It's almost entirely from this time that Eater and Poole spent their childhood in the kitchens and garden corridors of Wink Castle. It's father was a blacksmith at Wink Castle, Poole's father was the gardener of the castle, and their mothers were both castle cooks, and the houses they lived in were located next to the castle garden, between the rows of low bluestone stone houses.

As children, Itter and Poole, like the children whose parents worked in the castle, roamed the castle's kitchens and corridors while their mothers worked, so they knew each other well with Lord and his family.

Lord Wink has always been very fond of being close to children, but his old-fashioned manners and unsmiling expression make most children afraid of him. But under the influence of his tireless words and deeds, and the casual reverence and envy of his parents about the legendary deeds of the Lord, the boys of the town have set such a vague goal in life from an early age, which is to become a brave warrior of the kingdom, like Lord Wink, to fight the enemy in battle against the hateful orc bandits, establish merit, confer fiefdoms, and return to their homeland. Such a goal in life may be more practical and achievable than becoming a noble and mysterious magician, so almost all parents also appreciate and encourage it.

Because of this, when it was time to be drafted, both Ite and Poole did not hesitate to go to the megalithic fortress where Lord Wink once served, become a soldier guarding the border, and follow in the Lord's footsteps to see if they could achieve the same feat.

The teenagers who had never walked out of Qingquan Town after nearly 20 days of trekking after enlistment, came to the long-awaited megalithic fortress in their hearts, and saw with their own eyes this Biansai Xiongguan, which had been heard countless times in the story and had sketched countless outlines in dreams. However, before he had time to take a closer look at the dense defensive spires on the tall city walls and the huge siege bed crossbows scattered all around, he was urged by the knights leading the team to enter the military camp built outside the city.

In the barracks, after a short and harsh training camp, the originally loose teenagers suddenly seemed to have changed their appearance, and became resolute and orderly. After the training, according to the wishes of the teenagers themselves and the actual needs of the fortress, batches of teenagers were awarded the title of apprentices and sent to different border posts.

Ite and Poole originally wanted to go to the dense defensive spires on the Boulder Fortress and become a more imposing-sounding siege crossbow operator, or follow the side of a silver fir knight wearing a cyan cape with a silver fir tree pattern behind him and a tall and irascible one-horned snow deer as a mount, and become a knight's servant, but unfortunately, these two most promising positions in their eyes were not short of people, and they had no choice but to be assigned to this remote stone fort according to the actual needs of the fortress at that time, and became a glorious vigilant warrior apprentice。 In this remote stone fort far away from home and under difficult conditions, the two teenagers who came with the good wish of making a contribution and becoming famous for the whole world heard the cruelty of the veterans talking about the cruelty of the orc warriors harassing the border from time to time, and repeated the monotonous and tedious labor every day, only to slowly understand that there is a huge gap between the ideal and the reality, and it also made the hearts of the teenagers who left home for the first time can't help but feel a strong sense of homesickness.

The warrior apprentice who dragged the dead tree all the way did not get rid of the shadow of fear until he arrived near the stone fort, gasping for breath, trying to calm down the panic mood for a short time, so as not to be ridiculed as a coward by his companions, and quickly used the hand axe on his waist to evenly chop the branches of the dead tree into sections of firewood, and carried it into the stone castle along the narrow stone steps.

"Hey, it's really fast today, it's done so quickly, just right, you two go get some more water, Uncle Esther has good news for you, the convoy transporting supplies is coming today, the captain has already brought people to greet him, and there is a cured meat feast to eat in the evening." ”

Esther leaned against the door of the kitchen with a round belly, rubbing the unkempt beard on his mouth, and smiling at the teenagers who walked in, his ruddy fat face was like a smock shirt on his body, stained with perennial stains from the stove, and the oil was shining, and he could see at a glance that he was a standard chef.

Esther is the oldest member of the caste, and to be more specific, he is the Cook of the Army. According to his own account, he is thirty-seven years old this year and has served in the Silver Fir Legion for more than twenty years, and the teenagers have always believed in this statement. After Ite and Poole entered the house, in addition to their daily training, they were assigned by Captain Vincent to help out in the kitchen with the fat uncle who always had a kind smile on his face.

"Wow, Uncle Esther, can we have vegetable and ham soup tonight......? If only the food delivery team could come once a month, don't they know that vegetables can't be stored for a long time, and they have to deliver them once every three months. ”

Poole had little stars in his eyes and whispered whining with drooling.

"Cut, greedy little bastard, you thought that with so many stone forts, it would be easy to transport food supplies once. It would take them nearly a month to travel back and forth from the fortress to the most remote stone fort, and at the same time they had to guard against possible attacks by the orc rangers, really, once a month, greedy little scoundrels, go get a bucket and fetch water. ”

Esther rubbed her red nose vigorously and scolded helplessly.

"When did the captain leave, and it's time to be back, right?"

Ite neatly placed the chopped firewood beside the stove, patted the dust on the blouse, and asked with a smile.

"Well, I just left after lunch, and I guess it's time to come back with Elli and them. Ate, Uncle will make you another fruit salad in the evening, sprinkled with a thick layer of venison floss, how does it sound? It's going to drool, isn't it? Hehe, we haven't eaten fresh fruit in a long time, right?"

Esther looked at Ite, he was fond of this smart, sensible and talkative little fellow, just as an older man looks at his own smart and sensible child, and the intelligent and sweet-mouthed young man would be likable there.

"Well, it's not, I think the last time I ate fruit was about a month ago, so I miss it...... Hehe, don't say anything, thank you, uncle, let's go fetch water. ”

Ite's obedient reply, bending down to pick up the bucket in the corner, which was about to reach the bottom, pulled Poole and walked out.

"Hey. Brother Larry, are you in charge of the watchtower today?"

"Yes, little Ete, this is going to fetch water, be careful when you go down the steps, don't fall......"

Ite, who greeted the soldiers who poked their heads out from the top floor of the stone fort, led Poole towards the river in the distance.

It's been almost five months since they arrived, and Eater and Poole are getting used to life here. From sunrise to sunset, patrolling, training, working and guarding are the main activities of the day. Although it is on the border, the surrounding area is barren, but the usual life is still good, at least the food here is still good, even better than when I was in my hometown, Ite felt that he seemed to have gained weight significantly, but whenever he saw Poole's fat face that was obviously larger than before, his mood immediately became happy again.

Every three months, the Boulder Fortress sends a huge convoy to deliver supplies to each of the Guarded Stone Forts, which is also the time that the teenagers usually look forward to the most, because this is the only time when they can eat fresh fruits and vegetables, especially in the winter. Most of the companions in the stone castle are from the surroundings of the Boulder Fortress, and they are a group of simple and kind Lazers, and everyone is also very kind to the young people who have just arrived at It, so that the teenagers feel a little warm when they are far away from home for the first time.

Although there has been no fighting on the border for many years, small-scale harassment by orcs has occurred from time to time. In recent times, orc rangers have been more frequent on the long border, and there have been frequent raids, which has also made Captain Vincent, the current commander of the Stone Castle, worried about this apparently different phenomenon. Especially in recent months, from time to time, I can hear that a certain patrol team or guard stone castle has been attacked by orc hunters again, and how many people have been captured, such news makes Captain Vincent frown again and again, and from time to time with Esther, the oldest and most experienced in the stone castle, repeatedly discusses the real reason behind this puzzling abnormal behavior of the orcs, and Ite and Poole will sit seriously on the sidelines and listen to the two people's endless analysis and speculation at the beginning, worrying about whether this phenomenon is a harbinger of the orcs starting a war again。 But as time passed, none of Vincent and Esther's sworn speculations came true, so that the teenagers gradually lost interest in those worrying words, and soon forgot their previous worries, and continued their boring but fulfilling military camp life, and tried to find the elements that could bring happiness, and each time the supply convoy arrived, it was undoubtedly an extremely important part of these happy elements.