An awkward atmosphere permeated the ranks. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

There were more than 20 people at the time of departure, and at this moment, including the three undercover agents who escaped, more than half of the staff had been reduced. Although the act of hunting itself has a certain degree of danger, and if a natural disaster such as a flash flood occurs suddenly, no matter how strong the ability is, the strongest person will die, but ten people were lost in one operation, and then Gironimo, as the leader of the squad, revealed the fact that he colluded with the Batti merchant group to steal the goods, and obviously no matter how broad-minded a person is, there is no way to forgive all this directly.

The alienation began to permeate the squad, and the people, including the two blue-card mercenaries and the young mercenaries such as Opiumio and Federo, deliberately kept their distance from the squad leader, and their distrust of the leader even began to extend to the old Juan next to him, and even they seemed to wonder if the old hunting expert with a goatee and squinting eyes was also with Gironimo.

At this moment, the party is still a considerable distance from the town, although there is no need to go on a hunting mission, but who knows what kind of danger will be encountered in this wilderness, in any case, if it begins to show signs of division, it will inevitably make the already difficult way home further dangerous. But the east is not bright and the west is bright, and he has lost trust in his leader and employer, as the lifesaver of all others, if Henry and Mira are not there, everyone is afraid that they have become dead souls at this moment, and the respect brought by gratitude is mixed with some other emotions, and naturally, the two who were originally inconspicuous, one big and one small, have become the heaviest characters in the team at this moment.

The Sage and the First Miss of Loan are also free mercenaries, in other words, they are in the same situation as the other two blue-card mercenaries and even novice mercenaries like Euphemio and Federo, and the second point is that the outstanding performance of the two of them in the previous face against the Barty Merchant Group, decisively and directly killing and injuring a bunch of thugs of the Barty Merchant Group, including Christo, also proves that they cannot be on opposite sides.

Deeply aware of this atmosphere and signs in the team at this moment, our Sage naturally has no intention of letting this continue. Through some cooperation and conversation, he and Mira, who now have gained the respect of the others, have managed to calm the atmosphere again, and although the embarrassment and apathy remain, at least everyone acquiesces to the fact that they still exist as a whole party before returning to town.

If you want to survive in the wild, you have to cooperate with other people, and it is very difficult to survive on your own. Fortunately near civilized areas, hunters like Juan Sr. and Federo will still go together even if they enter the deep mountains, even if they only temporarily leave the group to hunt. The unknown is always frightening, and while humans who are adept at summarizing and preserving knowledge already know a lot about plants and animals, it is still a pitiful number compared to the total number of lives that exist in the vast unexplored wilderness.

Even dragons are so large that you can spot their movements from afar, and humans are familiar with only a few living environments that are relatively close to humans and are more numerous. There are many, many large omnivorous hypnosaurs like the Aya Basiosaurus, the target of this failed hunting mission, and some hunters who don't know much about it also call other basiosaurs that look similar but only have different skin color and body size, and some limbs are also called Aya Basiosaurus, and it will be a hard job to completely determine the categories of all these creatures, and the southern lords who only care about skinning them to sell them for money will naturally not have this leisure and elegance.

But one yard is one yard, although the previous collision and trampling of a young female snake dragon caused a lot of material damage and the death of four personnel. Among the creatures that live in these rich rainforests of the south, it is still one of the tame ones.

The snake dragon causes no more than 100 human casualties every year, because it lives on both sides of the Black Iron River basin deep in the jungle, the vast majority of the dead killed by them are killed only if they want to enter the territory to steal dragon eggs or hunt juvenile individuals, compared to the wolf lizards and a large number of other carnivores who will choose to actively attack lone humans, which are the real culprits responsible for the large number of human disappearances every year.

But despite this, as the old adage goes, "Danger is always hidden where you can't see it", these medium- to large-sized carnivorous creatures that look just as fierce are not the most dangerous for humans in this vast and mysterious rainforest.

Spiders, scorpions, centipedes, snakes, and even frogs.

Compared with the huge wolf lizard, these creatures are very small and have no courage at all, in the hundreds of millions of years of evolution, in order to protect themselves or hunt, they have evolved powerful toxins, although the fangs of most spiders are not capable of biting through human skin, but some particularly poisonous individuals once they fall on you and are frightened, open their fangs and pierce into the flesh and blood, releasing a lethal dose of venom -

The rapid onset of poison can transport you to another world before you can receive any effective medical treatment.

Judging where to go and where not to go is not overly nervous but must be cautious, in the forests of the south there is a small species of pit viper, this snake and all their relatives are the absolute most dangerous of all snakes. The first reaction of most venomous snakes when encountering humans is not to attack but to intimidate, rattlesnakes in the grassland will flutter their tails and make a "rustling" sound, and in the desert, cobras will stand upright and open their skin folds in an attempt to show that their bodies are larger.

These poisonous creatures, feared by humans and what most people talk about, are only animals, and the nature of most poisonous creatures is destined to not choose to attack when they encounter animals larger than their own size - only pit vipers, only pit vipers, whether in the tropics like the south and Soladin or in the temperate zone like Avenella, all pit vipers will suddenly attack without warning as soon as you step into their territory.

In the long history of human beings, many people have died in the mouths of this poisonous snake, and the descendants who have grown up from the pain have naturally summed up their habits - they like to stay near the water, and like to stay under the dense fallen leaves and debris in the forest.

Knowing their habits and trying to avoid them if they can't be provoked, humans have taken such measures against many dangerous creatures - and this of course includes the presence of tiny creatures such as the drought locust, which the natives have been using as a harbinger of climate change.

The power of the locust has been seen in the swamps of the Ridaila Wetland region, but unlike the aquatic grasshopper that exists in the water, the dry leech, a species unique to the tropics, often attaches its body to the branches of shrubs and small trees - when it is not sucking blood, its thin brown appearance is difficult to distinguish from the branches, and a human or other creature who accidentally burrows in this direction will inevitably suffer a baptism.

Returning to the city is a shortcut to take a more rugged and narrow mountain road, although the time has been shortened a lot, but the bushes and branches on both sides also brush the bodies of everyone from time to time, and when a certain section of the road is walked inattentively, several young mercenaries suddenly attracted long locusts. Realizing that they stayed in the future, these sons and brothers in the south naturally inevitably wanted to tear off in a hurry, and it was a real loss that they took a different path when they came, otherwise their undisciplined appearance would have come out earlier.

The suction cup is very tight, and if it is pulled hard, even if the locust body is pulled off, the suction cup remains in the skin, which will make the wound inflamed and painful. Fortunately, the experienced Juan could not have been unprepared for this, and the old mercenary took out a bottle of liquor from the remaining supplies, and smeared it a little, and succeeded in causing the locust to fall on its own initiative.

Opiumio stomped his feet frantically in a rage to trample the tough soft-bodied creatures, but old Juan on the other side found two twigs and picked them up one by one, and it happened that the group also stopped to rest like this, so he poured some water and some wine into another small pot, and then rinsed the locusts, as if he was going to cook them and eat them.

"Evil—" Opiumio dodged in the other direction, Old Juan shook his head and sighed, while Gironimo, who was silently carrying a greatsword on his back, walked over and sat down next to him. The novice mercenaries opened the cauldron on the other side and began to boil relatively normal food, and after that clash with the Batty merchants, several days passed in succession, and now they were not too far from the town, and after half a day's walk, they should be able to come to the outskirts of the hunting area where there are signs of human activity.

The remaining dry food and salted meat, which had been carefully preserved until now, could finally be eaten and the locusts wriggled and rolled in the cauldron, and old Juan got up to examine the two snake eggs covered with wet earth in the leather bag carried by a horse that had been brought from the dead of the Barti carter, and could not help but shake his head and sigh again.

"Are you afraid that the survival rate is not high?" Henry, who had broken a piece of palm core nearby, reached out and threw half of it to him, then glanced at Jerónimo next to him, and then folded off another piece and threw it away.

"yes...... After all, the snake dragon is a social animal, and the method of hatching is ...... We all know that the snake dragon left after giving birth and let them grow on their own, but we don't know if it's due to environmental factors or whatever, and no one has succeeded in the same way until now. The mercenary squad leader took half of the palm core in a daze, and then looked at Henry, who he didn't think he was getting along with in his opinion, and old Juan said this, and covered the leather bag again, and then carefully checked the position below, lest the snake dragon egg crack and break in the shock.

"Anyway, it's good to be back. He sighed for the third time, then glanced up at his surroundings, a sentence that made everyone around him feel the same way. The hunt had been a long and troubled one, and now that they were safely approaching the vicinity of town, they couldn't help but feel relieved at the thought of returning to their homes or inns to enjoy the civilized world and say goodbye to the damn wilderness.

The only ones who are still frowning are Ofimio and Jerónimo, the two main culprits of all this disaster.

Although he likes to gag, the young green card mercenary is not a fool who doesn't understand the sins he has committed, he just habitually wants to play clever like in the past to get through, and a few days ago, he finally understood some truth after experiencing a life-and-death situation again, so he also lowered his head, as if reflecting on his own mistakes.

"It's back, it's back, but there's no way to live. A self-deprecating wry smile appeared on Heronimo's stiff face, it was extremely rare for a middle-aged mercenary like him to show such a weak expression in front of his subordinates, but in the case of public criticism, the only face that could be saved, even if he insisted on continuing to show majesty without giving others a good look, he still couldn't change the predicament in front of him.

Therefore, as if a broken jar was broken, the mercenary squad leader relaxed his whole body, looked up at the sky, and suddenly let out a decadent sigh.

Old Juan next to him was silent, he stirred the scalded and curled locusts in the small pot with a small twig, and then looked at Henry, paused for a while, and then said unhurriedly: "This matter is not over like this. ”

He said: "If you want to blame, you should also blame those enemies of the Barty Chamber of Commerce, the Mercenary Guild has turned a blind eye to these guys for too long, and if they continue to run rampant like this, what life can normal people live." ”

Juan Sr. said, his words in exchange for the two blue card mercenaries and the novices unanimously agreed, these two free mercenaries named Enrique and Fernando are not as good as Henry and Mira, but they can be regarded as a good player, with the help of armor, although they were embarrassed in the previous battle, but they only suffered some not too serious damage, after a few days of recovery, it is basically fine.

"Let's go back to the group together, I'll help you speak, this trip has lost so many people, we need every ounce of strength to deal with the Batty merchant group now. Old Juan said this, and his tone was very sincere, and he did not want to play with Jerónimo at all. The tall and strong mercenary squad leader was stunned for a moment, then nodded to Old Juan with a little gratitude, but finally lowered his head and sighed.

"Even if you help me speak, what can you do, you're just a hunting expert...... he sighed, and the old Juan next to him stopped his movements, and for some reason glanced at the sage again—the latter shrugged his shoulders and looked calm, while the old hunting expert shook his head and sighed, then tapped the stick on the edge of the pot to dry it, and then set it aside, turning back and walking towards his warhorse.

"I said you haven't thought about it, a second-tier team that trains newcomers, led by a squad leader who has long been in contact with the Batty Merchant Group, sent out an old and frail guy like me, isn't it here to monitor you to see if there are any undercover agents among these newcomers who have infiltrated the mercenary group. "Uh-" Everyone including a few novices and Gironimo looked at him stunned, and old Juan glanced at Henry next to him again, and then lowered his head to look at something he had taken out of his horseback purse: "Some people have already guessed it......"

"Really, can't there be a few clever people in the 'my' mercenary group? He said, then slowly raised the item in his hand: "If the words of a hunting expert aren't enough to reassure you, then how about this." ”

"Vice-Captain's Badge......" Jerónimo stared at his big eyes in a daze, and the elder Juan, as if infected by Henry, shrugged his shoulders and continued, "My real name is Juan V. Felex, one of the deputy leaders of the 'Lucky'1 mercenary group......"

"The current regimental commander, Eugene V. Felex, is my son, do you think that is enough weight. The old mercenary said this, and the five mercenaries of the surviving mercenary group, including Jerónimo, quickly got down on one knee and faced their immediate superiors with great respect.

"Alas...... Get up. Old Juan sighed, then took the mercenary group's badge back.

......

Time passed slowly, and after another day passed, Henry and his party finally returned to the town where they set off, and the guards on the border of such a large mercenary group as lucky were naturally quite familiar, seeing them return with heavy losses like this, the soldiers guarding the gate were so frightened that they ran behind them in fright, wanting to find the officers above to receive them, to find the doctor and other figures, and hurriedly provided them with all the support they needed.

And after revealing the emblem of the deputy head of the mercenary group, Lao Juan, as a figure with a head and a face, naturally had to talk to them in detail. He deliberately downplayed the mistakes of his teammates, and instead began to harshly denounce the existence of the Barty Caravan robbers, and described a lot of details of the battle, in the spirit of telling the truth to make those listening next to him feel like they were so scarred because they had encountered the robbers.

The art of calculation and speech was naturally not something that a mere squad leader like Gironimo could understand, but in short, after a short period of time, it was not until the evening of the day of their return to the town that the group was finally able to separate and go to their respective resting places to rest.

Things like salaries will be distributed through the guild later, and at the time of parting, because the heroic act of saving people before touched the unknown corners of the hearts of these sons and brothers who can always deceive women by rhetoric, Mira is naturally inevitably treated by Federo and Offimio with a slightly sensational attitude.

Fortunately, the girl has grown more or less in her heart after this battle, and she has dealt with it calmly, after Opimio stammered uncharacteristically and Federo stammered as usual with a goodbye and a subtle statement of "I hope we can meet again in the future", she just generously gave the two of them a bright smile, and then said goodbye.

The white-haired girl and the black-haired sage who returned to the inn naturally had a good rest to recover their strength, and the long time in the field for a month or so was really exhausting, and it was really good to be able to rest at ease at this moment.

But after recuperation, Mira, who had suddenly thought of something, was driven by curiosity, and got up again, and asked Henry some questions that she had since the events of yesterday and today.

The girl's Lamani language is still at the level of simple daily communication, but she can still judge what happened through actions and a series of things, and in her sentence "Why did Old Juan choose to forgive Jerónimo, he obviously did collude with the Barti merchant group, even if he later came forward as a member of the team, he couldn't change the fact that he wanted to kill his companion before, why could he be easily re-accepted?" After this question was raised to Henry, sure enough, our Almighty Sage began to speak to her again in that calm tone.

"It was only after working in the lucky mercenary group for many years that he failed to get a promotion before he came up with such an idea, and although his plan was somewhat considered in the execution stage, it was full of loopholes and was obviously thought of by a layman. The sage briefly recounted the details of his conversation with Juan Sr., which he had not been able to tell Mira, before proceeding.

"If he is a person who is more good at playing tricks, then he will definitely not collude with the forces that he has already been found to have contact with, but will find another force, after all, even if the plan is successful, the possibility of someone suspecting that he will be found out by Shun Teng is also quite high. Henry said, and Mira nodded earnestly: "So this Mr. Captain, as he seems, is actually an impulsive man with no real mind." ”

She said, this time the sage changed: "Yes, but no matter what, he has been in the mercenary group for a long time, if he is punished like this and removed from the mercenary group, an orange mercenary who knows a lot of information inside the mercenary group will obviously cause more harm if he wanders around uncontrollably." ”

"Juan's statement that he wants to do something with the Barty Merchant Group is true, and if he drives Gironimo out at such a critical juncture, who do you think he will choose first with hatred?"

“...... That's true. Mira sat on the edge of the bed and said thoughtfully.

"So it's better to control him inside the mercenary group, this person doesn't have any advanced schemes and city government, and even his own plans can't be well hidden, plus this time so many of his subordinates have been killed, and no one will definitely follow him loyally, in other words, although old Juan forgave him, in fact, the road after Jerónimo will not be very smooth. Henry picked up the glass next to him and took a sip of water, the wealthy Southern City-State Alliance, which is a rare fragile item on the West Coast, is common, and he continued: "Although it is said that he is forgiven, or maybe he will be promoted without punishment in the future, his future as a hunting mercenary ends here." ”

"There is a name, no real power, and the mercenary group is used as a cage for house arrest. ”

But despite this, Gironimo was not punished for such a big mistake, and he would be grateful to Old Juan for bringing it all about, and he would certainly not think about the rebellion again. The sage drank the water from the cup, and Mira, who had heard all this, was silent for a moment, then exhaled slowly, and said in a tone that was not very high.

"Clever and calculating......" she said, Henry put down his glass, and shrugged, "That guy is quite dangerous, and he knows a lot about relationships and humanity here, not to mention. ”

"It's like some terrible sage. Mira rolled her eyes, and Henry shrugged again.

"By the way, what will be like Orphemio? ”

"The worthless newcomer will probably still be kicked out, although he has experienced two life and death moments, he has somewhat changed, but when he returns to this materialistic town, he will soon be revealed again. ”

"After all, people are very tender and changeable," the sage looked out the window through the glass, and everywhere was bright, and a single town was almost more prosperous than the richest city on the other side of Avenella.

"It's cruel, this place, this world. Mira rolled over and grabbed the soft pillow.

"That's what it is, Mira. Henry stepped forward and opened the window, letting the cool night breeze blow into the room.

"That's what it is. ”

......

Note: Felex means lucky, so the so-called lucky mercenary group actually reads as the Ferex mercenary group, and if the surname is exactly the same as the mercenary group, everyone will naturally guess it. In order to distinguish between mercenary groups and individuals, different terms are used. (To be continued.) )