“…… All of these numbers are the best evidence that when the Allies were struggling to take care of themselves because of the war and the energy crisis, the Privy Cavalry extended a helping hand to the three Nordic countries in the famine, which is also the fundamental reason why the three Nordic countries can become a paradise without carrying a heavy burden of military spending at a time when the whole of Europe is in the shadow of the ACA terror......

-- A speech by a right-wing British parliamentarian

****

The Stockholm to Jokkmokk high-speed rail station was completed.

Former Privy Cavalry Attache in the League, High Knight Linya? Paterson hadn't been home for more than five years, and she hadn't spoken much on the phone with her family, and after undergoing successful reconstructive surgery at the age of 18, the girl from a poor background knew that she had to pay more and sacrifice more to get a better life.

Just like her nickname "Cinderella".

But soon, she'll be home.

Knights are privileged, and as a high-ranking knight, it would not be too much for her to ask the Stockholm Police Department for a helicopter to go home, but she still chose to take the newly opened high-speed railway, of course, she did not think it was a cover for the fact that she was lost.

Linya finds that she no longer knows Stockholm, which has not only been reborn from the brink of famine due to the energy crisis, but has also accelerated its development at an astonishing rate.

Sit on a high-speed train with a speed of 500 kilometers per hour. Linya could barely see the scenery flashing outside the window, except for the snow.

But this is probably the color that reassures her the most.

The color that belongs to the home.

The journey home from Stockholm to Yorkmock in just over an hour was much shorter than she remembered, and the long, dizzying bus ride from the Order's closed military academy at the age of 14 was still part of her memories of home.

It's all different, although it's a little strange, but at least there's a warm happiness hidden behind this strangeness.

The girl who stepped off the train with her backpack blew out a bubble, bubble gum was what she considered a luxury when she was a child, but it was not a pleasant memory, but it was still a memory - especially when the bubble gum appeared in the military condolence bag that the conductor gave her.

The flaxen-haired knight had changed into his heroic knight's outfit. She didn't want to be watched at the door of her house. After all, most of the knights of the cavalry are from Iceland itself, and there are not many talents sent by the three Nordic countries, and more often these three countries play a role in strategic depth.

Kicking the boring politics out of her head, Linya walked through the hallway that was almost unpainted. The waiting hall is different from the nouveau riche spaciousness of Stockholm. The elaborate waiting hall and thoughtful signage on the wall make it feel more like home.

Like one of the few other travelers who are in a hurry. Linya hides herself well, as if this will allow her to find more of a feeling of living here.

Unfortunately, she was recognized by the old guard at the exit of the station - when Linya became a knight, the media of York Mock was very excited to promote it for a long time.

Fortunately, it was almost evening.

***

"I'm back. Mom, Uncle Badr! ”

Surprise and joy were followed by a hearty dinner - the Paterson family, who had not been informed beforehand, had not been able to prepare any gorgeous and extravagant food, but this was also Linya's intention, for this little girl from the Nordic countryside, as long as she was with her family, the oatmeal porridge was much better than the state banquet in Icarus.

In a pleasant chat with her family, the meal lasted until ten o'clock in the evening, and Linya went upstairs into her room, where everything was still the same as when she left at the age of fourteen—but there was nothing in fact, except for ordinary bedding and furniture, only a small bookshelf with neatly stacked primary and secondary school textbooks issued by the Order, as if it was just to keep the bookshelf from looking empty.

Linya pulled out the already small stool, sat down at her desk, and reached for the lamp – the only source of light in the room, because for a family like this, fluorescent lamps were unnecessary and expensive to use electricity a dozen years ago.

Even, this table lamp was left by my sister.

The light bulb was still intact, and Linya probed and found that the light bulb had been replaced later, but thinking that her mother would clean the room every day, Linya could only show a helpless and happy smile.

In the dim light, the only ornament on the table is a music box that is so old that it is about to fall apart.

It was a relic of her father.

Linya's father died in an accident when she was six years old, and his death was even worse for the poor family - throughout the 22nd century, the three Nordic countries, including Sweden, were in the midst of famine caused by the terrible energy crisis, and Swedish agriculture, which had been able to reach 80% self-sufficiency, almost collapsed due to the collapse of foreign trade and soaring energy prices, and the original specialized large farms were divided and degenerated into small manual farms, and the collapse of the foreign trade system was even worse. The Swedes had to fight for their own survival, and Sweden's geographical location was not on the radar of the self-occupied European countries.

The country almost starved to death.

Linya doesn't remember the details of her father's death, and more than a decade later, the only thing that still lingers in her mind is the music box that was used as a birthday present when she was 6 years old, and she only later learned that her sister, who was only a year older than herself, never received any birthday gifts.

Yes, Linya had an older sister who, in her memory, rarely spoke, and even remembered her sister always arched - whether it was helping her father in the oatmeal fields, or doing a little handicraft in the dim light to earn extra money.

And yet even so, in those days. The family still goes hungry all the time.

Linya looked up, but the black glass window reflected only her delicate face.

The knight girl turned off the lamp, climbed on the table, opened the double-glazed windows, and sneaked out of the room, in the snow, into the darkness in the distance.

***

The oat fields are still there, but the fences are gone.

After signing the Treaty of Oslo with the three Nordic countries in 2154, the Order began to provide all-round assistance to the three Nordic countries, in fact. It was the Order's survival that enabled the rebirth of these three countries, which had barely spoken in the Alliance, not only by providing high-latitude crop improvement technology supported by black technology, but also by solving the agricultural crisis. It also provides large-scale agricultural machinery and equipment, energy, and extensive infrastructure construction for the Alliance.

But this oatmeal field, for Linya. Have a special memory.

She walked slowly. Walking in a deep snowstorm - the seed has just been planted. This technologically modified seed is magically resistant to cold, and can even reach three crops a year in areas like Yorkmok.

Linya stopped and closed her eyes. With her hands stretched out, her whole body fell backwards, and she was gently lifted by the thick snow, and she lay in the snow and watched the sky full of stars.

"Sister...... Will you come back? If I pray to God, will you come back? ”

Linya vividly remembers that whenever she cried—most of the time because of hunger—her sister, who had eaten less than herself, would always run into the oat field with her, as if the not-so-tall oats could cover the two thin bodies like a barrier, keeping cold, hunger, and pain out.

Pray to God, and He will come to help us.

The sister who didn't talk much always said this, and even Linya wasn't sure which god she was talking about.

In any case, God did come, and we did be saved.

But perhaps for some, it's too late.

After his father's death, although he had the help of Uncle Badr, the family's situation continued to decline.

Finally, one day, my sister left.

My sister was still the same as before, she didn't say anything, she didn't even bring anything, she just left a note.

I'm gone, don't worry about me, I'll live well, and you have to live well.

It's like dropping out of school and going home and keeping the opportunity to go to school to yourself; It's like working late into the night just to buy an extra bottle of milk for your sister; It's like when you don't hesitate to pour the oatmeal from your bowl to your sister.

But how could a little girl of a few years old survive in such a midwinter.

Linya closed her eyes, and the warm liquid ran through her temples and dripped into the soft snow.

The only good news is probably that her sister's body has never been found, but Linya prefers to believe that her sister, who is always hunched over, is still alive and looking up at the same starry sky as her.

***

I don't know how long later, just as Linya was about to fall asleep on the velvety snow, there was a clear sound of feet stepping on the snow not far from the direction she had come.

She raised her hand to wipe away her tears, adjusted her breathing, and the knight girl who sat up rubbed her eyes and saw a young man in a white uniform walking towards her, he was slightly taller than Linya, with the typical white skin and slightly reddish hair of the Nordics.

It wasn't a strange figure.

"Honorable Superintendent of Police, Sheriff Simon? How can Mr. Linnell have time to come to the wilderness~"

Linya preemptively reported the other party's name, and the young man of the same age as Linya was Linya's childhood friend and classmate Simon? Linnell.

"Don't make fun of me, it stands to reason that at my level, I don't even have a chance to talk to high-level knights."

Simon straightened up a slightly crooked big cap, this outfit is basically the product of incorporating some retro elements of traditional Swedish officers and knights, and to be honest, it is not very convenient for ordinary people to move.

"It's okay, we agreed, I'll be a knight, and you'll be in charge of protecting our hometown."

Linya playfully waved her hand, she and Simon had always been classmates, even the Knights' closed military school, but after that, Simon returned to Yorkmock to become a sheriff - that is, a police officer, because there was no possibility of being transformed into a TF.

"There's nothing to protect, if it's a nanny." Simon shook his hand, but not that he wasn't really dissatisfied with his job, at least over the years, the town had a bit of a once-legendary feeling of never being left behind.

"Is everyone okay, all these years of my absence."

Linya took a few steps forward and patted Simon, closing the distance between her and Simon, but Simon seemed a little embarrassed by this action,

"It's the same, it feels like time has stood still, or it's all right," Simon shrugged, "I saw you on TV a while ago, why, I heard that you quit your job as a military attaché?" ”

"I became a knight to protect this hard-won one," Linya smiled lightly, turning to glance at the vast wheat fields covered in snow, "rather than fighting endlessly with the bureaucrats of the Alliance." ”

"Over the years, life has been much better." Simon nodded, but frowned slightly, "I just don't know how long it will last." ”

"Don't worry, Officer Linnell." Linya clasped her hands to her chest and followed Simon's gaze to look at the town not far away that was already asleep, and only the dim street lights remained.

"As long as I live, this peace will last forever."

Linya took a deep breath, and as she said this, she unconsciously thought of Jeunse, of those counts, of the man who leaned towards the alliance.

"I swear that no one can destroy this qiē, and no one will bring the flames of war to our homeland."

Neither can God.

Linya, who closed her eyes, didn't notice that she had unconsciously clenched her fists.

And Simon, who was standing on the side, suddenly felt that the expression of this girl he was once very familiar with was a little unfamiliar.

The so-called past, probably, can never go back. (To be continued......)

PS: There are papers and classes, but I guarantee that there will be no less than two more! War!