The Journey of the Demon Hunter

"Oh, is it?" the dwarf looked at Pete. "It seems you haven't heard of what happened downstream."

"Downstream, what can happen downstream?" Pete shrugged. "I won't go to the Skellig Islands to do business, and what I do is the lower Punta River and coastal trade. There are Temalia and Rida in the river. The patrol ship of Nia, the sea is full of Corvier’s new sailing ships, there is no need to worry about river pirates and water pirates at all."

"But you have to know, now..." Before the dwarf finished speaking, a soldier with a fierce expression on his face approached the demon hunter.

"Did you bring Nilfgaardfran, did you bring Krona? Say it!"

"I am a demon hunter"

"I care who you are! I ask what you bring with you!" He touched Zelin's cloth bag with the handle of his spear. "What's hidden in it!?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Don't try to scare people! I suspect you are smuggling illegally!"

"Okay, okay, then I'll tell you." Zelin opened the bag and drew out what he got from Jiu Yanan's dark monster. These are the materials he intends to bring to Osenforte. Although it is also feasible to sell to warlocks, Dolgaly and Francesca have no interest in these things. Instead of looking for other warlocks to eat their own doors, it is better to go straight. Go to the biology professor at the college, they might like "This is the monster's eyes, this is the monster's hair, oh~ be careful, there will be uncontrollable electric currents on this, this is the monster's tongue, you see, they all send It's green. And this..."

"Enough is enough! Take him back." The soldier took a few steps back, holding his nose, looking unlucky. Afterwards, he focused on the captain’s room, where several customs officials seemed to be arguing about something.

"The trade conflict made the customs crazy" Pete looked at the soldier's back and rubbed his forehead helplessly. It seems that this is not the first time he has been checked in this way, and it is estimated that it will not be the last.

"The swords of the Nilfgaards failed to defeat the Tamorians, but their gold successfully corroded the markets of the northern countries." Zelin recalled the rewards Francesca gave him. Foga de Fran. The elf may not have the concept of a human country, or she doesn't know much about the hostility between human countries. Zelin can only think about these aspects, as for other aspects, it is meaningless to think.

Nobles like prestige, priests are pious, and everyone likes gold.

"Isn't Tamoria taking some action? Foltest does not intend to block the border of southern Xinjiang? It is certainly not difficult to prohibit the circulation of Nilfgaard goods."

"Forbidden? How is it possible?" The dwarf snorted disdainfully. "These commodities come from the ports of Mahakam, Brugg, Verdon, and Sidaris. Profit is the only thing that interests merchants, not politics. If Forte King Stir’s blockade of the border will definitely receive the strongest protest from the Chamber of Commerce. Without the assistance of the Chamber of Commerce, it would be impossible for him to maintain the value of Oren coins under the attack of Redania and Nilfgaard."

The dwarf stomped the deck, and returned the subject to what he hadn't said before.

"Pete, if you really want to go downstream, it’s not that I’m supposed to scare you. You’d better find some escorts. Some things can’t be solved by warships trained on the water. It's no longer safe."

"What's the matter, are the Nilfgaards fighting here again?" The captain still didn't care. "It's a time of peace. Those thieves can't kill me, let alone take my things."

"The latest news, I heard yesterday." The dwarf rubbed his fingers." In the anchorage village southwest of Dorian City, a squirrel party elves rushed into the village and killed everyone in it, including passing merchants and travelers. When the soldiers of King Foltest arrived, there were only ruins and corpses peeled off and hung on the trees. The elves of the Squirrel Party did it."

PS: second more

Chapter 134 "Family"

Zelin didn't know whether the words of the dwarf warriors affected the captain, but when they left the transit station, there were indeed a few more guards on board. The dwarf was sitting in the stern of the boat, polishing his own hands with a long-handled axe with a stone, and several other humans with long swords gathered around, dozing boredly. The splashing waves of the Ponta River were thrown behind by the cargo ship, and the green algae on the water surface was adsorbed on the wooden shell, and then it was pulled into the water by the swirling whirlpool.

The cabins are full of the smell of wood. In order to ensure the maximum carrying capacity, all cabins are filled with cargo. Whether it is sailors, captains or guards, they can only sleep on the deck. As a result, at noon the next day, the sky began to rain again and again, and the demon hunter had to stuff himself into the cabin at the stern to hide from the rain. Originally this was the crew cabin, but for the purpose of saving space, many cut logs were placed inside. These are all sold to the manor to fill the fireplace with fuel. It’s about to come winter, and the city’s demand for fuel will be very high.

Zelin really didn't like the feeling of clothes sticking to his body like mud, and the things in the cloth bags. He didn't want to find the brown bread sticking together when he took out the food. But the demon hunter is different from the guards. He can hide in the cabin because he paid for it. The guards are hired to protect the cargo ship and the cargo. Captain Pete pays them. They will stay on the deck, staring at the woods on both sides of the bank, even if it is raining annoyingly outside.

Fight with bandits for ten oren once, and fight with Squirrel Party for thirty oren once

These people are veterans, a man with a scar on his face participated in the Battle of Sutton. But after the war, he was unemployed. This is called conscription. When the war is over, they will be unemployed. Some people will return home to continue farming, but some will continue to make money with the weapons in their hands.

"These **** elves are taking advantage of the dangers that we are fighting in the south. They set up bases in the back, destroyed logging yards, attacked supply lines, and built castles in the mountains. They can count on the Nilfgadians to fight. Win, and clamor that this is the time to end human rule and return to the old order. Accomplices of a group of men in black! Traitors from the north!"

Most of the members of the Squirrel Party are elves, but there are also a few dwarves and halflings in it. These human guards expressed great doubts about why there was a dwarf on the ship, and this dwarf also had a sharp axe. According to one of the humans, who knew whether the dwarf would be the undercover of the Squirrel Party, Maybe they were hit in the back by an axe when they were fighting with the Squirrel Party. However, Captain Pete stated that he knew the dwarf warrior, and the dwarf also denied joining the Squirrel Party. Even so, the guards chose to stay at the bow, leaving only the dwarves and the demon hunters at the stern.

They had passed the Baron La Valetti and entered the east of Willen. However, Zelin intends to go to Novigrad with the boat, and then cross the river to West Willen. Most of the population of Willen lives in the west, and most of the eastern part of Willen is wild woods. He did not see a village on the boat yesterday. George wants to hunt the dragon, and it is estimated that he will also be in West Willen. And Zelin remembered that there was a druid's territory in West Willen. He can go to the druid, try to let the druid help, after all, the forest is the eyes and ears of the oak sage

"Demon hunter, are you writing?" The dwarf warrior stopped his work, raised his head, his beard braided from the dampness, "write to a friend?"

"Almost, when we dock in Novigrad, I will find a messenger at the port and send the letter to Osenfurt." Zelin's pen was hung in the air, and it took a long time to write the second line. . It stands to reason that a demon hunter will know many people in his life, and sometimes become friends with some people who can talk about it, but all this is normal. Almost all of the good people he met in the first fifty years after Zelin became a demon hunter died. Milo van der Beck is the only exception because he is a halfling, but he is old enough for the life span of a halfling.

"Your friend at the academy?"

"Yes, he is a medical school professor"

Milo is his name in the halfling world. People usually call him Rasti, an expert in pathological morphology. Zelin intends to write him a letter in advance, telling him what he has gained, and then ask the medical professor if he is interested in researching this, and if he wants, he can bring him different research materials for a long time. After all, the portal will always exist, who knows where he will go next time, if someone is willing to buy what he got in other worlds, at least it can make up for the equipment repair costs.

"Oh~Professor, I’m so envious. At least no one suspects that a professor would be a member of the Squirrel Party." The dwarf snorted and looked at the humans on the bow. There is no money, no knowledge, and nothing but hacking people and asking for news everywhere. It is normal for such a person to be suspected of being a squirrel party."

"It sounds like you are very disdainful of the Squirrel Party." Zelin raised his hand and waited for the bumps of the cargo ship to stop. "I heard that the slogan of the Squirrel Party is not to drive away humans and restore the era of ancient races. Isn't the dwarf also one of the ancient races? ?"

"It's just that the humans came too late." The dwarves were wiping the axe blades vigorously. "They, to be precise, are just outsiders, just like you humans, except that it took them here in a white boat longer than yours. Thousands of years earlier. Now that the fight between you started, they thought of fighting for our friendship. Suddenly everyone became brothers, smiling and saying'we, relatives','we, ancient races'. But before, hum, Before, their arrows didn't have eyes..."

"But if there is a dwarf on the ship, the Squirrel Party will at least... let the ship go temporarily?" Although Zelin doesn't believe this, at least as far as the water ghost is concerned, if a person has the same thing as them The smell of water ghosts will not attack him. "After all, it's like what they said,'you, ancient race','you, relatives'"

"They are relatives, and I, in their eyes, are a rebel who refuses to join freedom, a traitor who is in harmony with humans." The dwarf shrugged. "I only do what I think is right. The young elves, the dwarves take up arms and walk. Going into the woods, yelling "Humans roll back into the sea", but didn't realize that they were just being used and deceived. One or two passionate slogans dazzled their brains. They didn’t understand that the purpose of the slogans was just for Preventing them from joining the armies of the northern countries is to ignite the hatred of humans and elves and prevent them from recruiting elves to fight. I understand, so I think their behavior is stupid. But what can I do? Maybe a few years later , I will be called traitors because of my choice, and they become heroes. Our history, the history of this world, has always been like this. They won, they are heroes."

"I will write down your words, there will be poets like"

"No one can like it" The dwarf carefully retracted the axe into the noose

Suddenly, the shouts of the sailors from outside entered the cabin through the wooden boards. Zelin stopped half of the letters in his hand and put them inside the clothes to prevent them from getting wet by the rain. He opened the door, and saw sailors running around on the deck, and the hull of the ship was constantly leaning to the left. The rain caused a lot of mist to rise on the surface of the river. The dwarf warrior walked out behind him, the noisy sound enveloped the ship, and soon the demon hunter found Linus in his sight.

"Captain, what's the matter?"

"Get your weapons ready, Demon Hunter, we may be in trouble!"

Chapter 135 News of the Dark Line

The raindrops hit the green shell of the demon hunter griffon armor, slyly finding the gap in the leather armor, and the water that got in quickly brought a damp feeling, which meant that Zelin's previous efforts were in vain. But it’s not a big deal. At this time, the demon hunter stepped up to the bow, and several human guards had already taken the weapons in their hands, except for an archer who kept complaining that the **** rain made him unable to shoot arrows. Human long swords, broad swords, hand axes, and wooden shields are all ready to face the enemy. The dwarf also drew a two-handed axe and stood in the stern of the boat. The sailors ran around, but Zelin couldn’t see what they were doing, maybe they just didn’t want people to see that they were doing nothing.

"What's the trouble?" Zelin glanced at the guard "You look like you are going to kill."

"The fog blocked the pilot's eyes." The **** with the long sword sipped, and was quickly washed away by the rain. "We almost hit them. There were many ships in front, one of which looked like a merchant ship, slightly smaller than us. It’s smaller, and there are a few small boats. We can’t see if there are people on it. We can only see the black cloth. It’s really unlucky. Either the river thief or the merchant ship ran aground.”

As he said, there were many canoes on the river not far away, and the largest one did not fly the flag of any country, family, or trading company. Fishermen will not fish here, neither the fishing grounds of Tamoria and Ridania will be near Novigrad, otherwise they will be accused of attempting to annex the Free City

"But the former is more likely, right" Zelin drew out the steel sword. He still has some doubts in his heart. There are very few thieves carrying out robberies so close to Novigrad. If there is no accident, they can see the towering stone bridge in Osenfurt this afternoon, and they can sit in Liberty City at night. Rest in the kingfisher tavern. Except for the water ghosts in this section of the Ponta River, almost all the robbers who dared to deal with merchant ships and cargo ships were hanged on the branches on both sides of the river. After all, the stability of this river is related to at least four countries.

"Since you know this may be a trap, don't hit it." Zelin held the boat rail with one hand. "Why should we stop?"

"Because we are stranded!"

"Take up the sail! Reel the sail! Stop, don't hit it." Captain Pete yelled from the stern to the bow. He roared at the man on the bow, who held the rails tightly with his hands and his head stretched out. Outside the bow "Are you blind! How many years have you sailed on this river? Can't recognize the water patterns on the quagmire?" Pete grabbed the navigator by the shoulder and dragged him back to the deck, but the captain This is just to clear out the bow of the boat so that he can look down on the situation outside the boat. "You tell me you are as familiar with this river as you are with your wife. Do you often get kicked out of your house? Don't be stunned! Go rowing. !"

"You'd better stand behind the ship, the demon hunter." The bear-like sturdy man shook the rain on the wooden shield, the dry leather on the shield was completely wetted, and the hilt of the sword knocked up and made a muffled sound. "Otherwise You stay here just to add chaos to us. We know how to cooperate and how to fight the Water Pirate Squirrel Party. Demon hunters, you are good at dealing with monsters, but people are much smarter than monsters."

"I'll see if the dwarves need help" Zelin shrugged

"It's best to be optimistic about him, don't let him stab us while we are fighting!"

Zelin avoided several sailors who nearly hit him. Regardless of whether it is the Pirates or the Squirrel Party, it is not a good thing for them. Robbers want money, they will kidnap the captain for ransom, but also to make people believe that their threat is not empty talk. Robbers generally kill the crew on the ship. If it is a squirrel party, the situation is even worse. Robbers want money and elves want blood. Not everyone has money, but everyone has blood flowing in them. Without Linus’s urging, they started rowing the boat backwards, trying their best to keep the distance from the small boats.

"It's just some thieves, they are too nervous." The dwarf leaned back on the ship rail, because of his height, the railing could block his figure. He patted the axe blade. "I'm Poly, Fagan's Poly. I've been living with this axe for too long, and countless thieves have died in my hands. Obviously, this is what the river bandits did before the robbery. Posture. They are all cowards, as long as we can cut one or two throats and stain the river red with their blood, they will run away lifelessly, as if we were robbing them."

"No matter how low-level monsters are, they are deadly." Zelin drew the steel sword behind him and shook it vigorously. The gap left by the sword in Yanan has not been polished. There is only one drunk dwarf blacksmith in the floating port. Although many master blacksmiths are from dwarves, the demon hunters still dare not give their weapons to weapons. A craftsman who wakes up from alcohol is like no one would want a drunk barber to give himself a haircut. It’s all about life.

The boat is getting closer and closer. Although it is close to Novigrad, the sea breeze in late autumn comes from the east, mixed with the cold wind from the Dragon Mountain Range, and the wind direction is conducive to returning to the upper reaches, but the speed of these small boats is faster. There was no one on the merchant ship that blocked the river and pushed the cargo ship onto the shallows on both sides of the river. Like robbers on land, the robbers will set up a broken carriage in the caravan's way to block the road. When the guards in the caravan check the situation, it is when the robber launches an attack. Thieves are not much different from their counterparts on land

"For monsters, you are an expert and you know a lot. But to me, they are all the same. They want your money, your blood, and your life. In order to survive, we have to kill them." Dwarf The axe was on his shoulders. "Tension can't let them be kind and let us go. On the contrary, they become helpless. Humph~" The dwarf took out an old Mahakam cigarette, but then remembered that it was raining. , Sighed helplessly, "Have you heard, Novigrad’s big gambling game, winter is about to start again. After finishing this employment commission, I will return to my hometown to get married. Damn it, if no wife is in charge of me, I It is estimated that the money earned this year will be thrown into that **** gambling game again."