Mercenaries and Adventurers

They have the ropes, they have them all in the backpack. As for the wooden sticks that can be used by two people to carry the strange northern land wolf corpse, Keel said that he just chopped one with an axe.

After defeating the Northern Land Wolf, everyone relaxed, talking and laughing, how about hunting a wild boar and eating it back?

Just mentioning this makes Keel's stomach growl. In this cold and uninhabited northern forest, it is of course a great thing to be able to eat meat.

So he agreed with both hands, and the young hunters also happily expressed their participation in hunting wild boars.

The old hunter ordered two skilled hunters, and the energetic young hunter followed him.

Others just cleaned up the place on the spot. The northern land wolf's wolf skin was peeled off, and it would be best to bury the corpse in the ground, and the reliable metal clips had to be re-arranged.

Keel considered that he would hunt at least one wild boar later, so he immediately went looking for a suitable thick branch with his ax on his shoulder.

Wearing a suit of armor, he didn't worry about anything that could hurt him at all. After walking around the position twice, he found a suitable big tree, cut off a few low branches of it, and then lightly used it to The sharp ax removed the excess branches, tied them with a rope and dragged them back to the position.

Seeing that everyone was working, someone started a fire and prepared hot food to appease everyone's hungry stomach.

Keel picked out some good branches, as thick as an arm's forearm, and of a solid wood. He sat by the fire, took out a steel dagger, and began to scrape off the bark on the surface of the branches one by one, making it into a wooden stick at least two meters long.

The bark scraped off by the dagger was thrown directly into the fire and counted as additional fuel.

A thinner wooden stick was used to carry the corpse of the mutant northern land wolf. Considering that the wild boar might be heavy, Keel found two thicker branches to make the other two wooden sticks.

It is a pity that although it is winter, there is still a lot of water in the branches, so the wooden stick may not be strong enough, and it can only be barely used to carry away the wild boars.

Before the hunting team came back, everyone sat around the fire and ate.

Not long after dark, when Keir couldn't sit still, but the other hunters were not worried, a fire lit up in the woods in the distance, and he walked slowly towards them.

"Here they come. Kiel, aren't you worried? No, they're coming back now. Go and meet them." An old hunter reminded Kiel.

Kiel quickly sat up, took out a torch to be lit from his backpack, rubbed it against the fire, and after lighting the torch, he held the torch in one hand and put his other hand behind his back, and walked over while holding the handle of the axe.

After approaching, it was indeed the hunters who went out to hunt. They were panting, and several of them were dragging a long-dead adult wild boar by a rope.

"Kiel, what are you looking at? Why don't you come over and help!" The old hunter who led the team saw Kiel approaching, and quickly handed him the rope wrapped around his arm and hanging over his shoulder.

"Here, come, such a big wild boar, does it look heavy?" Kiel handed the torch to the old hunter, and then imitated him, wrapping the rope around his forearm, carrying it over his shoulder, and walking Steadily began to pull the wild boar carcasses.

"It's still big? In these places where basically no one comes, a wild boar of this size can only be said to be average." Then, the old hunter kicked the wild boar carcass: "This size can only be a fresh An adult male wild boar, if it is bigger, will be kicked out of the family by the leader of the wild boar family, just to prevent young male wild boars from robbing him of power."

"What power?" Kiel asked with a smile, of course he understood.

A young hunter who was pulling the boar's carcass was panting, but now he rushed to answer: "Of course it's the right to have babies with a wild boar, haha. Aren't they all the same in the world?"

"You guy, hurry up and find a girl in the village. I don't know who is wandering around the streets and alleys of the city all day long, staring at every woman." Another young hunter joked.

"Hmph, of course you guys don't understand the pain of us people. Among the girls rescued from the bandits last time, tell the truth, have you ever slept with them?"

Facing his companion's pressing questions, the tall and strong young hunter didn't answer in embarrassment.

"If you don't answer, you have it if you don't answer? Tell me, did you sleep with the girl who likes you?"

Unexpectedly, the hunter stuck his neck, raised his head and squeezed out a sentence: "I'm asleep. Hey, hey, don't hit me! Don't hit me in the face! The girls came to me for comfort by themselves, and I don't want to. ah."

The two young hunters started fighting, chasing the other and running around the trunk of the passing tree. He was the only one left on Kiel's side to pull the wild boar carcass, but the speed was not slower than before.

The old hunter ignored the young hunters who were fighting, turned around and asked Kiel if he needed help, but Kiel shook his head and declined. In fact, after pulling it, it is not very heavy. As long as each step is steady, he can pull the wild boar behind him normally.

-

After returning to the position, the old hunters gathered around the wild boar, beat the ice and snow off the corpse, and then began to skin and clean the wild boar.

Kiel took the thick skins of wild boars and the internal organs of wild boars that had been cut off by the old hunters, and threw them into the pits that had already been dug aside. The pit was full of skinned northern land wolf carcasses whose heads had been chopped off. At this time, the internal organs of wild boars that could not be eaten or were worried about having parasites were thrown into it.

For these animal meat in the wild, it is best not to eat the animal's brain or internal organs if there is no other way. Animals that are not domestic livestock eat very messy food and parasites are everywhere.

Wild boars are okay, because they like to roll mud or dry pits, so there are very few parasites on the wild boar skin. But what they eat is very messy. As long as it can be eaten in their mouths, they will eat anything, including decayed, but not completely decayed animal carcasses.

So the old hunters asked Kiel to throw these things into the pit. After they left, other animals in the forest would naturally process the corpses preserved at low temperature quickly.

It will be a different kind of animal feast then.

Especially those small carnivores.

Sometimes, old hunters will use this method to set traps in the winter forest to hunt foxes and ferrets with valuable fur, or some small ferocious animals such as mountain leopards and bobcats that can't find anything to eat.

It's just that after joining Lanisa Knight's hunter team, Winter doesn't have time to do so. Of course, the knight's reward income for killing the northern land wolf is not a lot at all. In particular, the cash given by the knights can save the old hunters from the possibility of being slaughtered by the merchants deliberately lowering the price.

After removing one-third of the wild boar's head, the thick fur and intestines were removed. As a result, there were not many things left, which greatly disappointed Kiel.

Even so, the old hunter comforted him, saying that the remaining meat would be even less after the bones were removed.

But the good news is that wild boar bones can be used to make soup, and that stuff is also edible.

After cutting off the hind leg of a wild boar, the old hunters melted the snow into water on the spot, and then poured it into a cup-shaped snow. Soon, because of the low temperature around, the icy water that hadn't melted for a long time soon froze into solid ice again.

The old hunters used this cutting board made of ice, put the wild boar on it and cut it into pieces with a dagger.

Because the weight of wild boar meat was far less than what Keir expected, he made an extra whined wooden stick, which was used by the old hunters at this time, split directly and quickly whittled into thin wooden sticks, and pierced through a piece of wood. A ham fillet, dusted with crushed kosher salt, and given to Keel to roast.

Having not eaten meat for several days, Kille was in full bloom, and quickly greeted the young hunters who were fighting and quarreling, and used barbecue to melt the gap between them.

To be honest, the lack of seasoning makes the barbecue lose a lot of possibilities to become a delicious dish. Regarding this, Keel can only sigh helplessly. It's not that there are no seasonings in the town, but unfortunately, most of the seasonings that people often use are simple seasonings grown in their own yards. They are all fresh things, and it is difficult to carry them when they go out.

And many finely ground food seasonings that have been dried, some of which are said to have pharmaceutical effects, so the price is not low, and they are not practical. Some cheap dried seasonings are mostly not locally produced.

Considering the difficulties and risks of business travel in the local kingdom, there are very few business travelers who go to transport and run merchants to find cheap dried food seasonings.

This made Keel feel quite pity.

It was also caused by the remoteness of this place in Kendall County.

Chewing the salty barbecue in his mouth, Keel's desire to leave this place and venture to a wider place grew stronger and out of control.

-

That night, after eating their food, they immediately left the place where they were staying. After walking in the middle of the night, I chose another safe place to rest.

They were not very far away from the rocky mountain stronghold at this time, but they could return in a day or two. In addition, they hunted a wild boar. Although there was not much to eat, it was enough for all the people on this trip to eat for about four days. Yes, if paired with other food, you can stay here longer.

A day later, they could see the rocky mountain rising abruptly from the forest through the snow and fog blown by the north wind.

Interestingly, at the highest point of the rocky mountain, you can see a white spot that lights up in overcast weather. Kiel was also a little confused. He didn't expect that he was just charging the long sword for the convenience of hunting, but the white light it emitted could be seen from such a far away place.

It is still daytime, although the sky is very dark, but basic lighting is still available. The white dot on the top of the mountain was twinkling, and it looked like a lighthouse, or beacon.

"Kiel, did you say that was your long sword? Am I mistaken? You can see it from such a distance." The young hunters who were traveling with me were all surprised by this. They had seen how powerful that weapon was before. , did not expect to have this ability.

Keir scratched his hair, expressing that he was not clear, thinking that when he went back, he had to put it away quickly, or find something to cover it. They are the only ones in the forest now. If there are other intelligent creatures, such as some intelligent monsters, isn’t that telling them that there is something abnormal in this place, so come and have a look?

After walking for a long time, everyone was worried about the safety of the old hunter who was left alone in the stronghold, so they quickened their pace. Kiel and a strong hunter carried the body of the strange northern land wolf together, carrying long wooden sticks one after the other.

After arriving at the bottom of the rocky mountain, everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the many neat metal clips arranged at the entrance of the rocky passage.

Since none of the outermost metal clips have been messed with, it means that nothing has broken through here.

Carefully remove the metal clips blocking the way, and everyone passed here. Then he turned over the body of the carriage that blocked the road, and finally heaved a sigh of relief and began to walk up the sloping rock passage.

After walking for a while, we walked through a rock passage full of traces of weapon chopping, and came to the middle of the passage, where a simple wooden wall blocked the way.

"Old man, open the door! See what delicious food we brought you!" The three old hunters laughed loudly, standing at the wooden door proudly patting half of the wild boar meat that was carried by the young hunters on wooden sticks .

The rustling sound came to the wooden door, and then the voice of an old hunter came out. While opening the bolt of the wooden door, he said nervously to the people outside the door: "Shut up, don't laugh, all the voices Take it easy."

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay: "What's wrong? What happened?"

After opening the door, the old hunter who stayed behind put his hands on his eyebrows, looked into the sky behind everyone, and after finding nothing, he explained in a low voice: "Everything was as usual after you left, but something flew in the sky yesterday. "

Everyone walked into the stronghold one by one without saying a word, and heard the old hunter say: "I thought it was some big birds flying through the sky, so I didn't take it seriously. As a result, that thing kept flying around our stronghold, with wings I could hear the flapping sound clearly even in the tent."

"Then it sounded closer and closer, and the three horses neighed uncomfortably. I hurried out to see if some monster from outside the border was flying over."

Someone asked, "What did you see?"

The old hunter who stayed behind imitated the appearance of a horse, and then waved his arms to imitate the appearance of a bird flying: "That is a monster with four claws, it is so big, twice as big as a horse, and its wings are almost The biggest thing I've ever seen. Not to mention the thing flying in the sky. When it chirped, it was louder than the biggest eagle in the mountains. I had a hard time calming your horses. But as long as the horses They neigh, and when something flies in the sky hears it, it chirps too!"

Everyone was a little nervous, but Keir touched his chin and muttered, "Why does it sound like a griffin?"

As soon as Kiel said this, the young hunters suddenly realized: "Yes, yes, yes, four claws, a pair of big wings, and a body bigger than a horse. This is a griffin!"

"Among the militia teams organized by Crow Knights, the most powerful team seems to be the symbol of a griffin?"

"It's a griffin. I've watched the militia training out of curiosity. The animals shown on the flag are exactly what you described!"

The few old hunters who have never seen a griffin pattern have rarely heard the legends about griffins. This is also related to the rarity of wild griffins. Most of the griffins have been artificially raised by powerful organizations . Having lived in remote Kendal all their lives, they know very little about griffins.

"Griffin?" The four old hunters looked at each other.

The young people explained it to them, and the old hunters knew that the Imperial Border Knights on the northern border had raised some griffins and used them for fast flight.

"So, that's the griffin of the Imperial Knights? I don't know if there are any knights riding on it."

"There must be, but I don't know why the other party didn't come down to take a look. I wanted to entertain my lord at that time. There is such a strong wind here, flying at such a high place, it must be very cold in winter." The old hunter who stayed behind Finally said.

As for the higher the wind, the greater the wind and the colder it is, do you all think that it is unbearable for human beings? Although the leader is Knight Lanisa, everyone has seen the ability of the knights to resist low temperatures, but even so, Knight Lanisa came to the northern forest on this trip, wearing thick clothes to keep out the cold inside the armor. Also covered with an animal skin cloak to keep warm.

Moreover, on the top of the rocky mountain before, everyone couldn't stand the strong wind and cold there, not to mention riding on the back of a flying griffin. The strong wind was blowing, and it must have been three to five times colder.

When everyone was talking, they all entered the stronghold. After closing the gate, the young people couldn't wait to set up a fire, and then got into the warm tent to enjoy the fire.

Kiel put his backpack on his quilt, took off his armor, wrapped himself in a wolf fur cloak, and walked along the rock passage to the top of the mountain.

The old hunters gathered around the fire, talking about the weird northern land wolf they met this time, pointing at the dead northern land wolf, gesticulating and saying something~www.readwn.com~Kiellai When he reached the top of the mountain, he found that his hunting sword was indeed shining evenly.

Since the long sword is inserted upside down, the long glowing sword body looks like a white light tube. The cold wind invisible to the naked eye was blowing around, Kiel wrapped himself more tightly, ran to the edge of the long sword in small steps, and after he grabbed him and approached, the intermittent flashes became continuous hunting.

"It turns out that this kind of cloudy day can also charge you. It seems that as long as it is daytime. I don't know if you need a place where you can see the sky." Quietly speaking, Keel tried to smash the fixed sword ice cubes with handles.

However, it was found that some ice and snow had been casually fixed at the bottom, and now it is firmly frozen with the stone surface on the top of the mountain.

After pulling out the dagger and smashing it a few times, as soon as Kiel's fingers touched the hilt, a burst of blue light burst out from the inside of the hilt, smashing the hard ice and snow covering the hilt into pieces the size of a thumb.

Kiel froze for a moment, then chuckled and grabbed the hilt of his sword.

Keel was quite happy as a steady stream of power that he was not yet familiar with came from the hilt of the sword he was holding.

With the ups and downs of his mood, the white light of the long sword no longer radiates, but covers the surface of the sword body, and the hilt emits a blue light that seems to be able to illuminate everything, but also nourishes life.

A silver-white metal ball at the end of the long sword was not to be outdone, emitting a silver-white light that was not inferior to the blade.

It was cold on the summit platform, but Kiel closed his eyes and tried to communicate with his weapon.

In an instant, the white light on the sword body, the blue light on the hilt, and the silver-white moonlight on the tail of the sword all shrank and disappeared.

Hiss hiss.

Kiel sheathed his sword.

Then he huddled and ran towards the stronghold in small steps, because it was so windy here, it was really too cold, and he couldn't pretend to be aggressive.