Wolf King

The centaur express brigade arrived at the capital of Cronin about five days after leaving the knight's territory.

Normally, it would take at least ten days and a half months for a caravan full of goods to travel this distance, but centaurs obviously have an advantage over ordinary caravans—as warriors, all of them have good cavalry abilities, as As for the horsepower (...), a centaur with an average tonnage of more than [-] kilograms is more powerful than the most common cargo-carrying hexapod lizard on the mainland... It's almost like being prepared for running errands~!

Of course, along the way, Saier and the others were not unsighted by bandits and bandits, as well as local nobles who were more ferocious than bandits.

On the day they walked out of Valentine's territory, passing through a small town, the centaur courier brigade, who did not expect to get supplies in the human town, received a "grand" welcome from the local nobles.

It was a clear afternoon. A convoy consisting of two hundred centaur warriors, more than a hundred large carriages, a bard who came to lead the way to earn money, and several noble servants accompanying the team was passing through the When crossing the small road that went around the mountain, I was stopped by a group of people.

This group of people moved broken logs and stones across the middle of the road, and a full hundred people squatted on both sides of the road; on the side of the mountain, they also built an extremely simple shed according to local conditions. The gentlemen waited profusely in sweat, staring at this end of the road.

The faces of the working human ranger guides changed slightly, but the centaurs curiously looked at the crowd who were squatting on both sides of the road and were slowly coming over to form a double-team.

This group of people, the people walking in front still look like that, wearing half-worn armor, carrying swords, axes and hammers.

But looking back over the heads of these people (the average height of a centaur is three meters), it is quite dumbfounding-the people piled up in the back are either lazy and thin idlers, or nervous farmers, and even , there are quite a few half-grown teenagers...

I really don't care about getting people's heads.

Even those face-saving people in the front did not do a good job of supporting the scene... When the overly tall, ugly, and hideous centaur warriors walked out of the convoy and faced them, the faces of these people immediately paled Standing on the same spot, he refused to move half a step forward.

Saier didn't say anything, but silently glanced around the group of amateur bandits, and the group lost their positions... Some of the farmers who made up the numbers behind even started to sneak away.

"..." Saier withdrew his gaze, silently looking at the nobles who came out of the arbor.

These few nobles were surrounded by a dozen loyal and strong male servants. Although they still maintained the dignity of the noble masters and were not frightened, they did not dare to step forward...

The two sides were in an awkward stalemate for a moment, when one of the nobles spotted the human ranger in the centaur line, his eyes lit up and he shouted arrogantly: "You, come here."

The human ranger looked ugly and looked up at Saier.

Saier didn't say whether to let him pass, but turned his head and shouted to the team behind: "Are you ready?"

"I'm coming!"

The four human races sorted out the formal clothes they had just put on, and hurried out carrying the flags.

The aristocrat who didn't call out the human ranger was about to get angry, and the curse was still brewing in his throat. The next moment, he half-opened his mouth and stared blankly at the four fellows who ran out of the centaur crowd.

These four noble servants from Prince Morris, the Duke's son, a certain earl's daughter, and a certain powerful viscount's family carried pennants with the family crest of their masters and wore deacon suits that were rewarded before leaving. Walking out of the crowd swaggeringly, his demeanor and temperament are more arrogant and defiant than the aristocratic gentlemen blocking the way...

"Who dares to block the convoy of Prince Maurice, the Duke of XX, the Earl of XX, and the Viscount XX? Report your name!" the servant under the banner of the royal family shouted with his nostrils up, especially arrogantly.

Several local nobles who showed their faces were stunned.

Those idlers, farmers, and half-children who were called to make up the number immediately dispersed, and they couldn't shout...well, no one shouted, because the serious guys ran faster-don't mention Learn more about the piss of the local nobles, kick this kind of iron plate with a lot of background, the possibility that they will be used as cannon fodder and scapegoat to calm the iron plate is very high!

Prince Maurice's valet tilted his head back and looked at people with his nostrils: "Hurry up!"

The aristocratic gentlemen are as if they have been pardoned, and they run away with their heads in their hands...

"Hey, wait, you should let them remove the barricade themselves."

"Oops, forgot."

"Don't lie down on the car and sleep, and raise the flags."

"Brother Sale, it's not that we want to be lazy, the weather is so hot, the deacon uniform is not breathable, and the pennant is still dead..."

"How about sticking the flag on the car?"

"No, the flag will fade and become old."

"……Fine."

Every time I meet a local aristocrat who is interested in working part-time as a road bandit, basically this is the procedure...

Well, this is not a fox pretending to be a tiger, the goods on the car are all paid in full by several big customers, and the centaur express team provides delivery, assembly, and maintenance, which does not include compensation.

If you encounter a real road bandit, then it is easier to solve it. Purcell can just point out dozens of centaur warriors and rush back and forth for two rounds to basically disperse them.

The convoy arrived at the capital, and did not approach the city-state, but turned directly to Prince Maurice's manor to unload his cargo; the two centaur warriors stayed with the cargo and were responsible for assembling the agricultural machinery in the next two months. and simple maintenance training.

After resting in this manor for a day, when we were about to leave, there was a lot of extra goods in the convoy. The one carrying the banner of Prince Maurice and the deacon uniform was exchanged with the servants of the convoy... His Royal Highness, who borrowed a large amount of foreign debt with a note It was the time when Jing was poor, and he was busy shipping the output of his own manor to sell. It was obviously more cost-effective to spend a little money to buy the "transportation capacity" of the express delivery team than to pull a convoy out by himself.

Sale took a small book to register the goods, keep accounts, counted every silver coin he received and put it into the cash box, and then prepared to set off with the convoy to the duke's territory.

Just as he was about to set off, Prince Maurice's butler cautiously asked if a certain lady could go with the courier team.

Purcell questioned the old housekeeper carefully, and when he was surprised, he remembered Ayun's advice.

All the tribes on the prairie are poorer than that. Naturally, there is no breeding ground for such unprofitable business as looting and roadblocking. What the tiger tribe does to the centaur and cat tribe is called "copying the house", targeting slaves and For the land, the material wealth of the centaur and the cat clan is not appreciated by the tiger clan.

But in the human kingdom of Cronin, where the gap between the rich and the poor is huge, it is another situation... From small local nobles to ordinary rural farmers, small town residents, idlers, and occasional cameos as thieves and robbers. .

As for why there is no safer and more convenient travel option, such as the magic train created by the Alchemist Association hundreds of years ago - the reason is very simple, the sleeper rails are not enough to steal, and no country is willing to invest huge sums of money and manpower to maintain . (PS1, 2)

Since the magic train came out, only the largest mine in the dwarf kingdom is in use, and a few megacities with a population of one million will set up railroads in the urban area. (Port cities built on mountains like Valentine cannot be built)

Therefore, people who are not powerful and powerful basically cannot talk about traveling...

The magician is not at the second level, and the teacher is afraid to let him go out and travel. (Those who are at the second level at a young age like the young Adam belong to a very small number of geniuses)

"Delivering goods is sending, and sending people is also sending, right?" Saier asked the human ranger uncertainly.

Human ranger: "..."

The Bard's Guild also does errands, helping deliver letters and deliver small valuables.As for bulk cargo and short-distance delivery (long-distance airship rental and teleportation service, of course, the cost is also relatively good) limited by labor costs, it cannot be carried out, and there is no competition with the express team.

The ranger dutifully analyzed the pros and cons of giving away and suggested charges for Sale, and Sale was taught humbly, and after making up his mind, he went to meet the lady who wanted to hitch a ride.

Anyway, the ugliness of centaurs is born, if you are not used to it, then we will only be greedy for this money.

It is said that after seeing the centaur with the eyes of the noble lady of a certain countess... her face turned two shades pale in an instant, but she stabilized herself and was not frightened.

Her servants were less polite and scared two of them unconscious on the spot.

Purcell: "..."

... as you like.

At a safe distance of more than five meters, I negotiated with this noble lady about the cost of sending someone down—this noble lady’s husband died, and her territory was taken away by another earl. This time, she packed up her property and prepared to go to the most remote After hearing that the centaur courier brigade is quite cheap (compared to hiring adventurers, mercenary escorts & forming a convoy), she immediately decided to take more people away and asked Saier to give her an extra day Preparation time.

Saier had nothing to do, and readily agreed to come down... There is an income of [-] silver coins if a person is sent to the Cronin border area [-] kilometers away, and it can be sent at most four or five days by the foot of a centaur. Of course, the more the better.

The next day, when the widow of the earl came out from the capital, she brought not only a dozen capable servants and entourages, but also several families who also had travel needs and could afford the money—a visit from a friend. The lord, the family of retired aristocratic butlers who have not been back to their hometown for many years, the lady of the knight family visiting relatives, the baroness visiting her natal family, the family of the baron visiting her daughter...etc.

More than a hundred human races came neatly outside Prince Maurice's manor, and after seeing the ugly and ferocious centaur warriors, they all expressed shock, surprise, and refreshed their worldview.

But there was no rude fear or fear, on the contrary, I felt quite at ease-although it was a bit impolite, but for such dangerous things as traveling far away, it is natural for the companions to be able to ward off evil spirits, the better.

The centaur warriors who were upgraded to evil spirits had a headache again: they had to go to three delivery points, and the destinations of these human races were all within the range of the road, which was more convenient, but the problem was where these human races were going to arrive. The distance between places is inconsistent, some are far and some are close.

Purcell consulted with the human ranger and the housekeeper of Prince Maurice's estate, and finally decided on a charging plan: one silver coin for escorting every [-] kilometers.

For this price, Sell himself felt a little guilty...Silver coins are hard currency, and centaurs receive a salary equivalent to that of gray dwarves in the Ministry of Fire, which is only a dozen silver coins a month.

However, when this price was reported to the ethnic customers, everyone was happy - only five silver coins were charged for safe delivery beyond [-] kilometers, there was no charge for luggage, and the speed was guaranteed. Where could such a good thing be found?

The baron, who was going to visit his daughter, also asked if the centaur could escort him to inspect the farm and deliver the goods in the fall. Purcell took out the map and asked about the route, and calculated the time of the next delivery of the courier team, and readily agreed.

They set off on the same day, and in the morning of the next day, the baron's family, who had been bumping all night in the large carriage provided by the centaur, was sent to their daughter's home a hundred kilometers away from the capital.

The baron's family happily paid to get out of the car, and the centaur warriors even helped move their family's luggage to the door of the house...

The baron's daughter who went out to greet her was too late to be frightened by the centaur, and fell into the ecstasy of seeing her family.

When the courier team left the town, there were a few more hitchhikers in the team...

Stopping and stopping along the way, picking up and dropping off passengers, and sending the agricultural machinery purchased by the Duke's son to the place, the count's widow, who had been in the convoy for four and a half days and was already familiar with the centaurs, also came to her manor.

The widow of the earl settled the fare, and asked tactfully if the courier team would come in autumn, and if they came, could they deliver the goods to her manor, and Purcell naturally agreed happily... If it weren't for this very manly man The countess helped, they couldn't make so much extra money.

Unloading, loading, unloading and picking up passengers in the duke's manor, and counting the small box of silver coins for extra income, Sale is very happy...

Leaving two centaurs in charge of after-sales service in the Duke's Manor, the courier team set off again to the hometown of the third agricultural machinery customer, the Countess.

At this time, a group of people who received Arman's letter ran out of the deep mountains and old forests, just entered the territory of the Cronin Kingdom, and were about to cross Cronin and head for the agreed knight collar.

There are six people in this group, dressed as adventurers, wearing different specifications of half body armor, leather armor and other equipment, carrying weapons and luggage, riding on the road mounts that are only half the price of chocobos, biped ground dragons, leisurely. into the earldom.

This group of scourges disguised as adventurers had been on their way for several days, and none of them were in good spirits. The youngest young man was lying on the back of a two-legged dragon.

"We really should rent a small airship. In that case, we can get there in a few days. Such a slow journey is too tiring, and it doesn't seem to save much money."

"Okay, Aisha." On the other side of the parallel dragon walking on the back, a bearded strong man looked over displeasedly, "When can you learn from Adam, he is a few years younger than you, How many places have you run with Arman on one pair of feet, when did you complain like you did?"

"Teacher, how do you know that Adam didn't complain, it's just that you didn't hear it." The young man muttered, "And Adam majored in wind magic, walking against the wind is not the same thing as walking."

"Hey, why did I accept you as a little bastard, why didn't Adam's talent and beauty fall on me!" The bearded strong man said angrily.

The young man turned his face to look at the other female rider who was walking on the back of a dragon with two feet and dressed like a walker: "Sister, have you ever been so disgusted by the teacher before?"

"You can say a few words less." The female rider couldn't laugh or cry, "The teacher didn't force you to come, but you were curious about the Robbins knight who wrote the play of "Cinderella" and followed up by yourself. .”

The young man sat up immediately: "Why do you just talk about me, senior sister, aren't you curious about Knight Robbins?"

"So I didn't complain like you did?" The female rider raised her eyebrows and patted the mount under her, "Mr. sold all his pocket watches to buy these six Earth Dragons. Where can we rent a small watch?" Airship?"

The young man lay back like a salted fish, lamenting: "Why are we so poor~~"

When the sky was getting dark, a group of six people entered the town and settled in a camp outside the town with not much grass and near a water source.

There are such unmaintained open-air camps outside many towns. Caravans, adventurers, mercenary groups and other traveler groups will choose to spend the night in such areas if they do not need to enter the city.After all, you have to pay the city gate tax when entering and leaving the town, and there are not many city gate tax companies as conscientious as Valentine.

There are already other campers in this camp today. From a distance, the group of people saw a large group of carriages, tents, and heard the sound of people boiling.

"There's someone else, is it a caravan? Why are there still children?" The young man set up an awning and looked forward. He heard the children's shrill hip-hop.

The bearded burly man glared at the least worried little disciple: "Aisha, don't make trouble, we still have a long way to go."

"Understood, teacher." The young man said casually.

When they got closer, a group of six people, including the bearded man, almost dropped their jaws... What did they see?Centaur?Or a large group of centaurs? !

The Scourge would not be frightened by the ugliness of the centaur, but is there really any problem with such a large group of centaurs openly appearing in the Cronin Kingdom or near the town? !

"Hiss... Teacher, there are human races among the centaurs!!" The young man gasped.

The bearded man had no problem with his eyesight, needless to say, he also saw... a centaur who walked out of the camp and came towards them, with a little girl riding on his back!

The six Scourges were very silent, very silent... The weird situation in front of them... If there are many human races and few centaurs, they can understand that centaurs can occasionally be seen in the slave market of the human kingdom; but centaurs Half and half with the human race, both sides have fun together, and the children of the human race can still ride on the back of a centaur to play. This is a challenge to common sense.

"We entered the territory of the Kingdom of Cronin, isn't that right, teacher?" The female rider looked at the bearded burly man blankly.

The bearded man: "..." Can he say that he also has the urge to take out the map and have a look?

Purcell, who is a demon-forbidden race, naturally couldn't tell that the group of people in front of him were actually adventurers disguised as spellcasters. After running close, he still stopped at a safe distance of about five meters, beckoning: "Hi, travelers, Our centaur express team has taken up a lot of camp area, if you don’t mind, can you guys camp a bit to the south?”

The Scourge: "..."

The female rider looked anxiously at the teacher, what is the courier team?

The bearded man doesn't squint, I know a ball!

Seeing that the group of people did not respond, Purcell's tone became softer, and he discussed and said: "There are many hitchhikers in our team, including some children, who will be noisy. The south side is a little farther away from the water source. , but it will be quieter. We apologize for providing you with dinner, and please bear with us."

The Scourge: "..."

It's not that they don't know how to be polite or can't tolerate noise, but that the scene in front of them and the centaur's words are too informative and challenge common sense...

Fortunately, the bearded man has extensive experience and strong nerves, he quickly reacted after being dazed for a few seconds, and quickly responded politely: "Please don't worry, centaur friends, we are not picky about where we live, and we will try our best not to disturb your guests. "

"Thank you very much." Saier nodded, and turned to lead the way, "Please come this way." I haven't forgotten to tell the child riding on his back, "Hold on tight, little Rose, don't fall."

"Yeah, I won't fall!" The lively little human girl tightly grasped the...mane on the waist of the Cyre.

Purcell took the six "adventurers" to a relatively remote part of the camp, trotted away, and soon brought two more soldiers to help set up the camp, and gave them some bean flour to feed their mounts... …

Well, soybean powder, mixed with a little salt and sugar crystals, is a good food for centaur warriors to replenish their physical strength; soybean powder crushed into powder after roasting not only has the advantages of sufficient protein and high content of unsaturated fatty acids, but also has a very good taste. Well, it is convenient to eat dry, eat wrapped in food, and drink with water.

Centaurs love to eat, mounts love to eat, and humans love to eat.

The centaurs enthusiastically helped to set up the tent and left. The young man Aisha couldn't help but dipped his finger in some fine-looking and good-looking bean flour and put it in his mouth, and then said to the female rider in surprise: "It's delicious, senior sister. How rich are those centaurs? How can such fine and good things be fed to horses?"

"You pig head... you are a centaur! Centaur!" The corner of the female rider's mouth twitched.

"That's right, a centaur, isn't the horse just me?" Aisha, a young man, took it for granted, and put away the bag of soybean powder, not intending to feed it to Xinglong.

"Have a good time, you have to grab the mount's food!" the female rider shouted.

Aisha pretended not to hear, and walked away with her hands behind her back.

After a while, the centaurs fulfilled their promise and brought the dinner over.Aisha ingeniously tore the scones (baked naan) given by the centaur into small pieces, wrapped them in bean flour and ate them until his eyes popped.

The female rider watched him eat for a long time in silence, and then took out the bean flour that was going to be fed to the mount, and ate it by herself...

At this moment, the people from the other world are also Wang Jingze.

After sharing the scones given by the centaur, the hot and sour powder with jerky, and the appetizing pickled vegetables and salted eggs, the Scourge felt very embarrassed; The polite half-human Marcel was climbed up and down by more than a dozen human children and tired of taking care of him, so he summoned his disciples to help others.

This Aisha is good at it, and immediately took out the tool for teasing children, and ran over enthusiastically: "Little devils! Look at what this is!"

He took out a handkerchief and used magic to make magic tricks for the children...

"Thank you very much." Saier was freed from the hell of a bear child, and sincerely thanked him like a bearded man.

It's not that centaurs like to take their children and put them on their backs, but that if they don't do this, these little guys running around are easy to be stepped on...

"We should be the ones to thank you. I'm so sorry that I missed your dinner and forgot to thank you." The bearded man said friendlyly.

The author has something to say: PS1: Britain built the first railway in 1825 after the Industrial Revolution, with a total length of 27KM.

The basis for the emergence of such a "pocket" railway is based on the invention and popularization of the steam engine, as well as the annual domestic steel production in the UK reaching more than [-] tons...

Those who don’t accumulate ten or twenty years after crossing and can immediately engage in railway engineering are basically in YY.

PS2: With regard to the issue of travel, it was not until decades after the founding of New China, when my country’s infrastructure construction achieved some results, and after the reform and opening up, that is, in the 90s, that there was a wave of farmers going out to work in the countryside, and the term "migrant workers" appeared in 2004. word.

Before that, the vast majority of people basically never traveled hundreds of miles away from their birthplace.

Those of us born in the 80s and 90s are hard to understand that kind of closed life.

A not-so-interesting tidbit can also be interspersed here. After the upsurge of farmers going out to work in the countryside, the suicide rate of rural women in my country has dropped significantly...

Many urbanites who "why not eat minced meat" may find it difficult to understand what it means to many rural women to be able to work in the city and earn their own property.

Two more words:

How hard life is for peasants, you can get a glimpse of the painstaking educated youth literature created by those educated youths who went to the countryside in the last century.After going to the mountains and going to the countryside, they can return to the city, while the farmers who are countless times their size are still bound to the land.

When I was a child, I saw a sentence in a literary magazine. I can’t remember the original sentence. It roughly meant: "The educated youth suffered a little bit, and the whole world could hear it. The peasants suffered so much that they were already in pain. It's numb and I can't make any sound."

Before entering middle school, I spent my winter and summer vacations in the countryside every year.As for the memory of that time, I only remember one thing deeply: the rice with rice/multiple grains was unpalatable, the dishes were not oily, and I felt hungry all day long.

So everyone can understand, why I have spared no effort to despise and ridicule those little fresh people who yearn for the pastoral style since the first article...

If I hadn’t been a poor writer who exchanged code words for food money, when there were comments questioning chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the article, I would have rolled up my sleeves and scolded my mother and started spraying... _(:з」∠)_【Humble. jpg]