"Please pass me the nail -" Today's temperature is a bit too high. Mira thought this was a matter of course, because the weather here has always been very hot for her, but she didn't expect that the owner of the hotel and those maids The mercenaries of the Corps began to make hasty preparations.
One of the great things about being close to a blacksmith's shop is that it's easy to get things like nails. Although the price cannot be considered cheap, because of its important role, the money should be spent. The sun was shining brightly, and the mercenaries below all took off their armor, wielding hammers to nail the sawn wood into planks.
People have known about the existence of grains in wood since a long time ago. People who have done some farm work usually know that when splitting firewood, they need to split it from top to bottom and not horizontally, otherwise it will be difficult to split. Because of the characteristics of wood and the natural flaws of splicing laths together, warriors often intentionally paint some floral patterns on shields to cover up the existence of this texture when using them.
Knowing the existence of defects, it is a common practice for humans to think of ways to improve them. Join the wood horizontally and vertically and then nail it tightly so that the grains are not in the same direction. In this way, the strength of the wood will naturally be greatly increased - but doubled. Thickness also usually makes the wood too heavy, making them unsuitable for shields.
Even strong northerners or Luoan people cannot bear the physical exertion of carrying a shield made with this technology for a long time, or even if they could, they would not choose it, because among any shield fighting techniques, shields are It is not a dull and passive defense tool, but has strong initiative.
——We have digressed and come back to the original point. We spent a lot of money and labor to get these wooden boards to strengthen the doors and windows on the upper floors of the hotel. Excessively hot weather is a sign that a storm is coming. Although the people here cannot explain the ins and outs of this, their years of experience have enabled them to judge this.
Our Mr. Sage, who is taller than ordinary people, is honored to be given the important position of holding a ladder. This ladder, which is made by drilling holes in two vertical bamboos and fixing the horizontal footrests, looks very small in his hands. The above sentence "pass the nail" was actually said to him by another mercenary who was working above.
The owner of the hotel knows how to make the best use of everything. Since you have received your salary, of course he cannot let you be idle during safe days - with this idea in mind, he used "You also live here, and safety is important to you." "It's equally important to you", the hotel owner asked all the mercenaries to take off their armor and weapons and run out to help strengthen the doors and windows.
Interwoven wooden boards were buckled on the outside of several important windows and then nailed, adding an effective layer of defense to these weak points.
The same measures were taken for the stables, but longer and larger boards were used there, and log pillars were used as supports.
Mira has not experienced storms in the ten years she has lived in the Ecasta Plain. However, in the border villages close to the mountains, the so-called storms are actually just blowing off clothes and causing heavy rain. That's all - the girl couldn't understand why these people had to make such complete preparations. She even saw several hotel staff going to bring in the chickens kept outside together with the bamboo cages. .
'Is this necessary? '——Obviously, this is an idea that only people who have never experienced a storm would have. The girl looked at everyone working hard in confusion. The sun was shining brightly, and everyone was sweating in a while.
After solving the external reinforcement problem, the group returned to the interior of the hotel. It was already noon, and many people could still be seen walking on the avenue, but most of them were in a hurry, as if they had to hurry up. To a place where you can live.
"Hey, what a pity." The thin middle-aged hotel owner sighed. Most of the people who were still on the road at this time were businessmen who wanted to reach the merchant ship as quickly as possible to catch the merchant ships leaving the port. For the sake of profit, they did not hesitate to brave the coming wind and rain. We have to keep going, obviously we won’t choose to stop here at the hotel.
Human luck--or risk-taking spirit--is something indescribable.
On the bright side, if it hadn't been for its existence, there would have been many technologies and theories that were impossible in the eyes of previous generations, as well as an entire city-state that was said to be difficult to conquer and even the country would not have been conquered. Occurrence - Human beings may have spent a thousand years, but they are still the same as they were a thousand years ago.
But looking at the downside, many people's families were destroyed, and even the destruction of an ancient civilization was inescapably related to it.
According to a rough estimate, the hotel that Henry and the others are currently in should be located about a hundred kilometers away from Corey Conrad, and even if you don't count back, if you go straight ahead, they will at least reach the port. There are still three hundred kilometers to travel.
The chance that these merchants could successfully reach the port without encountering a storm was almost zero, and even if they did, the probability that the ship had already set off early to a port that could avoid the storm was quite high.
Anyone can probably guess the reason why these businessmen have delayed their business. And they are rushing on like crazy, probably because this transaction is very important to them.
The boss's sigh may not only be due to the loss of a business, but also the fact that these businessmen who left in pursuit of profits with an adventurous spirit may never come back.
"Hey -" After hearing the explanation of the sage carrying the ladder, our Luoan girl, who was still half-convinced about the power of the storm, stretched out her hand forward and shouted in a low voice, but the businessmen who had already gone away Blocked by dense woods, the only thing that could be heard was the diminishing sound of horse hooves and the clanking of wheels on the rugged road.
"..." Mira lowered her head, feeling a little weak. "You can't help everyone, just try your best. Their destiny is their own choice." Henry touched her little head with his free hand, and Elmo on the other side Nika held Mira's hand, and the girl looked at the slightly cool feeling. The blond girl, who tied her hair into a low ponytail and put the end on her collarbone, tilted her head and smiled slightly.
"Go in." The weather was getting hotter and muggier. Although the sun was still shining brightly, even Mira could tell that something was not quite right.
They returned to the interior of the hotel. The innkeeper was directing the mercenaries who came in first to carry the fragile jars and the like to the safe hall inside. When he saw Henry coming in, he waved to him first. , the sage sighed, then put the ladder next to him and walked over.
A large number of candles and candles for lighting oil lamps were placed under the bar, apparently in preparation for the lighting needed in the coming storm.
There were many merchants and mercenaries in the hall on the first floor. They were discussing lively, but they did not pay much attention to Henry and the others on the side.
This is very normal. The reason why they attracted attention at the first hotel last time was probably because they happened to meet someone who recognized them. The flow of people on this road is quite large. This time, among the nearly a hundred people who came out of the hotel, none of them were interested in their group. Even if some people would be slightly surprised because of the very distinctive hair color difference between the four people. Pay attention, but that's it. Staying at this level will not go any further.
Mercenaries are down to earth people, especially in a mercenary country like Corey Conrad.
They have been overseas, met all kinds of people, and have many years of experience in society. If many people are allowed to evaluate themselves, there is probably nothing in this world except giant dragons that can make them go too far. The ground was shocked.
This kind of "left out" treatment made Mira feel very fresh and at the same time a little nostalgic. She had stayed in the same place before starting to travel and experience with the sage. She had deeply experienced this kind of being treated by others. Ignoring the feeling, but with the identity of a Luoan, a tall sage, excellent equipment, a war horse, and a blue mercenary badge, she was treated a lot when she went to those southern countries. of attention.
Now meeting people who are not surprised by her existence again, it can be said that the girl has mixed feelings in her heart.
Tangled and complicated psychology is the characteristic of girls. Almonica next to her noticed that Mira was in a daze. She thought the girl was a little lost or something, and was thinking about how to encourage her, but the next thing happened. The second was interrupted by something.
The weather is so hot that even wearing off-shoulder short-sleeved clothes will make you sweat profusely. Under such circumstances, eating hot food will of course make it even more uncomfortable.
What was served on a wooden plate by the shop owner himself was a plate of slices of white and translucent meat.
"What is this?" Something that Mira had never seen before, which in Mira's opinion could not be regarded as food at all, made her eyes wide open. Emmanica on the other side clapped her hands and stepped forward happily. He took a step forward: "Is it a catfish~"
She said this, then directly picked up a piece with her hands and put it in her mouth under Mira's dull gaze.
"Then, isn't that uncooked?" The white-haired Luoan girl took a step forward and tried to stop her, but her sudden movement from behind made Emonica choke on her food: "Ahem, cough, cough, Cough cough cough cough cough -" The blonde girl coughed hard, but at the same time she laughed because of the other person's panic: "Pfft haha cough cough cough, pfft ha ha cough cough cough haha haha." So she started to behave quite strangely. There he coughed and laughed.
"No, it's okay. This, cough, cough, this is sashimi." Emonica finally breathed, and she explained to Mira: "The weather is very hot, so I choose clean ones." The fish is sliced directly, it’s very fresh, can you try it?”
She said this, and Mira walked up dubiously, picked up a small piece and put it into her mouth like Emmanica had done before.
"Woo-" The sound the Luoan girl made the next second was very cute.
The expression on her face expressed all the emotions in her heart at this moment, including distress and confusion. But compared to all of these, Mira overcame everything with her usual strength and said what she said The sashimi was swallowed.
"Pfft hahahaha." Almonica next to her held her stomach and laughed wantonly, "Huh--" Mira sighed longly, then furrowed her pretty little eyebrows and continued to stare at the whole plate of fish fillets, hesitant.
"It's okay, it's okay. You really can't get used to it. Boss, where's the pot?" Emonica laughed so hard that her branches were trembling with laughter. This girl who was already very cheerful seemed to have become more familiar after becoming familiar with the Luoan girl. Bullying her with some evil intentions, Mira glared at the other party, while the innkeeper who was watching all this with a smile pointed to somewhere behind him.
"If you don't like it, just boil it in water and then take it out with a spoon. Pfft." Emmanica seemed to still be thinking about Mira's rich expression just now, and the Luoan girl frowned and hummed. Expressing their dissatisfaction, the two of them worked on the fish fillets in the back, and more fish were brought out and delivered to the tables of the people present. After the two of them cooked all the fish fillets, He took it to the table next to him and sat down.
"Sprinkle some salt, I'll call Joshua." Emmanica pushed a wooden bowl at the other end of the table over, with a small wooden spoon on it to scoop out the salt. The salt used here is It is in the form of crushed powder, which is thicker than the portable salt that comes in a small leather bag.
"Yeah." Emmanica climbed up the stairs "kick, kick, kick". Because of his eyesight, Joshua did not come down to help reinforce but stayed in the room and continued to immerse himself in studying. The red-haired swordsman wanted to come He was very dedicated to becoming a writer of stories. Emmanica, who knew him well, knew that if she didn't call him, he would be so hungry that he wouldn't even think of coming down to eat.
"Huh...oh, let's eat fish." There were footsteps behind Mira. The girl knew that it was the sage without even looking at it. She nodded without looking back, and then picked it up from the table. A wooden plate was handed to him.
"Where are they?" Henry asked. "Emonica went to call Joshua." Mira replied, and the sound of "tapping, tapping, tapping" sounded again on the stairs, and Joshua and Emmanica walked down slowly. "Come over and eat." The sage waved his hands towards them. The lobby on the first floor of the hotel was bustling with activity. A mercenary sitting at the door suddenly felt anxious and got up from the table.
He smashed his mouth and tried to pick out the strands of flesh between his teeth with his tongue. He pulled the belt around his waist and opened the door absentmindedly - and it was at this moment that there was a sharp "咻——" The voice rang.
"Duowu——"
The mercenary's feet shook, and then he stood still.
Many people in the tavern on the first floor stopped eating and drinking, and the scene was quiet.
"Ahem -" "Dang -" He fell heavily on his back with a short arrow in his neck. Blood overflowed, and soon the mercenary died.
"Hey, boss, we're here to cause trouble for you." He said this in a soft voice. The man at the door was wearing leather armor, with two long knives stuffed in his waist, and a crossbow in his hand. Said with a smile.
"Get ready to fight." Memphis shouted behind him. The mercenaries and many businessmen sitting in front stood up in panic. A thunderous "boom" sounded in the distant sky, foreshadowing a storm. 's arrival
"Oh, we are still preparing to fight. We don't even have weapons, but we still have the advantage in numbers."
"Give it to me!" the bandit leader ordered, and a group of mermaids holding long conflict cards and prairie-style short bows poured in.
"Resisters! Kill without mercy!" Thoradin's high-pitched Common Tongue echoed, and the chaotic thieves, who far exceeded the number of all mercenaries in the hotel, spread out their array. (To be continued.)
