Since ancient times, the Kawagebo Mountains have been straddling the northern part of the continent of Odin. Thousands of miles of mountains rise into the clouds, where human civilization is completely cut off from the vast wilderness and ice fields.

The people of the Barak kingdom refer to the Kawagebo Mountains as the Divine Mountains. Not only does it block the cold from the ice fields that have accumulated for thousands of years in the far north, but every spring and summer, the snow formed by the melting glaciers flows into the Ross River, surging from north to south, extending to the distant sea, and the clear water of the river gives birth to millions of people in several countries.

"You bunch of shit, what's the use of you!"

Gergil's angry roar kept coming from the room, and everyone in the Treasury knew that it was the Atlanta City tax collector who was furious. Therefore, they are all cautious, for fear of offending this lord from the royal capital.

Atlanta is a major city on the border of the Barak Kingdom and has always been highly valued by the kingdom. One of the main reasons for this is the kingdom's increasingly strained financial situation, which needs to rely on the blood supply of Atlanta to alleviate it.

It's just that in recent years, Atlanta's income has become less and less satisfactory to the royal capital, so Gegil, who is known for his ability to collect money, was sent to Atlanta City as a tax collector.

Everyone in the room bowed their heads in fear, for fear of attracting the attention of the irascible adult in front of them, the last one that made Gergil angry was his deputy, the poor deputy had his head smashed by the vase, and he had to pay five gold coins at the original price before he was allowed to receive the priest's treatment!

And as we all know, the stingy Gergill never used items for more than five silver coins!

Seeing that everyone didn't speak, Gegil became even more angry, gritted his teeth, looked gloomily at the fat man on the far left and said, "You'd better give me a satisfactory explanation, your town is not a small place, but it's getting worse and worse year by year, are you all greedy?"

As he spoke, Gegil became angry, and the last sound almost roared, and the fat man spat all over his face.

At the same time, his eyes scanned the room, looking for the right items, not too light or not deterrent, not too expensive or he would be heartbroken......

"Today... This year's... Harvest ......" The named fat man sweated profusely on his forehead, stammered nervously, and when he saw Gegil's movements, he was so frightened that he almost collapsed on the ground, knelt directly on the ground, and rushed over to hug Gejir's thighs at an astonishing speed, and begged for mercy with tears in his nose and tears: "My lord, I'll get it when I go back, I will definitely be able to make it!"

"Get out of here," Gergil kicked him away and scolded: "Waste, it's all waste, the harvest is not good?

He has plenty of reason to be angry!

As long as the mayors of villages and towns go to the city on time to pay the pitiful taxes that he thinks are small, conceal the population, or even increase taxes privately, he will not care, he will give them some room for "free play", as long as they can pay the full amount of previous years, these will not be investigated, but even so, these people are still ......

Turning his gaze to the old Charlie village chief of Bran Village, his angry expression calmed down slightly, revealing a trace of appreciation, old Charlie does things steadily, not arrogant or impatient, not only has a lot of taxes, but also privately offers a lot of mountain specialties, so that he is extremely satisfied, so he intends to encourage him, maybe he should reward him with a silver coin?

Gergill thought about it for a moment, and finally walked over and patted old Charlie on the shoulder: "Yes, keep it up." ”

"Yes!" Looking at the only old Charlie in the room who straightened his waist, everyone felt bitter in their hearts, and the fat village chief who collapsed on the ground secretly showed a hateful look.

......

Bran Village, located at the foot of the Kawagebo Mountains, relies on the Bakla Kingdom to survive, and most of the villagers are composed of adventurers from all over the mainland and some local mountain people. It is the smallest of the countless human settlements in the vicinity.

Although it is a village under the jurisdiction of Atlanta City, it is also more than 100 kilometers away from the main city, and even a horse-drawn carriage ride will take at least a whole day. So Gergill hasn't been back for more than two years after a routine inspection, and that time was when he took office.

......

Old Charles was inexplicably satisfied when he returned to the entrance of the village, even though he was wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat made of horsetail grass, which was most common in the country, and a cheap old tweed coat made of scrap fabric.

After looking at the sky, the autumn evening sun was warm, and he put his hat on his face and planned to bask in the sun on the deck chair at the entrance of the village.

Since becoming the head of Bran Village, the forty-two-year-old Charlie feels that he has reached a new height in his life, and he is about to marry a noble lady, inherit the hereditary title of his noble father-in-law, and walk to the peak of his life from then on - just thinking of the tigress in the family, Charlie suddenly feels that the road to the peak may be ...... Not quite for him.

However, the position of village chief is extremely easy, and most of the parts of Atlanta City work hard every day and into the night, and it is still difficult to collect the increasing taxes. And he, old Charlie, the head of a remote village, only needs to lie comfortably on the rocking chair at the entrance of the village every day to cool off, drink a sip of hot tea from time to time, and wait for the tax to be automatically delivered to the door, so that he can exceed the task......

But in the past, life in Bran Village was not easy, and it can even be said that it was the poorest level. In the years when the harvest is not good, the stronger men have to go into the mountains to exchange food with the beasts, and if they are unlucky, they encounter terrible monsters, and even become free delivery of fresh rations.

But since those people came, the good days of the village chief Charlie have also come. You don't have to go into the mountains to hunt, you don't have to face those extremely dangerous magical beasts, and even the tax collector is not as irritable as the legend says.

Although old Charlie has not seen much of the world, the people who are begging for a life at the bottom know how to observe words and feelings, and he does not need to inquire carefully to know that this group of people of unknown origin has a big problem. Although they behaved as ordinary people as they could, old Charlie thought that such behavior was as ridiculous as covering his ears and stealing a bell.

The clothes worn by the leading couple were not very ornate, but they were meticulously tailored, and there was a majesty in their words, which even the tax collector did not have—the biggest person poor Charlie had ever seen was the tax collector. Further up, it was already a point he couldn't imagine.

Callias, I haven't heard of any nobleman in the kingdom with this surname, probably a pseudonym used by the noble lady who eloped to hide her identity, right? Charlie pouted, these well-fed and supportive aristocratic lords like to do these bloody stories, and they seem to have some unusual preferences for plots such as private life and beating mandarin ducks.

But—what does it matter to him? As long as the taxes are paid on time, he doesn't care about that. Relieved, he took the tea from the villagers respectfully and poured a sip of hot tea with satisfaction.

This time it was too perfect, the precious medicinal materials in the mountains or the furs of the demonic beasts were all prepared just right, which ones were handed in, which ones were dotted, they were all in order, and he didn't have to worry about it at all. There is even a piece of Warcraft meat prepared for the people in the village, His Majesty the Emperor is on top, this is Warcraft meat!

How long have these days passed, oh, almost two years, time flies. Thinking of this, he poured another sip of tea into his mouth, and the old village chief Charlie was about to fall asleep comfortably.

Until a group of small figures in the village staggered and swayed over.

Chief Charlie stood up, a kind smile on his wrinkled face, and stopped them with a smile.

"Ouch, little Ari, you can't go out. ”

These were two or three-year-old children, some from the village, some from those families, and the leading little boy was the son of the couple, named Eri, the only son of the Callias family, who was just over two years old this year, and was very white and cute, and his big eyes were rolling as he ran, as if he was thinking about something interesting.

Led by the little boy in the lead, the children babbled and scattered and rushed out of the village.

Although the tactic was correct, scattering and breaking through, they did not take into account their own situation, after all, they were only a child less than three years old, and old Charlie was one of the strongest hunters in the village in his youth.

didn't run too far, they were brought back one by one, and when little Ari, who ran more than 30 meters away, was also caught, the escape plan was officially shattered.

Charlie looked at little Eri vigilantly, he knew that little Eri's destructive power should not be underestimated, although his age was less than three years old, two years and five months to be exact.

Two years and five months ago, oh, the old village chief Charlie still remembers that day, it was not long after he became the village chief, the weather became gloomy at noon, it was a thunderstorm that only happened once in decades, the whole sky was shrouded in dark clouds, and in an instant it seemed that the day was reversed, lightning and thunder in the dark clouds, and a thunder as thick as a dragon, which seemed to be able to knock the sky out of a hole, and then it rained heavily, if he hadn't organized everyone to pray for the protection of the gods in time, how could the people in the village have escaped this catastrophe!

Little Ari was born that day, thinking of the gift received by the whole village on the day he was born, Village Chief Charlie instantly felt a lot closer to Little Ari, smiled even brighter, and the old skin on his face was wrinkled, just like the blooming chrysanthemum.

It's just that Charlie didn't expect that little Ari didn't cry after being caught, just kicked his little short legs angrily, turned around, and turned in another direction, and the other children behind him ran crookedly one after another.

I don't know what magic little Eri has, this group of children follows little Eri all day long, and they run around the village when they have nothing to do. There was no place in the village that they hadn't been. Even he didn't have to worry about the safety of the children.

Once, the tamed Pygomon in the village suddenly went berserk and went on a rampage in the streets, and the men in the village happened to go out hunting, but no one could subdue them......

Although no one could calculate the mental area of the Pigmon in the air, that scene still stunned everyone on the scene. It turns out that the legend is right...... The master is really in the folk.

The people in the village knew that someone was secretly protecting the child, and they were willing to let their child run away blindly with Ari, and pick it up at night after finishing work, which saved a lot of trouble.

Chief Charlie watched with a smile as they shook away, before he lay back on the chaise longue and continued to bask in the sun.