Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kil watched on the rocky hill for a while, and the team below had already bypassed this relatively high rocky hill.

After the team bypassed this thing, they followed the narrow dirt road with growing vegetation and turned to Shichui Village behind the rocky hills. The size of the village is okay, with more than a dozen low-rise farmers' houses built closely together. But what's a little special is that because it is backed by this conspicuous rocky hill, this village has something that other villages don't have. .

A rock wall that surrounds the entire village.

The rock wall surrounding the village is a little taller than a person, and an extra meter of wood is used to increase the height. This means that although the wall is not high, it can already ensure the safety of the village in a sparsely populated environment.

At least as far as Keir was concerned, ordinary beasts couldn't climb over the village's self-made wall.

Of course, the wall in Shichui Village is far from as tall as the rock wall in Yemei Town, and its circumference is far less than that.

Kil watched his team gradually enter the deserted village. He also climbed down the hill and rode on the blood-licking grass that was curious to eat the butterflies flying in the flowers. Kil rode over.

-

A team of hundreds of people were piled chaotically on the abandoned farmland outside the village, waiting for the armed squad in the front row to check the security inside the village.

Kiel rode over, and people took the initiative to get out of the way for Kiel's knight to pass through the entire team.

"Hey! Kil! What were you doing climbing up that mountain just now?"

When passing by his own carriage, Bloodfangster who was driving shouted to Keir.

Kil waved his hand at him: "It's nothing. The terrain there is relatively high. I climbed up to take a look at the surrounding situation. In addition, it is not a mountain. It is too short and can only be regarded as a hill with a stone head. "

Bloody Fangster smiled: "Then did you see anything? How is the surrounding situation?"

After a moment of silence, Kil pointed to the north-east direction of the village and said: "There is a small river in that direction, and the color is very strange."

Without saying any more, Kil ignored Bloodyster who was muttering about "strangely colored rivers" and walked through the entire team to the entrance of Stone Hammer Village.

When he arrived here, Keir saw the wooden gate of the village that had been pushed open, and noticed that this simple gate made of thick wooden sticks mixed with ropes had not been damaged during the time when the villagers evacuated the village.

What does this mean? It means that at least during this period of time, Kiel and the others were the first people to come here after the villagers left.

Kil asked, and it was as he had guessed. When the team came over just now, the armed team walking in front saw that the village gate was tied up with ropes from the outside, not closed from the inside.

"How is it going?"

Kiel asked the members of another armed team guarding the entrance to the village. The captain of this team immediately stepped forward and loudly replied: "Knight Kiel, Priest Batal has led a team of people in to check."

While he was talking, a place in the village became noisy. There were shouts of surprise from members of the armed squad, and the screams of wild beasts. Soon, Keir saw a den of foxes with bright fur escaping from a farmer's house in the village and fleeing in panic on the road in the village.

"Hey, there are foxes! Here are some bow wielders, go up and help them quickly, don't let them escape!"

Kil immediately shouted. He himself was not interested in hunting these guys, even if he had a hunting bow and arrows on his horse.

As soon as he finished speaking, the members of the armed team guarding the entrance to the village who were using bows and arrows jumped out, rushed out of the crowd and half-crouched with their bows to shoot. The panicked foxes didn't expect that there were humans here as well. Bang bang bang, two more were shot to death on the ground by random arrows.

The remaining ones were immediately frightened and their fluffy tails became hairy. They no longer dared to run outside and scattered to the surrounding farmers' homes.

Young people holding bows and arrows immediately stepped forward and surrounded several farmers' houses. Then armed people holding swords rushed forward, and the Batar priest who led the team also rushed in. Keir saw a smile on his face. Apparently hunting these foxes was an interesting and profitable activity for the priest.

"After all, there are things that make people unhappy lately."

Kil shrugged, lowered himself on the horse, and rode into Stone Hammer Village.

The houses of farmers in the village are built quite closely. This means that although the population is similar to that of other villages, the area of ​​Shichui Village is actually not large. After all, a rock wall surrounding the entire village needs to be built, even if the building materials are there. Next to the village, this is also a project that consumes a lot of energy and wealth for the farmers in the village.

Therefore, the village can be built as small as it can. Every household should have a yard, but as far as Keir saw, the farmers in Shichui Village do not have it. Some only have a few fruit trees planted next to the house.

After waiting on horseback for a while, the foxes that rushed into the farmers' houses were hunted down. Each of the armed people held the foxes' big tails and laughed excitedly.

"Ha, this is an activity that only lords are qualified to play, hehe."

"Look at how nice this guy's fur is. If you peel it off and make it into a hat or a dress, it will definitely look beautiful."

"I just don't know who belongs to this den of foxes? Does it belong to Lord Keir, or does it belong to our team?"

The members of the armed squad gathered together, shooting foxes to death with bows and arrows at each other, and foxes that died after their heads were chopped off with swords. While some were skinning them skillfully, everyone was talking about them.

"I don't think it's okay to give it to Mr. Kil, but if it counts among the team, I hope it can be divided according to everyone's contribution along the way. If my wife can have a fox scarf, she will definitely be crazy about it."

Said one of the armed men who had a wife and were with him in the ranks.

A young hunter next to him begged: "Can you share one with me? I am pursuing a girl in the team. If I can give her a piece of fox skin, I believe she will like me."

Kil heard what they said was interesting. Seeing Priest Batar approaching with an amber metal staff, he stepped forward and asked: "How is the inspection in the village? Are there any traces of the Flesh Demon coming to this Stone Hammer Village?"

Priest Batal said with a smile on his face: "Blessed by the great God of Agriculture, every farmer has seen it. Apart from the foxes that have entered the village, there are only some small snakes and spiders. Use a torch to drive them away. No problem. We can let the team come in and rest.”

But when he said this, the priest shook his head and said with some hesitation: "But this village is not big, and the area within the wall is even smaller. There are all the farmers living in it, so I'm worried it won't be enough."

"And here." He stretched out his hand and pointed around: "The place is too small. Kiel Warriors, what about the rest of the people?"

Kil waved his hand and said: "After all, this village has a ready-made wall. It would be a pity not to use it. All the people in the team went into the village to repair it. First, the injured and women were allowed to live in the farmers' homes, and the others reluctantly made do with it. Just find a place in the village to set up your tent."

After the arrangements were made, the priest went down with Keir's arrangements.

Then the armed team at the entrance of the village opened the door, shouting Kiir's arrangements to the people who poured into the village, while guarding the village gate on the spot.

There were two small huts inside the village gate, which saved them the work of setting up camp. Everyone took turns to rest and squeeze in. The two guard huts were barely enough for an armed team of more than 20 people.

Geir didn't care how the entire team of more than 800 people squeezed into a village full of no more than 300 people, nor did he care about the distribution of fox furs that made the armed people jealous. He rode the blood-licking grass around the village. I dismounted again and visited a farmer's house.

To be honest, this Shizui Village looks okay from the outside?

But once inside the farmer's house, the rough side of the village is exposed.

The farmer's house is not small in size and height. It seems to have only one floor. In fact, when you go inside, you find that the house is not small in size and is divided into at least three floors.

Rough logs and planks were spliced ​​together to form the floor and pillar walls, and the bottom floor was divided into several places.

Kiel took a general look and found that the empty first floor should have been used as a grain store, chicken coop or livestock shed, and there was also a place to place handy farm tools. Climb up the crude and even sloping wooden stairs to the second floor, and this is where farmers live their daily lives.

Considering the need for strength and warmth, the house has very few windows. Even though it was afternoon, the lighting in the house was still insufficient. Kil had to pull out a hunting sword blade to let the white light emitted by the blade provide additional lighting. .

The second floor of the farmer's house was still narrow and cramped. In front of the wall with stones on one side, there was a specially made firepit. An exquisite stone stove made Keer very interesting.

In addition, the most spacious area on the second floor of the entire house is the small area up the stairs.

Other large areas are divided into small dark and gloomy houses by rough wooden boards. Just by looking at it, Keir realized that this farmer's house was inhabited by an entire large-scale farmer family.

A house is like a family, where all men and women, old and young, live together. During the day, farmers and women, whether young or in their prime, carry farm tools, food and water cans, and go to work on the farmland outside the village.

The elders in the family take care of the young children, or make their own threads or tools with simple tools.

Don't think about cloth. After all, even making linen requires a complete set of tools.

But to say that the people here are poor, that's not the case. After all, the house is not small in size and the design is quite exquisite. Even if the materials are obtained from around the village, it is not easy to build such a house.

Not to mention that when Keel visited out of curiosity, he discovered that there should have been a lot of furniture in the house, but all of it was gone. Apparently, the farmers took them all with them when they left the village.

Kil shook his head. He immediately remembered what happened in Yemei Town. He knew that the people from nearby villages who had taken refuge in the past had gained possible safety in Yemei Town, but they were also passively controlled by the people in the town and plundered their resources. The wealth they have accumulated over the years.

Perhaps as time goes by, this set of 'plundering' methods will not only sweep away all the apparent wealth of the surrounding farmers, but will also take away the farmers' houses and farmland.

At that time, these people will have nothing but themselves to eat.

If the Kingdom of St. Halls had not banned the slave trade, Keir was certain that the people in Yemei Town would have asked the farmers to sell themselves as well, and work and farm for them for the rest of their lives.

Thinking of this, Kil shook his head and felt that he had made a mistake by refusing the baron heir to deal with the flesh demon early.

After all, every day that passes, the people outside the town will be deprived of wealth and resources for one more day.

Unless they risk their lives and take the initiative to fight against the flesh demon parasitic humans, or escape back to their own villages.

"Hey, it's all a puddle, everywhere is a puddle. It's all because of the war!"

Kil cursed and climbed up the crude wooden stairs to the third floor of the house.

The situation on the third floor is better, but the place is smaller and cannot accommodate more people. Keir took a closer look and felt that every farmer's family, the most decisive family in the family, should live here.

But compared with down here, it's actually not much better.

After walking out of the dark and cramped farmer's house, Keir came outside and made way for people carrying luggage and supplies to enter the house he had just visited.

"Why didn't they put more effort into building this village bigger?"

Keir said to himself, and then smiled to himself, knowing that this is all nonsense, no one is a fool, of course there is a reason for the village to do this, because of the shortage of manpower, the scarcity of tools, or because of the original After the village is built, those who want to expand it later will probably face constraints from within.

-

After checking the local houses, Keir climbed up the wall of Shichui Village and walked several times around the entire village.

While he was carefully checking the condition of the wall, he directed several other armed teams in the team to surround the wall in several other directions of the village and find places to set up their camps.

The carriage carrying Maomao was parked on the roadside at the entrance of the village. Curious Maomao had already yawned, jumped off the carriage, jumped and climbed to the roofs of farmers' houses in the village with his eyes wide open.

They swung their long tails and stepped on the roof of rolled wheat straw, with curious expressions on their faces.

Every human village is a novelty for them, and they use the internal language of the long-haired lynx orcs to discuss the various advantages and disadvantages of human settlements, as well as the future development direction of the fur tribes still deep in the mountains.

They don't dare to live on the plains like humans, not only because there are not as many wild animals on the plains as there are deep in the mountains, but also because even though humans are mostly friendly to them, once they really settle on the plains.

Human attitudes are quite different.

Brutal and brutal.

The Maomaos know how fierce and cruel the battles between humans are.

No easier than the battle between their furry tribes for hunting grounds and safe water sources.

-

After arranging everything on defense, Kiel came to the center of the village.

This place is similar to other villages. Even though the walled land in the village is tight, Shizui Village still leaves a small open space in the center of the village. The ground was rarely paved with stones from nearby rocky hills.

It was here that Kiel's tent and carriage were placed.

If there are no special requirements, Kiel's tent and carriage will basically be placed in the center of each camp. When staying overnight in the village, of course they must be placed in the center.

On the one hand, this is to facilitate Kiel's support in all directions when the camp is attacked. On the other hand, it is also convenient for the members of the team who camp in different environments every day to know, see and know where to find Kiel at any time. .

When someone is bullied or encounters some difficulty, although Kiel probably doesn't have any good solutions, who is to say that he is now the leader and manager of this team. Although Priest Batal also has the power to lead and manage the team, in addition to focusing on the religious people in the team, the priest must also take care of the injured people.

Along the way, the team continued to encounter bandits from all walks of life, and many people suffered injuries that could not be treated by the priest Batar and the shepherd of the god of agriculture alone, even if he had magical powers that ordinary people thought were very magical. In the end, Batar Priest Tarr himself could only pray for minor injuries to be cured. For more serious injuries, he could only try to ensure that the injured did not die.

At this time, the seriously injured soldiers could only rely on being hung up by the priests and praying for their body's self-healing power.

Fortunately, although Priest Batal could not heal broken limbs or serious injuries, he could at least ensure that the injuries of the wounded who were still alive at the time would not worsen. As the team eats nutritious and satiating food every day, many seriously injured soldiers are gradually recovering on their own these days.

It's just that the broken fingers and palms turned into missing limbs, and the places where they were cut by the knife also left terrible scars. Some people had their heads chopped off by bandits without damaging their brains, but they could only bear the missing parts afterwards. A piece of head.

There are also people who have had their teeth knocked out and can only eat carefully from now on, and stay like this for the rest of their lives.

Unless they can become rich in the future, or because they believe in Saturn, they go to larger cities and participate in the grand celebrations of the Church of Saturn. Maybe they will be lucky enough to grow back the limbs they lost after being injured.

Returning to the carriage, Kil silently packed some supplies for use in the wild environment on his carriage.

Bloody Fangster saw this and asked curiously: "I know you won't leave these people alone, Kil, but I'm still a little curious. Kil, look at you, are you planning to leave the team? What are you going to do?"

While packing up one person's luggage, Keir replied: "I just saw it on the top of the rocky hill. A river in the direction of the village looks a little special. "

"Special? So?"

Keir looked helpless: "So I want to take a look along the river, especially the upper reaches of the river. My intuition tells me that there must be something different there. When I say this, are you also curious and want to Why don’t you go over and take a look?”

Before Bloodfangster could say anything, Priest Batal came over and interjected with a serious face: "This is not a good idea. I have to pass through Stone Hammer Village at least once every year, so I know that along the way What you’ll find up that river.”

When he said this, both Kil and Bloodyost looked over. Only then did Kil remember that although Priest Batal was from the city of Boris, he was the resident priest of Changmai Village. It can be said that he is half a Sars County person, especially a person from the southern part of Sars County.

"have what?"

Kil asked pretending to be curious.

"Huitou Forest! Everyone nearby knows that if you walk upstream along an undrinkable river outside Shichui Village, you will eventually be led to a place called Huitou Forest. Legend has it that everyone who steps in out of curiosity or looking for someone No one in the forest can come back.”

"Then where did they go?" Xueyaster asked with a surprised look on his face.

"No one knows. No one knows where these people ended up after they stepped into the forest!"

Priest Batal said with a serious face.

Keir almost lost his expression, because he knew from the big bird god that behind the so-called [Returning Forest], deep in the mountains, there was a large valley with people living in it.

Presumably, those who set foot in the forest will eventually live there.

I just don’t know why people who enter would rather build a village than leave? Could it be said that you can only enter that forest but not leave it?