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Never before had it snowed so heavily in the Alki Empire. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The snow buried the entire city, and as far as the eye could see, the huge imperial capital seemed to be draped in a silver robe, glittering in the faint sunlight. The people who live in this city have never coped with such a situation, and they seem to be a little helpless, and along the way, they see many people shoveling snow in front of their homes.

The adults looked a little worried, wondering if the bounty snow symbolized anything, while the children, with carefree smiles on their faces, crumpled the snow into a ball, smashed it at another person, and then ran away laughing amid the shouts of the adults.

A man in a black robe walked down the street, out of place with the white snow around him, so someone quickly noticed him. As a result, everyone became vigilant, because the imperial capital had been locked down for a long time, and this person who didn't know where he came from suddenly appeared here.

"Hey, be careful!" a mischievous child, completely ignorant of the human feelings of adults, crumpled the snow into a ball and smashed it at the strange-looking man. The crowd didn't have time to stop it, and they watched the snowball fly towards the man, and they looked terrified, as if something bad was going to happen soon. The child's mother hurriedly pulled the child closer to her arms.

Nothing happened, though, and the snowball hit the man's back. The man paused, then looked up, and everyone present saw his face.

A pale, delicate face, like an immature teenager. It's just that his chin is already full of scum, and there is some chaos between his eyebrows and eyes.

After seeing this face, the imperial capital fell silent for about a few seconds, and then everyone rejoiced.

"Your Excellency, you're back. ”

Everyone bent down and saluted the man. One of them, an elderly man with silver hair, burst into tears of excitement: "My lord, we always believe that you will return victoriously. ”

The man was silent for a moment, then smiled, as warm as the winter sun.

"yes, I'm back. My war is all over, and now the only thing I want to do is to get my wife back. The man whispered.

"Your Excellency, you will succeed!" everyone believed in the man in front of them, because he had brought too many miracles.

The old woman saluted again: "We are waiting for you to bring back the lord." ”

The man smiled silently, and then walked up to the boy who had hit him with a snowball earlier. The boy's face was full of excitement, he knew how powerful the man standing in front of him was, and the man gently flicked the snow from the boy's hair. Looking at him is like looking at his own son.

"Live well, that's all. ”

......

Ian opened his eyes, and the sunlight was shining on his face through the cracks in the bamboo basket. It was warm and comfortable, and if it weren't for the shrill scolding coming from downstairs, it would have been a perfect morning.

"What are you talking about?!You actually charge me ten gold coins for half a ton of black iron?You sell stainless steel?! I've been your employer for so many years, do you have a little conscience? ”

"Madam, you are speaking without conscience, and I have come back from Alder with all this black iron. Do you know how dangerous it is along the way? Do you know how much it costs to hire those hunters now? When Blackstone Mountain was not closed earlier, I gave you a low enough price, and now you say that I have no conscience......"

Ian took the bamboo basket that stood in his way and glanced down. In the bustling street, a woman dressed in red and purple with a face that looked like she was covered with flour, arguing with a thin man with sharp-beaked monkey cheeks sitting in a carriage.

Mrs. Maxine is the only metal merchant in Blackstone. No, it should be said that it is the wife of a merchant, who always shows people with a sharp image, like her proud chin, pointed enough to pierce her breasts. And the skinny, monkey-like man was called Layton, who sounded like a muscular man, but was actually a monkey. He is a well-known merchant in Blackstone City, who can buy anything, as long as you give him money, he can even get the silver cross crossbow equipped by the imperial army.

Of course, he is best known for his black heart. Something that comes in often triples the price before it is sold.

Ian snorted, condescendingly watching the farce. He was like a spectator, watching the two clowns perform at the bottom, and the reason why he called them clowns was because Ian didn't like them. Two years ago, Mrs. Maxine personally went to the alchemical city of Alder, and bought a small piece of cyan metal from there. She almost carried the metal all the way into the city, for fear that others would not see it, and then everyone said that this piece of metal was not an ordinary metal, but was made of dragon scales by Lord Rexer Dunba, the king of alchemy. It can be said to be the hardest metal in the world, but it was bought by himself for five hundred gold coins, and the curious Ian touched her home that night.

Don't think crookedly, anyone who sees someone like Mrs. Maxine will not be able to mention the slightest desire. He just wanted to see the hardest metal, and finally he found it easily, and found that it was a very ordinary piece of green iron, just mixed with the scales of an unknown beast, but it definitely couldn't be a dragon's. In order to verify his claim, Ian swiped lightly with the knife he was carrying, and the "hardest metal" was immediately cut in half. Ian then laughed, and finally attracted the guards, who were almost caught, but were eventually seen by Mrs. Maxine.

But Mrs. Maxine did not dare to speak out, because once the news spread, and the hardest metal she had bought for five hundred gold coins was chopped in half with a knife by a thief, then she would be laughed at by everyone in Blackstone.

However, the two formed a feud, and Mrs. Maxine often wandered around Black Rock with her family, trying to find Ian to fight, but for so many years she did not succeed.

The streets were filled with people, and everyone gloated as they watched the two arguing. Seeing the impression of the two in the minds of the residents of Black Rock City, Ian felt a little bored after watching it for a while, and then turned his gaze to the half-ton black iron carried by the carriage. Black iron is the most common metal, so it is cheap and suitable for use in many places, but it is not the most suitable for any place.

Ian looked at the black iron that glistened in the sun as he pulled out a piece of yellow paper from his bosom. But he moved a little bigger, and the bamboo basket that shaded the sun above his head slid down, and after a few flicks on the tiles, it fell straight down, and then it was covered by Mrs. Maxine's head.

There was silence in the room, and Mrs. Maxine felt that it was dark as she spoke, and then a sour smell rushed into her nostrils. In the eyes of the rest, it was a garbage basket from the sky, sealing Mrs. Maxine's gushing mouth.

When they looked up, they saw a little beggar sitting on the roof, dressed in tatters.

Seeing so many people looking at him, Ian thought to himself what pose he should pose and what expression he should make to look more handsome. Before he could figure it out, however, Mrs. Maxine had already taken off the garbage basket, looked up, and when she saw Ian, she gritted her teeth angrily, and the flour fell from her face, and there were many vegetable leaves mixed in her hair.

"You little bunny again!" Mrs. Maxine slammed the garbage basket to the ground as if it were Ian himself. But she apparently ignored the elasticity of the bamboo, and soon the garbage basket bounced up again, almost covering Mrs. Maxine's head again.

Everyone laughed, and everyone liked to see this aggressive woman make a fool of herself. Mrs. Maxine became even more resentful, and then put it all down to the little beggar. So she shouted in a sharper voice, "Go up and get him down for me!"

Three people in gray cloth clothes, you look at me, I look at you. None of them wanted to admit that the ugly woman in front of them was their master, but they had no choice but to rush out of the crowd. However, Ian, who was watching the scene in front of him, was not worried at all, because these people had never caught him in two years.

But he also knew that he should run, so he got up calmly, stuffed the yellow paper back into his clothes, and patted his buttocks. As he was about to leave, he remembered something, whistled, and shouted at Mrs. Maxine below: "Venerable Madam, didn't you notice that your foundation had been changed to flour when you were putting on your makeup this morning? ”

With that, Ian didn't care about Mrs. Maxine, whose face had completely changed, and jumped to the other roof. A few jumps in a row made the housekeepers who caught up unable to reach the dust, and they could only watch the little beggar take a few steps and then no one could be seen. While admiring his skill, I couldn't help but be a little bored, because Mrs. Maxine downstairs was about to go berserk.

"You shit!

......

Ian looked up at the position of the sun, estimated some time, and then came to a house. There is a wooden plaque hanging in front of the door of the house, which is engraved with the words "Great Vessels", which is the only place in Blackstone City for alchemy.

Ian looked around, saw that there was no one around, and went into the shop. It's already this point in time, and it should be the teaching time of Nelson, the only alchemy master in Black Rock City. Ian skilfully turned around, bypassed everyone's sight, climbed a tree, and just in time to see the gray-haired Nelson walking in with his apprentice in the room on the second floor.