Chapter 45, Hunter’s Stronghold-Farewell to the Chamber of Commerce and Moving

In the evening, Kil told Todd in the Table Corner Tavern about his joining the hunter team under Knight Lanissa.

"So? You won't accept any more commissions from now on?" Todd's interest was not high. Of course, anyone who heard that the career they just started would not be very excited.

Keir nodded, took a sip of beer, smacked his mouth and said, "It's probably going to be difficult. If I have the chance, of course I want to continue accepting commissions, but this is not a long-term job after all."

Todd drank himself a glass of beer. Logically speaking, as a bartender, he shouldn't drink, but at this moment, he wanted to drink something.

"You're right, Kil. Forget it, I'll think of something else."

Kil thought for a while and gave him an idea. Kiel introduced him to several skilled militiamen he knew in the militia. Todd thought for a while and felt that water far away could not quench his thirst. The militiamen introduced by Kiel were still hunting down bandits in the mountains and forests. To put it bluntly, It's not like he doesn't recognize people like the militia.

So Todd told Keel his plan.

Todd plans to use their family's tavern to turn it into a reliable location for missions commissioned by Kendall City. To handle the entrustment, Todd can look for some young people in the city who are unwilling to accept the status quo, or he can follow what Keir said and look for this year's outstanding militiamen. In fact, Todd thinks that the militiamen from previous years can also do it, but he just listened to Keir. Er briefly talked about the achievements of this year's militia. Todd himself felt that compared with this year's militia, the so-called elimination of bandits by the militiamen in previous years was just a formality.

After that, Kil drank heavily in the tavern until he couldn't drink anymore, and then he returned to the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce to rest.

Kil was lying on a small bed, wrapped in a thick quilt and a wolf fur cloak outside the quilt to protect him from the cold. Although the walls of the Chamber of Commerce are thick, they cannot block the cold winter temperatures outside, and there is no heat-insulating interlayer in the walls, so it is still very cold when winter comes.

In order to prevent fires, there are no fireplaces on the third floor of the Chamber of Commerce building. Only the restaurant on the first floor has a fireplace for heating, and there is also one in the lobby on the second floor. But now it is impossible to go down and light a fire to keep warm. sleep.

Fortunately, Keir has become accustomed to sleeping in the wild recently. Compared to the colder and harsher wild outside, at least there is no wind blowing on him in the chamber of commerce. There are two different temperatures in winter, whether there is wind or not. When there is no wind, no matter how cold it is, you can resist the severe cold by relying on a fire or wearing tight clothes. But once the wind blows at night, the fire may be blown out by the wind without paying attention, which is very dangerous. It may freeze to death in the wild without knowing it.

At this time, it is crucial to rotate the sentry personnel. When they see the fire extinguished, they must immediately light it up.

Instead of lighting a fire, I just rely on my clothes and quilts to stay warm and spend the night outdoors. I have to be very careful when the wind blows. Except for the breathing mouth and nose, other parts must not be in direct contact with the outside. Otherwise, when you get up the next day, you will find that one of your limbs or exposed parts of your body will be directly frozen or damaged by the cold wind.

No matter how you look at it, it is very dangerous.

-

In the morning, Kil had agreed with Old Foxtail and Jamra yesterday to move out today. So he got up early in the morning and started packing his things. He put the scattered things into burlap bags, and carried the big things downstairs first and put them in the truck that had not yet put the horses on it.

The guy in charge of taking care of the donkeys at the Chamber of Commerce fed Kiel's horses with hay, and kindly took out a large piece of linen clothing that could protect the horses and donkeys from the cold. After seeing it, Keir was too embarrassed to ask for care and things from others, and wanted to spend money to buy it.

"Kiel, no need. This is what the old president told me yesterday. Although you have to leave, remember that if you meet the guys from the Chamber of Commerce on the way, you must give them a lot of help!" This man, who is not a few years older than Kiel The chamber of commerce guy hugged Keir and said.

"No problem, if we meet, I will help the caravan more." Keir promised.

He actually didn't have much, so he moved all his belongings onto the truck in two round trips.

After eating his last meal in the restaurant, Keel said goodbye to Chef Whinier and Aunt Dilu, who had been taking care of him. Then he went to the backyard, put the horse on the carriage's bridle, and carefully signaled the horse to let it go on its own. Pull the car out of the Foxtail Chamber of Commerce.

Walking to the main street of Kendall, Keir turned to look at the Chamber of Commerce. Beside the window on the second floor, James La and the old President Foxtail were looking at him. He waved goodbye to them, and they waved goodbye to Keir as a passer-by in their lives.

"Kiel is a good young man. It's a pity that he couldn't join our Chamber of Commerce." President Foxtail said regretfully, stroking his beard.

Next to him, Jamra also felt very sorry. After all, he could feel it as soon as he came into contact with him. Compared with the guys from other chambers of commerce, Kil was obviously a smart man who had gone through a long period of cultural education. Such people can be found everywhere in Kendall. can develop quickly. Unfortunately, it seems that Kiel doesn't like to do anything honestly. He prefers to run outside the city. It seems that there are countless things in the vast and dangerous world that attract him.

-

Kil pulled the reins slightly and let the horses slowly pull the truck towards the hunter team's stronghold that he had been optimistic about yesterday. It is said to be a stronghold, but it is actually just a two-story house with a front and rear yard. The house is one of several houses located between the craftsman area and the government office.

The place is not remote at all, but because it is blocked by craftsmen's workshops and government offices with constant flow of people, it does not attract much attention.

Before knowing this place, Keir even thought that these houses belonged to the church in the Craftsman District.

After slightly making way for people entering and exiting the government office, Keir turned the carriage into a path close to the wall of the government office. The road is narrow and can only accommodate a carriage. Keir didn't know much about how to drive a carriage, so he had to let the horses pull the carriage to their own devices.

After letting the truck brush against the walls on both sides a few times, Keel finally walked along the road to the house inside.

"One, two, three. That's the third house." Keel stopped outside the front yard of the third house.

He jumped out of the carriage driver's seat, walked to the door, and knocked on the wooden door: "I'm Keir! Is there anyone inside?"

Soon, a response came from inside: "Kiel? Oh, it's coming, it's coming, my old bones have sensitive ears, you don't need to knock on the door so loudly."

Kil, who heard that the voice was one of the old hunters in the team, lowered and raised his fist in embarrassment: "Is it Uncle Tost? I moved here from the Chamber of Commerce according to Knight Lanisa's wishes."

The wooden door of the house opened, and a footstep walked through the snow that had not yet melted from the previous period. Then, the door of the stronghold opened. Two wooden doors opened inward, and the old hunter Tost, dressed casually, waved to Keir to bring the carriage in.

After two steps, Kil stopped climbing into the driver's position, directly pulled the reins of the horse, and slowly guided the carriage into the front yard of the hunter's stronghold.

On the left and right sides of the front yard gate are sheds where large livestock such as horses and donkeys can be kept. Next to it is a Kendall's characteristic water well and sewage outlet. They are placed on both sides of the yard, not next to each other.

There are also many firewoods for heating and cooking placed in the corners of the yard. In addition, there are some fruit trees planted along the wall. From the looks of it, those fruit trees are not the same type.

After closing the door, the old hunter Tost helped Kil unload some of the things on the truck. Some other metal ingots remained untouched. Kil explained that he would take them to the craftsman area to find a craftsman to make new ones. armor.

"Isn't your original armor very good? Why, you are still dissatisfied with that armor?" Tost asked as he walked into the room with Kil.

After Kil also walked in, he looked at the surrounding environment and found that probably because they were all hunters, there were many prey heads and fur pendants placed in the hall on the first floor of the house. Various animals were displayed to the hunters. Powerful hunting ability. In the corner of the room, there was also a small prayer platform, with an animal skin painted with a symbol of a god hanging on it. It was unknown which god it was.

"I think it's still a little bit worse. Compared to hard cowhide, iron armor or steel armor is probably much better. I'll melt the good steel I got from the bandits and prepare the main material for making new armor. The other poor A little bit of iron is used as part of the auxiliary material for the armor. The excess is sold. It just so happens that the price of iron in Kendall City is quite high recently, so it is all for nothing. You can make a profit by selling it."

"Ha, you talk a lot like the merchants, but that's fine. With the new armor, you can better cooperate with the team. After all, everyone needs you, a melee warrior who can fight and resist. "Said the old hunter Tost.

Immediately afterwards, he introduced Kil to the hunter stronghold.

It is divided into three parts after entering from the gate, namely the front yard, the house and the backyard. The front yard, as Kiel saw it, can accommodate animals such as horses. The house is divided into two floors, the upper and lower floors. The first floor is the hall, kitchen, and storage room. The hall is a large space where everyone usually communicates. The second floor is divided into many small rooms for each hunter to live in. There are a total of twelve small rooms, which are not full. Kil can choose an empty room to live in first.

The backyard is a bit more open and is where everyone usually practices shooting. There are many wooden animal targets set up at one end to facilitate everyone to maintain their bow and arrow shooting skills in the stronghold.

Tost looked at Kiel and then said: "Since you have joined us, how about practicing the use of bows and arrows? But the one in your package is really not good. My apprentice will not use this when he is ten years old. The bow and arrow are limp."

Kil pointed to a hunting bow he seized from the bandit and smiled: "I got this from the bandit. I just use it for fun. I rarely practice it. You can basically think I haven’t touched a bow and arrow much.”

"That's it. Then you clean up the house and settle down first. I'll prepare a bow and arrow for you to learn. You need to practice a little in the past few days."

Keir followed the old hunter up the wooden ladder to the second floor. The second floor was a hollow in the middle, surrounded by a circle of small rooms. The names of hunters are hung on the doors of houses that are already occupied.

He opened an empty room with no name on it. This room was about the same size as the room given to him by the Chamber of Commerce. It just had a few more furniture. There were windows, wooden tables, wooden chairs, as well as strong wooden shelves and wooden The box actually had a simple metal lock with a key on it.

"How's it going? Although the place is a bit small, it has all the things that should be there. You see, there is also a locked wooden box. Important things can be placed inside. These wooden shelves are used to store armor, weapons and the like. Things are easy to take." Old hunter Tost explained to Keir one by one.

"It's very good. It's better than the house I lived in before. By the way, uncle, except for you at the stronghold, where are the others? I remember that everyone came back together with Knight Lanisa. Did everyone else leave? "Kiel didn't see anyone else at the stronghold except Tost, so he asked this question.

The old hunter opened the wooden windows to ventilate the house and drive away the smell of dust in some vacant houses.

"Oh, the other old guys have houses and relatives in Kendall City, and they all went there. The young people went out to play early in the morning. It seemed that one of the guys had a crush on the woman they rescued before. The rest of them also had some I'm eager to try." After saying this, the old hunter Tost laughed.

Keir knew that people in other worlds, especially civilians, actually didn’t think much about women’s fidelity. Young girls could be with the people they liked during the annual festivals, and these things didn’t matter. It doesn't matter who they marry later. And the young men of ordinary people don't care about this. After all, people's lives are difficult, and it is really difficult to pay attention to these similar moral things.

Moreover, most of the immigrants in the New Kingdom migrated from the Empire. Most of them were oppressed in the Empire and could not survive, so they had to embark on the army of immigrants organized by the church to come to the newly established New Kingdom. Migrant families often go through many trials and difficulties. Many families are forced to disperse on the road, and then they regroup and form new families in order to survive.

After a while, the people who came to the new land no longer cared about these things. Moreover, the atmosphere of the empire is actually very open. To measure a person's wealth is based on his property and ability, and there are not many moral considerations.

Because the nobles, churches, merchants, and mages who oppressed the people actually did not have much praiseworthy morality.

Through these days of communication, learning, and knowledge, Keir knew the customs here. He was actually relieved that the women rescued from the bandits were not discriminated against by others.

They were already oppressed and suffered in the hands of bandits. If they were to be discriminated against by society for a longer period of time after being rescued, then it would be better not to rescue them at that time and let them be devoured by monsters. Maybe that is not the solution. Method.

In addition, there is one thing that Kiel has not yet understood, that is, in this different world, the powerful people in the upper class of society are not divided into men and women. Male and female nobles have the same power. Male and female priests are the same in the eyes of gods. Men and women are the same. Magicians or other similar magic users are not distinguishable between men and women, but more of a distinction between various schools of thought.

As for male and female knights, although male knights have slightly higher combat capabilities, the survival rate of female knights is actually higher than that of male knights.

Keir made the bed in his new house, then put some important things into a locked wooden box, and hid the key under the wooden chair. Weapons and equipment were all taken out and placed on wooden shelves. Some valuable items were placed behind the wooden shelves, and weapons that could be used at any time were placed in front.

Things like paper, pens and ink were placed on the small wooden table. On it were mostly maps and design drawings of armor and weapons that he had walked through.

Kiel filled his small money box with silver and copper coins, put some copper coins and iron coins in his own money bag for daily use, and put the gold coins in a small bag, and hid them again outside the city when he was ready. His treasure chest was filled with all the gold coins he had accumulated.

After everything was done, Kiel closed the door, locked the lock, and put the key in the money bag. He went downstairs to say hello to the old hunter Tost, saying that he was going out to deal with the metal ingots, and then left carefully with the carriage. A relatively narrow hunter stronghold.

He first went to the tailor shop in the wild grape market and handed over the wolf fur cloak that was damaged in the previous battle to the other party for repair. He then handed over many large square animal skins to the leather shop and asked the craftsmen to make these skins. The hood of a truck can be made by an apprentice in a carpenter's workshop, and the supporting wooden beams on the hood are not expensive.

After the two were completed, his truck had an animal skin hood that could protect it from wind and rain. Of course, for future considerations, he also bought a few pieces of burlap in the grocery store and asked someone to modify it. Use as a car cover in hot seasons.

Kil took the opportunity to dispose of the metal ingots in the car. The fine steel had been handed over to Ganner yesterday. Today he gave some iron ingots to Ganner to use them as less important materials for the armor. .

Kil sold all the other excess metal ingots to the weapons manufacturing workshop next door. He also got the barrel of a metal spear. Kiel changed the long gun shaft from wooden to metal, mainly to consider different uses. Afterwards, Kiel had to modify them so that the metal gun shaft could be equipped with a double-edged gun head. The original wooden gun shaft must be matched with a sharp spear point.

In this way, he had two long-handled weapons, the all-metal double-edged spear as a weapon for close combat, and the wooden spear-pointed spear as a stabbing weapon, such as when riding a horse.

Keir has already considered having three horses, one for pulling carts, one for riding in battles, and one for carrying supplies when traveling far away and not using trucks. The horses pull the cart together.

As for the protection of horses, Kiel doesn't have any good ideas yet. After all, Kendall City has only begun to train craftsmen for the armor of the people, let alone the horses. The war horse armor of Knight Crow and Knight Lanessa was either made by specialized horse armor craftsmen in the provincial capital, or by the internal armor masters of the army in the capital of the kingdom.

This is not something that Kiel can do at this stage.