The weather is getting cold.
When the giant sun is in the sky, the clouds appear hazy and illusory. More and more grayish-yellow patterns appear in the sky at the turn of day and night, and the stars appear cold and bright. winter.
It is difficult for homeless people to survive such a winter.
"Red Nosed Tom" limped on the way back to the settlement with a bundle of dry firewood he had collected with great difficulty. The cold wind of the frosty moon blew from the north and rolled over the surrounding sparse forests and low hillsides. , blowing on his face, pouring into his collar, making him feel as if his whole body was soaked in a basin of cold water that was gradually cooling down.
He is a young man of only seventeen years old. According to Ansu's law, he is an adult. However, long-term malnutrition makes him as thin and short as most of his peers. From the body shape, he seems to be underage. Only the rough hair His dark face and gradually numb eyes can reveal his true age, as well as his harsh living environment.
He could already see settlements, which he said were settlements, but in fact it was a small and crude camp in the mountains and forests of the southern border. Even the camp could barely be called a camp: some low and tattered tents and piles of stones gathered here, surrounded by With a circle of the same dilapidated fences and thorns, a little bit of Tanzanian mine extending to the southeast forms a low barrier here, barely providing the most basic shelter for the poor people hiding here to resist coming from the north. The cold wind makes winter come later and people here live longer.
Tom walked into the camp carrying dry firewood, and what he saw were pairs of indifferent eyes. There were twenty-six households with one hundred and two people gathered here, but the number was one hundred and nine a few days ago. Most of the people are refugees who escaped from the Vulture Territory. A flood there made these people homeless, and the rest came from various Viscounts in the southern border. They all lost their land and sanctuary for various reasons. poor.
They wandered among cities or villages, were driven, captured, killed by local lords or local wild animals, or died of cold and hunger. The southern border was barren, and most of the land could not support more people. And for those nobles who only know how to scrape blood and sweat from the land and serfs, any refugee who wanders into his territory is a disgusting mouth that needs to eat, so the refugees can only choose to live in the wilderness in the end." settle down".
Tom found his place, which was a dilapidated small tent, which was already a very good situation, because not every family had a tent, and many people had already lost almost all their belongings in the process of exile. Sleeping in a tree root or a stone nest, wrapping in rags or a pile of weeds, Tom still has a small tent for shelter from the wind and rain, all because of his and his sister's machetes and bows Still on me.
The fire in front of the tent had been extinguished, but it was not yet night, so Tom carried the firewood into the tent, and after his eyes adjusted to the darkness inside, he saw a pair of bright eyes looking at him in the dark.
"Sister," Tom looked at the black-haired girl, "I didn't find any mushrooms, only these firewood."
The black-haired girl just stared blankly, and then suddenly said after a few seconds: "The two children of the Bohm family are starving to death."
"... oh," Tom agreed in a low voice, sat down in the dark, and said in a low voice after a few seconds, "today... is there anything to eat?"
The black-haired girl froze again, and Tom couldn't help feeling a little ominous, but after a while, the black-haired girl suddenly moved half of her body, groped for something and threw it over.
It was a small pheasant with the smell of fresh blood, but in the tent full of all kinds of peculiar smells, Tom was completely unaware of its existence.
A scrawny pheasant wasn't nearly enough to feed the siblings, especially since they could only eat one meal a day, but it still lifted Tom's spirits: better than roasted mushrooms and roasted moss , Meat can make people last longer in this increasingly cold weather. He was overjoyed: "You got something?! We don't have to be hungry today!"
"Take the hunting knife when you go out to pluck the chickens," the brunette girl said flatly, "and put it in a conspicuous place."
"Yeah!" Tom nodded vigorously, but as he got used to the darkness in the tent, he finally noticed something unusual about his sister. She was always lying in a corner in a weird posture, and her speaking strength was obviously not as good as usual. Tom leaned forward with an ominous premonition, and finally saw the blood stains near his sister's shoulder, and the arm hanging limply by her side, "Sister, are you injured?!"
"I was bitten by a wild dog and hurt my tendons," the black-haired girl's voice finally trembled, "I... can't hunt anymore."
As if a bucket of ice water was poured on his head, Tom was instantly cold from head to foot, unable to hold a knife or draw a bow. The injury to his arm meant that the only sister who could go hunting in the woods lost the ability to get food. It means that the two of them... are bound to die.
Everyone is starving, and it is impossible for anyone to help their siblings. For these people who have lost everything, even a small injury on their hands and feet and a short-term loss of labor are fatal. threaten!
What's more, people who are bitten by wild dogs are extremely susceptible to infection, and in this case, once infected, it is impossible to save them.
"I..." Tom gritted his teeth and made up his mind, "Tomorrow I will bring a bow and arrow..."
"Don't go," said the dark-haired girl forcefully, and her eyes fell on Tom's feet. "If you go, you can't come back. Hunting in the woods is not the same as gathering firewood nearby!"
Tom was not born lame, his leg was broken by the knight of the lord's house, because the knight went to the church to listen to the sermon, and the priest of the Blood God Sect said that only by breaking a man's leg with his own hands, can martial arts and Courage broke through the bottleneck, so the knight master broke Tom's leg without hesitation and compensated him with half a sack of wheat afterwards.
"I'll set traps," insisted Tom, "and I'll remember how to tell the signs of bears and wolves, and I'll go around . . . "
"But if you die outside, I will die too," the black-haired girl stared into Tom's eyes. "Go to the forest to pick up mushrooms, and look for the seeds and fruits under the roots. It's really impossible..."
What can I do if it really doesn't work? She doesn't know anymore.
Tom bit his lip, thinking hard, and finally said what he had been thinking for a long time: "We can... find the lord here..."
"Have you forgotten how everyone was driven away in the Carroll Territory?" The black-haired girl said sternly, "It's a frosty month, no farming, and a month when it's difficult to hunt. Even a mouth!"
"Then..." Tom thought about it again, and said hesitantly, "Maybe the mine needs slaves. The lord of Tanzan Town has a big mine. Even in Frost Moon, the mine still needs slave labor..."
"Can you be a slave laborer?" The black-haired girl stared at Tom's legs. "I can't work now, and neither can you. Even if they want slaves, they don't want us!"
"Then how about going further south? I heard that the south of the Baishui River is the newly developed territory of the Cecil family. There should be a shortage of people working in such a place... I can at least tan leather."
"Don't think about it," the dark-haired girl finally sighed, her eyes leaning back on the moldy haystack blankly, "noble gentlemen... are all the same..."
Once again the howling wind blew from the north, sweeping through the bleak and impoverished camp.
Hunger and cold made people stop their only activities of the day, and everyone curled up in their tents or haystacks, in this way to minimize the loss of physical strength and heat, and in the process, the camp gradually became quiet.
But outside the camp, in the slightly denser woods, some swaying shadows were gathering.
They were armed with various but exceptionally sophisticated weapons, without any uniform marks on their bodies. They gathered in groups in the mountains and forests, staring at the small settlement through the trees and the night.
Like a hyena watching its prey in the dark, eyes full of greed and hunger.
…
In Cecil's lord's tent, Gawain received Philip's report.
"A refugee gathering point? In the north of Baishui River, in the forest on the east side of Tanzania Mine?"
"Yes, my lord," the young knight nodded, "Knight Byron was supposed to report to you, but he was exploring the ruins in the mountains, so the news was transferred to me."
Gao Wen put down the dip pen in his hand: "How big is the scale? Have you sent someone to contact it?"
At the same time, he felt a surge of excitement: after opening up information channels everywhere, the investigators finally began to discover those hidden refugee settlements!
"The scale is small, about a hundred people, but it is possible to contact other refugee settlements through them," Philip Knight replied, "but our people haven't contacted them yet... because it's a bit troublesome."
"Trouble?" Gawain frowned.
"Some armed men of unknown origin are operating near that settlement. I'm afraid they are mercenary 'slave catchers' waiting to attack," Philip showed a hint of disgust on his face. "According to the news that came back, those armed men Excellent, it is certain that there are extraordinary professions, and there may even be one or two spellcasters in charge, but the level is unknown."
"Multiple extraordinary people are in charge?" Gao Wen was a little surprised, "The strength of this mercenary team is not bad."
Knight Philip nodded: "My lord, what should I do?"
"Of course... to bring back the people who should be protected by the Cecil family," Gawain smiled, "The mountains, plains, jungles and rivers to the east of the Tanzania Mine and south of the nobles' lands are all untouchable. The land of the Lord, in this area to the south, as long as there is no owner, it belongs to the Cecil family!" 8)