Volume 2 Spread Wings Chapter 152 Red Brotherhood
In the end, it was decided that Levi and the Sun Knight would each pay half of the money. As for the Lightforger and the others, compared to the two of them, they were just a bunch of paupers and they didn't have much money at all.
Of course, it is impossible for the two of them to pay all the money themselves. It must be deducted from the spoils after defeating the demon.
After giving all the gold coins to Sam and giving him a few instructions, Levi continued to cast spells, but at this time Julia in the team was a little excited. While loading the crossbow after shooting, she began to look back frequently, as if she could not wait for the other party to arrive.
Levi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "Julia, how much do you know about the Red Brotherhood?"
"My Lord, I don't know much, but I know they are the mortal enemies of the Snake Cult!"
Levi shrugged, "Well, that's enough."
That means Cindy is fighting the devil in the front, otherwise she would probably be as excited as Julia.
Levi and others didn't have to wait long before two or three hundred troops, all dressed in red, half on horseback and half on foot, entered the battlefield.
Just as Sam had just said, the other side was indeed dressed in rags and looked not much better than beggars, but what was a little surprising was that the weapons in their hands were not too bad.
Long swords, maces, small round shields, and almost everyone has a light crossbow.
The reason why I say almost is because the remaining small group was holding muskets.
Although the musket is said to have been invented for more than a thousand years, the speed of technological innovation and promotion is very slow. It is currently widely circulated among a very limited number of races, including humans, dwarves and chaos dwarves.
Although they are very powerful, they are not favored by other races.
On the one hand, it is because the attack speed is too slow, and it often requires fields of vision, shooting range, stable aiming and other conditions. For races such as elves who are good at archery, or even can move and shoot, it is completely useless.
On the other hand, it is also because most of the low-level muskets nowadays are not well-made. After repeated firing, they are prone to misfire or even explode, injuring the user, unless they are using the high-level muskets used by Crane Gunner and others.
Finally, gunpowder bullets are more expensive than ordinary arrows, which is not affordable for ordinary adventurers.
Therefore, apart from all the reasons mentioned above, probably only the military systems of the major forces are really willing to equip muskets on a large scale, and the crane gunners are theoretically also affiliated with the army.
And these guys in front of him are the only ones Levi knows of who are not a regular military system but are willing to equip themselves with muskets on a large scale.
But considering what Donna just said, they are, to some extent, mercenaries serving for money, not much different from the army.
As the distance gradually shortened, Levi could see the other party's leader clearly at a glance. She was a young woman who was probably less than 30 years old, with short black hair and looked neat and tidy.
The reason why he confirmed the other person's identity so quickly was that he was the only exception among all the people in red clothes and red pants.
She is wearing gorgeous armor, riding an armored warhorse, holding a shield in her left hand and a long sword in her right hand. She doesn't look like a mercenary, but more like a heroic female knight. However, she is not good-looking, with a face full of flesh and even a hideous scar, which makes her look quite fierce.
The other party rode towards her, still some distance away, and she spoke first: "Are you the generous God-chosen hero Lord Levi? I am the agent of the Red Brotherhood - Lotus Iris!"
Levi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. What a coincidence! Iris was the name of one of the ten kingdoms of the high elves, and the lotus was a special plant unique to the Zhendan Dynasty. Plus, the other party looked a bit like a mixed-race. Could it be that she also had some Zhendan bloodline?
"Hello, Miss Iris, I am Levi. Demons are the great enemy of all our intelligent life. I hope to fight alongside you."
Lotus Iris waved her hand and said, "Don't be so polite. Just call me Lotus. As for the battle, we are just passing by. We don't need to trouble the devil. But since you have already offered the price, we will certainly not just take the money without doing the work."
Then she raised a finger and said, "A quarter of an hour. The 10 gold coins your men just handed over to us will be exchanged for our fighting for you for a quarter of an hour. We will not take any spoils of war, but our brothers will only obey my command unless you spend money to recruit them."
Levi quickly calculated that the other side had nearly three hundred people, and most of them looked like level 1 and level 2 soldiers. Under normal circumstances, if he hired them all, the price would definitely not exceed 200 gold coins.
This is taking into account that half of the enemies are riding inferior horses or donkeys. In the novice village, the price of any primary mount is at least 1 gold coin, which is often several times more expensive than common troops.
But now it’s only a quarter of an hour and the other party wants to charge 10 gold coins, which is indeed not cheap.
But after all, in such a special situation and facing such a dangerous enemy, he had no better choice.
Turning his head to look at the Sun Knight, seeing him nod without hesitation, Levi continued: "What if I want to extend the time?"
Lotus smiled and said, "We in the Red Brotherhood have a motto that everything has a price. If you still need us to make a move after a quarter of an hour, then make an offer. As for money, of course the more the better!"
"Haha, good, Lotus, you are really straightforward. In that case, let's start the battle!"
Having said that, Levi knew that the other party must have confirmed it through some means. At least within a quarter of an hour, they would not be in too much danger. After all, they were mainly long-range.
But Levi did not say it out loud, because he felt that the two sides would have opportunities to continue cooperating in the future. At the very least, nearly half of the other team were cavalry archers. If they could be hired and equipped to Julia, then his own cavalry archery unit would immediately take shape!
Lotus immediately smiled and waved her sword: "Brothers, you have heard the employer's order!"
Two or three hundred red-clad thugs immediately responded to their leader with strange smiles, and under the leadership of several captains, they rushed towards the demon army in front.
The arrows arrived before the people. Although their single attack power was not high due to their limited strength, their numbers were quite large. In almost an instant, at least dozens of demons were killed on the spot, which slightly relieved the pressure on the front-line troops.
After receiving their help, the other chosen heroes were immediately cheered up, knowing that they could still fight this battle, because up to now, although their side had suffered heavy casualties, more demons had died, and with the appearance of such a large number of reinforcements, in terms of numbers alone, their side was not much worse than the enemy.
At the same time, Levi also received a system prompt saying that many subordinates led by Lotus Iris will join the battle as temporary mercenaries and serve them temporarily.
In the next quarter of an hour, the demons they kill will not share any experience points with Levi, but if there are any spoils, all ownership will belong to Levi and the Sun Knight who paid for it.
At the same time, a series of information about military units appeared on his team panel. Although it was not extremely detailed, it could roughly show the combat effectiveness of the team.
Generally speaking, Lotus has about five types of soldiers under his command. Except for a small number of imperial deserters, the other four types are all named with the word "Red Brotherhood". They are the first-level Red Brotherhood thieves and robbers, and the second-level Red Brotherhood horse thieves and bandits.
It can be seen from the name that they are not good people, but Levi seems to have never heard of any information about them robbing before, and there seems to be no reward or wanted notice for them in the village or tavern, which is a bit weird.
There are also several captain levels among them, called Red Brotherhood members, all of whom are level 3, but Levi always feels that this is not a formal name of a military branch, but more like a title.
As for Lotus herself, there is only a series of question marks, and apart from her name, no information is displayed.
If you only look at the class, these types of soldiers of the Red Brotherhood are actually nothing, but it is worth mentioning that they all carry both melee weapons and crossbows, and can be considered mixed soldiers.
In addition, nearly half of the members have mounts, so if they encounter an enemy with weak ranged forces, they are likely to defeat the strong with the weak.
With their joining, our long-range firepower increased a lot, and even suppressed the demon's attack for a short time.
After a while, because all the melee troops under his direct command were killed, the Sun Knight had to lead the battle himself and monitor Hans, his slightly rebellious hero subordinate. Suddenly, he was surprised to find that the attack power of the demons in front of him seemed to have weakened a little, and they did not seem to have the same fanatical fighting spirit as before.
In fact, even without his reminder, others had noticed this situation. For a moment, their morale was boosted, because as long as they were not fools, they could see that as long as they continued to fight, victory would eventually belong to them!
Levi also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, when the battle was the most difficult just now, he had the idea of giving up, but he did not do so in the end, because the enemy was too powerful. If it was just to snipe and rescue the old wizard, there would be no need for so many demons.
Either they had other purposes and they were just unlucky enough to encounter them, or there was a high possibility that reinforcements would appear on their side.
Now it seems that both reasons exist at the same time, and he made the right bet!
After releasing the summoning magic twice again and providing Zhou Miyin, Cindy and others with auxiliary magic such as mage armor, Levi finally had time to look at the lotus.
While many members of the Red Brotherhood were busy fighting, she did not join the battle herself. She just sat firmly on her horse and did not even give any orders. Her subordinates just had to keep pouring arrows forward.
"Lotus, 10 gold coins per quarter of an hour, is this the normal price for your Red Brotherhood?"
Lotus smiled and said, "No, Levi, the price we usually offer is far from this high. Even the price of recruiting brothers is very cheap. The reason I say this is because I can guarantee that the brothers will use up all our ammunition within a quarter of an hour! "
"Haha, good, I'm beginning to be interested in you."
Then he pointed at a level 2 horse thief and asked, "How much would it cost to hire him normally?"
"One gold coin, no bargaining."
To be honest, this price was a little beyond Levi's expectations. It was not too expensive, but too cheap. Because in many novice villages around, the mounts alone were worth this price. He immediately realized that the other party might have special channels that could obtain low-level mounts in large quantities at a relatively low price!
"What if I only want the horse and not the person?"
Lianhua looked at him deeply and said, "That depends on the amount. We are the spokespersons for wealth. As long as the money problem is solved, everything else can be discussed."
"Haha, okay, that's straightforward." Levi likes people who speak straightforwardly.
"Also, I noticed that there are some deserters from the Empire in your team. Are you also doing this kind of business?"
Lotus smiled slightly: "Not only that, for the Red Brotherhood, money is supreme, just as the goddess of wealth Vol'jin we worship said. If you need, I can also find you some deserters and mercenaries. If you have prisoners in the future, I will also be happy to buy them."
Then Lotus rubbed her fingers together again and made a very common gesture: "Of course, you know that there will definitely be a price difference between buying and selling, and we also have to earn hard-earned money."
Levi grinned. He knew the goddess of wealth, who was a real money-grubber. However, her camp was absolutely neutral. Your behavior of buying and selling slaves did not seem to be completely in line with her camp.
It is also said that all the pastors of the Church of the Goddess of Wealth, and even the devout high-level believers, wear gold and silver and try their best to show off their wealth all the time. It seems that only in this way can the reputation of the Goddess of Wealth remain unaffected.
But these members of the Red Brotherhood who are said to believe in the Goddess of Wealth are dressed more shabby than each other...
Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to refute it on the spot, because he still needed the other party's help.
"I see. Let's talk about it later."
After nodding slightly, Levi decided to continue focusing on the battle in front of him. Although with the intervention of hundreds of people from the Red Brotherhood and the disappearance of the demons' special buff states, the situation began to rapidly turn in his favor, but this was the opponent's territory after all, and the longer the night, the more trouble he would have, so he might as well resolve the battle as soon as possible.
However, with a casual glance, Levi suddenly noticed that one of them was holding a machete, with a muscular beard, and seemed a little familiar...
He narrowed his eyes slightly: "Lotus, is your captain reliable?"
Although it is a taboo to talk about deep things with someone you just met, he still asked this question because he had remembered the other party's identity. He was the barbarian who was guarding the magic pond and trying to charge him, but the other party claimed to be a member of the Snake Cult!
Lotus looked at Levi in surprise, then said loudly: "Blake has been with us for eight years. He is trustworthy."
The bearded man named Black obviously heard her voice, but he didn't turn around. Instead, he tried to shrink his body, as if he was afraid of being noticed.
Since Lotus said so, it would be stupid to continue questioning it. After thinking quickly, Levi felt that he had roughly figured out the situation.
He immediately couldn't help but laugh and said, "I see. I spent several days tracking down the Snake Cult's information and wanted to continue hunting him down. I didn't expect that he was lying."
Lotus was stunned at first, then she also laughed: "Ha, I think I understand. Blake offended you before, and then he lied that he was a member of the Snake Cult and ran away, right?"
"This is a tactic he often uses when he encounters a strong enemy. It is to put the blame on the Snake Worship Cult and get more people to cause trouble for them. You know, we have been at loggerheads with each other for a long time."
The two of them had already talked to this point, and the bearded man could no longer pretend not to hear. He turned around and forced a smile: "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't expect to offend you last time. I'm very sorry."
Li Wei waved his hand: "Now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, everything will be easy to talk about."
He didn't plan to continue to argue, because if he really wanted to dig deeper, it seemed that he was not in the right. The bearded man just wanted to collect a toll from him, but he killed all his men...
The bearded man thanked him repeatedly. Actually, he had been feeling a little aggrieved since he was beaten away that day, but now, he just felt lucky that he could save his life and that he could resolve this conflict.
It has nothing to do with anything else, it just depends on the other party's powerful strength and financial resources. They just spent so many gold coins to hire them. Even if he is a captain, you can imagine that Lord Lotus will definitely not offend the other party for himself!
The matter between the two men was over, but Lotus became more interested: "He brought up the name of the Snake Cult, but you still continued to hunt him down? Do you have a grudge against those guys too?"
"Not only is there hatred, but this hatred may be much greater than you expected."
Cindy, Julia, the merchant Tros, and the matters in the kobold camp, no matter from which perspective, he and the Snake Cult, and even the black dragon behind it, have become mortal enemies.
"Haha, I think we will have a lot in common..."
