After three rounds of drinking, the more they drank, the more they felt, and they began to talk about the old things in their hometown. Locke saw that Uncle Joshak was thinking of his two sons, and his words were full of teaching Locke how to behave. Locke was also very touched by Uncle Joshak's friendship, and frequently regarded himself as a junior and toasted Uncle Joshak. Locke also had an impression of Uncle Joshak's two sons. When he first joined the army, his eldest son inherited Uncle Joshak's blacksmith shop, and the younger son was still a handyman in the blacksmith shop. But it was this young man who created Locke's first weapon, a dagger.

The dagger had no wooden handle, only a rough linen wrapped around the end of the knife, and the dagger was small and thin, which he had always hidden in his boots. This short dagger also has a story.

When he secretly came to join the army at the age of 14, he only brought this short dagger, and at that time, a half-grown boy with a big dagger came to join the army, which became the laughing and talking point after the dinner at the training camp in Mine Town. Originally, he couldn't join the army without the recommendation of his relatives, but Locke had been familiar with the face in the mining town since he was a child, and Joshak, who was the captain of the second squad of the town's military camp, recognized Little Locke, the former blacksmith who had seen Little Locke, in fact, there were more than 1,000 people in this town, plus the attached villages. There were not many people, and everyone looked down and didn't look up. Except for half of the women, and the remaining more than half of the old and weak, there are only two or three hundred young adults who can join the army.

And Locke's dagger was still made by his son, Joshak Jr., and he recognized it at a glance. Locke secretly came to join the army when his parents didn't know, only his sister knew, in that hot night, Locke secretly got up, took his linen clothes, put on straw sandals and left their thatched hut, maybe his sister knew his brother, or maybe it was the hairy Locke who woke up his sister, and when Locke had just left not far away, in the night, his sister Leah chased after him and caught up with Locke.

She knew in her heart why her younger brother had to leave secretly, he wanted to earn money to do something for the family, he was going to join the army! In order not to let the family starve to death in the drought, in order not to let himself be sold to a merchant, her younger brother decided to go secretly when his parents were against joining the army, once he was admitted to the army, he could not leave without permission! Unless he became a deserter, this was impossible, his family was still here. Therefore, even if their parents know about it afterwards, they can only accept this reality, and the younger brother can have a military salary after joining the army and going to the front line, the father is too old and in poor health to respond to the baron's call to join the army, only the younger brother's age is just right, for the sake of this family, the younger brother decided to fight with his life.

Looking at this stubborn brother, Locke's sister Leah couldn't help but cry, she cried so much that tears soaked the emaciated girl's face. 14-year-old Locke has a drive and a ruthlessness, he is not afraid of anything and can endure everything, but he can't see his sister crying. He loved his sister more than he loved himself. Under Locke's helpless comfort and persuasion, Leah gradually stopped crying, but the tears in the corners of her eyes made the malnourished and emaciated girl even more feminine. She looked at her brother, turned over every corner of his body, and took out more than 20 copper deler, which was all Leah's money, and she said to Locke in a daze, come back alive!

Locke took more than 20 copper Dele, which his sister had given him, walked all night, and arrived at the mine town in the early morning. He used the only money to go to the blacksmith shop in the mining town, hoping to build a handy weapon, but the owner of the blacksmith shop, the eldest son of Uncle Joshak, told him that the money could not even afford a sword hilt, and just as Locke left the blacksmith shop disappointed, a child his size rushed out of the blacksmith shop, and he either sympathized with it or wanted to make some extra money, and he said to Locke, "20 copper Dele, use the copper ore and iron ore left over from the hoe to make you a dagger, is it a deal?" and then pointed to two or three inconspicuous stones at the door of the blacksmith shop.

Locke looked at the pile of yellow-brown and crimson stones smaller than his fist, and after some struggle, he could only reluctantly agree, after all, he didn't know the situation in the barracks, and he had to have a handful of guys, otherwise he would join the army and be cannon fodder?

So Locke had his first weapon, a dagger without a scabbard or a hilt. Locke carried this short dagger, which was not much bigger than the palm of his hand, and joined the army by the standard of just reaching the age line. The next day Locke's parents hurriedly took his sister to the town, looking at the training of Locke with everyone in the barracks, the old Locke and his wife could only sigh with tears in their eyes, and accepted this reality, which is also the sorrow of poor civilians, under natural disasters, the role of manpower is minimal, not to mention their family of generations of civilians, they left Locke three big chestnut cakes, Locke knew that this was made by his parents with all the food left in the house... For the next six months, they may only be able to eat the bark.

Locke's sister untied the linen wrapped in her long hair and handed it to Locke, and still said to him, "Come back alive!" In the evening, Locke's sister supported her parents, who had aged a lot throughout the day, and walked back to Maple Leaf Village. Locke clutched the fragrant linen in his hand and carefully put it away, ready to wrap it around the dagger and let it carry his sister's love for him and fight with him.

Looking at the back of his parents and sister leaving, Locke vowed to come back alive. Since then, Locke has started his two-month military camp training life, he has been training desperately with the captain on the training ground, age is his disadvantage and his advantage, and he recovers faster than the average adult. It was also at that time that he discovered that his neighbor, Hans Jr., who had been playing with him, had also joined the army, but he had joined the army to have his stomach fed. After two months of training, Locke and the others went to the battlefield.

This short dagger is a true portrayal of Locke when he first joined the army, immature but sharp, young and full of vitality. Locke's dagger bears witness to Locke's passing between life and death, and after the inferior iron sword issued by the army broke in the first battle, he used this dagger to kill his first enemy. A 14 or 5-year-old servant of the Charlotte Kingdom who was about the same age as himself, Locke vomited for a whole day after that battle. However, after that battle, Locke captured a spear and a pair of boots that were not very good quality.

In the subsequent battles, Locke's weapons broke and changed, and changed and broken, until they became the equipment they are today, but his dagger did not break, maybe he was well maintained, maybe it was because Yoshak's youngest son was very skilled, and his dagger grew with him. Now that the linen wrapped in the hilt of the knife had faded to a blood-red color, both his blood and the blood of his enemies, Locke often took out his short dagger and looked at it, and from the rough roll of linen, Locke seemed to smell his sister's hair again.

The ale reminded Uncle Joshak of his son, and Locke of the origin of his dagger, of his sister, and of his parents. The two of them drank one cup after another, and the second bottle was immediately bottomed out. The ale at the Green Palm Tavern tastes average, but it has some stamina, and two bottles of ale won't get the two of them drunk, but they will also make them sentimental.

After drinking the last glass of ale, Uncle Yoshak suggested leaving, it was indeed not early, it was almost time for dinner, the Green Palm Tavern did not provide food, they had to go back to the camp, Uncle Yoshak had to go back to the barracks to eat with the baron, and Locke and they would also have patrol duty at night. "Uncle, let's go. Locke got up and helped Uncle Joshak pick up his civilian clothes.

After walking out of the private room, the mood of the two was still dull because of homesickness, Yoshak deserved to be an old fritter, quickly adjusted his mood, and made a joke with Locke to liven up the atmosphere, "You kid is 18 years old, won't you still be a virgin, I think the proprietress of this bar is good" said and squeezed a smile at Locke.

"Uncle, don't be joking, people can still look up to me? Locke was also amused by this joke, and his sad mood was diluted a lot, he didn't know much about the bar owner, but a person who can understand the big picture early on is not easy to think.

"Hey, a speculator, clown. Can the Baron look at him squarely?" Uncle Joshak obviously knew the barkeeper well, and this opinion should be more than him. Hey, poor fellow. Locke sighed in his heart at the barkeeper he had never met. It seems that the high-level leaders of the battalion are not interested in this guy who surrendered early. Then Locke remembered the charm of the proprietress again, perhaps due to the influence of alcohol, and his heart suddenly became hot.

Locke was indeed not a virgin, and in his second year in the army, he was promoted to private after narrowly escaping death in a larger battle. At that time, in addition to sending money to his family every month, Locke also saved some spare money, and it was during that time that he went to the quartermaster camp at the instigation of his comrades-in-arms to solve his first problem. Perhaps because he was still a child at heart, he was most interested in women older than him. Of course, he won't admit that he has this plot. In fact, Locke subconsciously thinks that the most beautiful woman he meets is his sister, but every time he has this thought, he forces himself to calm down and slaps himself.