The caravan walked east for two days along the solid hard soil layer on the edge of the steppe before arriving at the original entrance to the mountains at the northern foot of the Pai Plateau, which was called the Salt Railway by the dwarves who loved to drink cider and liked to live in caves, and the nomadic orcs of the Pai Plateau.The orcs have to exchange a large number of demon antelopes for a large amount of fine iron for the dwarves every year, so this place is called the sheep railway, but over time it has been homophonized and renamed the salt railway.Originally, the biggest obstacle for merchants here was the almost dangerous mountain road, with an abyss on one side and a cliff on the other, and only a four- or five-meter-wide winding mountain road between the two, winding through the mountains at the northern foothills.As long as the north wind blows, the biting cold wind on the ice and snow tundra will blow all the way south along the Xinghu grassland, blowing to the foot of the Pai Plateau, and being blocked by the mountains of the entire Pai Plateau, and only on this salt railway, the cold wind from the north will go up the mountain road, at this time, if you encounter the warm southeast trade winds blowing from the Pai Plateau to the endless sea, it will form a strong convective weather, Rain, snow and hail will turn the entire salt railway into a giant ice sculpture that stretches for thousands of miles, at this time, the caravan trapped on the salt railway will not be able to turn around and retreat, the giant land beast and the huge magic transport car almost have no way to turn around on such a narrow mountain road, can only temporarily avoid natural disasters or go against the wind, so this place has gradually become a road of death.Despite this, there are still people who are willing to risk their lives to walk between this trade route, but the situation changed more than ten years ago, and a group of mysterious and very powerful bandits appeared on this salt railway, they are from the territory of the Black Iron Monarch, the seven great kings of the dwarves, all of them are dwarven prisoners who have been exiled and have committed serious crimes, as well as some dwarven civilians who cannot live and dwarven slaves who have escaped from the dwarven kingdom, they hide in the mountains at the northern foot of the Pai Plateau, hiding from the dwarven king's wanted pursuit, Gradually, a force of their own, they called themselves the Grey Dwarves, they were born bandits, they occupied a vein on the salt railway, and settled there, and they usually lived by robbery.This is the infamous Grey Dwarf Bandits.They live in the gap between the powerful dwarf kingdom and the orc tribe, the dwarves will never step into the Pai Plateau according to the agreement made with the beast emperor, and the orc tribe at this time is more like a plate of loose sand, the friction between the tribes makes them all tired to deal with, and these dwarves who are good at digging holes have more headaches, once they find that the situation is not good, the gray dwarves will immediately abandon their companions and hide in the mines, the orc army has been surrounded and suppressed several times, and there is no effect, just like this for more than ten years, The power of the gray dwarves snowballed and slowly grew larger.Many small merchant groups are afraid of the gray dwarf robbers in the mountains at the northern foot of the Pai Plateau, and the caravans that take this salt railway are getting fewer and fewer, and the corresponding benefits have increased exponentially, this time the caravan seventy thunder rhinos are carrying more than five hundred tons of refined iron ingots, once they are successfully transported back to the Grimm Imperial Capital, they can get at least five times the profit, but before that, they still need a little luck, such as the road of death in front of them.Leipas has made a lot of preparations, almost every thunder rhino has a strong crossbow on it, plus the thunder rhino itself can be regarded as a fierce land war beast, and it will be invincible when it charges into battle, so that the caravan that has always reached seventy thunder rhinos is by no means something that a small group of gray dwarf forces can eat, and there are two adventure groups that can play a deterrent role and a caravan engraved with a magic pattern circle as a backup, which can be regarded as very powerful.After entering the salt railway, the caravan made its way along a winding mountain road paved with countless gravel stones.Prepare for dinner at dawn and set off at the first rays of sunshine.The morning frost sprinkled on the mountains, a dazzling white, and I really didn't dare to look at the mountains, for fear that it would hurt my eyes.On the cliff stood the wild goat, which could walk on the top of the mountain and river, and it seemed to look at us with pity, and I lay on the back of the thundering rhinoceros, curled up in my seat, surrounded by a thick blanket, so comfortable that I could not bear to get up, and only let my face be exposed and greedily breathe in the dry and cool air.Kuz crouched next to me, nibbling on a smoked rabbit head in one hand and one for me in the other, but I didn't want to eat it.Perhaps only Kuz had a happier time in the whole caravan, and Kuz always managed to get some special game, like the two otter rabbits, which Kuz had brought back last night, and had no time to cook.We had to be careful throughout the day to be vigilant about whether there would be rolling rocks falling down the cliffs, and as long as I casually stuck my head out, I could see the bottomless mountain stream on the other side, and the endless sound of running water at the bottom of the stream made the noisy people upset.My heart is like a string that is taut and I only let go when I rest at night, so I cherish the time to rest.It was precisely because I didn't have time to take care of the two otter rabbits, so I thought of a laziest way, if I could get the yellow mud, of course, there were even lazier, but in this cliff between the cliffs only a few meters wide gravel paved road with the thunder rhino to rest, there was no loess at all, and finally I could only choose to smoke the two otter rabbits, the method was simple, twist the wicks of the ten oil lamps together, and throw them in a large bowl filled with meat oil, set up a copper plate on it, and throw the prepared pine wood blocks on it, As long as you light the wick of the oil lamp in the big bowl, it will not be long before the wood in the copper plate roasted by the oil lamp will rise up with the hot green smoke with the scent of pine oil, put the rabbit marinated with spices on the plate set aside, and use a large iron pot to buckle these all into the pot, only need to sleep comfortably for a night, and when you wake up in the morning, you can eat the fragrant smoked rabbit.At this time, the morning sun had not yet rushed out of the mountains, and we were all waiting for the horn to sound.I simply chose another piece of smoked rabbit head and a leg, and asked Kuz to send the rest of the bacon to Old Kuru and Uncle Fred.Kuz put the wooden tray that had been left for me beside me, and went to old Kuru and Fred as if he were offering treasures.At this time, Uncle Fred needed to sort out the supplies carried by the Thunder Rhino, and he was extremely busy every morning and night, and he hadn't gone to Singh for several days, and had been staying here in the caravan camp, and I guess this situation would continue for a long time.It is likely to continue until the safe crossing of the northern foothills.Old Kuru was approached by Leipas every morning to survey the terrain ahead, and as an experienced old orc, every suggestion of Old Kuru had the potential to save someone's life.I drank a bowl of hot corn cereal and was about to get up to taste the rabbit head I had smoked last night, but when I scanned my eyes to the plate, I realized that the rabbit leg on the plate was gone.The cold mountain breeze in the early morning made me feel much more sober, and I curled my body and put on cotton clothes and trousers, which were light and warm, and Kuz said that I was getting more and more human."
Phew!"
The smell of smoke on the skin of this rabbit's head is a bit big, and if you smoke it all night, it will take a little too long, so it seems that you have to control the oil and reduce it appropriately.But the taste is very full, I tore off two shredded meat and threw them into my mouth, jumped off the back of the thunder rhinoceros, and went around along the narrow mountain road, and found no suspicious people, I thought strange, this rabbit leg is considered to have wings on its own, can it fly?
It's okay to eat my stuff, but I'm going to be a ghost.I forced myself to be quiet because of the unexpected sound of soft chewing in my ears, and the crisp sound of biting bones in between, creaking like rats on the beams of the night gnawing on wooden rafters.The voice was very subtle, and if it weren't for the fact that my magic perception has recently become stronger, which makes my five senses much sharper than normal, it would not be easy to find this small clue.Following the sound, I turned around and looked for it, and saw a thin figure hiding in the shadow between the two thick hind legs under the belly of the thunder rhinoceros, and the slender back leaned on the inner calf bone of the warm hind legs of the thunder rhinoceros.She wore an off-white woolen skirt and an off-white coat, her long black hair was tied into a ponytail, and she leaned forward slightly as she turned her head, her eyes seemed to be looking for something.I stood behind her curiously, and followed her gaze to look over there, but I could only see the pots scattered in the empty space that had not yet been cleaned up.At this time, she seemed to sense that there was someone behind her, and suddenly turned around and saw me, her thin little face was frightened and turned white, as if she had seen a ghost, pointed at me and stammered a little, "How did you find me?"
”It's cute, that's my first impression of her, she's scared like a fawn, and it's funny.This girl is about fifteen or sixteen years old, more than half a meter taller than me, but her body looks a little thin, with flat breasts and flat buttocks.But the second feeling for me is very demonic, there is a black pot ash on the white and immaculate face, and the eyes as bright as autumn water seem to be able to speak, and even she doesn't need to speak, I know that she must be saying again now: How did you find my aunt and grandmother?
She turned behind me and scared me, but I didn't realize that I wanted to cover her mouth, but my hand couldn't reach her mouth, and she kept avoiding me.It's a big taboo to sneak around in the caravan, and it's light to be beaten by someone who is discovered, I think this little girl must have sneaked over from the dance troupe, but there are no women in the caravan, seeing her so thin, and she came to the caravan to steal things, I thought that she could not eat enough at the dance troupe, and was forced to come here to steal something to fill her stomach.Maybe it's a low-status little slave.I hurriedly waved her hand to signal her not to speak, and then grabbed her hand and pulled her into the shadow of the hind legs of the thunder rhinoceros to hide, and she just reacted to struggle, and the clothes in her eyes were about to question me.At this time, Uncle Fred hurried by with a bundle of thick hemp rope, she was alert and held her breath at the critical moment, and we were lucky enough to dodge.She wanted to talk to me again, so I hurriedly stuffed the uneaten rabbit head into her hand and said to her softly: "There is no time, the caravan will set off immediately, and if you don't want to be discovered, hurry back when the time comes." ”She stared at me incredulously with big bright eyes, and I thought she was stunned by the sudden change, and as I was leaving, I scratched my head helplessly and said to her, "Hey, I said!
”She had already walked out, and when she heard me shouting, she looked back again."
If you really can't get enough to eat, come early tomorrow!"
I whispered to her.The horn of departure was already heard in the distance, and she no longer hesitated to run backwards against the edge of the wall in the mountain path, her brisk figure like a deer in the woods.The gray-white sweater dress actually added a protective color to her, and the Thunder Rhinoceros I was in was also the third to last in the caravan Thunder Rhino, and it was really close to the caravan, and her figure only flashed, turned the big bend of the mountain road in front of her, and disappeared.At this time, Uncle Fred's call came from the back of the thunder rhino, and I hurriedly agreed!
When he saw me squatting under the belly of the Thunder Rhinoceros, he hurriedly jumped down and picked me out from under the belly of the Thunder Rhinoceros, lifted me in the air with both hands, and said to me with his face up, "You don't want to live anymore?"
Drill under the belly of a rhinoceros, aren't you afraid of being trampled to death?
”I didn't defend myself, I just smirked at Uncle Fred, and he could only helplessly carry me up to the Thunder Rhino, and then said to me: "Don't run blindly, the starting horn has been blown twice!"
”"Yes!"
I promised.I was thinking that no matter where the people at the bottom were, they would be the most oppressed, just like me, who was not taller than the waist of those men, I was ordered to do this and that, pick up cow dung, scrub leather goods, and run errands to deliver letters.But old Kuru confided only a little to Leopas: Oh, you see, this is the apprentice I just took in!
Learn decoction.Not even a word of Lord Leopas had ever asked me to work, except Uncle Fred, of course.I think the little girl who just ran out to find food because she couldn't get enough to eat just now might be like me.subconsciously branded her with a fate in her heart, and then guessed that her poor fate might have been sold at a very young age!
In the end, it was natural to think that we were fellow travelers, heh!
You should take care of her!
I thought so.