After resting for a night in the city of Amis, Claude took Michael Jack and the big man Germi and continued on their way. They spent a day and a night climbing over the Odin Mountains, and then spent another day and arrived at Kafei in the evening. Conigada, the county seat of Leicester County.
This can be regarded as a return to the old place. Claude came to Cafilezte County to join the army, and it was also from here that he entered the battlefield. It's just that he was still a member of the Blue Feather Legion at the time, but now he has changed. The Blue Feather Legion was wiped out in the Karnas Prairie, but Claude was accidentally dumped by the Blue Feather Legion as a package. The Amis City Security Battalion was transferred to the Ranger Battalion by the eldest prince. Now that Claude has been promoted to the rank of captain and received the Knight Medal, who could have expected this situation
Claude decided to rest for two days in the city of Gonigada. It was really tiring to cross the Odin Mountains. Neither Mike nor the big man had a good rest. The mountains are high and the roads are dangerous, and there are people transporting supplies on the mountain roads from time to time. A large freight convoy passed by, and Claude, three people, five horses, and a carriage kept giving way to the convoy coming from the opposite direction, which even slowed down the entire journey.
In addition, Claude decided to visit the original legion camp. After the Blue Feather Legion was completely destroyed, its remnants were said to have returned to the legion camp in Cafilezte County. The kingdom decided to reorganize a new Blue Feather Legion here. . Claude had already heard about the 2nd Ranger Battalion and the 11th Field Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of the Blue Feather Corps through Captain Durrioro. The 2nd Ranger Battalion suffered extremely heavy losses. But Belklin was okay. This kid was smarter and was ready to escape early when he saw the situation was amiss. The squadron he led ran back most of the troops.
As for the 11th Field Battalion of the Blue Feather Legion, it was the old unit that Claude enlisted in. Like the rest of the field troops of the Blue Feather Legion, they died together with the light cavalry of the Principality of Karnas on the prairie. However, the treatment center of the 11th Field Battalion was dragged behind the legion. When the battle situation on the front line was not good, some wounded soldiers and medical personnel escaped. Doctor Perente, whom Claude was concerned about, was also among them. He and the medical soldier Bell, whom Claude knew, were lucky enough to encounter Belklin who was retreating, and then escaped back under the escort of Belklin.
Claude just wanted to see Dr. Perrente. When he joined the army, he had a conflict with a veteran and went to the treatment center twice. Dr. Perente spent a lot of time on him. It can be said that if Dr. Perente hadn't saved him, Claude wouldn't be where he is now. Later, he was injured in the thigh during the battle to capture Wilf's Hill. It was the medicine specially sent by Dr. Parent that cured his penetrating thigh injury and avoided the fate of amputation due to infection.
Therefore, when you come to the city of Conigada, you must visit Dr. Perente who is in the nearby legion camp. But unfortunately, when Claude went to the legion camp the next morning, he did not find Dr. Perente. Instead, he met Second Lieutenant Most, the instructor who favored Claude during the recruit training. But now he is Captain Most. This was an unexpected surprise. Captain Most did not expect to see Claude again, and Claude, like him, became a captain officer and wore a knighthood medal on his chest, so he had to ask him first Claude saluted.
At noon, Claude was caught by Captain Most, and the two returned to the city of Conigada to find a tavern and have a drink. Captain Most said that he did not go to the Karnas Prairie with the troops because he was injured by a bullet and lay in the treatment camp in the rear for more than half a year before recovering. It was in the treatment camp that he heard the news that the Blue Feather Army was completely annihilated. According to the news, after recovering from his injury, he was ordered to return to the legion camp here to reorganize the Blue Feather Legion. He is currently the acting battalion commander of the new Eleventh Field Battalion.
Claude asked about the news about Dr. Perrente, and Captain Most told him that Dr. Perente's establishment was no longer in the Blue Feather Corps. It is said that after that fiasco, a treatment camp was organized on the eastern border of the former Eskiline Principality to treat the wounded soldiers who had escaped. Dr. Perrente and the remaining medical staff were transferred there. Later, when the treatment camp was disbanded, the files of Dr. Perrente and those medical staff were transferred away, and seemed to be transferred to the treatment center under the frontline headquarters. Captain Most did not know the general whereabouts.
Claude was disappointed when Dr. Perente was not found. After parting ways with Captain Most, Claude went back to the tavern to rest, not interested in visiting the city of Conigada anymore. Early the next morning, he took the carriage with Mike and the big man and set off on the road again.
Seven days later, Ambrose County.
"Ahead is Heisen Town. We will rest there for one night. We will set off tomorrow morning, pass through the Black Forest, and then walk on the winding mountain road for half a day. We will reach White Deer City in the evening. After five years, I finally went home..." Ke Lord rode on the horse and sighed to McJack beside him.
"Sir, I don't know if it would be too abrupt for Gemmi and I to go to your house. Is there room for us two to live in your house?" Michael asked. He and Claude were both on horseback, and the big man Gimi was driving the carriage. The carriage was already filled to the brim with goods purchased by Claude on the black market in Fort Afennes. This was also the reason why Claude and Michael could only ride horses to accompany the carriage.
"Haha, it's okay. You two have been with me for so long and you are already my brothers. I believe that my family will welcome you very much. As for the place to live, don't worry about that. I don't have anything else in my family. I just have a lot of real estate. When I left, I left three buildings for my family. The rent alone can bring in dozens of gold crowns a year. Are you still afraid that you will have no place to live?" Claude laughed and answered.
Hesse Town arrived soon. The only thing that surprised Claude and the other three was that the guards at the entrance of the town seemed a bit tight. This is a sight I have never encountered before. There is not even an identity check in other places. This is inevitable, because most of the security battalions in local towns have been pulled into the newly occupied territory, and they have not yet withdrawn from the front line. Therefore, many of the people currently serving as local guards are retired veterans in their 40s and 50s. They are very sloppy in checking the identity of passers-by, and most of them have an attitude of not wanting to cause trouble for themselves.
But Hesse Town was an exception. Claude stopped the car at the door of the Hound Tavern where Uncle Oaks brought him for the first time, and asked for a guest room and a warehouse. This was the arrangement all along the way. Claude stayed in the guest room and allowed the three of them to bathe and wash their clothes, while the barn was where the carriage was kept. Michael and the big man Germi also stayed in the barn and took care of the carriage. After all, the compartment of the carriage was stuffed with goods worth nearly five hundred gold crowns, so there was no room for carelessness.
But as soon as the food was served, the Hesse Town Guard arrived. The leader was an old man in his fifties, with the rank of Second Lieutenant of the Guard on his clothes. He should be a retired veteran, because his military salute was very standard. .
"Salute to you, Knight Claude." The second lieutenant of this security battalion asked after checking the identity certificates and passes of Claude and the three of them: "Can I ask? Are you going back to White Deer City?"
Claude nodded: "Of course, I am on family leave this time. I haven't been home for five years."
The second lieutenant said hesitantly: "Please forgive my rudeness, Knight Claude, if possible, I think it is better to ask you to stay in the town for a few more days, and it will be safer to wait for more people to go on the road." , it would be much safer if there is a caravan traveling with us... "
"Huh?" Claude was stunned, what does this mean: "Are you saying that the Black Forest and the winding mountain road are not safe? The wolf problem has not been eliminated yet?"
"Oh no, it's not a wolf problem. Four or five years ago, our town hired hunters to eliminate the wolf problem in the black forest. I also participated in the wolf hunting operation that time and hunted two big bad wolves. In total, we dispatched nearly One hundred hunters eliminated four wolf packs and killed one hundred and forty-five black and gray wolves. The howling of wolves has long been no longer heard in the Winding Mountain Road and Black Forest area."
The second lieutenant of the security battalion explained: "The Black Forest and Winding Mountain Road are not very safe now, because there are gangs in this area. The leader is called One-Eyed Longback. It is said that he escaped from the hard labor camp in Bailu City. There are thirty or forty bandits hiding in the black forest, and they come out from time to time to rob houses and ambush merchants. Although their weapons are not very good, they are outnumbered and dare to fight. So if the three of you rush to White Deer City, It is easy to be attacked by these bandits in the Black Forest and Winding Road... "
"Won't these gangsters come out to rob when there are so many people?" McJack asked: "Didn't your Hesse Town organize a police force to eliminate them?"
The second lieutenant shook his head: "The original guard team in our town was expanded into a guard battalion after the war broke out and was sent to the front line. It has not come back yet. The town later organized us older veterans and reorganized it. A police squadron was set up, which was barely able to protect the town, so that this group of gangsters could not get any benefits from us.
It's just that this group of gangsters originally escaped from the hard labor camp in Bailu City, and some were criminals who evaded military service in the three southwest counties. Their scope of activities is in the Black Forest and Panshan Road, and they do not belong to our Heisen Town. jurisdiction area. Therefore, it is the duty of White Deer City to eliminate them. We have no right to enter the black forest and mountains to pursue them. In addition, with our current security strength, there is nothing we can do.
According to our experience, as long as the number of people traveling with them exceeds 70, 80 or more than 100, and they are equipped with self-defense weapons, this group of gangsters will not dare to come out to attack the team. Because most of them are wanted by White Deer City, basically every gangster's head has a good bounty, and the lowest one has a price tag of five gold crowns.
Therefore, when many passing merchants formed a team and passed by, they were eager for them to come out and attack, so that they might earn extra money during this trip. This group of gangsters attacked a large caravan more than a year ago. At that time, there were more than 60 of them. As a result, they were beaten to pieces by the caravan's escorts, and about twenty corpses were left behind.
The caravan sent these corpses to Bailu City and received a bounty of nearly two hundred gold crowns, which caused a sensation in Bailu City. From then on, this group of gangsters no longer dared to attack crowded passing teams. They only dared to rob a few pedestrians and vehicles, and occasionally robbed farms on the outskirts of Bailu City to obtain supplies. White Deer City once dispatched a police force to hunt them down, but they fled deep into the Black Forest, causing the police force to return without success... "
This group of gangsters seems to be too useless. Generally speaking, a large caravan only has forty or fifty four-wheeled freight carriages and about two hundred people, of which there are only about thirty or forty guards. Sixty or so vicious bandits couldn't even rob a large caravan, but instead gave away about twenty heads, which didn't sound threatening at all.
"What kind of weapons and equipment do these gangsters have?" Claude asked.
"I don't know much about this, but according to some merchants who encountered this group of gangsters, most of their equipment were stone crossbows and bows and arrows, which they made themselves. There should be two muskets, which they robbed from a certain farm. They are very old-fashioned firecrackers, and the rest are mostly cold weapons such as spears, daggers, and axes." said the second lieutenant.
"How many people in the town are going to White Deer City now?" Claude asked.
"It's a pity," the second lieutenant replied: "You are a step late. A team heading to Bailu City has just set off this morning. Now you three are the only ones going to Bailu City in this town. But if you can get there in the town, If we wait four or five days, we will soon be able to gather a team of more than fifty people to go to Bailu City."
Claude shook his head: "There is no need. We will not wait in the town to gather the team. We will set off tomorrow morning. As soldiers of the kingdom, the three of us are not afraid of this group of gangsters, and we all bring Armed with muskets, if they dare to attack us, then we will beg for it, and maybe we can get a large bounty from them."
"Knight Claude, I hope you will think about it again." The second lieutenant of the security battalion wanted to continue to persuade, but seeing the resolute attitude of the three Claudes, he could only salute Claude again and retreat.
Early the next morning, the three of Claude ignored the dissuasion of the Hesse Town Guards, rode horses and drove a carriage out of the town gate, heading towards the Black Forest.
Before leaving, Claude told the kind-hearted second lieutenant of the security team that if they really encountered the gangsters and they couldn't fight them, they would abandon the carriage and escape on horseback, but I believe they would make the gangsters pay a heavy price.
The carriage was pulled by two pack horses. Both Mack and the big man were sitting on the driver's seat of the carriage, with their respective muskets beside them. The reins of the two strong horses were tied to the back of the carriage and they followed the carriage. If necessary, McJack and the big man Germi could abandon the carriage and ride on the strong horses behind them.
As for Claude, he rode with him all the way. There were two muskets stuck on the side of his horse. One was his Obash Type III standard matchlock gun, and the other was a black market gun he bought from Fort Afina. Purchased shotgun. This shotgun should have been passed down from the home of a noble in a principality or was snatched away as a trophy by a soldier and sold on the black market. It is a specially made shotgun and matchlock. Shotguns fired within a range of about twenty meters are said to be able to kill ferocious wild boars. In addition to its short range, it also has a shortcoming in that it has a lot of recoil, but this is not a problem for Claude.
The reason why Claude spent a lot of money to buy this shotgun was not because of the decorative pattern of gold and silver on the surface of the gun, but because of the name engraved on the gun body: Lieberweder Milosky. This is the name of the father of Claude's first lover in this life, the Baroness Sonia Rovakusili whom he met in Squirrel Village. He is a famous gunsmith in the eastern part of the continent.
This shotgun was the work of the Baroness's father. Claude bought it when he saw it, which was also a memorial to the Baroness. I just didn’t expect that this commemorative shotgun could still come in handy...