People in this chapter: (Sertius), (Maleg Bazd Bruce), (Hasselon), (Rick), (Melgrad).

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Chapter 048: (First Xiongguan)

On the third day, early in the morning, the group finally arrived at the first Xiongguan in the north of the Swadia Kingdom - [Repole Fort].

The inhabitants here carry a natural pride. Because they are the orthodox remnants of the ancient Karad Empire, their bloodline is much more noble than even the current Swadia royal family.

Despite this, the division of Calradia has brought untold suffering to the proud castle, with high weekly taxes, occasional pumping of strong men, and the threat of plague and famine, as well as war.

The prices around Fort Repalet are quite unstable, and this castle has long since lost its former prosperity. Even the walls that recorded their former glory have a gray color.

The purpose of the nobles to build the castle was to protect it and provide a safe base controlled by military force. In fact, it is generally believed that the castle was used for defense, which is a factual view, since it was originally built to be used as an instrument of attack.

Castles were mostly owned by kings or vassals of kings, and although the nobles argued that they were threatened by barbarians, they actually used them to establish control over the place. Its function was to serve as a base for professional soldiers, especially knights, and to control the surrounding countryside.

The local nobility provided law and order and protection from raiders such as the Nords. The castles scattered and the large numbers of soldiers maintained for the sake of defense did not bring peace or defend each other against the invaders, but instead contributed to the constant wars.

When the king's central power declined for various reasons, the network of castles and the military force they supported provided relative political stability.

Similarly, the sheer power of these castles and military force also exposed the Swadia kingdom to the possibility of disintegration at any time. Decrees issued by the Imperial Council on taxation and conscription were weak or even ineffective in the domains of several noble lords.

Located in the northern part of the Swadia Plain, Fort Repolet is the first line of defense against the Nords of the North. The castle has a fortified outer fort, sturdy walls, rows of turrets, wide moats and heavy drawbridges.

The walls are fireproof and resistant to attacks from arrows and other projectile weapons, making it impossible for enemies to climb steep walls without equipment such as ladders and siege towers. Defenders at the top of the walls can shoot arrows or throw objects at the besiegers.

In order to highlight the height of the walls, a trench was dug at the base of the walls to surround the entire castle, and as much as possible this trench was filled with running water to form a moat. Trenches and moats make it more difficult to attack walls directly. If an armored soldier falls into the water, he can easily drown, even if the water is shallow.

A drawbridge across the moat made it easy for the inhabitants of the castle to get in and out when they needed to. In times of crisis, the drawbridge would be hoisted to restore the function of the trench and close the walls. The drawbridge was lifted by machinery inside the castle to protect it from the siegers.

The group slowly walked towards the tavern, and the calm and slightly sad of [Fort Repolet] in the sunset......

Eventually, Sercius decided to let the hapless Melgrad go, because after some haggling with the slave traders, the hapless man still paid less than double digits.

Sercius also felt troubled, so he simply went to the street and bought a pair of blue soft armor and a pair of old leather boots and threw them in front of this shivering fellow. "Put your clothes on, I'll hire you from now on, you don't have to worry about being sold for the time being, and the salary of ten dinars a week is much better than those robbers. ”

Melgrad shook his numb wrist and put on his clothes. After recovering his strength, he nodded.

So Hatheron took out a small purse and threw it in front of him. "Take it, go find some of your usual weapons in the street with this money," he said intimidatingly after a pause, "but if you dare to run, I'll crush your head wherever you go!"

Melgrad carefully took the money bag and ran away, not returning for half an hour. Hatheron was suspicious and prepared to go to the market to get the damn guy back, but naturally he was held down by three people at the same time.

Then the four of them simply went downstairs and asked for four glasses of ale, each of which sat and waited. After another half an hour, the tavern door finally opened. The four of them turned their faces to look at each other, but they didn't expect that it was not the damn Melgrad, but a little girl.

The girl looked to be in her teens, with blonde hair draped over her shoulders, big eyes, and a faint smile on her face. He carried a stuffed backpack with a few pieces of parchment sticking out of the gaps, and a lute in his hand.

The girl looked left and right, and then found a place under the lamp and sat down. Carefully placed the backpack on the wooden table and opened it, and took out a large pile of parchment and rulers, compasses, small boxes of quills and several bottles of ink of different colors.

Out of curiosity, the four of them resolutely came up, and the parchment was all very large, and several of them were densely painted with topographical marks and city distributions, and several of them were full of words.

The girl looked up at the four big men with confused faces, picked up a map and explained, "This is a map that I have spent a lot of effort drawing." This is the terrain near Zhivadin, so you should look at it pretty well. ”

Sertius carefully took the map, and sure enough, it was the terrain near Zhivadin, and this map not only carefully depicted the mountains, forests, villages, and even the surrounding resources. It's very detailed. This immediately piqued his interest: "Do you have any other maps besides this place?"

When the girl heard this, a smug expression appeared on her face. "I've traveled all over Virginia and Nord, and I've painted everywhere I can. Now, I'm going to start drawing from here and then expand to the whole of Svadia. ”

It is true that the terrain around Fort Repolet is flat, which is indeed suitable for mapping. This girl is indeed an expert in this area.

Sercius was surprised that this girl could walk alone through the most chaotic Nord and cold Virgia on the continent, and after in-depth conversation, he realized that although this girl was traveling alone, she was either following a caravan or a bounty hunter every time, so even in the chaos of Calradia, she could reach anywhere safely.

While everyone was admiring these beautiful maps, the thunder outside the door was accompanied by the sound of rain, and suddenly the torrential rain poured.

The door to the tavern opened shortly after, and Melgrad, drenched in the rain, rushed in. He had a cracked stick on his back, and a half-sword tied to his waist. Not surprisingly, there was also a large bag of crossbow arrows and a light crossbow.

Seeing his arrogance, Sercius teased, "You don't have any money left of the money I gave you." ”

Melgrad waved his hand, picked up a glass of ale on the table and took a big sip: "Boss, I still have five dinars left." Why don't you leave it all to me?"

Sertius smiled wryly and nodded. But Hatheron was clearly dissatisfied. "Master," he said in a gruff voice, "this guy doesn't have a word of truth in his mouth, do you want to cut his tongue off?"

Sercius waved his hand to signal that he didn't have to. Then he looked at the rain outside the door and said, "It is estimated that it will not stop for a while and a half, so let's stay here for two days." ”

The tavern returned to calm. All that remains is the rustle of quills rubbing against parchment and the sound of sipping ale.

At this moment, the girl who was sitting and drawing a map suddenly remembered something, and turned her face to the five big men who were sitting together and drinking. "I want to ask you something," she said, "I came with the Salander caravan and met the strange people here, who are said to be frequented by them, do you know the way?"

The five of them were inexplicable, so the girl continued to speak to herself: "I met a group of green forest bandits before I followed the Salander caravan into [Fort Repolet], and as a result, a terrifying-looking man helped the caravan fight off the robbers, and then disappeared. ”

Melgrad, who often ran between mercenaries and robbers, immediately slapped the table. "It must be the Sphin, this guy doesn't even leave a shadow, the whole Swadia bandits are afraid of him, I met him when I was a caravan guard before, he seems to be a leper. That face resembles a lion. ”

There is no way to verify the legend of the Lionface, and everyone has made up their minds not to pursue it further.

In the warm tavern, the girl picked up the lute at hand. Begin to sing: "On the cliffs of Wocheze, the light of the fire pierces the darkness. The waves charge, hitting the shore. Gray helmet, gray cloak, the girl stands alone. ”

Hatheron, who was very familiar with this legend, immediately sang along in Beihai dialect: "The battleship rides in the wind, and the sails are flamboyant, like horses on the sea." The sound of oars stirred, and the good wood broke. The girl cried out to her brother who had gone to war. ”

The girl stopped the lute in surprise and asked, "Do you know this legend?"

A rare smug expression appeared on Hatheron's face. "This is what my ancestors have heard a long time ago, and I used to sing it to pass the time on the ship when I was a pirate. ”

However, outside the [Fort Repalet] at this moment, it is a different scene. A group of about 100 men and horses, fully armed, were quietly advancing, led by the banner of Gangdeboye, the general of the Nord Kingdom.

The guards of Fort Reboret knew that the situation was not good when they saw this banner from afar, and immediately sounded the alarm bell on the city wall.

The heavy sound of the bell woke everyone sitting in the tavern in an instant, and the boss immediately rushed to the door to look, and then retreated and said: "Fort Repolet has not been reported to the police for more than a year, there must be something important, don't go out of the house first." I went out and asked the guards. ”

A few minutes suddenly felt like a long time. Soon the boss ran back again. "It's a big deal, the guards told me that there was only a force of about 100 people going here at first, and when I was about to get here, I heard someone say that the Nord army of about 900 people has surrounded Fort Repolet!"

Undeclared war?

All six people in the tavern stood up in unison.

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