Chapter 123, On the Road - Discussion Among Local Businessmen

"Do you know what those things are?"

Knight Crow threw the book in his hand onto the camp bed aside, and then asked Keir this sentence.

Kil shook his head. Of course he didn't know, so he came to ask.

"Then let me guess, as a warrior, even a young warrior, you shouldn't have a corresponding understanding of those things."

The knight asked Kil to guess, and Kil guessed.

"When I killed the monster today, the monster's blood was splashed on me?"

The knight shook his head: "A bit close, but not right."

"Baffled or cursed?"

The knight shook his head again: "It's a little closer, similar but still wrong."

"Sir, just tell me! I can't guess it."

Kil grinned and said flatteringly.

"You kid, they are the residue after killing, malice like maltose that sticks to the spirit and soul."

"It sounds sweet."

This sentence made Knight Crow laugh angrily. He nodded at Keir and shook his head: "As long as there is killing, the killed creatures will spontaneously curse the target that killed them before they die, entangled and polluted us. ’s soul.”

Kil fell silent, and pictures of the enemies he killed flashed through his mind.

Not only human enemies, but also countless animals and beasts in the past two years.

"Sir, I have never encountered this kind of thing before, but it doesn't look very serious."

Kil asked tentatively, deliberately not mentioning the matter of the Gurov Knights.

"According to what you said, your body has natural resistance. Generally, this kind of malice requires warriors to purify their souls to deal with it. A wealthy and peaceful life, or a firm goal, can resist the invasion of these things. Time Over time, they slowly disappear on their own, and it’s unclear whether they are real or just something that arises spontaneously in our memory.”

Knight Crow's words are very interesting. It's really unclear whether those smelly, sticky red bloodstains come from the lives that were killed, or whether they are just something that spontaneously arises in the hearts of the warriors.

Gere couldn't tell.

"mushroom--"

Knight Crow crossed his arms and muttered these words in a low voice.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Kil: "About mushrooms, you mentioned before that there is a large, harmless, moving mushroom in the elven ruins in the wilderness of Doral Forest Village, right?"

"Uh, yes, yes. He is over two meters tall. He looks very strong, but he is actually quite weak and can be bullied."

Knight Crow pointed his finger at his arm and murmured: "Perhaps those strange mushrooms have some special abilities? After all, they are elves' things. It is impossible to say that they are useless, right?"

This question seemed to be asking Kiel, but in fact it was more of what the knight was trying to convince himself of.

In fact, Geer believed that those tiny mushrooms came from the unreliable old goblin in the dream. Whether it was the red-eyed mushrooms given to the goblin trapped in the evil stone statue, or the mushroom circle created by curing him later, the goblin was... Inseparable from mushrooms.

But when Kil thought about it, the mushrooms in the elf ruins might have been created by the old goblin. It was most likely that the goblin had arranged some measures to protect the elf ruins after it left.

Kil smiled, but this measure was too useless. It just looked at the big one, but in fact it had no power at all.

-

That night, Kil asked some more questions about the magic power controlled by him. Knight Crow couldn't say anything about this. Although he could see the small flowing words all over Kil's body through his eyes, those words were not Any kind he knew.

In fact, Knight Crow's knowledge in this area is very limited. He is a warrior after all, and he really doesn't understand the unknown text.

"I even drew a few before and asked Baron Kendall, but he didn't know. He had never seen such writing. Hey, after all, it is something left in the ruins of ancient elves, and even this kind of writing that no one knows, It may be even older than our human civilization, and has long been lost in time.”

Knight Crow judged this.

There was nothing he could do about it.

But Knight Crow didn't understand that if a kind of words with special abilities were lost in ancient times, how could they still have the special ability to restrain huge magic power without a living user?

There must still be people using this kind of writing in the world.

The source of power of words with special abilities has never been the words themselves, but the group of living beings who use them. The power of words comes from the users, not the words themselves.

Even if some words inherently reveal the origin or laws of the world, if no one understands their meaning, they will just be meaningless images.

-

The next day, everyone set out on the march again.

This time, after yesterday's fierce battle, everyone quickened their pace.

I don't know whether it was the blessing of the gods or something else, but the huge strong winds that always blew intermittently in the past did not find the Kendall people who were in a hurry.

The local merchants who followed him and accelerated their pace were whispering.

They thought of a long-circulated local speculation. Some people said that although the harpy itself is a monster, it is actually loved by the wind god. As long as the wind rises suddenly, there is a harpy monster at work. Wander.

No one had ever taken this speculation seriously before, but yesterday the Kendal people from afar killed a large number of nearby harpies, and today there is no strange wind that raged in the past on the Strange Wind Grassland.

Everyone secretly speculated that this might be true.

But even so, it is obviously impossible for merchants like them to defeat an entire group of harpies in battle just like the army.

Which chamber of commerce can produce hundreds of elite troops with several knights and priests as the main force?

With this strength, this chamber of commerce has long since transformed into a noble lord. There is no need to work hard, take risks, travel around various places, and look at other people's eyes to earn money.

Everyone looked at each other, and it was obvious that they were all at a loss. The situation on the Qingfeng Grassland was probably going to continue forever.

However, several large chamber of commerce managers in the local caravan gathered together to talk about the unfinished discussion last night.

"This is an opportunity."

A fat steward rubbed his hands and said to the other people in the car.

But the other person was still the same as before: "Don't think about it, this will bring extra trouble to everyone's trade. Without considering the reaction of the monsters, even the northern army, it is difficult to predict the outcome of the baron. action."

Another person continued: "The monster didn't kill us, but slaughtered all of us on the strange wind grassland. In the end, it was all blamed on the monster. It will be difficult to explain clearly."

"We died unjustly in vain."

The two said in unison.

The fat steward saw that the two people still looked opposed, and he was a little unwilling: "What if we temporarily add a reward to the harpy monster? One gold coin for each monster?"

This was a method he came up with again after returning to his caravan in the middle of the night after his discussions last night to no avail.

The method is old-fashioned, but it works.

Many troubles on the trade road were solved in this way. They did not need to come forward. As long as they spread the rewards in various big towns, some seemingly bullish guys would disappear after a period of time.

Except for the harpy monster on the strange wind grassland.

Knights from Strange Wind Town died one after another on the way to conquer monsters. This matter was known to all businessmen in the Western Province. At that time, they all agreed that relying on force to deal with these harpies entrenched in the strange wind grassland would not work.

But what happened yesterday made them change this idea.

It turns out that it's not that it doesn't work, it's just that the harpy can't be overpowered in terms of force.

As long as they overwhelm the monsters, they humans can defeat a large number of monsters with "less" losses.

But the price given by Manager Pangpang was immediately scorned by others.

"One gold coin and one monster? What are you thinking? Ah, stingy fellow, please watch your purse, because they will never be spent."

Knowing that others were ridiculing him for being stingy and sparing money, the fat manager quickly explained: "I'm not just saying a price. If you think it's feasible, you can just tell me a price!"

"Ten gold coins for a harpy!"

When someone said these words, everyone else took a breath of air-conditioning. Good guy, the price increased tenfold in an instant.

"Is it too much? The largest group of horse bandits that were raging on the trade roads in the past few years, their price was only three gold coins per person. Just like that, in less than half a year, they killed all of their own people. The horse bandits inside Xiaobo took the lives of their own people in exchange for money and fled away."

The steward who proposed that one monster has ten gold coins was gray-haired and thin. He snorted in dissatisfaction when he heard this thoughtless statement: "You thought it was too much to say that the harpy monsters would do it for the bounty on their heads." And kill your own people?"

Everyone laughed a few times. Indeed, unlike human bounty targets, monsters don't want money, just their lives.

"But the price is too high. It's not that everyone can't afford the money. The bounty for dozens of harpies can be earned by just walking on the trade route from north to south. But compared to monsters, I prefer I’m afraid that the army will loot us for the caravan that can easily take out hundreds of gold coins.”

Some people have raised this concern, and it is not unfounded.

They are all well-informed. Just last year, the nobles of the southern provinces fought with neighboring countries on the border. After being defeated and retreating, some uncommanded troops took advantage of the situation and looted a large number of merchants on the trade routes within the province.

Often a large number of merchants are unable to resist when faced with a small-scale army defeat, which results in many people being robbed. Although the manpower loss is not much, the valuable goods are all taken away, which makes everyone's chamber of commerce All suffered serious losses.

This has also caused this year's caravans to be vigilant whenever they see the army, for fear that the unfamiliar army will lose face, turn into bandits, and loot the caravans that are unable to resist.

It's not that there are no guards in the caravan, but those guards can still fight when facing bandits and horse bandits, but they can't when facing the army. No one is willing to risk the inevitable consequences of fighting, and often an entire caravan will be looted by a small army.

Not to mention an army as large and elite as the Kendal people.

If Baron Kendall really means this, it is estimated that these businessmen present will be the first to put down their weapons and offer their wealth to save their lives.

"That Baron Kendall seems like a decent man who would not do such a thing. I think everyone is overthinking it. Besides, they are not defeated. They should not do such a dangerous thing when they have a way out. It’s a shameful thing.”

As soon as the caravan manager who spoke spoke, he was looked at as if he were an idiot by the others present.

This is a far more serious accusation than the stingy charge that everyone ridiculed before.

"Why are you looking at me like that? That's what I think anyway. And I don't think those northerners would provoke a harpy for a bounty."

No one else listened to what the steward said. Everyone discussed the amount of the reward and felt that they had to give it a try.

The steward snorted coldly and did not participate in other people's discussions. He has a retired logistics officer from the earl's army in the Western Province. Although he was secretly retired because of his crimes, this steward has dealt with his subordinate before, so the two of them are quite familiar with each other. , and therefore joined his team after the other party came out of the army.

As soon as he came into contact with Kendall's army, this subordinate who had worked in the earl's army quietly reported to him how much it would cost to maintain an army of this size in a day.

That's not a small number.

And after taking into account the risks and losses of fighting monsters, the bounty amount negotiated by the companions became ridiculous.

He leaned back on the seat of the carriage and watched everyone finish the discussion.

Watch everyone choose a suitable messenger.

Watching everyone carefully explain the things that the envoy should pay attention to.

Watching everyone bid farewell to the messenger and setting off.

Then he watched everyone anxiously waiting for the result in the carriage.

Finally, he watched the messenger return with failure and the disappointed expressions of his companions.

With a sneer, he thought of other ways.

How could they not think about it? They had always thought that the harpy monsters on the strange wind grassland could not be solved by force, so after many trials and tests, they found a way to feed sheep as meat and tribute. Now that we finally see the hope of using force to solve the problem, we have to try all kinds of methods.

The method of using sheep as a tribute was second to the donation of meat. It was not that everyone could not afford the money, but that the flow of the trade road was restricted due to the number of sheep raised along the road.

When there are more sheep, there are more caravans; when there are fewer sheep, there are fewer caravans that can pass through the Strange Wind Grassland. This has greatly affected the number of caravans traveling on this important trade route.

Unlike his companions who thought of solutions to save effort and money, this caravan manager was more organized.

Since you can only rely on the army to deal with monsters, and you can rely on the army to deal with monsters, then rely on the army to deal with monsters.

But it was not the unfamiliar and dangerous provincial troops, but the local troops from their western provinces.

The Earl previously sent several knights to establish roots here, obviously with the intention of completely controlling this place. Although they all failed in the end, it was obviously because of insufficient strength. Now that he knows the strength of the harpy monster's corresponding army, he also Are you afraid that the earl will not be able to provide this army?

Others didn't understand that this caravan manager, who had a former count's army logistics officer under his command, knew how much power the count had in his hands.

That was a powerful force that other province controllers, the Earl, could not even imagine.

Thanks to the dwarf invasion on the border of the Western Province, and thanks to the terrifying sea of ​​​​grass where monsters appear in the middle of the province. Although they continue to bring instability to the Western Province, they also make the Earl who resists all this have the strength in his hands. Much more than others imagine.

-

There was no strong wind all day long, which made everyone walking on the trade road particularly excited, and their feet were as fast as flying.

They also encountered some caravans coming from south to north on the trade road with no actual road.

Just like them, they all gathered together and 'united' to survive the dangerous strange wind grassland.

These caravans also brought a large number of sheep, driving the sheep all the way to feed the monsters asking for meat. But after walking for a long time, they didn't encounter the greedy monsters flying overhead in the past.

When the two met and asked, they found out that all the nearby harpies had been defeated and killed by this army.

It’s incredible!

The caravan merchants traveling opposite wanted to ask more questions, but the local merchants traveling southward refused to tell them any more. All this information can be exchanged for money!

If you want to know, don’t just ask, come up with the money!

It wasn't until the sky turned to dusk that the people of Kendall felt the strong wind they had experienced before again near Strange Wind Town.

"There is another harpy hiding in the grass nearby, right?"

Baron Kendall was riding on his horse and asked the Crow Knight beside him.

Knight Crow nodded: "It's very possible that the locals were secretly talking about this during the break. Some of them had similar conjectures before, but there was no possibility of confirmation until we defeated that large group of harpy monsters yesterday. , and there was no strong wind during the day today. Only then did the locals think that this guess was possible."

The Baron smiled and nodded: "Don't tell me, I feel the same way. But you can't just look at the appearances shown on the surface. The so-called appearances are the final result of the inner operation or one or several phenomena in the operation."

This truth is a bit convoluted, and others may not understand it, but Knight Crow understands it very well.

In its apparent manifestation, his qualitatively changing life energy can cause huge vibrations or control earth and stone. To the people who don't understand, it seems that either someone has made Mother Earth unhappy and angry, or after admitting that he did it, they think that he is the chosen one who is favored by the gods.

It's ridiculous, how could a knight like him be hated or favored by Mother Earth?

Thinking too much.

Even priests of ancient natural gods such as the Lord of Rivers and Lakes have extremely terrifying power, not to mention Mother Earth, the most important and ancient natural god in the world, who is many times stronger than the former.

If the bard's poem is true, then the priests of the Mother Earth Church who appear only a few times in many heroic legends are all truly powerful beings who can climb mountains and seas.

Even if that power does not come from themselves, but is only the favor and permission of the gods, it is not as powerful as ordinary people can imagine.

Raise mountains and cut off rivers.

There were earthquakes thousands of miles away, and landslides and ground cracks.

Rivers and lakes were diverted, cities and countries were destroyed.

That is the truly terrifying power.

While he was talking, Guifeng Town, which was flat and leaning on a river, appeared in everyone's sight.