Part One: Getting Involved Chapter 15: A World Without Thieves
"As a knight, you should fight the enemy head-on to win. Any other roundabout means is an insult to your own character and chivalry." Rodhart had a heroic expression on his face. "
But from a tactical point of view, I am afraid that they will directly use the imperial envoy to threaten us, so it seems that we should sneak up on us secretly. What do you think we should do?"
"You can do whatever you want." Asa's answer was straightforward.
"I not only want to preserve my identity as a knight, but also want to complete the task perfectly... I must find a way to get the best of both worlds..." He held his head and thought hard.
"I chose to sneak in secretly. We are not violating the knight's aboveboard laws, but we pay more attention to cherishing life." Rodhart finally found a reason to connect the two methods, and happily decided on the tactics, and he was more
I was very proud of being able to find this method. "I now have a deeper understanding of chivalry."
He took Asa to the place where the imperial envoy was said to have been in trouble that day. This was in the middle of a bushland, a shortcut naturally trampled by carriages and people passing by here frequently. Such an environment was indeed very suitable for bandits to hang out.
The imperial envoy dared to go here with only two or three followers, obviously he overestimated the local security.
Rodhart looked around the surroundings and said: "Thank God it never rained. The local officials were afraid of alerting the enemy and endangering the life of the imperial envoy and did not dare to send people to search." He said proudly: "Now as long as
I can find the traces of these bandits by using the tracking methods I learned in school."
He bent down and began to carefully examine the ground and grass. After a while, he stood up, rubbing his sore waist, and said with great surprise: "There is no trace at all. The soldiers in the city hall actually took me in."
He cheated me out of money."
"It's right here. There are only about ten of them. They don't have horses. They are escorting the imperial envoy away." Asa had already discovered the footprints on the ground and the traces of trampled weeds. "Follow me." Asa said.
Deep into the woods, Rodhart hurriedly followed behind.
In the woods, Asa found the traces of the bandits with almost no effort and followed them all the way. This kind of thing was strange to a person who had once played a chase game with a werewolf in the most dangerous no-man's land on the mainland.
It's too simple to say. In Asa's eyes, these traces are almost as obvious as if they were placed there and specially noted. He jumped and ran in and out of the forest, as freely as an animal moving in its own territory, Rhodes
Hart trudged behind him in steel armor.
Asa suddenly stopped and reached out to grab Rodhart who was following behind.
Four very natural-looking tree vines extend from the bottom of the four trees to the top of the tree. They are inconspicuous among other natural tree vines. This trap is quite good, and it is obviously used to deal with people and capture them.
Animal traps don't need to be so well concealed, nor are they placed where they themselves have walked.
This is just a dragnet trap with no mechanism to kill people. This kind of trap that cannot kill people immediately is usually not very effective on people. As long as you have a knife or something like that on you, you won't be really trapped for a long time. That is
It is said that there must be something like an alarm bell on this trap to notify the person who set the trap to arrest him, so this place must not be far from the bandit's lair.
Asa said to Rodhart: "Take off that armor of yours, it's too bulky and you can't run fast."
Rodhart shook his head and said, "No, this is the mark of a knight."
"Then if you can keep up with me, follow me. If you can't, go and delay the bandits coming here as long as possible." Asa found that such a person was really troublesome and didn't want to pay attention to him. He probably dealt with him with his skills.
A dozen bandits won't be a problem.
Asa picked up a larger dead branch on the ground and threw it towards a pile of weeds in front of him. With a whoosh, a large net suddenly rose from the dead leaves and weeds underground and closed among the tree tops. At the same time, there was a faint sound in the distance.
There's a gong sound.
Asa immediately identified the direction and distance of the sound. He rushed out to the side, preparing to avoid the approaching bandits and sneak into the bandit's den.
Rodhart reluctantly ran for a few steps, but watched Asa use his hands and feet to shuttle through the trees like a bobcat a few times before disappearing. He shook his head helplessly and walked back to the trap to wait for the bandits.
arrival.
After running for a while, Asa saw a few simple huts in the forest clearing ahead, a few bonfires that were about to go out, and a few wooden houses on some big trees. This should be the bandit's camp.
It's just such a simple lair. This group of bandits is really unprofessional and looks more like a temporary mob. He already has a plan. There is no need to sneak in secretly, he just rushes in and knocks them down one by one. There is a lot of noise between the trees.
A few figures could already be seen in the grass, and Asa rushed out of the bushes.
But he immediately discovered that he didn't know which one to knock down first.
Several old men holding logs looked at him blankly. The clothes on these old men could hardly cover their entire bodies, their faces were covered with wrinkles of suffering, their backs were hunched, and their waists could not be straightened.
Jiang Jiang was standing there, as if he would fall down at any time even if he didn't need to hit himself any more.
Several children with runny noses looked at him on the tree house and shouted. Some were wearing bark, and some were naked. One of them was still peeing, and he cheered enthusiastically when he saw him coming out of the trees.
He shot the urine at him, making a moaning sound from his mouth, but unfortunately the range was not as ideal as he expected.
Hearing the children's shouts, more than a dozen women walked out of the huts and tree houses, still holding animal skins in their hands. They were not afraid when they saw Asa, but they all looked surprised, and one of them came over
.This is a middle-aged woman, her clothes are relatively complete, her hair is tied back with a bunch of grass. The simple and honest face of a country woman has some smart and capable temperament. She is probably a leader among women. She came over and asked.
Asa: "Young man, did you trigger the alarm?"
"Ah." Asa replied blankly. He didn't know how to react at all now. It was impossible for him to rush into this group of old people, children and women and fight as he expected.
The woman looked at Asa and asked, "Are you lost? You don't seem to be a local. Are you a wanderer from other places?"
"Oh." Asa nodded tentatively. He carried the knife on his back and hid it under his robe. He was still wearing the old robe Sandro gave him. As for his hair, beard and face, he couldn't see it and never paid attention to it.
, probably not like a person of status.
"Are you hungry? Come in and have some soup to warm yourself up." The woman showed the hospitality of the rural poor. "My husband and the others went out to check the trap you touched. It was only used to deal with the soldiers. They will probably be there soon."
return."
If we weren't in the depths of the woods, this place would be just a country village. Asa remembered that Rodhart was still there. When he met the woman's husband and his gang, they would definitely start a fight. He was dressed like a knight.
Wearing steel armor and a sword, it was clear that he was here to rescue the imperial envoy. He turned around and walked back the way he came.
As soon as he took a few steps, he saw more than 20 men walking over. They were also wearing ragged clothes and holding farm tools such as pitchforks and hoes. Only two of the men were holding daggers and bows. Rhodes
Hart was surrounded by the crowd, talking familiarly to the men next to him. From a distance, he saw Assama immediately raising his hand and waving in signal.
Waiting for them to approach, Asa stared at Rodhart and asked, "What's going on?"
Rodhart smiled like a child: "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, these are folks from several villages near me. I haven't seen them for several years. This is hunter Levin, and this is Brother Bomb."
....." He introduced the men next to him one by one, looking like a prodigal son who had just returned to his hometown with his friends.
After sitting around the campfire and chatting for a while, I found out that they were all villagers from nearby villages. Unable to bear the sudden increase in taxes in recent months, they fled into the mountains and forests to make a living by hunting and occasionally robbing passers-by.
Yesterday they saw a gorgeously dressed man and a few followers by the forest. They thought he was just an ordinary rich man, so they went up and kidnapped him. Who knew that it was actually an imperial envoy sent by the royal capital who had caused trouble in the city?
The official is like a powerful enemy, and the wind is trembling.
"You must release the person. Kidnapping the court ministers is absolutely not an option." Rodhart advised everyone.
"No." Someone immediately objected. Asa remembered that this was a man named Brother Bombu whom Rodhart introduced just now. He was a fat, bald man with a face full of flesh. It was hard to tell from the fat on his face.
There is no trace of poverty, but I heard that he used to sell meat. The fat accumulated at that time has probably been deeply ingrained in his body and is inseparable from him. Even if he starves to death, his body shape will not change. He first
He stood up and said: "Just letting people go is not enough. Will the local magistrate let us go for such a big matter? We have been exploited so miserably in normal times, and now he has lost face in front of the imperial envoy and has failed in his duties. How can he not let us go?"
Kill us all? We plan to use this opportunity to give those guys a good deal, and then everyone will take the money and leave." His idea was also the idea of most people. It attracted a lot of approval.
"But this is illegal. As a citizen of the empire, you should abide by the law. And I also heard that the imperial minister is a very knowledgeable theology expert. We are all believers in God. How could we do such a thing?
Yeah." Rodhart probably felt that it was inappropriate for a knight to participate in this topic and wanted to clarify his position.
"If you want, the local magistrate can legally starve us all to death." Hunter Levin is the leader here. He is a very lean little man. There is no trace of fat on his body but he seems to be able to squeeze out iron juice.
His skin was dark, his hair was weirdly tied up with a cloth, his face was colorfully painted with paint, and he had a small goatee. "When your grandfather was here, those guys were still a little scrupulous and didn't dare to go too far. But recently it seems like
If the officials above take any action, they just want to make money from us. First, the tax on cultivated land will be increased, then the tax on business will be doubled, and finally they will say that this forest belongs to the country and we can hunt in it.
We also need to pay taxes. We have done nothing and can no longer even sustain our lives. As a result, we are still asked to donate a poll tax. If we don’t pay, it is illegal and we will be suspected of being heretics. All the laws they made have forced us to be like this.
Now, you still want us to abide by the law?"
Rodhart shook his head and said: "This is just the mistake of these local bureaucrats. Because they are too far away from the royal capital, these local officials will act so unscrupulously. And the imperial envoy sent by the royal capital is to supervise them.
As long as we report the matter clearly to the Imperial Envoy and explain our difficulties, he will definitely give us justice."
The woman who greeted Asa just now was the wife of the hunter Levin. She said with a woman's unique keen anatomy: "Little Rod, you have stayed in your school for too long and learned too many rigid things from books.
Things. What are those things? It’s just a few words and a few things drawn with ink. What we see are all facts. Think about it, is this imperial envoy closer to those dog officials or us?
What? If he goes to the city, will he eat and sleep at our house? Do you think they will protect us?"
Rodhart stubbornly shook his head and said: "No, there will definitely be justice, justice will definitely be upheld, and evil forces will definitely be punished as they deserve. My grandfather also taught me this."
"I have lived for seventy years, and I have never seen what fairness and justice are." An old man said next to him. He had few teeth, and his words were leaky and distorted, but they had a heavy flavor.
. He looked around at the people around him and emphasized: "Seventy years old."
Rodhart's face was already a little red, I don't know if it was excitement or something, but it looked very similar to the face he had when he was in the mercenary tavern in the city. He said forcefully: "No, there must be. My grandfather also used to
He told me so." He suddenly remembered that there might be an ally next to him, and turned to Asa and said sincerely: "Friend Asa, you must also believe in justice and justice in this world?"
Asa frowned, searched hard in his memory, looked at him, and answered very cautiously and honestly: "I've never heard of such a thing."
"No, there must be!" Rodhart was not intimidated by the disadvantage of fighting alone. Instead, he stood up and said more excitedly. "Think about it, if we sent the imperial envoy back politely, he could have done better when he saw us.
If you don't do this to extort money, you will definitely be moved by our sincerity and you will definitely seek justice for us. You must know that I heard that this imperial envoy once engaged in research in a seminary. He must have very profound knowledge.
wisdom and a great heart.”
No one said a word. Probably because he was so excited, they didn't want to throw cold water on him.
"So what if we extort a sum of money? We have to leave our homes and hide in other places, with no chance to return to our own land. Moreover, we have to be afraid every day of being discovered.
Is this a good life? As long as the imperial envoy helps you adjust the taxes and punish the local officials, everyone can live the same life as before."
The villagers were in a commotion. These words were very tempting. For a native rural civilian, the feelings and lifestyle of his hometown are indeed irreplaceable. "It seems that what he said makes sense...
." Some people have begun to agree with his words.
Rodhart was almost pleading: "Please believe me. I guarantee it as a knight, and I guarantee it as my grandfather's reputation."
This guarantee was also very powerful. Rodhart's grandfather seemed to be very popular among the villagers. People started to talk about it one by one. After a while, Hunter Levin finally nodded.
"Okay, since you said that, and the final result is to release him anyway, we will just listen to you and take a gamble."
Rodhart said firmly and confidently: "This is not a bet, it must be like this. Don't think about this world too darkly. Just like I heard people in the city say that there is a group of extremely vicious mountains here."
Just like thieves, aren't you all good people? As long as we have a bright mind, we will see that there are not so many bad people in this world."