"Work hard, if you dare to sneak away, you will die, and I will entrust mercenaries and adventurers to hunt you down all over the world. "Pannis, acting as a vicious overseer, said to the bandits who had been cured by Lina and who had not escaped from yesterday's battle because of broken bones.

In neutral places, bandits are not very hated, because most of them are small gangs, and they are more restrained when robbing, only a small part of the property, so that the passing business will not lose too much, let alone lose their lives. The bandits of the other two human neighbors are completely different, most of them not only rob but also kill, compared to the bandits in the Neutral Lands.

In fact, hundreds of years ago, the thieves group in the neutral land of Rhea was the same as other places, and even more ferocious than other places, but after the establishment of the Free City, whenever a large thief group committed a crime, there would often be a mercenary group to exterminate it at the first time, and the strength of the thief group was completely unable to compete with the mercenaries, which eventually led to a large thief group having to choose between leaving Rhea or being exterminated.

Later, these bandits discovered that small groups of thieves often did not come forward to be surrounded and suppressed by the mercenary guild because of their small targets, and would only be hunted down by various mercenary groups when they received the commission. But their mobility is strong, even if there are merchants who entrust mercenaries to seek revenge, and thieves hide in the wilderness, mercenaries often need to spend a long time playing hide and seek with them, even if they successfully find the bandits and kill them, they have wasted a lot of time and energy, and it can only be said that the gains outweigh the losses, so slowly the mercenary groups are not very willing to receive this kind of commission.

Over the centuries, bandits, mercenary groups, and caravans have gradually developed a unique pattern of getting along. Large caravans will hire some small mercenary groups as protection, and small caravans will not be able to hire mercenary groups, so they will bring some cash on the road and pray that they will not encounter robbery. In case of real misfortune and encountering bandits, they will only ask for 5% of the total value of the goods, and gold coins will be preferred, and only if there are not enough gold coins will the goods be stolen. Sometimes a small caravan is carrying exactly what the thieves need, and the robbers will often spend the five percent of the cash they just got in the caravan to buy the goods. Some even spend more than they rob, which leads some caravans to simply carry large quantities of necessities and wander along the roads in the wilderness, selling them directly to the thieves at a discount. And after the thieves get used to it, they often know whether it is this kind of caravan by looking at the goods, and if so, they will not rob even if they don't buy anything.

After this unique relationship is formed, the merchants will not lose much even if they encounter thieves, so they will not hate the bandits to the point of being pursued by mercenaries. Although the robbers robbed less at a time, they were not in danger of their lives, and after a long time, more and more business travelers were willing to pass through here, and their income increased.

Therefore, for such a group of relatively gentle and cute professional bandits, even a knight with an overly strong sense of justice like Catherine is difficult to hate them, and even if they are caught, they are just a lesson, and they will not kill people easily.

This time too, although the bands of thieves were instructed to attack the wedding party. But whether it was because of the client's strict orders, or because they were accustomed to robbing money and not their lives, no one was killed from beginning to end, and even if they wanted to set fire to the car with kerosene, they waited for all the people stained with kerosene to run out of the coverage area before igniting the fire, and this detail alone made everyone unbearable to punish them. However, they were not reconciled to be treated and let go, so the whole night was spent among a group of people discussing with the captives how to punish them.

At last. Still Pannis was more experienced, and proposed a solution that everyone agreed on, although the captives were not very willing, but under the coercion of Pannis, they could only agree aggrievedly. The method of punishment is simple. It is the result of self-inflicted self-infliction to solve by itself. Yesterday's battle did not have any impact at the beginning, and the only thing that really had a big impact was the boulder that fell from the sky at the end. The boulder not only smashed and created countless obstacles, but also smashed a large crater with a diameter of nearly 40 meters in the ground, if not dealt with in time. It will cause a lot of trouble to the travelers, and even if someone returns to the City of Knowledge to report the news, when the City of Knowledge sends a maintenance team to repair the road, I am afraid that it will take seven or eight days to waste seven or eight days before and after. And if these bandits were allowed to fill in the road with gravel, they would at least allow the vehicles of the merchant to barely pass, and it could be regarded as atonement for their actions.

"Yes, don't be lazy. Catherine rode up and said to the captives, "We will return the same way in a few days, and if I find out that you have not filled in the road as ordered, I will do so at my own risk." ”

A group of captives burst into tears, they could not escape because they were all fractured wounds, although after Lina's treatment, the fractured location has healed, but the injured part will not be able to use much strength for seven days, this sequelae will cause great trouble to their work today, it is conceivable that today will be a very difficult day.

"Sister, it's going to be at least a month before we come back. Following the convoy slowly away, Lina leaned over and said, "Even if they don't work, even if no one goes to the Holy Capital to report the accident, then they will be discovered and repaired by the monthly patrol team, so don't we know if they are obedient or not?"

"That's right. Catherine nodded, "That's why I scared them, and I guess they don't dare to bet on whether I'm a liar or not." And they won't have to work too hard, I'm afraid that in a few hours, there will be escaped accomplices coming to them, and this work will be done quickly if there are more people, so there is no need for them to break their promise and run away. ”

"Well, if they are lucky, if they meet a kind person like you, eldest sister, if they follow my idea, they won't even be able to cry. Lina crossed her hands on her hips, raised her head with her chest straight, and laughed proudly: "In this way, they can firmly remember this lesson, so that they will not dare to provoke us easily in the future, hahahaha." ”

Catherine had long been accustomed to Lina's sudden appearance, shook her head helplessly, sighed deeply, and rode a few steps to catch up with Vivian, who was also on a horse and was isolated from the outside world, not bothering to pay attention to Lina's intermittent illness.

"Seriously, Isabella's image is not for you, it's too inconsistent. Only Pannis, who kindly patted Lina on the shoulder, said, "That kind of character and behavior is only suitable for children." I'm right, she's still a child, right?"

"She wasn't a child, she was in her thirties when she died in the assassination. Lina said dissatisfiedly: "Although, although for some special reasons, she will be ten years old until she dies." ”

"Look, I'll just say it. Pannis shrugged: "So get another one, at least one that's not so mischievous, oh no, I mean at least one that fits your image." ”

"Ha, that's what you're for. Lina pointed at Pannis and laughed arrogantly: "You're finished, don't think about it today, wait for my revenge, hahahaha." ”

"Hey, you two. Catherine shouted in front, "Don't giggle like two fools, come here, Captain Erlan has something to do with us." ”

Lina immediately stopped laughing, glared at Pannis, and like a frightened child, she squeezed Pannis away and ran over first. Pannis scratched his head and smiled bitterly, and he could only follow with a helpless expression.

"Now we have a big problem. As soon as he caught up, he heard the captain Erlan say: "We lost four carriages before, and we also took the initiative to give up some baggage, and now there is a serious shortage of transportation. Although it is possible to concentrate the gifts on the two passenger cars for the time being, it is always a little inappropriate to let all the wedding team staff squeeze on the other three passenger cars, which is indeed more crowded and very uncomfortable in the car. If it's just a temporary make-do, it's fine, but there are at least ten days to go, so you can't keep squeezing it like this all the time. ”

"So, what solution do you have?" asked Catherine.

"I wonder if I should send a few team members back the way they came, buy a few carriages and horses from the villages outside the Holy Capital, and catch up as soon as possible. Erlan replied: "Let's continue to move forward, they will catch up with the empty car, the speed will be much faster than ours, if they let them hurry as soon as possible, it is estimated that they will be able to catch up with us in three days." ”

"It doesn't have to be like this. Catherine asked curiously, "Haven't we encountered many caravans along the way?" The next time you encounter a caravan, you can discuss with them and buy a few carriages from them. Even if a caravan can't spare so many cars to sell to us, you can find a few more. On average, five to six caravans can be encountered every day these days, and at this frequency, at most, a day and a half can be used to fill the gap in vehicles. ”

"Herein lies the problem. Erlan smiled bitterly: "I'm worried that the other party will do something on the vehicle we bought." After all, our opponent is President Kara, and even if he doesn't come forward himself, the number of talents he can mobilize is quite large, and there are talents in all aspects, in case someone can set a trap on the carriage, maybe they will really succeed. ”

"Ha, if that's the case, can you guarantee that the other party won't think of our concerns in advance and then set a trap on the carriage in the village?" said Pannis: "If the other party will do this, then it will be the same whether we go back to move the carriage or buy the carriage on the road, there will be no difference in risk, there is no need to go back and choose the troublesome way, and if the other party will not do this, then there is no need to turn back." So theoretically, it's easiest to do what Catherine said, and there's no difference in reliability. And don't forget, we're still here, we've beaten each other back three times along the way, even if it's a fourth, a fifth, we can do the same. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thanks to the book friends Oh Latin, they have rewarded 300 starting coins.