Mercenaries and Adventurers

A set of bridle saddles for a horse was more expensive than Keel had imagined, and even the general store had only a dusty second-hand set. On the grounds that the things were old, Keir messed around with the apprentices who sold things, and attracted a craftsman who came over to let the craftsman judge.

The potbellied craftsman didn't want to inspect the old goods full of wood chips and dust, and sold them to Keel at half price.

Although half the price is not cheap, it actually cost him three silver coins.

Keel left his horses with his friend the Gatekeeper, and he himself washed the old saddle and bridle, dusty and dusty, by the well in the corner of the Gate Square.

In the winter, he really didn't want to touch the water, especially the Kendall running water in the well, which was icy cold and colder than touching ice cubes with his hands.

After cleaning, Keel wiped the wet bridle saddle with a borrowed dry cloth and put it on his obedient horse.

The size is slightly off, but nothing major.

Under the ridicule of the city gate guard friends, Kiel carefully climbed up on the stirrups, leaned nervously on the horse's back, and lightly bumped the horse's belly.

The horse, which was obediently standing still and pacing restlessly, seemed to have been ordered, and walked out of Kendall City with brisk steps.

Keir waved to his friends on horseback, held the rein tightly, and let the horse go along the road out of the city and down the mountain.

-

Zhao Ji found riding a horse very interesting, because a horse is a very smart animal, so it will move forward along the road with experience. There is no need for Zhao Ji to manipulate it at all.

But occasionally, when the snow on the side of the road disappeared and the withered grass underneath was exposed, his horse would stop involuntarily, lower his head and eat the dry grass.

At this time, Zhao Ji needs to take some action to tell his horse that it has to move on.

If it is a tempered horse, it may not obey the master's wishes at this time, but do what it wants to do on its own. But fortunately, the horse that Zhao Ji is riding now has a very good temper. It will neither neigh nor show its temper. As long as Zhao Ji touches its belly with the heel of his boot, it will obey obediently. What Zhao Ji meant was to abandon the withered grass on the ground and walk briskly along the road.

Zhao Ji set off in the afternoon. It took a little time to buy the reins and saddles and clean them, but there was still a lot of time in the afternoon. His riding speed is much faster than walking. It takes more than a day to walk from Kendall City to Bingxun Pass. Ji Qianjin, he arrived at the north gate of Bingxun Pass not long after nightfall.

-

I don't know if it's because the militiamen have smashed too many bandit gangs recently, so the guards at Bingxun Pass are very relieved, and they didn't even close the gate at night. Caravans traveling north and south can still enter and exit the rich Bingxun Pass at night.

At the gate of the checkpoint, Zhao Ji took out the sixth-class security badge of the Saturnalia Church he just took out from the field, and the wooden plaque of the ownership of the horse. After proving the identity of himself and the horse, the guard saw that Zhao Ji did not bring He waved his hand and let Zhao Ji enter the Bingxun Pass.

Once in, Zhao Ji found that Bingxunguan was very lively at night, even the cold winter could not dampen the enthusiastic celebration of the residents and businessmen here.

Keir looked at it for a while, and found that what everyone was celebrating again was the news that the militia had cleared up the bandits and the bandits had won a big victory. Not only the news that the bandit gangs in Luodaidong were wiped out, but also those bandit gangs deeper in the forest that had escaped the militia for the winter were also cleared up one by one by the militia.

Accompanying this news to Bingxun Pass, there are also a large number of bandit heads as evidence. The hideous heads with swollen faces were displayed on the main street of Bingxun Pass for several days, and residents and merchants saw them.

So they celebrated wildly.

It was too cold on the street, so everyone lit a fire to keep warm. Residents and merchants are all dressed in fancy clothes, and the large wine barrels in the tavern are moved to the street, and the merchants buy them for everyone who comes and goes to drink to their heart's content, as long as you can drink it.

People held wine glasses, arm in arm, kicked their legs up to dance, and sang rude lyrics out of tune, showing their feelings of being oppressed by the bandits.

The merchants all know that with the large number of bandits near Bingxun Pass wiped out, the security of the commercial roads here will improve a lot in at least two or three years, and they can make a lot of money in the safe time afterwards.

When the news came, the most sensitive merchants in the checkpoint rushed to the various taverns to recruit idlers and urgently expanded the size of their caravans. If you don't run faster, what should you do if you don't have enough manpower.

Driven by them, the entire Bingyu Pass seemed to have come back to life from the dormancy of the cold winter.

People put on fur hats, wrapped fur coats, put on clogs and animal leather shoes, and then walked out of the house. As soon as they entered the tavern, they could immediately find a caravan that needed manpower. A caravan manager was cheaper than a caravan recruitment The reason for driving high is that I am afraid that my caravan will not be able to recruit enough manpower to transport more goods.

The officials of Bingxun Pass also became active. They boldly opened the gates of the pass at night to people, and asked the tax officials to divide into several groups to collect business taxes at the north and south gates all day long.

The soldiers guarding the city gates were also very busy, either they were busy checking the large number of caravan trucks coming in and out, or they were busy collecting coins for bribes from the caravan stewards.

When Kiel entered the checkpoint just now, he glanced around and saw several soldiers with bulging pockets inside their chests. He guessed that they must be full of coins, large and small.

And the tax officials sitting inside the city gate of the checkpoint also pretended not to see it, and they even boldly put two small wooden barrels on the table where they were sitting. One contained the normal tax money, and the other directly contained the coins bribed to him by the merchants.

Every caravan that has been inspected directly puts equal coins into the two wooden barrels of the tax officer, and then the tax officer immediately puts hot wax on the tax payment certificate just prepared, and then covers it The official chapter of Bingyu Pass.

What Kiel saw was an eye-opener, and he had to admire the "flexible" methods of these people.

Although it seems that the night at Bingyu Pass has been very lively recently, Keel knows that it is impossible for a store that can accept his valuables to receive him at night.

So Keel went to the hotel room where he had been renting, handed over the horse to the clerk, and paid him extra to take care of his horse.

As a result, the clerk said helplessly that their hotel did not have enough staff, and the other clerks had quit their jobs and went to the streets to join various caravans to make a lot of money.

Now they don't even work as chefs in the hotel, and go to work as traveling cooks for the big caravan. If the clerk hadn't owned the hotel by himself, he would have gone to do business.

No way, Keel had to take care of his horses himself. Fortunately, there are everything in the stables in the backyard of the hotel, and the clerk doesn't charge Kiel for using it, so just let Kiel do it himself.

Keel had to remove the saddle and other parts from his horse himself, then use a brush to clean and straighten its hair, and then catch a few found lice and pinch them to death. Keel then tried to draw water from the well, but the bottom of the well was covered with ice.

Keel had to fill the bucket with a large rock, use the heavy bucket to break the frozen surface, lift the bucket up to remove the stone, and fetch water again.

There were piles of hay in the stables, and Keel took some out and took the time to feed his horses.

After giving it enough food and drink, Keel locked up the hotel stables and had to go out for food by himself. Because the cook of the hotel also ran away, there was no one to cook.

He left the rucksack with the valuables in the house, and Keel himself went out to eat in the tavern.

It's funny, he found a tavern nearby and went in, but he was treated as a young man looking for a job, and several caravan recruiting stewards immediately surrounded him. They chattered about the size and treatment of their respective caravans, but Kiel was unmoved.

They quarreled for a while, and Kiel had to unfold the wolf fur cloak he was wearing to show the caravan stewards the exquisite winter clothes he was wearing, to show that he was not short of money, and these people apologized and left.

After finding a place to sit down, he ordered a large roast lamb chop, a large bowl of thick soup and a fruit pie.

The tavern chef's cooking skills are not very good, the lamb chops are a bit old, but Keel's teeth are fine, he grabbed the lamb chops with both hands and bit hard, and quickly solved the large piece of meat.

The fillings in fruit pies are not made of fresh fruits. Where are the fresh fruits in this winter? They are all in greenhouses. No, they are all fruits bought by the chef himself during the fruit harvest in autumn and boiled with the sweetest fruits. Fruit jam came out. Pack in an airtight jar and use it for a year.

Since it is very sweet and well sealed, it is not easy to break.

Inside the thick pie crust is a huge burst of very sweet fruit filling. Keel didn't eat any fruit, he just felt sweet. Of course, the price of such a sweet thing is not cheap. Since it is not a seasonal food, the price is more expensive than lamb chops.

But Kiel didn't care, and only in places like Bingxunguan where there are many merchants, the food available is better. In other places, there is no place to eat if you want to eat.

In remote villages, there may be a lot of food, but there is basically no variety of food. Kendall City naturally has high-end eating places, but the food prices there are not what Keel can afford. There is only Bingxunguan here, where there are many kinds of food, and the price is also affordable by him.

While eating, Keir pricked up his ears to listen to the news around him. He was relieved when he heard that many powerful businessmen were still in Bingxun Pass.

He also heard from the drinking people that not long ago, a noble militia captain used the crown on his head to use magic to kill the vicious bandits who tried to burn the militia's supplies.

Some people described the scene exaggeratedly as if they saw it on the spot. As a result, someone asked where the other party was at that time, but the man faltered and couldn't tell, making everyone around laugh.

But Keir knew that Lonzos, the eldest son of Baron Kendall, did wear a jeweled crown on his head, and that the other party was indeed assigned by Knight Crow to be responsible for the supplies of the militia.

So, is this what the other party is talking about?

Kiel muttered something like: "Tiara. Magic." He finished his meal in silence.

-

The next morning, Keir went to clean the stables where his horses lived, and then feed them. Then he put on his backpack and went out.

He first went to several largest chambers of commerce shops to ask the valuables shops if they would buy them. As a result, the other party stated that they would not purchase items from unknown persons.

That left Keir in the dark.

But it’s okay, Keir quickly found the Simmons Chamber of Commerce that took root and rose locally.

When he came to the Simmons Chamber of Commerce by the river again, Keel found that it was very lively. The side door of the main gate was open, and there were trucks parked at the door back and forth. It is to remove the goods on the carriage and transport them to the warehouse inside the chamber of commerce.

Keel had made such an impression on some of the Simmons Guild stewards that he was quickly recognized. After being invited into the chamber of commerce, Mr. Simmons Jr., who had been rescued by Kiel, entertained Kiel.

-

"You said that you have some valuable booty from bandits that you want to sell?" Mr. Simmons Jr. asked Keel after finding an empty room and sitting down.

"That's right, they are all serious trophies obtained after defeating the bandits." Keel put down the backpack he was carrying, and patted his sturdy backpack.

Little Mr. Simmons was a little puzzled: "I'm sorry, haven't the militia team returned to Bingxun Pass yet? Keel, since you joined the militia team of Knight Crowe to deal with the bandits, why did you come out alone?"

He understood the other party's doubts, and Kiel knew that the other party was afraid that he had escaped after stealing valuable spoils from the militia. Regarding this, Kiel explained his situation.

After hearing that Kiel had joined the hunter team under Knight Lanisa, and did not belong to the militia team to which Knight Crowe belonged, Mr. Simmons was relieved, expressing that he wanted to know what Keel had in hand first. .

Keel opened the backpack and first took out a small box, which contained a small piece of ruby. Little Mr. Simmons held the ruby ​​in his hand and carefully looked at it through the sunlight coming in from the small window of the house.

"Well, the color is very bright and the size is quite suitable, and this gemstone has also been processed by a gemstone craftsman, so it has many uses." Mr. Simmons said carefully: "But."

"But what?" Keel asked. He himself thought that this ruby ​​was quite good. It was used to decorate weapons and armor, and it must add a lot of decorative value to them.

However, he himself didn't care too much about these things, because he obtained many elf gems that could shine brightly after being exposed to sunlight from the ancient elf ruins.

Those gems, both in size and shape, are much better than this thing looks. It's just that Keir couldn't explain the origin of those treasures, so after burying them near the ruins, he didn't care about them anymore. That's not something he can use now.

Mr. Simmons brought the ruby ​​to Keir and pointed to the inside of the gem with his finger: "But the inside of it is not transparent enough, which limits its many possible uses. At least that's what I know. Many big businessmen only charge Very transparent gemstones, I heard that those gemstones can be turned into magic gemstones with magical power in the hands of magicians!"

Kiel blinked. In fact, he had already guessed about this information before. Now it is confirmed from the mouth of Mr. Simmons Jr., the vice president of a chamber of commerce. He is a little regretful and a little excited.

It's a pity that the ruby ​​in his hand can't be sold to the maximum. What's exciting is that the value of his elf gems may be far more than his previous guess.

If gems can be processed into magic gems, the value of those gems will far exceed the imagination of ordinary people.

There was some pretended regret on Kiel's face. Seeing Kiel's expression, Mr. Simmons shrugged and put the gem into a small box.

Then, Keel took out another bone box of some weight. This thing is placed on the table, just looking at it can make people feel uncomfortable.

However, Mr. Simmons on the opposite side had a strange expression. His expression was a little strange. After carefully opening the bone box and seeing the contents inside, his expression became even more strange.

"Where did you get this thing?" He spoke in a low voice, and looked around the room.

Obviously he and Keir were the only ones in the room.

Keir briefly explained that he followed the monster to the forest, and then the monster ate the bandit, and he himself found something from the bandit's house after the monster left.

Little Mr. Simmons' eyes were a little strange: "I didn't expect you to be so bold. But, that monster?"

Kiel laughed: "Afterwards, I met Lanisa Knight's team. They heard about my reputation, so they let me join them. We wiped out that monster afterward~www.readwn.com~ But it was a battle It's a hard fight."

Heaving a sigh of relief, Mr. Simmons didn't look carefully at this set of exquisite and weird jewelry. He directly closed the bone box and said to Kiel: "This thing must have been robbed by robbers. Let me tell you, two years A while ago, a shepherd of the Church of the God of the Dead was robbed and killed by bandits on the commercial road. This incident was very violent at the time, and the soldiers from Bingxun Pass and the militia from Kendall had gathered together, but it was intercepted later. The gang of bandits who killed the pastor of the church were all killed, but the set of valuables that the pastor was carrying at that time was not found."

He patted the bone box on the table lightly.

"This should be the thing that disappeared at the beginning. It is estimated that the thing has changed hands in the hands of the robbers, but now, two years later, it was found by you."

Keir raised his eyebrows. He wasn't interested in these old things before he came here. He only cares about one thing now: "So, is this thing worth it?"

"Money? Hehe, the businessmen nearby know what happened in the past two years. Who dares to accept it? This is an important item of the Church of the God of the Dead. Now that you have found it, it is better to return it to the church. As for the money , they will reward you." Little Mr. Simmons said to Keir earnestly.

Keir curled his lips. He had expected Baron Kendall to give him some kind of reward before, but he had to pay for the final reward himself. The so-called reward gave him a chance to buy rare magic materials.

Kiel naturally knows who is more important between money and the authority to purchase magic materials, but compared to those things, he still prefers yellow and orange, shiny gold coins.

After all, the weapons in his hands are quite sufficient now, and working hard to improve his martial arts and physical fitness is the most important thing for him recently.