Chapter 124, Strange Wind Town, Magic Ballista and Buildings

On the flat grassland, a river meandering from a distance divided the entire grassland into two parts.

This side of the river is covered with tall grass that is nourished by the river. On the other side of the river is a human town that occupies a large area. Looking from a distance, you can feel the special difference of this town.

Different from other living places that are hiding in the strange wind grassland, the houses in the strange wind town are just flat on the ground, and they don't seem to be afraid of the harassment of the harpies flying in the sky.

But as Kiel and his army stepped out along the merchant road and approached the soft green grass road, they saw how the people of Strange Wind Town 'lived' with the harpy monsters.

The buildings in the town are all low and square, and they are all square buildings tiled on the ground. There are no decorative things on the surface of the building that the harpies can grab. There is even a special kind of vines all over the roof. These vines are so thick that their thick branches can be seen spreading from a distance.

Basically, the vines on each roof grow from the patio in the middle of the square low house. These vines cover the entire roof. On the side of the vines facing the sky, there are long barbs and huge spikes with strange colors. The flowers, all growing upward, give the human houses in the town a protective plant armor.

At the same time, only a very narrow alley remains between each wide and low building and another adjacent building. This alley ensures that humans can move inside, but the harpy monster with wide wings No matter what, you can't go into the alley to eat and catch people.

"It's very interesting, but I don't know why other local villages don't follow this example?"

Baron Kendall is somewhat interested in this. He believes that the wisdom of human survival is contained in the various clever tricks that residents in every place try to survive.

Well worth studying and recording.

"Lord Baron, my companion who often travels on local trade routes told me that it is because this special vine migrated from another place consumes a lot of water. And Strange Wind Town happens to be located next to the Porulu River. Only then can we provide enough water for these huge vines to survive. By the way, the Poruru River means silver sand in the dwarf language."

Keir is now beside Knight Crow, and Knight Crow is following Baron Kendall.

The baron did not sit in the carriage, but mounted his horse and walked in front of the carriage team. Keir heard his doubts and took the initiative to tell what he knew.

"It's interesting that it is like this."

The baron nodded with satisfaction, looking at the thick vines on the top of the buildings and wondering what he was thinking.

Knight Crow noticed the four not-very-high 'towers' erected in the town. He squinted and found that they were actually several crossbow towers with rotating towers on top.

"I didn't expect such a good thing to exist in this remote place."

Knight Crow's words caught the attention of Baron Kendall, so the baron used the magic of distant viewing and saw an average of four weapon defense towers built at equal distances in the town.

Moreover, the Baron's magic could be seen more clearly, which made Baron Kendall notice more information: "This is a six-unit composite ballista mount. In this direction is a similarly six-unit composite ballista mount. , what’s next? Oh, it’s a rapid-cycle firing ballista turret. I’m really willing to spend the money. This is the work of a master. Huo! There is such a thing.”

At the end of his speech, Baron Kendall's eyes lit up and he stared at the top of the last tower near the river. The gun mount there was obviously different from the others.

Although Kil looked at them from a distance and didn't see any difference between them, he asked Knight Crow curiously. Knight Crow's eyes lit up with an earthy yellow light, and then said: "There is a lot of magic power gathered on the top of the last tower. "

The corners of the baron's lips raised: "Yes, that is actually a magic ballista. I never expected that the earl here would be so willing to spend so much money to put such a weapon of war here."

"It must have been brought here by the knights under the earl after they failed to control this place for the first time."

After all, Knight Crow has been in a large army and knows a lot about these things.

He then guessed: "The area of ​​Strange Wind Grassland is not small, and it connects the north and south of the Western Province. It is a must-pass on the trade route. Although the magic ballistae is valuable, if this important transit point is controlled, the value of this thing will be lost." The usage fee is still worth it.”

Kil didn't know what the magic ballista was, so he asked Knight Crow in a low voice.

Knight Crow gave him a brief explanation.

The so-called magic ballistae is a magic mechanism ballistae that is different from traditional mechanical energy-storage ballistae. The weapons fired are the same, but the firing mechanism is very different.

Every time a traditional mechanical energy-storing ballistae is fired, it must rely on mechanical transmission to use the force generated by the movement of people or animals to pull the powerful bow arm of the ballista, pulling the wrist-thick bow string and getting it stuck on the hook at the end of the chute. Then wait for the large crossbow to be loaded before aiming and firing.

The magic crossbow omits all the above steps. There is no huge crossbow arm and bow string, no mechanical power storage device, buckle and other structures. It is just a cylindrical structure that has been cut into a small half.

There are cylindrical structures made of wood, stone, bone, and metal, with mysterious magic arrays and mechanisms carefully arranged on them. Just place the various large crossbow arrows to be fired into the open cylindrical structure, and then aim. Target, trigger the firing mechanism, and the magic mechanism on the cylinder will replace the traditional mechanical mechanisms of various crossbows to launch the crossbow arrows with magic.

Its advantage is that there is no traditional preparation time for mechanical crossbows. As long as the large crossbow arrows are loaded, the magic mechanism can continuously fire and deliver deadly crossbow arrows.

Power is provided entirely by stored magic power.

"The effectiveness of such a magic ballista is basically better than the other traditional ballistas on the other three surrounding towers."

This is how Knight Crow compares the effects of using weapons between the two.

After hearing this, Keir felt that this thing was so good, why would he develop other weapons?

Oh, he realized immediately, that thing was expensive.

"Sir, is there a big difference in price between the two?"

Faced with Kiel's question, Knight Crowe and Baron Kendall both laughed: "It's not that big, I guess the whole town has been sold, and its value is about the same as that magic ballista."

While the baron was speaking, his eyes with magic telescope kept staring at the tower, his eyes burning, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

-

Kil originally thought that to reach Strange Wind Town on the other side of the Porulu River, they would still have to wade across the river, which might take a long time.

But I didn't expect that at the end of the heavily trampled low-green grass road, on the side of the river, there was a special method designed by a local.

The locals seem to know that harpies don't like to go into the water, so at the part of the Poruru River closest to the town, which is also the narrowest part of the river, they inserted vertical blocks into the river and submerged them about ten centimeters under the water. Dozens of huge stone pillars.

These stone pillars that go deep into the river bed are made into an olive-like shape with round ends and a square middle.

They are buried horizontally in the river, one section next to another, and these stone pillars are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. A large amount of water flows through the middle of the stone pillars. The stone pillars above the river surface are close to the river, and people and carriages can still walk on them.

It's just that when the carriage passes, the eyes of the horses pulling the carriage need to be covered, otherwise the animals will not be willing to cross the river on the stone bridge hidden under the surface of the river.

When people cross the river, they have to take off their shoes and go barefoot.

Don't worry about the smoothness of the underwater stone bridge. The surface of these stones is specially made with uneven patterns. Although it creaks when you step on it and makes your feet uncomfortable, it is extremely non-slip and prevents you from falling.

When Kiel was crossing the river, he jumped off the horse, took off his combat boots and hung them on his waist. He covered the horse's head with his cloak, and regardless of the horse's rhythm, he tried to throw off the covering on his head and quickly pulled it away. Follow it across this unique underwater stone bridge.

"Interesting!"

Kil shivered because a medium-sized fish slipped past his feet, and the greasy scales felt strange as they rubbed against his feet.

"These guys are not afraid of people either."

Keir noticed that there were many small and medium-sized fish swimming around the feet of the soldiers crossing the river and the hooves of the horses. From time to time, they would use their mouths to peck at the feet of humans and the hooves of horses.

There was a lack of sensitivity in the horses' hooves, and all the horses were unresponsive. But from time to time, a soldier would scream in surprise and yell, "Something is biting my foot!" or something like that.

After everyone crossed the river, some soldiers whose feet were bitten by swimming fish discovered that the dirt and other things on their feet had been eaten by the swimming fish.

"It's so cool. I wish I could go there again."

Some soldiers who had a long journey and suffered from chronic foot problems expressed this emotion.

But the emotion was just emotion after all. With a wave of the hand of Knight Rumi who led the team, the soldiers could only put on dry boots and walked into Strange Wind Town.

-

After all, Strange Wind Town is the largest human settlement on Strange Wind Grassland. The Kendall army and accompanying caravans, plus the local caravans that followed along the way, can easily accommodate more than a thousand people in the town. .

Kiel and his group are not the only ones here, there are also many caravans traveling from the south to the north or returning here.

Baron Kendall also specially arranged their stop tonight in a corner of the town near the river bank.

From a distance, Strange Wind Town may seem strange, but when you walk in, Kiel realizes that the strange thing is just the defense mechanism established by the locals to deal with the harpies. In fact, this place is different from other villages on Strange Wind Grassland. no difference.

It's just that there are more people and it's more prosperous.

The low, wide and square buildings near the outer edge of the town and close to the commercial road were originally buildings with wide entrances close to the ground where vehicles could park.

It's almost like a dedicated parking lot in the previous life.

After pushing open the wooden door that opens horizontally from the outside of the building, there is a huge space with many mud brick columns.

Looking at the interior of the low building from a distance, it is actually dug down to a depth of one to two meters. In this way, after the carriage enters through the horizontally opened wooden door, it has to walk down a gentle slope before reaching the There is a large parking space in the building.

The interior was unexpectedly dark, because none of the buildings in the town had windows for illumination on the exterior walls. All the light sources inside came from the sunlight coming from the gaps in the vines in the middle patio, which barely illuminated a small area near the middle. .

If you want lighting in other places, you have to prepare it yourself.

The businessmen in the local town only charged the Kendal people to rent it for the night and didn't care about anything else.

"My lords, for lighting, you can make a fire yourself or use a torch or an oil lamp for lighting. To get water, you can go to the middle patio. The roots of the vines there are all underground river water diverted from the Poruru River. It is clean and can be drank directly. For excretion, , there are cesspools at four corners inside the building.”

"Then this place is completely left to you and your soldiers. I have received the two gold coins for renting it for one day and overnight. Please use it yourself. Of course, if you have such a distinguished status as you, I suggest that you can come Living in a high-end hotel in the center of the town has everything there, which can wash away the dust and tension you have experienced along the way. Wine, food, and beauties are all available there, which is most suitable for a nobleman of your status."

The owner of this large building was a middle-aged businessman who had been waiting early. As soon as Kendall's army arrived, he and his people came over early to greet them, faster than other businessmen who entertained foreign merchants.

So most of the Kendal army was arranged here, and the other part was rented from another businessman's building next door.

Basically, they have the same structure and environment, which are used by caravans to stay overnight.

Unlike other local villages, with these large semi-underground parking buildings, everyone's carriages and trucks no longer need to be parked outdoors. This way, soldiers or guards can live directly next to the carriages when they spend the night, eliminating the need for A huge expense for specialized accommodation.

Even if you stay here for one night, renting the entire building costs two gold coins.

But it also saves a lot of trouble and danger.

After all, the owner of this building left the place directly after the introduction, and the right to use the entire building was completely handed over to the people who stayed overnight.

This is a good thing, after all, no one outside can trust anyone except themselves.

Especially for caravans carrying large amounts of valuable cargo.

The Kendal people had no safety concerns. On the contrary, every time they stayed overnight, the locals were extremely anxious, fearing that they would offend this foreign army and loot the entire place.

After the owner of the building finished speaking to Baron Kendall, he turned to the two knights and said attentively that there was a well-known blacksmith shop in the town that would be open all night, and the two knights could go and see if they needed any more weapons. equipment.

The two knights looked at each other and whispered a few words, and then Knight Crow called Kil.

"Kiel, go and pay a sum of money and go to the blacksmith shop in the town to buy hundreds of standard throwing guns. Call the army blacksmith and replenish him with the materials needed to repair various weapons and equipment."

Kil hit his chest with his right fist: "Yes, sir, I'll go right away. By the way, after finishing the work, I'll go for a walk around the town, okay?"

The knight waved his hand casually: "It's up to you. Just remember to come back and rest at night. Don't lose your place."

"Remember, the building we rented is Londelt and Osters in the northwest corner of the town. It's a building named after a famous hero."

After assigning the task, the two knights walked towards Baron Kendall. At this time, Baron Kendall was observing the giant vines protecting the building at the patio in the center of the building, as well as the underground river facilities that led under the patio.

Keir speculated that Baron Kendall was very sensitive and enthusiastic about these water conservancy projects due to his family skills.

But he guessed wrong.

-

Baron Kendall, who hastily collected some huge vine branches, spikes, and flowers, just looked at the underground river here and curled his lips in disdain.

He could tell at a glance that although the hydraulic scholars who designed this place tried their best to maximize the underground rivers throughout the town, their methods were very crude.

Before entering the town to take a look, just when he was crossing the river outside, he could tell from the size of the water flow in the front and back sections of the river that the people who designed this place had not successfully connected the underground river to the front and back of the river.

It sounds a bit convoluted, but it is actually the river water drawn from the Porulu River next to the town. It is guided by underground pipelines and barely connected to the waterway network under the town.

But the water that was poured in was not transferred to the lower reaches of the Porulu River through the outlet at the other end. Instead, the water was diverted from where it came, and the water was guided out from there.

This means that although the river water drawn by the entire town has always been available, it is very limited and can only cover the current area of ​​the town. No matter how large it is, the area of ​​the town far away from the river cannot provide the huge vines necessary for the buildings. enough moisture.

Because the vines in the front building have used up the water introduced.

The back ones are gone.

The Baron tapped his forehead with his finger.

Perhaps, the water conservancy scholar who designed this place did not dare to really connect the upstream and downstream of the underground river. He was afraid that when the underground river turned into living water, the underground rock soil of Qifeng Town would be hollowed out due to the flow of the river.

This caused the entire town to sink as the ground was hollowed out.

"Hmph, my level is average."

Although the Baron knew how to solve this problem, what did it have to do with him?

Seeing his two knights following his hint, Baron Kendall smiled and pointed to the top of his head: "You two, are you interested in taking a look at the building?"

The two knights hesitated, but still nodded: "Lord Baron, should we go up from the outside or from this patio?"

Baron Kendall glanced at the busy soldiers and support staff around him, then pointed outside.

The few people then left the place through the entrance without their attendants.

No one is worried about safety issues. First of all, they are an army. In terms of force, they are already the pinnacle of violence in human society. In this small town, there is nothing to worry about except monsters.

Secondly, the army did not carry many valuable things. Perhaps the military expenses carried by the baron were a large amount of money, but the carriage containing a large amount of coins was protected in the middle of the army, and no one could get close to it through the layers of security. .

And their own protection, laughing to death, Baron Kendall felt that the protection of the two knights was far better than that of hundreds of soldiers. Besides, he himself is not weak. If someone wants to attack him, they are looking for the wrong person.

His magical equipment is no joke.

Even the Crow Knights have to be careful about the battle magic in the Baron's magic equipment.

The three of them walked out of the low, wide mud-brick building and came outside.

This strange wind town has no wall protection, and in fact there is no need for wall protection. Because of the harpies, there are no horse bandits robbing homes on the Strange Wind Grassland, and the beasts that ordinary villages should be careful about are no longer a threat to a human settlement the size of Strange Wind Town.

Moreover, the central area of ​​the town where the population gathers is blocked by these spacious and spacious overnight buildings for business travelers. If you want to enter the center of the town through the ground, you must walk through the narrow corridors between these large buildings.

Knight Rumi first observed outside, then picked a place with few vines on the roof and jumped up.

He swung his sword to cut off several dangerous-looking hard thorns, and took the sharp thorns grown from this plant in his hand to look at them.

"What? Did you find anything?"

Baron Kendall was grabbed by Knight Crow's belt and thrown away, then he threw it up lightly and asked Knight Rumi.

"Sir, this thing is quite strong and has a sharp tip. It seems it can be used as a weapon."

Baron Kendall picked up one and looked at it. After Knight Crow also jumped up, he backhanded the spike into the huge vine next to him and said quietly amidst the growing wind noise around him: "About the town. What do you two think of the magic ballista?"

As he spoke, the baron raised his head and looked toward the top of the tower not far away.

Eyes burning.

want to.

How could such a rare good thing be gathering dust in a place like this?

The two knights looked at each other, and then looked at the baron's determined look. What else could they say.

"My Lord Baron, it's all at your command."