Sin City

spring. This is a joyful season. After a long cold winter, people can finally start a new year without having to endure the severe cold. Food is easier to obtain and the variety is slowly becoming richer. Therefore, when winter turns to spring, it is the most important festival of the year. Not only humans, but also dwarves, orcs, elves and even ogres all hold their most important celebrations in spring. Of course, the world is so complex that there are always exceptions, such as the residents of the underground world, for whom spring has almost no meaning. Exceptions can be developed to extremes, such as the Snow Demon. What this race hates most is spring. Regardless, spring is always a joy for most humans. When the warm and moist air flow arduously crosses the coastal mountains and reaches the village of Russelan, the people in the village know that spring has arrived again. Ruthelan is located at the foot of the Coast Mountains. It is an inconspicuous small point in this huge mountain range that stretches thousands of miles. It is also one of tens of thousands of human settlements. This place belongs to the Baron of Tucker and is also the territory of the Holy Alliance Empire. But even in terms of straight-line distance, Baron Tucker's castle is nearly three hundred kilometers away from here. The baron's tax collector is only seen by the people in the village every autumn during the harvest. Only at this time did the lord have a negligible sense of existence. The baron's tax was very light, and he only collected some local products unique to the mountains. It had little impact on the daily life of the villagers. However, the village's output is limited. If the tax impact is greater, it will involve survival issues. Life in the mountains is actually not difficult, as long as you work hard for a year. As soon as spring arrives, the land outside the village needs to be plowed and planted with food that can be harvested in the summer. Hunters began to enter the forest. At this time, the monsters deep in the forest that had been hungry for the whole winter gradually woke up and began to look for food. They become very dangerous and aggressive. However, some special products of Warcraft, such as certain glands that can be used as precious medicinal materials or spices, can only be sold at the highest price when they are in the best quality at this time. At this season every year, hunters will suffer casualties, but every year hunters will go into the mountains as usual. Therefore, in Rutheran Village, the goddess of forest and hunting has the most faith. You must know that, except for the Eternal Dragon, there are as many gods and faiths on the continent of Norland as there are stars above our heads. The continent of Noland is a land with abundant products, a land that advocates strength, and a land with strict hierarchy. Even a remote and peaceful village like Russelan is deeply marked by the times. The villagers are simple and sincere, but they also respect the strong and despise the weak. There are only a few dozen households in a small village, but there is also an obvious hierarchy. A small figure appeared outside the village. He was a boy, carrying a basket about the same height as himself, filled with breadfruit. In spring, when the winter reserves have been basically exhausted and new crops have not yet been harvested, this fruit, which does not taste very good, is a very important food ration. It's easy to get, just go to the woods next to the village and pick it up. Behind the little boy, three teenagers who were a full head taller than him appeared together. They were carrying hunting bows with short forks in their hands, and daggers in their waists. They carried deer, rabbits and other prey behind their backs. Although they are less than ten years old, they are still able to go hunting in the mountains. Of course, their prey is not Warcraft, but some tame animals, and their hunting method mainly relies on traps, but this is no longer easy. Most of the civilians and aristocratic children in the towns were still studying and practicing under the wings of their parents at this time. The leading boy suddenly shouted loudly: "Hey, Richard, where is your father? Didn't he teach you how to hunt? When I was your age, I had already gone into the mountains to set traps and catch rabbits by myself!" A boy next to him smiled in agreement and said, "Children without fathers only know how to pick up fruit!" The three big boys laughed, passed the little boy, and ran toward the village. They walked easily, and it was not obvious that each of them was carrying dozens of kilograms of prey. The little boy ignored the ridicule and continued walking towards the village carrying his basket. A middle-aged man sitting at the entrance of the village had already seen everything. He waved to the little boy and called him over. Then he put a piece of dried Monster meat into the boy's hand and rubbed it lovingly. He turned his head and asked: "Little Richard, aren't you angry when Piru and the others bully you like this? I'll teach them a lesson later. Even if they are children, they shouldn't speak too much." Unexpectedly, the little boy shook his head and said, "No, I'm not angry." "But..." The man scratched his hair with his rough, dark hands. It was a little hard to understand. He thought he was afraid of those big boys, so he couldn't help but want to say a few words. Children in the mountains can lack everything but courage. Unexpectedly, the little boy smiled and said: "Although I don't have a father, I have the best mother!" After hearing this, the man could only continue to scratch his head, smile naively, and say: "That's it, that's it." The little boy hummed a song and skipped toward the village, carrying a big basket on his back. At this time, the little gloom in Little Richard's heart had already been swept away, and he became happy again. Because his mother told him that no matter what time, he should make himself happy. This year, little Richard was six years old. At the age of six, he learned to be happy. The middle-aged man's name is Bobby. He is the blacksmith in the village, and the boy's mother is said to be a magic apprentice. When she came to Russelan Village alone, little Richard in her arms was still in his infancy. That is a woman who is not very beautiful in appearance, but is as gentle as water. Her arrival brought a whole new atmosphere to the small village of Russelan. For the first time, there was a doctor in the village. For minor illnesses and pains, there was no need to go to a town dozens of kilometers away to see a doctor, or simply endure it. , wait for it to heal naturally. Her name was Elaine, and she opened a small pharmacy near the village. Although she could only make the most rudimentary medicines, she saved the lives of more than one villager in the first year. Therefore, the village chief and elders decided to allocate a piece of land to Elaine and officially accept her as a member of Russelan. In the small village of Russelan, the majority of hunters are hunters, and there are only three professionals, namely the blacksmith, Elaine who is also a doctor, and the village chief who is a retired non-commissioned officer. These three people support the operation of the entire village. Life in Rutheran Village is calm and slow. Time passes unconsciously, and in the blink of an eye, it is a new spring again. Little Richard has grown more than ten centimeters taller and looks about the same as an eight or nine-year-old child. According to the tradition of Russelan Village, he should have learned to make and lay traps to hunt rabbits and other small herbivorous monsters. In a forest not far from Russelan Village, there are many small monsters of this kind, while large monsters are almost nowhere to be seen. That was the reservation where the village children were trained. The hunters never hunt the small animals there, but they will patrol it regularly to clean up the large and dangerous monsters that occasionally come in deep in the forest. But every few days, little Richard would still go up the mountain carrying a basket. The basket on his back no longer looks out of proportion, but it shows that he is still picking up fruit. Breadfruit is not delicious, and it is everywhere on the mountain. People in the village prefer delicious monster meat. Even if you don't consider the taste, eating it can help you gain strength. However, Richard still has to pick fruits at the age when he starts hunting. This is his mother's request. Not only that, he also collects medicinal herbs, four of each season, and then processes them according to established and complicated procedures. Half of the process is done when picking the herbs, and the other half is done after returning home. What he didn't understand was that breadfruit also needed to be processed in a similar way, and the process was much more complicated and time-consuming. No one in the village has ever done this. Breadfruit is the easiest food to obtain. After it is ripe, it will naturally fall to the ground overnight, and you can eat it directly after picking it up. However, my mother requested that the breadfruit should not be picked off the ground, but should be picked from the main trunk. There are fixed requirements for the size and color of the selection, and the picking techniques are also special. Richard didn't understand why, and he didn't feel any difference in the taste of the breadfruit he brought back according to the special method. However, any breadfruit he didn't pick as required would be picked out by his mother. After several scoldings, little Richard no longer played tricks, but took it seriously and did every tedious step well. It was not until winter, when breadfruit could no longer be picked, that his mother told him that this was to give him perseverance. This year, little Richard was seven years old. At the age of seven, he remembered the need for perseverance in doing things. If there is one unpleasant memory from the age of seven, it is that every dinner was breadfruit. This small incident eventually became one of the lingering nightmares of his childhood. The new spring has arrived, but Russelan Village is still the same. Blacksmith Bobby is still single, Elaine's pharmacy business has not improved, and the village chief is still strong and always rushes to the front whenever a difficult monster appears. Richard can finally learn to set traps. At this time, Piru and the others had already begun to carry their short bows and followed the hunters in the village into the mountains. After crossing the threshold of ten years old, they can already be called teenagers, and their tall and straight figures in the city will make people mistakenly think that they are fifteen or sixteen years old. Laying traps is a science that requires rich experience, a pair of observant eyes, a pair of dexterous hands and a certain amount of luck. With only rudimentary tools, except for experienced hunters, novices are likely to injure themselves when making traps. Little Richard is very talented in learning. For the first time, he showed an advantage over the boys in the same village. The trap he laid on the first day was a great success and was praised by the adults in the whole village. Blacksmith Bobby even told everyone he met that he was so happy that Richard was his own son. However, almost everyone in the village knew what he was thinking. If Richard could call him father, he would probably be willing to let Bobby close the blacksmith shop. A few days have passed, and Richard has mastered several traps. He began to go deep into the reservation and set several large complex traps. Large monsters occasionally appear here, and he wants to try his luck. Richard was lucky. A Kamchatka wild boar appeared in sight and ran into the trap. A trap made of thorns, rattan and iron nails tightly clamped its front legs. Although the wild boar is very powerful, Richard's trap is made with fine workmanship and the balance of all forces is handled very well. After a period of crazy pulling and shaking, it still didn't break free. Richard, who was hiding and observing, was so nervous that his palms were sweating, and the hunting knife in his hand didn't seem so reliable for the first time. An injured wild boar is very dangerous. Although the Kamchatka wild boar is small in size and courage, he is just a child. Just when Richard was sure that his prey couldn't break free for a while and was about to rush out, a strong force suddenly came from behind and pushed him out hard. Richard fell heavily to the ground, feeling like the world was spinning, and there was a fishy smell in his mouth and nose. He heard the sound of a bowstring, and then the scream of a wild boar. Several cheers sounded nearby, and the voices were very familiar. Richard slowly got up and saw Piru and three teenagers appearing at some unknown time. Just now, one of the teenagers pushed him out. Piru, holding a hunting bow in his hand, was looking at the poor Kamchatka wild boar proudly. An arrow was stuck in the vital part of the wild boar's neck. It is not easy to hit a vital point with one arrow, even if you are trapped in a trap. That wild boar kept jumping wildly. "You steal my prey!" Richard suddenly understood what they were going to do and shouted angrily. "Everyone here can prove that I shot this wild boar to death. How do you call it robbery? Is it because you set up a trap? Good hunters know that this kind of trap is only used to catch rabbits." Piru slowly said He said, looking at Richard with disdain. He is nearly a head taller than Richard, and his physique is obviously stronger. And his strength is actually greater than that of his peers, almost as strong as an adult. This is because Piru is the son of the village chief. As a retired non-commissioned officer, the village chief can often hunt some powerful monsters back from the mountains. Eating the meat of this kind of monster is very useful for strengthening the body. "Then why did you come here to shoot wild boars?" Richard asked Pilu at a loss for words. They looked down upon Richard's thinness, but had to admit that Richard was indeed very smart. It was said that he could write a lot of words. But young men like Piru didn't respect Richard because of this. They knew how to write but couldn't use it for hunting. Why did they know so many words? But Richard's rhetorical question made Piru feel very angry. He waved his hand fiercely, and a young man next to him walked around behind Richard and pushed Richard to the ground. Richard climbed up, his little face turned red, and he held the hunting knife tightly in his hand. The momentum that burst out at that moment made several teenagers feel a deep chill inexplicably! The hunting knife did not come out in the end. In the moment of hesitation, Piru kicked him in the stomach. The teenagers swarmed up and snatched the hunting knife, and then they beat him with punches and kicks. Piru even stepped on Richard's head, grinding his face deep into the dirt! The boy in the mountain had strength in his bones, and this beating was really not light. Richard didn't struggle to resist or beg for mercy, he just endured it silently. The more Piru hit him, the angrier he became and his strikes became more and more severe. All he felt from Richard's silent reaction was contempt. "You still don't accept it? You don't accept it?" The teenagers also pushed harder and harder. It was as if Richard's body was not his at all and he was just allowed to be beaten by them. It didn't take long for Piru to get scared. He was afraid that if Richard was seriously injured, he would definitely get a good beating when he returned home. The village chief's temper is as fiery as his strength, and Elaine's reputation in the village has always been very good. The teenagers also gradually stopped, and it took a while for Richard to slowly get up. Piru said a few harsh words and walked away with the wild boar. When they were completely gone, little Richard fell down under the tree. After resting for a long time, he struggled to stand up and walked home. At night, Elaine looked at little Richard who was covered in bruises, and tears flowed out unsatisfactoryly. Instead, the boy comforted her and said that she was fine, just in a little pain. After taking the medicine, the boy looked at his mother and asked, "Can't you fight back?" "Yeah!" Elaine gritted her teeth and nodded vigorously. "Okay, I won't fight back, but I won't give in either." In the following days, Piru caused trouble for Richard several times, and the process was nothing more than a severe beating. But the most severe one was until everyone was tired from the beating and Richard could no longer get up. Piru didn't even wait for the boy to surrender and beg for mercy, and didn't even hear a moan. And every time they were tired and ready to leave, Richard would slowly get up and look at Piru quietly. That calm and peaceful gaze suddenly made Pilu feel chilled from the deepest part of his heart. That look was like looking at a dead person. From this year onwards, Piru began to have nightmares. Later, every time Richard was beaten, he would have nightmares for several days. Richard never resisted or struggled, Piru became stronger and stronger, and the size gap between the two was even widening. But every time he saw Richard, Piru would see the boy's calm eyes, and then he would have nightmares that lasted for several days. Pilu still couldn't figure out why Richard didn't go to his father to complain. If the boy did this, Piru would probably be whipped several times. But from beginning to end, Richard never mentioned the beating to anyone in the village. The number of times the teenagers made trouble for Richard gradually became less and less. When the boy once had blood on his lips and looked at them with a smile, the teenagers left in a hurry. That was also the last time they caused trouble for Richard. At the age of eight, Richard learned resilience.