Mercenaries and Adventurers

The three windmills to the east of Wumi Lake Village are not far from the village.

After coming out from the east gate of the village, as long as you pass through an open and deserted field, you can feel that the ground is gradually entering a gentle **** that is rising. This gentle **** faces northwest and is blown by the humid water vapor from Wumi Lake every day.

From a distance, Kiel could see that even though the villagers rarely used these mills these years, the tall windmills on those mills were still turning briskly.

There are four wooden windmill blades for each windmill. When Keir approached on horseback, he could hear the creaking and ear-piercing sound of the tall windmills.

There was only a small wooden door at the bottom of the mill, and there were basically only a few small windows to provide lighting for the interior on the mill. Keel observed it and did not see any other entrances and exits.

"Is anyone there?" he yelled towards the mill.

Just after shouting twice, a man's face appeared behind the small window in the middle of the tallest mill.

The one looked at Kiel expressionlessly. Of course, Keel was also on his horse watching him. This person should be the alcoholic guarding the mill mentioned by the sloppy man who lives in the alley inside the east gate.

Kiel lifted the front of the cloak to reveal the armor he was wearing underneath, and the cloak and wolf-head hat covering the helmet were also lifted to reveal it.

"Hi, I'm a hunter under the lord of your village. My name is Joe Keel. You can call me Keel."

The man finally spoke, perhaps because he was often drunk and drunk, his voice was hoarse and he couldn't articulate his words: "Oh, then, is there anything that brought you here?"

Kiel raised his head slightly: "Please come down and talk. The northern land wolf has been wiped out, so there is no need to be so defensive."

"Okay, okay."

As if he was intimidated by Keir's attitude, the man behind the small window disappeared immediately, and then amidst the periodic sound of the wooden shaft turning, the sound of his stumbling steps down the stairs from the inside of the mill was very clear.

Behind the small door at the bottom of the mill, there were a few bolts opening sounds, and then the thick and small wooden door opened silently, and a middle-aged man who was not very tall and somewhat cramped appeared at the door.

Keel jumped off his horse and let the horse run freely within the enclosure between the three mills.

He himself held the backpack tied on the horse's back in his hand, and walked towards the open wooden door.

The long sword and dagger at his waist were exposed during the walking, and the man at the gate of the mill suddenly seemed to be frightened, and closed the wooden door again with a bang.

"What's going on? Why are you closing the door?" Kiel walked to the door and asked dissatisfied.

A panicked voice came from inside: "I have no money here, go away! Go elsewhere to rob! I am a watchman who guards an unattended mill. I took all the bounties given in the village to drink, and my hands There is no money left!"

Keir rolled his eyes, he lifted the visor on the helmet, then took off the buckle of the money bag at his waist, held it in his hand and shook it towards the wooden door.

Wipe across.

It was the crisp sound of coins colliding with each other.

Keel smiled, as the sound of the purse and the restless footsteps behind the wooden door died away after the purse rang.

"Listen to the beautiful sound of coins. Sir, I am not the robber you imagined. I came from Wumihu Village and I was riding a horse. How could I be a robber?"

Afterwards, Keir yelled loudly again: "So, open the door now! I have something to ask you! Otherwise, I will immediately go back to Wumi Lake Village and tell your village chief Coryden that between now and the beginning of spring Does the guard work need to be replaced by someone else?"

He went on to say: "I think since the northern land wolf was defeated by the knights led by Lanisa, there should be many people in the village who will fight for your job with more money and less work, right?"

No need to say anything more, just as Kiel finished speaking, the closed wooden door opened again.

The bewildered middle-aged man inside the door was revealed.

Keir bowed his head unceremoniously through the small wooden door, then pushed the middle-aged man blocking the door away, and walked into the mill.

-

The most conspicuous thing in the mill is a stone platform with edges and a stone mill rolling slowly on it repeatedly, and a thick wooden column passing through the stone platform from the center is slowly rotating and extending from the bottom to the windmill at the upper part of the mill. .

In addition, there are some sundries for life in the empty space at the bottom.

A tightly closed small wooden barrel, with a little grain of wheat sprinkled on the side, seems to be a wooden barrel for storing grain. Next to it was a stone basin for making a fire, and a small iron pot was hung on the stone basin. There seemed to be some sticky things in the iron pot.

There was no wooden bed next to it, but instead a bedding spread out on wooden planks on the ground, and the bottom of the bedding was cluttered with dry weeds. These weeds should have been specially plucked and dried by this man in order to sleep comfortably.

Facing the wooden door, there was a lonely wooden barrel at the far end, and Keel guessed that it was the guy this man used to defecate.

Afterwards, the villagers thought that the place where they milled the grain was once the latrine for the guards, and they wondered what they would think.

"grown ups?"

Although the middle-aged man could see Kiel's youth from the lifted visor, but considering Kiel's weapons and equipment, he was uncertain about Kiel's identity, so he called him very high.

Kicking the wooden door behind him with his heel, Keir put down the backpack he was carrying: "I'm not an adult."

"Then you?" The other party was still cautious, obviously afraid that Kiel, a strong young man, would either sue the village chief for his actions just now, or beat him right here.

Anyway, he himself didn't think that his stiff body damaged by alcohol could beat a young warrior in armor.

"Hmph, I'm just passing by to have a look." After finding a place to sit down, Keel took out a piece of bread from his backpack, took off his gloves, and pretended to eat it.

It seemed that the man was not looking for trouble. The middle-aged guard finally breathed a sigh of relief. First, he turned around and inserted the fixed wooden dowels on the wooden door according to the habit, and then sparked to re-ignite the remaining firewood in the stone basin.

He took out a wooden kettle and poured a small amount of water into the iron pot on the stone basin. The man was stirring with a spoon while talking to Keel.

"Do you want to eat? I still have some oatmeal porridge from yesterday. Seeing you eating, I just remembered that I haven't eaten since I got up this morning."

Keel hadn't the slightest thought of eating the dubious granola in the iron pot.

In order to start a conversation, he simply talked about his mission this time.

"It turned out to be like this! This is a good thing, a good thing. Uh, huh." Seeing that the porridge was steaming, the middle-aged man picked up a stone lid from the side and put it on the stone basin. Cover it firmly, and extinguish the fire in the stone basin by controlling the combustion-supporting oxygen.

Keel saw it, and just paid attention to these small differences in the different worlds, and then used his task, that is, to enter the forest around the village, and bring back some deer-like prey as prey for feeding sunfish. Meat bait led the topic to things about the surroundings.

"By the way, you've been guarding the mill all these years, haven't you?"

"Yes, you heard from the owner of the tavern. I often go to his place to drink, and I will bring a jug or two back to drink after drinking."

"Well, since that's the case, do you know where there are some big animals around? I need to hunt some back. By the way, have you seen this thing? If you know, tell me. How about rewarding you with some coins?"

Keir used his coin throwing method again, which was basically irresistible to those who had no money or affluence.

Sure enough, seeing Kiel take out a handful of copper and iron coins from the purse, the guy's eyes straightened.

"I know, I know." The middle-aged man stood up excitedly, walking back and forth in front of Kiel. Evidently trying to recall where the animals haunted.

Keel swung the coin back and forth in his hand, making a crisp sound to tease the man who basically had nothing.

"Yes, yes." The middle-aged man who couldn't help but be attracted by the sound of coins while walking around quickly thought of something.

"It stands to reason that there are not a lot of large animals around our village. After all, those beasts don't like to approach the village. But there is only one exception."

"What is it? Don't be a fool, my patience is limited."

"Yes, yes. Wild boars are the ones who like to be close to the village. They often come to the fields to spoil the crops in previous years. When there is no northern wolf to harass, the most important task of the village militia is to prevent those big guys from breaking in before the autumn harvest. Village fields."

Speaking of this, the middle-aged man shrugged his shoulders: "But you also know that since the Northern Land Wolf came, people in the village have never farmed. The fields have been abandoned for a long time."

"What about wild boars? Northern land wolves also eat wild boars."

"It's for food. I saw the northern land wolf hunting wild boars from a distance on the top of the mill. It's in the deserted field of the village."

Keir rolled his eyes: "The wild boars can't stay in the woods well, what are they doing in the fields that have been abandoned for a long time? Is there anything they can eat?"

The middle-aged man smiled mysteriously: "Yes. Although the field is deserted, it is impossible not to leave some scattered wheat seeds in the field every year when harvesting. Although these wheat seeds are not taken care of in the field, But it will still grow a lot here and there. Those animals like these unattended grains, and they can smell them from afar. They eat everything, wild flowers, grass roots, wheat, voles in the field, insect."

"There is far more food in the fields than in the forest, so the wild boars will also be caught by the northern land wolves who often wander outside the village."

Kiel nodded, he felt that the prey could fall on these wild boars. The sunfish probably haven’t eaten wild boars yet, and the last meal can give them something good to eat, and it’s not in vain for the sunfish to guard the waters of Wumihu Village in recent years.

"So." He asked, "Have these wild boars been around recently?"

"Yes, yes, yes. I was only out two days ago. When I was oiling the windmill on the top of the mill, I saw them a little to the south. Many heads gathered together to break up the snow and look for food."

"A little bit to the south, okay. If I find a large herd of wild boars later, you can grab a handful of coins from my purse and take them away. How about it? How much you can get, more copper coins or iron coins, it's all up to you Own luck!"

As soon as Kiel finished speaking, the middle-aged man on the opposite side was full of surprise, and kept rubbing his hands, as if he couldn't wait to grab the coins now.

But after Kiel poured the coins into the purse, and then patted the shiny long sword on his waist, the man immediately calmed down.

"Hmph, I'm talking about the discovery of a herd! Wild boars! After that! Do you understand?"

"Understood, understood." The middle-aged man replied with a fawning nod.

Immediately afterwards, Kiel casually chatted about the work of the other party guarding the mill alone, but this aroused the rare desire of the middle-aged man to talk, and he talked endlessly to Kiel, an outsider who was asked about his distress for the first time, saying He recalled the frightening stories of his life here alone in the past few years.

That's what Kiel was waiting for. After the other party talked for a while, he calmly talked about the weird stories Kiel heard when he was chatting with the militiamen when he came out of the village.

The story was naturally told by the man on the opposite side to the militiamen, about the story of "the unknown northern wolf howling at the moon on the top of the mill".

-

As soon as this topic was brought up, the face of the middle-aged man on the opposite side turned pale, with a particularly terrified look on his face, and he wobbled and couldn't stand still.

"Sit down and talk, sit down and talk." Keel hurriedly made the other party sit on the wooden floor of the mill.

Seeing that the other party seemed to be here, in the mill where it happened at that time, he fell back into the horrible memories of that time, and Keel quickly took out the props he had prepared from his backpack.

Drinks from taverns.

Seeing the drink handed to him, the middle-aged man came back to his senses, picked it up weakly, and swallowed it in one gulp.

"hiss."

After drinking the cold wine, the man soon recovered.

"What situation can scare you like this?" Keel asked, frowning.

The middle-aged man poured himself another glass of wine, then took a sip and told the story of scaring him like this again.

"It's a dangerous job to guard the mill. No one in the village wants to do it, and neither do I."

"But one day the wall of the village was breached by wolves. They rushed in. I resisted desperately, but I was knocked down by wolves as big as me. Huh, huh, huh. I don't know why I didn't die, But my family members died in that attack. I was alone, and the village asked me to come and guard the mill and take care of the windmill on top of the mill.”

"They give a lot of money, but what's the use of those coins? So I drink. I didn't drink alcohol before, and I'm good at farm work, but after I got to the mill, only wine can make me feel None of my family members are dead yet."

Kil wanted to remind the other party to mention the important points, but it was obvious that this person's experience was too painful, which made him a little embarrassed to speak, so he let it continue.

The middle-aged man then became agitated. He hadn't been agitated before when he was with his family: "That was my second year guarding the mill! One summer night, I was suddenly woken up by the howling of wolves. You know Yes, the wooden door of the mill is very thick, and it is not something that wolves can destroy, so since I came to the mill, I have always ignored the howling of the northern wolves outside."

"But the wolf howling that night was too close. After I was awakened, I carefully looked out through the wooden window in the middle of the mill. But I looked around and couldn't find a northern land wolf whose fur would reflect in the moonlight. "

"Wait, you mean you first found that thing, when there was a moon?"

"Yes, yes. Not only the first time, but actually every time the moon is particularly bright, when all three are in the sky together, that thing will appear."

"Go on."

The middle-aged man poured himself another glass of wine: "I searched around and didn't see any northern land wolves around, but the howling wolf was clearly nearby, which made me unable to sleep at all. You know , I have always been worried that the northern land wolf will suddenly break through the protection of the mill, break in and eat me just like breaking through the wall of the village."

"I searched and searched, and followed the general source of the sound all the way to the top of the mill at night. Through the gap between the rotation of the windmill, I suddenly saw a huge shadow crouching on the top of a mill opposite."

"I was terrified and rolled down the stairs all at once. I was knocked out and passed out at that time, and I didn't wake up until dawn."

"Then what?"

"Then? That monster is like my nightmare. It will come every time the moon is at its brightest. Sometimes it will even run to the top of the mill where we are staying and yell at me from above!" The middle-aged man His eyes widened, obviously returning to his own memory, and frightened himself enough.

Kiel pushed the drink towards the other party, and the middle-aged man subconsciously poured himself a glass and drank it ~www.readwn.com~ before he recovered. Keir patted the wooden floor with his hands, and after waiting for the other party to recover for a while, he asked, "What do you think about this?"

"What do you think? That thing, that monster is just mocking me. It knows that I can only shrink in this small place and rely on alcohol to numb myself. I have also told the people in the village, but they may think that I am growing up. Time to stay alone in one place make up stories or mock lies I told for more money. Well, the best is just thinking I've had too much to drink and mistaken the howling Northland outside the mill Wolves, put on top of a mill."

Speaking of this, the middle-aged man was obviously angry that the villagers didn't believe his words, so he drank another cup angrily.

Keir saw that the other party was fine, and judging from his demeanor just now, it was probably not a fabricated story.

So he stood up and patted the dry grass stained on the wolf fur cloak: "I guess what you said is not a lie."

"Of course not, I swear by my dead family members!"

"Okay, okay, but I want to prove that there is really that monster. Since it howls, it is obviously a very powerful northern land wolf. There is no species of northern land wolf that can fly, so let's go outside the mill and look for it. Find the many tracks where it climbed to the top of the mill. After all, you said it's been around a lot over the years, right?"

The middle-aged man's eyes lit up: "That's right, it must have climbed to the top of the mill. If you find traces of it climbing over, it will prove that I am not lying! I am not crazy!"

Speaking of this, he didn't even care about the drinks that were brought to his lips, he stood up directly, picked up a tattered old overcoat from the bedding, put it on, opened the wooden door and went out in a hurry.

Keel shrugged and followed suit.