Characters in this chapter: (Hantus), (Victor), (Alleyne).

≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡

Chapter 014: (Reunion and Parting)

On this war-torn continent, the biggest beneficiary is a free man without faith like a mercenary, whether it is a god or a demon is no different for a mercenary, and the countries on the continent of Calradia will hire formed mercenaries to fight, as long as the price is right, they will do anything.

Live a life of licking blood all day long, most of them are soldiers who are obsessed with war or veterans who have achieved nothing after retiring, the swords in their hands have become a tool for them to make money, as long as they are alive, they have money to earn, they have to spend their lives, they eat when they are hungry, they are sleepy and sleepy, and the life that mercenaries want is so simple.

In their spare time, these mercenaries who work hard for money will go to the tavern for a few drinks or spend the night in the brothel. The liquor sold in the taverns in Chanda City is getting more and more expensive, but the business in these taverns is still booming.

Every night, the defenders of Chanda City from different countries pack their weapons and are willing to come here to hear distant stories and news from their homeland, and of course no one will fully believe what they hear, there will always be more cowhide kings in the tavern than wine glasses.

Even in the summer, it is still cold at night, perhaps because of its location on the edge of the Vigian snowfields. The cold wind blowing from the northeastern snowfields blew uncontrollably against the guards who cowered behind the city walls.

Walking down the street, Hantus clasped his arms and strode towards the tavern in front of him, thinking that he would have to buy a warmer coat next time. As soon as he walked into the tavern, the peculiar atmosphere quickly made him forget about the cold. Maybe everyone is like this, that's why they want to come to the tavern!

At a table in the corner on the right side of the tavern, a preoccupied Victor was sitting there chatting with a few fellow mercenaries, and he had been staring at the tavern door when he saw the figure who had just advanced from the tavern door, and he raised his hand and shouted at the other party, "Hantus, here!"

When Hantus saw this, he walked over and sat down beside his fellow who had been born and died, and then he beckoned to the bartender, "A bottle of the strongest soyu." ”

At this time, several mercenaries sitting around Victor got up and left with great interest, and walked to a long table nearby and sat down, including those mercenaries who had been taught a lesson by Hantus with his fists and kicks two nights before.

Hank's left eye was still slightly swollen with a black circle, Roman's square nose was almost not broken by a punch, and several other mercenaries were also slightly injured, but fortunately none of them hurt much.

Hantus unscrewed the wine cork and first filled himself with a full glass, then he took the glass and poured a large sip of ale into his mouth, "Happy, really happy," he said after filling himself with another glass, "They're all your people?"

"Yes," said Victor, with a grim expression, "you beat them that night, and if you hadn't struck them with that arrow, I'm afraid they'd have fought you with them." ”

Hantus smiled a little awkwardly, "I drank too much that night, and I got excited on the spur of the moment," he glanced at the mercenaries sitting at the other table, "Your men are all fine, right?"

"This little injury is nothing to those of us who lick life from the knife point. Victor looked at his former companion with some concern and said, "You are really uneasy. ”

"I, I don't have to worry about you," Hantus disagreed, with a somewhat contemptuous smile, "and with your men, I can still pack them up when ten or eight come." ”

Victor glanced at him meaningfully and shook his head slowly, "You haven't changed at all over the years, your personality is still so straightforward, and you always don't care about the consequences." ”

Facing the commander who still cared about him, Hantus smiled and said, "Am I not alive and well? and my body is no worse than yours!" ”

Victor no longer talked to the old boy, he difled the topic and asked, "Where have you been all these years without news from you?"

"When the battle was over, like most soldiers, I was dismissed by the army," said Hantus, "and I returned to my hometown with my salary, and with the money I had earned my life, I built a few houses in the village, and lived a quiet and stable life." ”

Victor took over, "I went to the small village you said you used to talk about looking for you, but the people in the village said you were gone again. ”

"Then there was a group of snowy bandits who burned and plundered near the village, and the lord sent someone to hire a team of mercenaries from Chanda to exterminate the bandits," Hantus poured another sip of wine into his throat, and continued, "Your Excellency knew that I had been a soldier and was familiar with the surrounding situation, so he sent me to follow these mercenaries to destroy the bandits. Later—"

"—and then you became one of the mercenaries. Victor finished the following words for him.

Snow bandits are the main threat to law and order in the Virginia Plateau, and by being hunters, they apply their animal hunting skills to hunt and kill, even armed caravans need to be careful in the snowy fields. The javelins and bows of the snow bandits were deadly. They will suddenly approach their prey and attack.

"I have killed a Nord pirate with a heavy crossbow on the coast of Zhivacheze, and I have killed a snow leopard with an arrow in the easternmost snowfield," Hantus recounted, "and I will be a bounty hunter when there is no war, and I will divide a caravan with my fellow travelers when I am destitute." ”

"And what about your companion?" guessed Victor with a look of suspicion, "you're not going to tell me, are you alone now?"

"They're all dead," said Hantus, grimly. "At least in my heart, they're all dead. Hantus reminded himself that they had betrayed me, that they were not my companions, that they were all dead, dead...... Perhaps the word betrayal is not in their minds at all.

Victor was speechless, and after a while, he slowly spoke, "Haven't you thought about joining other teams?" he suddenly emphasized, "It is almost impossible for a person to survive in this continent where bandits are rampant and war-torn are endless. ”

"I thought about it, but now I don't need it. ”

This answer surprised Victor and puzzled him at the same time. "You're not going to be a mercenary?"

"You're right," Hantus told him, "I got a job from a noble woman this morning that I couldn't refuse. ”

"What kind of job is it?" asked Victor curiously, "and what kind of reward did she promise you so much that you couldn't refuse?" He wanted to say, "Brother, as long as you join my team, what she can give you, I can give you too."

"To be the head of her father, the lord of Kugit, as a guard and head of the sect," replied Hantus, with a dry laugh, "a monthly payment of 30 dinars, and above all a guarantee that I would have an endless supply of wine every day. ”

Victor didn't know what to say, and after a moment of silence, he said, "This is indeed a good choice for you." He knew in his heart that this was exactly the errand that those of them who licked their lives dreamed of. He could no longer find a reason to force himself to invite his brothers, who had been born and died together, to join him. "Come, for our reunion, I salute you with this cup. ”

Hantus took his glass and drank it down. Victor filled their glasses with booze, "This one is for our parting." ”

In front of the bar in the lobby of the tavern, Alleyne only drank two glasses, then lowered his head and looked at the dagger in his arms, which was the relic of a dead mercenary, the dagger was polished brightly, the sharp edge of the knife scraped his hand, and the comfortable grip gave his hand a good feel.

At the end of his gaze, just as he was about to have another drink, Alleyne saw a lean young man in the tavern keep approaching the drunken mercenaries, and then stuffed something into his pocket, which was the mercenaries' money bags.

The quarrel between Hank the Big Man and Roman the Little Man caught the mercenaries' attention, and the half-drunk mercenaries shouted excitedly, unaware that a thief had taken their money bags with them.

The thief met Alleyne's gaze, as if nothing had happened, and he flashed out of the tavern as if nothing had happened, and Kress put away his dagger and chased after him.

The young man walked into an alley, which was a dead end.

Alleyne stopped, listening carefully to the sounds around him, until a man climbed over the low courtyard wall and landed behind him, he was not drunk, he had already prepared, and the moment the man landed, Ellen reacted.

"This is the most common sneak attack tactic that only a stupid thief like you can think of!" Alleyne took a step back, his elbow slamming into the man's chest, and instead of a young man's scream, a tall, stocky middle-aged man fell out of the way.

Something fell to the ground, and by the faint lights of the street at night and the sound of landing, Alleyne was sure it was a single blade.

A sense of foreboding overflowed in the depths of Aren's heart. Immediately after, three strong men with weapons appeared in the dead end, and Ellen rolled on the spot to dodge the large wooden hammer that smashed it, and at the same time picked up the single knife on the ground.

The body of the first strong man fell to the ground under Alleyne's first slash. The second person rushed up right after, using a simple but practical move from years of mercenary experience, sideways to dodge the blade that slashed from above.

In the next moment, the wrist of the strong man holding the knife was firmly grasped by him, and he wanted to kick it from the bottom up, but after thinking about it carefully, it was a bit too cruel. The kick turned into a kick, and the strong man clutched his stomach and fell to his knees, his single knife also held in Alleyne's hand.

The last strong man who rushed to the end waved the big wooden hammer in his hand, the heavy wooden hammer broke through Ellen's block, and the single knife in his right hand fell to the ground, he simply dropped the left hand to the ground, and rushed to the last strong man with his bare hands.

Ducking his head to dodge a horizontal blow, the strong man's head was hit hard by Alleyne's punch, and the movement of his hands slowed down. There was no chance to be missed, Alleyne's right hand touched his waist, and then he rushed forward, straddled his right leg behind the strong man, and tripped him with a simple trick that a child would have.

However, one of these moves is something that a child can't, and while tripping the strong man, Alleyne's right hand holds the dagger he has just drawn, and the sharp blade brushes the strong man's ankle, and he will never be able to stand up.

The young man curled up in the alley with a few money bags in his arms, looking at each other tremblingly.

Alleyne stepped forward slowly, pulled a total of six money bags from his trembling arms, and then uttered a sentence like all rich young masters. "It's not easy for you, come here, I'll give you something. ”

The young man obediently came over, but what Alleyne gave him was not money, but a heavy punch.

By the time he collapsed into the alley with black eyes and bright red foam, Alleyne had already turned away, leaving him with only two words, and those two words were scum.

Alleyne pushed open the door of the tavern, and the mercenaries who were anxiously searching for the money bag were embarrassed to retrieve the money bag he had taken back one after another. He then joined the mercenary companions in a drink, and got drunk as usual. As mercenaries, they cherish this hard-won vent.

Memories were like a necklace with broken threads, and when Alleyne opened his eyes again, it was already the next morning.

Quickly put on his equipment, he went to the owner of the tavern to get the flag entrusted to him to keep, most of the mercenaries woke up, and the faces of the mercenaries who had woken up returned to their former calm, without the excitement, happiness, and sadness of being drunk.

All because they are mercenaries, they must face their fate. That is, to face the impending death at every moment with courage and calmness.

When this moment really came, as mercenaries, like all mercenaries on the mainland, they did not make friends with anyone, they depended on each other for life and death, but they did not have the slightest friendship. All this is just to lay down the tears of the living when the dead are gone.

The team set off after breakfast, and Ellene, like many mercenaries, silently repeated his fantasies in his heart, which could also be called pursuit, which was just an excuse for the mercenaries to fill the spiritual emptiness. But he persevered.

The team left Chanda, and Ellen walked in the vanguard column, answering his questions with the simplest answers, as he had done for years. "I hope that one day, I can protect all the weak and the right. At that moment, maybe just for a second, Alleyne really longed for this ideal to become a reality.

The sunshine without clouds was particularly bright in the summer, and Ellen's mind jumped to the dead mercenary companions in the many wars he had been a mercenary in the past few years, which made his otherwise calm breathing a little nervous, and he closed his eyes and silently reminded himself.

"To cherish all that is alive is to regret the best of all that has passed. Alleyne brushed the flashes that flashed through his mind with the words an old mercenary had told him. The gray figure that once lived alive beside him, under the calm mercenary shell, the fragile soul baptized by death.

≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡

http://www.biquge.info

Starting Point Chinese www.biquge.info welcome the majority of book friends to come and read, the latest, fastest, and most popular serialized works are all original at the starting point!