The small town of Tours is not large, there are only a few dozen families in the town, and the townspeople are about 500 people. Most of the people in the town make a living from hunting, and most of them are hunters. The town belonged to Baron Maude, whose taxes were just enough to keep the people fed. After paying taxes, there is still a certain amount of savings. It's not rich, but it's a worry-free life. The Baron has also been ignoring the town near the edge of the realm, and it is rare to see the adults in Storm City except for the fact that the tax collector's father appears in the town every spring.

This year, though, seems to be an exception.

Not long ago, a squad of soldiers entered the town and brought with them a conscription order from the baron. All healthy men in the town over 15 and under 50 must join the army unconditionally, and people panicked a little when they heard the news. Stormtown has conscriptions all year round, but most of them are voluntary. This is the first case of forced conscription like this, and dozens of people in the town have been forcibly conscripted under the mobilization of the town mayor.

Every day, he trained in an open field outside the town and was not allowed to return home until dusk. And in the next month, they must follow the army to Storm City. At that time, they were already real soldiers.

People began to inquire about the reason for the sudden conscription in Stormtown, and it wasn't long before they learned that the forced conscription was not just in the town of Tours. The same was true in several other towns under the jurisdiction of Storm City, where men were recruited, armed, and trained. Some say that they will have to go to war before long.

War!

Storm City has barely heard a similar word in the last ten years, and this place is located on the border of the Empire. Even though Storm City is already in the middle and upper middle of the few Jazz Lords in the vicinity, it is still a barren land for the many noble families in the empire. No great nobleman was interested in driving his army to the border, let alone war.

As for Sur City not far away, or another Jazz Lordship in the Bloodrock Wasteland, neither of them had the strength to compete with Storm City. It has also been pressed down by Storm City all these years, which makes the people in the territory a little proud.

But now, war has come to this land, and there is no more terrible news.

In the evening, many women gathered outside the mayor's house. The old mayor sighed and opened the door to let them in. When the women arrived at the house, they asked the mayor to intercede with the adults in Storm City, asking the army to at least let their sons back. The reason is very simple, the middle-aged men in the family have been forcibly conscripted by the army, and their families are almost unable to sustain themselves.

Men are the most important labor in a family, and now there are no men in the family, no one to plow the land, and no one to go into the mountains to hunt. Sir Maud did not pay any allowance for this, which made it difficult for every family to make ends meet.

In the face of the angry women, the mayor can only promise to go to Storm City to check the situation in the next few days, and wait until he returns. The women let the poor old mayor go, and as they watched them go back, the mayor sighed heavily. How could he want to, his favorite grandson is now training outside the town. The thought of this made the mayor's heart ache.

The training outside the town had just ended, and after a day of hard training, the recruits' spiritual bodies had almost been squeezed clean. This satisfied their instructors, and the men of Tours were in good physical condition, and as long as they were trained and learned the necessary knowledge, they could barely go into battle. It's just that the thought of the army returning from Sur City makes the officer's face not very good.

He never imagined that the two main armies of Storm City, Thunder and Wind, would be defeated, and even the commander of Mogu would be captured.

This is an absolute shame!

No soldier wants to see his army lose a battle, so the officer was assigned to Tours to train new recruits, and he did his part to hope that the soldiers who came out of his command would shine on the battlefield. He was strict, even harsh. Once a recruit does not do well, in exchange for not only punishment, but also a beating.

The officers believed that only then would they be able to remember the mistakes they had made and not repeat them.

Before disbanding, he counted the number of recruits and suddenly found that one of the recruits was missing. Wood, the 16-year-old grandson of the old mayor. The slippery kid didn't do what he was supposed to do. The officer was so impressed with the boy that when he counted the numbers, he immediately noticed that the boy was not in the crowd.

"Who saw Wood?" He said sternly, and fixed his gaze on a few of the half-sized boys who were usually mixed with Wood.

The eyes of several boys flickered, and the officer pointed: "Each person will be given five lashes, this is the punishment you deserve for not knowing it." If you don't say anything more, you will beat me to death. My subordinates, there will be no deserters. ”

Wolf-like soldiers rushed into the crowd and dragged several boys out. Without saying anything, several men in the crowd who were their fathers rushed out angrily. The soldiers were also given uniforms and a few lashes. Before the five lashes were finished, one of the youngest boys was already crying, "I said, I said." Wood ran away, and he said he couldn't stand this kind of training. ”

"Damn it!" The officer roared: "Find him and bring him back." If he refuses, he will correct the Fa on the spot! ”

Moments later, several soldiers left the camp with a vicious dog with its fangs poking out from under its lips. The barking of dogs rang out in the mountain forest, and it wasn't long before the soldiers found Woode in a mass of bushes. The innocent boy also hoped to escape by hiding in the mountains and forests, but unfortunately the dog's sensitive nose was still found.

"Come back with us!" The soldier pointed a gun at him and said with a blank face.

Wood yelled, "No, you're going to torture me to death." Even if you can't die, then what about after that. And to go to war, no, I don't want to go to war. I don't want to die. ”

"The chief said that if you don't go back, you will be executed now."

"Really? In that case, it's better for you to die! Wood drew a dagger and rushed forward in a frenzy. Looking at him, a look of pity flashed in the soldier's eyes, and he let go of the leash that held the vicious dog. The vicious dog immediately pounced on Wood, and another soldier next to him unhurriedly raised his rifle and shot Wooder in the back as he turned over.

Gunshots rang out three times in a row.

Wood fell to the ground, his neck being bitten by vicious dogs. He only felt that his body was gradually getting cold, and the boy missed the old days. It's a pity that I can't go back. As the soldier apathetically pulled his legs up and dragged him down the hill, Wood suddenly saw a young man his age appear among the trees in front of him. The young man's silver hair flowed faintly in the moonlight through the leaves.

Behind him, a giant snake emerged from the shadows and stopped behind the boy to watch the qiē quietly.

Then, darkness struck.

After Wood and the soldiers had disappeared, Alan patted Bai on the head and said, "Let's go, let's go to another town." ”

Shiro lowered his head and let Eren sit up, and then swam between the undulating ground of the mountain forest with gentle movements. In Alan's hand, he has a topographical map showing the town of Tours, as well as key information such as population and garrisons. On this night, Bai advanced sixty or seventy kilometers in Maude's territory, passing through three small towns. The information about these towns is recorded on Allen's sketch map.

Another day passed.

As night fell, Eren opened his eyes and emerged from a hole in a tree. Since the afternoon, Alan has been practicing the source force. Continuously divide a part of the generated source power and provide it to the heart, which is used to strengthen this important organ, in order to have more chances of winning when advancing to the Awakened Person. As a result, after the long training of source power, the increase in source power is very limited.

However, in this process, Allen's source power has a more dignified aura.

He called White, and the king snake continued on his way with him. And more than an hour later, Alan saw the lights of Storm City.

Storm City sits at the foot of a mountain range whose rock contains very strange minerals that glow blue at night in the moonlight. Therefore, this mountain range is called the Deep Blue Mountain Territory, and the other side of the Deep Blue Mountain Territory is adjacent to the coast, and the sea breeze that blows for many years passes through the mountain territory and sends it into Storm City. Therefore, the wind blows in the city all year round.

This is also where the name Storm City comes from.

From a distance, Storm City is about twice the size of Sur City. The city is backed by the deep blue mountains at the back, and on the other side is a towering parapet wall that protects the entire city. The arrow tower with a minaret on the wall and the two swarthy forts attracted Allen's attention.

High walls, heavy artillery, plus a certain army. It would have been costly to attack such a well-defended city from the front. Alan silently recorded this qiē, and said: "It's a pity that you can't enter the city, otherwise you will have the opportunity to find out the layout of their troops and the number of troops." ”

The speaker has no intention, but the listener has the intention. Shiro, who was lying next to him with a big head, opened his eyes, raised his head and arched Allen. Alan looked at it in surprise: "Do you have a way?" ”

Shiro tilted his head, his eyes turned upward, as if to blame Eren for not underestimating it.

Alan was angry and funny, patted it on the head and said, "Then I'll leave it to you." ”

Bai nodded, turned the snake's body, and swam into the mountain forest.

At this moment, in the City Lord's Mansion of Storm City, Mo Gu was walking back and forth in his office, looking very irritable. There was a knock at the door, and when he agreed, his son Joey strode in. He said in a deep voice, "Father, there is news of Mr. Roger. ”

"How's it going, has Roger's slave catcher corps left?" Roger asked.

Joey sighed and said, "Mr. Roger's reply is that we are one step slower. Before receiving the news, his slave hunters had already set out, so they were unable to support us. ”

"What?" Maud slammed his fist into the table.

Joey tentatively asked, "Why don't we bring Dick here?" ”R1058