Iron Powder and Spellcaster

At dawn on Sunday, a few morning stars twinkled in the blue-gray sky. The wind blew down from the mountains, raising a moist mist. The breath of the earth is cool and comfortable, and the sun is still lazily refusing to get up behind the horizon.

Old Sergey, who lives at the east end of Dusak Village in Wolf Town, woke up early in the morning. The old man stared at the old saber hanging on the wall of the inner room for a while. Then he slowly pulled up his pants, pulled on his cloth shoes, and buttoned his shirt while walking outside.

Sergey stood at the door of the courtyard, silently admiring his small courtyard: the newly built barns and livestock sheds were covered with neat tiles, the family's big animals were chewing hay peacefully, and the grain barn was filled with grain. , the old woman and children at home are still sleeping soundly...

Prosperity, comfort, and ease were the kind of good days that Sergey Vladimirovich could never have dreamed of in the past.

The old man watched for a while, then walked towards the backyard with satisfaction. Walking around the wall, he walked outside the window of his youngest son's room.

"Vasya! Son!" The old man knocked on the wooden window: "Come on, follow me up the mountain to see the clip."

[Note: Vasya is Vashika’s nickname]

Sergey knocked several times before Vashka got up from the bed sleepily. He opened the window and asked in a low voice: "Dad, what are you talking about?"

"Come on, my clipper who went up and down the mountain the day before yesterday, come with me up the mountain to have a look."

"Today is Sunday!" Vashika complained.

Sergey urged nonchalantly: "I won't delay you from going to the church. Let's go. We can be back before the sun comes up."

The son couldn't resist his father, so he had to grunt and grab some clothes and put them on.

At this time, his father took two horses out of the stable.

Vashika helped Sergey put on the harness, and the two Dusaks, one old and one young, led the horse out of the fence made of red willows, jumped on the horse's back and galloped towards the forest south of the village.

If you look down from an altitude of tens of thousands of meters, you can clearly see two towering mountains running east-west and approximately parallel to the north and south of Senas Bay.

To the north are the Shade Mountains and to the south are the Golden Summit Mountains. This natural geographical separation will inevitably lead to political fragmentation.

Hence the saying "the land sandwiched between two mountains".

Wolf Town is located at the foot of the Jinding Mountains, backed by the northern foothills of the Jinding Mountains. It is a settlement carved out among shrubs and woodlands.

This town is not only located at the westernmost point of the vast alliance territory, but also at the southernmost point. Further south is the uninhabited virgin forest.

If you continue going south, the terrain will rise dramatically. The original forest is replaced by alpine meadows where only weeds can grow up to the snow line.

On a clear day, the thousand-year-old snow at the highest point of the mountain range shines brightly in the sun, as if it were made of gold.

Hence the name "Golden Summit Mountains".

Of course Sergey and his son didn't want to go that far. They rely on mountains to eat mountains, and rely on water to drink water. The places where people in the villages of Lang Town usually go are just the outskirts of the forest.

Sergey was riding his own old horse. The old man felt sorry for his old friend, so he did not send it to the village pasture. Vashika was riding a two-and-a-half-year-old pony, a strong animal.

But the old man's riding skills were superb. Even if he was wearing cloth shoes and riding an old horse, Vashika couldn't catch up with him.

Sergey was having a great time riding, cracking his whip and yelling "oow", filling his stomach with wind.

Vashika chased after him, thinking: "What's the trap? I'm afraid the old man just wants to walk the horse?"

The two quickly ran to the edge of the forest. Sergei took the reins and said happily to his son: "Vasya! How wonderful! So comfortable! I wake up in the morning and run a horse. I feel energetic!"

But Vashika, whose sweet dream was disturbed, just rolled her eyes secretly and urged her father to look at the clip.

Following his memory, Sergey led his son deeper into the forest.

Sergey was very lucky. The first two clips actually yielded results, a rabbit and a pheasant.

The old man became even more happy and said to his son happily: "My Lord! Vasya, maybe there will be a deer today! I dreamed a few days ago that the antlers of the deer broke down the roof. Maybe it was a beautiful stag." !”

Vashika didn't answer, and urged his father to find the last clip.

When they found the last clip, they found two people already squatting next to the clip. And on the clip - only a broken deer leg remained.

…

After coming out of the forest, Wasika did not go home directly. Instead, he followed his father's instructions and rushed straight to Mayor Mitchell's house with the rabbit in hand.

After leaving the field and setting foot on the dirt road between the villages, and letting the horses run for a while, we could already see the roof of the mayor's house.

Wahika walked around a row of neat oak trees, and a beautiful white double-story house appeared in front of her. Sergey's house is just a small courtyard of a rich farmer, but the beautiful building in front of him is the manor of a big landowner.

Hearing the sound of horse hooves, the two hounds barked "bark".

Gilad Mitchell's son and Wasika were childhood playmates, and Wasika was very familiar with the Mitchell Manor.

But this time he saw an unfamiliar face, a young officer he had never seen before and Gilad standing in the open space in front of the house. Both of them were holding sabers and seemed to be practicing something.

"Okay, stop barking!" Gilad heard the dog barking and saw the person coming, so he yelled at the dog.

The two hounds also recognized them as acquaintances, and ran to the Wasika horse with excited barks, trying to bite the dead rabbit hanging on the saddle.

"Good morning! Sergenovitch!" Gilad stuck his saber on the ground and shouted at Vashika from a distance: "How is your father? Are you here to see Pierre?" "

"He's fine! He even went horse racing this morning!" Vashika tied the horse, held up the rabbit and said with a smile, "I'm here to give you this! My dad asked me to give this rabbit to you!" "

"What a fat rabbit! Thank you dad! Wait for me here for a while." Gilad took the prey and walked quickly back to the house.

Only Vashika and the strange officer were left outside the house.

The unfamiliar officer smiled kindly at Vashika, and only then did Vashika have time to look at the man carefully.

Unlike those dignified military officers with beards and unsmiling faces, Vashika found that the strange officer in front of him was very young and looked even younger than himself. He didn't look like an military officer at all.

But what he was wearing was a genuine officer's uniform - although the style was a bit strange, it was definitely an officer's uniform. Anyone who is from Dussac will recognize what the officer's uniform looks like.

Gilad strode out of the house. He stuffed a bag of sugar and tea leaves into Vashika: "Take it back and give it to your ladies to cook."

"You haven't finished what you gave me last time." Vashika said with a smile, "Why don't you light some tobacco leaves for me."

"Okay, I'll get it for you." Gilad stepped up the steps and entered the house in a hurry.

Although he grew up listening to his father's stories about the war, and even though his father repeatedly told him to respect Planinovich.

But in the eyes of most Dussac children, Gilad is just an amiable and generous little old man.

In the eyes of the Dusak people in Wolf Town, the Mitchell family - except for Gilad's mother-in-law - are all genuine Dusaks, they just don't live in the Dusak village.

"Take it back for you two to smoke." Gilad made another trip and took out a large pack of tobacco leaves for Vashika. He laughed and said, "Give me some for you, so you don't smoke them all yourself."

"That's for sure." Wasika replied with a playful smile, but he remembered another serious matter and hurriedly told Gilad: "Uncle, when my father and I went into the mountains today, we encountered a strange thing. My father asked I tell you."

"What a weird thing."

Vashika talked for a long time but didn't get to the point: "...Oh, I'm stupid and can't explain clearly. My father just asked me to falter, and he will explain it to you in detail later in church."

After saying that, Vashika, who was anxious to go home for breakfast, said goodbye to Gilad, got on his horse and went home.

Halfway through the run, he remembered: "I still don't know who that officer is!"

…

Sunday is the biggest day of the week in Wolf Town.

After breakfast, villagers from several surrounding villages, some on foot or far away, drove or rode horses, all rushed towards the church in the center of the town.

Everyone wants to arrive early, because if you arrive early, you will have a seat, and if you arrive late, you can only stand and watch mass.

For the villagers, the church was not built in the center of the town, but the town hall was built next to the church. The history of Langtun Church is earlier than the history of "merging villages to form towns" in Lang Town.

Sunday worship is not only a religious activity, but also the main gathering place for residents of each village.

Before the ceremony began, Wasika finally knew who the strange officer was—it was said to be the new resident officer in this town, Second Lieutenant Winters Montagne.

While the villagers from the three villages gathered together, Girard stood on the pulpit and read Winters' letter of appointment in public, and introduced the new resident officer to everyone.

This was the first time Winters appeared in front of the people of Wolf Town, and his performance was quite satisfactory. He stood on the pulpit, saluted everyone, and then went down.

For the common people, although the many officers in the town have little to do with them, they are a rare novelty in their boring lives.

Everyone in the church crowded to the front to see the new garrison officer, talking about his military uniform, appearance and age.

However, there were some unmarried girls who didn't know what they were thinking. They blushed and secretly looked at the new second lieutenant.

After all, wearing a uniform can add a certain amount of prestige to even an ugly person, not to mention that Winters can be said to be well-groomed.

After the introduction of the new resident officer, it was the formal Sunday worship service. The two priests of the church slowly walked up to the pulpit from outside the church holding the icon.

Winters found himself "trapped" in the church with embarrassment.

As a spellcaster, Winters certainly had no interest in getting involved in religious activities. But he was too embarrassed to leave the ceremony publicly. As the only public officials in Wolf Town, he and Girard were seated in the front row of the church.

Winters thought to himself: "If I leave now, I'm afraid I will offend all the believers in Wolf Town."

In the spirit of pragmatism, Winters feels that “it’s better to do less than to do more.” He sat there until the end of the sermon, looking at the portrait of Anna on the pendant, fascinated.

The townspeople who didn't know the truth thought that the new resident official was praying devoutly.

After the sermon, Winters quietly avoided taking communion.

Everything went smoothly. The dim-sighted officiant didn't notice Winters' little movement at all, and neither did anyone else in the church.

But the young deacon saw clearly, and Winters' behavior made the deacon very strange. But he did not stop Winters, but just watched the new resident officer follow the crowd and leave the church.

In fact, Winters looked at the church deacon rather strangely. This kind of small church is obviously not qualified to have two formal clergy, but the Wolf Town Church has two. It's just that Winters wasn't interested in the magic stick, so he didn't ask about it.

Outside the church, the weather was clear and dry, with a few layers of light clouds floating high in the sky.

Gilad was leading a few people to set up the archery target and venue. The target board was carried out from the church's backyard and placed on the lawn next to the church.

When Winters saw this, he went to help.

Gilad wiped his sweat and said to Winters: "Second Lieutenant, there was no resident officer in this town before, so I had to take over. Lieutenant Montagne, I will leave the Sunday archery training to you."

"Sunday archery training?" Winters looked strange: "Isn't it the 'Archery Law'?"

"Yes! It's the Bow and Arrow Law!" Gilad replied with a smile.

The Archery Act was an imperial-era law that required all men to take part in archery training after church services.

After Girard explained, Winters learned that this law had never been repealed in Plato.

The Great Council of Plato never passed an abolition bill - the suspicion of laziness was high - and the bow and arrow decree remained.

It's just that this law has lost its mandatory force, and archery is almost a recreational activity for civilians. After all, shooting a few arrows on a Sunday morning is not a chore.

Winters didn't expect to see such a "historic site" weekend activity in this border town. After he and Girard set up the target, the archery training officially began.

Women and children, old men who could not draw their bows, and some men who believed that archery was a loss of status stood and watched.

About a hundred young men lined up, waiting for their turn to shoot.

Some people bring their own bows and arrows. These people are obviously very confident in their shooting skills. They stand in the queue like proud roosters, waiting to show off their skills in front of the villagers.

Those who did not carry bows and arrows used cheap ash wood provided by the town hall for practice bows.

Some farmers brought home-brewed sweet beer and sold it while pushing wooden barrels and shouting loudly.

Some out-of-town merchants also come to sell small things such as needlework and thread on Sundays.

No one cares about the "no work on Sundays" doctrine, and the originally deserted Wolf Town has now become extremely lively.

Winters' job was easy, as long as he was on guard against being accidentally shot when someone tried to pull the arrow off the target.

If the shooter misses the target, the crowd will boo.

If the shooter hits the target, the onlookers will cheer loudly.

The simple happiness was contagious, and even Winters, who could only think about going home, had a smile on his lips.

But at the same time, Winters was also keenly aware of some adult men in the crowd who were incompatible with the joyful atmosphere.

They were unshaven, disheveled, and mostly gloomy-looking. They neither came to shoot arrows nor came to the shooting range to watch.

Even the people of Wolf Town deliberately avoided these people.

Only farmers who make moonshine like them because they drink cup after cup around the barrel.

Although Winters thought about running away countless times and running back to Veneta. But as long as you are in office for one day, you must fulfill your responsibilities.

So the resident officer of Wolf Town stopped the shooters around him, pointed at the men and asked, "Who are those people? Are they locals from you?"

The young man who was shooting arrows looked in the direction Winters pointed, shook his head, and replied: "Sir, those guys are from the forest farm. They were hired to chop wood from outside."

Winters wanted to continue asking, but was invited over by Girard.

In addition to Gilad and Sergei, there were two other men in the town hall, an old man and a young man.

The old man looked about thirty or forty years old, but the ravines on his face looked like spider webs. His skin was tanned and his lips were pursed tightly. Each hand held a roll of leather.

The younger one looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, still childish. He was looking around curiously with his two big eyes. He was holding an unstrung single-body bow, about one meter long, smaller than the bow used by adults.

Seeing Winters come in, Gilad introduced him to several people again: "This is the new resident officer in this town, Second Lieutenant Montagne."

Girard pointed at Sergey and introduced: "This is Sergei Vladimirovich, Dusak from the village of Dusa."

Hearing Dusak's name, old Sergei puffed up his chest proudly.

Girard then pointed at the two men, an old man and a young man, and introduced: "These two are the hunters in this town, Ralph and his son Bell. Ralph, if you have something to say, please tell me."

The hunter Ralph first took off his hat and bowed solemnly, and then with an anxious look and a nervous tone, he warned the two civil servants of Wolf Town: "Sir, the wolf disaster is coming!"

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