Iron Powder and Spellcaster

July 1st is an ordinary and unusual day.

A strange officer came to the workshop of the goldsmith Albert of the Kings' Castle.

The strange officer's left leg seemed to be weak and he was walking with a horse-head cane.

There was also a military policeman with a bad look on his face who was holding a knife and accompanying him.

Seeing the military uniform on the visitor, the goldsmith Albert's heart skipped a beat.

In this day and age, the sky is vast and the people with swords are the biggest. Soldiers are now walking sideways in the castles of the kings.

The rebel siege was lifted only two weeks ago, and all the bodies outside the city have not yet been collected.

Mentioning this siege, the citizens of the King's Castle were still frightened.

As soon as the city was sealed off, the price of flour went up like crazy. Often there is one price when weighing, and another price when paying.

Even if flour can be bought, firewood cannot be bought. The trees in the city were quickly cut down, and many families had to dismantle furniture and light fires.

Rumors are spreading in the streets: Rebel leader Arpad has ordered that "on the day the city is breached, the rebels can loot at will."

Fortunately, General Sackler won in the end.

On the day the rebels retreated, the citizens of the King's Castle took to the streets and cheered: "Long live General Szekely!"

But immediately afterwards, the troops chasing the rebels suffered a major defeat in Jiangbei Province.

The war is not over, and we don’t know when it will end.

But life goes on.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Albert entertained the officer attentively. He thought to himself, "Oh no, you're here to blackmail me, right?"

In fact, Albert didn't know much about the subtle differences in military uniforms, but from the fabric, shape, and the temperament of the person coming, he was sure that this was an officer.

"I am Second Lieutenant Moritz of the Gendarmerie." Although the strange officer was young, his voice made people listen involuntarily.

He looked at Albert coldly and said straight to the point: "The Gendarmerie has received a reliable report that you are selling stolen goods for the bandits."

"No! No! No! Absolutely not!" Albert beat his chest and screamed that he was wronged. He shouted in his heart: "It's over, you are really here to blackmail me!"

The reason why Albert is so scared is because he is really selling stolen goods for the bandits.

When thieves and robbers obtain gold and silver ornaments, they usually find a goldsmith to melt them into new coins.

Once melted and cast, no one can trace it.

Some simply exchange the stolen goods for ready-made coins or jewelry.

The exchange ratio is a little lower, but it’s more convenient.

Albert often did this kind of business. He never asked where the things came from, as long as they were cheap.

The unfamiliar officer smiled half-heartedly: "No?"

"No! Seriously not! How dare I?" Albert shook his head desperately. The other person's eyes were like razors, and Albert felt like he was being peeled off layer by layer.

He asked tentatively: "Otherwise... can you just say 'no'?"

"Last September, a robber came to find you. Dark and thin, with a coastal accent and a mouth full of gold teeth." The strange officer sat back on his chair and played with a knife at leisure: "You helped him sell the stolen goods, right?"

The knife was only about the size of a palm, and the workmanship was very simple. The handle was wrapped with a leather rope, but the blade was sharp.

Every time the knife hit the table, Albert's knees couldn't help but tremble.

When he heard the strange officer mention the features of being dark, thin and with gold teeth, he immediately recalled who he was talking about.

He secretly rejoiced and replied happily: "Sir, I remembered who you were talking about. I really didn't help him dispose of the stolen goods. I reported him! That person is still in prison now!"

Last September, a gold-toothed robber with a provincial accent came to Albert with a promissory note and asked to exchange it for a thousand ducats.

The promissory note represents the gold deposited by the customer in advance, and in theory the goldsmith only holds it for safekeeping. See the money for money, recognize the vote but not the person.

But all goldsmiths will misappropriate customers' deposits, invest them, or lend money to make money.

Albert is no exception.

There may be profits and losses in business, and loans may not be recovered. In a huge gamble at the beginning of last year, Albert unfortunately lost everything.

When the gold-toothed robber found him, he had only a thousand and a half ducats left in his treasury.

Give it to the robber and he will go bankrupt on the spot.

As for why Albert was sure that the other party was a robber?

The answer is simple: Albert has seen a lot of people like robbers. When the other person opened his mouth, he could smell the robber's scent.

I heard that the robber had an accent from another province, and saw that he came alone. Unknowingly, Albert had a bold idea - to eat black and black.

The rest was simple - Albert had a cousin who was a footman for the Sheriff.

The gold-toothed robber was caught and thrown into prison.

At the beginning, Albert was on tenterhooks. So he begged his cousin to save the robber's life, so that he could have a bargaining chip if the robber's accomplices came over.

As time went by, he forgot about this incident until today when a strange officer mentioned it.

"How did this matter come out?" Albert cursed in his heart: "Which bastard reported me in a hurry! Ugraoy? Or Kovacico?"

The strange officer did not answer the call, but instead seized on the loophole in Albert's words: "That person doesn't have it, someone else does, right? Search and search to prove your innocence."

Albert swore again.

This turmoil ended up with a loss of money and disaster, and Albert needed to "donate" a sum of money to the Kings' Castle Military Police.

Finally, Albert quietly passed a small bag of gold coins to the unknown officer.

The strange officer's behavior shocked him. He shook the leather bag and heard a crisp sound inside. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "bribe the military police? Do I need to write you a receipt?"

Albert was startled, and when he was at a loss what to do, he thought sadly: "This is a robbery."

He had just handed over the biggest clue to the other party, but fortunately the other party did not make things difficult for him again.

"Okay, that's it." The strange officer snorted, put away the gold coins, and asked casually: "Where is the gold-toothed robber?"

…

Under the west city wall, in a remote corner, the Princes' Castle City Guard Prison stood silently.

It's said to be a prison, but it's actually just a few dilapidated bungalows.

By convention, felons such as murderers are taken to the Army Gendarmerie Prison, which has stone cells and iron bars.

The City Guard's prisons are filled with prisoners such as thieves, debtors, and tax evaders.

Not long after the incident at the goldsmith Albert's workshop, an uninvited guest arrived at the City Guard Prison.

An officer led a military policeman into the prison, holding a warrant from Lieutenant Colonel Robert, deputy director of the "Public Security Affairs Management and Supervision Department", to remove a prisoner.

The prison boss didn't know what the "Public Security Affairs Management and Supervision Department" was, and he couldn't even pronounce the words.

However, the lacquer seal was well placed on the warrant, and the jailer still recognized Plato's eagle badge—although he did not recognize the small words below the eagle.

"Sir." The cell leader led the officer into the cell area and carefully explained: "There was a war some time ago, and the prisoners were all forced to do hard labor. I don't know if the person you want to mention is still alive."

The officer said a lukewarm "Yeah."

"During the war, many prisoners were killed or injured. You really can't blame me, I am too..."

"Stop talking nonsense." The officer frowned, and his voice was as cold as snow for thousands of years: "Lead the way."

"Hey, okay, okay." The prison head nodded and walked in front.

The lighting in the prison was very poor, and many people should have been imprisoned because there was an unbreakable stench in the air.

But now many cells are empty, and the prisoners who disappeared obviously died in the previous siege.

In the deepest part of the prison, the officer found the prisoner who had been jailed for "theft".

The originally dark and thin "Captain" Jinya became even thinner, with his skin wrapped around his bones like oilcloth. The gold teeth in his mouth were gone - they were all pulled out by the prison boss, and he became the toothless captain again.

"That's him." The officer nodded.

The cell leader hurriedly led someone to open the shackles, and the military police who followed the officer walked into the cell and lifted the prisoner up.

"Yes, it's you...cough! Cough!" The prisoner raised his head with difficulty and looked at the visitor in the dim light. Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly coughed violently.

"Take him away." The officer leaned on his cane and walked out of the prison without looking back.

The skinny prisoner murmured in an almost inaudible voice: "I...I knew...you would come..."

The cell leader said kind words and took the officer all the way out of the prison, and even lent him a prison van.

…

At night, the goldsmith Albert's workshop is also his home.

A revenge is underway.

"Don't! Don't! Don't kill me. I'll give you the money and everything..." Albert crawled and fled towards the vault: "Help!"

The two guards he hired were knocked down by the intruders before they could even draw their weapons.

Vault, you will be safe if you hide in the vault!

Before Albert could take a few steps, there was a sudden pain in his knee, accompanied by a subtle sound of breaking through the air, and his body fell to the ground uncontrollably.

Immediately afterwards, someone grabbed his hair from behind and pulled him up severely.

The person who picked up Albert punched him in the Adam's apple.

Albert huddled up, holding his throat and retching, unable to say anything else.

"Duh, dunk, dunk." It was the sound of the cane tapping the ground.

"It's you!" Albert immediately recalled the voice and the horse-headed cane. He struggled to make a broken voice: "It's you..."

Another thin figure came out from behind the cane officer. He walked tremblingly in front of Albert, and it took a lot of effort to squat down.

The skinny figure pulled off the mask, revealing the black gaping teeth, put his face close to Albert's face, and asked with a cheerful smile: "Hello...do you still remember me?"

The light was dim, and Albert couldn't see the other person's face clearly, nor could he recognize who the other person was. He shook his head desperately and tried to hide back.

"My name is Gold, good luck... Gold." Gold coughed violently and said word by word: "You don't remember me... It doesn't matter, I have never... forgotten you... "

After speaking, Gold slowly stabbed a dagger into the goldsmith's heart.

He moved slowly, both because he had no strength and because he was enjoying the process.

The goldsmith twitched a few times and became motionless.

After doing all this, Gold seemed to have his soul taken away.

He collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, and two tears flowed from his dry eyes. He looked at Winters: "Thank you, sir..."

Winters shook his head and helped Gold stand up. The latter is still very weak and is holding on for revenge.

"There is a woman and several children upstairs." Charles came back and whispered: "Get it under control."

Winters looked at Gold.

"That's enough." Gold suddenly laughed a few times: "I'm not dead, it's enough that he survived."

Charles took out another piece of stamped parchment: "Ms. Navarre's cashier's check was found in this guy's counter."

Gold took the promissory note and said persistently: "I want to cash this promissory note."

"Okay." Winters nodded.

So the treasury was opened with the key found on the goldsmith's possession.

Gold counted the gold ducats one by one, not even taking an extra silver dime.

Counting out a full thousand ducats, Gold placed the promissory note on the goldsmith's body and pressed fifty gold coins on top - this was the custody fee that should be paid.

Then he spat on the goldsmith's body.

"Let's go." Winters helped Gold leave.

"If I were still in the business of licking blood from the edge of a knife, I would have no complaints if I was beaten or killed." The former pirate leader was sad and pathos: "Why... why..."

Winters couldn't answer. He helped Gold walk outside the house.

Because of noise issues, the workshops are all single-family houses, far away from other residences.

Winters and Charles moved very quickly. No one was aware of the vendetta in the goldsmith's workshop, and the night watchman hadn't come yet.

Winters helped Gold onto the saddle and told Gold softly: "Arpad blew up the southwest corner of the city wall, and Ciel will take you out of the city from there."

"What about you, my lord?" Gold realized that Winters would not come with him.

"Me?" Winters seemed to be laughing in the darkness: "I still have things to do."

Gold held Winters' hand tightly and shook his head desperately.

"If I haven't come to find you at dawn, you don't have to wait for me and take Gold back to Hailan." Winters said to Ciel.

Charles wiped his tears, nodded heavily, and rode away with Gold.

Winters watched the two figures disappear into the night.

He inserted his stick into the saddlebag, hung his saber on his waist, and took out the one hundred and sixty-four wooden awls from the saddlebag.

Then he mounted his horse and walked towards the north of the city.

He was walking alone on the streets of King's Castle late at night.

The further you go north of the city, the more frequently you encounter night patrols.

A curfew has been implemented in Zhuwangbao, and citizens are not allowed to go to the streets at night, but soldiers are not among the restrictions.

Winters, wearing an officer's uniform, had a smooth ride. The night patrol only raised their hands in salute and did not stop him by questioning him.

He walked until he reached the door of a handsome two-story stone building.

This two-story stone building is the office of the Palato Army Military Council, which was the former army headquarters.

Winters tied his horse leisurely outside the gate.

The guard looked at the officer curiously, wondering why the officer didn't send the horse to the stables in the courtyard.

After tying up the horse well, Winters picked up his saber and dragged his injured leg straight towards the main entrance.

His leg injury was not completely healed, and he had a slight limp in his steps, but he walked firmly.

"Sir, please show me your identification." The guard came forward and asked the strange officer wearing an old uniform.

Winters raised his hand.

With a series of explosions, blood poured out of the guard's helmet, and the guard fell softly.

The other three guards were stunned into silence. They had no idea what the other party had done or what the other party was going to do.

As soon as the other party raised his hand, the person in front of him died suddenly.

Winters continued to walk towards the stone building and looked at the three remaining guards: "Don't seek death."

First there was a spark, then a few inches of fire. The fire rose in the cold hearth, and the hot anger was burning in his chest.

He had waited too long for this moment.

One of the guards regained consciousness from his panic and reached out to ring the bell. Before his hand even touched the bell rope, he was killed with a single blow.

"Don't! Find! Die!"

The will of the two remaining guards was completely broken. Not long ago, they were just militiamen. The two of them rolled and crawled back, stumbling and escaping out of the gate.

But the movement of the door still alarmed others. The disheveled guards poured out of the duty room. They looked at the scene in front of them in surprise.

"Enemy attack!" someone yelled as if waking up from a dream.

The guards fell into confusion. Some turned back to the house to get weapons, and some came out with swords.

Others relied on the strength of their numbers to directly capture the lone attacker.

"I only want Sackler!" Winters drew his sword and charged into the crowd: "Anyone who stands in my way will die!!!"

In the office on the second floor of the old army headquarters, Brigadier General Sackler—no, now Major General Sackler and commander of the army—also noticed something strange outside.

During the siege, Sackler had room and board in the military camp. After the rebels were defeated, Sackler moved his family to the old army headquarters.

He lives here, in the heart of the Army of the Second Republic of Plato.

He heard something strange outside and opened the window.

Thunder-like roars spread from the darkness in all directions, like a furious beast biting people:

"Szekler!"

"Do you think!"

"this matter!"

"Will it end like this!"

"I only want Szekely! Anyone who stands in my way will die!!!"

Major General Sackler was slightly startled. When he remembered who the voice belonged to, he couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly: "The Veneta people..."

Szekler got out of bed, lit a lamp, straightened his appearance, and put on his military uniform meticulously.

He gently stroked his uniform, trying to smooth out every wrinkle on it. But no matter how hard he tried, a few wrinkles remained stubbornly there.

Sackler gave up his efforts. He sat on the chair and waited quietly for the other party's arrival.

The shouts of death and the clash of weapons were getting closer and closer, first to the main entrance on the first floor, then to the stairs, and then to the corridor.

Finally, the door to Szekely's room was kicked open hard, and a bloody Veneta man walked into the room carrying a curling blade saber.

His uniform was covered in blood, whether it was his or someone else's. Crimson liquid dripped from his saber, leaving a line of blood all the way outside the house.

Winters spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and suddenly coughed violently.

"You're here." Sackler reached out and said, "Please sit down."

Winters threw away the curled-edged weapon, and the Damascus sword sat in front of Szekler.

With the faint candlelight, the two looked at each other.

"This is Mihaly, less than twenty years old. The grenade fell next to me, and he suppressed the grenade with his body. I lived, but he died..." Winters took out a wooden cone and put it on the plug. In front of Koehler.

He took out another wooden awl: "This is Taomash, a native of Shengke Town. His skull was smashed by a hammer. He didn't die immediately. He struggled painfully for more than ten minutes before he died."

There are a total of one hundred and sixty-four wooden cones in Winters' backpack, which are his one hundred and sixty-four warriors.

They trusted him, followed him, and protected him. They fought bravely all the way, leaving their lives in an unknown corner of the great wasteland, and were eventually abandoned on the west bank of the River Styx.

"You don't care about them." There was no sadness or anger in Winters' voice. He seemed to be making a judgment from the perspective of someone who had nothing to do with it: "You don't care about them."

Sackler sighed: "If it happens again, I will still make the same decision, because..."

"No need to say more." Winters interrupted Sackler and said shockingly: "I can understand you."

Sackler's eyebrows raised slightly.

"If I were you, would I make the same decision? I don't know." Winters asked himself calmly: "Who knows?"

Sackler shook his head with a wry smile, and there was a glimmer of light in his eyes: "This country..."

The next second, his head was suddenly torn apart by an invisible force, and the red and white pieces were thrown to the wall and ceiling of the room.

"I understand you." Winters unclenched his fist and said to the place where Sackler's head once existed: "But I am still angry."

Szekeli is dead, whether he is a great man or a false man, he is dead. No matter what thoughts he had, they were all wiped out by the wind.

Is this the end of the matter?

Winters felt a sense of unreality.

With the most determined hatred, he cut out one hundred and sixty-four wooden awls. He originally wanted to use these wooden awls to nail his enemy, but in the end he gave Szekely a happy death.

Is this the end?

From the moment he was abandoned on the west bank of the River Styx, from the moment he laughed and cried "fuck you", from the moment he regained consciousness, he was longing for revenge.

This emotion took him away from Ellon, took him away from Hedmoor, took him all the way to the Kings Keep.

So what if I killed Sackler? The dead cannot be resurrected - he knew this very well, but he had no option to forgive.

"That's the end of it," he thought.

He did not cry bitterly, nor did he feel the joy of having his revenge, but only a little calmness and endless tiredness.

Winters suddenly felt confused: What should I do? Where am I going? Where else could I go?

go home!

I still have a home to go back to!

Someone is waiting for me at home!

Hope rekindled in his cold chest, Winters stumbled towards the door.

He can still go home, he wants to go home.

There were shouts of people and the neighing of war horses in the distance. It seemed that someone had noticed something strange about the old army headquarters and sent reinforcements.

But it doesn't matter, Winters Montagne wants to go home, and no one can stop him.

…

The darkness gradually receded, and the sky gradually turned into deep blue.

Outside the King's Castle, one kilometer southwest.

Charles stood on a large rock and looked at the road out of the city, waiting anxiously.

The sky was getting brighter and brighter, and Charles could no longer bear the waiting: "I want to go find my brother."

"I'll go with you," Gold said weakly.

"You're almost dead. How are you going to go? You stay here." Charles pedaled and saddled up: "If I can't come back, you go to Wolf Town, recover from your injuries and then return to Veneta."

Gold also wanted to mount his horse: "I'm lucky, I'll go with you, it doesn't matter."

"No need." Tears burst into Charles's eyes: "My brother is back."

A rider turned his back to the rising sun and galloped towards Ciel and Gold.

Ciel shouted, jumping up and waving vigorously.

Even Gold secretly wiped away a few tears.

It wasn't until Winters came closer that Ciel could clearly see the blood and trauma on Winters' body.

"Brother, what's wrong with you?" Charles helped Winters dismount, with a cry in his voice: "Why are there still gunshot wounds?"

"There's no way." Winters smiled for the first time since the bloody battle on the banks of the River Styx. He smiled and said, "Who's talking about deflection and not guarding the back? Stray bullets, flesh wounds."

"Sit still and I'll take care of your wounds." Charles sobbed and took out his sewing kit from his saddle bag.

"Let's go home."

"good."

"But." Winters gasped in pain: "We have to go to Wolf Town first."

[Revenge is the greatest happiness in the world - Venetta's proverb, from Volume 2, Chapter 96 "Final Act (Part 2)\