He must be paired with other simple-minded people and be controlled by him to cause harm. At least we and her are the same. There will be no intersection after that.”

"Okay, if you think it's okay, then that's it."

The two came to the bank of the river, which still had a lot of blood stains and was burned by high-temperature flames.

Find a place far away from the open space and put the wooden box down where it is not directly facing the open space. After tinkering for a while, Keer removed the lock on the top and tied the rope to the lid of the wooden box. Then he held the rope and walked away step by step. This thing.

"Find a place to hide!"

After calling out to his companions, Kil took off his elf metal shield and held it in front of him.

"Are you ready? I'm ready to open it!"

Kil asked the Bloody Fangster who was not far behind him. He stood closer because he was wearing a fully covered metal armor and a shield.

Xueyaster found a stone on the river bank, crouched and hid behind it: "Okay, I'm ready, let's drive."

"Then drive! Let's go!"

Keir repeatedly pulled the rope on his right hand, and soon the rope on the ground became straightened. Then he pulled it again, pulling the lid of the upper part of the wooden box back and opened it.

Crunch——Bang! Jingle bell bell bell bell! ! !

There was an explosion first, and then there was a sound of metal colliding and flying apart.

With sharp eyes, Kil saw a large number of deadly metal spikes sprayed upward from the top of the wooden box. These metal spikes first flew upwards, and then fell across a large area around them.

The design of this thing is insidious. The bottom of the falling metal spikes is heavy, so the sharp points are pierced downwards. Bushes, grass, streams, soil, and rocks are all pierced and driven by these spikes.

Kil quickly put the shield on his head, and then there was a knocking sound from above his head. He turned to look at Bloody Fangster and found that this guy had already seen that the situation was not good and rolled backwards, getting away from the falling range of the metal spikes in time.

"Good guy, not to mention that the design of this thing is complicated and insidious, I guess the production cost of this thing alone is not low."

The shield in Kil's left hand shook and he threw aside more than a dozen metal spikes on the shield.

Bloodfangster recognized this thing by the light of the luminous magic pendant on Kil's body.

"Kiel, I know what this is." He did not dare to get close to the area where the metal spikes fell, and said a few meters away: "I have heard other caravan guard friends talk about this thing. It seems to be some kind of The big chamber of commerce, which is not short of money, specially prepares cargo traps for its large quantities of goods."

"Oh? Tell me carefully."

Kil didn't take care of the contents of the wooden box first. After all, the things were left where they were and wouldn't run away.

Just as he was about to take a few steps in the direction of Bloody Fangster and get closer to talk, he felt something sharp beneath his feet. Fortunately, his boots are also made of metal. Not only are the bottoms filled with steel plates, but there are also metal nails on the boots that can stabilize the ground.

With a flick of his foot, Kil lowered his head and saw that the metal spike in the trap that fell on the ground was in the shape of a shuttle with two pointed ends. However, one end was heavier and the other was thinner. This ensured that the thing would be effective when it fell. Killing and injuring unprotected persons whose heads are within a certain range, and after falling to the ground, as long as the ground is not particularly hard or rocky, the soft ground will allow the heavier ones to plunge in, and the lighter ones to face upwards, and then harm the enemies. .

With a slap in his mouth, Kil lay on the ground on the soles of his feet and awkwardly walked to a place outside the attack range of the trap.

At this time, Bloody Fangster was carefully picking up a metal spike with a bush branch. He pointed at the thing and said to Keir: "The name of this thing seems to be called 'Death Nail Rain'. It is something rich, has many caravans, and has a large cargo volume." Big and big~ The Chamber of Commerce specially asked craftsmen to make them. The purpose is to randomly mix a trap box containing this kind of death mechanism into a batch of goods, so that the bandits who rob the caravan will accidentally touch it and be eliminated. The next time Just stop trying to take advantage of their chamber of commerce."

After observing for a while, Bloody Fangster seemed to have judged something, and then he gently picked up the metal spike with his gloved fingers and looked at it carefully: "I heard that in order to increase the power, this kind of spike will be specially prepared before being placed. It was poisoned last time. However, the toxicity of this one seems to have expired, and there is no sign of venom or poison powder on it."

Keir raised his eyebrows: "So insidious?"

"Of course, the purpose of this big chamber of commerce is to use the things they announced in advance to deter bandits on the road who want to take advantage of them. There is no need to prepare many, a few are enough. Confidential information is mixed with ordinary goods. Except for the steward in charge of the caravan, no one knows whether there is such a deadly mechanism in a batch of goods that can kill more than a dozen or even dozens of people at a time."

Bloody Fangster even said mockingly: "This thing was popular for a while a few years ago. A fellow caravan guard who was drinking with me at that time also sadly announced that our jobs would be gone and we would be eliminated by this kind of thing. Lost."

He shook his head.

Kil smiled and said: "But no, right? The long-distance freight transportation situation is complicated. How can it be handled with just a few dead animals? For example, those harpy monsters we encountered on the Strange Wind Grassland before They. Those monsters don’t know if there are killing mechanisms in the goods, and they don’t care. They just want to eat people.”

"It's even possible that human goods are simply discarded in the vast grassland and left to rot."

Bloody Fangster smiled mockingly at himself: "I couldn't think of this level as you did at the time. Everyone was frightened at that time. Within a year or two, the hiring price of guards was kept very low by those merchants. But everyone is worried about losing their jobs, so no one feels wrong.”

"What happened next?" Kil asked.

"Later? Later haha, it's very simple. I heard that after the bandits knocked down the caravan with reduced guards, they directly asked the captured chamber of commerce guys and chamber of commerce managers to open each box of goods they carried one by one. And the bandits Then use a bow and arrow from a distance to aim at the person who opened the box. Oh, it's that simple, the matter is solved."

Keir was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

After a while, he recovered from the joy, took the metal spike from Bloody Fangster's hand, looked at it and said, "Tell me, can this thing be used to deal with the defeated army that plunders the population in the future?" Used on the battlefield? As a means of mass destruction?"

Bloody Fangster touched his chin: "I'm not sure. This thing doesn't seem to be cheap, whether it's the cost of making it or reloading it after use. Moreover, for such a complicated mechanism, the craftsmen who can reload it seem to only be in big towns. Are there places with more chambers of commerce? For example, the previous city of Montaoka?"

"We don't want to go back just because of this incident." Keir said, pointing to the more than 600 young refugees in the open space: "And there are still these people who need to be resettled."

Speaking of this, Bloodfangster couldn't help but ask questions, so he said to Keir: "So, why do you bring so many oil bottles? This is a series of endless troubles."

Kil knew that his companion would have such doubts, so he quietly told him his thoughts that he had not mentioned before.

"Well, is it to rescue the people of Changmai Village? And the strong sympathy of you and Priest Batal? Well, although I can't understand it, I say, you will regret it sooner or later. Food, water "

Xueyaster patted him and said, "Not to mention whether Priest Batal can manage it alone, but if he can't, the herbal powder and herbal water used to treat diseases are worth a lot of money. Don't tell You didn’t expect any of this from me.”

Kil waved his hand and said perfunctorily: "Okay, tonight's harvest is actually not small. Although there are many people lost, the materials and robbed goods obtained from the bandits, not including coins, can support them for a long time."

"You are the boss, you have the final say."

In the end, Bloodfangster's reminders and advice were enough. As long as Kil, a young knight, knew what he knew, there was no need for him, an old caravan guard in his thirties, to repeat the words until he annoys the other party.

-

Since Keir planned to reload this nice-looking anti-theft mechanism, he asked Bloodtusk to find a group of attentive young refugees in the open space and pick up the metal spikes that fell around them.

And he himself walked on the ground to the open wooden box to see what was inside this trap box that had not been opened since it was obtained by Mountain Wolf Barney.

The opened box revealed a complex composite mechanism made of metal and wood. He even saw burn marks in the space at the bottom of the mechanism similar to those caused by gunpowder burning and deflagrating.

He didn't know if there was gunpowder or similar things in the other world, but this thing looked similar.

Carefully remove the upper mechanism of the solid wooden box, and there is indeed a snow storage area underneath that occupies less than half of the wooden box. But to Keir's disappointment, there were no valuable gold coins or valuable goods. Instead, there were only some yellowed letters in small wooden boxes.

When he opened the small wooden box, he was still expecting it to be a box full of precious jewelry or gems, but in the end there were only delicate yellowed letters or rolled parchment.

When Keer was even more speechless, he opened the letter at will, and he didn't even recognize the words inside.

It is not written in the common language of the empire, but letters written in the language of the high nobles.

He opened the rolled parchment and found that these words were also written inside.

This made him very frustrated. Keir was not convinced and took them apart one by one and inspected them.

Finally, he discovered that a letter in the corner was not written in high-class aristocratic language, and he was finally able to understand it.

"Let me see what it is."

He used the illumination of the luminous magic pendant to carefully read the words on it.

-

[Trade request to the Tinder Cotton Chamber of Commerce]

[Our chamber of commerce is in urgent need of a batch of fine worsted tinder cotton cloth. The quantity should be two thousand rolls, and the quality should not be significantly lower than the sample sent by your chamber of commerce. 】

[These tinder cotton fabrics, last month when we wrote this trade request, we specially used the samples provided by your chamber of commerce to make a set of winter warm underwear exclusively for the wealthy people in the city. 】

[I have to say that this special cotton cloth that can automatically absorb the heat generated during activity and automatically release heat evenly when inactive is really shocking. Everyone who tried it on praised it. We never thought that the southern kingdom would have such cloth that people living in the cold northern regions desperately need. 】

[Their application range is very wide, not only human body warm clothing, our good friends, the amount of insulation layer in the manor outside the city of the nobles will be greater, and these gentlemen can also afford higher prices. 】

[Not only that, we have a way. I heard that the magicians also need this special cotton cloth to provide natural automatic insulation measures for their expensive mysterious devices. 】

[So, regarding this special northern franchise of tinder cotton, can we find time to talk specifically about this matter? 】

[Even if it’s a long way, it’s still worth a trip. After receiving the letter, please send this batch of worsted tinder cotton cloth to our chamber of commerce through safe channels. As for the money, it has been deposited into the Kingdom's treasury. Please use this letter to receive 20% of the purchase price every month. You can receive two months, or 40%, before we receive this batch of goods. 】

[The remaining balance will be collected immediately after we receive this batch of goods. The entire process of this trade transfer is guaranteed by the Kingdom Treasury. Please ship as soon as possible after receiving the letter. 】

-

Keir was speechless after reading this thing. The 40% of the money that can be received directly with letters is probably not a small number. If these yellowed letters were opened and read by Barney the mountain wolf, this guy would probably have brought them with him. Lady Fenea is no longer a robber.

But now, looking at the time signature on the letter, Keir knew that no matter who it was, he had missed the deal.

Missed the money.