It cleared up and the warm sunshine fell on me again.
This made everyone in the caravan very excited. After all, it rained all day and all night yesterday, making people feel wet and uncomfortable.
Today is already the twenty-first day of entering the Great Wilderness.
The mercenary scout team exploring the road ahead brought back good news: if they continue to travel at the current speed, they will be able to walk out of the Great Wasteland and into the Grand Canyon in three days.
Along with the good news, there is also bad news.
Lokidaran wolves have appeared in twos and threes around the caravan.
This is also a sign that wolves are coming.
As for when the wolves will start attacking, it may be tonight, tomorrow, or they may just watch the caravan leave their territory and enter the Grand Canyon.
However, the chance of the last possibility is very small. The Lokidaran wolves will not let go of the food delivered to their doorstep.
Just like everyone knows that crossing the wilderness will inevitably cost many lives, but no one has ever thought of giving up the huge profits of this trade route.
A wise man in the Holy Empire of Middle-earth once said: The darkest hour is before dawn.
In order to cope with this darkest moment, everyone in the caravan spontaneously tightened the scope of their activities and increased their vigilance.
When we set up camp and waited for dark, almost no one left the group to hunt; there were many more fires on guard at night, the mercenaries who kept watch were diligent, and other caravan guards and travelers were also waiting for the day.
At this time, Chris was sitting in front of a small fire eating dinner.
Also surrounding the fire were Sion, Jacob, a man and a woman.
They have been working together for several days.
The new man I made acquaintance with was a caravan guard, his name was Atwood. He didn't say his last name, and Chris and others also had a tacit understanding and didn't ask.
He is a northerner, from the northeast of the empire to be precise.
He has a tall body, a long face that is dark and dull, with high eye sockets, a narrow and long nose, and long and slender eyes. He always has an expression on his face that looks like someone owes him a hundred gold coins. He wears a trousers that has not been washed for who knows how long.
The cloak was sewn from many marmot skins and gave off a strong smell, which matched the original color of his clothes. The deerskin boots were also badly worn and dirty.
His beard and greasy hair were already tangled, making him so unkempt that no one dared approach him.
It can be seen that he is a person who has been looking for a living outside all year round.
Only people who have gone through a lot would not care so much about appearance and clothing. The only thing they care about is how to keep breathing.
He is a swordsman.
The two broad-edged swords, one long and one short, are very ordinary. There are several gaps on the sword. The blood stains that have not been wiped off appear dark red, covering up the matte finish of the sword. It is hung loosely on the waist with two belts.
There is no leather sheath, but it is very easy to pull out. This is also a consciousness only experienced warriors have.
And his strength should be very good.
When other caravan guards greeted or talked to him, their attitude was respectful.
People who make a living on this trade road are only interested in gold coins and only respect those with strength.
"Oh, dear Atwood, does your smell make the dancers refuse your gold coins?"
Jacob, who had a bad mouth, once made a joke like this, and Atwood responded with a mouthful of phlegm.
Originally, the unsmiling man would never interact with Chris and others.
But Sion was interested in the spirits he was carrying.
As it happened, he was also very interested in Chris and Sean using sunflower rhizomes as barbecue condiments.
Sungrass is a plant that grows in the cold regions of the north. Its rhizomes are pungent and will make people feel hot and dry after eating it. Northerners often use it as a condiment and add it to rye to make wine.
This taste, unique to the north, made him willing to share spirits with Sion.
The other woman's name is Jessica.
She is Jacob's follower. She always holds a large black bow half a man tall and made of unknown material, and carries two large quivers on her back. At a rough look, it should be no less than one.
Hundreds of arrows. The tails of four or five of them reflected the light of fire, and they were actually made of pure metal!
Like other archers, she also wore a short-handled dagger on her hip.
It's just a bit long, so it's more appropriate to call it a dagger. This also shows that her melee combat ability shouldn't be underestimated.
Since this woman joined, the food of Chris and others has improved a lot, and they can often eat all kinds of birds.
Yes, her shooting skills are very good.
Chris saw it with his own eyes. She casually took two arrows and put them on the bowstring. She released the bowstring without even taking a glance, causing the two wild geese to fall from the sky without even making a cry.
Such exquisite skills are not inferior to those of the elves living in the Whispering Forest, right?
Chris thought so, and by the way, he maintained respect for this tall, thin woman with a magnificent bust and who barely spoke.
Only occasionally, I would privately lament that she had entrusted me with such an unfair treatment.
During the days we got together, when they set up small tents to sleep after setting up camp, Chris saw Jacob get into this woman's tent more than once, and did not stretch out until the next morning.
Moreover, during the long night, the howling cold wind was also forced to wander around the wilderness with a low voice.
This kind of disturbing behavior also made Chris a little more contemptuous of Jacob.
Today's dinner is roasted wild goose, a small pot of hot mushroom jerky soup, and bread smeared with honey.
The small pot, mushrooms, honey and bread were all secretly exchanged by Jacob for gold coins with the cook. In his words, if you don't care about eating, what's the point of living?
In this regard, Chris, who has lived a simple life since childhood, said nothing.
Because at this time, night has completely enveloped the earth, and a dim silver moon hangs in the sky opposite to the blood moon rising from the west, making it easy for people to find many green light spots on the periphery of the caravan's warning fire.
As beautiful as fireflies conveying mating information.
But everyone in the caravan knew that those were the eyes of the Loki Daran Wolf.
On the inside of the warning fire, the mercenaries who had long been paid by the caravan to buy their lives were surrounded by a circle and were paying attention.
Some mercenaries also put a simple horse-rejection in front of them. This is a method that only experienced mercenaries know. Although this cannot stop the wolves from attacking, it can slow down their speed slightly.
"Sleep peacefully tonight. It's best to plug your ears with something. Tomorrow night will be a sleepless night."
Atwood, who was very comfortable and burped, threw a bone into the fire and spoke to them on his own initiative. Then he didn't care about Chris and the others, and got up to tidy up his sleeping place.
In fact, there is nothing organized.
He didn't have a tent, so he threw a black blanket made of unknown animal furs and lay down on it, half covering it.
This is also the reason why he still drinks alcohol to this day. He is provided with food by the caravan, and the only thing he carries on his packhorse is alcohol except this blanket.
"Sleep? And plug your ears? The wolves are surrounding you. Do you want to be disemboweled by wolves in your sleep?"
It was Sion who asked the question.
In the small team of five people who formed a temporary team, he was the only one who could chat more with Atwood.
“If you don’t understand, don’t speak!”
Atwood clasped his teeth with his dirt-covered fingers, spit out some minced meat, and rolled his eyes at Sion, "The Loki Daran wolves are not as stupid as you. They are just harassing tonight. Do you understand harassment? It keeps you guys from sleeping.
After tossing you until you are exhausted, that's when they enjoy your fat belly! It's enough to have those money-minded mercenaries guarding you today, but tomorrow night is when we work hard. Do you want to sleep or not?
Just don’t bother me!”
After saying that, he pulled two rolls of fluff from the marmot's cloak and stuffed them into his ears. He habitually took out the sword and held it in his arms, then lay down. Within a moment, he started snoring.
The four Chriss looked at each other with dubious expressions.
After a period of silence, Jacob stretched and said lazily, "You three go to bed first. The tents are all set up together. I will guard them first and wake you up later to change the guard."
This is the best way to deal with it.
Although Atwood's words made sense and set an example, none of the four people were willing to risk their own lives to verify it.
"Wait for my second guard."
Chris agreed with the proposal.
He would rather trust this annoying fly than Atwood, whom he had only known for a short time.
At least this fly once blessed the dead.
"I'll be the last one!"
Xian also spoke out. It was the coldest time before dawn, and he was embarrassed to compete with women.
Jessica nodded without saying anything and got up directly to set up the tent.
Reaching a consensus, the four of them went about their work.
But when Jacob took out the weapon from his bag, Chris's eyes narrowed.
This was the first time Chris saw Jacob's weapons, two single-edged one-handed swords, similar in style to the long knives in his hands, but much shorter in size.
I originally thought that Jacob's usual weapon was a dagger!
After all, after being together for so many days, the only weapon he has ever used is the long dagger on his waist.
This gave him a better understanding of Jacob's strength.
In the past twenty days, they had been hunting wild beasts together to add supplies. Jacob used a long dagger instead of his usual one-handed sword, but he hunted more wild beasts than he did.
Who is this guy?
What is the purpose of approaching me?
Chris lay in the tent tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
After an unknown amount of time, Sion gently opened the curtain of the tent, put his hand on Chris's shoulder, and said in a low voice, "Have a good rest, Chris. Even if he has ulterior motives, before he reaches the dwarf country,
It won’t be detrimental to us.”
It turned out that this sturdy man, who had been acting heartless along the way, had long been interested in Jacob.
Perhaps, this was the main reason why old Henry asked him to take Chris to the south.
"Yeah, I understand. Thank you, Sion."
After being enlightened, Chris temporarily lowered his guard and accepted the increasingly heavy eyelids.
It's just that he failed to have a good dream.
After taking over the duty of keeping watch from Jacob and handing it over to Jessica, he was still awakened many times by the howling of wolves.
During the night, the wolves launched many tentative attacks on the caravan intermittently, which not only annoyed the night watch mercenaries, but also caused Chris to turn a blind eye while sleeping.
Therefore, he overslept in a daze.
By the time he was kicked awake by Atwood, everyone in the caravan had already started busy.
Travelers and adventurers took the time to prepare breakfast for themselves, the charioteers were feeding the kodo beasts, and the mercenaries were bandaging wounds and collecting human or wolf corpses.
He was kicked awake by Atwood's tattered buckskin boots.
The strong smell made him want to vomit.
While enduring this rude behavior, he also had to accept Atwood's disdain, "Boy, if you had come out alone, your bones would be moldy in the mud!"
"Why didn't you call me earlier?"
Chris hurriedly packed up the tent and complained to Sion, who was roasting the hind legs of two wolves in front of the fire.
You don't need to ask to know that the wolf's hind legs were obtained by Jacob using gold coins to find mercenaries.
"There's still enough time. Atwood said tonight is the time for the wolves to work hard. It's good for you to sleep a little longer."
Xian explained with a smile, a smile full of good-natured teasing, "Besides, you didn't get out of bed last night, right?"
"Aha, here comes the God of Fire!"
Jacob, who was sitting in front of the fire and cutting wolf meat with a dagger, laughed loudly, "I bet ten gold coins that our little Chris climbed out of the tent at least five times last night! Just like when he was young, he
An old man who has an extra waist and needs to wake up frequently in his old age!"
This nasty guy can't stop chewing wolf meat!
God of Fire, let him choke to death with joy!
For the first time, Chris prayed devoutly to a nominal faith.
Today is the twenty-second day into the wilderness. The sun is warm and the breeze is cool.
Yesterday's sunshine had dried the moisture on the ground, and it was much easier to walk on the muddy road. The caravan that still set out early in the morning had many more followers - the Lokidaran wolves.
Like the weeds that sprout after a night of spring rain, Lokidaran wolves gathered in large numbers overnight.
Each wolf pack leisurely wandered on both sides of the caravan, maintaining a close relationship. The two were like a parting couple, reluctant to say goodbye. The alpha wolf would occasionally howl at the top of his neck, driving the crowd along.
All the wolves were howling, indicating to the caravan that they were the lords of the great wilderness. Under their frequent harassment last night, most of the people in the caravan were exhausted, and their eyes were as red as Chris's skittering across the ice.
Kill the snow fox.
"Damn it! When I get to the dwarf country, I will drink a barrel of ale and sleep on the bed with my arms around the dancer for three days and three nights!"
This is the complaint of a big mercenary.
The tired look on his face was very clear, and there was a wound on his arm that had stopped bleeding.
"Three days and three nights? God of Light, are you sure it won't be over in three minutes?"
Another short but strong bearded man immediately retorted. From his faith, he knew that he came from the Middle Earth Plains of the Empire.
"Go away, you are a wine barrel! If I had been here for three minutes, your mother would not have given birth to you!"
.........
The quarrel between the two of them caused all the mercenaries to burst into laughter, making the sadness of losing their partner last night slowly disappear like dew in the morning sun.
In a life where the knife tip licks blood, one should not have such emotions as sadness.
Because many partners will be lost today, what they can do is to make the time before losing their partners as joyful as possible.
Yes, the wolves didn't wait for dark to start attacking.