Hotel on the mountain

When Carter knew that Miss Pucilla had only taken eight pearls and turned all the rest into powder, he couldn't help but applaud this woman's courage. The reason is simple - rare things are valuable.

But there are not many people who can understand this truth and dare to implement it. At least Carter himself will never do this. After all, as long as no one knows that he has such a large inventory, he can sell them one by one. Crushed pearl powder can no longer be turned into pearls, so the "specialties" Carter plans to deliver to Master Polanyi can only be those wonderful lamps.

Setting off from Le Havre to the border of the empire, enjoying the privileges of aristocrats and transferring to fast horses at the inn, it took Carter about five days to see the magnificent earth-colored high walls and wide avenues of the Doin River Fortress. It wasn't quiet, but there were groups of merchants and travelers queuing up at the fortress' gate. Carter's carriage, bearing the family crest of the Raya family, entered through the side door without any obstruction.

The Doin River Fortress is surrounded by water to the north, connects mountains from east to west, and leads to the hinterland of the Hebrew Empire to the south. The shortest section of the city wall is more than 30 meters high. It is a top-level fortress built based on natural dangers. It not only protects against people, Also protects against monsters. And because it was one of the only official passages between the Hebrew Empire and the Great Chek Empire, in order to cope with the huge flow of people, residential areas and military control areas were gradually developed in the fortress.

Polani Raya, who was walking along a wooden corridor in the military-controlled area, was very irritated, very irritated. He had been in this barren place for almost half a year and had done nothing all day long. He either beat others or was beaten. People beat. It stands to reason that in the October season, he should participate in the autumn hunting and show off himself in front of those noble ladies. But now, even his favorite long golden hair has been chopped into inches by the instructor, so whenever he touches it In his head, he felt that the butler Carter who was walking towards him was a bit disgusting.

"Carter! What did my dear father send you to do again? To humiliate me? Do you want me to be a good boy here?" Bolani Raya looked unruly, always raising his proud chin habitually ——Of course, part of the reason why he did this was that he was only 1.7 meters tall and had to look up to see the tall Carter.

Carter strode over, tore off the initial sign from Polanyi's mouth, and then put his hands behind his back and said solemnly: "Master Polanyi, both the master and I hope that you can learn how to become a doctor here. A nobleman who does something, instead of taking pride in fighting against the family in your miserable youth!"

Bolanni crossed his arms across his chest and snorted nonchalantly. Although it was a bit uncomfortable to do this with the standard armor on his body, he obviously had his own persistence.

"I was entrusted by the master this time to bring you some useful things, as well as a letter that the master has been thinking about for a long time." Carter took out the letter from his clothes and handed it to Polanyi with both hands, who When he took it and wanted to open it immediately, he was interrupted by Carter: "Master Polani, a man learning to be calm is very helpful in capturing the heart of a girl in social situations. I hope you can learn this essential quality."

Polanyi's hands that were about to open the letter stopped, and he twisted his mouth a few times, glanced at Carter and then looked at the letter, and finally coughed a few times and stuffed the letter into his breastplate.

"So, what did father bring me?"

"To be precise, it's a gift from your brother, Master Jetro, to you from the New World."

"Oh, my good-for-nothing brother, he was just born a few years before me. I can beat him up with just one punch."

Polanyi was following Carter towards the courtyard in the military area specially used for parking carriages. He habitually mocked his brother who had no psychic ability, but unexpectedly Carter turned around, grabbed his collar and pinned him to the wall. . The wall was smashed with a "bang", but Carter looked serious, his huge face turned red, and said in a stern tone: "Master Bolanyi, it is not that difficult to learn to respect your brother. If you continue to treat your brother outside the family, If you call yourself a loser, if you can’t learn to respect family members yourself, I can hardly guarantee that you will gain respect from others in the family.”

After finishing speaking, Carter put down the slightly flustered Polanyi, straightened his clothes, and continued: "Out of the virtue of a nobleman, after you receive your brother's gift, you should write a letter Thank you. Unless you feel that you are no longer a noble."

Polanyi turned his head and said "cut", but still reluctantly replied: "I know."

The two of them walked along a short flight of stairs from the wooden corridor to the wide open-air courtyard. The soil here was a bit black. Soldiers coming and going were unloading the supplies they had transported. From time to time, someone came towards Polanyi. He mocked, but because the butler Carter was here, the latter just looked back angrily a few times and did not dare to make any more unnecessary moves.

They came to the carriage with the emblem of the Raya family and unloaded the square cargo box placed on the top of the carriage. Carter motioned to Polani to "open" the gift himself, so Polani spread his hands. , kicked him over with a good control of the force - breaking the lock and popping up the lid at the same time.

Polani still looked at the gift "given" to him by Jetro with a little expectancy. But when he took the soft light bag in the box and felt like skin in his hand, he said with disgust: "This? What is this? I thought he could sympathize with his brother's difficult military life and bring it to me. Something I can splurge on at the market—money!”

"Master Polani, don't act like a common man."

Hearing the word "vulgar", Polani quietly stood up straight and corrected his words in a tone of voice: "Okay, Mr. Carter, can you tell me the use of this novel thing?"

At this moment, an instructor wearing an orange bird feather on his head walked up to the two of them.

His complexion was dark, and sonorous and powerful words came out of his thick lips: "Bolani! Have you done everything you want to do?!"

"Ah? Instructor Cuenca! I..." Polani was obviously a little afraid of the instructor. His words were trembling, which made Carter on the side wonder: "Excuse me, what does Polani need to do?"

"Who are you?"

"I am Catraya, the steward of the Raya family."

Instructor Cuenca softened his tone a little and said to Carter: "Bolanni is like other thorns in the military camp. He always likes to cause trouble in the military camp. But it's okay to make trouble in a small way, but he relies on the fact that he is the son of a duke. Identity, the military camp's warehouse was burned down. The general who woke up in the middle of the night was very unhappy and ordered him to make up for the loss of the warehouse before the end of October no matter what, otherwise he would have a major demerit on his resume and let him get out. "

"Wow, Master Polanyi is a little... naughty." Carter smiled and said something against his will, but Cuenca obviously wanted to "report this matter to his parents" completely, so he said in a stern voice: " This is not something that can be solved by being naughty. Bolanyi burned down all the candles, torches, lamps and other lighting supplies! The river fortress has to be plunged into darkness! Do you know that the reason why he burned this warehouse is because we asked him to turn off the lights in his dormitory and he refused. "

After hearing that Polanyi was burning a lamphouse, Carter put his arm around Cuenca's shoulders and said sincerely: "We are very, very sorry that Bolanyi has brought you such trouble here, so as soon as we saw The child took the time to think of a solution when he wrote to us crying.”

"Who is crying?" Bolanni pouted and looked unhappy.

Carter jumped up to him, held his arm and took him aside, saying fiercely: "Burning the army's warehouse? You are really capable! I tell you, Master Bolanyi! You'd better start shutting up now." Mouth! I can save your life, otherwise your entire political career will be over, do you understand?"

Polanyi shook his head, but after thinking about it, he felt that he understood, so he nodded again.

Carter returned to Cuenca and continued: "I originally hoped that Polanyi would be better behaved in the army, but I didn't expect that he would cause such a big trouble. Oh, where did I just say it?"

"You said you were thinking of a way..."

"Yes, yes, after the master and Polani's brother heard about this, they specially bought a batch of new lighting tools from the New World. They are powerful, easy to carry, and expensive in the market. But in order to express our apology, we decided to This batch of new lighting tools were all donated to the Doin River Fortress." Carter picked up a lantern fish bag in his hand and made the lantern bag shine brightly under Cuenca's surprised eyes.

"This? There are no light bugs living in it? How does this light up?" Kunca took the glowing light sac and confirmed that there were no light bugs or other luminous objects inside.

Carter smiled and said: "A very rare luminous substance, and I don't understand its principle. You just need to soak these light capsules into a solution made of life dust. You can put them anywhere. Finally, you can wait until their activity disappears and rot. But they have a disadvantage, that is, they cannot be destroyed once they are lit, unless one of you knows how to control the spiritual energy of life, like me-"

Carter took another light sac in his hand, and then lavender spiritual energy bloomed in his hand. The light sac lit up, and he took back the spiritual energy, and some of the substances in the light sac were also drawn out. came out, and the light sac went out again.

Cuenca's black face flickered under the light. He couldn't hide his shock and said: "But it is waterproof and moisture-proof! This kind of lighting fixture will be very practical in the army! Please meet with the general with me, he will definitely Would be very interested in this! ”

When passing by Polanyi, Cuenca patted the latter on the shoulder and praised him: "Polanyi! I knew you could do it! You are a good boy! Come together, maybe the general will let you go."

"Yeah, yeah." Polanyi just likes to be stupid, which doesn't mean he is really stupid.

Of course, even if he is really stupid, the family's genetic genes will not make him too stupid - he has just seen the value of this light sac, in dark areas, deep caves, and cold lake bottoms, everything Battlefields where fireworks cannot effectively function require the presence of these light capsules.

General Alpha of the Doin River Fortress was pregnant with a big belly, and he and Carter felt like they had met Carter late. Their conversation was concise and straight to the point.

"Where did it come from?"

"New World."

"Is it a large number?"

"No, quite rare."

"That must be expensive."

"Actually - yes!"

"Well, Brother Carter, this box of light sacs should be regarded as the punishment for Polanyi's mistakes." After General Alpha said to Carter, he patted Bolanyi's shoulder heavily and encouraged, "Well done. Polani! You have successfully demonstrated your value, you can stay here.”

"But I want to go home more." Bolani muttered in a low voice, and Alpha pretended not to hear it.

"Let me get this straight, Brother Carter, I want more of this - what's it called?"

Carter recalled it briefly, added the scene performance, and said: "Fish Lantern. Your Excellency, it is called 'Fish Lantern'."

"Oh, I like this name. It allows fire to be ignited in water, just like a fish can breathe in water." General Alpha was very bold and said directly, "Brother Carter, Doin River Fortress will purchase the products of the Raya family. For all fish lights, price is not an issue. How soon can I get the goods?”

This sudden transaction was not in Carter's itinerary, but with his rich experience, he still calmly replied: "It will be in the spring of next year at the latest. The voyage of merchant ships to and from the New World is usually about two months. You don't need to pay a deposit. We will send someone to deliver it then.”

The two hugged each other and bumped their bellies together, signifying the deal was concluded.

…

It was raining heavily outside the Duoin River Fortress, the military-controlled area, and he was the only one in Bolanyi's dormitory.

Carter left after finishing the work. Polanyi sat at the desk, thinking about how to write a thank you letter to his brother, whom he had always looked down on, because he understood that it was indeed Yate's fault that after burning the warehouse, it would not be recorded as a major demerit and affect his political career. The fish lantern sent by Luo worked - and his little pride told him that he should repay favors.

Polanyi was very annoyed and stared at the letter for a long time, hoping that he could write it by himself.

After thinking for a long time and not knowing how to write, Bolanni simply threw away the pen and took out the letter sent to him by his father Tokat from his arms - he hoped to get some inspiration from his father's letter and then complete the letter to Jetro Thank you letter.

He tore open the envelope casually, took out the letter, opened it and said silently:

"Bolani, when you read this letter, I am already prepared to lose you..."

"Click", maybe there was lightning outside the house, or maybe a delicate heart was broken inside the house. Bolanyi held the paper tremblingly and read on nervously——

"Your bad deeds have already reached the ears of Marshal Rudolf, and will soon reach the ears of the Emperor, and I no longer have the shame to ask him to let you go.

Polanyi, the path you take today is yours, and I will give you two choices for the path in the future.

Stop participating in politics and come back to manage a company. I guarantee you won’t starve to death. Because your actions show that once you get involved in this dangerous wave, it will bring disaster to the family, and I must consider it for the family.

Before November comes, you must meet two people at the Doin River Fortress and join their team. One of them is a thin man with a pointed chin and a high nose, named Obsward; the other is tall and thin, He wears light armor made of fire dragon skin and a helmet all year round, and does not show off easily to others. His name is Thorad Chiyo. They made some deal with your brother Jetro to go to the White City to do some things.

Choose one and live an ordinary life. Option two is to be prepared to die and completely obey the instructions of the team leader. You can do whatever you are told, but you may be able to make a career that is not inferior to your ancestors.

Polanyi, you must remember that there is no turning back in life, as it is now and in the future, think about it yourself.

I wish I could go to heaven earlier than you. "

Bolanyi suddenly fell back on the chair, his hands hanging down weakly, and the heavy rain outside the window crackled. This was the darkest moment of his life.