At the junction between the forest on the banks of the Rhine River and the northern lowlands, several people wore dirty pale civilian tunics, pushed aside the dense branches of the bush, and carefully observed the muddy road full of footprints and ruts in the forest.

"Hey," Colliff, who was holding the donkey, wrote nervousness and anxiety, and looked back from time to time, "We were wearing inconspicuous civilian clothes, and there was no one on the main road, why did we still have to go so slowly?"

"Shut up, you idiot who knows nothing," the bearded bandit in the head had a striking burn scar on his face. He pressed Koliff's head down, "If I'm as stupid as you are now, I promise we won't live for three days."

Kolif had to suppress the urgency in his heart, soothe his donkey, and wait with the bandits honestly.

When Koliff closed his eyes with dark circles, endless regret surged into his heart - he was really self-responsible and had to lose everything.

Not only did he fail to get the Denell silver coin he gave that night, he also became a wanted criminal in the territory. He was forced to abandon his precious mill and took all the valuable families he could take away to spend the rest of his life in a cold and wet strange place.

"Ah Yeh!"

"Damn it." Koliff sneezes, muttering and rubbing the snot coming from the bottom of his nose, and rubbing it on his clothes casually.

Last night, Koliff found the bandits entrenched in the north of the Dehes Forest.

The bandit boss was shocked when he learned from Koliff's mouth that Baron Simon had several hounds with a sensitive sense of smell. Regardless of the cold night wind, he insisted that the Koliff and his wife take a shower in the Rhine first, throw away their clothes before going on the road with them.

Kolif had no choice. He walked towards the cold Rhine while secretly complaining. When he and his wife took a shower and changed into new clothes and joined the bandits on the road, Kolif gradually felt that his breathing had become less smooth, and his sticky snot was slowly occupying his nose.

"Lord, I hope I can safely arrive in England." Koliff blew his nose, spitted phlegm on the ground, folded his hands together and prayed to God for comfort.

"rustle……"

There was a movement from the grass on the other side of the main road, and the bandits nervously pulled arrows and bows. After a while, a thin guy in a shabby sweatshirt, a gray hood, and a basket on his back appeared in front of everyone like a woodcutter.

"Boss, I've investigated. There are no peers in front of me, and there are no noble private soldiers who block the road. We can walk along the main road until we leave the Baron Arnhem." The guy dressed in a woodcutter wiped the sweat from his head with his hood, and said while gasping.

"If I remember correctly, keep walking north and past Baron Arnhem, it is Port Aberdoron?" said the bandit leader, inserting the axe back to the belt around his waist.

"Yes, there should be many merchant ships from England there. Generally speaking, as long as the captain is given some benefits, he will agree to take these two guys to the other side of the sea."

"Of course," the bandit leader changed the subject "but you know, we can't go there."

"Why!?" Koliff, who was pricking his ears, interrupted the conversation between the two, "Have you promised to send me onto the sea boat to England?"

"Shut up, you uncultivated country bumpkin," a bald gangster slapped Koliff in the face, leaving a clear red slap mark. "If you talk too much, believe it or not, I will tie you to this tree to feed the wolf?"

"I'm the one," the thronged thief next to him rubbed his hands with a smirk, and then pulled out the rusty dagger from the scabbard. "I'm almost fed up with this noisy guy, even more annoying than the fleas on my back. I suggest that we can play with his wife in front of you when you tie him to the tree."

Koliff was so angry that he shivered all over. He protected his wife behind him and touched the handle of the short axe around his waist. He thought that as long as these two bastards acted rashly, he would mercilessly split their heads.

"Have you made enough trouble?" The bandit leader's eyes were cold. He looked at the bald minions and then focused his eyes on Koliff. "I am not a person who doesn't keep his word. We can go to nearby Redberg to board the ship. Now, you all put away the weapons for me. Our weapons should be used to release the blood of the nobles and the lackeys, not to kill each other!"

Both sides put away their weapons in disappointment, but Kolif noticed that the bandit leader intentionally or unintentionally patted the bald robber's shoulder, which was his approval to the bald robber.

Kolif was shocked and sweated in a cold back.

It seems that if the bandit leader had not made a promise last night, he would have lost his life just now.

The group continued on the road, pulling donkeys and carriages of goods, no different from those villagers who went to trade in towns.

On the way, the bandit leader also explained to Koliff why they could not go to Port Aberdoron.

In addition to the reasons why there are many people and eyes are easy to be exposed, the bandit leader told Koliff without hesitation about the bad things he had done in Port Aberdoron, including kidnapping local merchants for ransom, assassinating security guards who had been against them, and many successful theft operations.

The mayor of Port Aberdoron's bounty wanted still valid. He was not a fool who threw himself into the trap, so they decided to take a detour to Redberg, where there was a small pier.

"Go, go!"

As he chatted, Koliff noticed a faint sound of horse hooves coming from the main road behind him.

The bandit leader narrowed his eyes and looked back cautiously—there was only one person who rode a maroon travel horse, wearing a thick stuffed leather jacket, and a cowhide bag slung over his shoulder.

"It's a messenger, don't panic, let the road be opened." The bandit leader calmly waved to the bald head, who drove the carriage to the side of the road with a horse whip.

Sure enough, the people riding horses obviously had no interest in these poor "farmers" and did not say anything to greet them. They passed by them directly to the north.

"Stinky errands," the bandit leader spat a mouthful of phlegm on the ground and said viciously, "Who do you look down on me? If I hadn't attracted attention now, I would have thrown you down with a tripping rope!"

Perhaps because their clothes were too cheap and too sloppy, he could clearly feel the contempt and disdain in the moment when the messenger passed by. But from another perspective, this also proves that their disguise is quite outstanding.

"Can it be Baron Simon's messenger?" Koliff asked the bandit leader uneasy.

"Impossible, you must have thought too much," said the bandit leader firmly. "We have crossed the ferry, now on the other side of the Rhine. Moreover, this is the Duchy of Friesland, and the young Baron Simon would not know the nobles here."

"I hope..." Koliff was still a little uneasy.

"If you know those nobles, you will know that those guys who do nothing all day long are willing to write letters for clerks and send their messengers to another noble, which is nothing more than just a matter of greetings to each other. Perhaps the messenger was a local aristocrat who was just now."

"So that's it." Kolif breathed a sigh of relief.

After avoiding the travel checkpoints in several small territories, they arrived at Red Castle without any danger in the evening.

Red Fort is located on a small hill piled up in the lowland seaside plain. It is a square wooden fortress.

The bandit leader who was walking in the front leading the way saw a simple catapult cart on one of the castles. What he didn't know was that the catapult cart was made by Simon himself during the War of Baron Issel.

There are several large round shields with Viking patterns hanging on the wooden door of the castle, which is the best proof of Baron Red's defeat of Viking pirates again and again.

"No one should be caught here," the bandit leader looked at the strange faces coming and going, and couldn't help but relax. "Go to the tavern to eat, and then go to the dock to find a boat to England."

"That's great." Kolif, who was frightened all the way, finally laughed from the bottom of his heart - he would be able to completely get rid of Baron Simon's pursuit immediately.

He couldn't help but feel proud. He thought, maybe Simon's idiot was still walking around the Dehes Forest with his dog legs, and no one knew that he was about to fly in a sea boat.

As for the loss of the mill, to be honest, Koliff no longer cared so much. The thrills along the way made him realize that only living is the most important thing.

Smelling the salty and cool sea breeze, they came to the market by the sea.

The bandit boss pushed open the wooden door of the tavern with a "clang" and was filled with laughter and cheerful sailors and vendors who had finished their work. No one paid attention to these guys who had just entered the door.

Kolif, who had never been to such a distance, planned to enjoy it once. He ordered a can of fresh milk, a large smoked sausage, a plate of white bread and a whole roasted chicken. It cost him nearly seventeen copper coins, which was equivalent to the income of a farmer working hard for several months.

After enjoying the most comfortable meal he had when he fled, he also bought a large piece of cheese as dry food on the road.

"Let's go to the dock. When I pick up the boat, I will give you the other two Denell silver coins I promised." Koliff said to the bandit leader who was still drinking heavily.

"Boss, let's send this annoying spirit away and get the reward," the drunk bald robber raised the worn wooden cup containing honey wine. "After getting the money, I can find a girl to enjoy it tonight."

"Okay." The bandit leader stood up and pushed open the door of the tavern.

In the market area at night, there was no sound except the sound of waves, the chirping of seagulls and the sound of playfulness from the taverns and bathhouses. The strong wind blowing from the sea raised their hoods "hula".

Perhaps because he disliked the strange smell of the hood, Kolif boldly took off his hood with the dim light, comforted his wife and kept saying that they were almost free.

"Hey, stop me!"

The sudden sound made Koliff's hair stand up. He turned his head stiffly, and a man dressed in a tax officer was walking towards them with a few armed soldiers holding torches.

Koliff instinctively ran away when he wanted to pull out his legs, but doesn't this confirm the fact that they and his group have ulterior motives?

"Don't run away, he collects taxes. This is a misunderstanding. He probably treats us as smugglers." The bandit leader said to Koliff in a low voice.

"I've never seen you, what are you doing?"

The tax officer's harsh words made Coliff's heart tremble, but to his comfort, the man probably didn't know that he was now a wanted extrajudicialist.

"Dear lord, we are definitely not damn smugglers. I'm here to send a friend to England," the bandit leader changed into a flattering smile, which was completely different from the coldness of the day. "I know the rules."

As he said that, the bandit leader winked at Koliff and said "Twelve" in a low voice.

Koliff took out twelve copper coins with a look of pain and stuffed them into the tax officer's hand.

"This pier belongs to the great Baron Red. Those who use this masterpiece on earth must pay the usage fee. As for the extra copper coins, please go to the tavern to have a cup of hot wine to warm your body." The bandit leader is a thick and thin person, and the words he added make people unable to find any fault.

"Very good," the tax officer took the copper coins from Koliff with satisfaction, nodded, and saw Koliff's face clearly through the flames of the torches in the hands of the soldiers behind him, "Where did you come from?"

"I, I..." Koliff was shining with the fire and faced the tax officer directly. For a moment, he was a little incoherent and replied nervously, "Geldenburg from Helder."

Kolif did not want to involve his hometown or nearby areas. After all, he was afraid that the postman was carrying his wanted order during the day, so he did not dare to use his life to bet on the probability.

But he knew too few place names in other places, so he had a clever idea and used the owner of the stump tavern, Helta, often hiking to buy goods as his hometown.

"No, you are lying," the knowledgeable tax officer frowned. "I have worked at this pier for decades, and many people from Gaeldenburg have seen them. It is obvious that they speak different accents than yours. Your accent sounds more like they were brought by Count Luoyon, which is said to have now become the territory of the Principality of Cologne."

"Ah...ha, you're right. I was actually born in Galdenburg, but I was brought to the Count Luo's throne by my father since I was a child, so I had an accent over there." Koliff's head was running rapidly and explained in a self-righteous manner.
Chapter completed!