Margaret's commission was neither difficult nor easy.
In terms of the limited level of the task, and the fact that there are no hard and fast conditions for completing it, such as hunting a certain creature or obtaining something, it is not too difficult.
But precisely because there are no conclusive conditions for completing the task, it has become less simple.
Bring the client Margaret an extraordinary adventure for half a month, pay one Padrosi gold coin every day, and include all meals and lodging.
The conditions are very good, but how to complete it is a big problem. After communicating with Tanya, the receptionist in charge of the mercenary guild, and confirming the news, they decided to take the eldest lady with curly hair exposed to her forehead to the countryside near Parnilla.
Going to the countryside to take on some missions and experience the life of a mercenary might be a great adventure for her.
After all, she is a noble lady with a certain status. Henry and the others must report their direction to the mercenary guild at all times. And in fact, before taking on this task, the two of them had already undergone certain background investigations and tests of their own strength.
Be careful with the Ten Thousand Years Ship. Even if she commissioned it herself, if something happened, the first person her family would come to would still be the mercenary guild.
Returning to the original point, after these complicated regulations and reporting matters were dealt with, the three of them began to make physical preparations.
Judging from the outfit of Margaret who escaped overnight, we can judge that she has indeed read a lot of adventure novels: The petite client, who is only 1.55 meters tall, is wearing a set of pure black slim-fitting clothes, with a small Leather trousers are paired with short leather boots, and there is a crossed armed belt around the waist, with a small rapier with complicated handguards in the East Coast style, only 60 centimeters long.
Coupled with the black sheepskin gloves and a heavy black leather bag, based on the appearance alone, if you open an adventure novel circulated among the upper class aristocratic ladies on the East Coast, you will probably look exactly like the elegant and intelligent swordsman in it.
But real adventurers don’t wear this kind of attire. Why?
First thing is - it's too hot in this weather.
Margaret had obviously never really used this outfit before except to try it on and look in the mirror. It was a cool night when she went out last night. Now in the morning, she was wearing a black outfit facing the hot sun. After a while, the young lady's curly hair became wet.
This was especially true for the small leather pants she was wearing. After her skin sweated, a layer of weird lubricant formed between the leather pants and the skin. Coupled with the slim-fitting design, the trouser legs rub up and down as you walk, as if something is pulling on your feet every step you take, which is very inconvenient and uncomfortable.
The leather is inherently non-breathable and has a dark, heat-absorbing color. The same is true for walking. Henry and Mira were strolling around, but in less than 15 minutes, Margaret's face was already red and even vaguely okay. I saw steam coming out of my head.
"Please, please allow me to take a break and catch my breath." But after all, she was a person who had experienced the influence of the upper class. Even in this situation, she still maintained a decent posture, even though she had to hold on to the stone of the house in the hotel street. Panting against the rough wall, she still stood up straight and her body did not become limp and sluggish at all.
But the things that dampened the young lady’s “enthusiasm for adventure” were yet to come.
As we mentioned before, the bustling city of Parnilla is covered with beautiful stone roads. As for people's traffic, although the scale is not as large as that of the main road in the city center, there are actually cheaper and simpler horse-drawn carriages in many places.
What is the result of this?
——Although Parnira is already a very prosperous city; even though the Padrosi people’s ideas about hygiene are almost 300 years ahead of the West Coast; even though they have established buildings everywhere based on this concept. Public toilets with running water.
But you can’t ask horses to follow the discipline of humans and control their desire to excretory, right?
On the flat and sunny street, there were puddles of brown horse manure and the horrible smell that was emitted all the time. It was so familiar to the common people that they turned a blind eye to it, but it was unbearable for the aristocratic lady who usually traveled in a carriage to stay away from the dirty ground.
"Ugh..." There was an unknown object emitting a foul smell in front of the wall she was leaning on. This made Margaret, who was almost suffering from heat stroke due to the heat, change her face from red to pale in an instant. Fortunately, we were white. The hairy Luoan girl ran over to help her in time, while the sage in front shrugged and sighed with a hint of helplessness: "Adventure novels are really harmful."
Seeing that this "adventure" was about to end prematurely, they had to walk through the shady alleys, rest on a bench in a restaurant ahead and order some ice-cold lemonade to restore their energy.
At this time, the essence of Lamanite civilization that has been passed down for thousands of years once again opened Mira's eyes, and she once again understood how extensive the phrase "the essence of Lamanite culture lies in the underground rivers" refers to.
The ever-flowing water supply system and drainage system are separated from each other, and clean mountain spring water flows down from distant heights. In many restaurants, there is a square wooden board with an iron ring handle that can be opened in the dark near the bar. Once opened, there is refreshing cold artificial underground river water that is not exposed to direct sunlight.
Huge glass bottles contain various types of alcoholic drinks and juice drinks that have been prepared in advance. After putting the cork stopper on the neck of the bottle, put a dozen drinks together into the underground river to cool down. When you drink it, it can give people the ultimate healing effect in the hot summer.
"Huh-ah-" The cold lemonade with a slightly sour taste went into her throat, and the eldest lady finally took her breath away. She sat on the bench holding a pottery cup and squinted her eyes for a long time, looking like she was He looked exhausted.
At this time, it was less than 12 hours since Margaret escaped from her mansion. Not to mention the city, they had not even left the hotel area, and the eldest client with exposed forehead was already unable to walk steadily. .
But obviously her enthusiasm for adventure did not stop there. After sitting down to rest for only a few minutes, Margaret returned to her full-of-interest appearance after her core body temperature dropped due to the cold drink, rushing ahead of Henry and Mira. He stood up and patted his little face.
"Let's go quickly!" she said, no matter her words or clothes, she still gave people an impression that she was incompatible with her surroundings. Our Mr. Sage and the Luoan girl looked at each other, then turned their heads and said to the young lady in a calm tone: "Before that, can you please change your outfit?"
"Uh, that." Margaret was obviously aware of the inappropriateness of her clothing, but the perception she had formed from long-term reading of adventure novels could not be easily changed in a few moments. The eldest lady then argued: " But this, what the book says is the regular clothing for adventurers?"
"The author's declaration is 'personally experienced'..." she said, but her voice became smaller and smaller under the pressure of Henry and Mira's staring eyes. In the end, she was almost the only one who could hear it. get.
"Um, Margaret." Perhaps because of her age and gender, Mira didn't care about her status. The detail of the Luoan girl calling her by her first name made the noble lady stunned for a moment. But then her attention was attracted by the words in the former's mouth.
Mira looked directly into Margaret's eyes, with two pairs of eyes of similar colors, one firm and one confused: "Do you think that the author of the novel written for the upper class might really understand the life of the lower-class mercenary adventurers? Daily?"
"Uh-" The curly-haired eldest lady was stunned for a moment, and the sage on the side continued to add: "Clothes with tight long sleeves and leather jackets are worn by the palace nobles. They travel in carriages with awnings, and they usually move around. It is also mostly indoors where it is not exposed to direct sunlight. Therefore, it is more important that its appearance is fashionable and luxurious. There is no need to pay too much attention to performance. "
"Even if the authors of adventure novels have some common sense and understand that colorful and decorated clothing is not suitable for outdoor activities, their understanding is still stuck in the circle they grew up in, so the clothing they describe will only reduce Outfits that are more embellished and in more understated colors.”
"Just like the allusion in the Lamanite proverb 'Follow the picture', they have not really experienced all this, they just take it for granted based on their own knowledge."
"Real adventurers and mercenaries will wear relatively loose clothes made of breathable fabrics." Henry said, and Margaret immediately began to observe his and Mira's clothes.
"Is it made of linen..." She said to herself, and the white-haired girl next to us nodded and added: "And your weapons, the swift sword and the stabbing sword are used by the nobles. A gorgeous weapon for self-defense. A single stabbing method is very gorgeous and beautiful in a one-on-one duel, but it is unrealistic for mercenaries."
"The weapons in the hands of mercenaries are just for food. If they are limited to one attack method, they will be at a loss when encountering other situations." Mira continued: "In short, if you really want to experience the adventure, Let’s go to the clothing and weapons store first and change the costumes in this story.”
she said, and Margaret froze for a moment, then nodded vigorously.
In this way, the three of them spent several hours making preparations. After changing all their clothes into relatively loose linen adventurer clothes, they also put on small thorns with gorgeous flower-decorated handguards around their waists. After replacing the sword with a simpler dagger, they then bought some corresponding armor from the weapons store they had visited once before.
Due to the size and area of the armor, it is far more difficult to prevent it from being corroded by the sea wind when transported by sea than weapons. In addition, the production technology and design ideas on the West Coast are far behind Padrosi. When Henry and Mira travel, They did not carry their breastplates, only some light armor such as leather gloves and boots.
But even these, after arriving in Parnilla, it was decided to replace them with the local style together with the armor.
The mature padrosian half-armor consists of a waist-cinching breastplate and flexible multi-layered armor for thigh protection. The inner lining is not stuffy cotton armor but a carefully tanned leather armor. Leather armor can also provide good protection when you are not wearing steel armor. Although they lack a thick cushioning lining, they perform poorly against blunt objects and main battle weapons such as swords, axes and spears. , but the paths taken by mercenaries and knights are different. Most of them engage in infantry and street fighting. Contrary to knights, they pay more attention to lightness and flexibility rather than all-round protection.
This weapon shop located on Parnilla Street has ready-made armors of large, medium and small sizes made according to the approximate body shape. However, this kind of armor that is not tailor-made is only sold to laymen. Therefore, Henry and Mi started shopping more than a week ago. It was here that La spent a considerable part of their savings to customize armor and a series of supporting tools that fit the body shape.
It's just a breastplate with leggings, and a week is enough to complete it. When they went to get it today, they also got back a long sword with a total length of about 130 centimeters.
This is Henry's new weapon.
His great sword has not been unsealed since it arrived on the east coast, but the sage was unwilling to explain the reason, so Mira would not ask.
Henry's new long sword is carved from the same mold as the 120 cm large one-and-a-half-handed sword that Mira bought a week ago. However, due to his height, the weapon in Sage's hand is one size larger, so it is different from the two guardians. Everything needs to be customized.
In comparison, Margaret's newly purchased self-defense dagger was just a common mass-produced product, with a total length of 48 centimeters and a blade length of 33 centimeters. It seemed quite suitable for the client to hold. And she still wears her original small bayonet, but the outer gauntlet is covered with a brown linen cloth cover to prevent this gorgeous weapon that can only be used by nobles from attracting too much unnecessary attention. .
Due to lack of physical strength and time, Margaret did not wear steel armor. She just bought a short-swing leather armor with part of the mail and iron plates as reinforcement. Because it was ready-made, the size seemed a little too big. In addition, the curly hair was combed and tied into a ponytail at the back of the head. The eldest lady, who was originally so noble and seemed to be incompatible with the surrounding environment, was no longer there. Now she looks like a poor little mercenary follower wearing second-hand armor, which is more in line with the low-key needs of the three-person mission.
You know that people rely on their clothes. After changing into loose and cheap clothes, Margaret became much more inconspicuous. But the noble lady herself had no objections to this. It would be better to say that she had finally put on comfortable "real adventurer's attire", and it was too late for her to be happy.
After preparing the personal equipment, the next thing that needs to be solved is the problem of travel.
Parnilla is so huge that it would take them most of a day to walk from the upper streets to the outskirts just by walking. This is especially true in the vast and uninhabited wilderness. Therefore, if you do not plan to spend 90% of your half-month adventure time on the road, a means of transportation is very necessary.
Because the southern merchant ship they were traveling on was a small one, Henry and Mira had to give up the excellent Avenella horse that they had accompanied them for many years. After arriving in Parnila, they began to look for a horse farm within this week.
As we mentioned before, the Padrosi people attach great importance to the concept of hygiene. Therefore, in order to keep the city relatively clean - after all, the large amounts of horse manure from pulling carts and riding horses are enough to affect the appearance of the city - horse farms such as these will produce Buildings with a lot of smell and filth are also placed on the outskirts of the city.
Therefore, after changing the equipment and putting the replaced parts back to the hotel for storage, and at the same time retrieving a series of personal items that needed to be carried with him, including Henry's sword and Mira's book, due to the need to carry a breastplate With some supplies, they hired a flat carriage for half a silver coin, sat on a wooden board that was far less comfortable than velvet seats, and headed towards the suburbs.
After that, under the enthusiastic gaze of Margaret, who frowned because of the stench but still insisted on standing there, Henry and Mira bargained and used their remaining savings to buy three horses and corresponding saddles, and A simple flatbed carriage.
Although Margaret herself was of noble birth, it was still very rare for women to learn to ride horses in the Padrosi Empire. Coupled with the consideration that they might have to spend the night in the wild, two horses were paired with a carriage, plus various supplies, and it took a whole day in a hurry.
After finally making preparations, a group of three people blended into the ranks of various mercenaries and traveling merchants looking for work, heading towards the tall east gate of Parnilla, in the shadow of the mountains at the end of the Palohia Plateau in the south. Get off and walk slowly towards the suburbs.
The long-awaited adventure has officially begun.
