Mercenaries and Adventurers

"Uh, uh. Uh." The scruffy man wrapped in a circle of thick old bark to keep warm rolled his eyes, and said a message cautiously: "Um, uh, do you know an old man in the village? I heard that the old man can dive into the water for a long time without refloating."

Keir narrowed his eyes and frowned. He knew about this matter. For the sloppy man in the lowest living class in the village in front of him, the old man Corydon, the village chief, had formally informed him yesterday. I introduced the old man with a nickname.

Although he felt a little teased, or cheated, after thinking about it, Keir sympathized with the man huddled in the shack.

With a flick of the finger, an iron coin, like the previous two coins, spun and slipped through the gap in the shack.

"Ah, thank you for your generosity, thank you for your generosity." The slovenly man quickly put the coins into his pocket, but then said: "But I haven't finished yet. About the old man who can dive well information."

Curling his lips, Keir felt a little impatient.

But he kept his attitude and expression, and just raised his chin to let the other party continue.

"Yes, yes. I heard it from the old man's grandchildren. When the weather is not so cold, it is autumn. I can often pick up some garbage thrown by the villagers in the village. Find something to eat. At that time, ah, those half-grown children will come to play with me when they are bored. Hehe, but they are often not serious, and they always beat me very painful."

Although hearing these words made Kiel feel sorry for the other party, Kiel still put on an indifferent look: "Get to the point."

"Yes, yes, the point. When we were playing around, those boys would talk about the elders in the family. The grandson of the old man said that when the old man came to Wumi Lake Village when he was young, he relied on the mud from the bottom of Wumi Lake. They rummaged through things to support their families. Although all the things at that time were sold to the merchants who came and went, there were still some valuable things left at home.”

The sloppy man smiled at Kiel in a fawning manner: "You seem to have a lot of money on hand. If you have enough money, you can try to buy some from that family. Maybe it will be worth shipping to a big city in the south." A lot of money."

Kiel hesitated for a moment.

"It's easy to say, if it's really valuable, why didn't the family do that by themselves? They still kept it in their own home. And since you have this idea, why don't you try to steal one and sell it in the southern town for some Coin will pack himself up and get a job?"

The sloppy man in the shack took a few quick breaths, and then pulled his face and said: "You are joking, I only know how to farm, I dare not steal, I dare not steal. If you are caught stealing, you will cut off your fingers, and I heard people say that next year, the village will rebuild the abandoned fields outside, and then I will have work to do. Hey, hey, huh, as long as, as long as I survive this winter, it will be fine.”

"Everything will be fine next year."

Keir replied indifferently: "Maybe."

He took out another iron coin and dangled the coin between his fingers: "What I said just now has some value, here, take a look, and get another one."

Kiel bounced the coin, but this time it didn't fall into the shack, but went straight up and down and returned to his hand.

The sloppy man rolled his eyes up and down following the iron coins with the lowest denomination, grinned and said quickly, "Okay, I have another piece of news here."

"Then tell me quickly."

"Yes, yes. The east gate is next to it. If you go straight outside the east gate, you will see a windward **** facing north. On the top of the slope, the people of the village built three windmills for grinding grain."

"I've heard it said, but the mill doesn't seem to be working because of the wolf problem," Keel put in.

"Yes, my lord, but although the villagers were afraid of being caught by wolves on the way to and from the mill, they still found an old man without a family to guard the mill and maintain the windmills of the three mills."

"Oh, what does this have to do with your news? The man is dead?"

The sloppy man waved his hand quickly: "No, no, no, no one died. The mill is very big and strong, and I don't think those beasts can get in, but the old man will occasionally come out of it during the day when it is quiet around The mill ran back and forth to the village to drink, and the man would occasionally say a few words to the village militiamen who were watching the east gate."

Keel narrowed his eyes: "Oh, you're very close to the gate, so you heard that?"

"Yes, yes, yes. I heard that. The old man drank a lot, so he was in a trance every day, but he said he used to feel a wolf on the top of the mill when the full moon was full! Hehe, You said, isn't this a strange thing?"

Speaking of this, the sloppy man stretched out two pairs of dirty hands from the old bark, pretending to be walking like a wolf or dog.

"The mill is so tall, how could there be wild animals climbing it, don't you think so? But although the old man always drinks too much, according to the people in the village, that guy never lies. The wolf that broke through the village wall in 2009 was killed, and he probably won't be like this."

"It's interesting." Kiel rubbed his chin, flicked the coin with the other hand, and flicked the coin to the opponent.

"Looks like I have to find time to meet this guy." He whispered to himself.

He got valuable information from the house next to Wolfe's house, and Keel left here after a few random words.

Walking on the dirt road back to the center of the village, Keir whispered to himself, "It's not the time yet. Let's wait for a couple of days to stabilize that guy. Well, I'll act after the other party puts down their guard."

In order not to let the people who might be spying on him, or the villagers who watched him curiously find out where he went, Keel then went south one after another, walked to the south gate of the village, and then went back to yesterday. Simon who passed by took a look.

In fact, there is nothing to see, but Kiel pretended to be curious about the special houses in Wumi Lake Village, and walked all these places.

In this way, even if other people see him, they will only think that it is the appearance of an outsider who came here for the first time, especially since he is still so young, it is normal to be more lively.

At the end of the morning, he came to the village's northern pier.

-

The village's wharf is not surrounded by the tall surrounding walls to block it.

The walls of the village have been built to both sides of the pier, and then extended a part into the lake. Obviously, when the village was built, the managers of the village did not expect that the village would encounter such a difficult disaster from wolves.

Because the northern land wolf can swim.

It is estimated that compared with other places in the village, the north pier was the place where the militiamen in the village were most nervous when the wolf infestation first broke out.

That's why he desperately begged the young priest, the lord of the rivers and lakes, to ask the gods for a few carnivorous sunfish to stop the pack of northern wolves that would attack from the lake.

However, as far as Kiel learned, these sunken fish that are embarrassing the villagers are indeed very good. Because in the end, under the leadership of the 'Wolf King', those northern wolves did indeed attack Wumi Lake Village from other places in the village with tall wooden walls.

This shows from the side how difficult those sunken fish are in the water, which makes the large group of northern land wolves give up attacking from the water.

Not long after walking north from the main building in the middle of the village, more and more water-related objects appeared in the villagers' houses on both sides of the road.

The outer walls of the houses are decorated with shells from the lake, and a pair of huge fish bones that have been eaten clean are inlaid on the gates of each house with wooden nails. Each was of a large size, and it appeared that they represented the largest fish the occupant of the house had ever caught from the lake.

This is a symbol of skill and honor for the fishermen, and it is estimated that it also secretly represents the strength of the men of each family and the ability to support their families to show off.

Take a look around, Keel thinks the same.

The family with big fish bones at the door, even the wooden house that has only been built for a few years, is higher than other families, which roughly means that the population of the other family is larger than that of other fishermen's houses around.

In addition to the fish bones, the simple fishing nets are also hung outside the door. It is probably because the smell of the fishing nets is not small, so it is not good to put them at home.

There are few people on the country streets in winter, and because ordinary people do not have the conditions and habits to eat lunch, the only stone chimney in the wooden house basically does not raise the curling smoke representing the smoke of fireworks.

It made Kiel feel the winter slump.

But after a few steps, the wharf in Wumi Lake Village is more lively.

The fishing boats that went out to dig the ice early in the morning to catch fish have already returned, although we must beware of capsized fish breaking out of the ice at any time, resulting in not many catches. But these rare winter fish have already delighted some waiting people on the pier.

It’s just that the fresh fish in the lake have been frozen into freshly frozen fish sticks after returning to the village pier from the center of the lake. This is mainly because the fishing boats in the village do not have insulation interlayers. The lake fish fished out of the cave are left open to dry on the boat, and it will not take long for them to freeze.

But fortunately, using a modified fishing boat to glide on the ice in winter will be faster and less laborious than moving forward in the water when it is warmer.

Among the fishing boats that had just returned to the pier at this time, the lake fish hadn't frozen hard yet.

The helpers waiting at the pier quickly ran down the **** of the pier, each holding a big fish with thick thighs and running towards the pier quickly, and each family only made their own catch. And on the pier, the two village stewards who manage the pier are counting the harvest of each family and boat today beside a burning water pot.

A simple large scale composed of wooden brackets and iron weights is placed next to the boiling water pot. Young men from various families hug the big fish that their elders have just caught, weigh them first, and then automatically weigh them from the water. Scoop out a ladle of warm water in the boiling water pot.

One person in charge of the village weighs the fish in front of everyone, and then reads out the weight of the fish aloud. After there is no objection, another person records the data with a charcoal pen on clean wooden boards.

Replace one when it is full.

The fishermen scoop up warm water and pour it on their fish.

As soon as the warm water was poured, the freshly frozen big fish softened, and the young man cut open the fish with a sharp knife on the clean wooden board next to him.

The gills with parasites were removed and put aside, the scales of the fish were quickly scraped off, and then the webs on the back, belly, and tail of the fish that the fish could not eat were carefully cut off, and they were also placed on the ground aside.

As for the internal organs of fish, there are many uses. Some edible internal organs will be kept and taken home to make soup for the same day. These large fish intestines can be processed and made into strong guts. After rubbing and softening, they are used as The thread for mending clothes is fine, and it is also fine to sell it to a grocery store and let the other party twist it into a special rope for sale.

The webs on the ground on the side will be collected by the stewards of the pier. After boiling these things, they can be used to glue things together, which can be used to make various things, so they must be handed in according to the village rules. As for some fish gills and some inedible internal organs, they will be thrown into a bucket, and then distributed to families in the village who raise cats.

To rein in surreptitious breeding of rats, mouser cats are a must-have domestic animal.

However, there was not much food, so the village collected these things that were not to be discarded and distributed them to the cats in the village to eat, instead of letting the cats run to the pier to pick up the garbage to fill their stomachs.

The atmosphere at the pier was very lively, so Kiel's quiet arrival did not arouse the curiosity and attention of the villagers. Even if some people saw Kiel, a foreigner, running over, no one cared about talking to Kiel because they were busy with work.

Kiel mainly looked at the modified fishing boats that the villagers glided on the icy lake in winter, and how the fishermen used a wooden pole with a small iron fork to push on the ice, and used the occasional The cold wind turns the animal skin sail and skates.

It is estimated that the technique was newly figured out after there were sunken fish in the lake, so even if many fishermen go out to the center of the lake every two or three days, they are still not very proficient in maneuvering the boat.

But Kiel also noticed that yesterday, the old village head of Wumihu Village introduced to him the two heads of fishermen, and the fishing boats of the two gangs were fast and stable.

Although the family headed by the lake diver Boss is small, they are obviously very proficient in controlling this new gadget. When sliding and slowing down to enter the pier, the small fishing boat moves smoothly and concisely, and it just stops at the place where it needs to be docked.

The other group is headed by the middle-aged fisherman Will. They have more fishing boats, and each family naturally has more manpower. Although everyone's boat skiing level is uneven, as soon as the boat docks, there are many people rushing to push the fishing boat to the pier on the shallow water ice.

Because there were so many of them, the steward at the pier turned a blind eye to their occasional ladle of warm water to rinse the big fish.

It seems that the old man Corydon and his son did not introduce people to Keel, obviously, these two will provide Keel with powerful help in dealing with the capsized fish.

It should be said that without these two people and the people behind them, it is basically impossible to fish out the huge carnivorous sunfish in the frozen lake in winter.

Unless Keir has the strength of Knight Lanisa that far exceeds that of ordinary people.

Of course, that's impossible. If Keir has that kind of strength, why would he deal with the worthless sunfish here? Honestly serve Baron Kendall in Kendall City, and then receive a salary honestly, it's over.

-

Keel looked at these fishermen's work curiously at the pier, which seemed to have aroused the disgust of some young fishermen who were full of blood. At this time, the busy work of the fishing boat just came back, a few young fishermen casually wiped the hands that were stuck with the half-frozen mucus from the big fish, and leaned over with their shoulders and backs hooked.

"Who are you? You're not from our village, are you?"

"Is it a foreign merchant? Do you want to buy some of our fish?"

"Hey, it's very cheap, and it's all just shot from under the ice in the lake."

"The fish in our Wumi Lake is different from the fish in the Kendall River. It is fatter and tastier."

"Of course, it's also more expensive!"

Keir looked at the five young people half-surrounded him on the left, middle and right, and asked casually with some amusement: "So, how much is the price?"

Through the sparse human wall, he saw that the steward on the pier not far away had noticed this. He wanted to come over to stop the young people in the village from messing around, but as the lake diver Boss secretly signaled his family, Annai, not to watch the movie , the fisherman leader Will stretched out his hand to let his brothers take the initiative to pester the steward.

He already knew that yesterday he did not actively participate in the villagers' discussion on how to deal with the sunken fish in the lobby of the hostel, and that he still attracted the 'special' attention of the heads of fishermen who mainly depend on fishing for their livelihood.

The young fishermen who were talking to him may have some bad personalities, but maybe the appearance of this matter is also a kind of temptation deliberately made by the other party?

Or a lesson?

Or a hint. Said that on the village pier, the two of them are considered to be the two most powerful gangs. Keel, the young and lonely hunter sent by the village lord, must pay attention to dealing with the capsized fish, and it is impossible to bypass the two of them .

"How much? It's not expensive. Since we've worked so hard, how about selling you ten copper coins for one fish?" As he spoke, the young man who surrounded Kiel at the head lifted a frozen fish that had been passed through the fish's gills with a rope. Medium sized fish stick.

Kiel glanced at it. If it was in the tavern in Kendall City, a whole stewed fish might be worth five copper coins, but in Wumi Lake Village, where fish is produced, UU reading www.uukanshu. Com This kind of uncooked fresh fish, which is not too big or too small, is obviously impossible to be worth ten copper coins anyway.

Kiel smiled and didn't answer the other party's words. He just lifted up the wolf-fur cloak on his body and patted his sword that was exposed.

"Don't die?"

The long sword with a slightly glowing scabbard caused the young people in the half circle around them to take a step back. The two timid guys turned their heads to look at the family behind them, and gestured with their weapons.

Keel saw a middle-aged man on the pier waving his fist, so he was instructed, and the young fishermen who 'surrounded' him immediately became bolder and no longer looked scared.

"What's the matter? You have a weapon, right? Do you dare to chop my arm out?"

"That's right, don't you dare?"

"And who doesn't have a guy, and if you dare to chop a few of us, the people in the entire dock will beat you into surimi!"

"Are you afraid? If you are afraid, just buy the fish honestly. If you are not afraid, then taste Lao Tzu's fist."

Knowing that it was just a coercion and temptation, these young fishermen did not dare to make a big fuss, and did not pull out the short fish-cutting dagger from their waists to provoke.

And Keir naturally understood the hidden meaning: don't be afraid, if you want to fight, everyone is only allowed to use fists.

"Hehe, it's interesting. It just happens that I'm a little tired recently, so it's good to do some exercise."

Kiel said this aloud, and his intention was naturally to address the fishermen and their leaders who were watching this side not far away.

Unbuttoning the wolf-fur cloak, Kiel threw the cloak aside on the ground, then unloaded the newly made small backpack on his back and put it on top of the cloak.

Rubbing his fists, he waved to the young fisherman who also put down his hands and carried fresh fish.

"Come!"