Leaving the country roads trodden by the feet of countless peasants, Aldrich rode the dark horse Hayek onto the gravel-paved improvised lanes that allowed two carriages to run side by side, and along the way there were occasional hurried merchants galloping in one-man carriages, and as a knight of family glory, he always kindly avoided the side of the road to make way for the wide avenue.

As the galloping wheels ran over the deep ruts, occasionally stones splashed out and struck the black horse, which made it a little unhappy, but once or twice it was fine, and after many times, Hayek snorted and looked angry. Aldridge reached out and gently stroked the black horse's mane, and bent down to whisper in his ear, finally calming his partner's temper.

The further you go, the more forks in the road become, and the roads that radiate in all directions of Eastwood City are like a giant spider web, connecting all the frontier knights' territories in the vicinity. Aldrich, who was alone, was satisfied to see the increasing number of companions along the way, the old-fashioned knightly education gave him an honest and trustworthy character, and more importantly, a handsome appearance full of a sense of justice, and the sword and shield family crest of the armband, which made many strangers who had passed by willing to slow down, greet him on the forehead and even take the initiative to say hello.

Although the city's handicraft guilds and the massive goods produced by the large-scale workshops under their command had overwhelmed the self-sufficient manor system with the greatest advantage of cheapness, and most of the small and medium-sized nobles were plagued by poverty and had to go into debt to survive, the knights were still highly respected for their strength against ten, especially now that a large number of bankrupt farmers and tenants who had lost their land had become outcasts, and with moderate robbery and constant wandering, they increasingly became a major threat to trade and trade, so that Eastwood City had to hire mercenaries to organize repeated clean-ups to achieve some success。

With proper conversation and elegant courtesy, Aldrich has gathered around him three wealthy merchants, four well-skilled mercenaries, and a dozen idle people who hitchhike. Most of them were men in the prime of life, and with a horse-drawn four-wheeled wagon, outsiders automatically thought of them as a caravan.

Unable to correct other people's perceptions, the young knight who enters the role barely does his part, like a qualified mercenary leader leading the way, and like the owner of a caravan patrolling the patchwork team from time to time.

Aldrich didn't care if someone saluted him, and if he was saluted, the young knight would bow his forehead, and if it was a lady, he would have to stand up in the stirrups and bow slightly.

"Oh! a handsome knight of grace, with a smile even the sparkle of the sun, who is no match for a rude mercenary, and wishes he could marry him and become a respected nobleman from now on. ”

A young girl resting on a carriage looked at Aldrich's back with longing in her eyes and couldn't help muttering to herself.

"Come on, these days, the aristocracy is not having a good time, many declining families live on debt, although the appearance is still glamorous, but the inside is an empty shell, it is better to marry a rich merchant, at least a lot of money to squander. ”

Her companions were much more realistic, and could at least see that the glory of nobility had faded over time.

Merchants who took control of large workshops and organized craft guilds have become a new force as cities have emerged. In contrast to the aristocracy, who possessed land and tenants, and had an extraordinarily strong fortress-like system of self-sufficient estates, the merchants were armed with wealth and cheap goods, and they continued to plunder and storm cities, tearing apart the impregnable defenses, just as the Harolds had robbed the northern nations over and over again, just as the Harolds had done hundreds of years earlier.

When the group reached the Liquor River, the two caravans, which had not given in to each other, blocked the already modest bridge deck, and the loud insults and rebukes made the possibility of reconciliation less and less, so that many people who were in a hurry, such as the postman who served the town hall, the messenger who worked for the Chamber of Commerce, and the merchant who was engaged in the business of changing hands between the city and the country, had to take the ferry not far downstream, and the well-ventilated sheepskin raft kept going back and forth, and the life that was difficult to sustain was brought back to life by this unexpected cause。

A handful of copper horns soaked in sweat and covered with green rust fell into the crockpot that received the money, and as time went by, more and more, and even overflowed, and had to be replaced with a new money jar.

"It's not a way to go on like this!" Aldrich, who had been watching for a long time and learned the specific situation from the scolding between the two sides of the quarrel, couldn't help but choose to stand up.

The young knight clamped his horse's belly lightly with his legs, and his close companion Hayek walked forward with a brisk step, "Gentlemen and ladies, give way, and allow me to go up and settle this dispute." ”

When many of the onlookers heard this, they immediately turned away, especially the older adults, who had lived through the pioneer era and knew the grace of knights and the terrible force of one-size-fits-ten.

"Oh, a knight without servants, what is the use of him coming forward, what can he do?" a gloating merchant did not go to the ferry to pay to cross the river, but chose to watch a free circus.

"Shhh His companion, or perhaps a business rival, reminded the businessman to look ahead.

"There are more than ten mercenaries in both caravans, and the fallen knight can't please him, so he might as well stay behind and watch the excitement like us. "Expecting to see bloodshed, mutilation, wails of pain and the tragedy that must come, the unconscionable merchant is despised by those around him and does not care.

"How ignorant do you have to be to ignore the combat effectiveness of the knight, who is different from the honorary knight knighted in the town hall, and belongs to two completely different noble sequences. After opening his mouth to refute, the man did not take the initiative to leave, but turned sideways in disgust and did not want to be with him.

"It's like the difference between a bull and a snail. A young man who interjected at the right time won the attention of many people, he was a little proud, dressed as a messenger of some chamber of commerce, but with empty hands, he had obviously completed his task and was not in a hurry.

The knight on the horseback aroused the alarm of the two sides on the bridge deck, who feared that the person who was coming was the Lord Knight of Eastwood City Hall.

To a certain extent, they also patrol the countryside and maintain law and order in the city. If this knight pokes the matter to the city hall and leaves the relevant records, according to the usual practice, the security fees of the two caravans will be raised in the future, the reputation evaluation will be reduced, and the business based on Eastwood City will inevitably be affected. Therefore, both sides have the intention of retreating, but they have said too many ugly words just now, and they have said a bit too much, so it is difficult to turn around, and now the person who saved the scene has come.

The principals of the caravans on both sides invariably signaled the mercenaries not to act rashly, so Aldrich easily came to the middle of the stone bridge, turned over and dismounted, and walked to the awkward place where the two wagons were staggered, and the axle break caused by the collision of the outer edge of the wheels was not an easy thing to deal with.

'It's hard for ordinary people, but I'm a knight!' After inspecting the scene of the crash in depth, the situation was not so bad that it could not be recovered, and the clever Aldrich understood the main reason.

"This farce is over, for the sake of the smooth flow of business, allow me to make my own decisions. ”

He took a deep breath, squatted down slightly, grabbed the rear wheels of the two carriages with muscular hands, the back of his hands were bruised, his face was instantly red, his eyes were even bloodshot, he lifted it up and staggered back and forth, and then slowly put the two wheels back to the ground.

"Wow!" The people on both sides of the Liquor River who witnessed this scene couldn't help but let out cheers, as if they saw Hercules, the great hero of the epic legend wrestling with the dragon.

"Let's go!" Aldrich, who had used his knightly skills for the first time, his eyes were a little black, his chest was heavy as if he was pressing against a boulder, and his hands trembled slightly, but in order to hide his exhaustion, he gently patted the horse that was about to cross the river to Eastwood City, and the axle of the carriage was still intact, and he could continue the journey. As for the other carriage with a broken axle, the young knight also had a way to solve it.