Iron Powder and Spellcaster

"Okay, just send it here." Winters patted Andre on the arm: "It's not like we won't see him again."

"I didn't expect that this sheepherder is more of a bastard than a mud boy!" Andre said with tears in his eyes: "If you have a way at home, just let them take you away. Among us buddies, whoever has a way will go. , It’s not unjust. But I really can’t afford to spend time with this goat herder..."

Goat-herder is a derogatory term for the Platoans. Andre lost control of his emotions and spoke without thinking. Andre was addicted to talking, but there were other people beside them.

Hearing the name "Sheepherd", the Plato soldiers responsible for "escorting" Winters and others couldn't help but look askance.

Winters quickly comforted Andre with kind words and persuaded him to leave. As Andre walked toward the town, he still looked back reluctantly.

After setting off again, Winters apologetically explained to the Palato cavalry beside him: "Second Lieutenant Cellini has always been careless, but he has no ill intentions. I apologize to you on his behalf."

Lieutenant Kewen Woike, who was leading the team, forced out a cold smile and nodded.

The group of people were galloping on their war horses. The plains on the roadside were flat and the dark blue mountains rising on the horizon could be seen at a glance.

Looking around, there is nothing on the wasteland, only vast green.

It's refreshing to gallop around in this vast world. But Winters was completely unmotivated now. Only when he saw the desolate scenery in front of him did he truly understand where he had been sent.

This is the frontier of the Plato Republic, the far west of the Union. If Guitucheng is the hinterland within the hinterland, then this place is the frontier within the frontier.

The story begins six days ago, when Warrant Officers Veneta finally escaped from the carriage, but were immediately placed under house arrest. Until then, Warrant Officers Veneta knew two things:

First, they are now second lieutenants;

Second, they are now ensigns of the Plato Republic.

The Platuan people treated Winters and others very well, giving them food, drink and bathing. But their freedom was still restricted, and they were not allowed to meet with Veneta officials in Plato.

When gods fight, mortals suffer. In the eyes of the federal military, this was only a trivial provocation, but it completely disrupted the life trajectories of Winters, Andre, Bud and other second lieutenants.

For this group of young people, the future path is clearly visible: being awarded titles, taking office, earning seniority, waiting for promotion, retirement...

But now their path has been completely disrupted by the sudden "assignment", as messy as a ball of string played by a cat.

In Veneta they were young men with a bright future, but in Plato they were nothing.

They had no connections, no relatives or friends, and no money at all... Winters and others were escorted to the Castle of Kings without even a single silver coin on them.

There are no friends and no information. I don’t know anyone, I don’t understand anything. Now they are nothing more than the lowest-ranking professional officers in the army.

I don’t know how the negotiations were conducted above, but after three days of house arrest, the Palatuan people had new arrangements for their fate.

In a sunny office, a Colonel Plato with a warm smile on his face handed Winters a letter of appointment.

Winters, who was confused after receiving the letter of appointment, was immediately asked out of the office. He only remembered the colonel saying, "...the Republic looks forward to your hard work and struggle, and you will make great achievements in the vast world..."

This desolate wilderness... is really his mother's "vast world"!

Thinking of the colonel's enthusiastic smile, Winters couldn't help but cursed in his heart.

After several hours of speeding along the dilapidated dirt road, the group arrived at their final destination after crossing a river ford more than ten meters wide.

In front of us is a small town that cannot be called a "town". Two dirt roads more than 20 meters long, one horizontal and one vertical, are the main roads. The intersection of the dirt roads is a small church.

Along the roadside are several houses built with logs, which seem to be the only shops in this town.

Winters originally thought that the place Andre and Bud were assigned was desolate enough, but compared with the town in front of him, the town Andre and Bud went to was simply full of flowers and bustling.

"Here, this is Wulfthorpe [Wulfthorpe]." Lieutenant Woick pointed with his riding crop: "Let's go, I'll take you to see the mayor here."

Winters followed Woick to the door of a house opposite the church. Apart from the church, this wooden house is the largest in the entire town. It seems that this is the town hall.

Before entering the door, Winters heard a loud...snoring?

Lieutenant Woick was also a little strange. He and Winters looked at each other and walked into the town hall first.

After entering the door, there is a small cubicle, and a wooden wall separates the entire house. There was a table placed in front of the door, and a thin old man with a clean shaven beard was writing calculations.

"Are you the mayor?" Woick got straight to the point.

The old man narrowed his eyes and glanced at Woike, and replied calmly: "I am the clerk of this town. Who is your Excellency?"

"I am Lieutenant Woick from the military department." Woick introduced himself and pointed at Winters with his riding crop: "This is Second Lieutenant Montagne. We want to see the mayor."

"Oh, then please come with me." The skinny old man spoke in a formal manner, which sounded quite strange. He stood up and opened the door of another room on the partition wall: "This is the mayor's office."

Looking through the door, the first thing Winters saw was the soles of his shoes and... a beer belly?

The owner of the beer belly was sleeping soundly on the bench by the window, and the deafening snores came from here. This man's snoring was so loud and special that every time he took a breath, he seemed to be choking to death.

"Master, wake up... The officer from the city wants to see you." The old clerk tried to wake up the man who was snoring like thunder.

But no matter how he patted the other party's shoulders and arms, the mayor just wouldn't wake up. The old man gritted his teeth and slapped his face hard.

The middle-aged man who was sleeping suddenly woke up, rolled to the ground as if he was greatly stimulated, and looked around in horror.

After discovering Woike and Winters, the middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, stood up sheepishly, and asked with a smile: "Huh? What's wrong? Who are these two?"

The old clerk introduced Woick and Winters again, and Winters was able to take a closer look at the man in front of him.

The mayor of Wolf Town is a short man, a full head shorter than Winters. But he has a thick neck and an even thicker waist. If you just look at his upper body, others might think he is taller than Winters.

Supporting his bulky upper torso were two short and thick bowed legs. Ordinary people would not have this kind of leg shape. He was obviously a good rider.

The thick brown curly hair is mixed with many silver strands, indicating that he is no longer young. But there was still the carefree look of a young man in his two blue eyes.

This pair of blue eyes is set on a round face, with a big nose and wide mouth below the eyes. He smiled heartily and sincerely, without any hint of hypocrisy, and had a rough but energetic spirit.

With just one glance, Winters felt a lot of affection for this sturdy man.

"Haha, what a joke!" The mayor of Wolf Town smiled and scratched the back of his head: "I am Gilad, Gilad Planinovich Mitchell. The folks saw that my home is close to the town. I was elected as the mayor. If you two have anything to do, just tell me."

Woike didn't say anything and handed an official letter directly to the mayor.

Gilad smiled again, scratched the back of his head, and handed the letter to the old clerk: "I don't know a few characters. Panviche, you and I read what is written in the letter."

The old clerk—who we now know as Panviche—took the document and read it carefully. Then he raised his head and pointed at Winters and said, "Sir, this Second Lieutenant Montagne is the newly assigned resident officer."

"Hi! Great! We have a resident official here!" Gilad clapped his thigh happily and grabbed Winters' arm with a big smile: "What a great young man! How great! Our Wolf Village is great!" There is also a resident official! Great!"

Gilad realized again that the young man in front of him was not his son. He quickly let go and said with a smile: "Sorry, sorry! I'm so happy! We have had a vacancy for the resident officer of Langtun since the establishment of the town. There has been a vacancy for many years. Now, It can be said that a resident official has arrived, and he is such a nice young man, what a great joy!"

Woick obviously didn't want to stay long, so he took out another money bag and gave it to Winters: "This is your salary for this quarter. The responsibilities of the garrison officer are very simple, and they are all written in the letter of appointment. Military correspondents will come regularly. Here, they will be responsible for handing over your future salary to you."

Winters took the money bag wordlessly and saluted.

Looking at Winters, Woick couldn't bear it. He led Winters out of the town hall, sighed and said: "In Plato, the town officer is actually the military's representative in the new reclamation area. Just manage the public security and militia. It's very easy. There is no work. You just Just be patient, and you can go home after the matter is resolved."

Winters knew this was the truth, nodded, and saluted solemnly.

Lieutenant Woick patted Winters on the shoulder and left with his cavalry.

Three days ago, all Veneta lieutenants had received their commissions. They were appointed as garrison officers in each small town and ordered to take up their posts immediately without delay.

Maybe they wanted to break up the Veneta lieutenants in this way, or maybe they had other purposes. Winters didn't know the decision-making process of the Palatuan military, but it was obvious that they had made their attitude clear: they would never let the Veneta lieutenants go home before the Palatuan people were satisfied.

Most of Venetta's second lieutenants are stationed in the "new reclamation area".

If the Plato Republic is the outermost edge of the Union's territory, then the new reclamation area is the outermost edge of the Platuan Republic's territory. And Wolf Town, the town where Winters was assigned, is the very edge of the new reclamation area.

Winters was now at the very edge of the very edge of Senas Alliance territory, perhaps even the very edge of "civilization."

Therefore, further west from here is a no-man's land that is nearly 100 kilometers wide, and further west from the no-man's land is the land controlled by the barbaric Hed tribe.

Almost all of these "towns" in newly reclaimed areas were only merged with villages to form towns within the past ten years. They are sparsely populated and have poor communications. Almost no military officers would be willing to serve in such a place, so there would always be vacancies for resident officers in small towns in new reclamation areas, including Wolf Town.

Now it is just used to house these "uninvited guests" of Veneta.

Looking at the desolate border town in front of him, Second Lieutenant Montagne suddenly felt unspeakable loneliness.

Fifty-six kilometers further north, Second Lieutenant Andrea Cellini had the same feeling.

At this moment, in the small towns distributed linearly along the Plato border, every Veneta second lieutenant is thinking about one thing: going home.

But how to get home?

run?

Where to run?

If you leave your post without permission, you will become a "traitor" and a "deserter" in the legal sense.

wait?

When will it be the end?

…

While Winters was lost in thought, Girard walked out of the town hall with Clerk Panwitch beaming.

As he walked, Girard warned: "Go back and tell Ellen that you must do a good job today. When you go back, invite the Wilkes family and the Benting family and ask them to bring two bottles of good wine..."

When he saw Winters when he went out, Girard said excitedly: "Lieutenant Montagne, we must have a big drink tonight! It's been a long time since we encountered such a big happy event. By the way, do you have a place to live?" Our town is small and there is no hotel, so you can stay at my house! By the way, even though our town is small, the villagers are all good people..."

The warm and hospitable Girard suddenly made Winters feel at a loss and made him feel a little warm. He smiled and agreed and thanked him.

The old man Panviche saw that Gilad and Warrant Officer Montagne were chatting animatedly, so he walked behind the house to get the horse.

Girard suddenly discovered something. He looked at the empty horse-tethering post in front of the town hall. He scratched his head and called Pan Weiche back.

"Master, what are your orders?"

"Panwiche, please go back."

Panviche said with a grimace: "This is far from home, sir."

"You lazy guy, why don't you just go to Benting's house and borrow Frank a horse to ride home?"

Panviche muttered and reluctantly walked slowly towards the west side of the town.

Winters didn't understand it at first, but he was very thoughtful and soon understood: Girard was asking Panviche to give him a mount.

When Winters came to Wolf Town, he was riding a public war horse, and Woick had taken it with him when he left.

In this strange land, he has nothing.

He has no war horse, no sword, and no military uniform - Winters is still wearing the uniform of a military cadet... If he hadn't been paid this quarter's salary, he wouldn't even have a single silver dime.

Winters had never been so embarrassed in his short life.

But he suddenly remembered Bard - Bard's station was forty kilometers further north of Andre's station - and he suddenly realized that his current situation was actually the same situation that Bard had always been in.

He was only temporarily poor, but Gerrard's Bard has always been so hard.

"If someone can do it, then I can do it too." Thinking of this, Warrant Officer Winters Montagne cheered up: "Now that you've come, let's make peace with it. I have to find a way to get home."

…

…

"With all due respect, you did not allow me to meet with them, and you directly assigned them duties without notification. I really don't see the slightest sincerity. How can you agree to release our officers?" Venet Tulanio, the chief advisor of the Tower in the Castle of Kings, suppressed his anger and asked.

Marco, the head of the external liaison department of the Palato Army, replied with a smile: "Your Excellency, I must correct your wording. These second lieutenants are not 'your' Veneta officers, but our professional soldiers in Palato. So we No outsider is qualified to tell how to appoint them."

"Stop this kind of word games!" Turano was trembling with anger: "You and I both know what's going on. It's all the fault of the people from the United Provinces! We should have the same hatred, but you are helping others! Your people Is it our responsibility to be sent overseas to deploy troops?”

"Then it's our responsibility for your people to be sent to Plato?" Marco said tit for tat.

"Stop talking nonsense, just tell me what you want to do before agreeing to let me go?!" The chief consultant slammed the table.

"What I said will not be recorded as a written record, nor will it be officially recognized by the Republic of Plato." Marco leaned on his chair and said in a cold tone: "When will our replacement officers return to the Land of Galloping Horses? Your replacement officers will Just when you can go home."

"Your people left by boat, do you understand?" Turanio said angrily: "The people of the United Provinces specially sent the fastest communication ship, and they can't catch up! Every time they come back, at least one Years. If your people can’t come back in one year, is it possible for you to detain our people for one year?”

Marco replied: "Your Excellency, if I were you, I would not complain here, but would have already taken the fastest boat and chased him."

Thanks to the book friends who voted for recommendation before, thank the book friends black computer accessories, book friends 20180419043006173, Jiang Xue Diao Weng, the most in your life, writersblock, felixyf0124, being with the world, the world [square] world, 54 months, Wu is Xiao Gao, A Mi, Calmly Gray, and Justice and Purity are Koala’s recommendation votes. thank you all.