After the beginning of spring in March. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Gran Collar, Rose Town.

Inside a tavern called "Wife Louise".

A group of strangers, men and women, with foreign accents and weapons, sat around a table, drinking ale and chatting about something.

"Cousin Jairo, you really don't want to be a chic thief, but a mercenary in this small place?"

A man dressed as a thief, with yellow hair and brown eyes, and a sturdy man, asked incomprehensibly after taking a sip of ale.

"Yes, my cousin Biro, I intend to wash my hands of gold and do some legitimate trades, instead of hiding my head and tail in the forest for the rest of my life. ”

Taking a sip of the slightly bitter cheap ale, the thief Jairo said in a low voice.

Originally, he was well-known in the thief world, with a small and capable team, with a high success rate of committing crimes, he was not particularly bad, and he himself felt that he could live a lifetime in this industry, and when he was old and had saved a sum of money, he would go to some big cities in the south to retire, and it would be better to find a wife and have a few sons or something, it would be more perfect......

But I don't know why, since last year, many kingdoms have set up some business alliance institutions, their life as thieves has begun to become particularly difficult - in order to protect the smooth flow of trade routes, the lords of various business alliances have united, using the tactics of joint encirclement and suppression, and destroyed many stubborn thieves' nests, the thief Jairo himself, in a territory of the Iron Castle Kingdom, planted a big heel fight, most of his brothers were killed and wounded, and now the men who are still with him are only the four most clever.

After escaping, the thief Jairo, who felt that he had no future as a thief, learned from the rumors in the green forest that Glen Ling had founded a mercenary union and formed a "Free Business Alliance Mercenary Group", and after recruiting mercenaries on a large scale, he heard that the treatment was not bad, and he felt that the thief industry was becoming more and more risky, and suddenly had the idea of changing careers.

In addition, for Edward, the eldest son of the lord of Gran, the thief Jairo had a relationship with him, or had an experience of "fighting", that year, seeing the economically developed and prosperous Glimmer, such as the robber saw a fat cow and sheep, the thief Jairo, who was originally a thief, how could he let go of this opportunity and bite this "fat sheep"?

But the great thief Jairo's dream of making a fortune was soon shattered, and before he could grab the treasure, he had always had the team that was best at digging traps, and all the traps he dug were discovered, and they themselves fell into some unbelievable traps, and together with himself, they were all captured by the eldest son of the young lord who did not talk about it.

The great thief Jairo was very surprised that the eldest son of the lord did not kill him, but let them all go, and sent some extra coils, telling him: If you don't want to be a thief in the future, you can come to Glaling to find him, and he can arrange a way back for them and live a more down-to-earth life.

At that time, the thief Jairo didn't take this to heart, but when he recently fell into a difficult and embarrassed situation, he heard the news that Glen Ling was going to establish a mercenary union, which was like a fire in his heart, and the thief Jairo returned to this place that had brought him deep powerlessness and extreme fear.

Brought four companions, with a glimmer of hope in his heart.

"Mr. Biro, why didn't you continue to be a thief, but instead showed up and came to the place of Gran Ling?"

The snake girl sitting on the side asked a little strangely, this cousin of the boss has been asking why the boss doesn't continue to be a thief, but as a thief, how can Mr. Biluo, who should have hidden his head and tail, appear in this tavern openly?

You know, this Mr. Biro, but the famous "demon thief" in the world of thieves, is the ultimate thief as terrible as the devil, who has committed the heinous crime of slaughtering 3 villages, and the bounty on the head on his neck is not known to be many times that of the great thief Jairo.

"Ahem~"

Demon thief Biro coughed twice, and explained quite embarrassedly: "I'm just here to avoid the limelight, I, Demon Thief Biro, how can I do anything other than thieves, only thieves can give me everything I want!" Speaking of the demon thief Biro who was a little excited in the back, the open neckline of his clothes accidentally revealed a metallic luster.

"Mercenary Medal?"

The sharp-eyed axe Johnson saw the thing in the collar of the demon thief Biro at a glance, and quickly pressed one hand around his neck, and then asked the one-eyed man Leondo to grab his two hands, and the other hand groped up from his chest in the collar, and in the other party's "don't don't", after a while, he took out a golden round cake-shaped badge with teeth on the edge.

"Gold badge?"

Everyone was shocked, and the dwarf Dom even shouted: "Gold-level mercenary! This is a golden mercenary on top of bronze, black iron, and silver, we have been here for a few days, and it is the first time we have seen a mercenary wearing a gold medal, Demon Thief Biro, tell me, how did you pass the gold mercenary assessment and get this badge?"

The assessment of the mercenary union is multifaceted, and the personal force assessment is only a piece, and there must be a field survival ability assessment, a knowledge assessment of culture and customs of various countries, and a variety of crisis response ability assessments, etc., only these comprehensive assessments are excellent, in order to get the gold-level mercenary medal.

"It's hard......

After being exposed, the demon thief Biro didn't hide it anymore, and said proudly: "The assessment of gold-level mercenaries not only tests martial arts and customs and culture of various countries, but also tests survival in the wild, herb and tree pharmacology, and some special situations to deal with, such as falling off cliffs, poisonous snake bites, lack of water in the desert, swamp traffic, etc., these are not difficult for me......"

Listening to this thief's cousin, the big thief Jairo, who looked like he was talking endlessly and his face was as black as charcoal, clenched his fists and said to this cousin: "My dear cousin, didn't you just say that you won't do anything other than thieves?"

"Hey, have I said that? I don't think I did?"

"You bastard, let me die!"

After some fighting, the thief Jairo and the others, who were still a little hesitant, did not hesitate for a moment, and in the afternoon of the same day, they went to the registration window of the mercenary union in Rose Town, registered and registered, and conducted the mercenary level exam.

……

On the other hand.

With the increasing number of people from all walks of life who come to the mercenary union to sign up, after passing the mercenary assessment and certification, there are more and more formal mercenaries at the level of apprenticeship, bronze, black iron, silver, gold, platinum (there is no platinum or above), and the first mercenary organization "Free Business Alliance Mercenary Group" is also accepting people like a sponge absorbing water and not refusing to come, and the number of recruits soon exceeded 1000, 2000, 3000...... When the quota of 5,000 people was reached, the recruitment was stopped.

……

Early summer in May.

The snow-capped mountains to the east melted.

At the foot of the Ural Snow Mountains, about 100 kilometers east of Yokenling, on the Ura Plateau, with an average altitude of nearly 6,000 meters.

Under the snow-capped mountains that are inaccessible, no vegetation, and no birds, a group of human beings who endure the cold and hypoxic environment have appeared in this quiet land.

These human beings, mainly tall and brown-eyed savages, under the strict supervision of hundreds of overseers with whips, desperately excavated rocks, desperately carried iron pine trees, desperately laid wooden rails -- many savages with weak physique, who only persisted for three or five days and then fell to the ground forever, that is, savages with strong physique, and the cardiopulmonary burden caused by the lack of oxygen increased, thus causing cardiopulmonary failure and death, dozens of cases every day.

Zhou Ming, who was in charge of the design, construction, and operation of this "plateau track", although he was not very accustomed to the fact that it only contained half the oxygen in the plains, although he also apologized for the hundreds of savages who died every day...... But these sacrifices were necessary, and he had to open up the 100-kilometre-long ascent-long track from Yokenling to the Ula plateau within three months.

As soon as this track is laid, the goods produced by the Free Merchants League will be able to pass through the folded passage between two large mountain ranges from north to south, about 1,500 kilometers long and 100 kilometers wide, from north to south, to a new kingdom located south of the Iron Castle Kingdom, which is richer than the Iron Castle Kingdom, the Copper Mountain Kingdom (a kingdom famous for its abundance of copper mines).

Through the [World Map] in his mind, Zhou Ming noticed that the folded passage in the middle of the Ula Plateau, except for crossing a mountain range with an average altitude of more than 6,000 meters, was a little difficult, but as long as he crossed this mountain range and entered the folded area, the rest of the road was like a slightly undulating vast grassland, very flat.

Not only that, this north-south folded area, high in the north and low in the south, is shaped like a slide that kindergarten children love to play, from north to south, like the stream in the river, going down along the terrain, saving time and effort, and fast.

Walking from south to north, it is difficult to climb the mountain, and it will only get more and more tiring.

What's even more coincidental is that at the southern end of this folded area, the eastern mountain range of the Copper Mountain Kingdom, there happens to be a wide natural gap, which is convenient for people and materials to enter and exit through the gap, without the need to climb the mountain again and build another track.

"Isn't this the 'plateau corridor' that God has prepared for me, as long as the most difficult 100 kilometers are opened, the next 1,500 kilometers will not be the 'golden road' that no one can stop the Free Business Alliance from making money?"

"However, even if the phased construction method is adopted to speed up the progress, the more than a dozen tons of explosives accumulated in recent years are almost blown up, and the track-laying speed of tens of thousands of workers is still less than two kilometers a day, and the completed section of the road is less than one-third......

If a new trade route is not opened to break the deadlock and obtain a new breakthrough point of interests, otherwise, under the blockade of all forces, the free business alliance will either fall apart, or turn to increase military investment and take the road of flipping the table and cutting people......