Chapter 41: Trackers on the Grassland

boom!

The waves slapped the bow of the boat, splashing countless drops of water, flying away with the wind.

Leon stood on the deck and looked at the vast river surface. The town pier on the long embankment in the distance was vaguely visible. He would soon step onto the land on the north bank of the Nucang River, one step closer to the Kingdom of Bimon.

In the morning, Leon's team successfully boarded the boat to cross the river. Since the pier on the other side was dozens of miles downstream, the ferry had to travel down for some time before it could reach.

The Kingdom of Otto is adjacent to the Kingdom of Bimon in the north and the powerful Farean Empire in the east. The Nucang River, which crosses half of the continent from west to east, naturally became the main road of transportation.

Starting from this open river, we have entered the golden route of the Nucang River. Although it is winter now, there are many merchant ships, ferries and even cruise ships that go upstream or downstream.

Although the relationship between the beasts and humans is cold and hostile, and people in the beasts are not allowed to set foot in the human territory, trade between the two sides is still very frequent.

The minerals, wood, magic crystals, spices and other resources from the northern Bemon are constantly imported into the human country in exchange for excellent weapons, silk, porcelain, magical supplies and other materials. Such trade has never been cut off for thousands of years.

Therefore, there are many small caravans like Leon who go to the Bemon Kingdom. Every year, there are a large number of gray camel merchants who risk crossing the river to the north. The beast tribe is relatively friendly to ordinary caravans. The only trouble is that there are endless bandits on the long journey.

"To go to Tomund City, we have to cross the Hulun Grassland first. We have to cross the Twilight Mountains. The risk is not small..." The new leader of the team gestured on the simple map: "Those big horse thieves will not like small caravans like us, but some small thieves will not let go of anything."

This guide, Wally, in his forties, is a senior independent mercenary. It is said that he had been in a famous large mercenary group for ten years and had worked alone for more than ten years.

In the Mercenary Union, he has a very high reputation, and even Akran has heard of his name.

"They are like hungry wolves on the grassland. They will follow them all the way whenever they are targeted. After they are sure to be able to eat them, they will pounce on them without hesitation and kill everyone and steal everything!"

The mercenary guide's voice was low and cold. When he spoke, there was no expression on his face, which was covered with wind and frost, giving people the feeling of being a stone sculpture.

Wally said very little, but there was no nonsense.

"If they dare to come, we dare to kill them all!" Leon said disdainfully.

Their team, along with Reon, had a total of five warriors, plus the third-level mage Akran and a fire hammer that could act as an archer. If even a small bandit could not deal with it, it would be better to pack up and return home as soon as possible.

"First of all, I will declare that according to the rules and conditions of employment, I am only responsible for leading the way and may not participate in the battle..." The guide said lightly: "If I encounter life danger, I will choose to escape first."

"Of course, I will also do my best to choose a safe route, avoid dangerous existences, and allow the team to reach Tormond City safely!"

"Well! That's enough." Leon smiled.

Although the guide's words sounded very unpleasant, his honest and professional attitude actually gave people enough trust.

Squeak!

A golden chandelier rushed to Leon's shoulder quickly, rubbed his furry head hard against his thick neck, looking like he was obedient and pleasing.

"Greedy little guy..." Leon reached out and touched its head and cursed.

He took out a handful of pine nuts from his waist bag, and the peach crawled down his arm cleverly, jumped onto Leon's palm and grabbed food quickly, and in a blink of an eye it was wiped out without a single one.

This little pet is of course the silver-lined golden rat that Leon obtained from the thief leader. At the beginning, Leon didn't know how to tame it.

Fortunately, Akran, as a magician, has a very knowledgeable experience and has long been prepared to deal with it - a bag of black pine nuts found from the thief leader.

The silver threaded golden rat is also a good thing that has milk. He will obey it when he gives it a handful of black pine nuts, and will not run away again. He will soon regard Leon, who has black pine nuts, as his new owner.

However, the mage also said that it will definitely take some time to cultivate enough loyalty, and he doesn't understand how to make it work.

Leon didn't care much. He didn't know how to ask others. For him, raising this little guy now is more of a fun.

Seeing the golden rat that Leon was teasing, a hint of surprise flashed through Wally's originally calm eyes.

"Prepare to dock!"

At this moment, the owner of the ship who was helming behind shouted loudly, reminding the passengers to be prepared.

The ferry leaned firmly against the dock.

The sailors quickly laid wooden boards to help deliver the camel caravan to the shore.

Leon and others rode on the gray camel again, led by a guide and walked through the wharf town and entered the Hulun grassland.

Hulun is the only grassland area in the northern part of the mainland. The numerous tributaries and abundant water of the Nucang River nourish and nurture this abundant land and become a natural place for many beast tribes to graz.

However, although in a large marginal area on the north bank of the Nucang River, although it is nominally also the territory of the Bemon Kingdom, out of vigilance and caution against the human race, there is almost no trace of the Beast tribe.

The wandering bandits became the master of this place. In the vast area hundreds of miles from west to east, there were endless groups of horse thieves and bandits, both large and small, becoming the biggest enemies of caravans and merchant groups.

Among the bandits, there are beasts and humans, wanted criminals, homeless wanderers, outlaws who lick blood on their heads, and down-and-out adventurers... they can be said to be mixed with fish and dragons.

According to the guide, it is winter now and there are few caravans coming and going, so the large group of horse thieves are generally huddled into the mountain camps and not big. Only small teams that do not have enough winter supplies will swim around in the frost, snow and snow to find prey.

Such bandits are also the most brutal.

The guide who spent fifty or sixty gold coins to hire was definitely worth his value. Although it was a grassland, there were actually many mountains, forests, rivers and swamps.

The green and yellow grass is beyond the knees, and there is no ready-made road to walk. If you are not familiar with the terrain and environment, you will not know when you will get lost.

And Wally was always able to quickly find a safe path, avoiding the area that might have left the gray camel trapped and headed north.

They were lucky, and it was sunny for three consecutive days and there was no trouble.

But on the fourth day, the trouble still came.

"That's the scout of the horse thief..."

Wally looked a little solemn, and he looked back: "He will follow us all the way and find ways to test our reality. The real team should be nearby."

At the rear of the team, there was an additional horse-riding follower, who followed the way from afar.

Because the distance is too far, Leon can't see the other person clearly, but he can be sure that the other person has bad intentions.

"What should we do?" Leon asked in a deep voice.

Wally thought for a while and said, "If we have enough strength, we can definitely win over us, and they rushed over without temptation. This is obviously a small team."

"So we don't need to pay attention to it for the time being. If they attack and test, as long as we can teach them enough, we believe they will leave wisely."

As soon as he arrived on the Hulun Grassland, Yan Chuan and others stopped hiding themselves and quickly took off the cloak that covered their appearance.

I found that there were four people in my team who were beasts. Wally, who had rich experience, was not surprised or scared, but was more confident in the strength of the team.

"Do I want me to use a spell to scare him?" Akran was eager to try.

"This idea is good..." The guide nodded and praised: "I know there are mages in our team, I think they will be much more concerned."

"I don't think so..." Leon sneered and shook his head: "Let them come over. If you dare to come and make a decision, you want to leave without paying a little price? It's not that easy!"

"right!"

"Let them come and fuck them!"

"Let them taste the power of our battle axe!"

Several bears screamed. The long journey along with the previous hike was hiding, which had long made these guys who could not stay bored.

Now that I finally encountered some exciting things, how can I let go of them easily?

Even the little hammer raised his bow and arrow, shouting that he would shoot the thief and his face was full of flowers!

Leon laughed out loud - this is the bear man he trained. He can fight and will never be afraid of any challenges!

Akran and Wally smiled bitterly, not objecting.

So the team continued to move forward, as if they had not seen the tail behind them.

However, at dusk, the followers gradually changed from one rider to five riders, and slowly shortened the distance between the two sides.

This psychological tactic made Leon sneer and he became more and more sure that Wally's judgment was a small team.

The sun set below the horizon, and the prairie ushered in a new long night, which became much colder.

Leon set up camp beside a low hill, erected three tents and lit a bonfire.

The tracker disappeared, as if dissolved into the night.

"Under normal circumstances, they will attack us at night or in the early hours of the morning, at least a tentative attack." Wally said, grilling jerky, "Once we find our weakness, they will all pounce on it, just like a pack of wolves on the grassland!"

"Then let's wait for him!" Leon swallowed the dry and hard bread, and his eyes flashed with fierce light.

Seeing his gaze, the senior mercenaries who had experienced countless dangers trembled in their hearts. Suddenly, they felt that it was not a person sitting opposite, but a tiger that was about to choose people to eat!
Chapter completed!