"Hurry up, we still have two villages to collect taxes."

Alleyne rode on his horse, with a heavy package tied to his horse, filled with silver coins and large copper coins.

The cavalrymen in the back also carried a lot of goods, and in the previous tax collection, some families could not get the silver, so they had to use these things to pay off their debts. At the back of the line, there was even a cow.

Ellene's work did not go well, and at first the elders expressed their support for his work, but the villagers continued to complain, giving various reasons why their lives were not easy.

Indeed, in this era of frequent wars, it is good for ordinary civilians to be able to afford to eat, and every household does not have much spare money.

In particular, King Harlaus spent lavishly and liked to expand his armaments, and his people were no less burdened than in other regions.

Considering that Byron didn't care much about the remuneration for this work, Alleyne also claimed to exempt Byron from the part of the tax that was originally to be given to Byron as a commission.

However, while some of the people thanked them for paying their taxes, others wanted to reduce their taxes even more.

Alleyne explained to them that they would not be able to deal with the king, and that the mercenaries would have to eat and live, and hoped that they would cooperate.

But when encountering such a well-talking mercenary, how could these villagers let it go. They began to plead around them, trying to get Alleyne to give up collecting taxes. Their actions even caused some villagers who had wanted to pay taxes to start watching and collecting their money.

Alleyne was angry, and as a son of a nobleman, he looked down on these ordinary peasants. He just measured these poor people out of personal aristocratic pride, but he didn't expect the other party to be so perfunctory to him. He felt that he had shown enough aristocratic demeanor before, so he directly changed his face and threatened them that if they didn't pay taxes, they would go to their house and get it directly.

The villagers were also furious, and instead of their previous pitiful appearance, they took out sticks and pitchforks from their houses, and swore to protect their property to the death.

And they also have their own reasons, King Haraus has already collected this year's tax, and it is collected in advance. If they collect next year's taxes in advance like this, they really can't stand it.

Moreover, if it is a noble knight or something, they will be forced by the aristocracy to dare not do it and pay the money obediently.

But if it's just a bunch of mercenaries who come to collect taxes, it's a big difference.

The people of the village gathered around, complaining about Aren's inhumanity, and kept approaching them with weapons.

And the elder who promised to help Ellen before stopped talking at this time and stayed aside to watch the play.

Alleyn was really angry, and he threatened the villagers, telling them that they had orders from the king, and that even if they started to do something, the peony mercenaries would be irresponsible.

This was true, and the Earl of Claes, when he gave them the task, told them that if the peasants dared not pay their taxes, they could use a little force.

After a few unbelieving villagers were beaten with swords by Alleyne and the mercenary cavalry, the rest of the villagers died down and the elders came out to make a round, and Ellene's mission was completed. When they left the village, they had to endure the eyes of the villagers who looked at them like enemies.

Alleyne understands why Byron doesn't like to take on this task, in the past, he helped collect taxes in the area of Deherim, and Byron can still rely on the reputation of the peony mercenary to persuade those villagers to pay taxes. And here he felt like a robber who had entered the village. It is no wonder that the nobles are reluctant to do this kind of work with their own hands, but hand it over to the mercenaries and let them bear part of the infamy for themselves.

So although the mission was completed, Ellene's mood was not beautiful.

He walked down the country road, hoping that the next place would be easier when the tax was collected.

But just when he was depressed, the cavalry in charge of reconnaissance ran over, and many arrows flew from behind him.

"There are robbers!"

When the cavalryman had finished shouting, the rest of the soldiers drew their weapons, raised their shields, and prepared for battle.

A group of archers with sackcloth hoods ran out of the nearby forest, chasing the horseman.

Soon, Alleyne spotted a number of robbers armed with bows and arrows and blunt weapons emerging from all corners of the world, apparently targeting the contents of the carriage they were carrying, as well as the silver coin bag behind Ellene.

"We are the Brotherhood of the Green Forest, hand over your ill-gotten gains!"

A bandit leader with plate armor on his chest and a mace in his hand stepped forward, and the scars on his face and hands showed that he had fought in many battles, some of which were wounded by the hot oil of the enemy during the siege.

"This is the property of the villagers, and you noble lackeys have no right to own it!"

The robbers, who called themselves the Brotherhood, did not give Alleyne a chance to defend themselves or negotiate, and they rushed towards them in the distance, and in the distance there were also several light cavalry on horseback, each with a hood on their heads.

"Attack!"

Alleyne drew his sword, and the soldiers behind him roared and charged at the other side.

A few days later, in Dehrim's Peony mercenary office, an enraged Byron broke his cup and roared in the room.

"What hell brotherhood, what hell hat, do they think it's Assassin's Creed?!"

Several other heroes sat aside, and none of them had a normal face. Alleyne's arms and abdomen were heavily bandaged, and his face was pale.

That damn Brotherhood of Greenwoods killed 11 of them and wounded a dozen, just by a horde of unorganized and undisciplined thugs and robbers. They took most of the goods, and the leader also left many wounds on his body under the cover of the archers, and he could accept this shame!

Byron is really on fire this time, the mission went wrong, and it doesn't matter if there is no pay, but the lives of those elite soldiers and the prestige of the Peony mercenaries are irreparable. Since the mercenary team won the last Baron battle, there was no place where the miscellaneous forces dared to challenge them, which made him a little careless about these bandits, and he was severely humiliated by this gang of bandits.

"They think of themselves as a brotherhood, but we are the Knights Templar from time to time. We are peony mercenaries, and we will not sit idly by and ignore the deaths and injuries of our brothers! Gather all of us who can fight, prepare horses and weapons, and I'm going to uproot this Brotherhood of the Greenwoods! Let all the little ones know the price of provoking the peony mercenaries! ”

Although they didn't understand what Byron's two metaphors meant, the heroes all knew what Byron's second half of the sentence meant, and nodded non-uniformly.

Alleyne stood up, and the bruises on his arms startled Jamila and hurried to examine his wounds.

"Gracious sir, this battle, please let me participate in it anyway. I'm going to have to get the guy who insulted me with my own hands! ”