Mercenaries and Adventurers

After a while, Kil temporarily stored the long sword contaminated by evil power with the craftsman. As for the so-called magic materials, he used the excuse of raising funds to wait for a while to raise them for him. He had previously obtained an unusual-looking piece of strange metal from a bandit, but it was too heavy. It weighed thirty kilograms in just one piece, and it was obviously impossible to use it for a long sword.

Thirty kilograms, no matter where he uses it in weapons and equipment, he can't use it now, he can't use it. We can only wait until the strength increases to see if it can be used.

Kil walked next door to the weapons forging workshop. In the armor workshop, Ganner was hammering a large piece of metal armor. His apprentice was keeping the furnace in the workshop high, waiting for Ganner to place the armor piece at any time. Heat over flame.

Ganner is not very strong, so as soon as the armor cools down slightly and the hardness increases, he puts the armor in the furnace to heat it up. Only steel in a softened state at high temperatures can be easily hammered by him to deform the steel armor.

Kil said hello, looked at it and left. He couldn't get involved in the forging work, so he should let professional craftsmen like Ganner do it.

As he walked out of the craftsman area, Kil was worried about the high price of those magic materials. Especially the last magic material introduced, the metal piece of blessing and praise made by the Church of the Sun God, costs as much as one hundred and twenty-five gold coins.

Kiel’s entire wealth is not that much, it’s really astronomical. There are only a dozen gold coins in the treasure box he buried outside the city. Those coins were accumulated by him after defeating slime monsters and selling them to the chamber of commerce and rescuing merchants who were kidnapped by bandits. There are also some scattered commissions and defeats. He had accumulated this money from the income from banditry and from the previous income from selling a large amount of metal materials.

Of course, he also spent a lot of money on the various weapons and equipment he prepared for himself.

As a result, the money saved could not even buy the magic material.

Kil thought for a while, and then he remembered that when he used Warcraft to deal with bandits, he had harvested something that looked like it might be worth a lot of money from the bandit leader's wooden house. It's just that he couldn't estimate the value of these seemingly valuable things, so he just kept them and didn't sell them.

Thinking about it now, those things must be dealt with quickly. The only way is to convert them into coins, and then take this opportunity to buy magic materials and strengthen his weapons.

As a warrior who relies on force to survive, Kil's primary goal is to ensure that his force can deal with all kinds of enemies and monsters he faces.

However, before he could find a way to deal with those valuable items, he had to find Knight Lanisa and get the horses she promised to use.

-

Going up the main road of Kendall City, Keir arrived at the gate of the upper city. There is also a city gate here, and it is guarded by two armed guards.

Without being familiar with these two people, it was impossible for Keir to go in directly. He had no choice but to inform the guards about his affairs at the gate of the city. He heard that Kil was a subordinate of Knight Lanisa's hunter team and was going to Knight Lanisa's villa for something, so a guard went in to ask someone from the knight family. Condition.

After a while, the guards came back with a maid from the Knight Lanissa family.

The guard waved his hand, indicating that Kil, who was waiting at the city gate, could follow the maid in.

Kil thanked the guard and walked up to the maid.

This maid wore a thick cotton coat and a thick skirt. The outer fabric of the cotton coat was quite bright, and the family emblem of Knight Lanissa was finely embroidered on it.

The maid did not wear gloves. At this time, because of the cold weather and the lack of shelter at the entrance to the upper city, the wind was relatively strong and she kept rubbing her hands.

She looked at young Keir, took a closer look, and said, "You look very ordinary, don't you look like you are something extraordinary?"

"Ah? No, did the Lord Knight say something? It makes you think that I should grow an extra pair of arms or something." Kil shrugged.

The two of them walked along the stone street, with the maid leading Kil in front. The soft shoes on her feet made no sound when walking on the ground, while the soles of Kil's warm boots were made of hardened leather, so every step they took would make a sound. Makes a loud snapping sound.

The maid walked around and then turned to look at Keir: "Except for being a little strong, it is indeed very ordinary. Lady Lanessa told us the story of how she defeated the World of Warcraft before. In the story, you are amazing, but you are not taller than me. ." After saying that, the maid stopped and gestured at the heights of her and Kiel.

Kil scratched his head. He was not short anymore, but the knight's maid was actually too tall. He remembered that not many women he had met were as tall as she was. Even Knight Lanissa seemed not as tall as this maid.

Regarding this maid's evaluation, Kil had to earn some face for himself: "Actually, I still have some strength, and my martial arts skills are also good."

"That's right." The maid rubbed her hands, blinked, and said doubtfully.

While they were talking, they arrived at Lanissa Knight's house. This place is very close to the gate of the upper city, opposite the closed-door Church of the Sun God and the Pantheon next door.

Lanisha Knight's house has a towering wall and occupies a large area. After entering through the small door at the main entrance, Keir discovered that in addition to a front yard, there were several tall houses connected to each other.

Different from the surrounding church buildings, the knights' houses appear to be very simple. There are no stories of gods and reliefs carved on the outer walls, nor are there any eye-catching and fancy patterns made of various colored stones and bricks.

It's just an ordinary brick and wood building, but relatively tall.

Keir followed the maid into the house through the side door of the main building, walked through a corridor and entered the restaurant.

The restaurant floor is paved with large rocks, and there are various landscape paintings and decorative weapons around it. With a quick glance, Kil could see that those weapons were real. After all, it is a knight family that relies on force to ensure its status. This is really normal.

At this time, many family members of Knight Lanisa were dining with the knight himself on several wooden tables in the middle of the restaurant. Kil was wondering if he had come at the wrong time, but after looking around, he found that the meal was already over. The knight's family glanced curiously at Kil, who followed the maid in, and then each prayed to the gods, and then left the table. He led the maids and attendants out of the restaurant.

Knight Lanisa did not leave after finishing the meal. After signaling for Keir to come over, she asked the maid to bring a new wooden chair to sit down on.

Kil saw that the other chairs were different. It was probably because each knight's family had their own chairs. Naturally, he, an outsider, could not use other people's special chairs.

After sitting down, Knight Lanissa asked Kil whether his weapons could dispel the contaminated evil power.

Kil, who confirmed that the knight was involved in this matter, smiled and said: "My lord, not yet. The craftsmen of the Mud Hand have come up with many good things." He rubbed his hands: "I really want them all. So I put the long sword with him for the time being, and I plan to raise some coins in the next two days to buy all those things."

Lanisha laughed: "Craftsman Mu Hand, hahahaha. Craftsman Endel will definitely laugh or cry when he hears you call him that. But you are quite rich, and you actually want to get all the magic materials. However, you must remember to act within your means, and when raising money, it is best not to go to the city to borrow loan sharks from gangs. Just ask an acquaintance businessman to borrow a low-interest loan that will be repaid in the near future.”

Kil didn't quite understand. He had no intention of borrowing money in the first place. After all, after borrowing the money, he would become a grandson to the creditor, and he would be inferior to others for nothing. As a time traveler, Kil didn't want to lose face. It is impossible to borrow money, but it is not impossible to sell high-value trophies.

But Knight Lanessa didn't seem to understand Kil's specific situation. Buying all the magic materials that Kil said was not a small amount of money, and even their knights had to think of a way.

Of course, the knights all have their own village fiefs. The Lanisha knight family's fiefdom is in Wumi Lake Village in the north. Because it is close to the vast Wumi Lake, there are fat and big fish that can be used as specialty products of the fiefdom. Every quarter, the village will transport a large amount of dried fish as tax. These delicious dried fish with special effects can be preserved for a long time and can be sold for a lot of money when transported to other places.

Immediately afterwards, Knight Lanisa continued to talk about what happened next: "In a few days, after the bones of the hunters who died in the previous battle are transported back to his home and buried, our wolf crusade this year will begin. Although last year it was also Many northern wolf packs were eliminated, but the foundation of the wolf pack was not harmed. After a long period of investigation, veteran hunters found that they increased the birth of new wolf pups."

"What does this mean?" Kil asked puzzledly.

Knight Lanisa took off the exquisite napkin on her collar, stood up and asked Kil to follow him. When leaving the restaurant and walking upstairs, the knight said: "Wolves are not humans. It only takes more than a year for them to be able to hunt from birth. . The wolf group in the Northland is larger, and the breed seems to be different from other scattered wild wolves in the wild. It takes a little longer to grow, and it takes about two years to grow into an adult wolf."

"So this year we are going to kill more adult wolves and juvenile wolves before the newborn wolves have grown up in large numbers?" Kiel said.

"Yes, last year the hunters and I severely damaged them with our tactics. According to the skills of those cunning beasts, the same trick trap will not be made again by cautious beasts. This year, we have to rely on the combat power provided by the newly joined you. Kil, with your help to other hunters, you will definitely defeat those guys when I entangle the wolf king on the opposite side."

Kil followed Lanissa Knight to another room, which looked like a study. Judging from the furnishings in the study, it doesn't look like a place that women would use for a long time.

Lanisha Knight took down a homemade simple book from the bookshelf on one side. She flipped through the simple book that was pieced together with many papers, and then handed it to Keir.

"I heard that you know words, which is different from other hunters. So you can read this record of my experience of leading a team of hunters against wolves in the North before and after. You can read it and understand how we dealt with wolves before. . There is no time this year to train you on how to fight against wolves, but I know that you have dealt with many wild wolves alone before, so you should have some experience of your own in dealing with wild wolves."

After taking the simple record made of separate pieces of paper and splicing them together, Keir put it away inside his clothes and put it away.

Immediately afterwards, Kil told Knight Lanisa that he had moved his residence from the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce to the Hunter Stronghold in accordance with the other party's request.

"So, are you here today to ask for the other two horses?"

"Yes. But I don't just use the horses alone. When we attack the wolves in the future, we can use them to transport more supplies. With enough supplies, we must go deep into the north of the county to deal with the wolves, and we will be more secure. Right?" Although Keir came to ask for the promised horses, he didn't want to make his image bad, so he promised the horses first and they would be used in the crusade later.

After listening to Kil's words, Knight Lanisa nodded: "Okay. But, three horses. You have to take good care of them. The cost of raising each horse is quite a lot, three horses. If you want to keep them for a long time, just You have to be prepared to spend a lot of money.”

Kiel is grateful to the Knights.

"I will ask people to go to the government office to handle the ownership of the three horses. Kendall City is different from other places. Owning private horses requires paying heavy taxes. This year I will tell the government office to exempt you from taxes. Next year, remember to pay taxes at the government office, otherwise they will fine you. If you fail to pay, your horses will be taken away." Knight Lanisa introduced to Kil.

After speaking, she clapped her hands and called the maid at the door.

"My lord?" Another knight's personal maid said after entering the door.

"Go and call the butler."

"Yes, sir." The maid saluted again and then closed the door and left.

"Sir Knight, why does Kendall City impose heavy taxes on privately owned horses? Is it related to the Imperial Knights in the north of the county?" Kil asked about the topic he was concerned about.

Lanessa snapped her fingers: "That's true. Since Kendall County is stationed with the Imperial Border Knights, who guard the very frontier of human existence, so according to the agreement between the Kingdom and the Empire, we have to provide enough supplies to the Knights who guard the borders of mankind. Support. The kingdom will give part of this support, and the nobles in the border areas will give another part."

"so?"

"So, the large number of horses needed by the Knights have to be borne by our baron and several other border barons. Not only that, in addition to horses, there are many other supplies. We have a large permanent farm in the north of Kendall County. Following the lumberyard, they are also responsible for providing fuel supply to the knights. The other neighboring counties provide other supplies. So every year we purchase a batch of horses from Bingshuguan and give them to the knights in the north. Group. In order to prevent private individuals from affecting the price of nearby horses, the government office has to impose heavy taxes on horses."

"So that's it. Thank you, sir, for clearing up the doubts that have troubled me for a long time." Kil finally figured out why in the economically developed city of Kendall, various chambers of commerce used donkeys to pull carts, and it turned out that he would be charged heavy taxes. .

-

As soon as this topic was finished, Knight Lanissa's housekeeper knocked on the door and came in.

"This is Joe Keel, as you know. Take him to the stables and give him the two horses I got back two days ago. By the way, go to the government office later and tell him the names of the three horses I got. Turn to Keir. Say hello to the relevant clerk and don’t collect taxes this year until next year.” Knight Lanisa quickly handed over the matter.

"Kiel, you follow my butler and go to the backyard to pick up the two horses. After the ownership of the horses is completed, they will be handed over to the hunter's stronghold. Remember, don't do it three times before you get the sign representing the ownership. The horse is arrogantly passing through the market, otherwise the clerk who is passing by will find out and your horse will be impounded." After Knight Lanisa explained, she went to the desk and took a book to read. She waved her hand and asked the two of them to go out.

After bidding farewell to the female knight, Keir followed her butler to the stables in the backyard.

The older butler didn't seem to be curious about Keel, so he took Keel to the stable without looking at him.

The knight family's backyard is very large. Not only does it have stables and a garden, but there is also a low stone building in the innermost part. It's hard to tell what it is used for, but it just looks very solid.

The stable is quite large. It not only houses some horses and livestock, but also has three carriages. One of them is a truck, and the other two are carriages for people to ride on. However, one is more exquisite and the other is more ordinary. .

The steward found the dozing groom and asked him to bring the two horses. Without any nonsense, he handed the two horses without reins, saddles, and shackles directly to Keir.

Seeing the two horses with nothing in trouble, Kil asked the steward for a rope, tied two slip knots at both ends, put it around the necks of the peaceful horses, and gently led Knight Lanisa out. House of.

All the way out, Kil carefully pulled the rope and led the two horses to the hunter's stronghold located behind the government office, letting the two horses live in the small stable in the front yard of the stronghold with their friends.

I gave the new horses food and water, only to find that they had already eaten in the morning. After looking at the sun, Kil came to the house, called the old hunter who was dozing, and went to the backyard for the noon bow practice.

After practicing a pot of bow and arrow under the guidance of an experienced old hunter, Kil returned to the house, took out his wooden training weapon, and practiced the martial arts of spear, sword, shield and sword alone in the empty backyard archery field. .

He hasn't practiced like this for a while, but he was fighting outside some time ago, and actual combat is more effective than pure virtual practice.

-

In the afternoon, Kil said hello to the old hunter and got the certificate for all the horses sent by the knight family's attendant. In fact, they are three very well-made wooden signs. It describes the color of the horse's coat, who the owner is, and whether taxes have been paid.

Keir put two of them in the house, took one and put it into his backpack, then put all the things he had obtained before into his backpack, took a horse and went out.

He would first go to the grocery store in the Craftsman District to buy a set of horse riding harnesses and saddles, and then ride it to Bingxun Pass where there were a large number of merchants.

There, he was going to sell some of the valuable items he had captured before and exchange them for money to buy magic materials.

The things he carried in his backpack included: a small piece of ruby ​​in a box; a bone box containing a set of weird gemstone jewelry. Some scattered small pieces of art.