Mercenaries and Adventurers

Keel ordered a dinner by the campfire in the middle of the barracks outside, and ate casually, and then returned to Knight Crowe's tent.

The guards of the two Crow Knights greeted him friendly and asked about the process and result of this incident.

"Oh, it's a bit of a turmoil. I thought it was just an ordinary murder, but I didn't expect that there were thieves from the Southern Thieves Guild behind it."

As he spoke, Keel patted his horses and began to brush the hair brushes on the two horses' backs with the brush on his cart.

"The murderer was the thief's apprentice. He was lawless. In the end, he persuaded the local lord to send troops to wipe out the gang controlled by the thief. Only then did he catch him."

He simply said a few words to the two guards, and told them that if they wanted to know the details, they could go to Kayan and Zambirus, two of the guards in their town.

After speaking, Kiel dragged his tent, which had been useless for several days, from his carriage, stood it clangingly, and took advantage of the time before going to bed to practice and rest.

-

The next day, as usual, the army bypassed the adjacent villages and towns and continued to move southeast along the trade route.

According to Knight Crowe, they will take the shortest road to enter the southern province during this trip, and this commercial road is the main road connecting the two places.

However, due to the influence of the local environment, the roads in the western provinces are not as clear as those in the northwestern provinces. With the occasional rain in spring, the weeds and shrubs on the ground grow wildly. On the grass, there is no way at all.

Although the local chambers of commerce and caravans are very familiar with the local area, they are afraid of their army from afar, and they will never join the army's accompanying chamber of commerce to provide information, experience, guides and other help to the army.

Not to mention providing logistical support to the military, don't even think about it.

Even so, many caravans still followed the army for an hour's walk, clearly using the power of the army to avoid troubles such as horse bandits in the wilds of the western provinces.

In this regard, at noon, Keir was called by Knight Crowe.

"Keil, get on your horse, put on your iron armor, and follow me to negotiate with you when we set up camp tonight." Knight Crowe ordered.

In the evening at dusk, the sky was full of dark clouds, and the clouds were very low. It seemed that it would rain at any time, but it was impossible to tell when it would rain, because this state had been like that since yesterday.

The Rumi knights chose to camp tonight on a gentle **** on the west side of the village next to the trade road to prevent rain in the middle of the night and let the soldiers' tents soak in the rain.

Keir, on the other hand, rode his horse and put on his armor, followed behind Knight Crowe, and led three small groups of militiamen, and walked towards the local caravan that fell behind the Kendall army not far away.

When passing by his family's military caravan, Kiel waved at the red-haired chamber of commerce carriage looking over. The merchant Orobi, who was packing up the goods on the carriage, saw Kiel and Knight Crowe, and he also saluted the knight first, and then waved to Kiel.

After seeing it, Knight Crowe thought about it, and said to Kiel, "Is it the dead chamber of commerce?"

"Oh, yes, the guy who beckoned is called Pusi-Orobi, I know him." Kiel looked back at the knight riding a tall horse in front of him.

Nodding, Knight Crowe ordered: "Then call, and negotiate with the local businessman later, maybe it will work."

Keir should be, so he turned the horse's head, bumped the horse's belly, and let the horse run towards the military chamber of commerce.

Seeing Kiel coming after beckoning, Orobi climbed down from the carriage of the Chamber of Commerce, handed over the things in his hand to the staff of the Chamber of Commerce, and walked towards Kiel.

After the two approached, he spoke first: "Thank you again, Keir. Thank you and others for helping us."

"It should. Orobi, Mr. Crow Knight is going to negotiate with the local caravan that fell behind us. Come and help us. Let's go and have a look."

Orobi turned his head to look at the knights and thirty militiamen who stopped and waited for the two of them. After rubbing his hands, a smile appeared on his face: "Okay, we should, we should. Let's go now."

He greeted the people from their chamber of commerce, and then he was dragged by Kiel to the horse behind him.

There is a small space behind the saddle for horses to carry their belongings, and it is not impossible to ride a person for a short time.

Compared with the saddle, it will be much more bumpy. After all, the saddle is located in the middle of the horse's torso, and Orobi's straddling position at this time is the horse's two hind legs.

Kiel returned to the team on horseback, and Orobi greeted Knight Crowe first.

"Your Excellency the brave Knight Doddle-Claw, your leader Puss-Orobi sends you greetings, and the Red-haired Chamber of Commerce also sends you greetings. May your bravery grow year after year like the wealth of the Icestorm Pass."

It was a good word for Orobi to speak, but Knight Crow had seen a lot of this kind of businessman, and he was not curious about the red-haired chamber of commerce, which was neither big nor small, so he just turned his helmet and nodded and it was over.

Seeing that the knight didn't pay much attention to him, Ourobi didn't dare to disturb him any more, and whispered to Kiel, asking about the specifics of their trip.

In fact, it’s nothing, just negotiating with the caravan that has been following their army, either get out of the way and don’t take advantage of the army; or join the army’s caravan and sign a contract, the army provides security guarantees, and the caravan Provide supplies to support the army during the march.

In this way, Baron Kendall does not need to spend much cash, which is enough to maintain the supply loss of the entire army.

Because the Kendall army is composed of the Kendall militia, even before the official battle, Baron Kendall does not need to pay the militiamen much salary, as long as they provide food above the average level.

And just like the previous battles on the marching road, after each battle, the logistics clerk gave the militia team participating in the battle a small but also a lot of coin rewards.

This is also one of the reasons why militia teams actively participate in every battle and the like.

For the militiamen, although they themselves participated in the lord's southern expedition this year, they missed most of the farming work at home this year. But compared with the spoils harvest after participating in the war, the harvest from farming is much less.

The citizens are well aware of this. Even if you may die in a war, you may die in ordinary accidents and diseases. In comparison, it is more cost-effective to join the army and fight. After all, the militiamen have participated in the winter militia training organized by Crow Knights in the past years. In terms of emotion and experience, they have great confidence in Crow Knights and Rumi Knights.

They felt that under the leadership of Lord Knight with such powerful abilities, they would be able to retreat unscathed no matter what.

-

It is not too far from where the local caravan, which fell behind the Kendal army and the accompanying caravan, camped tonight.

They didn't dare to get too close to this elite army from the north of the kingdom, but they didn't dare to get too far away either, so they found a place on the other side of the village to camp.

Knight Crowe took a closer look and felt that it was a mistake to look for it at night.

Because as far as he saw, compared to the scale seen from a distance during the day, the number of carriages camped here for the night was at least half less.

He frowned and muttered: "Why are there so many people missing? I remember that there are at least twenty carriages?"

Kiel looked over, and with the last light of the cloudy sky and the fire in the caravan camp, Kiel also noticed that there were only eleven or twelve carriages in the camp at this time.

And different from the mess seen during the day, these carriages were divided into several groups at this time, obviously composed of several larger caravans.

On the contrary, Ou Luobi saw the problem at a glance, he hesitated, and coughed lightly: "Master Claw?"

"What's wrong?" Knight Crowe turned his head to look at the businessman this time.

Seeing that the businessman had something to say, he spread his palms: "Just say what you have to say. What do you know?"

Seeing the knight's question, Orobi immediately replied: "My lord, if I read correctly, the carriages here are composed of several larger caravans. The other merchants you are wondering about are all composed of one or two wagons." Small merchants and small caravans. They dare not spend the night outside the village or town, let alone set up camp halfway."

The businessman turned around and pointed to the village on the commercial road not far away: "Those people should have entered the village. On the one hand, they can spend the night safely, and on the other hand, they can do some business or supply supplies."

After hearing this, the knight raised his head: "So that's how it is. It's not the right time to come. You should look for them at noon. But they're all here, so that's it." After the knight finished speaking, he said to everyone in the team: "Light the torches, the formation Unfold, follow me."

It was cloudy again at dusk, and the sky was dark, but it was not enough to light a torch, so when they came over just now, they walked over normally.

And when the knight gave an order, the three militiamen set up six torches to light up. Before coming, the principal and deputy captain of the militia squad took it from the logistics.

Of course, there is no need to use torches for lighting in the camp, and they are only needed for missions at night.

-

And when the torches on Kiel's side were lit, the small caravan camp not far away noticed Kiel and his party.

The armed guards protecting the caravan were terrified, and immediately there was the sound of swords being unsheathed. The businessmen and fellows in charge of the caravan were in a mess, some ran into the carriage, some slipped under the carriage; Slip through the tall grass.

But when Kiel and the others got closer and saw the size of the people and the neat equipment, the caravan camp was relieved.

At least not a bold horse bandit.

"That's right, there's an entire army next to us, and there won't be any horse bandits who will attack us stupidly, so we won't die."

A leading merchant in charge of the caravan breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately told everyone to come back, not to embarrass the merchants in their western provinces. I found out before that this army heading south is a passing army from the northwest province of the kingdom, so it cannot be ashamed in front of the people from other provinces.

Actually lost.

The chaotic small caravan camp quickly settled down. The armed guards who were preparing to fight put away their shields and swords and threw guns. They just gathered around the campfire and waited for dinner. If it was not the horse bandits but the army, then As bodyguards, they have no additional responsibility for protection.

Besides, they have no ability to provoke the army.

Seeing that the hired guards ignored the situation, the merchant in charge of the caravan cursed in a low voice, and immediately discussed with the other two stewards of the caravan about the reason for the arrival of the army.

"What are they here for? They are here so late," said a caravan steward.

"I guess, maybe they came to drive us away. After all, if it was me, this kind of outsider who followed far away would of course be wary and drive away." Another person expressed his opinion.

The last person was more experienced, and after thinking for a while, he guessed: "Maybe it was absorbed into their own caravan? After all, there is another group of caravans in front of this army. I think this is very likely. The two of you What do you think?"

"I followed them when I had an advantage. Otherwise, judging from the direction of this army, it was headed towards the southern province. That ghostly place is not a good place to do business at this time. It would be no good if we went there together. The result." The businessman with a machete on his waist folded his arms and shook his head as he said.

The other two naturally knew what this person meant. Ever since conflicts and frictions broke out between the border areas of the southern province and neighboring countries, chaos has spread from the border. Not to mention losing a battle with the army of a neighboring country last year, the bad influence will be even greater.

Even if some bold businessmen can make a fortune from the chaos in the southern provinces, for some large chambers of commerce, it is enough to make money safely and steadily, and there is no need to get involved. Losing money is a trivial matter, but losing one's own life is the end.

"Then listen and see what they are going to do. But everyone has agreed, don't get involved too deep, the water is too deep, we can't grasp it. After all, it is a strange army in the north, and we will forget the benefits when we see it." It is possible for a dangerous businessman to swallow it whole."

The three reached an agreement on this, nodded and agreed together.

But when they saw the strange knight riding on a tall and strong horse at the front of the coming team, they immediately forgot about the others, and scrambled over to say compliments.

They all want to have a good relationship with the knight with inhuman strength.

-

Knight Crowe glanced at the situation in the camp, and then jumped off his horse.

Kiel and Orobi also followed, and the militiamen did not hear the knight's other orders, so they subconsciously lined up in a dense formation.

The soldiers of the strange army lined up neatly, with consistent and well-equipped equipment, which immediately caused whispers in the entire camp.

The armed guards immediately saw that the militiamen were holding a simple wooden crossbow behind their backs, and knew that the army that could be equipped with such projectile weapons in batches was beyond their ability to deal with.

So they huddled around the campfire even more, waiting for their meal.

And the three caravan stewards also glanced at each other, grinned with ugly faces, and asked the knight why he came here amidst constant compliments.

Knight Crowe put his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, glanced at the three of them expressionlessly and said, "We are an army from Kendall County in the Northwest Province, and we are going to the border of the southern province of the Kingdom to support the war there. Now we are passing through the border." This place is really normal, but, you people, why have you been following the army far away for the past two days?"

"Master Knight, you may have misunderstood. We are all just doing business normally. The so-called following the army is only because there is only one business road under our feet. It is all a misunderstanding."

A businessman in charge immediately defended himself.

"That's right, then why, compared to my army, the small caravan with lighter armor is obviously faster, but still walks behind us? Explain!"

Another businessman in charge immediately stepped forward to explain: "My lord, my lord, please listen to my explanation. Neither you nor your army are locals, so naturally they don't know that our western province is flat and lush. Compared with other places, farming Farming is even more difficult. So many people rely on the convenient flat environment and rely on trade for a living.”

He asked for a map of the western provinces from his clerk, pointed to the punctuation of the towns and villages and the dotted lines connecting them, and said: "Look, except for the provincial capital and the towns near the borders of other provinces, most Most of the villages and towns are located on several commercial routes. Moreover, the location and distance of each village and town are determined by the earl, in order to provide protection for the merchants who trade on the commercial routes, that is, us."

The map is made of soft cowhide. Although it is not large, the markings are very clear and clear. All the villages, towns and cities in the entire western province are marked, and they are all numbered without taking up space. Comparing the serial number with the names of towns and villages on the back of the map, you can know the detailed names.

"My lord, look carefully. Basically, the distance between every village and town is about the same. This is to allow us who walk on the road to set off every morning. After a day's progress, we can just have a place in the evening." Settle down. After all, it is different from other places, our western province is so flat, people’s settlements can be built anywhere, why not build it like this?"

What this person said was very detailed and reasonable. Although I don’t know if it’s true, the other party’s reason is obviously normal. After all, you walk the same distance every day. You said you followed your army. He said it was a coincidence. After all, every day You can only go so far.

No matter what, unless all the horses are moving and there is no cargo in the wagon, it will naturally run more miles every day. But this kind of thing that doesn't make economic sense~www.readwn.com~ can only be done like Keel did before.

Knight Crowe was not annoyed, anyway, he just asked casually, and he didn't care if the other party's answer made sense. Now, what interests him is the map of the western provinces in the hands of the businessman.

He snorted and said, "Let me take a look at your map. The light here is not good, and it's hard to see clearly from a distance."

The businessman felt something was wrong, but what the other party said was fine, so he approached with a map in his hand.

Kiel pouted secretly, couldn't see clearly? How could it be possible, these knights had the same excellent eyesight as livestock, no, beasts, how could they not be able to see things clearly on the map.

Ah, no, he is also undergoing knight training now, eating monster meat every day and exercising his ability to control life energy, cursing like this includes himself.

However, what is the purpose of Knight Crow saying this?

When the businessman took the map of the western provinces, which was compiled and drawn by their chamber of commerce throughout most of the western provinces, Knight Crowe reached out and snatched the map.

"Hmm, let me take a closer look. It's interesting, it's interesting." Knight Crowe said, reaching out and patting Kiel on the shoulder, and the iron armor on Kiel's shoulder made a loud crashing sound: "Kiel, you are not drawing Not bad, come on, find a piece of clean leather, and copy the contents on it."

"Ah, ah?" Keir was stunned for a moment, but he still reacted.

He rubbed his nose with the fingers covered with steel armor on the back of his hand, a little embarrassed: "My lord, I understand. But there is no suitable sheepskin at hand."

The knight raised his chin: "Isn't this a caravan? There must be blank sheepskin rolls or whole cowhide in the caravan. Just buy one now."