1. Immature dreams (1)

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Why is the world so cruel?

The little boy cried inexplicably, and the female, who looked like a mother, was stunned for a moment, then crouched down and asked the crying child what had happened. So much so that you think of heavy questions.

The cause is not complicated, it is a story that begins with an injured bird.

During a play, the boy accidentally picked up an injured bird.

It was the first time for a boy born in the countryside to see such a beautiful bird, with a layer of gold-rimmed feathers rolling around the edge of the emerald green and blue feathers, orange-yellow claws like amber, and a small red beak that shuttled between the feathers with its nimble neck, and from time to time made a soft and melodious cry.

The boy judged that the bird had accidentally broken its wings, and out of kindness and compassion, began to take care of the injured little one.

At first, the bird was full of fear and resistance to the boy, pecking and scratching all over the boy's hands, and the wheat, insects, and water that lay beside him did not move.

Perhaps the wild animal has a strong instinctive resistance to humans, or perhaps because its injuries may be due to humans, the beautiful bird refuses the boy's alms.

Generally, in this case, the child either gives up and continues to waste his efforts and allows this stupid bird who does not know what to do to fend for itself, or asks other children or adults in the family to discuss countermeasures.

The boy did not do so, and the 5-year-old felt that it was tantamount to admitting defeat and that he was unable to care for even a helpless bird.

Relying on a lot of strength, he persevered.

Trying to observe and adjust the approach without arousing the bird's war, with perseverance and hard work, the bird finally accepted him and his treatment, and after a few weeks he regained his health.

At that time, the mother silently watched her son play with the birds through the cracks in the window, and did not reveal the child's little secrets.

That's a good thing.

Whether it is the son's cousin or the little bird who is willing to get close to his son, it is a good thing for both.

Why, then, did the boy cry out in sorrow, because his beloved bird had abandoned him and flown back to the sky and the jungle where he belonged?

The answer is not far from the guess, it's just that the version of the ending of the story makes it harder for the boy to accept.

The wound-healing bird flew into the sky and chirped happily above the boy's head. The boy who felt the joy of success smiled and waved his tender little hand at the bird.

The shadows shone in the shade, the claws seized the bird, the fierce eagle and the prey flew up like lightning, and the boy shouted and threw out the stones, but he did not even catch the feathers of the eagle. The boy, whose body is far from developing, stumbles after the bird of prey that has taken away his playmate.

Hearing this, the mother already understood where the scratches on the boy's clothes came from.

At this point, mothers who are not very good-tempered will be in a hurry to reprimand their children for being ignorant, not to mention soiling and torning their clothes for a bird, and returning with a wound, and even worse, chasing mountain eagles is also extremely dangerous for adults. Mothers who encounter hot spots should be looking for a rolling pin or a broom to start an education of violence and love.

The mother did not reprimand her son's dangerous actions, and caressed the wounds, whether blue or red, and waited for the following.

I don't know how many thorns I was scratched and stung, I can't remember how many times I fell, I don't care how far I ran and how tired I was, the boy chased the mountain eagle to the nest of the cliff where he could not continue to take a step.

Separated by a distance that could never be crossed except by wings and magic, the boy witnesses the end of his beloved bird. ...,

The carcass of a bird that died in its claws was torn into pieces, and the whole process of being lovingly fed by the mother of the mountain eagle to the chicks with pink bodies and eyes that had not yet been opened, and the young eagles who opened their mouths to compete for the flesh were like naughty children waiting for a festive meal.

The boy who looked at this qiē realized and realized.

In addition to the beautiful and happy side of the world, there is also a barbaric and unreasonable side.

Birds peck at insects to fill their stomachs or feed their young, while eagles hunt birds to raise their young.

No one is wrong, they all only survive according to the laws of nature in the world, and living beings can only survive by plundering and eating other life.

After watching the bloody expression of maternal love, watching the playmate-like birds become the food for the growth of the eagle and not being able to do anything, and recognizing the unkind and unreasonable side of nature, the boy naturally had doubts.

-- Why is the world so cruel, and why does the Mother Goddess create all beings without allowing everyone to live happily and peacefully? Since the omniscient and all-powerful Mother Goddess exists, and since the Mother Goddess is full of love for the world and life she created, she didn't fail to do so, right?

Faced with this question about the beginning, the most basic, including innocence and anger of life, the mother could not give a clear answer, and could only complain that she could not fool the child with the sophistry of "life as a creature cannot speculate on the unpredictable mind of the mother god" like a monk.

Not to mention the wild nature, the most fundamental and core basic law that builds a [civilized] intelligent society is also the same simple principle.

[The Jungle of the Jungle].

The only truth that life as a part of nature can never resist, the cruel truth that will be swallowed up by those who disobey or question it.

If you want to survive in a harsh natural environment that is not kind to life, you have to work hard, and it is normal to eat or be eaten. The boy's father and neighboring uncles raised livestock and hunted birds and animals to fill the boy's belly and other children's stomachs, so that everyone could live happily.

The boy didn't say it, but the perceptive mother caught the shapeless questions and fears churning in her son's heart.

-- Is living such a sinful thing?

This question brought the boy an unprecedented sense of horror, and the despair of not being able to find the answer and seeing no way out made him cry and find his mother for help.

It can be said that this kid thinks too much, or it can be said that he is too smart to get into the tip of the horns.

The mother wiped away the tears from the edge of the boy's red and swollen eyes and stroked her son's little head.

There is no standard answer to this question that is too large and small for adults, not for the clergy who can communicate with the gods, not for the learned great magician, and for the nobles and kings of the most powerful.

The mother gave the boy an unexpectedly ambiguous statement:

"Because there is still room for improvement in the world, no matter how unreasonable and cruel the status quo is, everyone has to fight to survive and then improve those cruel and unreasonable parts. ”

The boy nodded as if he didn't understand, implanted a ray of light in his heart that his mother had pointed out, and then painted the first ideal in his life.

[I want to work hard so that everyone can live in peace and happiness in the world. 】

Hruodland.d'arc made such a wish after he was first exposed to the mysteries of existence and the cruelty of the world.

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"Lola, Lola, hell, Lola, where are you hiding!"

The little girl was running around on her feet, her lips that could be tied to the oil bottle and the red fluttering smile that swelled like some angry fish. ...,

[A little kid like a doll.] 】

The long-haired boy from the countryside couldn't help but look at the anxious little girl who was turning around, working diligently and seriously, like children as much as he did, and was a little spoiled, far from reaching the level of sexual fetish.

The girl may be looking for a playmate who plays hide and seek, judging from the helpless children behind her, only the last and most cunning one remains.

Leaning against the tree and looking at the children who were still puffing up for their hidden playmates, the young man shook his head and prepared to move on to important work, muttering to himself:

"Lola, Lola...... Is it a girl's name?"

"What did you say?"

There was a sound of fire overhead, and the young man couldn't help but look overhead.

"It's a man......"

The chestnut boy, clinging to the branches like a wild cat, using the cover of greenery to avoid searching, was frowning his fresh eyebrows, and his tone of confrontation fell from above.

"It's a man...... Can't you?"

"Sorry, just ......"

"Found you!

Noticing the movement under the fir tree, the little girl ran to the bottom of the tree and pointed at the wild cat boy and shouted.

"Chole, how many times have you said it!It's Roland, it's not Lola!!"

The cat-like boy in the eyes of the long-haired boy jumped neatly from under the tree, angrily correcting the little girl's slurred or intentional mistakes, and sticking out his tongue and making a grimace at the culprit who had killed him.

"It's all your fault, I was caught. ”

The boy named Roland has ended his four-game winning streak this month, and the hidden hideout has been exposed, and there should be a losing streak before a new hideout is discovered.

――Not only does her name look like a girl, but she also looks like her.

Looking at the boy in front of him who was trying his best to move out of his manhood and dressed in a country naughty atmosphere, he reorganized his heart a few times and still got an image of [a girl who forced herself into men's clothes], and the young man from other places laughed helplessly.

"I'm sorry that Maximilian Hubert Tyre failed to defend his title for his unintentional offense. ”

He tried his best to imitate aristocratic etiquette and apologize to the boy, but the etiquette training received by the long-haired boy was far more refined than the pompous and cumbersome, and the reluctant non-standard etiquette couldn't help but make the puffed little boy laugh, and with a fox-like smile, the boy who was still frustrated just now laughed.

It is the characteristics of boys who can't be coquettish like girls and don't worry about outsiders finding their parents or something, and peasant families like boys, and there are not many who are pampered. Restricted by material conditions and the large number of children in the family, rural children are relatively wild, and they have no scruples about talking and laughing.

"Stranger, where are you from?

Knowledge of etiquette and the like stopped at the use of honorific words, and Roland scratched the back of his head and asked as an adult. His always accurate instincts told him that this stranger, who was about the same age as the son of the village blacksmith, was a passer-by he could trust.

"It's said to be going out alone...... I'm part of a caravan from Agen Toraton, and it's still wandering behind. ”

"So you're the first to book a room at an inn, and those who just entered the village are your companions, right?"

"You know a lot. ”

"That guy wears the same dark olive green clothes as you, so I think you're all in this together. ”

After a pause, Roland shouted as if he had something important.

"Yes! That's the uniform of V.E! You're from V.E!"

The long-haired boy from the countryside squatted down and asked a group of children who had suddenly come to their senses:

"Are we that famous?"

"Because your garments have buttons with wings!"

The children laughed together and gave the expected answer.

After the establishment of the ultra-high-speed development of the upstart - V.E Foundation Co., Ltd.

Founded less than 5 years ago, it should not be too well-known compared to the big trading companies in the industry that rely on their background, strength, and deep history, but it is a household name that can be a big success in a short period of time.

The impressive button-down uniform is one of them.

For example, V.E. has never done so in a way that uniforms employees from different departments and classes have been modified to wear different colors on top of a basic uniform. What's more, in the social environment where pullovers, blouses, long pullovers, and dresses are the mainstream, lapels, lapels, 3 pockets, 3 buttons, and waist-to-hip uniforms will definitely make people who have seen it once remember that unique costume deeply.

The boy named Roland suddenly remembered that the rumored uniforms of V.E were mostly black or white.

This out-of-town tourist was dressed in grass green, with a switch collar, a concealed row of 7 buttons, 4 digging bags, and a bag lid. The pine green rectangular squares with two thin gold bars and a star-shaped emblem on the open neckline released a faint solemn atmosphere, more or less, Roland felt a little uncomfortable with this uniform.

"What do you wear from V.E?"

The question of the unscrupulous Tong Yan was raised, and the young cadre of V.E Company smiled bitterly, lowered his voice and said:

"This is the training uniform of the caravan guard, I am a guard. ”

"Guards?hahahahaha...... Big brother is a guard?!!!!"

The children laughed together, and Roland also felt that this was really unreliable.

Bodoe is one of the more remote rural villages in Nordland, and there are no accurate statistics on the number of foreigners who pass through it during the year, and the rough estimate is roughly the same as the population of the village, including many horse-drawn wagons from Charlemagne's transit to the cities of Lapland, many of which are called "guards".

A tall and strong man who looks like a bear, a man whose face and body are covered with scars, and a man whose body smells of sweat, alcohol, and unknown body odor.

The armed group promoted by the above-mentioned dangerous and rough guys fits the villagers' image of the [caravan guard] as a professional group.

Smiling like a fox, and looking a little stronger than his peers, the boy said he was a guard?

"If the big brother is a guard, it must be the mother goddess who is about to wake up!"

Chloe, a slurred little girl, shouted, and the children laughed and echoed. After the peasant woman chatting at the entrance of the village heard clearly what was going on here, although she felt that it was a little disrespectful to joke about the mother goddess, she only laughed it off in the countryside where the faith was relatively unreligious. Immediately, the women joined in the laughter and teasing.

Only two men were not in the laughing line.

The out-of-town teenager who claimed to be the guard of V.E Company shrugged his shoulders and looked helpless, which was obviously the result of some numbness after the reaction to people was commonplace. Keeping his eyes out of the crowd and staring at one place with interest, he looked at the other unsmiling unsmiling unfollower.

That funny boy named Roland.

Along the way, every time I reported my identity, it would indiscriminately trigger laughter from the audience, and they laughed and laughed, and there was no other reaction.

What was the confused kid thinking? Was it a reaction to the adults, or was he skeptical of the veracity of his identity? Maybe his omnipotent boss would know.

"Report!"

The call full of youthful vigor and military atmosphere broke through the laughter barrier, and his appearance and height were smaller than that of the long-haired boy, and several flat-headed teenagers wearing the same style of clothing trotted around the crowd to their companions. Leaning on the legs, standing upright, raising the right arm to the same height as the shoulder, the five fingers of the right hand together and slightly turning outward, and slightly touching the temples, the strange salute made the villagers inexplicable, and at the same time, they also felt the sense of rectification that had been cultivated through strict training. ...,

"How?"

With the same strange gesture in return, the long-haired boy's tone changed to the stern resoluteness that had not been shown in the previous chat, and the pressure of authority was clearly released from the resolute expression of the faded smile.

"The hotels and inns in the village are not able to accommodate the convoy, and the roads in the village are not eligible, so we have to stay outside the village for supplies. ”

"Wrap up. ”

Without further ado, the slick and concise boys of the V.E Company, as if they had been forged from metal, untied their mounts under the trees under the strange and wary gaze of the villagers, and left.

"Well-trained guards...... No, it should be a soldier. ”

The powerful, rough palm rests on the shoulder, and the calloused touch is progressed through the thin rag. Roland raised his head, and his father, who came by at some point, looked at the dust that stretched like a road in the distance, and the chin covered with hard stubble dripped a slight tightness that made Roland feel uncomfortable.

The other party is a guard, but also a well-trained soldier.

If my father said so, it must be true.

V.E was just a trading company, so why did they hire soldiers who were so young, and what did they want to do in the countryside?

The housewives who were reacting uneasily to this problem, which was destined to be insoluble for a short time, and at the same time instinctively perceiving that it was best not to touch it, returned home with their children, and the father looked at the dusty dirt road, patted Roland on the shoulder, and said with a smile:

"Go home. ”

In a few moments, the guests will come to the door, and the small inn run by the family will be open.

Roland, who hadn't heard the merchants sing or introduce all kinds of anecdotes for a long time, couldn't help but look forward to what kind of novel and interesting stories the V.E company's caravan would bring, judging from the long-haired big brother just now, they should be polite, easy to talk, and good customers who pay happily.

It was precisely because of the considerable anticipation that Roland was incomprehensible, and for a moment, the smile on his father's face did not seem to be happy.

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Small theatre time

Brunhill: There's a new character, and he's still a cute boy.

Li Lin: yes, yes, finally a cute boy has appeared.

Brunhill: What's the matter, sir, aren't you already with Lord Nidhogg, and why do you look forward to the cute boy of humanity?

Li Lin: What is the Zhengtai of 750+...... That's not a game to be seen, it's a horror movie...... It's more attractive when it's only in human form......

Brunhill: ...... Why do you want to step on dead cockroaches and bed bugs with anger rushing to your head?

Li Lin: (---b) That's an illusion, it must be an illusion. Well, today's prize quiz is the geographical name, in addition to the reward for the correct book friends can be rewarded with 15 points, welcome all book friends to actively participate, please explain the prototype of the following country names in this book - Albion, Charlemagne, Castile, Lapland, United Principality of Rus'. Please do your best to answer!