Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 130 Pensions

  Everyone's heart is tugging.

   After Lieutenant Montagne led people into the mountain forest, three groups of militiamen followed them into the mountain, but there has been no news since then.

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

   And 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 all the militiamen who escaped back to Hedong Village were injured.

In the descriptions of the frightened militiamen, they were attacked by the devil's minions, the mountain-high terrifying wolves, the giant monsters with spikes on their backs... The thing rushed into the crowd and harvested it like a scythe that swept the weeds. soul.

   Some militiamen were seen dead, and many more were scattered in the woodlands. The family of the deceased was in grief, and the family of the missing person couldn't help crying.

  Hedong Village was in grief, but fortunately Father Kaman and Brother Reid came to hear the news. The two clergymen comforted the families of the deceased, led the families of the wounded to pray, treated the wounded, and prepared medicines, which stabilized the minds of the people.

   The sun slanted westward, the sky was getting darker, and the people in Hedong Village became more anxious.

   Just when Kaman, Reid and several elders in the village were discussing whether to send another group of people into the forest for rescue, a child in the village came excitedly to report.

   "I'm back! I'm back!" After shouting rudely at the adults, the child ran off to report to the others.

   Father Kaman and the old begging monk heard the words and immediately rushed to the entrance of the village.

   At the west entrance of Hedong Village, the two were encountering a bear hunting team returning to Hedong Village.

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

  Comparing the two, it seemed that Sergey was the one on the horse.

   But neither of them were the protagonists of this "victory parade", and the huge bear corpse at the end of the team attracted everyone's attention.

  The Dussacks tied the wood into a makeshift sledge, put the corpse of the giant bear on it, and dragged it all the way back to Hedong Village with six horses as a trophy.

The people of   Wolf Town finally have a chance to see the true face of man-eating beasts. The size of the giant bear is amazingly large, and adults stand next to it like children, and children stand next to it like babies.

  The yellow-brown fur of the giant bear was almost dyed dark red with blood, and the body was covered with terrifying wounds. A few spears and javelins were still there - too deep to pull out. The bear's head was shredded and horrific, and 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 hunters fought to kill this beast.

   Even if it has been turned into a corpse, the remnants of the giant bear still make the villagers shudder. On the contrary, the children were not afraid. They ran around the bear corpse, made trouble, picked up stones and hit the bear on the head until they were taken away by the adults in the family.

  The Dussacks dragged the bear corpse all the way to the threshing ground of Hedong Village surrounded by villagers.

  Hedong Village was swept away, and the atmosphere was like a celebration. The villagers brought out their own moonshine wine and meat to entertain the warriors who hunted and killed the beasts. The Dussacs drank sweet wine and told their own version of the thrilling story vividly.

   Winters did not participate in the "celebration" and did not rest, and for him there were a lot of things to wrap up.

  It has been confirmed that four militiamen were killed after encountering a giant bear in the river valley. They are the mainstay and main labor force of their respective families. Their wives, children and children are distraught at the moment, and they will have no support in the future. How to care for them? Winters also needs to come up with a solution.

   And there are many injured people, but the minor injuries are fine. Even if the seriously injured are lucky to survive, they will lose a considerable part of their working ability. What should I do?

  Compared with these problems, such problems as "some militiamen have not returned after being scattered in the mountains and forests and have not yet returned and need to send people to search and rescue" are all small and small matters.

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

  When he was in the archipelago, he only took care of the war, and he did not need to worry about other matters. But in Wolf Town, he exercised far more power than an officer should have, and his responsibilities were even greater. He is responsible not only for the living, but also for the dead.

   He can fool the past at will, anyway, he can walk away in the future. But Winters Montagne has gradually integrated into the identity of the officer stationed in Wolf Town.

  Although he is a Veneta, he sincerely hopes to do something good for this small town in the southwest corner of Palato, at least not to leave 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 captured and killed, and the people of the villages in Langtun Town resumed their old life... Maybe so.

   Winters sends hunter Ralph to lead people into the mountains to search and rescue, and find all the missing militiamen—alive and dead.

  The corpse of the giant bear was dragged around Wolf Town by the old Sergei and the Dussacks, and took them to various villages for display, which made the Dussacs show their faces.

   Then, the villagers distributed the bear meat. The bear skin was kept by Sergey, and the old man respectfully handed the bear skin full of battle marks to Winters, who handed it over to the hunter father and son.

   Sergey gave the bear head to the Mitchell family again. Gillard was very grateful for the kindness of the old brother, but did not show the giant bear head as a trophy. On the contrary, Pierre yelled to hang the bear's head on the wall, and was reprimanded by Mrs. Mitchell before he stopped talking.

  Most of the bear's internal organs were also divided as meat, but the bear gallbladder was taken away by the old begging monk Reid, and he didn't know what he could do with that bitter thing.

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

The people of   Dusa Village took pity on the old widower, so they buried all the bear meat they got.

But Bell, the son of hunter Ralph, saw this scene and asked Rostov in a puzzled way: "Bears eat your son, and you eat bears. Isn't that the rules of the Great Wilderness? Isn't wasting food the greatest disrespect? ?"

   Winters heard this, but Rostov, who was full of tears, couldn't hear it clearly. Ralph's expression changed greatly, and he hurriedly dragged his son away.

The news of    quickly spread to the neighboring town. Andre heard that the man-eating bear was killed and the town officer in Wolf Town was injured, so he immediately borrowed a horse and rushed to Wolf Village. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Winters was still alive and kicking.

   In order to witness the only remaining head of the giant bear, Lieutenant Cellini paid a special visit to Mitchell's house.

   Looking at the bear heads that were nearly the size of the two of them hugging each other, Andre sighed and sighed: "My dear, this must be two thousand pounds, right?"

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

   "Amazing!" 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, then asked, "Will this bear head be taken away for you? Mayor Mitchell is worried about how to deal with this. something."

  Andre sneered: "Since I didn't fight it, what's the point of me asking for this?"

   "By the way, I broke one of the guns you borrowed from me. Can I give you the money? Can you balance the account?"

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

   Winters replied flatly: "Bombed."

"Bombed?" Andre was taken aback, looked at Winters carefully, and confirmed that the old classmates did not lack any parts: "Your life is really big! Do you deserve to be so desperate to **** the sheep? They didn't Take us as your own!"

   Winters sighed, speechless.

Seeing the old classmate's negative reaction, Andre said angrily: "I'm telling the truth! You have to sacrifice your life, you know? I don't want to go to such a ghost place to sweep your grave in the future. Our brothers have to go back to Hailan together, young master. No one can."

"I know, I know."

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

   "What did you say?" Hearing Bud's news, Winters was refreshed.

   "Let you come to my place on the first Sunday of next month, and he will come over then. In this way, the three of us will start from Heishui Town and follow him to see a senior."

   "Which senior?"

   "He didn't make it clear, and I don't know either. It's just a message, just follow along anyway. It's always a good thing to meet acquaintances."

   "Okay, I remember."

   didn't stay overnight, and after confirming that his old classmate was okay, Andre went directly back to Blackwater Town, and brought back a few muskets lent to Winters by the way.

  After Andre left the Mitchells, the Orion father and son also left.

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

  Ralph's son Bell, the pony Anglo, and Girard's son Pierre, these three and a half children are all fifteen or sixteen years old, and they have become good buddies after getting along with each other these days.

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

   When the old hunter brought his son to say goodbye, Winters was writing the papers in the town hall, and he beckoned the little hunter to his side.

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

   is a dagger whose shape is copied from Sophia's dagger, which Winters had asked for the blacksmith Misha Ding before.

   The little hunter's eyes widened.

   "I canceled the bow and arrow competition on the weekend, but I think you won the championship, and 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 second lieutenant gave it to you, you can accept it." The old hunter nodded to his son and looked at Winters respectfully: "Thank you, my lord."

  The little hunter cheered and ran out of the town hall to find something and try the knife.

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

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

   "Okay, come to me anytime if there is any situation."

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

   It seems that everything is really over.

  …

  The evil bear was slaughtered, and the farmers no longer had to worry about sleeping at night. The father and son of the hunters returned to the hut in the woods, and life in the countryside returned to the right track. The storm caused by the beast disaster seems to have really ended.

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

On the afternoon of the fifth day after the    killing the giant bear, the mayor of Mitchell, the mayor of Montagne and Father Carman held a serious meeting at the town hall to discuss how to take care of the dead and wounded.

  Although vigilant, Winters also had to admit the great influence of the clergy among the villagers. The peasants were always more afraid of **** than the gallows; all the temptations of the world seemed insignificant compared to 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 friar once said to Winters: a county magistrate, an officer, and a priest, these three characters hold all the power in this small place of Langtun. From paying taxes to corvée, from the ground to the ground, everything can be managed.

  If the mayor, the resident officer and the church priest all work together to do one thing in Langtun, then it will be done.

   So, although it was very unhappy that the gods also intervened in official business, in order to ensure that things were not leaked, Winters finally pinched his nose and recognized it.

   After consultation with Mayor Mitchell and Father Kaman, the three agreed not only to provide a one-time pension to the dead and disabled militiamen, but also to provide them with long-term help.

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

   In order to facilitate understanding, he used the phrase that farmers can easily understand: a family that has lost its labor force due to bear hunting, the land will be cultivated by the whole village with reference to the previous noble land, until the family's children become adults.

This system simply means sacrificing the land of the militiamen, giving priority to the use of public plows when cultivating, and giving priority to other villagers for harvesting, and each farmer has to go to those fields for a few days every year. live.

  The peasants are all too familiar with these things, and in fact the "commons" of the villages are still operating in this way.

   This system obviously has many flaws and loopholes, but since the nobles have been able to maintain it well for hundreds of years, Winters feels that it is not a problem for Girard and Kaman to maintain it for more than ten years.

   "I'll leave this to the two of you in the future." After determining the compensation plan for the casualties, Winters got up and gave a sincere salute to Mayor Mitchell and Father Kaman.

  Father Kaman smiled and nodded.

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

   Winters was about to say something when a stormy knock on the door interrupted him.

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

"Help!"

   Transition chapter, I always feel like I wrote it weird.

   Thanks to the book friends who voted for the recommendation before.

   Thanks to Shuyoutian Lens, Earl of Darkness, Kun Kun, Shuyou 20181007151109823, Xiao Hongchen for monthly passes, thank you all.

   Thanks to Shuyoutian's lens, a certain uncle of ideal 30, yellow rabbit from a flower gardener, Kamen Rider powder, I don't know what it is called the recommended ticket, thank you all.

   (end of this chapter)