Knight and Wand

Chapter 350 The First Adventure Mission
The warm sunshine shines on the small country town.

This is not only the border of Baron Avalon's territory, but also the border between Glade County and Marmore County.

It was a rare break at noon, and the town clock tower had just been rung. Tekatu and several other children from farmers' families on the outskirts of the town ran away from their parents who were still having a meal and resting, like unbridled ponies, and ran along the bumpy road towards the "Ranger Post" that was said to have been built in the town by the lord.

It was not for any other reason, but because the bard living in the post house could recite poems and tell stories to the residents of the town for free every day, telling them legendary stories from all over the world.

More importantly, the audience didn't have to pay. As long as they had time, they could listen until sunset, because it was said that the kind and fair Griffin Baron had already paid the poets.

Because of such good things, the townspeople and villagers have been gathering in front of the Ranger Inn every three or five days to listen to stories, which they regard as the best entertainment in their boring lives day after day.

However, even though people could enjoy the singing and storytelling of bards for free, there were not many people who were idle in that era.

Usually, those who could bring benches and chairs to listen to the music and cheer were either the women and children of the mayor's family, or the relatively wealthy free people in the town. Ordinary farmers were busy with farming all day long, and except for rare festivals, they seldom had the opportunity to come here to relax.

Naturally, on this day, the townspeople gathered around the bard early in the morning as well.

Tekatu and other children of serf origin did not dare to squeeze into the front row of people wearing complete clothes, so they had to find a corner as close to the poet as possible, looking out and listening to the story with their ears perked up.

Even if they can't follow the passages they have heard before, they can still immerse themselves in the gripping stories, as if they themselves are part of the legend, which is either tragic or heroic.

Tekatu's eyes sparkled with admiration for heroes and a yearning for distant places and mysteries.

The thin boy held a straight branch he had picked up and whispered the sound of a sword swinging. While listening to the story, he seemed to have transformed into Baron Leon and was slaying the evil undead.

However, beautiful dreams are always short-lived, and the naive fantasy was ruthlessly shattered by a big hand.

A rude shout came from behind, and Tekatu felt his shoulder being yanked violently, and then he saw his old father with a wrinkled face in front of him.

Without saying a word, the old farmer grabbed Tekatu by the scruff of the neck and pulled his son out from among the other children like a chicken.

"You son of a bitch, you're here to be lazy again. Go back and pick vegetables with your mother. We haven't finished weaving the baskets at home yet!"

"Let me listen for a while longer. This is the crucial moment. This segment is almost over!"

Tekatu struggled unwillingly and begged non-stop.

However, his father kicked him hard on the buttocks, and the boy staggered and had to rub his buttocks and shut his mouth in fear to avoid further beatings.

As he walked towards home, Tekatu turned back and muttered unwillingly:

"Why don't we go to Anderville County with Uncle Lunk? The baron has already wiped out all the undead. The preacher from Avalon Castle said there is a lot of land there. If we go there to farm, we can be exempted from grain taxes for several years. If we pay the full amount of taxes during the tax-free period, we can even become free citizens and truly own our own land. Uncle Lunk's family has been there for so long, maybe they can live a good life this year."

As Tekatu was talking, he began to fantasize about becoming a free man, going to the lord's castle when he grew up, and becoming a squire of a knight. Then, he would be canonized and become a brave knight of Avalon!
Just when he was halfway through his thought, his father slapped him on the head with disdain and glared at him, bringing him back to reality.

The old farmer lowered his voice and scolded, "You know nothing! How can we have such a good thing? Do you think the lord has no relatives in his family who gave you the land for free? Besides, do you know where Anderville County is? How far is it? Even if we don't die on the way there, what if there are dead people and monsters everywhere in the south? We won't be able to save our lives then. What's the point of tax exemption? You and your mother fled to the rear because you didn't see how terrible those monsters were."

The old farmer completely scoffed at the idea of ​​traveling to a strange land thousands of miles away. It had not been two years since he finally returned to the town to resume his stable life, and he was still haunted by the lingering fear of the eternal night clouds that covered the sky more than a year ago.

Having been forced to serve as a militiaman and holding a spear to fight against the undead, he almost wet his pants just by looking at the bloody and horrifying army of the dead from a distance.

With the blessing of the gods, I finally waited for those horrible monsters to retreat to the south. Now I have to follow them to the south?
What are you going to do? Are you tired of living and looking for death?

He didn't believe the lies of the Orland lord.

Instead of wasting time on developing the country southwards, it would be better to take advantage of this year's bumper harvest and think of excuses to deceive the lord's tax collectors and store more grain in the cellars in the woods.

Little Tekatu couldn't argue with his old father, so he turned his head away reluctantly, looking in the direction of the post station. The heroic story sung by the bard seemed to still echo in his ears.

I returned home with a restless heart, and followed my mother to continue the boring and hard farm and housework that seemed to have no end.
His mind was restless, and he was anxiously thinking about the unfinished story of the bard. Tekatu helped his mother finish most of the work before dark.

After some coquettish behavior, he finally got his mother's reluctant permission. He immediately ran into the town again before his old father came back from the fields and arrived at the door of the Ranger Post.

However, to his disappointment, in the dusk, the crowd in front of the gate had already dispersed, and the bard seemed to have returned to the inn to rest and was nowhere to be seen.

However, outside the open door, there was a horse tied up. Inside the ranger inn, where ordinary people were not allowed to enter and exit at will, Tekatu saw a man wearing a cloak and half-body armor and wearing a sword at his waist. He seemed to be posting something on the bulletin board inside.

The boy's eyes lit up instantly.

Could it be that he is the heroic and noble "Knight-Errant" in the legend?

Tekatu walked over excitedly and curiously, leaning against the door to look around, with admiration rushing to his mind.

Several knights-errant had passed through the town once, and he had missed the opportunity to see the legendary heroes in person. But now he wanted to speak to them, but he didn't dare to disturb them easily. He felt itchy in his heart like a cat scratching.

Although Tekatu did not make a sound, the man with the sword still heard his approaching footsteps.

The man put up the Urijah notice in his hand, then turned around and asked the skinny boy leaning against the door in authentic Urijah: "Boy, what can I do for you?"

Tekatu was startled, but immediately he was overwhelmed by the other party's amiable attitude. He could not suppress his excitement and bowed humbly. Then he asked hurriedly, "Sir! Are you a knight-errant?"

The man with the sword was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

"I'm sorry to hear that my commander is a ranger, but I'm definitely not one. I'm one of the circuit sheriffs of Avalon Territory."

Tekatu was greatly disappointed when he heard this.

The man with the sword raised an eyebrow at the visible frustration and disappointment on the boy's face.

This brat is too disrespectful. It is not easy to pass the assessment and become a patrol sheriff under Lord Larian. Besides, the duties of this position are within the territory of Lord Baron. Except that it is not specialized in clearing monsters in the wilderness, and it has the power of the territory's circuit court, it is actually not much different from the work of a ranger.

But the sheriff did not bother to argue with the poor kid. He turned around and took out another Feru version of the notice and continued to post it.

Tekatu, who had finally obtained his mother's permission to go out and play, although he neither caught up with the bard's storytelling nor saw the real knight-errant, was unwilling to rush home. He could not help but look at the notice with a "gem" pattern in the other party's hand and asked out of curiosity.

"What are you doing, Sheriff? Is that a wanted warrant for a thief?"

Tekatu couldn't recognize a single word, and the two notices with the same pattern looked like incomprehensible books to him.

The sheriff put the paper up, clapped his hands, and looked back at the child.

"This is a bounty offered by Castle Avalon. Lord Baron seems to call it something like 'Adventure Mission'?
The Lord wants the rangers to know that he is looking for a treasure called the 'Isua Soul Stone', which is said to be a gem of ancient elves, just like the one described in the painting and notice. Haha, what am I talking about? Of course you don't understand. "

He shrugged, and did not explain that the notice said that the thing could only be found in the distant Kingdom of Aurelia and overseas islands. He just teased the boy casually:

"Boy, if you see a gem like this on the roadside in the future, remember to report it to the mayor. Even if it weighs only one-tenth of an Austrian pound, you can get a reward of one thousand gold coins."

"One thousand? !! One thousand? How much is one thousand?" Tekatu felt dizzy after hearing this, his legs went weak and he almost fell down.

Even if it was just one gold coin, it would be a huge sum of money in the eyes of a young boy, let alone such a shocking number.

The sheriff was amused by his reaction.

To be honest, I also felt my heart racing when I heard about such a huge bounty a few days ago.

This amount is worth a thousand Orlandi gold crowns. If we find one Orlandi pound, wouldn't that be ten thousand gold coins?

Even if I worked from birth to death at the age of 100, and worked as a sheriff for three lifetimes, saving every penny without spending a penny, I still couldn't earn that much money.

I really don’t know what this so-called soul stone is. Can I gain immortality if I get it?

"Okay, kid, it's getting late, go back quickly." The sheriff walked out of the post station, led the horse to the stable, raised his hand and urged the child to go home quickly.

Tekatu slowly came back to his senses from the bounty amount the other party had mentioned and turned around angrily.

After taking only two steps, the young man turned back and shouted, "Mr. Sheriff, so, will those knights-errant come to town to see the notice of the 'Adventure Mission' in the future?"

The sheriff waved his hand without even turning his head: "How would I know? There is more than one posthouse in your town in the world."

He was only following orders to post the bounty at various post stations in Glade County, but Ranger Posts were not only found in the territories of the Pendragon family. It was said that such places could be found in almost all the territories of nobles that were on good terms with Baron Avalon.

God knows when a ranger will pass by some unknown site and see the notice.

As if sensing the boy's obsession, the sheriff thought for a moment and turned back to comfort him, "If you really want to meet the Knight Ranger, if you're lucky, you might get a chance in a few days, and even meet more than just the legendary Knight Ranger. Just stay at home and wait obediently."

The sheriff heard that the lord was about to lead the knights south, and it seemed that Lord Larian would also accompany them this time.

It is said that when Lord Pendragon travels south this time, he intends to continue the "magic apprentice" screening work that was carried out in the Avalon Castle area some time ago when passing through each territory town.

He didn't say much about the Baron's whereabouts, but if the Knights Templar passed through this town on their way south, then this guy would be able to see not only the Ranger Knight, but also the Griffin Knight, the Golden Lion Knight, and the Red Knight.

Tekatu scratched his head, watched the sheriff disappear behind the house, and then went home in a daze.

In the following days, the boy tossed and turned every night and couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about what the sheriff said that day. He had some strange dreams for several days in a row, but he couldn't remember anything after waking up.

Just when Tekatu was about to forget about this incident during the past half month, thinking that the sheriff was just joking with him.

This morning, as usual, when he was working diligently with his old father in the fields, the slight shaking of the ground made him look up in confusion and look at the road that extended to the hills in the distance.

At the end of the field of vision, the flags and horse teams that turned the dirt road and gradually approached made the boy swallow in fear.

It was because Tekatu vaguely remembered that when the original lord still ruled this land, the uncle from the same village did not have time to dodge the horse team of some nobleman, and was whipped by the rider so hard that he could not get up from the ground.

Although this kind of thing has never happened again after the town was brought under the rule of the Pendragon family, after all, the entire family of the original lord has been replaced by the mayor elected by the local people, but he is still impressed by it.

But soon, when he saw the flags flying in the wind, Tekatu's mood was replaced by surprise.

The emblem that the bard frequently mentioned, a sharp sword and a pair of wings, is very easy to recognize.

Rumored symbol of the Baron of Avalon or the Knights of Avalon.

The Knights of Avalon!?
The boy excitedly dropped his farm tools and ran to the dam on the side of the road to look around.

The Knights of Avalon who set out on expeditions to the Demon Realm to defeat demons are just as frequent characters in stories as the Knights-Errant.

Looking at the mighty knights in black and red robes, who slowed down their horses one by one and rode across the country road into the town, Tekatu's legs became weak with joy. He only returned to the fields reluctantly to continue working after being slapped on the back of the head by his father who was also watching.

After that, he asked to go to town several times, but his father refused him rudely. He had to stay in the field absent-mindedly until almost noon, when his mother brought food in a basket, and Tekatu begged again.

Just as the old farmer frowned and was about to scold, the family in the field heard a series of rapid bells from the clock tower in the town in the distance, symbolizing a call to arms.

Not long after, several town stewards ran to the edge of the field and shouted angrily at the farmers who were still moving slowly: "Are you all deaf? Why don't you hurry up! Don't worry about the broken field. The lord doesn't know what kind of people he wants to recruit. Go and call all the kids between ten and sixteen years old in your family! The baron will only look at a hundred people and leave. If you are slow, you will have no chance to become rich!"

(End of this chapter)