Mercenaries and Adventurers

On the flat grassland, a river meandering from a distance divides the main grassland into two pieces.

This side of the river is full of tall grass that is nourished by the river, and on the other side of the river is a human town that occupies a large area. From a distance, you can feel the extraordinary difference of this town.

Different from other living places that hide and hide in the strange wind grassland, the houses in the strange wind town are so straight and flat on the ground, it seems that they are not afraid of the harassment of the harpies flying in the sky.

But as Kiel and his army approached along the green grass road around the bottom of the trampled by the merchants, they saw how the people in Strange Wind Town fell to the ground and 'lived' with the harpies.

The buildings in the town are all low and square, and they are all square buildings laid flat on the ground. There is no decorative thing on the surface of the building that the harpy can grab. There are even special vines all over the roof. These vines are thick, and their thick branches can be seen spreading from a long distance.

Basically, the vines on each roof grow from the patio in the middle of the square low houses. These vines cover the entire roof. On the side of the vines facing the sky, there are long barb spikes and huge monsters with strange colors. The flowers, all growing upwards, gave the human houses of the town a plant armor that protected the buildings.

At the same time, only a very narrow alley is reserved between each wide and low building and another adjacent building. This alley ensures that humans can move in it, but the harpies with wide wings In any case, it is impossible to get into the alley to eat and catch people.

"It's very interesting, but I don't know why other local villages don't follow this example?"

Baron Kendall is somewhat interested in this. He believes that the wisdom of human survival is contained in the various coups that residents of every place try their best to survive.

Well worth researching and documenting.

"Lord Baron, my companion who often runs local business routes told me that it is because this special vine that migrated from other places consumes a lot of water. And Strange Wind Town is just beside this Pororu River, so In order to provide sufficient water for the survival of these huge vines. By the way, the Pororu River means silver sand in the dwarven language."

Keir was beside Knight Crowe at this moment, and Knight Crowe was following Baron Kendall.

The baron did not sit in the carriage, but rode on his horse and walked in front of the carriage team. Kiel heard his doubts, and after hearing it, he took the initiative to say what he knew.

"It's interesting, it turned out to be like this."

The baron nodded in satisfaction, looking at the thick vines on the top of the buildings and wondering what he was thinking.

Knight Crowe noticed the four not very tall 'towers' erected in the town. He squinted his eyes and found that they turned out to be several ballista towers with rotating tower tops.

"I didn't expect such a good thing to exist in this remote place."

Knight Crowe's words caught the attention of Baron Kendall, so the baron used the small magic of looking far away, and saw an average of four weapon defense towers in the town that were built at equal distances.

And the baron's magic can be seen more clearly, which made Baron Kendall notice more information: "This is a six-unit composite ballista mount. This direction is the same six-unit composite ballista mount , what about the next one? Oh, it’s a fast-circulating firing ballista mount, I’m really willing to spend the cost, this is the work of a master. Huo! There’s still this thing.”

In the end, Baron Kendall's eyes lit up, staring at the top of the last tower near the river, where the cannon mount was obviously different from the others.

Although Kiel didn't see any difference between them from a distance, he asked Knight Crowe curiously, and Knight Crowe's eyes lit up with a khaki light, and then said: "There is a lot of magic power gathered on the top of the last tower. "

The corner of the baron's mouth curled up: "That's right, it turned out to be a magic ballista. I didn't expect that the Earl here would be so willing to put such a weapon of war here."

"It must have been brought over by the knights under the earl after the first defeat in controlling this place."

After all, Knight Crowe has been in the army before, so he knows about these things.

He then guessed: "The strange wind grassland is not small, and it connects the north and south of the western provinces. It’s worth the cost of using it.”

Keir didn't know what the magic ballista was, so he asked Knight Crowe in a low voice.

Crow Knight gave him a brief explanation.

The so-called magic power ballista is the magic mechanism ballista that is different from the traditional mechanical energy storage ballista. The weapons fired are the same, but the firing mechanism is very different.

Every time the traditional mechanical energy storage ballista is fired, it has to rely on mechanical transmission. The force generated by the movement of people or animals is used to pull the powerful bow arm of the ballista, and the bowstring with thick wrist is stuck on the hook at the end of the chute. Then wait for the big crossbow to be loaded before aiming and firing.

The magic ballista omits all the above-mentioned steps. There is no huge crossbow arm and bow string, no mechanical power storage device and buckle, etc. It is just a cylindrical structure that has been cut in half.

There are wooden, stone, bone, and metal cylindrical structures, and mysterious magic circles and mechanisms are carefully arranged on them. Just place all kinds of large crossbow arrows to be fired in the open cylindrical structure, and then aim Target, pull the launching mechanism, the magic mechanism on the cylinder will replace the traditional various ballista mechanical mechanisms to launch the crossbow bolts with magic.

Its advantage is that there is no traditional preparation time for mechanical ballistas at all. As long as the large crossbow bolts are loaded in, the magic mechanism can continuously launch and deliver deadly crossbow bolts.

Power is provided entirely by stored mana.

"The effect of using such a magic ballista is basically better than other traditional ballistas on the other three surrounding towers."

This is how Knight Crowe compares the effects of using weapons between the two.

After hearing this, Keir felt that this thing was so good, why did he develop other weapons?

Oh, then he realized that it was expensive.

"My lord, isn't there a huge price gap between the two?"

Facing Kiel's question, both Knight Crowe and Baron Kendall laughed: "It's not a little big. I guess the whole town has been sold, and the value is about the same as that magic ballista."

While the baron was talking, his gaze with the magical power of looking into the distance kept staring at the tower, his gaze was burning, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

-

Kiel had thought that they would have to wade across the river to get to Strange Wind Town on the other side of the Pororu River, which might take a long time.

But I didn't expect that there was a special method designed by a local at the end of the heavily trampled low-lying grass road, on the side of the river.

The locals seem to know that harpies don't like to go into the water, so at the place where the Pororu River is closest to the town and where the width of the river is the narrowest, they inserted vertically into the river, submerged about ten centimeters below the water. Dozens of huge stone pillars.

These stone pillars that go deep into the river bed are all made into olive-like shapes with two round ends and a square in the middle.

Buried horizontally in the river, one section after another, and these stone pillars are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, a large amount of water flows through the middle of the stone pillars, and the stone pillars close to the river surface can be used for people and carriages.

It's just that when the carriage passes by, the eyes of the horses pulling the cart need to be covered, otherwise the animals are unwilling to cross the river by stepping on the stone bridge hidden under the surface of the river.

When people cross the river, they have to take off their shoes and go barefoot.

Don't worry about the smoothness of the underwater stone bridge. The surface of these stones is specially made with uneven patterns. Although it makes the soles of the feet uncomfortable when you step on it, it is extraordinarily slippery and prevents you from falling.

When Kiel crossed the river, he jumped off his horse, took off his combat boots and hung them around his waist, and put his cloak on the horse's head. Regardless of the rhythm of the horse trying to shake off the things covering his head, he quickly pulled Follow it across this ingenious underwater stone bridge.

"Interesting!"

Keel shuddered as a medium-sized fish slid past his feet, greasy scales rubbing his feet strangely.

"These guys are not afraid of people."

Keel noticed that there were many small and large fish swimming around the feet of the soldiers crossing the river and the hooves of the horses, and from time to time they would use their mouths to peck at the feet of humans and the hooves of the horses.

There was no keen sensation in the hooves of the horses, and none of the horses responded. But from time to time, a soldier would exclaim, shouting: "Something is biting my foot!" and so on.

After everyone crossed the river, some soldiers whose feet were bitten by swimming fish found that the dirt and other things on their feet were swallowed up by those swimming fish.

"It's so cool, it would be great if I could walk again."

There are soldiers who have a long way to go and have stubborn footsteps, expressing such emotion.

But emotion is just emotion after all, the leader of the Rumi knight waved his hand, and the soldiers could only put on their dry boots and walked into Weifeng Town.

-

After all, Guefeng Town is the largest human settlement on the Guafeng Grassland. The Kendall army and caravan accompanied by the army, plus the local caravan that followed all the way, with more than 1,000 people, the town can easily live there. up.

There are not only Kiel and his group here, but also many caravans traveling from the south to the north or returning here.

Baron Kendall also deliberately arranged their foothold for tonight in a corner of the town near the river bank.

Looking at Weifeng Town from a distance, you will think it is very strange here, but after entering Kiel, you will find that the strange thing is just a defense mechanism established by the locals to deal with the harpies. no difference.

It's just that there are more people and more prosperous.

The low, wide and square buildings near the outer edge of the town and close to the commercial road were originally buildings near the ground with large entrances for passing vehicles.

It's almost like a dedicated parking lot in the previous life.

After pushing the horizontally opened wooden gate from the outside of the building, there is a huge space with many mud brick columns inside.

Looking at the interior of the low-rise building from a distance, it is actually dug down to a depth of one to two meters, so that after the carriage enters through the horizontally opened wooden door, it has to walk down a gentle **** before arriving at In the large parking space in the building.

The interior is unexpectedly dark, because none of the buildings in the town have windows for light on the outer walls. All the internal light sources are the sunlight from the middle patio and the gaps in the vines, barely illuminating a small area near the middle. .

If you want lighting in other places, you have to prepare it yourself.

The merchants in the local town only charged the Kendals for renting here for the night, and they didn't care about anything else.

"My lords, for lighting, you can light your own fire or use torches and oil lamps. You can get water to the middle patio, where the roots of the vines are all underground river water drawn from the Pororu River. It is clean and can be drunk directly. If you excrete , there are cesspools in the four corners of the building.”

"Then this place is completely handed over to you and your soldiers. I have already received two gold coins for renting for one day and overnight. Please use it yourself. Of course, if you are as honorable as you, I suggest you go to Live in a high-end hotel in the center of the town, there is everything there, which can wash away the dust and tension you have traveled along the way. Good wine, food, and beauties are all there, and it is most suitable for a noble like you."

The owner of this large building was a middle-aged businessman who had been waiting early. As soon as Kendall's army arrived, he led people to greet him early, which was faster than other businessmen entertaining foreign merchants.

So more than half of the Kendal army was arranged here, and the other part also rented the building of another merchant next door.

Basically, they all have the same structure and environment, which are used for overnight caravans.

Different from other local villages, with these semi-underground large parking buildings, everyone’s carriages and trucks don’t need to be parked outdoors, so that when soldiers or guards spend the night, they can live directly next to the carriages, saving A large fee for dedicated accommodation.

Even if you live here for one night, the cost of renting the entire building is two gold coins.

But it also saves a lot of trouble and danger.

After all, after the owner of this building finished the introduction, he left here directly, and the right to use the entire building was completely handed over to the person who stayed overnight.

This is a good thing, after all, no one outside can rest assured of anyone but themselves.

Especially for caravans carrying a lot of valuable goods.

The Kendal people did not have any security concerns. On the contrary, every time they stayed overnight, the locals were particularly anxious, for fear of annoying the foreign army and looting the whole place.

After the owner of the building finished talking to Baron Kendall, he turned to the two knights and said politely that there is a well-known blacksmith shop in the town that will be open all night. The two knights can go to see if they need to add some weapons equipment.

The two knights looked at each other, whispered a few words, and then Knight Crowe called Keel over.

"Keir, go pay a sum of money and buy hundreds of standard throwing guns from the blacksmith shop in the town. Call the blacksmith accompanying the army and give him the materials and supplies needed to repair various weapons and equipment."

Kiel hit his chest with his right fist: "Yes, my lord, I'll go right away. By the way, after I'm done, I'll go to town for a while, okay?"

The knight waved his hand casually: "You can do whatever you want, just remember to come back to rest at night, don't miss a place."

"Remember, the building we rented is Londelt and Osters in the northwest corner of the town. The building is named after a famous hero."

After setting up the task, the two knights walked towards Baron Kendall, who was observing the giant vines protecting the building from the courtyard in the center of the building, as well as the underground river facilities drawn from the courtyard.

Keir guessed that Baron Kendall may be very sensitive and enthusiastic about these water conservancy projects because of his family skills.

But he guessed wrong.

-

Baron Kendall, who hastily collected some huge vine branches, thorns, and flowers, just looked at the diversion river here for a while, and curled his lips in disdain.

He could tell at a glance that although the water conservancy scholar who designed this place tried his best to maximize the underground river throughout the entire town, the other party's method was very rough.

He hadn't entered the town to watch it yet, but when he was crossing the river outside, he could tell from the size of the water flow in the front and back sections of the river that the people who designed it failed to connect the dark river back and forth to the front and back of the river.

It sounds a bit convoluted, but in fact, the river water drawn from the nearby Pororu River in the town is guided by underground pipelines, barely connected to the water pipe network under the town.

But the water poured in did not go to the lower part of the Pororu River through the outlet at the other end, but where it was diverted from, and where it was led out.

As a result, although the river water drawn from the entire town has always been available, it is very limited and can only cover the size of the town today. No matter how large the town area is far away from the river, it cannot provide the necessary huge vines for buildings. adequate moisture.

Because the vines in the previous building had already used up the water they brought in.

The latter is gone.

The baron tapped his forehead with his finger.

Perhaps, the water conservancy scholar who designed this place did not dare to really open up the upper and lower reaches of the underground river, for fear that after the underground river became running water, the flow of the river would hollow out the underground rocky soil in Weifeng Town.

As a result, the entire town sank because the ground was hollowed out.

"Hmph, average level."

Although the baron has a way to know how to solve this problem, what does it matter to him here?

Seeing that the two knights under him followed after him, Baron Kendall smiled and pointed to the top of his head: "You two, are you interested in going to the building?"

The two knights hesitated, but still nodded: "Master Baron, shall we go up from the outside, or from this patio?"

Baron Kendall glanced at the busy soldiers and support staff around him, then pointed outside.

The few people did not bring their attendants, and the three of them left from the entrance.

No one is worried about safety. First of all, they are the army. In terms of force, they are already the apex of violence in human society. In this small town, there is nothing to worry about except monsters.

The second reason is that the army did not carry much valuables. Perhaps the baron carried a large amount of military expenses, but the carriage with a large amount of coins was protected in the middle of the army, and no one could pass through the layers of security to approach it. .

And their own protection, laughing to death, Baron Kendall felt that the protection of the two knights far surpassed hundreds of soldiers. Besides, he himself is not weak, if someone wants to attack him, it will be the wrong person.

His magical equipment is no joke.

Even Knight Crowe had to be careful of the combat magic in the baron's magic equipment~www.readwn.com~ The three of them walked out of the low and wide mud brick building and went outside.

There is no wall protection in this strange wind town, and in fact there is no need for wall protection. Because of the harpies, there are no horse bandits who rob houses on the Guaifeng Grassland, and the beasts that ordinary villages should be careful of are no longer a threat to Guaifeng Town, a considerate human settlement.

Moreover, the central area where the town's population gathers is blocked by these large overnight buildings for business travelers. If you want to enter the center of the town through the ground, you must walk through the narrow corridors between these large buildings.

Knight Rumi first observed outside, then picked a place with few vines on the roof and jumped on it.

He swung his sword and cut off a few dangerous-looking hard thorns, and looked at the sharp thorns grown from this plant in his hand.

"What? Did you find anything?"

Baron Kendall was grabbed by Knight Crowe's belt and threw it up, and asked Knight Rumi.

"My lord, this thing is quite strong, and it has a sharp point. It seems that it can be used as a weapon."

Baron Kendall picked up one and looked at it. After Knight Crowe jumped up, he stabbed the spike backhand into the huge vine next to him, and quietly said in the gradually louder wind around him: "About the town! What do you two think of the magic ballista on the board?"

While speaking, the baron looked up towards the top of the tower not far away.

The eyes are burning.

want to.

How can such a rare and good thing be dusted in such a place?

The two knights looked at each other, and at the baron's resolute look, what could they say.

"My lord, it's all up to you."