Mercenaries and Adventurers

The sky is getting dark, and the sun is gradually sinking towards the mountains lying on the horizon.

Because of the delay caused by the previous matter, even if everyone in the team used all their strength to travel today, at this moment, Kiel's team was still quite far away from the towns on the plain ahead.

Obviously you can see the large town when you walk out of the mountains, but seeing it is one thing, but actually walking there with your own feet is another thing.

But fortunately, it doesn't matter if you can't reach the town to camp tonight. As the mountainous southern province is a sparse plain area, there are villages surrounding the town that can be seen with the naked eye.

Especially the main trade road that Kiel and the others had been taking. Almost every time they walked on both sides of the trade road, they could see villages inhabited by hundreds of people.

The problem is, there are no people in these villages.

There was no smoke coming out of the chimneys of the rough houses in the village, no **** crowing or dogs barking, it was extremely quiet. The most obvious point is that the large farmland on both sides of these trade roads has not been planted with contiguous crops by the hard-working farmers during this season that should be busy with farming.

Lush weeds have replaced the food crops that should have grown vigorously, and each one has taken over the fertile and well-cultivated soft soil one by one.

Various annual wildflowers were also brought here with the birds, and they did not hesitate to compete with stubborn weeds for these good places where it was impossible for them to grow freely in the past. At dusk, a large number of buzzing bees crawled out of the blooming wild flowers, fluttering their wings and returning to their nests. These bees know that at night, some nocturnal animals will start to move, and that is not a good time for them to go out to collect honey.

"It seems that we won't be able to reach the town ahead today."

Keir muttered angrily, then waved his arms and shouted loudly: "Pay attention to everyone, pay attention to everyone. Camp for the night! Camp for the night!"

As Kiel shouted orders, the already exhausted people breathed a sigh of relief. They all saw the town ahead that could be reached in half a day's walk, but today everyone walked a whole day faster than usual. It's sunny, all the physical strength is almost exhausted, and it's already dark now. Everyone knows that it is almost impossible for such a large team to travel at night.

And it's great that the young knight didn't force everyone to rush out of town overnight.

As soon as the team stopped, a man from the armed team in front of the team hurried over. This man quickly came to the Kiel horse in the middle of the team and loudly reported to Kiel Hui: "Knight Kiel, there is a barrier ahead. The small road of the trade road leads directly to the nearby village. My captain would like to ask you if you would like to send someone to the village to investigate and let the team spend the night in the village tonight? "

After hearing this, Keel was weighing the matter. Mr. Barfoot, the businessman next to him, walked over quickly, wiped the sweat on his head with a dirty gray handkerchief, and then said to Keel: "Knight Keel, the loggers said that nearby There are not enough big trees for them to get the firewood they need for the night. Most of the firewood stored in the team's carriage was used up in today's incident. Do you think?"

Kiel looked around, and with the afterglow of the setting sun, he naturally saw that after entering the plain, except for contiguous farmland on both sides of the trade road, there were no big trees for the team to make fires overnight.

"I saw it, what do you mean?"

Keir asked Mr. Barfoot in return. The middle-aged fat businessman immediately pointed to a small local village with about a hundred people about a hundred meters away from the trade road: "Knight Keel, what I mean is the same as the armed squad. Like the captains, we can camp in the village for the night."

"Isn't that place too small? The size of our team can't be accommodated in that place." Keir knew at a glance that the place, if it could be called a village, couldn't accommodate the entire team, even if it was crowded. , not even able to accommodate half of the team.

Hearing Keir's words, the armed people who came to report the situation scratched their heads in embarrassment, but Mr. Barfoot said: "Of course it cannot accommodate our entire team. In fact, what I mean is that the village looks quite complete. The farmers inside also seem to be planting a few fruit trees. The construction timber, fruit trees, etc. can be cut down and burned by the loggers."

Keir pursed his lips and said, "Isn't that bad? After all, it's not in the wild. You can take it as you like. It's all the property of the locals..."

Unexpectedly, Mr. Barfoot laughed loudly: "They have all run away, sir. They are probably hiding in the town ahead, or have fled in all directions. Anyway, we are just borrowing them for use, and no one will come to us to question or Charges."

After hearing this, Keir chuckled: "You're right. No one claims ownership of the property, so they can take it as they please. So be it, but this place is not safe. You all know it. I have to bring people there first. Overnight village check check.”

After the discussion, Kiel's voice sounded again and spread throughout the entire team: "We will camp in the small village in front tonight. Everyone will go over slowly. I will lead people to check first. Team one and team two will assemble at the entrance of the village."

After shouting, Kil urged the blood-licking grass to rush from the solid and flat trade road to the weedy farmland outside the trade road, and ran diagonally towards the entrance of the village ahead. The two armed teams at the front of the team, after hearing Kiel's order, moved towards the entrance of the village along the narrow dirt road from the trade road to the village.

The entire team moved slowly again, because it was getting dark. Mr. Barfoot and the priest greeted the people in the team who were carrying torches for lighting, and quickly lit the torches and came out. It seemed that the team would not be able to set up camp before it was completely dark. .

-

Keir quickly passed through the soft farmland and came directly to the entrance of the dilapidated village where a small dirt road connected to the trade road.

Said to be the entrance to the village, this place is nothing more than a few fences dividing farmland and farmers' houses, and a stone pillar piled up with several rocks. A thick wooden stick was inserted in the middle of the stone pillar, and a hanging iron sign was tied horizontally to the stick more than three meters high, with holes punched in it to indicate the name of the village - Lanjing Village.

There seems to be a place for hanging cloth under the iron sign, but the fleeing villagers may have taken it away, so it is empty except for a few metal hanging rings.

Keir looked along the entrance of the village into the small village. He could easily see a water well built with blue stones in the center of the village surrounded by more than a dozen farmers' houses, just sitting there.

Looking back and forth, Kil didn't think there was anything strange about this village that had been uninhabited for months.

But he understood that there were flesh demon parasites entrenched in the nearest mountains, and the situation here was not necessarily as safe as it seemed at the moment.

Soon, messy footsteps came from behind Kiel, and two armed teams of forty people gathered behind Kiel. And behind these armed squads are a larger number of people.

They had been carrying the supplies in the team for a whole day. Many of them were exhausted and could not wait to go into the village to rest. It doesn't matter even if they don't live in the houses of the fleeing farmers. Eating, sitting by the fire, and resting in the tents are what they want most at the moment.

"Here you are, take out your weapons. One team forms a horizontal battle formation and blocks the entrance to the village. The second team each forms a small fighting team and follows behind me."

After saying that, Kil knelt on the belly of the war horse and asked the blood-licking grass to walk towards the village.

Kil, who was riding a tall horse, leaned down to avoid hitting his head with the iron sign hanging at the entrance of the village. Even though he was wearing a helmet and couldn't be hurt, there were still so many people behind him watching. If he really hit him, it wouldn't look good.

The people in the armed squad, known as a squad, drew their weapons one after another, and then, amid the scolding and shouting of the squad leader, they arranged in a chaotic two-level battle formation.

The team of twenty people was arranged in two rows. It was a little thin, but it was still enough.

The second team was divided into several small fighting teams that gathered together. They followed Kiel and quickly walked into the quiet village.

Riding on horseback, Keir looked at every farmer's house he passed after entering the village. These houses were single and wide, and were built with wooden pillars and stones from the nearby mountains. Although the farmers who built these houses used all the They put all their efforts into building their homes, but after all, due to limitations of materials and technology, these houses are simple and ugly. Although they meet the minimum living requirements, in Kiel's opinion, a heavy rain or a fire can Destroy the entire house.

The wooden pillars used to reinforce and maintain the strength of the house have not been treated enough. Not only is it easy to ignite - the roof is made of bundles of wheat straw, but many of the wooden pillars that serve as the main beams and supporting columns of the house are eaten by insects - and you don't know when it will collapse.

"Not a wealthy place."

Keir shook his head and stopped observing these things that did not concern him. Instead, he paid attention to the closed doors of the houses.

No one knew what was waiting for them in this deserted village.

Preferably not, but if there were, Kiel wouldn't be surprised at all.

-

Arriving at the blue well in the center of the village, Kil paid attention to the blue well that gave the village its name. He found that it was different from what he observed from a distance. Only after a closer look did he realize that the material used to build the well was not pure blue. Cherish expensive stones.

The well used by the whole village is not small in size. In addition to several water pullers installed at the mouth of the two-meter-wide well, the ground around the well has also been paved with a whole layer of stone by the original villagers.

Different from the simple construction of their respective houses, the ground stones here in Shuijing are not only strong and durable large materials, but the entire ground is carefully leveled, with no protrusions or recesses on the ground.

This shows the importance of this well to the villagers.

The crisp sound of the blood-licking horse's hoofs with hoofs came from the rocky ground next to the well. Kil turned his head in a circle and jumped off the horse with a swish.

Bang, the heavy combat boots hit the stone ground. Kil lowered his head and rubbed the ground under his feet. He found that the solid rock ground had probably been used for a long time, and the surface had a smooth surface after long-term use.

But it was probably unused in recent months, and a thin layer of moss stubbornly grew on the smooth rock surface.

Wherever Kil's feet stepped on, the moss was squashed by the pressure, and where it was lifted up, the color became darker. Wherever it was rubbed sideways, the moss was scraped off, revealing the smooth rock surface underneath.

The armed people behind him came over, and Kiel raised his hand to block everyone approaching: "Wait a moment, pay attention, weapons are facing outward, and be careful of the surrounding houses."

Hearing Kiel's words, the armed people stopped paying attention and nervously raised their shields and weapons. No one wanted to become the young man who was burned to death in the afternoon. That would be too tragic. He was parasitized by a monster. , it would be better to be killed by a bandit with one knife.

Keel knelt down and examined the new moss around the blue well, and found that there were fewer footprints that had recently moved near the well. Beyond that, nothing more was discovered.

"One, or two. Parasitic monsters and their skins also need to drink water, right?"

Kil muttered, and then led a few people towards the farmer's house closest to the well.

-

The farmers in Lanjing Village are not wealthy.

This is a very easy thing to spot. Just by looking at the height of the fence of each farmer's house, one can judge the wealth of the local farmers in a way that I don't know how to explain.

The richer the village, the higher the walls the farmers will build on each of their homes.

Of course, you have to take good care of your own poultry, the pigs, sheep and cattle you raise, and even the fruit trees planted in your own yard, so you need a fence to protect them. And poor farmers who cannot afford to raise poultry and livestock naturally do not need a high fence to protect their meager property.

This was the deserted farmhouse in front of Keir.

As the family closest to the center of the village, even a naughty puppy can jump over the fence outside this farmer's house. It is obvious that this village has reached a certain level of poverty.

There is no rush to bring people into the house to check, UU reading www.uukanshu． com Kil first came to the cellar entrance in the corner of the family's yard, opened the wooden door of the cellar that was pressed with stones, and looked inside.

Under the light of the torch, the small cellar was empty, as expected.

"Cellar safe."

Keir shouted, then he closed the cellar door, put the pressing stone back, and then led people to the door of this family's house.

The simple but large farmer's house has very few windows, and they are all located high on the outer wall of more than three meters high, and the windows are also very small.

Kicking open the shabby wooden door that was tightly closed, Kil strode in with his sword in hand.

No one, no monsters.

But it smells musty.

He looked up and found a leak on the roof. I don’t know if the strong wind blew open a bunch of wheat straw to protect the house from rain, and water entered the house. This caused the wooden bed frame and wooden cabinets fixed to the wall to become moldy and grow mushrooms.

A strong smell of rotting wood gathered in the house.

"Ahem, the house is safe. Come two people, climb up and open all the windows in the house. Don't close the door. Let the air flow. There are also those rotten bed frames and cabinets. In a while, the woodcutter will chop them down with axes. ."

Keir quickly walked out, and he led the people to the next room quickly.

There was no one here. The villagers who took refuge took away everything they could before leaving. Not only was there no food left, but not even a few pieces of furniture or daily necessities were left behind.

In other words, farmers don’t have much of these things.

After Kiel kicked open the sixth door and inspected the shabby furnishings in the house, he came to a conclusion: "Although this place is close to the town and is still in the plains, it is really #@poor."