The first snow fell and lasted for more than a day.
The snowfall caused the temperature to drop a lot. Because the snow came a little early this year, it was wet snow.
This is a sign that the warm winter is coming. At least for the Suomir people, this year will be a warm winter.
The older generation often says that if the summer is extremely hot, the winter will also be extremely cold. They can't explain the meteorological principles like the imperial astrology mages. There are a lot of professional terms emerging one after another, but with the wisdom accumulated over the years, the people always have their own set of explanations.
Wet snow is proof that the temperature is not cold enough. The falling snowflakes melt slightly in mid-air due to the increase in temperature, and fall to the ground in a form mixed with moisture.
This kind of snow is more annoying than dry snow in late winter, because it is sticky because it is half melted, and if the clothes are not waterproof, they will get wet like rain.
Fortunately, the three people in the group were all wearing woolen cloaks and hats, and the horses and things on the saddles were also covered with spare woolen felts to prevent various supplies from getting wet and damaged.
It took them a while because of the snowfall, but with the help of horses, they still managed to bring the seriously injured soldier to a nearby town.
The time of arrival was already around 10 o'clock at night. According to the current mainstream society, this time is a time when only prostitutes and gangsters appear. Coupled with the falling snow, most people had turned off their lights and closed their doors and windows.
Henry walked in front, holding a lantern and leading his horse. The injured soldier lay on his horse. They tried their best to keep him warm, but he still began to be unable to withstand the cold weather due to excessive blood loss. He showed signs of hypothermia with his whole body shaking and his lips turning white.
The pharmacist in the town would not receive patients so late at night. And in places where the traditional power of the White Church is strong, pharmacists are often considered to be wizards or witches who have been exposed to blasphemous things, so they are ostracized and often live alone far away from the village.
When ordinary people get sick, there are no affordable and high-quality herbal medicines available, so they only have two choices.
One is to go to church and try "to ask God to forgive your sins through devout prayer."
And the other one is the direction that the sage and others are currently heading towards——
"Welcome - uh -" The receptionist at the mercenary guild raised his head. Under the light of the candle, the orange cards on Henry and Mira's chests shone brightly - the guild's only requirement for mounting mercenary cards is 'must be in The provision of "a place that can be seen at a glance" is to prevent mercenaries from hiding their identities and evading their responsibilities when they are obliged to be recruited by nobles. Most people would hang it around their waists to prevent it from being broken. Now they were wearing cloaks on their chests.
"We need pharmacists." Henry got to the point directly. "Uh, ah, okay." The young female receptionist nodded hurriedly, turned around and ran inside, and soon reopened the door behind the counter: "Please come over here."
Following her guidance, Henry and Galeva helped the injured young man, while the Luoan girl followed another receptionist who came out to guide the little unicorn and the two horses to the stables.
"It's so big -" In the dark room on the first floor behind the counter is a stone hut. There are many surgical instruments and medicinal materials on the cabinets next to it, and a pharmacist wearing brass-framed single-sided glasses glanced at it. Their attire immediately frowned: "How did this happen? Two people were not injured and one companion was injured like this." He said this in Laman language, seeming quite dissatisfied with them.
This is a relatively unknown part of the mercenary guild. The mercenary profession is one that dances on the edge of a knife all year round. The reason why they fight for money is willing to give 50% of their income to this organization and abide by those strict rules and regulations, in addition to the large number of commissions given to them by the platform. In addition to the access channels, there is the strong logistical support the guild has.
If you are used to it, it is easy to ignore it. In the eyes of ordinary people, those star-studded mercenary groups and high-level mercenaries are often more popular. But only those who are truly into the industry will realize that the mercenary part of the Mercenary Guild is just the tip of the iceberg.
The operational managers behind them are the fundamental reason why this organization has maintained such a huge scale.
In addition to the staff such as reception and assessment managers who ordinary mercenaries can talk to face to face, those they cannot see are the real heroes behind the scenes. Without the information department personnel who collect various task information and organize the data to make resource maps, there is no way to classify various tasks according to region, type and required level. The mercenaries who receive the tasks can only explore under limited conditions. Trying to complete it at the same time will greatly reduce the efficiency of completing the task.
In addition, there are business personnel who communicate and cooperate with businessmen, purchase decommissioned second-hand equipment from large mercenary groups and even the army, arrange special benefits for listed mercenaries, and buy high-quality weapons and equipment at lower prices. Armor - Of course, our Mr. Sage and the Luoan girl who are better at this don't have to understand this.
The last department that must be mentioned is the Logistics Support Department, which includes custody care and pharmacist treatment.
When mercenaries need help with a mission, they can provide a commission and pay a management fee to temporarily store valuables in the guild. This is what Henry and Mira did when they were in Porusaro. And now they want to use another function of this department, treatment.
"Be gentle, don't pull on the wound and cause secondary damage." The doctor directed Henry and Galeva to put the young soldier down, then looked at the surgical instruments and then at the receptionist.
"Help me, you all, please go out. You are all dirty after traveling for so long. Don't let your wounds get infected." He frowned and drove Henry and Galeva away, while the receptionist looked apologetically. He looked over and said, "We're short of manpower, so you can use the teapot outside to boil some hot water to drink."
She said this, and Henry and Galeva exited the stone room and closed the door.
"They are Lamanites, in Suomir so far north." Galeva looked a little surprised, because the doctor was obviously from Lamani, and he didn't even speak Suomir very well.
"Yes, you guys don't even know that." The Luoan girl proudly showed off the knowledge she read in the book: "Since the classical era, the Laman Empire has had surgical operations and good herbal treatments. . To this day, Lamanite doctors are still considered to be of high quality. And unlike the local pharmacists in Suomir, the pharmacists employed by the mercenary guild are also protected by the guild."
After she finished speaking, she turned around and started to pick up the teapot. In winter, the Suomir indoor fireplace burned for a long time. In order to maximize the use of firewood and not waste firewood, pot racks are often placed next to them, where water boiling and cooking are done.
"Yeah." Henry shrugged and added: "It's ironic, but they are both a profession of treating diseases and saving lives. Pharmacists working in the guild are considered to be decent people with high-end jobs. Traditional herbalists, on the other hand, are considered He is a wizard who colludes with the devil to obtain secret skills.”
"The same people are divided into three, five, and nine grades." His words deeply touched Galeva. Afterwards, the three of them quietly boiled water and prepared to make a pot of hot tea. During this period, other guild staff from Suomir came in, but after seeing Henry and Mira's attire, they were too timid to approach and chat with them. They felt a sense of inferiority and cowardice in the face of senior mercenaries, mixed with admiration. and fear.
The dreaming part is easy to understand. After all, many of these workers dreamed of becoming mercenaries, but because of fear of danger, they finally settled for becoming guild employees. The fear comes from the prejudice that all experienced combat professionals have, and it cannot be said to be completely groundless.
"To climb to such a high position, I must have killed many people."
If you make a living with swords, this is almost inevitable. People place their needs on these people who can wield swords to fight, hoping that they can use their powerful martial arts to achieve their wishes, either for revenge or salvation. But on the other hand, they feel that combat professionals are dangerous characters who kill people so much that they have lost their human heart, so they naturally feel awe and timidity, and do not dare to approach or talk to them.
Mira looked at the respectful attitude of these people and thought of herself many years ago, feeling a little complicated.
The silence lasted for ten minutes, then the doctor opened the door and walked out with the receptionist.
The receptionist walked directly to where the three of them were, took the kettle with hot water from Mira's hand, poured it into the wooden basin next to it, added some cold water to neutralize the temperature, and then soaked the towel in it.
"Anyway, we have to deal with the wound first, stop the bleeding and then sew it up. Now we have heated the stone bed for him. Fortunately, the internal organs are not injured, but the tendon is damaged. He should be lame in his left foot in the future. Of course, the premise is whether he can survive it. Tonight." The doctor said, then wiped his hands with the hot blue striped towel handed to him by the receptionist, and stretched out his hand towards Henry: "Three gold coins."
"So expensive!" Galeva shouted, and Mira was about to speak when she saw the sage's eyes.
"That's it." The Luoan girl nodded, and the doctor took the money handed over by the sage, weighed it, put it in his pocket, and walked back to the stone room again.
"Is this?" Galeva felt that he was the only person present who was in the dark and looked at the two people left and right.
"Hush money." The Luoan girl spoke concisely.
————
————
Time passed quickly, and after one night, the tenacious young soldier survived. After moving him to a room on the second floor of the guild to rest in a better environment, the receptionist fed him some stewed porridge. In the afternoon, Henry, Mira and Galeva could finally listen to the living young man talk about his commission.
The narration lasted for more than an hour, and when he finally finished speaking and lay down to rest, the Luoan girl who walked out of the door immediately held her forehead and said, "It's a shame." She said this.
"Well, it's a loss." Henry said calmly.
"What's going on?" Galeva was as dumb as ever.
"Alas -" Miss Luo An glanced at him helplessly, and then the three of them walked towards the bottom of the guild together.
What the young soldier who narrowly escaped death told was a story that is not uncommon in Suomir today.
The soldiers stationed there secretly sold military supplies such as weapons and armor to merchants, and then exchanged them for cheap second-hand goods to replenish their supplies. These people formed cliques and formed a considerable force within the army. From junior officers to non-commissioned officers, they all colluded to share the benefits. The upright young man could not stand this and was unwilling to join them, so he finally decided to escape and Report to the superior nobles.
After this was discovered by the other party, they sent people to hunt him down, and finally the scene before happened.
His commission was to take this news to the northern city-state of Suao Marina and report it to the local generals. He also guaranteed, "I will definitely give you a heavy reward for such big news."
——In other words, after they paid 3 gold coins in advance for treatment and a lot of room and board, the task they got was an empty check with no clear remuneration.
Except for the dull young porter, the Luoan girls and the sages obviously didn't think much of this task.
In order to prove that the identity of the three people was trustworthy, the young soldier gave some valuables on his body to the three people as a guarantee, and said that they could be sold as a reward.
"Forget it, it just so happens that our destination is also Suo Marina. And young people who serve their country so enthusiastically are rare in this era." Henry said this, and Mira shook her head and sighed.
"Three gold coins." Galeva was still talking about the expensive funds, but the sage suddenly shrugged: "Actually, you don't have to worry too much about the funds."
He took a handful out of his pocket and took out a handful of gold coins.
"Uh-" Mira and Galeva's eyes widened: "Where did this come from-" the young porter blurted out, while Mira was stunned for a while and then frowned: "Rumiqi?"
"Yeah." Henry shrugged: "Dragons like to collect treasures. What is said in adventure novels is not groundless."
"But this is a pure gold coin from many years ago. It is no longer in circulation. It would be very uneconomical to weigh it directly. So if possible, I hope to meet an antique dealer in the future and exchange it for some usable gold coins."
"I don't know if Suao Marina has such a large scale, but considering where we are going next, it is estimated that the funds spent will not be exaggerated even if we need to exchange them all into gold." He said, The Luoan girl and Galeva both cast doubtful eyes.
"Nothing." Henry shrugged: "It's just that we have to find a captain who has enough courage for money, and a ship that won't sink."
"Ship?" Galeva's face turned pale.
"If you want to leave, you still have a chance now." Mira looked at him.
"No, I said it the day I separated from Her Majesty the Queen. I want to take a look." He lowered his head and looked at the inseparable notebook on his waist: "I want to write it down."
"Fine."
"Anyway, since it's our way, let's complete this young man's commission."
"Although I have a hunch." The sage turned back and looked at the two people behind him with calm gray-blue eyes.
"This matter will have a cliched and boring ending." He said every word.
