Blue-brand mercenaries are a rare creature in Chester.
As a strong proof of "better than ordinary people" fighting ability equivalent to the level of local police officers, the sapphire badges hanging on Henry and Mira's chests are eye-catching in a place with few mercenaries - plus helping to protect them The old blacksmith Rudolf went to mine and encountered a dragon lizard but was safe and sound. This is not something that happens every day to the blacksmiths, so naturally they can't help but show off to their neighbors and friends. Fan.
So, to sum up, on the third day after arriving in the small town of Chester, a total of about ten people, including masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, and hunters, came to the door and asked to hire two people to go with them for a more reliable journey. Southern areas.
The total number of people in the team was not large, but there were two carriages and three two-wheeled wooden carts.
As a mercenary, you have to take on the commissions. The direction of travel this time was to go all the way down the town, go south for a while and then turn back to the west, go to the slightly higher hard ground, and cut down the trees growing there for the carpenters to use.
The area nearby can be regarded as a rich ore area. Even if the mines are actually discovered, they are owned by nobles or big businessmen. With the idea of trying his luck to see if he can find some scattered high-quality iron ore, Rudolf sent out Two blacksmith apprentices followed him.
The mason's considerations are similar. Although there is a lot of clay that can be dug nearby, high-quality red clay is still relatively rare.
The reason for moving together was for safety reasons. The four hunters who were carrying longbows that were very similar to the format of Avenella's side obviously had the same idea. The number of more than a dozen people alone can keep most wild beasts at bay. Coupled with the rotation of sentries and the like, it is much better to have someone to look after each other than traveling alone.
The distance to the destination was about half a day's journey. After breakfast at six or seven o'clock in the morning, the group set out. At about noon, when the ground they landed on began to dry and harden, they arrived at the destination.
Although the carriage running over would still leave deep marks, both the moisture and the smell of salt in the air were much less intense than on the Chester side.
The sight of tall dark blue trees and the not-too-thick water vapor made people feel refreshed. Henry and Mira, who were riding horses in front, intentionally pulled the reins to make the horses walk at a slower speed. The hunters nearby all ran down from the carriage, carrying longbows and arrows and a small bundle of ropes for tying prey. After saying hello, they ran towards their destinations.
The clear sunlight shines through the branches of the trees onto the ground and the water of the nearby pond. Several medium-sized crocodiles are lying lazily on the shore. It is still relatively early here. For cold-blooded animals like crocodiles, the most important thing in the morning is to get enough sun to warm them up before they can start moving.
The residents of Chester are obviously aware of this habit. John, a thin, middle-aged carpenter, walked over less than five meters away from the crocodile with a wooden bucket, and then picked up a bucket of water in the pond. So that you can cook later.
Mason Jackson ran to the edge of the forest with a small shovel and started looking for high-quality red clay. The two blacksmith apprentices also followed him and walked over. The people he was guarding each found their own things to be busy with. On the contrary, Henry and Mira became idle people.
It was obviously not Mira's style to just waste time with her hands crossed. She tied the horse to a nearby tree, found an open space and began to practice some of the sword skills Henry taught her.
Raise your upper body overhead and perform a downward chop, or "rooftop" style.
"Bull pose" with the tip of the sword pointed forward at the side of the body and pointed directly at the opponent's front door.
Hold the sword in both hands and stand on the chest with the tip of the sword pointing upward diagonally at the opponent's chest in the "Plough Position".
Finally, there is the "Fool's Pose" with the sword tip hanging low on the ground.
Proficiently mastering these starting positions was Henry's most basic requirement for her. After the Luoan girl spent some time getting familiar with the operation of the long sword, he systematically taught these things to her. But what Mira didn't know was that the swordsmanship she learned was actually quite rare for ordinary mercenaries.
One thing that needs to be mentioned is. Systematic swordsmanship is actually not a popular product that can be seen everywhere in the world of Rigar.
Some clues can be seen from the symbolic meaning of the sword itself.
Since the days of the Laman Empire, the main weapon of soldiers on the battlefield has never been the long sword. This is still the case even in modern times. Knights on horseback use lances, while infantrymen use spears or battle axes. In the culture of the Skeleton pirates, swords are a status symbol that only lords can own. Over the past thousands of years, with the popularization of smelting skills, swords have become more and more popular choices, but if you really want to pay attention to it, It is said that there is still a considerable gap between the long swords and short swords used by mercenaries and the sword skills that match them, and the real sword skills.
This is a matter of course.
Taking Avenella, the starting point of our story, as an example, the kingdom was only established for more than a hundred years, but the nobles who make up the top level of the kingdom are far older than it.
Extend it further forward. They were nobles from the kingdom of Sivalier, which had a much longer history. If we looked through the genealogy and traced it back to the origin of everything, they were probably a local wealthy family hundreds of years ago.
“Aristocratic families outlast kingdoms.”
Hundreds of years. Passed down from generation to generation. The skills that excellent swordsmen have studied and summarized for these nobles, and the wisdom accumulated by these countless talented people from generation to generation cannot be compared to what a mercenary has summarized in battle.
It is true that some talented people can learn by themselves without a teacher, but if they have a master who can give them some pointers on their way forward, they will have fewer bumps and bruises, and they will be able to embark on the right path earlier. the way.
Henry taught Mira. It is a skill that can only be understood by nobles who have attended the swordsmanship academy. They are calm, composed and meticulous. The girl does not know that she is just studying many detailed skills seriously. Those mercenaries who have no connections and money have to spend their lives to do it. learn.
"Lower your center of gravity. Don't think this position looks silly. It can produce better strength."
"You forgot to put your thumb on the gauntlet again."
As if he had a pair of eyes on the back of his head, Henry could tell Mira's mistakes in her movements just from the movement, and he corrected them tirelessly. Again and again, the girl deepened her understanding of these skills that she had already basically mastered.
"Let's rest for a while. We don't know if anything will happen. It's not a good idea to use up all our strength like this." The sage handed over a piece of clean linen and wore sultry leather armor in the temperature of more than 20 degrees. Swinging a sword in hot weather. Half an hour is enough to leave you red-faced and out of breath.
The long sword was sheathed, Mira wiped her forehead, and then stopped because of the rough feeling that could be felt through the linen on her palms. After putting the linen on her shoulders, she raised her hands and stared without saying a word.
Within a few months, she had muscle soreness all over her body and blisters on her palms, and she almost fell down from exhaustion. Gradually begin to adapt to this rhythm.
There are many unsightly thick calluses on the palms of the small, slender, white and delicate palms. These are different from the calluses that were developed by swinging a sword as a helper in the past. Although the appearance is not different, For some reason, Mira felt a small sense of accomplishment.
"I'd better try a little harder!" She turned back to look at Henry, saying this with a smile in her bright eyes.
"——" Henry responded to her with the same expression, but before the smile on his lips fully unfolded, the sage turned back.
"Oh my, what's going on?"
An unpleasant sound, accompanied by the sound of metal colliding. sounded behind them.
Accompanied by the neighing of horses and the clear and orderly sound of horse hooves.
"Pa-ta-" The carpenter stopped cutting and looked at the three heavily armed knights walking from the edge of the forest on the right with horrified eyes.
"Fei Luojie, how come I seem to have seen a few untouchables come to our forest without permission and are still cutting down our trees." The young nobleman sitting on the white horse said in a playful tone With that said, he turned over and fell off the horse.
"Yes, Master, this is against the king's law." The knight attendant, who was also wearing armor and full armor, said in a similar tone. Henry turned around and walked over there, and the carpenter explained in a panic. : "Master, this is not like that. I am a carpenter from Chester and one of your subjects."
John eagerly tried to clarify all this, but Henry behind him had already judged in less than a minute that the other party did not listen well to others.
As the old saying goes, you can never wake someone who is pretending to be asleep - and the same goes for it. The other party didn't see the thieves who cut down the trees and came to seek justice. How could the carpenter clarify it?
"Shut up, you thief, stop making excuses." The young nobleman with a playful smile walked over and tried to knock John down, but the plate armor all over his body made his movements a little slow, so the carpenter hurriedly dodged. Got it.
"You..." The missed kick seemed to make the other party feel ashamed. He roared loudly: "I order you in the name of Count Rosita's son not to run away!" "Qiang——" The young nobleman pulled out the long sword at his waist, and at the same time turned around and ordered his two attendants: " Go and catch that untouchable."
"Are you sure you want to do this, young master? This is a person in the territory. If the earl is to blame for his death -" "It's okay." The young noble replied in a nonchalant tone: "Kill him and throw it into the pond. , the crocodile will solve everything."
"..." The indifferent words that did not treat people as human beings made Mira frown. Although her impression of the nobility plummeted after meeting Henry, she encountered such a guy who relied on his aristocratic status to do evil. Girls still can't help but feel annoyed and disdainful.
"Reminds you of someone?" The two of them walked quickly towards that direction, Henry asked softly, and Mira knew that he was referring to the young master Gopeni who was in the caravan.
"Money and power are not good things." The girl said thoughtfully.
"Hahaha——" The arrogant laughter of the young nobleman who claimed to be the son of Count Rosita echoed in the forest, and Henry stopped in front of John: "Run back and find the others."
The sage's calm words pointed the way to the panicked carpenter, while the young noble standing opposite him who had drawn his sword looked up at the tall mercenary. When he saw the blue badge on his chest, his expression changed obviously, but then he seemed to remember that he was now wearing full-body plate armor, so he smiled, and then took a few steps back to cover his faceplate.
"Oh, stupid mercenary, it doesn't matter if I am your opponent." The voice came from the inside of the helmet, which sounded a little arrogant. Mira, standing behind Henry, looked a little worried - she understood the strength of the sage. In terms of swordsmanship alone, he was the most powerful person she knew, but plate armor was born to withstand all kinds of attacks.
Not to mention chopping, even piercing with ordinary cold weapons cannot cause any substantial damage. The best weapons to deal with plate armor are blunt instruments such as axes or war hammers. "Otherwise, it is a special piercing weapon such as an armor-piercing awl. The effect of edged weapons such as long swords or broadswords can only be said to be unsatisfactory - are you thinking about such a thing?" Henry She said exactly what was in her mind, adding a smile at the same time.
"Yes... yes, that's what the teacher gave me in the book." Mira swallowed and seemed a little hesitant, while Henry shrugged: "Then I will teach you something that is not mentioned in the book."
He drew his sword from behind. The young nobleman on the opposite side seized this opportunity and stabbed Henry's exposed throat with his sword, but as expected, this unskilled blow was easily avoided by the sage by turning sideways.
"This is a wrong thrust demonstration. The movement is too big and the intention is too obvious." Henry, who seemed quite comfortable, still did not forget to teach Mira in this situation, and just like what he said, the young noble moved forward The tilted blow could not be recovered in time. Henry seized his opportunity and kicked directly on the chest plate.
"Bang--bang!" The young nobleman, who had difficulty moving due to the impact of his armor, fell to the ground and rolled around a few times, unable to get up for a long time. Two attendants hurriedly came over to help him, and he yelled "Ouch, ouch, ouch!" After a while, he gritted his teeth, stretched out his gauntleted hand, pointed at Henry and cursed: "Kill him!"
The sound was so sharp that it sounded like a duck being strangled, making the two of them once again have a certain sense of sight. The two attendants who had received the master's instructions - judging from the identity of the aristocratic young man's earl son, perhaps they were the real knights - put on their visors and drew their weapons. Their actions were compared to those of the young men. It is more flexible and vigorous, and even a new swordsman like Mira can see that there is a certain degree of coordination in the approaching movements.
Excellent armor and good qualities, but in contrast, this side was holding inappropriate weapons. The girl looked left and right very worried, but Henry still seemed to be taking a leisurely stroll. He turned his head and just faced Mi. La said calmly: "Look carefully."
"Bangqiang——" The sage swung his sword, but the two experienced knights did not retreat. The plate armor on their bodies is completely enough to block Henry's attack - but that's not what the sage meant by swinging his sword.
Simple and graceful, Kramer spun around in mid-air. Henry's left hand grabbed the weighted ball and pointed the sword's blade towards him. His right hand just let go and grabbed the top of the sword's blade. Then he took a step back to create some distance. Then he grabbed it with his left hand.
"Woo!" Mira exclaimed and covered her mouth. She knew very well how sharp Henry's sword was. Holding the blade with bare hands like this was tantamount to wasting one's skills - but the reality was beyond her expectation.
"No... bleeding?" The girl noticed this keenly, and Henry, who was holding the sword blade in front of him, raised the sword high and smashed it down arbitrarily.
"Bang--!" The thick steel gauntlet and weighted ball hit the top of the knight's helmet on the left directly and hard. Sparks flew everywhere, and there was an immediate dent on the helmet. But it wasn't over yet. Henry followed immediately. Then he turned it sideways and hit the knight's faceplate on the right with the rotation of his body.
"Poof -" The huge impact caused the knight's entire impact posture to be interrupted. He didn't even have time to launch a counterattack. The sage turned around and reversed the weapon, and once again used the heavy counterweight at a straight angle. The ball hit the side of the opponent's helmet.
"Peng——dong!" Red blood spattered from the deformed helmet and visor. Henry repeated his old trick and kicked the opponent's breastplate hard. Then without looking, he turned around and raised his sword high and hit the knight on the left hard on the head as he got up again.
"Bang!!"
The sound of metal colliding echoed in the woods, and the knight who had not yet fully gotten up fell back down facing the dirt.
--stunned.
"Crack-" The two unconscious knights lay on the ground. Henry let go of the sword, then picked up their sword and threw it aside.
"Teacher, your hand -" Mira, who reacted from the sluggishness, immediately ran over and opened the sage's big hand. However, the imagined blood flow did not happen, and Henry's palm was intact except for some red marks.
"This is, how is this done..." He couldn't understand why Mira, who was holding the blade but unharmed, looked so anxious and curious. Henry touched her little head and then said.
"Half sword style."
The sage held Claymore in one hand and walked towards the young nobleman who was sitting on the ground in shock. He originally raised his visor to watch a bloody show, but now his cowardly look was fully exposed.
"Weapons like swords perform poorly against plate armor. The blade used for killing cannot cut the opponent's body, and to accurately stab the exposed part of the armor requires too high a level of skill."
"The fighting technique developed from this is called the half-sword style, which involves holding the blade of the sword and turning the weapon upside down, using the guard and weighted ball as a blunt weapon, turning the entire sword into a makeshift war hammer."
"And how do you hold the blade without hurting yourself?" The two stood in front of the young noble, ignoring him and continuing to talk.
"It's very simple, just hold it tightly enough." Henry grasped the blade of the great sword again, and then raised it entirely. From this distance, Mira could clearly see the sage's fingers because Some whitening due to exertion.
"Don't let the blade slide, and you won't get hurt."
"You can just learn this slowly. Now, let's solve this problem first."
Dense footsteps sounded behind them, and Carpenter John, who had found the other people, hurried back. After being stunned for a while because of the two knights on the ground, they clearly heard the ugly words of the young noble. Hysterical words roared by a drake.
"I-I am the earl's son. Do you think you won't be in trouble if I die!?"
He said this, and Henry showed a "peaceful" smile, came closer, and spoke.
"Are you talking about the 'accidental' incident where the earl's son unfortunately fell into a pond and drowned because he couldn't take off his plate armor?"
"Like you said, the crocodile will take care of everything."
"Alas--"
…
Time passed, and of course Henry did not actually kill the young noble in the end. After the two fainted knights woke up, they silently pulled their master, turned around, mounted their horses and left. As a knight, he was knocked down by a lightly-armed mercenary in a fully armed state without the ability to resist. Although his honor was damaged on the one hand, he was more afraid of Henry.
The incompetent earl's son might not be able to tell how scary this mercenary was, but the two of them were frightened after waking up.
Despite having splitting headaches, they all just fainted. The opponent who has reached this level of control over strength is fully capable of killing himself, but if he doesn't do so, he is obviously giving each other a step down.
The stupid earl's son was still clamoring to come back to make trouble, but the two knights made up their minds to apply to the earl for a change of master when they returned.
The matter was settled in this way without too much trouble. The trouble happened as a matter of fact, and work still had to be done. No one came to disturb them anymore, and the craftsmen began to work on their own things again.
time.
Passed by peacefully. (To be continued.)
