Mercenaries and Adventurers

Kiel then picked up the wine glass again and raised it high: "Finally, I would like to salute Sir Rumi Knight again, and wish him prosperity in martial arts."

The three guards next to him raised their wine glasses together and said, "Wu Yun is prosperous."

Clink glasses, booze.

Not wanting to waste time in the tavern, Keel drank all the delicious ale in his glass in one go this time.

"Gudong, Gudong, Gudong, Gudong..."

Putting down his glass, Keir breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I still want to go around, so I won't accompany you guys any further. I'll take this boiled mutton away, and you can take care of the other leg of lamb yourself."

He rummaged through the small backpack under the cloak behind him, and found an empty leather bag with nothing in it, and it was relatively clean.

Keir smiled and poured the mutton in front of him into the leather bag, then tied the mouth of the leather bag, tied a knot, and hung it on his belt.

The three guards didn't want to stay. Anyway, everyone would see each other every day. They just nodded and continued to eat the roast leg of lamb while it was still hot.

Because the fee has been paid in advance, after the food and drinks are served, how the guests deal with it, whether to eat it directly or take it away, is the business of the guests themselves, and the local villagers do not care.

As long as you don't take other people's wooden plates with you, after all, the price of common wooden plates here is more expensive than other places, so you have to pay attention.

But none of the business travelers who came and went was so boring, and no one picked up this thing when it fell on the ground in other places.

-

The boiled mutton with soup and water in the bag swayed slightly as Kiel walked.

After carefully checking the knot on it and confirming that it was secure, Keel walked out of the room that was used as a tavern.

There are still many people outside, but there are fewer people than when we just finished eating. Many caravan guys will not buy things here. After all, cheap things from other places are extremely expensive here.

They are the most ordinary guys in the caravan, but they don't have extra money to spend mindlessly. After all, they also take a lot of risks when they go out for business.

If you want to be safe, then stay in your hometown to farm and graze, or ask a craftsman to learn a craft, which is better than leaving your hometown at the risk.

Keir didn't really want to buy cheap things from the stalls in the passage outside. Although they were all cheap and useful local items for him, there were no other places. He looked at the other rooms with unlocked locks on both sides of the passage, wondering what they were doing there.

Another room next to the tavern room smelled of roast meat, apparently where the food was being prepared.

Several people at the door kept looking inside, as if they were waiting for something.

Soon, a piece of roasted meat was brought out. The roasted meat was steaming and sizzling. It was evident that it had just been cooked, and it was simply tied with a string.

The eyes of a businessman waiting at the door lit up, he asked a question, and after getting the answer, he walked away with a rope.

Apparently it's possible to buy food directly here, and it's good to take away.

Keir thought for a while, and walked over to ask the local villagers guarding the door.

He didn't ask anything else, just asked the price of a piece of roast leg of lamb and boiled lamb. "Seven copper coins for a leg of roast lamb, and three copper coins for boiled mutton."

The villagers at the door answered directly, speaking very fast, obviously remembering clearly.

Realizing that he hadn't been slaughtered, Keir smiled.

"Do you want to buy it, customer? We also have lamb ribs and roasted lamb spine, fried sheep tail oil with wheat cake." Then the villager whispered to Keir in a mysterious voice: "Under the sheep That can also be baked, do you want to try it? Many caravan stewards like this thing very much.”

Kiel didn't plan to buy it. He seemed to be thinking about it, and a businessman waiting for food next to him sneered, "You think too much, who needs this for such a young guy?" He turned his head and looked at Kiel. Er: "Don't be teased by him, it's useless."

Seeing that the villagers introduced next to him were staring at him, the man changed his words: "It's useless to you."

Keel looked into the house and found that there was not much space inside, and several strong villagers were busy working inside. On the ground, there were piles of lamb legs and mutton in wide and shallow baskets made of strong straw. When it came over, it was already dealt with simply.

The young villager cut up the meat with a kitchen knife and handed it to a companion next to him. Another puts the meat in a wooden tub and sprinkles it with grains of salt and ground local spices.

Then they repeatedly beat the meat in the pot with a self-defense stick.

Keir knew that it wasn't that the villagers were in bad spirits, but that they were beating the tendons in the loose pieces of meat with sticks. After this treatment, it will be much softer in your mouth when you eat it.

In the middle of the room is a large firepit with a grill on one side and an iron pot on the fire on the other. There are several pieces of meat on the grill. The middle-aged strong villager seems to have a lot of status. He holds a small clay pot full of seasonings in one hand, and uses a wooden brush to dip oil from the barbecue in the other hand, and then puts it in the clay pot Stick the seasoning, and then brush the wooden brush against the barbecue repeatedly.

Try to get the seasoning on top to stick to the meat.

Because the roasted meat is very fatty, there is no need for additional grilling. If it is lean meat without fat, you have to add extra fat to grill, otherwise it will be very dry.

That's why many wild game meats don't taste good when grilled. Wild beasts have a difficult life, and it is difficult to accumulate enough fat under the fur and on the muscles.

The livestock raised by the village itself, because they have enough food to eat every day and do not exercise a lot, have far more fat than their peers.

-

Even though Kiel had just eaten, he still swallowed a mouthful of spit when he saw the delicious processed meat inside.

Fortunately, his bulging stomach prevented his head and nose from getting dizzy, and persuaded Keir to act unwisely: "Um, I'll forget it, I'm already full."

Seeing that they didn't intend to buy anything, the villagers at the door shrugged and stopped talking to Kiel.

Turning and pushing through the crowd, Keel made his way to the house in another passage.

There is no one blocking the way at the door, and it is not noisy inside. Although there are not many people, they basically just talk in a low voice.

Keel took a look and found that there was a heavily guarded counter, and there were wooden tables and old villagers sitting beside it. The room was well lit, allowing Keel to see what was on the wooden table surrounded by people.

It was several sets of balances and weights.

At this moment, some caravan stewards who have eaten are taking out their full money bags with their buddies. There is a table with a fall-proof frame next to it. When the money bag is dumped, it is full of coins. It just poured out.

People around will be unconsciously attracted by the sound of coins colliding, and all their eyes will be on the various low-denomination coins poured out.

The same goes for Kiel, who can see at a glance that they are mostly iron coins and copper coins.

After thinking about it for a while, I knew what was going on here.

It used to be a coin exchange.

It is naturally impossible for business travelers who go out to do business to bring heavy change coins in addition to the goods. Most of them will bring gold coins and silver coins of high value to the business.

Light weight, high value, easy to carry and store value.

These are the advantages of precious metal coins.

When you go all the way and run to a suitable trading place, large quantities of goods are traded with high-value gold and silver coins, and the change that is used or sold in small quantities along the way will be exchanged with powerful or specially established coins. Get change everywhere.

On the contrary, low-denomination copper and iron coins earned here and there will also be exchanged for gold and silver coins and taken away.

However, this kind of business-friendly transaction will charge a small fee.

Sure enough, Kiel just scanned the room, and saw a clean and golden tapestry of the emblem of the gods hanging on an open wall.

The emblem of the God of Wealth was embroidered with gold thread on the seemingly expensive tapestry.

At this moment, the emblem on the tapestry seemed to be shining with the coins pouring out of a merchant's purse.

The people around seemed to be familiar with it, but Keir was surprised.

At this time, as the businessman asked the man behind him to pour out the scattered coins, and shook the deflated strong leather pocket, the old villager sitting behind the wooden table spoke.

"I'm getting old, please ask the buddy to help separate the copper coins from the iron coins. Let's deal with the iron coins first."

Although the old man is old, he is in good spirits. He said please, but his hands have already started to move. He is different from other villagers or businessmen. The sleeves of the loose robe worn by the old man have been specially treated, which is a pair of tight sleeves that are close to the skin.

In this way, without the obstruction of his clothes, any of his movements can be clearly seen by the guests in front of him.

He separated the coins that had formed into a pile of hills, and then deftly picked out the black lacquered iron coins with his hands, and put them in stacks of ten in the special coin holder beside him.

After each stack is placed, another old man next to it will draw a clear circle on a small piece of parchment in the dedicated place.

The businessman waved his hand, and the two young men next to him also rolled up their sleeves and went up to help organize the coins.

The young man had good eyesight, and although his movements were unskilled, he was faster. He quickly put ten stacks of coins into place, and the sound of the coins colliding was clear and sweet.

At least Keir himself never tires of hearing it, nor do the other businessmen who talk quietly around him.

Some businessmen even sat on adobe chairs by the wall of the house, raised one leg, closed their eyes and enjoyed the wonderful sound of coins colliding.

"Very comparable to the voice of the best bard."

"Shh, how is it possible. Haven't seen it yet, His Majesty the king of the Kingdom of St. Hulls is the best bard in the entire continent! This is what the gods have admitted and witnessed."

"Oh, I don't understand, tell me quickly."

A few businessmen nearby were talking in a low voice, and Kiel heard it too. Of course he knew what the businessman was talking about, because he was interested in the history of the other world, especially the kingdom he lived in, so Kiel had heard this widely spread magical story.

The story is fine. The Kingdom of St. Hulls under his feet now was founded because a group representing human beings overcame obstacles and defeated opponents from other races in a music event witnessed by the gods, and won the final victory.

And the reward is a new human kingdom.

The Kingdom of St. Halse came from the strongest bard—Bacon Halse himself.

Keir didn't listen to the people next to him anymore. He had never seen the workflow of this exchange, so he held his own money bag and pretended to be busy, but in fact he looked curiously at the busy people.

After a short period of busy work, the merchants rummaged through the pile of copper coins repeatedly to confirm that there were no iron coins.

Then the old man behind the wooden table dried the parchment in his hand, checked it carefully, and handed it to the businessman opposite for confirmation.

"Mr. Radley, please check."

All the businessmen who went out to do business were not careful. Even if the two old men in front of him were not dealing with him for the first time, this businessman also counted the rows of ten iron coins stacked on the table again.

"One hundred and seventy-three stacks, and there are seven individual iron coins left. Yes, it is consistent with the record on the list. Hey, these iron coins are worthless and heavy, but they cannot be separated from these love-hate Cutie."

The businessman confirmed while talking, then picked up the quill on the table, signed his name on a part of the list, and then took out a metal seal from his chest pocket, and burned it in a small stove next to the wooden table. Bake and heat it up. After the seal is heated, the temperature is transmitted to the front of your fingers. Use the embossed part of the other end of the seal to burn the place you just signed.

Burning at high temperature leaves a unique black mark on the parchment, which is confirmed.

Then came more professional work, and Keel stood by and watched carefully.

The two old men put stacks of iron coins on one end of the balance that had never been used, and then picked up a larger weight from the weight on the other table.

The weight is square, flat on the underside, and has a metal ring that can be grasped by hand. On the other four sides of the weight, a number is cast in gold.

The gold shone under the light of the flames, and the numbers on it could be clearly seen from a little distance.

This number represents the specific weight of the weight.

The old man held the weight in his hand, as if to show it off, and gestured towards the surrounding businessmen. This means that everything has been supervised by the merchants present, and the weight of the weight is correct.

The weight is then placed on the other end of the balance coin.

This weight is quite heavy, and when it is put down, the balance that was originally pressed to the side will be moved back to most of it.

Then the rest of the weights came on stage, the same action, but the weights were too miniaturized. In the end, the mass of the weight becomes smaller and smaller, and finally the balance is rebalanced.

In this way, the weight of all iron coins was confirmed by weights.

Why weigh the weight of the iron coins, Kiel didn't understand it at first, but after seeing the old man announce the actual weight of the iron coins to the merchant, and after calculation, subtract the value of the iron coins from the previous count. Go to some numbers.

"I see."

Accompanied by the whispered conversations of the people around him, Keir figured out the reason for doing so.

It turns out that although iron coins are relatively wear-resistant, and other things have been added to resist rust during production, every iron coin will still have a little wear and damage after bumping and handling.

One or two ten or so is nothing, this amount is very small. But once the number is hundreds or thousands, the originally inconspicuous wear and damage becomes a problem that must be taken seriously.

Therefore, the number of iron coins belongs to the quantity, and their weight must also be weighed.

Because the coins circulating in the kingdom are basically made after the imperial coins, the quality standards of the coins are also the same as those of the empire. Except for a little difference when they are made, each coin is mostly the same.

If you convert the missing weight of all iron coins, you will know how many iron coins that should be counted are missing from the total.

This work seemed superfluous, because it would not lose one or two coins in total, but Keel knew that it was just an appetizer through the discussions of other merchants present.

The big one who really counts pennies and pennies is on the copper coins waiting for it.

According to the kingdom's decree, one standard undamaged copper coin is equivalent to ten standard unblemished iron coins.

Therefore, the copper coins that were as many as the iron coins just now are the bulk of the merchant's exchange for money this time.

-

The sound of crashing coins continued to sound, and the two old men who had confirmed the iron coins and the merchant's men started counting the copper coins. All the iron coins just now were received and locked in the protective counter in the deepest part of the room.

There are also several village guards with iron rod bags on the counter.

Of course, the strength of these few villagers is limited, but the meaning is here. Whoever makes an idea here will obviously be listed as an unwelcome object by the entire village.

As the most important commercial route through the province in the western province, it is a village that must be settled every day on the Strange Wind Plain.

Being unpopular in this Thor village, unless they completely subdue the village in violence like today's Kendal people, otherwise they can only spend the night outside the village.

As for the risk of staying overnight here, I'm afraid I don't need to say more.

"1,700 copper coins." Kiel glanced at it, and calculated the approximate number from the stacked copper coins placed in a regular manner.

"According to this calculation, there are only seven silver coins for one gold coin. It's really not much."

Keir curled his lips, but he didn't expect that it looked like a lot, but in fact it wasn't much.

After all, he himself always carries a few gold coins and more than twenty silver coins in his inner pocket for use. More coins are in the chest in the dream that the lady let him use.

Other useful gadgets with high value or indeterminate value are also safely stored there.

In addition to the commonly used coins, there are also dwarven coins he got on the rocky mountain, and two elven coins picked up from the elven ruins are also included.

However, the two elf coins are often taken by the goblins who roam freely in the dream to play with. Seeing that the other party can't take the elf coins out of the dream, Keir doesn't care.

In addition, a piece of unknown metal obtained from killing bandits when he met Knight Lanisa last year is also among his valuables~www.readwn.com~ The metal is not big, but it is extremely heavy, no less than the same size Gold quality, and even heavier.

The long-mouthed teeth of the spider-shaped monster alone are also important items, and he has never known what the two teeth with different shapes are used for. Recently, he is planning to use a large number of teeth that are as flat as a dagger blade to make it into a monster-style cloak that resembles scale armor.

That thing is light and strong, and the tips of the teeth are poisonous. It is very cool to make a special cloak.

Also very practical.

It's just too cool, he is afraid of being said by Knight Crowe.

He didn't think about what to do with the short and thick teeth of another kind of monster, so he left them for now, and they couldn't break them anyway.

In addition, there are several magic materials that were bought at the blacksmith priest of Kendall City for a lot of gold coins. There are still a few red copper particles, and a few black iron metal ingots, but the fire-absorbing gold is useless at all, and it is completely stored.

In addition, there are a lot of light metal shelves removed from the elf ruins outside his box. These things, Keir intends to find a chance to smelt all of them to make an elf light metal full body armor.

This plan has been considered for a long time, but because he has not been able to find a skilled armor craftsman, he can only temporarily give up now.

Some other Elvish relic valuables are also in the chest.

On the top, after he defeated the water monster in Wumi Lake, the young priest gave him the side of the water monster's skull with an osteoma.

He knew at a glance that this thing could be used to make a large round shield to protect the whole body, but like armor, he had this magical material, but Kiel had not met a powerful shield craftsman who could use this material.