Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil frowned, not understanding the meaning of this sentence for a moment.

Ms. Fenea, who was sitting behind Kil, saw that the young knight remained silent and guessed that the young knight did not understand the meaning behind this sentence.

She raised her voice and explained: "Merchants and the large and small chambers of commerce they form are like flowing water, and the nobles are like earth and rocks. Water will flow along the ground and rarely gather to form water. depressions and ponds. And the earth and rocks accumulated higher and higher until they became mounds and mountain peaks."

Kil rolled his eyes and retorted: "But I heard that the largest thing in the world is the ocean? People mostly build towns between rivers and lakes. And strong winds will also blow away the hills made of floating soil, and rainfall will also blow away the mountains. Are there ravines everywhere eroded by the mountains?”

"Your mouth is really powerful, as strong as your strength. Oh, hehe."

Ms. Fenia smiled cheerfully and seemed to be in a good mood.

It was clear that they were on the way to deliver the store's wealth at this time, but the lady was not worried at all.

Keir hadn't thought much about it before, but after turning his mind a few times, he understood where this lady relied.

Barney the mountain wolf's lair!

Needless to say, there must be a large amount of merchant goods accumulated there that are difficult to dispose of. Some of them may be difficult to deal with in the black market, and some may be because they felt it was too much of a loss and not worth it at the time, so they left it behind, and ended up accumulating and accumulating.

Considering the reputation of the bandit team led by Mountain Wolf Barney and the cunning style of the other party, there must be a large amount of unprocessed goods in the real lair.

This amount of money must definitely exceed the harvest of materials obtained from capturing Mountain Wolf Barney's stronghold.

But Kiel, who had the strength to go to Mountain Wolf Barney's lair, must have missed out on this wealth because he had to lead the people to find a place to settle. Among all the people around him, there were only two and a half people who knew the location of Mountain Wolf Barney's lair. After thinking about it, Gil thought about it.

One is the old lover of Mountain Wolf Barney, and he wants to find a way to take Ms. Fenea with him before he dies. Although she was in charge of the Merchant Road Inn before, she must know the specific location of her lair.

The other one was the surrendered bandit that Kil personally let go before he captured Barney the mountain wolf. The other party is the one who handles the caravans, horses and vehicles in Mountain Wolf Barney's team. He must be involved in every action of the bandit gang. This person also knows the location of his lair.

Maybe that person prayed to Keir to let him live, and he also had the idea of ​​monopolizing the entire lair's supplies and goods after the collapse of Barney the Mountain Wolf gang.

Because after killing Barney the mountain wolf that day, Kil knew that the small cave stronghold was just an advance stronghold used by the bandit gang to rob.

This news was concealed by the surrendering bandits, and Keir was secretly manipulated by this man.

Finally, the remaining half of the group was the now crazy swordsman Will. This guy was completely crazy. He kept saying some random names all day long, cursing at one moment, and crying with sadness at the other. It's also fun to guide this madman to move. Although he is crazy, he is very attached to his weapon. As long as he holds the end of the scabbard of the long sword, this guy will follow him obediently.

Because this young man of about twenty years old is good-looking, clean, and not dressed as crudely as different bandits, many of the young women in the crowd gathered around this madman in the past two days, fighting for it. Traction manages his work.

Then he took the opportunity to touch and squeeze this guy, and even secretly kissed his face.

Even though some of the armed young men under Kiel were dissatisfied and spread the news that this man had killed one of them, others did not care.

After all, the refugee youths come from many villages and are not very familiar to everyone.

It was okay when Kier managed and ordered them, and they seemed to be a unit, but after Kier and Priest Batal ignored them, the young people still gathered together from different villages, resting together at night, and eating together. Eating together in the same pot.

-

After saying so much, Kil figured out what Ms. Fenia relied on, and stopped talking to expose the other party's plan.

After all, this has nothing to do with him anymore. Everyone generally has their own destiny, and it's impossible for Keir to take all the benefits, right?

In addition, the wealth in Mountain Wolf Barney's lair may not be so easy to obtain.

The bandit that Kil let go, and now Ms. Fenea, will definitely gather a group of people and fight with their lives to snatch the seemingly large amount of looted goods.

It is a treasure, but it must be a so-called 'treasure' stained with the lives and blood of countless people.

Gere had no intention of getting involved.

After approaching the town of Dorne, Keir's attention was stunned by the disorderly buildings in the town. Amid Ms. Fenea's teasing laughter, Kil pointed at the 'strange-shaped' wooden, earthen, and stone buildings one by one, not knowing what to say.

Having been in this other world for more than a year, he has seen local buildings of various styles and styles, but the large pile of buildings in Dorne Town in front of him could be said to be houses and shops for people to live in. Even a dung beetle would be inferior.

The wooden house made of wooden boards is supported by a wooden pillar inserted in the ground in the center. The surrounding small 'house' looks like a birdcage with open walls. The poor man wearing a pair of gray linen trousers just like that. He put his feet on the edge of the house and looked at the open space outside the southern town without a care in the world.

Although the total wealth of these people is not comparable to that of negative debtors, it is not much. The depressed trade has caused many of them to lose their livelihood. At this time, they can only sit in their own homes bored and look around curiously. Outsiders who might make a difference in their lives.

Each 'house' above and below the wooden building shaped like a birdcage is completed by a black shiny knotted hemp rope. Under the warm spring sun, some half-grown naked children are hanging on these hemp ropes. , fighting with each other.

Next to this building is an equally unusual earthen 'house', shaped like a tomb bag, with several flues on the top. Black smoke from burning wood is blowing out. The tomb is as high as a two-story wooden building. Under the bag, there is a huge hole door. Some people are walking in and out of the dark and deep door extending downward like insects at their feet.

Some people were beaming with joy, some were dejected, and some people were grabbed by a few powerful thugs by their limbs, carried out, and thrown heavily outside the door. The person who was thrown out cursed something foul, patted the blood, dust and dirt on his body, and walked to another 'grave' not far away without caring.

In addition, there are tall rocky buildings that look like beacon towers in the past, and a building that looks like a low, small castle stands abruptly among a mess of wooden buildings. Vaguely, Keir seemed to be able to hear the melodious sound of the piano and the high-pitched poetry of the bard from the open-air opening on the top of the stone building.

In addition, the originally spacious roads outside the town also shrank rapidly after entering the town, and the original gravel ground was replaced by the stinking ground filled with sewage and stinky mud.

The blood-licking grass seemed to dislike the smelly muddy ground, and after hesitating several times, it bravely stepped in under the urging of Keir.

Listening to the sound of the horseshoes hitting the ground, it seemed that there were a lot of stones mixed in the stinky mud.

No, it should be said that the town was originally paved with gravel, but gradually the dirt and dirty water were dumped on it, and over time it mixed with the gravel road, creating a 'complex' situation where you have me in you, and you have me in you. .

At least Kiel was certain that no one was dealing with the feces excreted by horses and other livestock.

I guess it relies on natural rainwater to ‘degrade’ it?

On both sides of the narrow road are closely arranged shop gates. The thick solid wood doors and the thick thugs holding their arms and chewing something unknown at the door made every house look suspicious.

Even the doors of the shops have their own signboards.

The butcher's meat stall was fluttering with unclean flies. One person supported two people. The fat butcher not only held two butchers in his hands, he also looked at every passerby with eyes that looked at the meat. A palm lizard with luminous sharp horns lay on the butcher's shoulder, flicking its tongue from time to time to stick to the flying flies and pulling them back into its open mouth.

Shops selling clothing are crowded with women who want to sell their own coarse cloth in exchange for a small amount of money. However, the skinny tailor boss often only fixes his eyes on the youngest woman and utters meaningless words. laughter.

There are also sets of clean, shabby clothes hanging on the walls of the shop. I don’t know where these clothes were collected from or what they were contaminated with before being cleaned.

In a shop that sells wooden products, thugs and carpenter apprentices keep a close eye on every customer who comes in to buy something. The more ragged the person is, the closer they watch, for fear that the other person will pick up a small piece of furniture and run away through the door.

There are dirty and smelly half-grown men squatting on the street corners. It would be bad if you ignore these people. These boys were dirty, but their eyes shrewdly looked at the waist of every pedestrian walking on the muddy ground. Occasionally they whistle, and it is estimated that only the accomplices of these guys can understand the hidden meaning in the seemingly irregular and playful whistles.

There are always people queuing up and crowded at the door of the bakery. Some are buying food for the coming period, while others are pestering passers-by to beg for a little food to be imported out of kindness.

These beggars dare not go to the fields outside the town to steal crops. Not only are debtors working hard in the fields during the day, but these debtors in the wild have no chance to live in the town. Most of them are semi-sunken earthen nests on the edge of the fields. They squeezed in and lived directly on the edge of the fields.

Moreover, these debtors will also prick up their ears carefully, hoping to catch one or two paupers stealing crops, so that their working time can be greatly reduced.

As you walk along the street toward the center of the town, the storefronts on the side facing the street become larger and larger, the decoration becomes more and more luxurious, and the overall building becomes more and more formal.

They are no longer the random alternative buildings outside the town. They are all shops and houses built according to the traditional model.

"Madam, where is your store? We have to go to the center of the town."

Kiel turned around and asked. At this time, they were passing a wooden three-story masonry building. Some local security guards came and went in and out of the door. These people looked at Kiel who was riding a tall prairie horse with vigilance.

Of course, riding a horse is not illegal, but Kil's thick metal armor and the long sword at his waist are very eye-catching.

When Kil was walking all the way, wherever he went, there would be silence for a while. Only after he and Bloodfangster walked away did whispers start to ring out in the original streets.

They were all discussing whether he, a warrior in heavy armor, was related to the warning bells emitted by the guard tower.

Ms. Fenia put her hands on the shoulders of Kil's armor to stabilize her position. She pointed forward: "Go through the center of the town, pass through the fountain in the square in the middle, and there is a shop selling various beans in the north of the town. It’s my property. Just in time, you can empty out the beans in the entire store, and the food inside will definitely be enough to feed your people for half a month.”

"Then the whole team will be full of fart sounds! Spare me, how about exchanging the shop for money? Or, use your influence to exchange those things for some cheap and useful tools and supplies?"

Keir proposed this. He didn't care much about whether he owned a shop in Dorne town. It didn't mean anything to him.

What he values ​​​​is replacing shops and things with useful supplies, and, to be honest, after settling the refugees and rescuing the people in Changmai Village, these things have little to do with him, and he will eventually go there The capital of the southern province, where they joined Baron Kendall and Knight Crow.

The dangerous and exciting war was beckoning to him right in front of him. These days, fighting was just like playing house and drinking, which was really boring.

The combat effectiveness of his armed refugees is really worrying. They are not even qualified as unarmed combat training subjects. They are far less interesting than the baron's personal guards, from whom they can learn various combat skills and martial arts.

Ms. Fenia smiled when she heard Knight Kiel's suggestion: "I usually run hotels on the trade road and rarely come over to manage my shop. Those are all run by my friends. Of course, this The reliability and loyalty of friends are entirely based on the face of that bitch, Barney the Mountain Wolf, so, young knight, please don’t let it slip after a while.”

Keir raised his eyebrows: "Sooner or later, the secret will be revealed. How long can you keep it hidden by deception?"

"You don't need to hide it for long. All the people below are mine. Once you figure out the recent business situation of the store, you can kick him out."

Kil nodded and agreed to this, and he also told the Bloodfangster who was following behind.

-

Soon, as two of them and four of them arrived near the middle of the town, it became obvious that the ground here had been cleaned frequently.

The gray-white stone ground was exposed, and the pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages on the street gradually became more formal. Not to mention how the people walking around were dressed, at least they no longer had the confused and miserable look of passers-by on the outside of the town.

From time to time, old or obese businessmen, surrounded by strong thugs and young stewards, would come out of one shop and then walk into another shop.

Of course, they would also stop when Keir passed by and look at the foreign young knight carefully with curious eyes.

Some people were well-informed. Not long after Mr. 'Dry Ollier' returned to the town to lift the alarm crisis, these big businessmen behind him received the news.

When they saw Keir riding into the town again, some old-school businessmen took off their hats and saluted the young knight from a distance, and Keir quickly returned the salute to those who saluted him.

But more people secretly curled their lips, pretending that the knight did not exist, and went about their own business.

In the square in the center of the town, large strips of stone were used extravagantly and inserted vertically into the ground to form an open central square. It is a completely different world from the outside of the town. Not only are security guards patrolling in pairs, but there is also a shining golden fountain in the center of the square.

The fountain is luxuriously decorated with gold and gems. In the middle of the three-story circular pool is a water-spouting statue holding a gorgeous vase. The waves of the water are cool and pleasant, directly diluting the anxiety caused by the warm spring sun.

Around the fountain were some rich ladies with servants and small and cute pets talking. It seemed that the hardship, poverty, hunger and pain of countless people had nothing to do with these ladies fanning the fragrance, even if The straight-line distance between the two is only a few hundred meters.

"It's just outrageous."

Kil shook his head. There were even pure white marble pillars in the central square of the town, with huge glass spheres on the top. The pillars were engraved with prayers from the Church of the Sun God. It seemed that when the sky got dark, these things would emit light. Provide public lighting.

There is also an unknown church priest holding a wooden sign in the center of the square, softly introducing gods and churches to passers-by.

Speaking of churches, Keir also saw churches in the low and solemn buildings around the square, mixed in next to the stronghold of the large chamber of commerce.

The largest one is of course the Church of the God of Wealth, and there is even a small group of security guards from the town standing guard at the door.

There are also several other large chambers of commerce buildings that are the most conspicuous and occupy the largest area.

Keir saw the ‘Burning Furnace’ Chamber of Commerce at a glance, as well as the ‘Fortune Fruit’ Chamber of Commerce that he had just seen before.

He didn't say anything. He must be just a passerby in this place. Kil briefly looked at it and then rode towards the main street on the north side of the town.

-

"Go forward, take the first intersection to the left, and within a few steps you will see my shop. 'Rumpy Pods' is the name of the shop."

Ms. Fenia simply pointed to the route and introduced the situation of her store.

"'A surplus of pods'? What do you mean?"

"When you hear this name, you can make people feel that there are endless beans to eat and buy in the store, right? That's what it means."

Keir shrugged and asked casually: "Has anyone ever bought out all the beans in the store?"

"Of course not. Dried beans can be stored for a long time. As long as they are not damp, they will not germinate for a long time."

As if hearing the word "favorite beans", Blood Licker pricked up her ears and walked faster.

Soon, I turned a corner and turned left from the main street on the north side of the town into a secondary street. In the shops selling everything in different categories, I saw a poor man carrying a small bag of beans from time to time. In and out of the store.

"Ma'am, the place has arrived."

Kil turned around and supported Ms. Fenia with his steady and firm palms, assisting Ms. Fenia to jump off the horse's back which was higher than the ground, and then he also jumped off the horse heavily.

Boom, the combat boots sent several stones flying, attracting many people in the surrounding shops to look over.