The plains of Ecasta are beautiful.
It is vast and has only slight undulations. Most of its area is covered by green grass. The life on both sides of the lush plain, nurtured by the meandering Galliar River, needs no elaboration, but far away from the center - beyond Protasia - which means guardian in the language of the West Coast, it appropriately Describing this piece of forest, when you go to the coastline where the vegetation is relatively sparse and covered with silver-like sandy beaches due to the biting cold wind blowing all year round, you will still not be short of beautiful scenery.
The endless feeling of a line between sea and sky is more obvious than the green behind it. The calm tide of the light blue Mobigas sea near the beach rises and recedes with a very small amplitude. Even though there are few people here now because of the cold wind in autumn, in midsummer, many residents of the west coast countries will choose to come here in their free time.
On sunny days, the entire Ecasta Plain seems to be the best masterpiece of the gods. The bright light shines on the leaves of the trees, and the grass reflects the light from dark blue to tender green. Everything, everything, is amazing. I couldn't help but become cheerful from the bottom of my heart.
——Perhaps because of this, the caravan and carriage team that Henry and Mira were in seemed so lively today.
The dazzlingly beautiful scenery makes you feel that even the air you breathe in your mouth becomes exhilarating. Perhaps it is because of this that the scholar Alfred Bocaid, who was also born in the Ecasta Plain, wrote this in his work.
"Go out and take a look - you are troubled right now."
"When you see the magnificence of the beautiful scenery in this world and realize your own insignificance, you will find that no matter what difficulties are in front of you, they are nothing compared to them."
"call……"
Mira let out a small breath.
The sunny weather greatly improved the Luoan girl's somewhat depressed mood in the past two days - she looked to the side and saw that Henry at this moment was not a mercenary guard but a carriage driver.
All this has to start from yesterday.
Although there have been conflicts of this kind, it has not been spread due to the wise decision of the caravan guard chief. Henry, who handed over the big sword and only carried two small daggers, looked like an ordinary traveler. .
So our Mr. Sage, who didn't care at all about all this, really wandered around like a traveler with nothing to do - this made Mira, who felt that she had harmed Henry and had her weapon confiscated, feel like a fool. But everything will fade away with time.
Ecasta's south-to-north road travels through the forest.
It took two days to set off, passing through the edge of the Protasia Forest on the east side, turning northwest and spending a whole day heading to Ellen's Fortress, and then walked north for two days to enter the Sivalier territory.
This road is used by merchants and travelers all year round. Mercenaries and adventurers will choose the more direct shortcut, and the merchants obviously make such a choice for safety reasons.
Traveling alone is dangerous, so if you are traveling with others, it will be safer to have someone watching you.
But human nature is complex. When the number of people acting together increases to more than a thousand, the problem does not only come from the wilderness environment and dangerous creatures. The reason for choosing to spend more time taking roads as close to settlements or castles as possible is because of this consideration, so that when conflicts arise or troublesome things arise, you can seek nearby support.
The conflict between Henry and the blond boy Bennie is an example. Under Avenella's law, killing without trial is not abusing lynching in situations that threaten life. As long as more than five witnesses can confirm this, it can be judged as murder.
Although with the connections and wealth in Benny's family, he could completely ignore all of this and start directly, the fighting power that Henry showed yesterday immediately made him and Mira label "untouchable" in the eyes of insiders. .
Even if the people from the Chamber of Commerce really wanted to capture him, there would still be no suspense, but things would definitely escalate and cause a lot of troubles - not to mention that as a real manager, for the sake of an incompetent son-in-law, It's not a big deal to offend a seemingly powerful mercenary.
They really have to weigh things up.
In short, the whole matter fell into a stalemate. Our Loan girl didn't know this and was still troubled, but to Henry it was no big deal.
The whole thing was always under his control. Our Mr. Sage, who seemed a little uninterested, started wandering around.
This business road in Ecasta is so famous that it is naturally not only used by people from large chambers of commerce. The light carriage that led the way yesterday afternoon got caught in the 'gifts' left by other merchants who passed by in front.
The commercial road has not undergone any repairs, but there are more people using it, so it has become a road by convention.
The entire road was therefore just dirt compacted by years of walking, without any particularly solid surface - making it as troublesome to traders during the rainy season as anywhere else on this plain.
But that aside, what faced the caravan drivers yesterday under fine weather was another problem that often occurs on this road - human factors.
A large pool of water and countless depressions that were obviously where the carriage had traveled blocked the front of the car. Henry, who was in the forefront at the time, easily understood what was going on.
As we mentioned before, the city of Ashenil is located in the center of the Ecasta Plain, close to the great river Galil that originates here - so aquatic products have always been sold by Avenella merchants. a stable cargo.
In order to keep all kinds of fish, shrimp and crabs alive during transportation, they must be packed in wooden barrels filled with water. It is self-evident that the carriage loaded with large and small fresh food barrels is heavy. If such a carriage is not of good quality, If it is good, it is easy to have an accident in which the wheel or axle is damaged, causing the barrel to tip over to the ground.
The problem was judged in this way. From the traces above that deepened the depth of the pits, it can be seen that many carriages passed through this place with difficulty before the caravans united. Their choice to rush over obviously further deepened the difficulty for Henry and the others to pass - but this did not trouble Henry, who had the reputation of a sage. Just when the coachmen were in trouble, he took a step forward and proposed A simple and easy to understand solution.
This plan is divided into two steps. The first is to dig a channel to drain the accumulated water; and the second is to temporarily unload part of the cargo of the open carriage, remove the strips of wooden planks and lay them on the muddy road. section.
This simple and clear solution made the carriage drivers' eyes light up immediately. In the past, when they encountered such a situation, they only relied on manpower and horse power to drag the carriage over. No one could find a solution that could be solved quickly by using local materials. Never thought about it - with this thought in mind, the coachmen were convinced that Henry must be an experienced coachman.
So, our wise man became the driver of the leading carriage by accident. This made Adela, who ran over to watch from behind, dumbfounded, but the red-haired mercenary deputy captain was relieved to see that the two did not cause more trouble.
The days passed leisurely and fulfillingly, the sun rose and set, and today was another sunny day.
The coachmen sang in unison the same songs they sang when the Assinian people settled here more than a hundred years ago. The songs sung in the dialect of the Avenera folk were full of life and joy, and the lyrics and melodies were full of joy. The vitality and longing for the future make the listener involuntarily start to nod slightly along with its rhythm.
There are many people among the free mercenaries who know this song. The sight of hundreds of people singing the same song in a long motorcade made the passengers behind them couldn't help but poke their heads out of the carriage. Watching this scene curiously.
The sun was shining brightly. After climbing this gentle uphill slope, Henry and Mira were the first to see a small fortress standing straight on the horizon in the distance, reflecting the golden light in the sun.
Fort Ellen can be seen visually - but Henry, who was covering his eyes with his hands and half-squinting his eyes due to the sunlight, became gloomy the next second.
"Stop!" He turned his head and shouted towards the carriage behind him. The driver of that carriage was an old man with a white beard holding a horn - he was wondering why this tall senior driver called stop. The next second His still bright brown pupils widened.
"Oh my God!" Dozens of small shadows on the horizon on that side quickly and quietly approached this side. The old man with a white beard took out his horn and blew it when he had enough energy - loudly. The sound of the trumpet overshadowed Henry's next words. It sounded a long sound, followed by three short sounds. Then it went back and forth like this. Everyone in the caravan who recognized the signal turned around with a "swish" He nodded, his eyes filled with nervousness.
"The thieves are attacking!" Armstrong's head guard roared so loudly that the caravan, which was still singing and laughing just now, fell silent in an instant. Some people began to look around nervously, while more people quickly drew their weapons.
"Protect important assets, guard the first and second teams, and free mercenaries follow me!" the manager shouted, turning around and catching a trace of metal reflection, he looked at Henry's big sword, and then frowned Zhumei ordered one of his men to bring him to the sage.
——The camera turned back to the front of the motorcade. The moment the white-bearded old man's horn stopped, he finally heard the words shouted by Henry.
"Don't fight!" Our black-haired sage shouted loudly. The white-haired Luoan girl beside him had never seen Henry so anxious. Seeing that the attention of several cart drivers in front had been attracted, the sage continued to shout.
"If you want to survive, leave those goods and run into the forest! Those guys are not bandits!"
"Run quickly! Don't fight! Don't resist!"
He shouted, and then he picked up Mira in a rather unmanly manner and ran behind him.
"...What, what is he talking about?" The old man with a white beard who was responsible for blowing the horn turned his head and glanced at Henry who was running behind, then turned his head and looked ahead - and then he noticed in the air Something is shining in it——
The reflection of the sun made it difficult for him to see clearly. The old man with a white beard raised his hand to cover his eyes and watched carefully——
"Oh God—"
"Boo-hoo-boo-boo-boo-boo-boo!"
The white-spaced gray tail feathers made a whistling sound in the air, and when they reached the highest point of the launch, a dense rain of arrows fell towards the front of the convoy.
"Whoosh! Take, take, take, take, take!" One arrow after another fiercely enveloped the entire front convoy, and both the people, horses and cargo were tied into hedgehogs. At this moment, Manager Armstrong The escorts and mercenaries he brought happened to rush over.
"What the hell..." the burly head guard frowned and sighed with his thick black eyebrows, and in the next moment his eyes widened at what he saw.
"Clang and bright——" Adela, who was staying in the middle of the carriage to protect important assets in a standard formation when attacked, pulled out a half-hand sword at her waist. The wooden gun she chose when confronting Henry that day was not hers. To be honest, in the mind of the red-haired female mercenary, if she and Henry used their best weapons to fight each other, the result would be really hard to tell - she was thinking so, the next second Zhong saw the tall sage holding the white-haired girl running from the side.
"Why are you here - if I want to find your sword, the steward should have sent someone to give it to you -" she said, and Henry, who was not even breathing, turned to look at her.
"Stop fighting! Drop your things and run!" He shouted. This sentence made Adela's beautiful eyebrows wrinkle immediately, and she looked quite unhappy.
"What are you talking about? I thought you were a person who valued honor, but I didn't expect-" Adela was interrupted by Henry before she finished her sentence: "Stop fighting! Those people are not bandits at all." "What are you talking about?" ——" "Look at the flag hanging on Fort Ellen." Henry put down Mira, who was still a little dazed because of what happened suddenly. The Luoan girl stared blankly, and the sage pinched Pinching her nose brought her back to her senses.
"Woo--" The girl who woke up due to the sore nose made a cute sound, and Henry then ordered her at a very high speed.
"I'll go back and get the sword first. You run towards the back and into the forest. We're just half a day away from the forest, so if you run at full speed you'll still have time. I'll meet you soon. Do you understand?"
"Hmm... um! I understand!" Mira looked a little confused, but she had never seen Henry look so anxious, so she quickly started running. The sage turned around and ran forward, and with At the same time, Adela, who climbed up to the height of the carriage and carefully inspected Ellen's Outpost because of Henry's words, opened her emerald green eyes in shock.
"Deputy Captain, what's wrong!" the Ford mercenary below asked, and the red-haired female mercenary turned around looking a little confused.
She looked confused and just murmured as if on reflex.
"The flag of Sivalier...is hung on Fort Ellen."
"Boom——!" Earth-shattering shouts of killing came from the front.
Just based on how it sounds, it's one-sided.
