When Michael took Claude and the big man Gemi up the mountain, he happened to see the old woman who headed the village head leaving and going down the mountain. But Mike was not in a hurry. He said softly: "Sir, I saw her going up the mountain carrying a basket, and now she comes down empty-handed. The basket must be placed in the woods."
"Go and see. I'm very interested in what's in her basket." Claude nodded and said, what secrets are these villagers hiding
The basket is easy to find. Last time, Michael noticed that the basket was placed under a large cherry tree. It was the most obvious place in the grove. There was also a large bluestone under the tree. The old woman of the village elder’s family Just put the basket on the bluestone.
The three people quietly walked towards the grove, and sure enough, they found a portable basket on the big bluestone under the cherry tree, and the basket was covered with a piece of linen cloth. Claude listened carefully and found no unusual movement around the grove, so he pointed to the basket: "Light a fire and see what's in the basket."
The big man Gemi Flint lit the torch in his hand, and McJack lifted the sackcloth covering the basket. It was just the contents of the basket that made all three of them a little disappointed. There was a baked wheat cake on a wooden plate, a small piece of black bread, a grilled sausage, and a small bag of salt.
"Sir, it seems that the black bread, grilled sausages and salt were all bought by the village chief from our canteen. The copper coins you paid them in the cane basket were taken to the canteen to buy these foods. You agreed to their purchase. "." Mike looked at the food in the basket carefully and recognized that it was all food rations for their squadron.
There is plenty of food anyway, but the rainy season is coming, and many things can easily become moldy if they are not well preserved. Besides, after the rainy season in March, the battalion headquarters will transport some heavy supplies, and the enemy will not launch an attack during the rainy season. So much so that Claude suddenly discovered that his premature stockpiling of food and ammunition was not a far-sighted thing, but rather an unnecessary move due to his own cleverness. So he decided to sell some excess food reserves to the villagers of Squirrel Village to make the relationship between the two parties closer and friendly. Besides, these villagers don't have much money, so they don't have to worry about buying too much and reducing their food reserves.
The big man Gemi looked at the basket and said: "Sir, I think there must be someone from the village hiding in the mountains and forests, so the village elder's wife only brings him food once every three days. Look, the food in this basket It’s enough to feed an average person for three days.”
It is indeed enough for an ordinary person to last for three days. For the big man, this is exactly the amount of one meal. Claude was also disappointed. He probably was a young widow or something in the village. He was afraid of being taken to the military camp to serve these foreign invaders, so he fled to the mountains. Food was only sent up every two or three days. No wonder the village elder and the villagers did not dare to wander up the mountain for fear of being discovered by themselves.
"Let's go, put out the torch, don't let the villagers notice us going up the mountain. It's boring, I thought they were hiding something." Claude turned around and left. He was not very interested in the young widow. But after walking for a while, Claude stopped again, feeling something was wrong.
First of all, the villagers in Squirrel Village have no concept of the country. They only know that their lord is Baron Novilik Wei Flinsland. They are the baron's subjects. Everything in Squirrel Village belongs to the baron lord, including their lives. Although Claude and the others were invaders from a foreign country, they came to liberate them and changed their tragic fate as territorial citizens.
When Claude told the villagers that there would no longer be a baron to exploit them, and they no longer needed to pay so many things as taxes to the baron, they were happy from the bottom of their hearts, and they were sincere to Claude. support. Moreover, Claude and his squadron are stationed in Squirrel Village. They treat these villagers very friendly and fairly, and even find them jobs to earn extra money. The relationship between the two is really like a close relationship between the military and civilians. There are no secrets that these villagers would hide like this. and taboo him going up the mountain
Secondly, the person hiding on the mountain will definitely not be a young widow. In this era, the concept of chastity of widows is not very valued. Just as Markchi said, if there are really young widows, they will welcome the troops stationed because Not only can they find a way to make money, but they may also be able to leave themselves children to support themselves in old age.
"Let's go back and hide to see who will pick up the basket." Claude made the decision softly.
The three of them returned to the grove and found a hiding place on the rock forty or fifty meters away from the basket, staring at the basket on the bluestone under the cherry tree in the distance.
I don't know how long it took, but a dark shadow quickly passed under the trees in the woods, and soon approached the basket on the bluestone.
Michael pulled Claude's clothes nervously, while Claude and Gemmy's eyes widened at this moment. They never dreamed that what they saw was such a scene.
A black wolf about the size of a pony appeared next to the bluestone under the cherry tree. Its two green eyes were exceptionally clear in the darkness, but the strange thing was that the black wolf had the handle of another basket in its mouth. . I saw this black wolf put the basket under the bluestone in its mouth, and was about to bite the handle of the basket on the bluestone, but suddenly lowered its head and sniffed something next to the bluestone. Instead of biting the basket containing food, he growled a little irritably at the rock where Claude and the others were hiding.
Obviously, the black wolf discovered the scent of Claude and the others, and vaguely noticed that they were hiding in the rocks.
The black wolf rushed a few steps toward the rock where Claude and the others were hiding, then looked back at the basket on the bluestone, and then stepped back. He kept spinning in circles, and at the same time growled in a low voice, very irritably, as if he wanted to pounce on Claude and the others. He also remembered the basket with food on the bluestone, and looked determined to put it down.
After a while, the black wolf stood still, raised his head in the direction of Claude and the others, and twitched his nose carefully, as if he wanted to remember the scent of Claude and the others. Finally, he let out a low growl, jumped up on the bluestone, lowered his head and bit the handle of the basket, and flashed towards the depths of the grove.
The black wolf walked away for a long time before Claude and the three of them woke up from the shock. They never dreamed that the person coming to get the basket would be a big black wolf.
"Here, has this black wolf become a spirit? I heard from the old man that there used to be Warcraft. Some Warcraft could even imitate human speech and were very smart." Mike murmured.
"That monster is a giant dragon. The only monster recorded in the book that can speak human language is a giant dragon, not a black wolf. This black wolf has obviously been trained by people, so it can restrain its wildness. If it is really a wild wolf, I just smelled it Our scent has already rushed towards us in a wild way, instead of still thinking about the basket and hesitating. Besides, the basket is filled with food for humans, not blood food for wolves." Claude knocked He touched McJack's head and said to the big man Gemie: "Light the torch, let's go see what's in the basket that the black wolf brought over."
In the basket were two small, wide-mouthed jars made of blue clay, about as big as Claude's fists, with a large pine stopper on top. Pulling up the pine cork, by the light of the torch, the sweet smell hits your nose.
"This is wild honey." Claude stuck out his tongue and tasted it. It was indeed honey.
Mike pulled out the pine cork of another jar and said, "Bah, this smells so bad, it seems like some kind of medicine."
Claude took it and took a look. Isn't this the dark green rice paste ointment in the hands of the villagers? It is mainly used to treat headaches, fevers and children's colds. Last time when several of my soldiers had a cold, they used a few spoonfuls of this ointment mixed with water and drank a large bowl of it. After a sleepy night and sweating profusely, they were cured. The therapeutic effect was comparable to those of cold medicines.
For this reason, Claude went to the village elder specifically to ask the village elder about the preparation and brewing method of this folk remedy. He was prepared to spend a lot of money to buy it, and he paid a high price of five gold crowns. As a result, the village elder refused to say anything. Claude thought that the village elder cherished the secret recipe handed down from his ancestors, so he did not force him. Only now do I know that this is how they used the ointment.
Looking at the dark mountain forest, Claude thought for a moment and said, "Pack the things and put them back. We are going down the mountain."
"Sir, don't you want to know who is hiding in this forest?" Mike asked.
"It's not from the village," Claude replied: "It should be someone who lives in seclusion in the mountains and forests and doesn't want to come out. Although I want to know who he is, I don't want you to take risks. A person who can drive such a big black wolf People must have some abilities that are different from ordinary people. As long as it doesn't hinder us, let him go. If he can trade fairly with the poor villagers like Squirrel Village, he shouldn't be a vicious person."
"Sir, even if he can control such a big black wolf, he still can't stop our muskets. If we don't gather our brothers tomorrow and turn the forest behind the village upside down, I don't believe anyone can hide from us. Search." The big man Gemi said unconvinced.
Claude smiled and shook his head: "That's not necessary. The mountains and forests are so big. If you want to avoid our search, there are plenty of places to hide. Besides, we have no complaints and no worries. For what reason are we going to dig out this person hiding in the mountains and forests?" Although we have to be stationed here for a long time, to the villagers of Squirrel Village, we are just passers-by after all. Let them and this person hiding in the mountains and forests keep their secrets, as long as they do not hinder us , we just pretend we don’t know about it.”
"Okay, sir, we will follow your orders." Mike and Big Germi replied.
"Go back and have a good rest, and don't talk about it to the soldiers, lest they become curious and go looking for this person in the mountains and forests. Sometimes, even with a musket in hand, it is not very safe. The black wolf is very sensitive. If it wants to sneak attack a person in the mountains and forests, it will be difficult to guard against it. I don’t want our brothers to be harmed because of curiosity, do you remember?” Claude warned McGuire and Gemie sternly.
Perhaps it was Claude's stern warning that made Mike and Big Germi have to consider the consequences of bragging and leaking the matter among the soldiers. The two men hurriedly vowed that they would keep this matter in their hearts and would never tell other soldiers. Remember everything I saw tonight.
"Okay, I believe you." Claude thought for a moment and said to the two of them: "Tomorrow morning you two go back to the battalion headquarters and ask Major Lederfangk for some pesticides and powders for preventing poisonous insects in the mountains and forests. The weather is getting warmer, and many poisonous insects are out and about. Our camp must also be prepared to prevent and control poisonous insects. In addition, I will give you some money. You can purchase some good ingredients and more rye wine in the town where the battalion headquarters is located. Come with fruit wine. If I can’t buy wine anymore, I won’t be able to keep the two bottles of good wine left in my room. This guy Markchi has been thinking about these two bottles of good wine.”
Both McJack and the big man Gemie laughed. During this time, Markchi, an old drunkard, was addicted to alcohol. However, there was no alcohol in the camp, and there were only two bottles left in Claude's room. He had always wanted to get some from Claude. I got these two bottles of wine to satisfy my craving. It's a pity that he has more than enough ambition but not enough power. No matter what method he tries, he can't get wine from Claude. He even bet with Claude and loses all the money around him. He had no choice but to take a leave of absence two days ago. He went back to Blackstone Village to have a drink at Murray Ed's place and finally stopped his alcohol addiction.
"Sir, you bought the wine for Sergeant Markchi, right?" McJack asked with a smile.
Claude also laughed: "This guy has lost all his money to me. How can he still have money to buy wine? Let's buy more this time and let this guy drink enough. I persuaded him last time and wanted to be promoted to second lieutenant." It's best to quit drinking, otherwise it will be difficult to move up. This guy said that there is no way, it is a habit left after going to the battlefield before. Every time he is lucky to survive from the battlefield, it is impossible not to get drunk. He can't sleep, and he is a pitiful person."
"By the way, sir, the road conditions on the mountain are so bad now. What should I do if the carriage cannot transport the wine I bought?" asked the big man Gimi.
"It's okay, just spend a little more money to hire a team of pack horses. I can still afford this fee." Claude said.