Iron Powder and Spellcaster

Everyone's heart is clenched.

Since Lieutenant Montagne led his people into the mountains, three groups of militiamen followed them into the mountains, but there has been no news since then.

The families of the militiamen gathered in Hedong Village. They stood at the edge of the forest and waited anxiously for news, and all they could do was wait.

What they were waiting for was bad news. First, the unconscious Mayor Mitchell was rescued by his son, and then militiamen escaped from the mountains and forests one after another. Almost everyone in the militiamen who fled back to Hedong Village was injured.

In the descriptions of the frightened militiamen, what attacked them was the devil's minions, a terrifying man-wolf as high as a mountain, a giant monster with spikes on its back... That thing rushed into the crowd and harvested it like a scythe sweeping through weeds. Walk the soul.

Some militiamen were seen dead, and many more were scattered in the forest. The family members of the deceased were devastated, and the family members of the missing persons could not help but burst into tears.

Everyone in Hedong Village was in mourning. Fortunately, Father Carman and Brother Red came after hearing the news. The two clergy comforted the families of the deceased, led the families of the injured to pray, treated the injured, and prepared medicine, stabilizing everyone's minds.

The sun was setting in the west, the sky was getting dark, and everyone in Hedong Village became more anxious.

Just when Kaman, Rhett and several village elders were discussing whether to send another group of people into the forest for rescue, a child from the village excitedly ran to report the news.

"You're back! You're back!" The child shouted rudely at several adults, then ran off to report the news to others.

Father Carman and the old mendicant monk heard this and immediately rushed to the entrance of the village.

At the west entrance of Hedong Village, the two met the bear hunting team returning to Hedong Village.

Sergey held the red mane for Second Lieutenant Montagne and walked at the front proudly, looking like a general returning from victory. There was no pride or joy on Winters' face on the red mane's back, there was only deep weariness in his eyes.

Comparing the two, Sergey looked like he was riding a horse.

But neither of them was the protagonist of this "victory parade". The huge bear carcass at the end of the procession attracted everyone's attention.

The Dusaks tied the wood into a makeshift sledge, placed the giant bear's carcass on it, and dragged it all the way back to Hedong Village with six horses as a trophy.

The people of Wolf Town finally had the opportunity to see the true appearance of the man-eating beast. The giant bear is so huge that an adult looks like a child standing next to it, and a child looks like a baby standing next to it.

The giant bear's yellow-brown fur was almost stained dark red with blood, and its body was covered with horrific wounds. A few spears and javelins were still there - too deep to be pulled out. The bear's head was shattered with blood and flesh, and it was so horrific that no one knew what kind of force could cause such destruction.

Just by seeing the wounds on the giant bear's body, everyone can understand how hard the bear trapping team went through to kill the beast.

Even though it has turned into a corpse, the remaining power of the giant bear still scares the villagers. The children, however, were not afraid. They ran around the bear carcass, played with each other, picked up stones and hit the bear's head until they were taken away by the adults in the family.

The Dusaks dragged the bear carcass all the way to the threshing floor of Hedong Village, surrounded by villagers.

The stalemate in Hedong Village was gone, and the atmosphere was like a celebration. The villagers brought out their own moonshine wine and meat to entertain the warriors who hunted the ferocious beasts. The Dussacs drank sweet wine and vividly told their own versions of thrilling stories.

Winters did not participate in the "celebration" and did not take a break. He had a lot of things to wrap up.

It has been confirmed that four militiamen were unfortunately killed after encountering giant bears in the river valley. They are all the backbone and main labor force of their respective families. Their wives, children, and children are in grief at the moment and have no one to rely on in the future. How can they be compensated? Winters also needs to come up with a solution.

There are also many injured, but minor injuries are fine. Even if a seriously injured person is lucky to survive, he will lose a considerable part of his working ability. What should we do?

Compared with these problems, problems such as "a part of the militiamen have not returned after being separated in the mountains and forests and need to send people to search and rescue them" are considered trivial matters.

Greater power means greater responsibility, Winters understands this sentence deeply.

When he was in the archipelago, he only focused on fighting, and there was no need for him to worry about other issues. But in Wolftown, he wielded far more power than an officer should, and his responsibilities were even greater. He is not only responsible for the living, but also for the dead.

He can just fool around and walk away in the future anyway. But Winters Montagne has gradually integrated into the identity of the officer stationed in Wolf Town.

Although he is a Veneta native, he sincerely hopes to do something useful for this small town located in the southwest corner of Plato, at least without leaving a mess.

…

"Is this the end?" Winters, who woke up in the middle of the night, suddenly felt a sense of unreality.

The evil beasts wandering in the forest were hunted down, and the people in the villages of Langtun Town returned to their old lives... maybe so.

Winters sent hunter Ralph to lead people into the mountains to search and rescue, and found all the missing militiamen - alive and dead.

Old Sergei led the Dusaks to drag the giant bear's carcass around Wolf Town, and took it to various villages for display, allowing the Dussaks to show their faces in a big way.

Later, villagers from each village divided the bear meat. The bear skin was kept by Sergei, and the old man respectfully handed the bear skin full of battle scars to Winters, who then gave it to the hunter and his son.

Sergey gave the bear head to the Mitchell family again. Gilad was very grateful for his brother's kindness, but he did not display the giant bear head as a trophy. Pierre, on the other hand, clamored to hang the bear's head on the wall, but was scolded by Mrs. Mitchell before he became silent.

Most of the bear's internal organs were cut off as meat. Only the bear's bile was taken away by the old mendicant monk Rhett, who didn't know what he could do with the bitter stuff.

There was also an episode in the middle. The old drunk Rostov, whose son unfortunately died in a beast disaster, howled when he saw other people eating bear meat. He cried and said: "This bear meat also contains the flesh and blood of my son. "

The people of Dusa Village took pity on the old widower and buried all the bear meat they were given.

However, Belle, the son of the hunter Ralph, saw this scene and asked Rostov in confusion: "When a bear eats your son, you also eat the bear. Isn't this the rule in the wilderness? Isn't it the greatest disrespect to waste food?" ?”

Winters heard this, but Rostov, who was in tears, did not hear it clearly. Ralph's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly dragged his son away.

The news soon spread to neighboring towns. When Andre heard that the man-eating bear had been killed and the resident officer of Wolf Town was injured, he immediately borrowed a horse and rushed to Wolf Village. He was relieved to see Winters still alive and kicking.

In order to see with his own eyes the remaining head of the giant bear, Lieutenant Cellini paid a special visit to Mitchell's house.

Looking at the bear's head, which was nearly the size of two people hugging each other, Andre smacked his lips and sighed: "Good guy, this must weigh two thousand kilograms, right?"

"Absolutely, maybe a little heavier." Winters replied casually: "There is no scale here that can weigh this thing."

"Awesome!" Andre said enviously: "I dream of hitting a big guy like this."

"If you were knocked down by this thing once, you wouldn't think so." Winters thought for a while and asked: "How about you take this bear head away? Mayor Mitchell is worried about how to deal with this. Where’s the stuff?”

Andre sneered: "Since I didn't hit him, what's the point of asking for it?"

"By the way, I broke one of the guns you lent me. Can I pay you some compensation? Can you settle the account?"

"How did it break?" Andre's focus was obviously not on money.

Winters replied flatly: "It exploded."

"Exploded?" Andre was shocked. He looked at Winters carefully and made sure that no parts were missing from his old classmate: "Your life is really big! Do you deserve to risk your life for a sheepfucker like this? They don't have it." Take us as your own!"

Winters sighed, speechless.

Seeing the negative reaction of his old classmate, Andre said angrily: "I'm serious! You have to cherish your life, you know? I don't want to go to such a ghost place to visit your grave in the future. We brothers have to go back to Hailan together, Young Master No one can do it.”

"I know, I know."

Andre was helpless. He thought of something and slapped his forehead: "By the way, Bud sent me a message."

"What did you say?" Winters perked up after hearing the news about Bud.

"I will ask you to come to my place on the first Sunday of next month, and he will come over then. The three of us will set off from Blackwater Town and follow him to meet a senior."

"Which senior?"

"He didn't make it clear, and I don't know either. It's just a message. Anyway, just follow him. It's always a good thing to meet someone you know."

"Okay, I remember."

Without staying overnight, Andre returned directly to Blackwater Town after confirming that his old classmate was okay, taking back some of the muskets lent to Winters.

After Andre left the Mitchell house, the Orions were also leaving.

Now that the beast has been slain, Ralph can take his son back to their cabin in the woods.

Ralph's son Belle, ponyboy Angelou and Girard's son Pierre, these three and a half young men are all fifteen or sixteen years old, and they have become good friends after getting along these days.

Bell was about to leave Dusa Village, and the other two boys were very reluctant to leave.

When the old hunter came to say goodbye with his son, Winters was writing papers in the town hall. He waved to the young hunter to come to him.

The little hunter walked to the desk in confusion. Winters opened the drawer, took out something wrapped in black cloth, and handed it to the little hunter.

It was a dagger, the shape of which was copied from Sophia's dagger, which Winters had found from the blacksmith Mishadine.

The little hunter's eyes widened.

"I canceled the weekend archery competition, but I think you will win the championship, so this prize will be given to you in advance." Winters said with a smile.

The little hunter asked his father with pleading eyes.

"Since the ensign gave it to you, just accept it." The old hunter nodded to his son, then looked at Winters respectfully: "Thank you, sir."

The little hunter ran out of the town hall with joy and joy to find something to test his knife on.

"Why are you in such a hurry to go back?" Winters watched the young hunter run away and said to the old hunter, "I always feel a little uneasy."

"I feel the same way, sir." The old hunter said slowly, "So I have to go back as soon as possible."

"Well, come to me anytime if anything happens."

The old hunter bowed, turned and left the town hall.

It seemed like everything was really over.

…

The evil bear was killed, and the farmers no longer had to worry about it when they went to sleep at night. The Orion father and his son returned to their cabin in the forest, and life in the countryside was back on track. The disturbance caused by the beast seemed to be really over.

The last remaining question is how to care for the dead and injured.

On the afternoon of the fifth day after killing the giant bear, Mayor Mitchell, the resident officer in Montagne and Father Carman held a serious meeting in the town hall to discuss how to provide compensation for the dead and injured.

Although wary, Winters had to admit the great influence of the clergy among the villagers. Farmers always fear hell more than the gallows; all the temptations of the world pale into insignificance compared with salvation.

Religion has penetrated into almost every aspect of this society, and the absolute minority of spellcasters are powerless to change this reality.

The old mendicant monk once said to Winters: A county magistrate, an officer, and a priest, these three roles hold all the power in the small place of Langtun. From paying taxes to doing corvee work, from the ground to the burial, everything can be managed.

If the mayor, the resident officer, and the church priest work together to do something in Langtun, it will definitely be done.

So although he was very unhappy that the magician was interfering in official affairs, in order to ensure that nothing went wrong, Winters finally accepted it with a pinched nose.

After discussing with Mayor Mitchell and Father Carman, the three agreed not only to provide one-time pensions to the dead and disabled militiamen, but also to provide them with long-term help.

Winters knew that he would not stay here long, so he had to borrow the power of the mayor and the church to maintain this pension method.

To make it easier to understand, he used the easiest-to-understand term for farmers: for families who have lost their labor force due to bear hunting, the land will be cultivated by the whole village based on the past noble land until the children of the family come of age.

To put it simply, this system is to sacrifice the land of the militiamen's families. Public plows will be used first when cultivating, and other villagers will be given priority when harvesting. Each farmer will have to go to those fields to work for a few days every year. live.

Farmers are very familiar with these things. In fact, the "commons" of each village still operate in this way.

This system obviously has many shortcomings and loopholes, but since the nobles have been able to maintain it for hundreds of years, Winters thinks that it will not be a problem for Girard and Carman to maintain it for more than ten years.

"I'll leave this matter to you from now on." After confirming the pension plan for the casualties, Winters stood up and sincerely saluted Mayor Mitchell and Father Carman.

Father Carman smiled and nodded.

Gilad felt a little strange, but he comforted the second lieutenant with words: "Don't worry, the bear hunting militia died for everyone, and the folks will take good care of their families."

Just as Winters was about to say something, he was interrupted by a violent knock on the door.

The little hunter Bell was frantically beating on the town hall door. He ran all the way to the town hall, feeling as if he had been fished out of the water.

"Help!"

The transitional chapter, I always feel like I wrote it weirdly.

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