Taking out his fingers stirring in the crockpot, the wizard pulled a gray-brown linen cloth out of the gap in the rudimentary wooden table. The worn-out fabric was so soft and smooth that it took a few wipes for the young wizard to clean the viscous liquid from it.

He tossed the pungent piece of cloth into a wooden tub filled with all sorts of dirt, and washed his hands in the cold, cold water on the other side. The dirty black immediately stained the water, but when the wizard took his hand out, the jet-black painted on his nails showed no tendency to fade.

"Good night, Mage Slaughter. Is there anything wrong?" The wizard casually kicked the apprentice out, then pulled the saucer from the corner of the table against the wall. The brown clay pot contains sporadic hot gruel, and a few rye grains float in the middle of the thin soup, which makes the hunter strengthen his convictions.

"Does it have anything to do with this caravan?" the wizard lowered his head until the wooden spoon in his right hand sent the porridge into his mouth. Hungry, he sucked the soup into his stomach, then used his yellow teeth to grind the still hard rye kernels into his throat.

"It's really related to them. Riga said as she rubbed the beard on her chin with her thick palms and tried not to look at the rye porridge. "The balding Terran, he seems to know the chief very well. ”

"So what? Do you think those greedy guys will give up any chance of earning steel coins?" the wizard paused with the wooden spoon raised to his mouth. After the soup dripped and shattered the reflection on the porridge noodles, he put down the spoon and squirmed his mouth to clean his mucus-stained beard.

"What if he could earn more?" Rega sighed as she interrupted the wizard's movements. "The Morton mercenaries left a lot of things in the camp, and now they are all with the chief. ”

"As soon as he convinces Kasa to wait a few days, the people of the tribe will be angry with hunger and will finally throw this most scorching flame on us. ”

"Aren't those Terrans afraid of being torn apart by our warriors?" the wizard angrily pushed the dish away. The violent movement caused a few drops of soup to drip off the rim of the saucer, quickly seeping into the wide table that smelled of rotting wood. "Everything will be ours then. ”

"He's sure we won't. But Riga then gave an answer that the wizard would not admit. "Unless the chiefs don't stop it, or make the tribe taboo for these smugglers. ”

"So what can we do? Hirag, please give me some instructions. The wizard retracted his shoulders in a decadent manner, like a large finch with broken wings. "We can't give power back to Spain, he will lead the tribe to its demise. ”

"We have no other way. Riga placed the bronze hammer on the ground behind him. Thick fingers moved over the intricately twisted pattern until the hammer handle was out of his grasp. Thankfully, there was no floor in the room, otherwise the heavy sledgehammer would have bent the floor. "The chieftain, who has escaped his illness, is still as strong as ever. ”

The sorcerer's eyes reflected the hammer, a symbol of the chieftain's power, but he finally gave up. "Well, hopefully he'll have plenty of food for his people. ”

Spring had begun with a long sleep, and the next day, when Riga opened his eyes from the wooden bed, the warm rays of the sun were already able to seep through the chimneys of the roof, casting shadows as mottled on the walls as the patterns of animal skins.

Stretching her legs and arms hard, Riga squeaked and cried to her feet. Melting snow leaves the air with a damp moisture, and the fur smells fishy and scratching when it gets wet. Removing the cloak from the wooden nails on the wall, Riga quickly put on the same cave lion skin with the same strong smell.

The camp had woken up from its slumber, though hunger had made it wake up late. The sporadic clansmen gathered around the caravan, the mercenaries were feeding the horses, and the large sacks of rye taken from the wagons were grabbed and stuffed into the mouths of the sturdy Lucius fast-paced horses, making the Quaids on the side impatient.

"Hi, Terran. I'm going to trade, to trade fur for food. The seductive aroma made one of the warriors unable to resist it, and he rushed straight towards the merchant's house, with a loud roar in his mouth. But two mercenaries stood in front of him, "Sorry, friend. The Casa only agrees to make large deals, and you should get your wizard or chieftain. ”

The two muscly bodies pressed against the warrior so hard that he could only stop. Seeing the mercenary's hands already on the hilt of his sword, the Quid finally took a sip and turned to the wizard's house. At this time, the wizard was sitting opposite Sparin. Between them was a small, four-legged pine table, and the scent of fresh wood wafted through the room, easing the stalemate.

"Hammer of power?" the chieftain looked at the weapon with a smile in his eyes, and finally he whispered. "Hirag bless, what are you going to do here?"

"The wounds you suffered in the war have healed. The wizard replied with his face hidden in a dark hood. The shadows made it impossible for Sparin to see his face, but he could imagine the wizard's expression. "This hammer of power should be in your hands, and Riga is only a temporary one. ”

Slowly extending his arm, the chief brushed his fingers over the hammer. The soft fingers brushed the uneven pattern, and Spa couldn't help but itch and lifted it up.

"Then I should do my duty as a chief. The chieftain, who had regained his grip on the hammer, was so pleased that he took the initiative to ask the question that the wizard had been waiting for. "Casa agreed to sell us all the food he brought, but at a slightly higher price. ”

"Is it more expensive than yesterday's? less than a bushel of steel? we can't stand it!" the wizard tapped the bottom of his bone staff on the floor, and a sound almost roared from his mouth. "Our people have not yet planted the poutante fruit, and there is a three-month gap in between. ”

"I didn't want to say yes. But the chief went on to explain why. "But he showed a notice, and even I thought it was worth as much as a hundred bushels of rye. Spain twitched his beard excitedly, and finally remembered to pull out a piece of parchment folded into a cylinder from his bosom. The friction of the movement and the cloak had crumpled the thin paper, but the wizard finally recognized the words on it.

The words on the paper were written in lingua franca, so the wizard quickly read the contents of the notice in a low voice. "In the name of Smike, the god of war, invite the warriors of the Quaid tribe. ”

"This is a mercenary recruitment order. The wizard replied to the chief with delight, and then he read out the terms that followed. This includes commissions, equipment that the other side can provide, and the distribution of loot. The last thing to read out was the name of the Terran who had issued the recruitment order, and it was also painted with a beautiful dragon-shaped fire paint on it.

"Sebstan, the flame of the dragon, the dragon Yinus. The wizard solemnly read the name, and then explained with some trembling: "The Grand Duke of the Principality of Dragoninus, a powerful dragon warlock capable of destroying an army. ”

ps: Thank you for the reward from the book friend Wing Xuexue. If you have something to do today, try to code as many words as possible tomorrow.