Mercenaries and Adventurers

"I come from the Alliance Kingdom in the south. I wonder if you know that place?"

Will looked up and asked.

The old businessman nodded: "I have been there several times when I was young. Ah, it is a wealthy place full of wealth! It's just that the place is too noisy, and people are quite conservative in each city, often treating other cities as foreign places. People are enemies.”

After saying that, he shook his head, feeling that people there didn't have to be like this.

The young man Bobo, who was supporting the old businessman, spoke: "I've been there once! I followed the big boat in the river and got there very quickly! It just took a long time to come back."

Keir coughed awkwardly: "I have only heard a song from the south in the story told by the bard. I remember it was called "Evening Bird" or something. Understand, after all, Kendall County is in the Kingdom. The Northwest Province, this time through the entire kingdom from north to south, is the farthest road I have ever traveled."

Everyone present understood this, so Will continued to explain.

"It's said to be a kingdom, but actually the king of the alliance doesn't do anything. It's a symbolic status. Most of the power of the kingdom is in the hands of the thirty big families that control the towns. Everything is discussed in the parliament. . And I am from one of these families."

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

The old businessman and Keir both took a breath. The meaning of this was self-evident. No wonder the remaining members of the annihilated family would be in danger just by knowing the news.

Kil rolled his eyes and made a joke: "Ha, a noble man in trouble? Looking at your face, he looks quite similar. I think the bards would be very excited to know this news, right? What a pity. There is not a bard in our team, otherwise your experience might be the beginning of a volume of adventure poetry, or a classic drama about a noble man in trouble!"

Will, who was ridiculed in this way, was no longer angry. He even said in a low voice with self-deprecation: "Who says it's not the case? I never thought those classic dramas were interesting before. They were mostly a place for elders to connect with each other and a conversation tool. Wait until It was only when I was deeply involved in drama that I realized the taste of destiny."

He smacked his mouth and frowned. It was obvious that the feeling was not pleasant, and the pressure could drive a young man crazy.

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

"Will-Guntnir, this is my name. I am a member of the Guntnir family, the ruling family of the original Alliance Kingdom Stone Tower City and Purple Wheat City. Hey, a few years ago, I was I am studying advanced swordsmanship in the Kingdom's Swordsman Academy, and I am waiting for the academy and my family to train me into a garrison knight who specializes in close combat."

He paused: "Just like in the classic story, a premeditated attack pounced on my family. I don't know how many enemies the family has, but at least they came to the academy to attack me and several of my brothers in the family. The sisters have no less than five people. They first came to conspire to trick us out of the academy, but the teachers of the academy found out."

"Then what? Why are you alone?" Kil asked.

Will pursed his lips and clenched his fist tightly with his right hand: "Later, in order to get rid of the young people from our families, they even asked for 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 started from the college and protected us as we fled for our lives. Everyone died, and the teachers were knocked down and many were captured. I took the risk and climbed up by force. He escaped capture only by a long-distance gryphon that took off."

"Griffin? I've seen a griffin before. It's really big and very powerful!" Keir praised.

Will's face turned red, and after hesitating for a moment he reluctantly explained: "Instead of riding on the back of the gryphon, I put a belt on the gryphon's giant claws and was secretly carried away. After flying for a day , the knight who controlled the griffon discovered me who was frozen. But fortunately, he didn't throw me directly from the sky. After interrogating me, he temporarily landed the griffon in the wilds of the kingdom. He even gave me He paid me a sum of money and then let me go."

The old businessman nodded: "This is a gryphon knight with a righteous heart. He can completely hand you over to other families that deal with your family in exchange for a large reward, but the other party does not. Even if he does this, then The knight would be under suspicion, and a lot of trouble would follow."

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 Saint Holes?" Kil continued.

Will sighed and complained: "Your Excellency Knight, can you please not use the word escape? Although I was continuously hunted at the time, I said before that the Kingdom of the Southern Alliance is a place actually ruled by dozens of families. I Although my enemies are powerful and insidious, their actual sphere of influence is mostly limited to one place. As long as I don't expose my family name, there is no need to 'escape'."

Kil snorted: "Then why don't you hide your surname, raise strength in your family's territory or other families that are friendly with your family, and then try to fight back? Why don't you come here?"

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

Will also risked his life. He raised his head and said: "My head can be exchanged for thousands of gold coins from our place, or a hundred years of rule of a village. Do you understand?"

"Aren't you afraid that I'll take your head in exchange for money?" Kil joked with a smile.

Will glanced at Keir: "Having said this, I believe you won't do this. You are a local knight of the Kingdom of Saint Holes, and there is no need to take risks for the 'reward' of a kingdom far away. After all, The two places are so far apart, and several years have passed, no one knows whether the promises and 'rewards' once made will still be recognized."

The old businessman added: "And when you go to a distant and unfamiliar place, it's hard to say that the other party will take advantage and give a stranger the entire bounty as promised. You know, those people only need to confirm whether Will is dead, it's hard to say After receiving confirmation of his death, I will honor my original promise honestly and readily."

He turned to the young man beside him and continued: "This is also a difficulty in conducting long-distance business. When doing business, the distance increases by one noble territory, and the risk increases exponentially, but the money earned does not increase exponentially. . You should pay attention when you grow up and choose a balance point."

The boy nodded, indicating that he remembered.

At this point, the conversation was basically over. Kiel said that he would let Will recover first and then let him participate in the battle to protect the refugee team.

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

So he plucked up the courage and continued: "Sir Knight, I will help protect the refugee team, but I hope to follow you and fight together."

Kil glanced at the other person 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, will you die on the battlefield?"

"That's because my skills are not good enough. It's my own business to die on the battlefield!" Will also risked his life. The opportunity was right in front of him, and he didn't want to miss it again. Just as the old businessman told him last night, blindly avoiding and escaping will only end up dying in obscurity in a remote place far away from home. If you want to return to your hometown to take revenge in an upright manner, you must have power, the power to take revenge.

Kiel was actually a little worried. After all, he was not a young knight from the north as claimed by the refugee team. He had actually just entered the knight's road. In terms of social status, he was actually just a knight attendant of Knight Crow. Learn knight skills from Knight Crow.

He himself is still a second-hand swordsman and 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 Kiel then thought about it, maybe the other party wouldn't be disappointed, but would use Kiel himself as a stepping stone? Thinking about it this way, Keir felt much more relaxed.

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

Patting the other party's shoulder, Kil asked Will to recover from his injuries first, and if possible, get closer to Priest Batal and let the priest treat Wildo's injuries.

"Of course, you have to eat more food. Divine healing still consumes the body's energy and physical strength."

Will nodded: "I understand all of this. When I was learning swordsmanship in the academy, any injuries sustained during practice were treated with divine magic."

Hearing this, Kil couldn't help but be curious about the academy where Will learned swordsmanship many years ago.

-

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

Of course, dismantling the tents and having breakfast for everyone are essential. Even in order to speed up the people's journey today, Keir also asked Mr. Barfoot to inform the cook that this morning's food needed more oil, water and food.

Let everyone in the team eat so that they will have better physical strength and endurance to pass through the trade route ahead today.

Although Keir felt that a confrontation with the so-called 'Hanged Ghosts' bandit gang, which was actually the cult 'Flesh Devils', was inevitable, the team's rapid movement still made it possible to avoid pursuing attacks, and even made it difficult for the attackers to ambush in advance.

Not only were the people eating well, but all the animals in the team were fed a lot of extra beans early in the morning, hoping that the animals pulling the cart would work harder today.

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

Of course, no one came to Kiel to ask him for any information. What everyone could actually do was to hold on to the knives and daggers handed out to each other, walk with acquaintances, and agree to run away when attacked. Run together, fight together if you want.

Blood Licker was also served by the grooms early in the morning and put on a new set of armor. When Kil jumped on the horse in full gear, it also felt the nervousness and excitement of its master.

On the horseback, in addition to the all-steel double-edged spear, there is also an additional two-handed ax with a blue body. Kil was not sure whether the humans parasitized by the 'Flesh Demon' were human enemies or monsters, so it was better to bring this ax that was specially designed to kill beasts and monsters in advance.

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

"Set off!"

Kil shouted and stood on the roadside on horseback. Then the huge team slowly stretched out like a giant snake waking up from hibernation and began to crawl forward along the road.

-

The sparse woods not far from the trade road are quite lush, and the trees are tall and block out the sun, so they look normal.

But after everyone walked a certain distance, some people saw that the brown tree trunks were occasionally mixed with some red trunks. The person who discovered it was amazed and pointed it out to his friends next to him as he walked.

But after all, the nearest trees on both sides of the trade road are tens to hundreds of meters away in a straight line. From this distance, people can only see red or even dark red tree trunks, but they cannot clearly see those tree trunks at close range. Why is it red.

On the other hand, there were loggers in the team who were usually very arrogant and spoke louder than the others. When they saw those red tree trunks, their expressions changed. Yesterday, they were repeatedly told by Knight Kiel and Priest Batar not to tell the truth about these tree trunks. Therefore, the loggers who usually had big mouths became mute at this time, with ugly faces and buried their heads without saying a word. Just leave.

Some people thought that these guys had changed their temper. Otherwise, they would normally comment on everything they saw, but today they were quiet.

The keen-minded people guessed something. They estimated that something did happen when these guys escaped back to the camp yesterday evening, and it was related to the red tree trunks they saw on the road today.

Keir rode his horse and paraded slowly in front and behind the team. He stared at the depths of the forest with the red tree 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 entire team walked to noon at a slightly faster speed than usual. None of their team was attacked by a team of "flesh demons" who were apparently bandits but were actually composed of parasitic humans.

"Strange? Where have those guys gone?"

-

"Damn it! What the hell are these guys!"

In the forest in front of the trade route that the refugee team was taking, two sturdy figures were running away quickly, one behind the other. The young figure who was escaping in front complained as he ran.

He was holding a large, strung hunting bow in his hand, and the quiver on his waist was almost full of fine homemade arrows. In his right hand, he held several arrows between his gloved fingers. between fingers.

"Stop complaining, maintain a good breathing rhythm, and don't get caught up."

The old figure escaping behind walked steadily. Although he fell behind, it seemed that it was not because he was running slowly, but to limit the speed of something chasing them behind.

From the left side of the two people, a middle-aged villager ran over with his arms extended. This man's palms were stretched straight forward. On the palms and fingers, there were some small details that would be ignored if you didn't pay attention. Plant roots. The movement was a bit strange, but it made the two elite hunters who were escaping feel like they were facing a powerful enemy.

"Be careful! Left!" the young man in front warned with a strange scream.

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

As soon as he finished speaking, the old hunter took out a special arrow from the special quiver on his back, glanced slightly to the left while running, and then quickly drew the bow and shot.

Buzz——

There was a tremor after the arrow broke away from the hunting bow. It didn't fly very fast, but it twisted abnormally in the air and attacked the villagers outflanking the two people on the left like a swimming fish.

With a pop, the arrow cleverly penetrated the villager's open breathing mouth with great force, and the next moment it forcefully emerged 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 arrow shaft, but after the arrow shot through the villager's head, it spun and swung in the air, like a domestic dog that had been caught in the rain. Shake the rainwater out of your hair while moving.

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

While the old hunter was running, he only heard the special sound of his own arrows flying through the air. He stretched out his right hand to catch the arrows in the air beside him, and then caught the flying arrows in his hand again.

Just as the old man was about to feel proud, the young hunter who was escaping in front shouted: "No! Your retrieval arrow blew up the man's head, but you haven't killed him yet!!!"

The young hunter literally screamed the last word.

The old man turned his head and glanced to the left, and sure enough he found a villager who had been shot through the mouth and back of the head. He suddenly lost control and ran and fell into the woods. After twitching all over, he got up and chased them.

What seemed like fatal injuries to ordinary people would be of no use to these half-human, half-monster villagers.

Fortunately, due to the delay due to the fall, the villager could not maintain the outflanking momentum and could only pursue the chase with the large force behind the two.

Compared with running, the two elite hunters traveling together were not afraid of anyone, so apart from being unfamiliar with the local terrain, they were not worried about the figures chasing behind them.

"What the hell! A bunch of monsters dressed 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 if you shoot the head, shoot the knee! Ten people, five of you and me! Shoot off the knee of each person behind!"

The old hunter immediately ordered. As soon as he finished speaking, he did not care whether his partner agreed or not. He drew arrows back and forth from the quiver at his waist with his right hand twice. He first bit two arrows in his mouth, and then let his right hand hold three arrows. arrow.

While taking the arrow, he slid sideways against the ground to slow down. A pair of leopard skin boots with leopard soles on the soles were like bulldozers, shoveling the fallen leaves and humus on the ground to slow down.

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

Immediately, his eyes swept over the pursuer's right leg and knee one by one, and his hands kept moving, drawing the bow and shooting the arrow. Then, switching his fingers, he put the arrow between his fingertips on the bow string again, and then he drew the bow and shot the arrow.

After repeating it, the third arrow cut through the air and flew out.

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

As smoothly as if he had been tempered for thousands of times, the old hunter drew his bow and shot again, and the last arrow fell from his mouth. The next moment, he followed the movement of his body and shot at the fifth pursuer swept by his sight.

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

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

"Let's go! I probably shot off my knee, which can only slow down their speed. Let's get rid of them as soon as possible!"

The young hunter who shot five arrows a moment later nodded and confidently turned around and ran forward without checking whether the arrows hit.

Behind the two people, with the sound of arrows piercing flesh and blood, a total of ten strange villagers who were chasing the two fell to the ground. They tried to get up and run to pursue them, but fell down again. .

This is because each of their right legs and knees were shot through by well-made arrows, and the movable joints were severely damaged and stuck. Even though these half-human and half-monster villagers are not afraid of pain, their mobility is still greatly reduced. weakened.

-

"What bad luck! What's going on in this place? If you just go to the mountain to investigate, you can encounter strange things like this."

"Stop talking nonsense, those people were just slowed down, but they are still chasing us."

"Then what do you think we should do, old man?"

Faced with the young hunter's rude words, the old hunter suddenly had an idea: "Lead them to the young knight."

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

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

"Huh? Do you really want to do this?"

"Anyway, these guys keep chasing the two of us. We can use that young knight to deal with them. No problem."

After the discussion, the two hunters turned around and ran quickly towards the trade road with sparse woods. Behind the two of them, ten villagers with arrows in their knees were still persistently tracking the two bow-wielding hunters.

These two hunters accidentally saw their prophet baptizing and cultivating the captured people, and they must be eliminated. This is a death order from the prophet!