Central merchant federation

Habsha Village

Calendar of the Gods 1540, June

Brass Hammer had just passed his 12th birthday, and the dwarves had a slightly longer lifespan than the Terrans, making the age even younger. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

And a young dwarf who has been in a relatively dark, damp, and cool cave or valley all year round, and for the first time to come to such a bright, dry, hot desert, is always very excited, jumping up and down and waving a short-handled war hammer weighing at least forty pounds in his hand, well, that war hammer is a rare copper hammer, and the square shield with a graceful arc behind him beats his back armor one after another, and has long forgotten his chapped lips, dusty face, and even a brown and red beard that has begun to take shape, which has been stuffed with sand.

"Copper Hammer, don't play too much, we came here a whole month early to let you get used to the climate here, don't lie on the ground like a dead pig and can't stand up when you have to train tomorrow. ”

Behind him was an adult dwarf who was not much taller than the Brass Hammer - about the chest of the average adult male Terran, and he lectured mercilessly, apparently unhappy with the state of his precious yellowbeard for the past two days.

"Uncle Horns, be happy, I've grown so big, it's the first time I've come out of that ravine~"

The brass hammer jumped and jumped forward with the tinkling sound of the armor on its body, as if the heavy armor was the bell on the ankle of a Terran child. The voice of the copper hammer is low, loud, and hoarse that does not match the age of the dwarves, and the fine wrinkles at the corners of the eyes make the copper hammer look at least thirty years old, but the joy and excitement in the voice clearly tell us that this is just a young dwarven child.

The people who shouted hard in the Habsha Village market are no strangers to the dwarves, and there have been many caravans coming and going in recent years, and this time is even more common, and such a lively and noisy dwarven child is the first time to meet it, which completely breaks the impression of the Habers on the dwarves of old-fashioned, simple, and silent, especially when the dwarf boys are jumping around in the market and asking questions.

"Uncle, how can this bread be sold? Three copper plates? The gods are above, and I bear witness with Merlin's beard, and we ask for two silver coins from there. ”

"Auntie, there is no dried fish from the sea here, I don't have any money, can I use my shield to exchange a bundle with you? I will let my family redeem it in the coming year, my shield is all steel, leveraged, except for the copper hammer of my copper hammer, few can break it!"

"Uncle, your small village is not big, why do you sell weapons? This blacksmith's work is not bad, but how do you know how to make some swords and swords? As soon as the copper hammer of the copper hammer goes down, no matter how good it is, it will become a scrap iron piece~ Woo lala, Merlin's beard testifies! I never lie!"

There is such a nagging dwarf looking around in the market, and the already lively market is even more lively.

In the past two days, there have been more and more dwarven caravans, and the dwarven children have gradually appeared in this otherwise peaceful village, and the arrival of aliens always seems to give the people in the village a topic of conversation, and the whole village, not just the market, seems to be in full swing and lively.

The reason is simple, the only military academy in the entire continent of Huron Yar, the triennial freshman selection of the St. Aaron Imperial War College is just a month away.

The interesting thing here is that in terms of physical fitness, weapons and equipment, there are probably three Black Iron Mountains between the human race and the dwarf race, if you talk about magic talent, or the ability of archers, the gap between the human race and the elves must be wider than the entire Huron Yar continent, and in any race or imperial war, the casualties of the human race are always several times that of the dwarves or elves. But even so, the resourceful, or rather insidious and despicable Terrans, with their tactics and tactics, and of course, the outstanding number of people, have been holding on to the dwarves and elves for a long time - just born a hundred years ago, sandwiched between the three major forces, the existence of the Central Merchant Federation itself is the best proof.

Therefore, the Terrans, who are weakly gifted and want peaceful development, and the dwarves and elves who are intimidated by the art of war, have reached some tacit agreement on the education of the next generation - the Terrans use the export of the art of war to show strength, bring ties closer and exchange peace.

Since the signing of the Tripartite Agreement, at the end of July of each third year, the War College has sent selected teams to recruit aspiring students in the cities of the larger villages of the neutral Central Merchant Federation.

This is the reason why the Copper Hammer will appear here, and it is also the reason why all the other dwarves and elven boys and girls will appear here.

For the same reason, the whole outside of the village of Habsha was in full swing - Mr. Medivan's class had long since stopped, and every child of the hunters' squad was training with the warriors in the open space of the village. Amid the loud war cries and shouts, Arthur's axes and tomahawks, as well as Drake's spears and spears, seemed to be more stable and powerful than they had been two years earlier.

For this reason, outside the village of Habsha, Arthur used to go to the woods when he was a child.

There was a similar sound of weapons intersecting in the woods from the desert snow two years ago, the only difference was that the sound was crisp, steady, and much continuous, and it didn't just sound and a black short sword flew out and plunged deep into the sand.

And not just the sonorous sound, the pure black ugly short sword was completely changed.

The short sword is only sharp at the tip, but the sides of the sword are round and solid. The blade was slightly thinner, but it was still as wide as it was. The whole sword is still pure black, but it is no longer rough, reflecting a trace of luster in the sunlight, and with Arthur's agile steps, it is as mysterious and unpredictable as a long snake spitting letters.

A knight's sword in the style of the St. Aaron Empire slashed at Arthur's head with a sharp cold light, slashing at Arthur's undodgable position, showing the user's exquisite skill.

Arthur's right foot touched the ground, his whole body rising slightly to the left, obviously using the strength of his whole body to make a charge of the millimeter, with the round side blade of the short sword, slammed diagonally into the sharp edge of the long sword.

With a "ding-" sound, the knight's longsword was swung away crookedly, drawing a small circle on the side as if it was about to slash sideways again—Arthur's impact was so angled that the longsword could not hold the dagger at all, and likewise, all the slashing techniques could not be used, and the longsword could only glide away or bounce off the round dagger.

Just as the sword was gaining momentum and was about to launch a second attack, Arthur's left foot jumped up again and ravaged up, the distance shortened rapidly, and it seemed that even the short sword was difficult to use.

At this moment, a shining crescent moon appeared from Arthur's waist, and instantly broke through the space and slashed towards Simon's throat at a rapid pace!

Simon didn't expect that in the second month after Arthur was equipped with the dagger, his combat skills would improve by leaps and bounds, and even he would have to seriously resist it.

But the knight's sword had already been deployed, and it was completely too late to retract it.

Simon roared, his wrist flipped, and his sword changed from horizontal to vertical, and he was pulled back to block Arthur's fatal blow when he couldn't get any shots.

Simon landed firmly on his feet, and after blocking the dagger's attack, he immediately retreated, flying up and kicking Arthur, who was still in the air. Arthur had nowhere to focus in the air, his body immediately shrunk into a ball, his feet were raised towards Simon again, and he landed on the ground with a backflip in the air, dragging his feet on the desert soil for two long marks.

It was the most successful attack of Arthur's dagger in two months, although it was always inevitable that Simon would be blocked.

Arthur sat on his knees, his dagger on the ground with his short sword, his dagger back into the scabbard at his waist with his left hand, and looked up at his father with a strange smile, beads of sweat slid down his cheeks to his chin and dripped to the ground.

"Very well, Arthur, very good, quite progressive, with these two hands should not die so easily on the battlefield. Haha, the original choice was really wise. Simon was startled by the dagger that suddenly cut through the space, but he was always very happy with Arthur's progress, and the smile of surprise on his face was very strange.

"Father, this is the 68th time you have mentioned my future career, and the 68th time that you have ignored your obligation to give me an explanation. Arthur stood up, put the short sword in his hand into the scabbard, gave Simon a blank look, and said with his lips and chest crossed.

Arthur pretended not to look at his father, but the corner of his eye was like an embarrassed expression like his father choking.

The father who had become a stranger and awe-inspiring seemed to get acquainted again in the past two years, and at first Arthur would always ask his father seriously about his future, goals and career, and Arthur was always very annoyed by his father's ignorance at first. But it was probably the 23rd or 24th time the topic was brought up that Arthur noticed his father's embarrassed expression, a muscular, serious-looking one-armed man scratching his head, and an embarrassed smile on his face that always made Arthur find it very funny—in fact, very funny indeed.

Since then, every time Simon mentions it, Arthur will always pretend to be angry in various ways, and then look at his father's expression, secretly happy in his heart.

Therefore, Arthur was very happy now, and wanted to laugh very much, and if it were not for the necessity of pretending to be serious, Arthur would have wanted to roll on the sand with his stomach in his arms.

Simon usually seems to cooperate with Arthur's careful thinking of having fun, but today it seems to be different.

Simon lifted his sword, put it back in its scabbard, waved his hand and turned to walk home: "It's not early, Arthur, let's go back to dinner." ”

Arthur looked at Simon's back for a moment, and then followed closely.

Today seems to be a little different, Arthur thought, looking at the sun still hanging obliquely in the sky.

Simon Haber's home

In front of the fireplace

When the sky finally darkened, Arthur carefully wiped the black sword.

The black sword was short, thick, and hard, and the round side of the sword had gone through two years of training without a single scratch. Arthur remembered the dagger that had been stuck in his boot, because his reckless use, and even the air, had long since curled the blade, lacked horns, and could not be used.

And what about this all-black short sword?

In the past two years, he has blocked countless attacks, and there are even sparks between collisions and scrapes. The black sword has accompanied him step by step from a rookie to a rookie - not necessarily mature, but at least it has won any of his father's strengths.

Arthur rubbed the black sword like his father's hammer, like an old friend's hand, like Garcia's power from the edge of his axe, and even like Drake used to poke his branches.

Arthur had to say that he missed his friends who hadn't seen him for two years, maybe not friends, but at this moment, after he escaped from the claws of the sand lizard, he always felt that the playmates who had bullied him were also like friends.

Along with Arthur's strength, there is Arthur's self-confidence, and some, other things.

For example, Arthur has been missing the village girls a little lately, but unfortunately the once young Arthur never seemed to notice their faces, so now Arthur's mind reverberated with the laughter of the warbler and the soft-spoken comfort that once embarrassed him.

Arthur finally turned his gaze back to the black sword, grasped the hilt of the sword, pointed the dagger diagonally into the air, and slid his gaze forward along the rounded side of the dagger, shooting out, and finally landing on the torch hanging on the wall.

Through the shadows that flickered above the flames, Arthur saw himself again lying on the ground two years ago.

Arthur was tempted to give the dagger a name, though the name had always been reserved for top-tier enchanted weapons.

Arthur is a good thinker, but he doesn't seem to be very good at making names.

Well, Xiao Hei, Xiao Hei is a good name.

Blackie, how cute, how kind, oh, not so holy, but it's okay, it's you, Blackie!

Arthur jumped for joy, and at once he jumped onto the table made of a whole boulder, and waved his sword excitedly.

"Xiao Hei! Xiao Hei! It's up to you in the future!"

Arthur smiled happily, a goofy smile on his face.

That smile collapsed the moment he saw Simon come in with a plate.

Simon was smiling and holding two plates in one hand—what seemed to be a celebration today—both plates were the same sand lizard leg meat with long beans. Simon patted Arthur's calf and couldn't help but say, "Come down, eat." ”

Arthur sneered into his place, glancing at his father while dealing with the steak.

Simon held an extremely sharp table knife, which didn't need anything to fix the tender meat chops at all, and every time it fell, he cut off a piece of the right size, poked it with the knife and put it in his mouth, chewing it delicately. Simon eats very fast, barely making any sound, only one hand flying on the table, but it is also extremely elegant.

Arthur also ate very quickly, trying to eat all the embarrassment he had just done.

"When I hit this sword, it was still very wide and thick, and the iron was also used to drag the meteorite brought by the passing merchants, don't worry, it will definitely be able to withstand the top-level magic mark, it will have a name. ”

Arthur jerked his head up, looked at his father after eating, and smiled slightly.

Simon's old face flushed, as if he remembered something embarrassing, wiped his right hand on his thigh, which was not stained with a little grease at all, and his expression gradually became solemn, staring at Arthur.

Arthur swallowed the last bite of the sand lizard, put down his knife and fork, and sat up straight.

"Arthur, you always want to know what kind of profession I want you to face the continent of Huron Yar in the future. ”

"Arthur, I haven't said it, one is that I don't know if you are really suitable for this path, this road will be more difficult and lonely. Second, I don't know how to explain it to you. ”

"Arthur, you were born to be extraordinary, and I was glad that you trusted me and walked with me headlong into this uncertain future. ”

"Arthur, I hope you can continue to trust me, it's all for a reason, I can explain part of it to you, but the rest of it, it's hard for me to explain clearly, maybe it's better for you to explore it yourself. ”

Simon stared at Arthur's eyes that shimmered with justice and determination, took a deep breath, and slowly opened his mouth.

"I want you to be in a profession—"

"Thieves. ”