Characters in this chapter: (Victor), (Resarit), (Ellenn), (Cress), (Hank), (Roman).

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Chapter 015: (Sea Raid)

With its bright, soft light, the morning sun emerged faintly from behind a narrow cloud cover, revealing itself, and then hid in the faint purple mist that surrounded it.

On the low rolling hills, seedlings of wheat, barley and oats are bursting out of the dark ground and growing vigorously. On the slopes below the snow-capped peaks, herds of cattle and sheep are grazing on delicious green grass, and sometimes you can see tall horses that symbolize the snowfields of Vegia.

It is undoubtedly rich, but it is also full of troubled land, as evidenced by the occasional sight of depleted farmland.

The mercenaries slowly walked along a gravel path with a wide and long river, the You River, on the left side, and a lush forest on the other, where a few birds could occasionally be seen flying out of the woods into the blue sky.

Ressarit rode slowly to the front of the group on a black warhorse, and Victor, riding a snowfield warhorse, rode alongside him. They keep a certain distance from the dense forest, in case of sudden cold arrows or thrown axes in the woods.

Victor's mount is one of the finest breeds of horses on the Calradian continent, while the horse on which Ressarit sits is an extremely ordinary steppe horse, which is used by the light cavalry of Vegia, Kugit, and Swadia, which is fast, enduring, and has a wide range of food sources.

At this moment, the steppe horse, in addition to carrying a heavily armed Ressarit, carried a gun carriage and a crocodile leather pocket, which was full of gold coins, and a heavy cavalry gun on the gun rack.

Victor wears a chain plate composite armor, a covered helmet on his head, scale armor gloves on his hands, and an elite cavalry shield on his back. In order not to be scratched and punctured by some broken armor, Victor specially put on a light leather armor inside.

Beneath the narrow cavalry shield was a huge battering crossbow, the personal collection of Marshal Voldra Tepoyer of Vigia. The reason why it was given to Victor was because there were few people in the entire kingdom of Virginia, except for Victor, who were able to use such an exaggerated weapon alone.

This is the strongest siege crossbow in the continent of Calradia - with great penetration and precise tools, the sharpshooters of the Duchy of Rhodok were able to accurately shoot enemies at a distance of 200 paces, and it is said to be able to nail into plate armor within 50 to 100 paces. Fortunately, there are not many people in the entire Duchy of Rhodok who can use it alone. The standard equipment used by the Rhodok marksman in the broad sense is now a heavy crossbow.

At Victor's waist hung a heavy spike war hammer, his melee weapon, and a crossbow on the other side, all of which were generously gifted by the old king of Virginia, Haverleaf I, 15 years earlier, except for the siege crossbow.

Ressarit said in a calm and steady tone, "Head, I want to talk to you privately. ”

A smile tugged at the corner of Victor's mouth, "Say it, my friend." ”

"I am the second son of the Count of Gronia, and you must have heard of him. Resarit spoke unhurriedly, "Since I don't have any inheritance, I came to the continent of Calradia to seek my future and help others train in combat skills. So—"

"How many more times are you going to say this to me before you stop?" Victor didn't wait for him to finish, and immediately replied.

So, if you know a commander who genuinely wants to win on the battlefield rather than condone his soldiers, I'd be glad you could introduce him to me. He stubbornly finished.

Victor hesitated for a moment, then finally compromised, "If there is a day, I will, I promise you." ”

"On that peak at the end of the valley, do you see the castle?" said Ismorola Fort?" said Resarit, who was riding on horseback, pointing sideways to the northeast of the mountain, "I was there a few years ago, and spent the whole winter training the lord's men. ”

Victor tilted his head and looked at the castle that stood majestically on top of the snow-covered peak. "Since you have an errand you want, why did you come to Chanda to do the mercenary business?"

"Unfortunately the lord is not interested in training the rabble into warriors," Resarit grumbled indignantly, "and I told him that he should train them rigorously, or else he would have to bury them later." But he wouldn't listen and let me go. ”

"Who was the lord at the time?" asked Victor curiously.

"You can call him fat, or bald, or he's a fat, bald fool. Resarit took a deep breath to calm his agitation, and then said calmly, "It's now the castle of Voldratpoye. ”

Victor was silent for a moment, then nodded slowly, "Yes, I know. ”

"Of course you know, Ellen told me that his father had served under Marshal Voldrert when he was with you in the defence of Živatze. Speaking of which, Resarit was somewhat sympathetic to the chieftain's plight, "It's just that after the war, Aren's father was given a title and a title, and you were so down." ”

"Alright!" said Victor, grinning indifferently, "if you told me so much to uncover my scars, then you did." ”

"No, it's not," Resarit said with an apologetic expression, "head, I'm just curious to know what happened in the middle, although you don't have a territory or a title, you have a siege crossbow given by Marshal Volderater, and you have a set of fine knightly equipment that was rewarded by King Haveriff back then, and I even heard that His Majesty the King is going to reward a knighthood and a territory close to the city of Živacheze, I don't understand why you fell to this point?"

"You don't want to know the way. Victor was unmoved, with an indifferent expression on his face.

"I'm sure I'd love to know the story of Lu Dao. Resarit's tone was firm. Young people are always curious and exploring about the unknown, and especially like to dig up any story that someone they respect has experienced.

Victor fell into deep thought, half speechless, and then let out a long sigh, "Because of a title." ”

"What kind of title?" asked Resarit without hesitation, "is it more important than the title of king?"

"The title of Hero of Virginia. Victor's expression was solemn and serious. What other title could there be than a king that all the Virgians would worship, aspire to, praise, and awe?

"Didn't you say that the Nord leader was shot by your comrade?" a puzzled arc hung up at the corners of Resarit's mouth. He couldn't imagine that this had anything to do with the leader's descent from a noble knight to a down-and-out mercenary.

"Yes," said Victor, taking a deep breath, relaxing, and not without sarcasm, "but no one would believe a peasant, or rather, no one would believe that these aristocratic lords would rather believe the storytellers and the bards who are good at poetry and praise. ”

"And you're helping him fight for the title that rightfully belongs to him?" Resarit guessed, "and offended the powerful ......"

"No, you're wrong, I'm not as upright as you think," Victor interrupted sharply, "I want to take this title for myself." He sneered a little self-deprecatingly. I did have this idea myself, but it was only a flash in my mind that was filled with honor and greed.

Resarit looked at him in surprise, his eyes a little more confused, "You did it?"

Victor nodded noncommittally, "Yes, but then I regretted it." His brow furrowed, and a look of remorse appeared on his face, "I regret my selfish actions, and I regret that I have turned my back on brotherhood because of greed and vanity. ”

He was taken aback by what he said. "You told the truth?"

"Yes, I told King Haverleaf the truth. ”

Ressarit was speechless in shock for a long time. "I see. ”

"Only I have a deep understanding of how much courage and determination it takes, and the only thing thankful is that the king did not cut off my head. A wry smile crossed the corners of Victor's mouth, and he said in a somewhat low tone, "He told me that I should keep this secret." ”

"If the king chops off the head of the hero who saved Virginia, I'm afraid the entire king will fall into a panic, and there may even be a resumption of war on the continent of Calradia. Resarit deduced with interest, "If I were you, I would never tell the king this secret." ”

Victor soothed his breath. "Am I being selfish?"

"Yes," said Ressarit in a strange low tone, "but as you Virginians say, whoever does not brag that he was the archer who shot the Nord god of war Gang Ding Harebrex at the head of the city is not a good soldier of all kinds." ”

"Is that a compliment?"

"I'll keep it a secret. With that, Resarit turned his horse's head and slowly rode towards the back of the mercenary team.

The sun is even more powerful, no one dares to look up to see where the sun is, only feel that everywhere is flashing, the air, the ground, are white and bright, the white is a little red, from top to bottom the whole earth is like a huge fire mirror, every light is like the focus of the fire mirror, and the sun is going to make things angry.

In the middle of the mercenary team, Alleyn sat on a large trailer for tent materials and food tools, sharpening his straight-edged military knife, preparing to change the Rhodok weapons for the brothers who had gone to fight in Rhodok.

Straight-edged military knives, broadswords, heavy broadshields, throwing spears, and siege crossbows are the five iconic weapons of the Rhodoks. Fat Robin didn't know how much gold he had earned from their gear swap, he was the most cunning weapon merchant in Chanda City.

The carts jolted along the bumpy road, and Ellene's whetstones sometimes hit the blades, and after many failures, he put them away and lay on his back on the tent cloth that he didn't know where to go, the smell of wine running into his nose.

"Which uncle secretly brought alcohol?Can't you bring a bar when you're on a mission?" Standing up from the cart, Alleyne slowly walked towards the two brothers who were about to toast behind him.

Hank the Big Man and Roman the Little Man were just about to have a drink when a dark shadow passed by, and the wine in their hands disappeared.

Hank clenched his fists and gestured emphasisively, "Alleyne, that's our wine. He tried to use intimidation to force the other party to return the wine to him, and perhaps most mercenaries would be intimidated by his tall and strong physique, but Alleyne would not eat his set at all.

"Your liquor is confiscated!" said Alleyne as he got out of the car with two bottles in his arms, and around the two brothers who tried to intercept him, jumped onto a large trailer at the back of the car.

Hank and Roman have angry and helpless expressions on their faces, and they have to consider themselves unlucky.

"Good stuff really gave me! I don't know if I'm dry!" Alleyne happily unscrewed the bottle and couldn't wait to take a sip.

One sip after another, two bottles of wine became two bottles. He tucked them into the cloth bag beside him, lay down and closed his eyes. "Life is beautiful sometimes," the heart and tongue said together.

Alleyne fell asleep unconsciously, time was always fleeting, and when he was punched in the head, he was dreaming that he had received double the commission, and when he was about to take the golden dinar, the money bag smashed directly into his face.

"Who smashed me, why don't you want to live?" Alleyn cursed as he sat up, staring at the Victor Leader as he stared into his black eyes.

"If you want to get a commission, go stand guard for me right away!" said Victor, who had said this, lying in the place where Alleyne had just been lying.

"Who's the employer this time?" Ellen shouted at the leader who was lying in the car and about to fall asleep. Even if it's revenge!

Victor rubbed his eyes and sat up, tossing him a crumpled volume of mercenary.

Just to disturb the chief's sleep, he was not interested in the mercenary book, so he returned it to the other party without reading it. The moment he placed the mercenary in the leader's hand, Alleyne saw a little sunlight reflecting off the plains in the distance.

"Head," Alleyne said, pointing to a point of light approaching in the distance, "that's a piko, right?"

"That's right, inform everyone to prepare for battle. Victor lifted his helmet and rolled over and pulled out the straight-edged military knife at his waist.

The pirates were mainly active in the northern coastal areas, and their members were all Nords, who were dressed in scale armor, and inferior weapons could not hurt their bodies at all, and the battle axes and longbows were their basic equipment, and because of the Nord's strong physique, the pirates were also considered to be one of the most combat-ready criminal gangs on the mainland.

In addition to their combat prowess, another reason why they are feared is that they are very vicious, and it is said that their jobs are made of human skulls.

The natives of the North Sea region of the Calradia continent often use the phrase 'I have come back alive from the hands of the pirates' to express their fate.

The figure of the pirate gradually became clear, which was a terrible omen, and the approaching figure indicated that the distance between them and the pirate was about to approach thirty meters, and it was not the pirate that was terrifying, but the flying axe in the sky that was spinning and flying towards them.

There was a "bang" sound, and the axe was nailed to Aren's broad shield.

"Unsheathed!Ready for battle!" Victor commanded loudly, holding his broad shield in front of him. Alleyne raised his broad shield to block the oncoming two-handed axe.

When the distance between 30 and 20 meters from the enemy, the sharp blade of the axe will mercilessly split the enemy's armor and shatter the enemy's head, and without a good shield, the first round of the pirate's axe throw will kill the person.

As the second blow slammed into Aren's shield, he could see the bearded coward's face, a grim grin on his dirt-stained face, and his straight-edged military knife chased after it and slashed through it. The pirate fell to the ground.

However, everything in the world is a matter of gain and loss, and in order to cater to Rhodok's employment, they changed into Rhodok's equipment and had a heavy broad shield against flying axes, but the cotton shirts, hard leather armor, and spiked leather coats on their bodies became useless ornaments in front of the seamen's axe blades.

The three brothers were knocked to the ground by a coar's axe, covering their bleeding wounds and still resisting, but they were quickly terminated by a second axe.

Perhaps it was at this moment that the blood awakened the soul numbed by the money, and the coward's axe blade was about to slash at Aren's head. With a swing of his sword, the back of the knife slammed the handle of the axe, and the heavy two-handed axe slammed into the ground.

The axe-wielding Haikou looked at him holding a military sword, and one turned and rushed over. The two-handed axe slashed at Alleyne's heavy broad shield three times, his wrist aching from the tremendous force, and as he raised his shield to resist the fourth slash, a heavy throwing axe flew in front of him, and he hurriedly raised his shield to resist.

As he blocked the axe, the pirate's two-handed axe slashed his heavy broad shield out of the way. The blade of the axe, which glowed with cold light, was about to fall on his head, but its owner was pierced by a steel bolt at that moment. In an instant, the center of gravity of the coward's body fell backwards.

Alleyne tilted his head and cast a grateful look at the 'little man' behind him, while Roman, who was holding the crossbow, shrugged his shoulders, but then smiled nonchalantly. The reason why they have been able to go all the way to this is precisely because they take care of each other when they are fighting.

The fighting power of the pirates should not be underestimated, and even the battle-hardened Blood Wolf Mercenary Group could not easily defeat them.

A mercenary brother who was a royal guard told Alleyne that the pirates also had their own organization, and that the pirates of the White Raven were the strongest and most ferocious in terms of size and combat effectiveness, and that they were able to defeat even well-equipped regular armies.

The brother became a mercenary because his royal guard group of Sagoth was defeated by a similar number of pirates in an operation to clear out pirates. He was the only surviving royal guard in the army, but the last one had just fallen to the coward's axe.

Alleyne picked up his broad shield and slowly retreated in front of him, the mercenaries armed with siege crossbows were shooting with all their might, and the sturdy scale armor of the pirates could not match the tremendous power of the steel crossbow and the siege crossbow, and many of the pirates fell under the arrows.

Alleyne picked up a throwing axe from the ground, and the side of the blade was carved in white with a raven, which may be the pirate of the 'White Raven Pirate Bandit'. But it didn't matter, the one who knew it had fallen on the ground beside him.

He stepped over the wooden shield on the ground and helped the mercenary close his eyes, his gaze resolute and angry in the moment of death. Full of memories of the time when he was a royal guard.

"He can fight for the hatred of his memory. Alleyne thought, "And what about me? Maybe it's just a trivial fantasy to keep the spirits going. 」

The stout Hank brandished the long-handled broadsword in his hand and rushed into the opposite pirates and slashed indiscriminately, and after the 'big man' slashed several pirates in a row, the rest of the pirates held a Germanic shield that was not enough to cover the upper body, and fled backwards.

Beside Alleyne, Roman gritted his teeth and filled the bolt before shooting it into the ass of one of the pirates. Not being able to sit down to eat, squatting to go to the toilet will bring severe pain, and it will surely leave deep memories in the life of this Haikou.

After the battle, the mercenaries cleaned up the battlefield as usual and stripped any weapons or armor that could be exchanged for money from the corpses. I saw a thin and dexterous figure quickly shuttling through the battlefield to collect loot, and this person was Kress, who had always been a loner.

Sitting in a bloodstained cart, Alleyne muttered to himself, "Who am I?" and the answer was the same as always. "I'm a mercenary, my name is Ellenn, and I don't have a surname. The board jolted, away from the battlefield where thirty men from different camps had fallen. A cemetery without a tombstone.

This time the employer is the lord of the Rhodok region, a country nobleman in the mountains and jungles, who sacrifices other people's lives to fight for power and land, and mercenaries are precisely the product of war.

The mercenary team that Ellen is in is less than half the size of a mercenary group, although it does not have an advantage in numbers, but the 'spear mercenary group' in Chanda City is a well-known mercenary team, and they can be competent for any hiring needs.

When the battle began, they could match part of the enemy's regular army when they were united. This is mainly due to the two members of the team, their leader Victor, for his excellent leadership skills, and the strict training methods of Resarit, who is also an instructor as a treasurer.

Victor was once a noble knight of Virgian and led a team of around three hundred men, which was the standard size of a mercenary group. This down-and-out middle-aged knight is not only superb in swordsmanship, but also has the demeanor of a general in marching and fighting, and arranging troops.

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Note (1): 'Boyer' is a term given to a noble lord in the Kingdom of Vegia, and his status is equivalent to that of an earl.