"Boom... Boom... Boom!"

From the back hill of Iron Pine Town, there was a continuous sound of giant hammers striking metal. The sound was so loud that even the town of Iron Pine, miles away, could clearly hear the solid and powerful rhythm. If you're curious and wandering along the mountain path, you'll find a black-smoked forge on the hillside behind a grove. The loud sound of metal striking came from the forge, where there was a burning furnace, and next to the furnace a teenager was wielding a hammer and pounding the bright red steel on the anvil.

Although the time has entered autumn and the weather is getting cooler, the boy is wearing only a pair of shorts, his upper body is bare, and under the sun-soaked skin that exudes a bronzed luster, the muscles seem to contain infinite strength.

"Boom... Boom... Boom!"

The hammer the size of a watermelon was as light as nothing in the young man's hand, and in the blink of an eye, it had already struck a strip of steel hundreds of times, until a rough sword shape gradually emerged, he stopped, put the sword embryo in front of his eyes and observed it for a moment, and then threw it back into the furnace to continue calcining.

"Ronan, come and rest for a while and have a drink. ”

A voice came from the side, there was a pyre, and under the pyre stood a young man, the same age, the same bronzed complexion, and the same strong physique as Ronan. The boy was carrying an ordinary firewood knife in his hand, and if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, I'm afraid no one would have believed that the hill-like firewood pile was chopped out by the boy with the firewood knife in his hand.

"Morey, are you done with your work today?"

The boy named Ronan picked up a cloth towel from the stove and wiped the sweat from his body as he walked towards the boy named Morey.

There is no doubt that these two teenagers are the small leaders of the two tribes that once represented the opposition between the east and west of the grassland, and were later subdued by Allen and finally joined the Youth League. The two of them performed well in the militia because of their excellent training, and they were valued by Allen, and they were the first to focus on training, so the strength of the two people also improved the fastest, and by the time the militia was disbanded, the two had become Harvey and Stanny's assistants. In the militia group, the two people have been fighting openly and secretly because of the grievances between the eastern and western tribes, and each wanted to press the other, but neither succeeded. Later, the militia was canceled, and everything seemed to go back to square one, but Morey and Ronan recalled their experiences in the regiment and the murderous enemies they faced, and realized how naïve they had been. Therefore, after the dissolution of the militia group, the relationship between the two people improved and became good friends who talked about everything.

In the initial stages of the disbandment of the militia, all members of the militia were forced to return home, but the idleness of the thousands became a major destabilizing factor in the ancient city of Okuko, so at the suggestion of the mayor Aple, some were sent to work in nearby mines and forges. Morey and Ronan were arranged in the forge factory, and the dwarf master of the forge was the happiest after the two came, both of them were strong, not even inferior to the dwarves, so the work of forging was handed over to two people, and the master could hide in the house and drink alone.

When Ronan walked in, Morey threw him a sheepskin bag, which he took and unplugged, and took a sip to his lips only to realize that the bag contained wine.

"Good wine!"

Ronan took three sips in a row, then wiped a handful of the wine that overflowed from the corner of his mouth and said in admiration.

"Absolutely good wine. What Captain Harvey gave me, it is said that Mrs. Stirling specially brewed it for the regimental commander, even Captain Harvey secretly found some and only gave me a bag, and you can drink it is already considered lucky. ”

"Good luck? Now I feel like every day is torture. Every day I miss my days in the militia, even if it is more interesting for me to deal with ten wolf cavalry alone than the boring life now. ”

Thinking of his current situation, even the wine became a little bland in Ronan's mouth.

"Captain Harvey said it was a practice. ”

"Even if it's a practice, you always have to have a head, right?"

"Captain Harvey said that when the head of the regiment comes back, it will be the end of the practice. ”

"The question is, when will the head of the regiment come back?"

Ronan sat on a piece of firewood, looked at the southern sky, and said with a sigh.

"It should be soon. ”

Morey's tone was a little hesitant, and it was clear that he wasn't confident that Alan would be able to return soon.

In the evening, Ronan packed up his tools and left the forge factory, but instead of rushing home, he made a detour to the market at the bottom of the hill to buy some flour to take home. He walked around the bazaar twice, chose a stall with a relatively fair price, and after some haggling, finally bought twenty pounds of flour and put it on his shoulders to prepare for his home. However, as he passed by the entrance to the market, he passed by a young man who had entered, and then he felt that the other man had shoved a ball of cloth into his hand.

Ronan left the bazaar quietly, and did not take out the cloth ball until he left Iron Pine Town and came to the sparsely populated suburbs.

"See you at the old place tonight!"

It was such a simple sentence written on the strip of cloth, but Ronan understood that it was Captain Harvey who was summoning them. Although the vigilante group was disbanded on the surface, the secret contact has not been broken, the head of the regiment Allen and the co-captain Stanny are not there, and Harvey, who is left, has become the actual organizer, but because the security department has been keeping a close eye on it, and secret agents are everywhere, so they will meet regularly in a secret location.

In Harvey's words, this is called dispersion.

"Why are you in such a hurry to meet?"

Normally, the backbone of the vigilante group only meets once a week, and today is just two days after the last time they met, so Ronan feels a little unusual. But he didn't think much about it, twisted the cloth strip into powder with a slight force in the palm of his hand, and then returned home, ate dinner in a hurry, and quietly slipped out.

The meeting place of the militia was in the far suburbs, about ten miles from where Ronan lived, and all the roads were rugged in between, but Ronan walked like flying and walking on the ground, and in less than half an hour he had crossed two mountains and came to a valley.

The valley is where Harvey gathers everyone, and the reason why this valley was chosen is because it was a base when the militia was doing field training, there are certain basic conditions, and the location is very secret, even if you light a fire inside, you don't have to worry about being discovered by people outside.

"Who?"

As I walked through the pine forest at Taniguchi, a voice hidden in the shadows asked.

"Me, Ronan!"

"It turned out to be captain Ronan, and the captain of Xavi United has arrived. ”

The sentinel hiding in the shadows heard Ronan's voice, and his tone was much more polite.

When Ronan stepped out of the pine forest, he saw a familiar fire in front of him, but the light seemed to be much brighter than before.

In the center of the valley was a row of large wooden houses, through which the light of the fire came through. Ronan quickened his pace and came to the vicinity of the wooden house, through the window he could already see that there were many people in the wooden house, and it seemed that there were many people coming.

"Tuk Tuk!"

Ronan knocked on the wooden door.

"Come in!"

Harvey's voice came from inside the room.

"Ronan, the captain of the 1st Wing of the Youth League, reports!"

Ronan pushed the door in, first saluted the room, and then reported loudly.

There were indeed many people in the room, but Harvey, who usually sat at the top, only sat at the bottom this time, and it was his mother, Mrs. Stirling, who sat at the top.

Isha has a high status in Iron Pine and is one of the important founders of the Youth League, but she has never been involved in the management of the Vigilante League, and she does not know why she is here today. Ronan's gaze continued to move upward, and then he was completely stunned.

"Captain!"

Ronan's voice trembled!

In the center of the room sat a man who had been away for months, Alan Kanter, the head of the cadet group.