The caravan that was supposed to return to the valley three days ago did not rush back to the valley until the sixth day after Ate returned to the valley. Moreover, this time the caravan not only failed to bring back much goods and profits, but actually suffered several casualties.
The incident originated a month ago when the caravan was hired by Mr. Galvin of Sarpburg to transport a batch of groceries from the north of Provence (non-southern goods) from Brig County, the neighboring county of Tyniec, to Lucesne via a detour. The caravan's guards had many weapons and were well-equipped, and some small groups of bandits along the way did not dare to disturb them. The journey went smoothly.
The caravan stewards Salt and Lawrence, who completed the escort mission twenty days ago, purchased a batch of grain in Lucese and planned to transport it back to the south to earn a high price difference. At Art's request, they recruited some young warriors and thirteen and a half-year-old orphans along the way to prepare for their return to the valley.
Everything was fine until ten days ago when we returned to Tynets county town. However, after entering Tynets county town, the caravan carrying the deer's head flag with a black background and white face was entangled by a group of hooligans. They said that the food of the caravan was stolen from several villages in the north of Tynets, and they pestered the caravan to return the looted food. Salt and Laurent Si didn't talk nonsense with these guys at all, and directly let the caravan guards chase these gangsters and beat several of them down on the spot. Then more than twenty city gangsters armed with sticks appeared and surrounded the caravan. In the desperate situation, it was Viscount Pierre's captain of the guard Sir Jerry and the city guards who drove those guys away.
What happened next was even more strange. Several grain shops in the city of Tynets that had been short of food refused to buy the caravan's grain at market prices. They lowered the prices one after another. The bids were even lower than the food prices in peacetime. They stayed in Tynets for two days and lobbied for two days, but they could not bring the caravan's grain to the market. The grain was sold, and in the end Salt had to find Viscount Pierre in Art's name. However, Viscount Pierre's public warehouse in the city was not short of grain, and he could not resist Salt's various requests, so Viscount Pierre bought more than a dozen carts of grain at a price slightly higher than the purchase price.
Sart already knew from Viscount Pierre's vague hints who was behind the stumbling block to the caravan, but Salt remembered Art's words about being patient for the time being, so he just assumed that the caravan was returning with an empty cart and didn't care.
But then, the stumbling block under my feet turned into a knife in my back.
Despite being cautious all the way, when the caravan dragged its empty car through a birch forest in the south of Lane Village, the caravan was attacked by a group of bandits as expected. This group of bandits did not intend to kill them all. They did not intercept the caravan's way, but rushed out from behind the caravan and attacked and killed several rear guards...
"Sir, that group of bandits must be people bribed by Dean. His original intention may be They wanted to teach us a lesson so that we would never dare to trade on this trade road again, but they did not expect that our caravan escort would be accompanied by several warriors with extraordinary combat capabilities. This time, thanks to Monsignor Lusignan and the two warriors Klaus and Smith, if they had not taken the initiative to stay behind and resist the pursuit of the bandits, I am afraid that more than three of the caravan guards would have been killed..." Salter reported the encounter in the birch forest to Art in shock.
In that ambush, Lawrence, the steward of the caravan who was in charge of cutting off the rear, suffered a sword wound from his left shoulder to his right chest. Fortunately, he was protected by a layer of leather armor and did not die on the spot. However, due to excessive blood loss, Lawrence fainted on the carriage before the caravan could return to the wooden castle. In addition, three caravan guards at the end of the group left their lives forever in the birch forest to resist the bandits' attack. However, after three people died and one was seriously injured, the battle took a turn because the three newly recruited warriors who accompanied Salt at the head of the team turned around and returned to the back to stabilize the situation and cover the caravan from the bandits' pursuit.
"Salt, you go down and have a good rest first. I have arranged for Thomas to treat Lawrence and the injured guards. I will take care of this matter. You hand over the orphans to Cooper, and then call the three warriors here." Art comforted Salt a few words and asked him to go down to rest.
After a while, the three newly recruited warriors followed Ron into Art's wooden house.
The leader has long hair and short beard, wearing a cotton robe, half-mail mail, a mail hood hanging on the back of his neck, and a blood-stained gray-black cloak. The emblem of a howling wolf is vaguely visible on the cloak. He has a long sword on his waist, a short sword in the cowhide belt, and a pair of spurs on the long leather boots on his feet.
The two people following him were wearing a worn single-layer spliced animal skin, a rag belt around his waist, and a pair of rabbit skin winter boots under the tight trousers. This person was simply dressed but was carrying a good oxhorn bow and fine deerskin. Quiver; the other man was in his thirties, stout, with two long scars on his face, wearing a leather armor that had been patched countless times, carrying a broad-edged heavy sword at his waist, and hanging behind him was a diamond-head hammer and a small buckler covered in iron and covered with arrow holes.
The three of them have different shapes and different clothes, but there is a trace of evil spirit in their eyes that cannot be concealed. This evil spirit only belongs to survivors who have experienced fighting in battle.
h At stood up and came to the guy with long hair and short beard, stared at the heraldic pattern on his blood-stained cloak and asked: "Are you a noble?"
hh "Sir, my father is a knight, but I am just the most inconspicuous among his many sons."
"What is your name?"
"Lusignan Fisher."
"Are you a soldier of the Holy Order?" Art noticed the Holy Cross mark on the hilt of Lusignan's waist.
“I went to the Holy Land once with the church three years ago, but was beaten back within a year.” Lusignan answered straightforwardly. Many years ago, under the praise of the priests, he did go to the Holy Land to participate in the battle against the pagans with the ambition of getting ahead. However, he was injured and was condemned to return home within less than a year.
“Why join my army?”
“I just finished an employment contract from the Swabian border. When I returned to Lucesne, I heard that someone was recruiting soldiers, so I went to try my luck. I also learned about your record and status from their mouths. In this world, you are just begging for food anyway. You have a good reputation and a good record, and you can give me a good salary. I have no reason to refuse.”
After finishing speaking, Art came to the guy with the bow next to Lusignan, looked him up and down, and asked: "Are you an archer?" ...."
Seeing that the guy next to him couldn't speak a word for a long time, Lusignan took over the conversation and replied: "My lord, this guy's name is Smith, he is an archer and he stutters. He followed me here because he owes me a lot of money. From now on, his salary will be given to me."
The guy named Smith swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said: "I'm either stuttering, or I'm unhappy."
"It's up to you, I'll tell you to stutter anyway." Lusignan glanced at the archer.
Att patted the archer's shoulder and said: "You owe him money, so you have to work hard to make money and pay off your debt as soon as possible."
The archer laughed naively a few times.
Then Art walked to the last guy. The two terrifying scars on this guy's face had already proved his bravery and achievements.
"I was originally a heavy infantryman in the mercenary army. I have been fighting unknown battles with them over the years. Today I fight the enemy and the next I fight my employer. I feel tired of it and want to find a good home." Klaus left the mercenary army and followed the caravan to join Att after hearing about Art's extraordinary achievements with the Swabians on the southeastern border.
"Well, okay, let's stay." Art didn't say too much to this tough man.
Matt looked at the three people standing in the room for a while, then turned to Ron and ordered: "Ron, go and call the sergeant major in."
Ron took the order and went out, and soon Angus ran into the small house.
"Sir, are you looking for me?"
"Sergeant Major, these three are new warriors who have joined the army. You take them to participate in the ten-day basic training for new recruits with the new young men. The three of them are different from ordinary recruits, so you and Odo must take special care of them." Art emphasized the word "care". Angus, who has been in the army for many years, can certainly understand what Art means.
"Sir, recruit training? Do we still need to participate in recruit training?" Lusignan couldn't believe it. As a sergeant who had participated in the Holy War, he came to join a newly canonized knight and was still treated as a recruit for basic training.
"Lusignan, if you don't want to participate in the basic training of new recruits, you can immediately take the reward for helping me resist the bandits and leave here." Art said coldly. He knew that this guy named Lusignan was a very rare and excellent warrior, but an arrogant young master with noble blood was not what he wanted. If he could not return to his rule with peace of mind, he would rather lose an outstanding warrior with alien intentions.
Before Lusignan could answer, Klaus turned around and walked out of the wooden house towards the training ground outside the wooden castle.
"Hey, I said~" Lusignan looked at Klaus's leaving back and cursed in his heart. He turned to Art and said with a smile: "Sir, I didn't say not to train, but you just don't treat us like recruits~" With that, Lusignan pulled Smith and followed Klaus to the training ground.
Angus looked at the three figures from behind, then turned to Art and said, "Sir, I just heard Salt tell you about the performance of these three guys when the caravan was attacked by the enemy. They are all the sharpest swords, and we have to make good use of them."
"Sergeant major, don't forget that the long sword at your waist has two edges. The sharper the blade, the easier it is to hurt yourself."
Angus nodded, "So you let me and Odo sharpen their sword blades?"
"Well, our army is still lacking. Without warriors like them, these few people will become the backbone of the army in the future. I don't want them to bring the bad habits of those noble armies into my army. I want to ensure that every one of our soldiers works together with me."
"Okay, then I understand, I will focus on taking care of the three of them!"
Angus left the wooden house and went to the training ground to "take care" of the three new warriors, while Art also sat back in his chair and quietly thought about the many things to come...