Mercenaries and Adventurers

In the afternoon, after everyone finished discussing, everyone received various tasks from the knights and then dispersed. The task that Keir received was to strengthen the intensity of the use of the carriage in the future, so as to avoid problems with the wheels or the carriage when the carriage pulled goods in the wild later.

After Kiel returned to the hunter's stronghold, he checked the carriage that would come in handy later, but found a lot of damage. So he found a new board, disassembled the original damaged place and replaced it.

Afterwards, Keir spent another day installing the wooden frame of the truck shed that he had prepared before, and then sewed the large animal hides that he had already prepared piece by piece.

After the shed is installed on the truck compartment, there is no need to worry about the cold wind blowing inside the compartment and snowflakes falling. The inside of the van can also be considered a safe recuperation place in the wild if someone is unlucky and injured.

At the same time, the other hunters were not idle while Keel was retrofitting the truck. They brought metal clips from the artisan area every day that were made by the artisans together.

Each clip is not light, and it looks very fierce. No one is willing to put their legs and feet among these metal clips to try its strength.

Therefore, in order to test the power of this thing, the hunters opened the closed iron clip, put it on the ground, took a wooden stick as the wolf's leg, and put it in the middle of the metal clip.

The sensitive central mechanism was stepped on by a wooden stick, and then, click!

There was a loud and fast closing sound, and the two sides of the originally opened metal clamp quickly closed, and the wooden stick was tightly clamped in an instant.

The hunter with a stick in his hand swings the stick quickly, imitating the way the trapped animal tries to shake off the trap.

The result is very satisfying to everyone. After the thing is closed, it bites the wooden stick tightly and cannot be shaken off at all.

"This thing looks better." A young hunter said excitedly. Although the old hunters were satisfied with the power of this thing, they discussed with a bad face whether this kind of hunting trap would threaten their job as hunters in the future.

Other young hunters feel that the old hunters are superfluous. After all, hunting with metal clips is not something that ordinary people can afford.

After all, not to mention the material cost or forging cost of metal clips, but to put these all-metal clips in the wild, the loss caused by rust alone is not something ordinary people can afford.

As long as you do the calculations, you will know that only local lords like knights can afford the expenses.

Afterwards, everyone took the trouble to test each metal clip made by the craftsmen to prevent any defective products that were not well-made and mixed in.

In addition, several young hunters were also requested by Knight Lanisa to simply learn the simple maintenance procedures of these metal clips in the workshop.

And specially prepared a simple maintenance bag, which contains the most important elastic steel materials on several clips, which can be used to replace parts that are mostly damaged by elastic steel after problems occur in the field.

Besides that, other hunters have other jobs as well. The old hunters first calculated the approximate maximum food supplies needed for this hunting trip. After the calculation, the amount was handed over to Knight Lanisa for inspection, and then a young hunter was sent out of the city to Hekou Town early to find the knight lord there to prepare the food as soon as possible.

The action requires more than hunting metal clips and food of course, plenty of bows and possibly replacement forest coats, healing salve and replacement travel boots for all.

In terms of armor, hunters don't need any armor. They each have their own comfortable hunter coats. Kiel and Lanisa knights are responsible for the armor of the knights themselves.

Considering that he might deal with the claws and teeth of ferocious beasts in the future, Keir took out his hard cowhide full-coverage armor, and asked Ganner craftsmen to simply use hard cowhide to make a simple set of thick external armor.

This simple thing is similar to a vest, which can be directly put on the original armor, effectively increasing the armor's defense ability. Ganner was still working on Kiel's new metal armor parts, thinking and researching it while making it, but Kiel came rushing over to ask for this set of simple hard leather auxiliary armor, so he had to spend half a day tinkering around Come out with this thing.

After wearing this rough and simple thing, Kiel tried it in the hunter stronghold, and found that this thing greatly affected the flexibility of the original armor. In addition, it also brought about a strengthening of the body's torso. Keel asked the hunter to hit his chest with a small hammer. He didn't feel anything except that he took two steps back from the impact.

This thing is okay.

After a few days of busy work, everyone sorted out the 50 metal clips they needed, and some supplies that were only available in Kendall City were also prepared, and all of them were packed into the carriage and stacked. Then everyone prepared their weapons and equipment and informed Knight Lanisa.

That morning, Knight Lanisa was also riding a horse with a vest, and she was also fully armed. Except for a wooden box behind her back that Keel had seen before, the knight did not hold it too big this time. The weapon slot on the horse Inside, there is an all-metal black spear.

The barrel of the gun was slender and pure black, and Kiel reckoned that the spear as a whole might be a magical weapon forged from black iron.

Not to mention its power, just the weight of this spear, he estimated that it would be heavy enough for a young man to carry on his back.

Keir didn't give way too much, except for the two horses pulling the carriage, he let his other horse carry all the extra weapons and equipment. In addition to a full set of armor and the newly added simple armor in a box, his two spears, a two-handed axe, and an extra backpack full of supplies were installed on the other side. Because of the heavy weight, he didn't sit on a horse. He wore his hunting sword and dagger around his waist, and his extremely light metal shield on his back, and led the horse for a walk in light clothes.

After checking everyone's preparations, Knight Lanisa confirmed that the young hunter had gone to Hekou Town two days ago.

So, without doing anything superfluous, Knight Lanisa waved her hand, and everyone followed the knight one by one, left the hunter's stronghold, closed the gates of the stronghold, and walked out of Kendall City.

Keir was not worried that the stronghold would be left unattended, not to mention that it was next to the government office, and there were security issues. The hunters also invited familiar people to check the doors and windows of the stronghold every day.

Kiel also hid his money and valuables in a treasure box outside the city early, and he also handed over a large piece of elemental crystal in the box to Jamura of the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce early.

Please Jamura wait until Knight Crowe returns to the city, and hand over this item to the knight himself.

-

After everyone left the city, four elderly hunters climbed into the truck, two got into the hood, and two sat in front, imitating the drivers driving the carriage in a hurry.

Fortunately, the two horses pulling the cart are very well-behaved. Basically, they don't need to be directed much, and they will keep up with their friend led by Kiel in front.

If Kiel got behind the carriage, they would follow Lanissa Knight's horse, very well-behaved.

Keir and the other young hunters slowly followed the slow-moving carriage. Although the speed was slow, a full cart of supplies was still very important.

After they left the city of Kendall, they quickly came to the small temple of the **** of rivers and lakes. Knight Lanisa is quite familiar with the two priests who are said to have great powers here, and wanted to say a few words, but heard from the orphans raised by these two priests that the two priests were previously taught by the Church of the God of the Dead. The priest please go away and has not returned yet.

Kiel happened to know this, so after the Church of the God of the Dead eliminated the corpse pit made by the bandits, he asked the two to turn the large pit into a lake.

Knight Lanisa smiled: "It sounds very interesting, but unfortunately I have something to do now, so I can't go and have a look. It's a pity."

After that, they bid farewell to the children, and instead of taking the wooden bridge next to them, they went directly along the west side of the river and started heading north along the road along the river.

Roughly headed north.

You can actually reach Hekou Town by walking both sides of the Kendall River, but compared to the wilderness on the east side of the river, that is, the road that Keel often takes to reach the village of Doral Forest, the west side of the river is more There are large blocks of impact plains, with neat fields everywhere, and scattered farms that look like simple castles more than farms.

Since it was snowing, although the snow was not heavy, there was still no one walking on the road along the river. Looking back and forth, only their group was slowly moving forward on the vaguely discernible road.

Another advantage of going this way is that the road conditions here are much better than those on the east side of the river. Because these farms are mainly on the road to Kendall City, people from various farms will often repair the road.

When it is rainy in spring, gravel will be added to the road, or branches will be laid horizontally to prevent the passing caravan trucks from sinking into the mud pit.

When the plants are luxuriant in summer, the farmers will spontaneously clear the plants on the road when they are idle, so as to ensure the smooth flow of the road.

In autumn, everyone will spontaneously organize a militia team to help protect the caravans that need help on the road, because the food they have worked for a year is to be sold to these caravans who come to collect the grain with coins.

Unlike farmers in other remote areas, because they are close to Kendall City, which produces all kinds of tools and good things, the farmers in the farm want to let the caravans that collect grain directly exchange coins for the newly produced grain.

And they will then take these coins to bring the women and children at home, and go to Kendall City for consumption. Buy a new dress for your mother-in-law, or buy an exquisite wooden toy made by craftsmen for your child, or plan to add a new farm tool promoted by the Saturnalia Church to your family. , how much more fields can be cultivated.

Although many of the fields near the farms were not owned by individual farmers, after paying the lord's food tax, they also gave the farm owner a tax or tax, and they could still provide enough income for their families.

Otherwise, the shrewd farmers would have left here long ago and went to other remote villages in the county to reclaim a field of their own.

In fact, most farmers think so. Many new immigrants who migrated from other places first settled in the farm near Kendall City, or set up a new family, or saved a sum of money that was consumed due to migration. After a few years, they went to Other villages with better conditions go to settle down.

After all, compared with remote villages, farms have to pay more land taxes to the land owners. Farmers who are as smart as these new landlords also see it clearly, so they often go to other villages to settle down after a few years.

Compared with the empire and the kingdoms close to the empire, where the personal relationship is strongly bound to the land, these border counties on the border of the kingdom are very relaxed in management. As long as you are willing to work hard, it is basically easy to reap the rewards.

A group of us walked on the snow-covered road, while listening to the crackling sound of the ice on the surface of the river in the river next to it, while discussing the life of each farmer in the passing farms one by one.

Compared with the life of farming, although hunters leave the land, they seem to be very free, but after all, they still go to remote places in the wind and rain all day long, and the snow is all over the sky. Not only is it dangerous, but the hunting life also depends on their own abilities. Have a meal.

Speaking of this, the old hunters talked about the days when they were hungry and full when they were young.

At that time, their archery skills were not good enough, and they often hunted for many days, but they couldn't catch big prey, so they could only get some rabbits and voles to fill their hunger.

You can't make any money at all throughout the year.

After all, compared to these small things, some big prey like deer, wild boars, wolves, and bobcats can only be sold for a price.

When single or two people team up with these prey, it often takes many days to be active in the wild, looking for their habitat, water source, and feces, so that they can accurately catch up with the prey and lay down in ambush in advance to catch the prey.

Live prey are of course more valuable than dead prey.

But it is basically difficult to capture large animals alive. They often die soon after being captured without eating or drinking.

At the same time, the old hunters also talked about some key points from their long experience: that is, they must not enter the woods or mountains, and they must retreat immediately when encountering some unusual signs.

After all, although in the early days of Kendall County, the knights of various knight orders had wiped out a large number of the previously raging monsters and monsters, but the monsters still existed outside the plains far away from human life.

Weird things are still entrenched in various places far from humans. Speaking of this, an old hunter told a strange story he met when he was young.

-

That was when he was young. He was still young at the time, and he hunted and lived near Hekou Town with other young people who got along well.

Once in the wilderness from Hekou Town to the west, where they often hunted, it was a familiar place, but one day, a strange house suddenly appeared in the wilderness.

It was a tall and weird house. It was obviously only a two-story house, but the size of each floor far exceeded the height of a human being.

Although everyone was taken aback at the time, seeing that the house seemed empty, some young people who wanted to take risks couldn't help the greed in their hearts, so they decided to go in and have a look.

The old hunter who told the story didn't follow in because of his timidity, so he guarded on the top of a high **** outside. He watched helplessly as his friends walked around the house and climbed in through the huge open windows instead of the main entrance.

The old hunter who released the wind waited from daytime until dusk. Although at the beginning, his friends came out to wave to him and let him go in to have a look, but the old hunter still didn't go there.

Later, at dusk, the tall and weird house trembled and pulled itself up from the ground. Huge and weird hands stretched out from the windows on both sides of the house, and slender legs grew out of the original foundation.

What was even more frightening was that a huge face with messy hair emerged from the door that was originally opened. The face was as tall as two people, and when it stretched out, it actually looked at the old hunter, and greeted him with the voices of his friends, telling him to come over.

He was scared to death on the spot, he didn't want his bow and arrow backpack, and ran directly to Hekou Town.

He kept running, kept running, and the greetings from his friends kept coming from behind him.

Getting closer.

It wasn't until he ran to a place where Hekou Town could be seen that the greeting behind him disappeared before the last ray of sunset light fell.

The old hunter didn't dare to turn his head back, and ran to the ferry in one breath, and he was relieved by a stone pillar with the **** of rivers and lakes painted on it.

Although this is still a ferry, and there is a Kendall River away from Hekou Town, there are still people around here.

He hid behind the stone pillar of the gods, looked towards the place where he ran just now, and was horrified to see that tall and strange house with limbs and heads, which was directly located in the wilderness not far away.

And there were lights in the house.

This made the old hunter almost go crazy with fright, and he yelled and quarreled all the families at the ferry.

Following the identification of the old hunter, the villagers also noticed a house standing abruptly in the wilderness not far away.

Although the old hunter said that the house grew arms and legs to chase him, not everyone listened to the young man from other places. Especially when he looked panicked at the time, he really seemed crazy.

At night, two young men boldly walked over with torches and machetes and axes.

The torches were very conspicuous at night, and they just watched the young man go in. After a long time, they came out of the house and waved to other family members to have a look.

Only the old hunter noticed that the young man in the past did not have a torch in his hand, and only the light from the gate of the house showed his figure and movement.

The old hunter held on tightly to the people of several households, even knelt on the ground and kowtowed to them, and then organized other people to go there too.

result.

The two young men did not come out of the house until the sun came up.

And that house has been standing there.

Everyone was terrified. Some people said that they would pick up firewood and torches, and instead of entering the house, they would directly set fire to the house outside. But the old hunter tried hard to persuade them to take revenge, and all of them rowed the wooden boats and went directly to Hekou Village, which was not a town at that time.

After finding the knights at that time, they gathered more than a dozen boats and hundreds of people, all armed with weapons, before they rushed over.

But when I came over to take a look, there was no trace of the house where the house was. They found two human skeletons and shredded clothing in just one place that was clearly crushed by a wide and heavy object.

There is no trace of flesh and blood on the human bones, and people even feel as if they have been licked by monsters.

Led by the knights, hundreds of them went to the place where the old hunter companions found the weird house, and they found several fresh human bones~www.readwn.com~ and broken hunter equipment.

But there was no trace of the house that would grow hands, feet, head and face.

Speaking of this, Keir felt his teeth chattering, and he squeezed out a sentence: "Then what happened in the end? You guys, did you defeat that house in the end?"

The old hunter shook his head and didn't say anything, but it made the others feel a different kind of chill, which was different from the heavy snow, rising from their hearts.

The knight Lanisa in front obviously also heard the story of the old hunter. She slowed down her horse and approached the crowd: "I heard this story. It scared many people at the time, because it seems that ordinary knights can't deal with that thing."

"My lord, do you know what that thing is?" Keel asked directly, this is what he wants to know most now.

Knight Lanisa thought for a while: "When I was studying, I heard someone said that it seemed to be called a weird house. I heard, I heard. After the death of a powerful mage, the camping magic house they carried with them came alive. Walking all the way from the place where the mage died, with the remains of the mage and his belongings, he will go all the way to the mage's family home along the road. Without the restraint of the mage, they will continue to hurt everyone they meet at will, and Because they have all kinds of magical treasures of mages, few people can defeat them after discovering them.

Until they return to the mage's family, they will be restrained and controlled by other mages again.

Of course, I heard that there are also some mages who have no family. After their death, the weird house with nowhere to go will wander in the human world, or stand quietly somewhere, or keep pretending to be a normal house to hunt and lure humans into it. it devours. "

After hearing this, Keir, like everyone else, was horrified by the news, it turned out to be like this.