On the outskirts of the town of Kasan is a vast dark forest, the edge of which is less than three kilometers from the town. Ｘ

A small river that meanders through the town and joins a lake downstream of the town, which brings valuable drinking water to the town and waters large fields.

To the south of the lake, there are more than a dozen lumberyards, and the clearing next to it is filled with thick logs. Lumberjacks cut down trees at the edge of dark forests and process them from lumberyards into timber cubes that can be easily transported.

The timber business is the main source of income for the town, and at this time of year there are many caravans to the town of Kasan, who bring a lot of goods along with the timber they transport.

With the arrival of the caravans, the town of Kasan gradually prospered. From a camp to a village, and eventually to a town with six villages, the population of Kasan is more than 8,000 if you add the freedmen who came in search of work and the constant flow of caravans.

With such a large population, the church certainly does not turn a blind eye, and a glorious church stands right in the center of the town. Delicate and stately, the church is the most beautiful scenery in the town and the glory of the town of Kasan. In the past, the townspeople always liked to go to the church square in their leisure time to listen to the melodious bells and greet each other, a scene of joy. Today, there is not a single townsman in sight in the church square, and dozens of heavily armed soldiers stand on the periphery of the square, and the atmosphere is particularly tense.

These soldiers were tall and strong, sharp-eyed, armed with short spears and round shields, fine chain mail, and shoulder armor with the coat of arms of the Schultz family. The inhabitants of Kasan Town hid in the corners, speculating that these elite soldiers were the knight's personal guards. But whether it was the Lord who came, it must have been for the bandits who had wounded the sheriff.

The priest in charge of the church came out of the treatment room, and Kruther Schultz hurriedly greeted him and gave a knightly salute.

"Father Hansen, how is Sheriff Gray doing?"

"Praise my lord, the white crystal was sent in time, Lord Gray is no longer in trouble, and he will recover in a few days of recuperation. Father Hansen said listlessly, using three healing spells in a row that made him a little tired.

Cruther breathed a sigh of relief. When he heard that the sheriff of Cassan had been severely injured by a gang of bandits, and that the priest was in dire need of pure white crystals to preserve his strength, the lord Baron Schulze ordered Kruther to rush to his aid overnight. Cruthor hurried all the way, and finally didn't let Gray become a cripple.

"Thank you, Lord of the Supreme Light, for your protection and favor, and thank you, Father Hansen. ”

Kruther turned and walked towards the treatment room, but Father Hansen said to him, "Knight Cruther, I reserve my opinion about the identity of those men. I don't think they're bandits. The priest thought for a moment and continued: "At least, they can't be considered bandits until they wound the sheriff. ”

The priest's words moved Kruther's heart, and he humbly asked, "Father, who do you think they are?"

"They claim to be freemen merchants, and I do not see in them the ferocity or recklessness of the bandits, but they are devout believers of our lord, and they have brought back several lost lambs for our lord. ”

"Lost lambs?"

"It's a few mountain people who have lost their homes, and they are all poor children with pure hearts. May our Lord bless them. ”

The two amber in the belt made the priest's tone more compassionate, and the corners of Crusser's eyes twitched slightly, and he said helplessly, "I'll go in first to find out the situation." ”

Gray, the sheriff of Cassan, was lying on his bed, and several church attendants were removing splints and fine linen bandages from him. Seeing Lord Crusher, the knight of the clan enter, Gray said gratefully, "Lord Crusher, thank you very much! If you hadn't sent the white crystal in time, I'm afraid I would have been crippled." ”

"Don't rush to thank me yet, this is all arranged by Lord Baron. If you don't have a reasonable explanation, the adults will be angry!"

Kruther's tone was flat, but Gray shivered, and he hurriedly said, "My lord, please listen to my explanation. ”

"Say!" said Crusher, sitting down in his chair and waving his hand, several attendants rushed out.

Gray sorted out his thoughts and said, "Five days ago, a group of people came to the town, pushing a few carts, claiming to be merchants. As you know, my lord, there are a lot of caravans in the town at this time of year, so we don't really pay attention to them. The guards inspected the goods, found nothing special, and let them in after collecting the tax. These people first went to the church to pray, and I heard that they also donated some money, which is also the usual practice of the caravan, and there is nothing strange about it.

The next day, they began to sell goods to the shops, and the goods were very sought-after and soon attracted the attention of others, but the merchants paid all the money they should have paid, and they had all the dots that should be paid, so no one embarrassed them. Then, they bought a lot of salt, grain, and cloth but not wood, and this attracted the attention of the timber merchants.

Investigations by the comptoirs revealed that the merchants did not have a fleet of vehicles at all, nor did they have any family crests. They reported the situation to me, and I can't just arrest someone for this. I summoned all the business owners with whom they traded, and they dodged and pestered for a long time before they showed me the goods they traded. With such a delay, the merchants had already left the town. And those goods are all treasures of the mountains and forests, including takin skins, animal horns, honey, herbs, dried mushrooms and the like.

There are no mountain forests near the town of Kasan, so they can't be mountain people. I am reminded of the letter from my lord that the nearby Baron Murphy asked us to track down a gang of bandits who had robbed a mountain village in Barony Murphy. So, I led my cavalry in pursuit of them, only to be ambushed, and the bandits fled into the dark forest. ”

Kruther nodded noncommittally, Gray's statement was half-true and full of loopholes. The guards inspected the goods, and even if they didn't know the goods, they would report to the mayor of the town, and it was impossible for Gray not to know about it, not to mention how dare those merchants prevaricate the sheriff? Based on Crout's understanding of Gray, it should be that this group of so-called "bandits" had just entered the town and attracted the attention of Gray and the mayor, and it happened that Baron Murphy's report said that the robbers had robbed a lot of precious amber, herbs, and takin skins, worth thousands of gold soles. No matter how much water Baron Murphy's report was, it was true that these "bandits" were selling mountain goods, but Gray and the mayor did not find out that they were selling amber, so they decided to make a windfall quietly, so they did not arrest them in the town, but waited for these "bandits" to leave the town, and then killed people and seized goods, but they did not expect to kick on the iron plate, killing 3 soldiers, seriously injuring 9 people, slightly injuring 15 people, 7 of them with crippled arms, and Gray, who was a trainee knight, was also broken 4 ribs and spine, and almost became a waste.

Seeing that the sheriff Grey was seriously injured by the "bandits", the mayor of Kasan was frightened, and he hid in the Baron's castle under the pretext of asking for help, saying the same thing as Grey. When Baron Schultz learned about it, he was furious and scolded these two wastes, if they organized the arrest in the town, there would be no such a big loss. The baron was angry, but he couldn't watch his wife's nephew become a waste, so he had to spend 2,000 gold sol to buy four white crystals from the presiding priest of the realm and send them over, and let Cruthor take care of the aftermath.

Although Gray is greedy, he is also a true apprentice knight, and his martial arts skills are proficient, and most of the people who can easily defeat him are knights. These people have taken refuge in the dark forest, and can raid the family's lumberyard at any time, which is what Baron Schultz fears most. Cruther was now anxious to know the details, and it was better to find out which knight of the family it was, was they premeditated, and what was the purpose of doing so?

"Tell me about how you were ambushed. Don't try to mislead me! It's important, you know?"

"Yes, yes. Gray struggled to recall for a moment, and then said slowly, "I led thirty cavalrymen to catch up with them at the edge of the forest, and told them to stop for inspection, and these bandits ran faster. One of the horsemen was the first to shoot an arrow, hitting the fattest one among them. The next moment, the cavalryman was shot dead, and an arrow hit the door. Then, arrows continued to be fired from the forest, and all our horses were hit by arrows, and two cavalrymen were crushed to death on the spot. I was just trying to organize the soldiers to fight back with bows and crossbows, and the soldiers were hit by arrows, and they were shot in arms and calves that were not protected by armor.

It happened so suddenly, I didn't have time to think about it before I rushed forward, trying to leave the fleeing bandits behind. A particularly tall and burly bandit also rushed out of the woods, and he stopped me with a heavy hammer, and we fought. The bandit was a very powerful enemy, the strongest enemy I had ever encountered, and he was very skilled in martial arts, and I was no match for him at all. After a few rounds, he smashed my shield, but instead of killing me, he just punched me in the back. I passed out, and by the time I woke up, I was lying in church.

Later, I learned that the punch had broken my spine and four ribs, and that the bandits had not pursued my soldiers, but had dived into the dark forest. Father Hansen healed my internal wounds, but not my spine, and he needed pure white crystal to heal me. There weren't such high-grade white crystals in the town, so the mayor went to the adults to ask for help. You know the rest of the story. ”

Cruther touched the beard on his chin and asked, "Is the man who wounded you a knight?"

"No! His body is not at all as coordinated as a knight, his movements are not mellow enough, his speed is average, his strength is terrible, not much inferior to that of a knight, and he is fierce and brave, he has never defended from beginning to end, and it is all the same way of playing, which makes it difficult for me to parry. I think he must be a fierce warrior!" Gray affirmed.

Cruther trusted Gray's judgment, and he didn't dare to hide it on the matter.

"Did the shooters hiding in the forest use crossbows?"

"They are all ordinary hard bows, and their feathered arrows can't even penetrate my scale armor, they are amazingly accurate, they rarely miss, and they don't shoot vital points. ”

Cruther asked for a few more details, and he connected the details that the priest had said about the free folk merchants, mountain boys, fierce warriors, marksmen, weapons and equipment, and soldiers who avoided killing, and gradually came to some ideas. Although the Barony of Schulz did not have mountains, Kruther had also heard that the mountain people were skilled hunters, and he had also heard that the Buryat Territory had expelled the mountain people some time ago. These bandits may be homeless mountain people who try to occupy the mountain village of Barony Murphy, but are wanted by Baron Murphy, so they have to go to the town of Cassan to exchange some supplies, which is why they have a conflict with Gray. The only doubt is how the fierce mountain people could get involved with the freedfolk merchants, but this detail is irrelevant, as long as they don't dare to kill, the threat to Kasan is much smaller.

Kruthor breathed a sigh of relief, but also a little disappointed. From the very beginning, Baron Schultz judged that these men were unlikely to be caravans of rival families, as the mountain goods they sold were scarce in the territory and at low prices. Baron Schultz hoped that they had come to do the mountain goods business.

Schultz sells the specialties of the dark forest, and also buys the herbs that are special to the forest. Every year, Baron Schultz spends a lot of money from Baron Murphy to buy some herbs to make healing potions. Although those herbs were not scarce, Baron Murphy was only willing to sell a small number of herbs, which were very expensive. Of course, Baron Schultz was doing the same thing, and no one would sell the specialties of his domain. But no matter what, it's always a good thing to have one more trade route, at least the amount of healing potions in stock will increase.

Since these people were driven out of the mountains, they did not have the ability to continue trading. However, these mountain people are strong, and there is a powerful fierce warrior among them, if they can be recruited, this loss is nothing. Although they are now hiding in the dark forest, they will always come out when the supplies are exhausted.

Thinking of this, Cruthor made up his mind and said, "I will inform the nearby lords of the situation in the town of Kasan, and ask them to seal off the edge of the dark forest to prevent bandits from running out and plundering the village. I will be stationed in the town of Kasan for three months. As for you, when your injuries are healed, go and report to the lord yourself!"

"Yes!" Gray's face turned pale, and he knew that his good days were over.

Deep in the dark forest, the dense canopy of trees blocked out the sunlight, and only bright spots of light on the ground suggested that it was noon on the hammer.

Ten days ago, the freedfolk traders were indeed plundered by the lord, although the lord himself may not have known, but Lord Victor said that the account can only be counted on the lord's head! After defeating the lord's cavalry, the Warhammer mercenary group took the freedfolk merchants and hid in the dark forest. Except for Witch, who was hit by an arrow in the buttocks, no one else was injured. Fermi, the deputy head of the regiment leading the team into town, told Hammer that the Baron Murphy had wanted them from the surrounding lords. After carefully studying the newly purchased map and asking many questions from the bull, the three captains decided to cross the forest diagonally to the other end of the dark forest, thus avoiding Baron Murphy's sphere of influence.

Limhi is terrifying in that it is especially easy to get lost, but this is not a problem for the Warhammer mercenary group, and the Dust Falcon can fly above the canopy to show them the way. Hammer was more worried about the monsters and beasts sneaking up, but the bull told him that nothing like this could happen. Everyone was skeptical, but they walked in the forest for more than ten days, and they really didn't get attacked by beasts and monsters. The tight formation of the team became more and more loose, and everyone's mood became more and more relaxed, and the speed became much faster. Hammer knew that there were six mastiffs guarding the perimeter of the group, and that no threatening beast would be able to break through their defenses. Those powerful monsters could not hide the perception of the war mastiff, and at their prompting, the alchemy militia in charge of opening the way avoided the team from a distance.

Of course, the dark forest is not without danger, and some beasts with a ferocious nature will not let go of their prey easily, such as a fierce nightblade leopard that has been following a mercenary group, and even a war mastiff cannot drive it away. Therefore, its skin and tendons became the trophies of the mercenary group. Everyone thought that the road behind was so easy, but the mercenary group ran into a goblin tribe.

Goblins are one of the weakest monsters, but goblin clans are definitely one of the most terrifying monster tribes. Every goblin clan must have a goblin and a bear goblin, and the goblin is the smartest monster, and its wisdom is not inferior to that of humans. With the goblins, the organization, production capacity, and combat effectiveness of the goblin tribe have been multiplied and multiplied, and the goblins can even use demagoguery and deception to make low-level ogres work for them, and the bear goblins are the loyal thugs of the goblins.

Bear goblins are the size of three ordinary goblins and no more than 1.6 meters tall. Although they are not as tall as humans, they are standard ferocious creatures. Compared to other ferocious creatures, the strength of the bear goblin is not strong, but the body is extremely tough, and although the speed is not fast, the physical strength is second to none. Bear goblins have very low intelligence, even inferior to ordinary ogres, and the silver-white tower once dissected the corpses of bear goblins, and found that their skulls were three centimeters thick, and their brains were pitiful, only the size of a ground lizard egg. Such a small brain naturally can't carry much content, bear goblins don't feel pain, they don't know fear, they only do four things in their lives: eat, sleep, mate, and hit whoever the goblin tells them to. Not afraid of pain, not afraid of death, a tendon bear goblin, once it is on the scale, the knight will also go around.

The goblin clan in front of me is not large, more than 500 ordinary goblins, 2 goblins and 12 bear goblins. The goblin leader does not have ogre bodyguards, but enslaves quite a few kobold miners. As a result, the number of monsters in this group is over 800, and they are also equipped with crude iron weapons.

In fact, the alchemy militia can lead the team to avoid this goblin tribe in advance, but Victor once gave the alchemy creatures a secondary task: to detect and mark the ruins of the alchemy empire without endangering safety.