Chapter 258 The iris in my hometown is blooming
In a manor outside the town of Mayo, even though it was late at night, the log cabin was still brightly lit.
"Seven! Seven! Seven!"
"Oh, why is it five!"
"Go to the side when you are out, don't block the way."
Huddled at the door, Laurent's face was gloomy, and he huddled into the woolen blanket his mother had sewn for him to avoid the cold.
Leaning his head against the door frame, he could clearly hear the sound of his father, a tanner, shaking the dice.
The stench of stinky socks, alcohol, and oil were used as accessories, and the smell of vomit was the main ingredient. Countless smells seeped out from the cracks in the door, swirling in Laurent's nose.
These 800 mercenaries have been stationed in Mayo Town for more than three months. The company was ordered to specifically leave them to guard the exit of Black Bone Swamp.
Prince Kong Dai kept them here just to warn and intercept them and prevent this group of short-haired men from escaping again.
These mercenaries were fine at first, except for occasional petty theft and not paying for meals.
But later, especially when some rumors and rumors about Grand Duke Meliati spread, the situation gradually began to go wrong.
They began to set up private casinos outside the town, luring townspeople to gamble, and then offered usury loans, and then forced people to sell their children, daughters, houses, and fields.
Under the coercion of the sword in hand, the entire town of Mayo had to give up other orders and provide them with 300 helmets for free.
The leader of the mercenaries, Cleonte, used casinos and loan sharks to turn more than a dozen young girls from the town of Mayo into wanderers, forcing them to pick up customers and pay off their debts.
Damn Cleonte, when are you going to leave?
The Salvation Army of Trench, when will you come?
The door of the wooden house was opened, and the hot smell came out.
The drunken mountain mercenary kicked Laurent to make sure he was not dead: "Hey, what are you doing?"
Standing up shivering, Laurent lowered his head. : "Are you okay?"
"What kind of tone are you talking about!" The mountain man slapped Laurent back two steps. "Master Cleonte is feeling itchy. Go to the birdcage and call the two girls over."
< br>At this time, Laurent's father also poked his head out of the wooden house: "Laurent! I'm itchy again, don't you hear me?"
"I know."
Laurent's fingers dug into the cracks in the wooden house's floor. He gritted his teeth and tried his best to hide his anger in his trembling voice.
“It’s really useless.” Laurent’s father retracted his head and continued to pick up the dice.
Walking under the dim starlight, Laurent stumbled forward.
I was doing well as a tailor apprentice at Castle Joan of Arc, but this old junior student rushed into his teacher’s house and beat him up. He forced him to refund his tuition fees and took Laurent home.
Had he known this, he should have gone to Blackbone Swamp with the Salvation Army!
Laurent walked desperately in the wild, and the bushes made a rustling sound, as if a coyote was passing through.
As he walked near the "Bird Cage" in anger and sadness, his original mechanical walking suddenly stopped for half a second.
He didn't know why, but he smelled a pungent smell of blood, which seemed far away and yet very close at the same time.
Is it a coyote?
No, such a strong smell of blood must be from a large beast.
Although he didn't know what happened, Laurent knew that it was time to run away at this time.
He took a few steps forward, as if he didn't notice anything, then suddenly turned a corner and ran straight into the woods.
After all, there is an open space outside. If you encounter a large beast, there will be nowhere to run.
“Stop!”
“Japanese goat!”
Laurent was suddenly grabbed by the ankle before he could even take two steps, another one with body odor The strong and smelly man knocked him down from behind and pinned him to the ground.
“Hey, let me go, let go, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh-”
A rag was stuffed into his mouth, Laurent punched and kicked him weakly, and was turned over. Only then did he see the man in front of him clearly.
Both of them wore simple linen and animal skin clothing, and had a pair of furry gray animal ears on both sides of their heads.
Lycanthrope!
Laurent struggled even harder. There were many lycanthropic bandits in the Thousand River Valley, and there were none in Fort Joan of Arc before.
However, since the church took over the Castle of Joan of Arc, it has been entangled with the Knights of the Crown and the distant relatives of the Duke of Dardenne, and has no time to maintain law and order. As a result, many people have appeared near the originally peaceful Castle of Joan of Arc. Lycanthrope bandits.
The two lycanthropes held down Laurent's limbs, and while he was struggling, they carried him on their shoulders and ran toward the "birdcage" with small steps.
Being carried on the shoulders, Laurent did not continue to struggle, but no longer wasted his efforts. Instead, he observed his surroundings, looking for opportunities to escape. To his surprise, the two lycanthrope robbers actually led him into the birdcage.
As far as the eye can see, the dead and injured are all guards of the birdcage, and the bodies of the guards are lined up in rows on the ground.
To Laurent's surprise, the women in the birdcage did not suffer any abuse. They were sitting aside with their coats draped in coats, and a special priest was comforting them.
In this birdcage, there are specialized sergeants who maintain order and rest silently against the wall. They wear bright silver breastplates and uniform black and red coats.
Is this a bandit?
Before Laurent could figure it out, he actually saw a familiar figure among the black sergeants on patrol.
Jourdan, the cloth vendor on the street, is wearing a black coat and is much more energetic and stronger than before.
“Uh huh—” Laurent understood instantly that this was the Salvation Army, and the Salvation Army was coming.
Laurent, who kept struggling, attracted the attention of Jourdain, the division captain. He stepped forward curiously, and then shouted in surprise: "Laurent? Is that you Laurent?"
The broken words in his mouth After the cloth was taken off, Laurent's first words blurted out: "I know where Cleonte is!"
Cleonte poured the buttery mead into his mouth and threw the dice drunkenly. On the table, he looked at the gamblers wailing with pride.
Even if he drinks too much, he can still control the dice perfectly.
“The gold content, this is the gold content of the God of Gamblers in Seven Elms Town. Do your dice have such gold content?”
Amid laughter, Cleonte gathered the chips on the table one by one to his chest.
After running around for so long, Cleonte finally lived a relatively comfortable life for a while.
Since Prince Condé formed a verbal alliance with Barnifus, he interceded with the royal agent to whom Cleonte owed money to extend Cleonte's repayment time.
This undoubtedly gave him more time to make changes, but after all, this was just an extension, and Cleonte still had to pay off his debt.
Mayor Town is not a wealthy town, but if you can make money, you can make up a lot of interest.
At first, he just wanted to use a small casino to slowly figure it out. After all, he had to take care of Grand Duke Meliati's face.
But recently he heard some rumors. It was said that Grand Duke Meliati actually revolted under the banner of anti-corruption of the church.
Okay, okay, this young man, is he playing like this?
Clement almost fainted from laughing, but that day he increased his efforts and opened the "Birdcage" by the way.
Thinking of this, he kicked over Laurent's father who was sorting out the pitiful chips: "Hey, where is your son? Did he run away?"
Climbing up with the help of the seat, Laurent's father half-knelt on the ground and said timidly and flatteringly: "How dare he have the courage? Maybe he was bitten by a coyote. If you are in a hurry, I will go find it for you."
"Come on, come on." Waving his hands, Cleonte yawned, "I'm going to pee, you can play with yourself and don't worry about me."
Walk out of the hut , with a bit of cold spring breeze blowing on his face, his wine sobered up a little.
"Iris, iris, iris and iris."
"The iris in my hometown bloomed, and my little boy grew up to be a fat boy..."
He walked around to the back of the hut, humming a vulgar tune from his hometown, happily unbuttoned his pants, and opened the water gate.
The chirping of birds could be heard in my ears, and the sound of whimpering dogs could be heard in the camp. Everything seemed so quiet at night.
It’s so quiet.
Kleonte’s humming voice stopped abruptly. Years of battlefield experience made his hair stand on end.
The movements of his whole body stopped for a moment, and he forced back the remaining third of the urine. He hurriedly picked up his pants and ran to the front of the house while holding on to the wall.
"Hey, come out, go to the guard post and have a look -"
"Master Cleonte, what did you say?"
"I mean-"
"Whoosh——"
Kleonte first felt something flying past his head. It wasn't until the thing flew past that he suddenly jerked his neck back.
A stream of warm liquid flowed down his cheek, and a numbing pain came from the side of his head.
He subconsciously touched his right ear, but found nothing. His ear disappeared at some point.
Without even a moment to mourn the loss of his ear, Cleonte turned and ran back.
"Enemy attack! Quick, blow the trumpet, blow the trumpet!"
(End of this chapter)