Summers in the wilderness are nowhere near as intense as Pompeii's, with only a sunny day being hot at noon, and the rest of the day being cool.

The shadow of war had little effect on the mountain fort.

The Guards followed Gunther and Hurt through the training ground all day long, and in the evening they slipped into the river in droves to bathe. Barbarians used to be tribal hunters, and centaurs used to be steppe herders, although both were naturally powerful races and required a lot of training to become true professional warriors.

Richard didn't have to worry about these things, but he was idle all of a sudden, squatting by the river all day to watch the second general hum Ha Er pick pebbles from the river with great interest.

When he's in a good mood, he gives him more jerky, and the two trolls lie on the ground and kiss him gratefully on his boots, and then get even more excited.

This unusual behavior aroused Anne's idea, and she finally couldn't help but ask, "Lord Richard, what do you want so many pebbles for?"

"I'm going to lay the creek on the hill at the bottom, and the water must be beautiful flowing over the colorful pebbles. When the time comes, the two sides will be transplanted with bitter wattle flowers, and you can sit next to you and drink tea when you are fine. ”

This answer was greatly unexpected by Anne, who did not expect that there was such a delicate side in the rough embryo in front of her. The elven blood flowing in the veins makes the half-elf nature advocate exquisite and beautiful things, and it is also pleasing to the eye even when it looks at Richard.

"My lord, among the pioneer aristocrats I have seen, there are many who are obsessed with military affairs or business, but you are the first to have the leisure to manage the garden. ”

Richard was just about to speak, when the sound of horses' hooves broke the silence of the afternoon.

The flat terrain doesn't block the view, and when you look up, you can see two human cavalry galloping in the direction of the mountain fort.

Richard's eyes were far better than those of ordinary people, and he could clearly see that one of the cavalrymen had blood on his face and chest, and the other simply had a spear stuck in his back, lying in the saddle of his horse.

He put two fingers into his mouth and whistled loudly, and Eht, who was training, immediately rushed forward with several centaurs, and as he ran, he took the arrows from his quiver and put them on the bowstring.

The distance between the two sides is now about five hundred yards, and they are rapidly approaching each other, and in a few breaths they will be within the right firing distance. With the archery skills of a centaur, two horsemen will turn into hedgehogs in an instant.

"Wait a minute!" Anne's face suddenly turned very pale—the half-elf's eyesight was also excellent, and she could see what Richard could see clearly.

"This is the mercenary cavalry of our Voya Firm!"

With another whistle, the centaur put away his bow and arrows and turned sharply, and made a great circle back to the foot of the hill with the two horsemen.

Before the horse's hooves had stopped, Anne's mercenaries had already carried the wounded cavalry down to take care of it. The other, apparently dead, was left unattended for the time being, and Richard leaned over to take a look.

He was supposed to be a scout or something, armed only with chain mail and a single-barrel repeater.

There were several minor wounds on his body, but the fatal wound was a spear stuck in his back, and judging from his purple face and lips, the blood from all over his body was drained from this wound.

Richard pulled up the chain mail on his body and looked at it carefully, and couldn't help but be slightly surprised by how rich this cavalryman was. The chain mail is not the kind of low-end goods that are simply threaded with iron rings, but on this basis, the two ends of each iron ring are hammered flat and punched, riveted with fine rivets, and then turned flat on both sides.

Thousands of rings are processed one by one, making this process extremely time-consuming and expensive, but it has the advantage of effectively strengthening the stab-resistant ability of the chain mail. Unfortunately, even so, the spear on his back burst several rings, and the tip of the spear pierced through the entire chest and poked out from the front and nailed to the saddle.

He took the pole and pulled out the spear, looked at it carefully twice from beginning to end, and his face became a little solemn.

He saw something not very optimistic from above, and there was a vague unformed idea in his mind.

When he looked up, Richard's eyes met Anne's by chance, and he was surprised to find that the face of this half-elf chick was also terrifyingly low.

"Richard ......"

"Anne ......"

"Forget it, you speak first. Richard handed his spear to a passing brute.

"The convoy reinforced by the comptoir encountered a large group of gnolls halfway through, and the entire army was wiped out. Anne smiled sadly, her thin body trembling slightly, like a begonia flower that had been knocked down by raindrops.

"Are these gnolls well-equipped, like the last time we met?" Richard asked, but his tone was clear and affirmative.

Before Anne could reply, he continued: "Alpine Fort is not safe now, I personally recommend that you lead the mercenaries back lightly, with only basic rations and war horses, even if you encounter a gnoll, you can easily get rid of it." ”

"Nope. Anne's tone was calm, calm and determined, like a hard reef hidden beneath the surface of a lake, "I can't leave behind those wounded mercenaries who fought to the death to protect me. ”

"But you can put them in alpine fort for the time being. Richard squeezed his eyes with a smile, "Of course, the cost is not less." ”

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. Anne took a deep breath, "Thank you, Lord Richard, for your kindness, but I don't want to be haunted by guilt forever and lose sleep every night for the rest of my life. ”

She knew that Richard's proposal was well-intentioned, and that it was the best solution for the time being, but she still couldn't abandon her companions with peace of mind, and the elves' stubborn and paranoid morality was vividly displayed in her.

Richard nodded, since they were unwilling to withdraw, then for military considerations, the temporary mercenaries of the caravan were an inevitable choice to be incorporated into the mountain fort.

The addition of a dozen Pompeii warriors was nothing, but the abundant supplies that came with it made the proud soldiers who had originally looked down on them quickly suffer from pink eye. The big war is coming, but the atmosphere in the big restaurant is like a festival.

"They eat really well. Gunther and Hurt sat together, scooped out a large handful of honey with a knife and spread it thickly on the bread, and thought about it and added a fifth sausage.

"Yes. Hurt was even more exaggerated, with a thick piece of beef in front of him that was bigger than the plate.

"I found something very interesting. Richard kicked the door open and strode into the dining-room, where the brutes and centaurs, who were eating Hesse, rose sharply to greet them, turning over a bench of chairs.

"Sit. ”

Before the mercenaries could react, the Castle Centaurs began to laugh and laugh again.

With a "bang", the spear drawn from the back of the dead cavalry was thrown on the table by Richard. The dirt and blood stains on it were washed clean, revealing their original appearance.

Richard sat down across from Anne, "There's honey! Gunther, you bear thing, don't you hurry up and give me some!"