Alas, Helime sighed, looked at the sun in the west, sighed helplessly, and then carried a bamboo basket full of ore on his back and continued to walk. Before and after him, there were miners of the same status as him, who were doing the same thing every day over and over again every day in order to maintain the minimum right to survive - mining and delivering ore.

However, Helime knew very well that if he did not try his best to change, such a life would only go on until the end of his life. But he didn't care about it all his life, what about his family? What about his descendants? Every time he carried a bamboo basket and carried ore, Hillum felt as if he was carrying a mountain on his back. This is not the first time that such a thought has sprung up in Heelem's mind.

Ten kilometers away, Hillam was at the gate of the town, handing in his ore before returning to his home.

"Brother, you're back!" Seeing the figure of Helime from a distance, the two younger sisters who had been waiting at the door for a long time suddenly became overjoyed and almost cheered in unison. The two younger sisters, the second sister, Denise, was fourteen years old, and the third sister, Barbara, was eight years old. In this family, in addition to their parents, they rely on their brother the most, that is, their elder brother, when the time when the elder brother will probably go home, these two younger sisters will not wait for their brother in the room peacefully, but they can't help but stand at the door and tiptoe around.

As soon as he saw his family, the gloom in Helem's heart was suddenly swept away, and he immediately put away his depressed expression and smiled: "Well, I'm back." Where's Mom and Dad?"

"Daddy is back, but he's out again. The younger Barbara replied.

"Hmm, what's going on?" Hirem felt strange when he heard this, and after putting down the empty basket,

The second sister, Denise, who was a little older, first took her brother's bamboo basket and placed it in a fixed position under the eaves. Denise has reached the age of sensibility, and she knows that the inconspicuous bamboo basket that her brother carries back every day is an important tool for the family's livelihood, and she will naturally protect her life every time.

Then Denise turned around and answered Heelem's question: "The patriarch called and said that he wanted to discuss some important issue. ”

"I hope it's not a lot of work!" said Helym, nodded, and then sighed softly. Then he shook his head again, and when he got home, not bothering with any more troubles, he went into the inner room to see what his mother was doing.

At this time, his mother was cooking, and when Hillam saw this, he immediately leaned in to see if there was anything he needed help with, and then said by the way: "Mom, I'm back." ”

"Well, let's go take a shower, Denise fetched two buckets of water. And today's dinner was good, Dad came back from the vegetable garden and picked some greens. The mother did not stop what she was doing, but only gave a soft explanation to Heelem. Despite the simplicity of her mother's words, Hillem could hear the concern.

"Okay, I got it. Helime replied as he walked to the open space behind the house.

After taking a shower, Heelum suddenly felt that the fatigue and sleepiness in his body disappeared a lot, and when he lazily walked back to the house, he happened to see his father return.

"Daddy, what's going on with the patriarch?" asked Shilem.

"The consul ordered that a number of capable people should be selected in the five towns to form a convoy to protect the ore. It is said that the Roman soldiers in the town are ready to catch the thieves who steal the ore, so let's push some suitable candidates out. When the father said this, his face was slightly moved, he looked at Heelem, his eyes were very meaningful, and continued: "I have recommended you, this is your chance to change your fate. ”

His father's words made Hillum a little stunned at the moment, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

In the next second, Hillem's mind was surging with thoughts, and his heart was tightly blocked by complicated feelings, some were moved by his father's constant care, but there were also resentments that his fate seemed to be established and could not be changed.

After all, Helime couldn't help but pour out all the words that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time: "Dad, why do we have to stay here for generations, either mining or guarding the mine." More importantly, none of the ore we have dug up belongs to us, is it still worth our stay here in such a place? Can we leave here? As long as we leave here, we will be able to live a new life, so why do we have to stay here and suffer all the hardships and humiliations?"

The father's eyes rolled a few times, and the mother in the kitchen obviously stopped moving, and the sound of cooking suddenly stopped. But for a long time, neither of my parents said a word.

Just as Hillum began to regret that he didn't keep his mouth shut because of this sudden oppressive atmosphere, it was finally his father who answered. I only heard my father sigh slowly, as if he had to succumb to the helplessness of fate, but his tone was unexpectedly firm, and said: "Although we are prisoners of the defeated country, this certainly does not mean that we will always be slaves. I assure you of this, and I assure this family! Our current situation is forced to do so, but as long as there is an opportunity, we must do our best to change this state of affairs by all means. It's just that right now, in order to survive, we still have to grovel for the time being, endure the anger for a while, as long as we live, there will be hope, and the day of true freedom will definitely come. ”

His father's words made Heelum feel mixed feelings and feel guilty. How could he not know the truth of what his father said, in the final analysis, he was in his prime, but he was just unwilling. But no matter what dissatisfaction he had, he really shouldn't show half a word of complaint to his father, which is not what his father wants, nor what the family wants.

It's just that he feels irritable and depressed, and Hillem can't help but sigh again.

The father knew from Healaym's expression that his son was not relieved. However, he didn't say anything more. First, what the son said was actually the words from the bottom of his heart, but as the pillar of the family, he naturally would not lightly say the pain in his heart to annoy the family, the son is still young, and he should not bear too much, since it is inevitable, those one or two words of catharsis, as long as they do not bring trouble to the family, it is okay; second, the son is young and young, and the man should be ambitious in all directions, so he has more ideas to strive for the upward, not only is it not a strange thing, but it should also be said to be a good thing.

Therefore, the father did not judge Heelum any other way. At this time, the mother happened to come out to eat, and the family gathered around the dinner table one after another. It's just that this meal was also eaten more silently than usual.

In fact, the Hillem family is not an ordinary family at all.

At the time when the old country had not yet perished, their family was also a prominent family, and many of them were not ordinary characters. First of all, their deceased grandfather was an eighth-level alchemist of the Empire, secondly, their seventy-year-old grandfather was also a fifth-level alchemist, but now he has been imprisoned in Monte Braun prison, and Hillem's father was also a second-level alchemist, but after becoming a prisoner, he could only become an ordinary blacksmith in copper-rich town, shouldering the heavy task of striking iron every day, as long as there was a request, he needed to quickly join other companions to craft the corresponding weapons and hand them over to the Roman Empire. But even as a blacksmith, Hillem's father was still well-known among his neighbors.

Such a family background, if it is not reduced today, it is naturally not unbeautiful. It's just that fate is always unpredictable, who would have thought that the empire would eventually fall, and they would become today's prisoners.

Since the day he became a captive, Hillem's father has not forgotten for a moment that he is a slave, and he has lost his former glory. This is to protect his family, as long as they keep to themselves, they can suffer less. Because of this identity, Hillem's father never thought of cultivating his son, so as not to expose himself and lead to death. In extraordinary times, even if you surrender your dignity, as long as you can keep it thorough, why not worry about turning over?

It is precisely because of this consideration, coupled with the influence of the environment, that until now, Helem has never learned alchemy.

"Dad, brother...... Today I met a kind stranger who gave me a gold coin. ”

Seeing that everyone had nothing to say, the little sister Barbara suddenly remembered something, left her seat, ran to the side of the room, brought a small cloth bag, and said.

The Hillem family was surprised to see a gold coin in Barbara's hand.

Hearim exclaimed, "Barbara, how could that stranger give you this for no reason?, did he ask you to do anything?"

The father also said: "Sue sù dad and brother, we will definitely give you anger!"

Barbara wondered, "Why are you angry with me?"

Mother and Denise didn't say anything, but they looked at each other in tacit understanding, then stood up and pulled Barbara into a cubicle in the room.

It took a few minutes for the three women to finally emerge from the chamber.

The mother breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Barbara is fine!"

When his father and Helime heard this, they breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, they were worried that Barbara would not run into those perverted Roman officers. Because they are slaves, in this place, even if something happens and they encounter any injustice, it is estimated that there is no way to retaliate back, or even have no way to tell the wrongs.

"It's fine!" muttered his father.

"Barbara, why did he give you a gold coin?" Heelum was still very concerned about the other party's intentions, but he was afraid that being too nervous would scare his sister, so he asked again cautiously.

"Because I answered his question, he gave me a gold coin. Barbara said with an uneasy expression.

Although Barbara is young, in fact, because of the unusual living environment, she knows how to read words and emotions early on, and sensitively feels the changes in the feelings of adults. She originally thought that her family would be happy because of the extra gold coin, but when she saw her parents, her brother and sister's reactions were very different from usual, she was afraid that she had done something wrong.

"What question did he ask, and how did you answer?" asked Shilem hurriedly.

Hearing Barbara's words, Heelum was more certain that Barbara hadn't suffered any harm, but he wasn't completely at ease because of this. The other party did not hesitate to pay a gold coin just to ask a question, and it was a little unusual to ask a little girl at such a young age. Therefore, Heelum would be worried that the person asking Barbara if she was a thief or someone with an unusual status, he would need to know what the other person asked Barbara.

Hillem's worries were not groundless, in fact, his father, who did not preemptively ask questions on the side, suddenly looked stern. My father shared the same concerns as Hillem.

"I don't remember......" The expression of the father and brother was so terrifying, the young Barbara naturally couldn't digest it, and she was suddenly scared and cried.

The mother saw that the two of them were too anxious and lost their proportions, so she quickly stopped the two, and then came over to pick up Barbara, softly comforted her feelings, and said: "It's okay, Barbara, it's okay, Dad and brother are not scolding you, they just want to know, what this stranger said, don't worry, tell us slowly, right?"

With her mother's comfort, Barbara looked at the expressions of her father and brother again uneasily, and found that her mother's words were true, so she gradually calmed down and stopped crying. She tilted her head and thought about it again, as if trying to recreate in her mind the image of the man's face and conversation, and slowly remembered, and replied, "He asked me if I was the child of a miner?" I said yes, and then he asked me who was the most famous in the town, and I said that my father was the most famous, and many people liked to listen to him. ”

The two men were silent for a moment, thinking about various situations, but neither of them understood what the stranger's purpose was.

After a while, when dinner was over, the woman cleaned up the table, and the two men sat on the floor beside them. Hillem's father persuaded him to accept a recommendation to become a bodyguard.

"As soon as you become a guard, you will be able to deal with the Romans, and you will have the opportunity to get rid of slavery later. ”

"Dad, do you want me to be a lackey of the Romans?"

"I just want to change your fate. ”

"I see. ”

The communication between the two men was not smooth, and it didn't take long for them to enter a state of being speechless again.

Da Da Da ......

There was a knock at the door of Hillem's house.

"Who else could it be so late?" said Mom in some surprise.

By this time, it was completely dark.

Most of the inhabitants of Copper-rich were slaves or lowly miners, and at night, the oil in the oil lamps was too expensive for them to use. So, most of the time, everyone eats, the firewood goes out, and they go to sleep.

At night, there was a sudden knock on the door, which was a very unusual thing. (To be continued.) )