Iron Powder and Spellcaster

"Oh! Mr. Matiya! It's really you!"

The merchant from Oak Town who was "invited" to recognize the person kept wiping the sweat on his forehead, forced out a three-point smile, and greeted old Ma Jiya warmly: "The guy said he saw someone familiar. I didn't expect it. I didn't expect it to be true." It’s you.”

Old Ma Jiya nodded: "Mr. Panno."

"Yes, it's me." Panno glanced nervously at the soldiers around him when his name was called, and pretended to be confused: "Are you going to Artemis too? To visit friends?"

"Redemption." Old Matthias replied bluntly: "My eldest son was captured by Lord Montagne, and I will redeem him."

"This...that...I..." Pan Nuo was extremely embarrassed, his fat face turned red, and it took him a long time to hold back a sentence: "I wish you good luck."

When the young man with a sword on the sidelines saw that the merchant from Oak Town had confirmed the identity of Old Ma Jiya, he nodded and signaled to his subordinates to take the merchant away.

Pannuo was granted amnesty and immediately followed the soldiers away obediently.

It wasn't until he reached the far corner that he turned his head covertly, cast a look that was mixed with worry and sympathy at old Ma Jiya, and then disappeared into the carriage and the shadow of the trees.

Except for the veteran Baiying who held the halberd, the other "rebel" soldiers returned to their posts. The checkpoint, which had been tense just now, suddenly returned to its previous calm state.

Old Tasso and Raul were also released from the barracks and came to old Matiya.

The young man with the sword was full of apology and personally handed back the weapons he had just taken away from the three of them.

It wasn't until this moment that Old Tasso finally figured out - after dissipating the overwhelming majesty that made people dare not breathe, the young man with the Saber was actually a "baby" about the same age as Raul.

However, compared to the childish Matthias Raul, the young man with the Saber was able to walk, sit, and lie with a strong sense of confidence, and his movements showed a strong sense of confidence, which made the old Tasso unconsciously treat him as a real adult. Even daunting.

"Please forgive our offense." The young man with the saber solemnly took off his hat and bowed, and sincerely explained to the three of them: "It was my fault, I regarded you as a different kind of person."

Hearing the other party apologize made Lao Tasso feel nervous. He looked at Raul beside him and found the same surprise in the latter's eyes.

Only the "fish" has had its teeth smashed and blood swallowed, but how can it be seen that the "knife" takes the initiative to admit his mistake?

It should be noted that for "knives", dignity and authority are often closely related. So even if it is a trivial matter, it is more difficult to get "Knife" to take off his hat and bend down than to reach the sky.

The young Sabers admitted their mistakes so readily, but were underestimated by Tasso by three points. Because this means that the other party either lacks authority or has no self-esteem.

No matter which type the other party belongs to, it is not good news for the three members of the Matiya family - lack of authority means that they cannot make the decision, and without self-esteem, there is no bottom line.

However, no matter how bad the situation is in the future, it cannot stop the old Tasso from despising the other party now.

"Sure enough, he is still a baby." Old Tasso sneered silently: "He doesn't have the grace that an official should have."

But no matter what old Tasso thinks, he still needs to do enough superficial work.

So like Raul, old Tasso stood silently behind Mattia Milok, waiting for the family head to negotiate with the other party.

Seeing the abnormal behavior of the young man with the sword, old Majiya's granite-like facial features were briefly shaken, showing a hint of surprise.

He did not take the weapon, but he took off his hat and nodded in return: "Searching for spies, that's how it should be."

"Thank you for your understanding." The young man with the sword took a deep breath and smiled cheerfully: "Thank you very much."

Old Tasso wanted to ask the other party, "Why do you think the three of us are spies?"

However, the other party changed the subject and never mentioned any information about the secret agent.

"We will compensate for the property damage caused at the original price." The young man with the sword fell on the tattered clothes and boots of the three members of the Majiya family, and apologized again: "Please wait here, I have sent someone to Please find some replacement clothes."

After that, the young man with the sword looked at the veteran in white helmet and tassels behind him. Although he gave the order, his tone was very polite: "Just leave me alone to talk to the three gentlemen. Sergeant Holt, don't worry."

The white-tassel veteran holding the halberd put his legs together and raised his hand in a salute.

"Your people have done a good job." The young man with the saber returned the greeting meticulously. After the ceremony, he said to the veteran Baiying: "Praise them for me."

The veteran Baiying raised his hand to salute again, and then walked to his original post without saying a word.

Old Tasso was extremely angry after hearing what the young man with the sword said.

If it weren't for the big tree with more than twenty corpses hanging there, not far ahead, the old man would have choked the young boy.

Even so, old Tasso couldn't help but ask questions.

He tugged at the patchwork of his jacket, deliberately exposing his withered chest, and asked in a rough voice: "Master, I don't quite understand - how can you praise me even if you have torn your perfectly good clothes into rags?" ? This old man only has good clothes!"

Old Tasso asked very provocatively, but the young man with the sword answered very seriously.

He asked seriously: "So what happens if I blame Sergeant Holt?"

Old Tasso was startled.

"If Sergeant Holt opened your clothes, I will blame Sergeant Holt. Then he will not dare to check suspicious people again in the future." The young man with the saber nodded again and apologized: "Besides, this time The main responsibility for what happened to me lies with me."

Old Tasso couldn't refute and subconsciously avoided looking: "That's not something you should praise..."

"That's right." The young man with the sword actually nodded in agreement: "On the other hand, if you give rewards easily, it will encourage them to search for passengers who are not suspicious."

The young man with the saber shrugged and explained with a smile: "So it's just a verbal compliment."

Old Tasso frowned and wanted to continue arguing, but when he caught a glimpse of his employer's eyes, he reluctantly lowered his head and flattered him in a low voice: "Your Excellency is good at leading an army. He is awesome. I admire him."

The young man with the sword didn't care about this old servant with a bad temper. He looked at old Ma Jiya and asked politely: "Mr. Ma Jiya, have you been a soldier?"

Old Ma Jiya answered truthfully: "Twenty-five years ago."

The young man with the sword looked at Old Tasso again: "Then this..."

"Tasso." Old Tasso said sadly, "I've been cheated on him before, but I didn't get anything out of it except an old wound."

The young man with the sword folded his arms and listened, with a little more respect and compassion in his eyes.

But it was his respect and pity that deeply hurt old Tasso, so the latter picked his yellowed teeth with his nails and grinned nonchalantly: "In addition to old injuries, I also have a serious illness. Hey, look at me. My memory, I almost forgot."

"What is Hualiu's serious illness?" Raul asked curiously.

Old Tasso's dark old face couldn't tell whether it was red or white, and he had no choice but to squeeze out a curse from his throat: "You... If you are also a soldier, you will know sooner or later!"

"Now I believe that you have indeed served as a soldier." The young man with the sword clapped his hands and laughed heartily: "However, your soldiers are different from the soldiers you have served. At least none of my subordinates have contracted that disease. "

"Really?" Old Tasso raised his voice deliberately.

"Yes." The young man with the sword replied seriously: "You will know sooner or later."

The other party's confident attitude made Lao Tasso speechless, and he even didn't know how to be angry for a while.

The young man with the saber took off his gloves and took the initiative to extend his hand to Old Tasso: "I haven't introduced myself yet - I am Lannis, a soldier of Lord Montagne."

Old Tasso was stunned for a while, then hesitantly shook the other person's hand: "I have already introduced myself - Tasso."

This time he said his full name: "Taso Rumyantsev."

When the other party heard this surname that obviously came from a foreign country, he raised his eyebrows slightly, but still nodded friendly and said, "Nice to meet you."

Old Tasso put away his contempt, because he had already discovered that the callus on the other party's palm was no thinner than his own: "Nice to meet you."

The repertoire of competing masculinities between male humans who meet for the first time should have come to an end here.

However, Mattia Raul, who had been hiding behind the two elders and remained silent from beginning to end, suddenly spoke rashly.

"Lannis?" Raul stared at the young man with the sword with wide eyes and asked in disbelief: "Are you Lannis? That Lannis?"

The young man with the saber graciously forgave Raul's impolite question. He spread his hands and responded calmly: "If I guess correctly, the Lannis you are talking about can only be me."

Old Tasso was confused: "That one? Which one?"

Old Ma Jiya also frowned and looked at her younger son in confusion.

"That's Lannis, the Lannis in the "Communication" of the rebels..." Raul explained eagerly to the two elders, but as he went on, his voice became softer: "The Lannis who conquered Artemis , Lannis made an emergency landing with Major Sandel.”

He swallowed, and the sound coming out of his throat was finally as small as the flapping of mosquito wings: "And... and Lannis, who captured Parr."

This time, it was Old Tasso's turn to look at the "baby" in his eyes in astonishment.

When old Ma Jiya learned that the young man in front of him was the "rebel" commander who captured his eldest son, he couldn't help but turn his attention to him. But his expression remained as unchanged as granite, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

Instead, Lannis took off his saber and handed it to the three of them generously: "The previous owner of this saber was Major Sandel. How about that? Does this prove that I am 'that Lannis'?"

Old Tasso felt as if he had been enlightened. He finally figured out where his subtle familiarity with this luxurious sword came from - it was the last time he accompanied his "employer" to Artemis to donate an officer to the eldest young master. The ancestral saber that the garrison officer always kept with him.

However, when the other party handed this expensive saber, which was worth more than the same weight of gold, in front of him, old Tasso did not dare to accept it.

"Where did you read that... what the hell..." Old Tasso stumbled and asked Raul, struggling to squeeze out the somewhat awkward word: ""Communication"?"

Raul lowered his head and kicked the pebbles at his feet guiltily: "In town."

"When did you go to town?"

"Going there secretly."

"When did you go there secretly?"

"I go there secretly every day."

Old Tasso stood stunned for a long time, and a long and painful sigh came from his chest. He bowed heavily to the young and promising young man with the sword, and then bowed to the "young and promising" young master, then slumped aside and stopped talking.

Raul stood there in embarrassment, not knowing what to do.

"Lord Lannis." Old Matia's voice broke the uncomfortable silence: "Can you please take a moment to speak."

Lannis nodded in agreement, and he joked: "I am not your Excellency, there is only one 'Your Excellency'."

After saying that, he made a "please" gesture and led old Ma Jiya towards the barracks.

Raul and old Tasso were the only two people left in the small clearing at the outpost.

"What is Dad going to do?" Raul came back to his senses and asked old Tasso in a panic. He grabbed the saber on the table and was so anxious that he almost cried: "Could it be - that?"

"My young master." Old Tasso looked complicated and took the saber from Raul's hand: "You and Lord Lannis are obviously about the same age, why can't you learn from his manner?"

"Then what on earth is dad going to do? Why is he still carrying us?"

"What else can we do?" Old Tasso slapped his saber on the table and said angrily: "Pay tribute!"

At the same time, in the outpost barracks.

"Lord Lannis."

If Raul and old Tasso were in the barracks, they would definitely not believe it - old Matiya's granite-like features softened. He tried his best to show the most humble posture and begged the man in front of him who was about the same age as his youngest son. "Rebel" senior official.

"I would like to entrust you with delivering the gold to Monsignor Montagne."

"Mr. Matiya." Lannis told old Matiya frankly: "When I knew who you were, I already knew your purpose, so I confirmed that you are not the person I want to arrest."

Old Ma Jiya's upper lip trembled.

"But you don't have to be so humble, and you don't have to explain anything." Lannis spoke before old Majia, and directly gave the answers that the latter wanted: "First of all, your son was not killed in battle. He should be in the hospital now. Prison camp."

Old Ma Jiya nodded gratefully.

"Secondly." Lannis paused for a moment and said seriously: "When to release them and how to release them can only be decided by Your Excellency - no one can influence your judgment, and certainly not me."

Old Ma Jiya's eyes became dimmed. He steeled himself and waited for the other party to continue.

"Finally - those gold. I advise you to take it back. For you, those gold bars may be all your movable property, or even your entire net worth."

Lannis whistled softly, and there was a hint of youthful playfulness and chicness between his brows: "But Lord Montagne, you don't lack that."

[Belated update, sorry Orz]

[Additional explanation]

[As the saying goes, it takes a thousand days to be a thief, but there is no day before to prevent a thief. Compared to searching for documents from a suspect, the process of hiding secret messages is always simpler]

[So for a long time, it was more important to find the secret agent carrying the documents than to find the documents on the secret agent]

[The body search described in the previous chapter is the real process of searching for spies and couriers in history] [But the book does not mention a default background setting: intercepting spies and couriers is more complicated than intercepting the documents carried by spies and couriers. easy. Therefore, in most cases, the army acts with the attitude of "I would rather kill the wrong person than let him go\