It’s a big New Year’s voting! All book friends, please throw your votes. There is more than 500 votes difference with “Master World”, which is at the top of the weekly list! I kindly ask all book friends to throw your votes to close the gap a little! I’m going out today.
The new chapter will be released early. The guessing activity will continue without explanation! There are rewards, there are refinements, and there are points to get! Everyone, please take action!!
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Why is the world so cruel?
The little boy cried inexplicably. The mother-like woman was stunned for a moment and then squatted down to ask the crying child: What happened? It makes you think of heavy questions.
The cause is not complicated, it is a story that begins with an injured bird.[
While playing, the boy accidentally picked up an injured bird.
It was the first time for a boy who was born in the countryside to see such a beautiful bird. The edges of the overlapping emerald green and blue feathers were rolled with a layer of gold feathers. The orange claws were like amber, and the red beak shuttled between the feathers with its flexible neck.
, from time to time it emits a light and melodious cry.
The boy judged that the bird had accidentally broken its wings, and out of kindness and compassion, he began to take care of the injured little guy.
At first, the bird was full of fear and resistance towards the boy. It pecked and scratched all over the boy's hands. The wheat, bugs and water placed aside remained untouched.
Perhaps wild animals have a strong instinctive resistance to humans, or perhaps because its injuries may have been caused by humans, the beautiful bird refused the boy's charity.
Usually when encountering this kind of situation, children will either give up and continue wasting their efforts and let this ignorant, stupid bird fend for itself, or they will find other children or adults at home to discuss countermeasures.
The boy did not take the above approach. The 5-year-old child felt that doing so was tantamount to admitting failure and admitting that he could not even take care of a bird he relied on.
Relying on his determination, he persisted.
He worked hard to observe and adjust the method of approaching without arousing the bird's wariness. With perseverance and hard work, the bird finally accepted him and his treatment, and returned to health a few weeks later.
At that time, the mother silently watched her son playing with the birds from the crack of the door, without revealing the child's little secret.
This is a good thing.
Whether it's the son's performance or the bird's willingness to get close to his son, it's a good thing for both.
So, why did the boy cry sadly? Is it because the beloved bird abandoned him and flew back to the sky and jungle where he belonged?
The answer is not far from the guess, but the version of the ending of the story is more difficult for the boy to accept.
The bird with the wound healed flew into the sky and chirped happily above the boy's head. Feeling the joy of success, the boy smiled and waved his young hands towards the bird.
The shadow blocked the sun for a moment, and the bird was grabbed by its sharp talons. The ferocious-looking mountain eagle took the prey to the heights again like lightning. The boy shouted and threw stones, but the eagle's feathers were not even touched.
The boy, whose body was far from beginning to develop, stumbled and chased the raptor that had taken away his playmate.
After hearing this, the mother already understood where the scratches on the boy's clothes came from.
Usually when the story comes to this point, mothers with bad tempers will get angry and reprimand their children for being ignorant. Not only will their clothes be soiled and torn because of a bird, but they will also come back with injuries. What's more terrible is chasing a mountain eagle.
This kind of thing is also extremely dangerous for adults. Mothers who encounter the hot spots should be looking for a rolling pin or a broom to educate them about violence and love.
The mother did not scold her son for his dangerous behavior, but gently stroked the blue or red wounds and waited for the next step.[
He was stung by countless thorns, couldn't remember how many times he fell, and didn't care how far he had run and how tired he was. The boy chased the mountain eagle to the front of the cliff nest where Fa continued to take a step forward.
Across a distance that could never be crossed except by wings and magic, the boy witnessed the fate of his beloved bird.
The body of the bird that died soon after being held in the claws was torn into shreds. The mother of the mountain eagle lovingly fed the pink body to the chick, whose eyes had not yet opened. The whole process was in full view, opening its big mouth.
The young eagles fighting for the carcass are like urchins waiting for a holiday feast.
The boy watching all this felt and realized.
In addition to the beautiful and intoxicating side of the world, there is also a barbaric and unreasonable side.
Birds peck at insects to fill their bellies or feed their young, while eagles hunt young birds to raise their own young.
No one is right, they all just survive according to the natural laws of the world. Living things can only survive by plundering and eating other life forms.
After seeing the bloody expression of maternal love, watching the playmate-like bird become the food for the young eagle to grow up, and realizing the unfriendly and unreasonable side of nature, the boy naturally had questions.
——Why is the world so cruel? Why doesn’t the Mother Goddess create all living beings but not allow everyone to live together happily and peacefully? Since the omniscient and omnipotent Mother Goddess exists, and since the Mother Goddess is full of love for the world and life she created, there is nothing wrong with it.
Do this?
Faced with this question about the first and most basic life, which contains innocence and anger, my mother could not give a clear answer. She could only complain that she could not be like a monk.
Thoughts]——Such sophistry is used to fool children. As an adult who has grown up with innocence washed away by experience, mother knows the answer.
Not to mention the wild nature, the most fundamental and core basic law that builds the "civilized" intelligent society is also that simple rule.
[The weak eat the strong].
The only truth that life as a part of nature can never resist, the cruel truth that those who disobey or question will be devoured.
In a harsh natural environment that is not friendly to life, you have to fight hard to survive. It is normal to eat or be eaten. The boy's father and neighbor uncles raise livestock and hunt birds and animals for the same reason.
Fill the bellies of the boy and other children so that everyone can live happily.
The boy didn't say anything, but the keen mother caught the shapeless questions and fears tumbling in her son's heart.
——Is life such a sinful thing?
This question brought an unprecedented sense of terror to the boy. He couldn't find the answer and was so desperate that he couldn't see a way out. He cried and went to his mother for help.
It can be said that this child thinks too much, or that he is too smart and gets into trouble.
The mother wiped away the tears on the edges of the boy's red and swollen eyes and stroked her son's little head.
Adults do not have a unified standard answer to this question that is both too grand and too small. Priests and priests who can communicate with gods cannot answer it, nor can erudite great magicians, nor can powerful nobles and kings.
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 current situation is, everyone has to work hard to survive and then improve those cruel and unreasonable parts."[
The boy nodded with a vague understanding, implanted the ray of light guided by his mother into his heart, and then painted the first ideal appearance in his life.
【I will work hard so that everyone can live peacefully and happily in the world.】
Roland Darhk (hruoln’r) made this wish after he first came into contact with the secrets of survival and the cruelty of the world.
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"Lola! Laura! Damn it! Laura, where have you been hiding!"
The little girl was running around with her feet jumping. Her lips, which could be tied with oil bottles, were swollen like some angry fish, and her red smile made people want to pinch her.
【A child like a doll.】
The long-haired foreign boy couldn't help but look at the anxious little girl who was wandering around. She was diligent and conscientious in her work, and he also liked children. He was a little doting on her, but it was far from the level of sexual fetish.
The girl may be looking for a playmate to play hide and seek. Judging from the helpless children behind her, only the cunning one is left.
After leaning under the tree for a while and watching the children, who were still angrily looking for their hidden playmates, the young man shook his head and prepared to turn to important work, muttering to himself:
"Lola, Laura... is a girl's name?"
"What did you say?"
There was a sound like a fire coming from above the head, and the young man couldn't help but look up.
"It's a man..."
The maroon boy, who clung to the branches like a wild cat and took advantage of the cover of green shade to avoid the search, was frowning with fresh eyebrows and a contradictory tone came from above.
"It's a man...can't it?"
"Sorry, it's just..."
"Found you! Laura!"
Noticing the movement under the fir tree, the little girl ran excitedly to the tree and pointed at the wildcat boy and yelled.
"Chloe (hole), how many times have I told you! It's Roland, not Laura!!"
The cat-like boy in the long-haired boy's eyes jumped down from the tree with neat movements, angrily corrected the little girl's unclear speech or intentional mistakes, and then stuck out his tongue and made faces at the culprit who caused him to be caught.
"It's all your fault for causing me to be caught."
The boy named Roland's 4-game winning streak ended this month, and his secret hiding place was exposed. There should be a continuous losing record before a new hiding place is discovered.
——Not only does the name resemble a girl, but the appearance also resembles her.
Looking at the boy in front of him who was trying his best to appear masculine and whose clothes were quite like a country boy's, he reorganized his mind several times and still got an image of "a girl who forced herself into men's clothes", and the out-of-town boy secretly laughed in a condescending and helpless way.
"I'm really sorry. Mr. Champion was unable to defend his title because of the offense to Maximilian Hubert Till's heart. I would like to apologize to you."
He tried his best to imitate the aristocratic etiquette and apologized to the boy, but the etiquette training the long-haired boy received was far more refined than the exaggerated and cumbersome ones. He reluctantly performed the irregular salute, which made the angry little boy smile, with a fox-like smile on his face.
, the boy who was so frustrated just now laughed out loud.
Not being able to act coquettishly like girls and not worrying about outsiders finding their parents are the characteristics of boys. Farmer families really like boys, and not many are spoiled. Due to material conditions and the large number of children at home, rural children are relatively wild.
, there is no scruples about talking and laughing.
"Stranger, where are you from? Are you traveling alone?"
His knowledge of etiquette stopped at the use of honorific words. Roland scratched the back of his head and asked like an adult. His always accurate intuition told him that this stranger, who was about the same age as the son of the village blacksmith, was a trustworthy passer-by.
.
"It's said that I went out alone again... I am a member of the caravan that came out of Argentolatong, and the caravan is still hanging around behind."
"So you were the first to find a hotel and book a room? Those who entered the village just now were your companions, right?"
"You know a lot."
"That person was wearing the same dark olive green clothes as you, so I thought you were together."
After a pause, Roland shouted as if he thought of something important.
"Yes! That's the uniform of VE Company! You are from VE Company!"
The long-haired boy from a foreign country knelt down and asked a group of children who suddenly understood:
"Are we that famous?"
"Because your clothes have buttons with wings!"
The children laughed together and gave the expected answer.
An upstart that has developed extremely rapidly since its establishment—ve Consortium Co., Ltd.
It has only been established for less than 5 years. Compared with the large trading companies in the industry that rely on their background, strength, and long history, they should not have much popularity. Being able to achieve great success in a short period of time and become a household name has its own uniqueness.
The impressive buttoned uniform is one of them.
Few other trading companies have adopted unified clothing. For example, VE Company has divided employees into different categories, departments, and classes, and modified a basic uniform to create different-colored clothing and distributed it to employees. This is an unprecedented move. More
What's more, in a social environment where pullovers, blouses, long pullovers, and dresses are the mainstream, a uniform with lapels, lapels, 3 pockets, 3 buttons, and the length of the waist and hips will definitely make people who have seen it once deeply impressed.
Remember that unique outfit.
The boy named Roland suddenly remembered the rumors that the uniforms of Ve Company were mostly black or white with strong light and dark colors.
This foreign tourist is wearing a grass green suit with a switch collar, hidden rows of 7 buttons, 4 pockets, and pocket flaps. The open collar is decorated with two golden thin bars and a long pine branch green with a star emblem.
The square piece of clothing gave off a faint solemn atmosphere. To a certain extent, Roland felt a little uncomfortable with this uniform.
"What do you wear in company ve?"
When the hesitant question was raised, the young cadre of Ve Company smiled bitterly and lowered his voice and said:
"This is the training uniform for caravan guards. I am a guard."
"Guard? Hahahahaha... Big brother is a guard?!!!!"
The children laughed together, and Roland also felt that this bragging was a bit unreliable.
Booe is a relatively remote rural village in Norln. There are no accurate statistics on the number of foreigners passing through in a year. A rough estimate is that it is roughly the same as the village population. Many of them are passing through here from Charlemagne on their way to Latvia.
There were many people called "Guards" in the carriage convoy that was doing business in the mainland city of Pulan.
A man who looks as tall and strong as a bear, a man whose face and body are covered with scars and sores, a man whose body stinks of sweat, alcohol and unknown body odor.
The armed group formed by the above-mentioned dangerous and rough guys is in line with the villagers' image of the professional group "Caravan Guards".
A boy who smiles like a fox and looks just a little stronger than his peers says he is a guard? This young man from Charlemagne thinks that the Kaplan country boy is easy to trick?
"If eldest brother is a guard, the mother goddess must be waking up soon!"
The slurred little girl Chloe yelled, and the children laughed and echoed. After the peasant women chatting at the entrance of the village heard clearly what was going on here, although they felt that joking about the mother goddess was a bit disrespectful, she was relatively devout in her faith.
The villagers just laughed and laughed. Then the women joined in the laughter and teasing.
Only two men were not among the laughing group.
The foreign boy who [claimed to be] the escort of ve company shrugged with a look of frustration on his face, which was obviously the result of being a little numb after being accustomed to people's reactions. He avoided the crowd and stared at one place, looking at the other unsmiling person with interest.
Those who do not follow the crowd.
That interesting boy named Roland.
Along the way, each self-reported identity would trigger laughter in the audience. They laughed again and again without any other reaction.
What is this confused child thinking? Is it the reaction of adults, or is he half-confident about the authenticity of his identity? Maybe his incompetent boss will know.
"Report!"
The call full of youthful vigor and military atmosphere broke through the laughter barrier. His appearance and height were smaller than those of the long-haired boy. Several short-haired boys wearing the same style of clothing walked around the crowd and trotted in front of their companions. They leaned on their legs, stood at attention, and raised their right arms to the same level.
The villagers were baffled by the strange way of saluting, with the five fingers of the right hand held together and slightly turned outwards, and slightly taped to the temple. The villagers also felt a sense of solemnity developed through rigorous training.
"How about it?"
Returning the favor with the same strange action, the long-haired boy's tone changed to a serious and perseverance that had not been shown in the previous chat. The pressure of authority was clearly released from the resolute expression that faded away from the smile.
"The hotels and inns in the village cannot accommodate the convoy, and the roads in the village do not meet the conditions. We can only stay outside the village for supplies."
"Close the team."
Without saying a single word, it was as crisp and concise as some kind of metal forged and cast. The teenagers belonging to Ve Company untied their mounts tied under the tree and left under the strange and vigilant gaze of the villagers.
"Well-trained guards... no, they should be soldiers."
Strong rough palms were placed on shoulders, and the touch of calluses was passed through the thin rag. Roland raised his head, and his father, who had come over at some time, looked at the dust that stretched like a road in the distance, and his chin covered with hard stubble was dripping with pain.
Roland felt an uncomfortable tightness.
The other party is a guard and a well-trained soldier.
If my father said this, it must be right.
ve company is just a trading company, why would it hire such ridiculously young soldiers? What do they want to do in this kind of countryside?
The housewives, who had an uneasy reaction to this problem that was destined to be solved in a short time and instinctively sensed that it was best not to touch it, returned home with their children. The father looked at the dusty dirt road for a while, patted Roland on the shoulder, and smiled.
Tell Roland:
"go home."
Soon the guests will come, and the small hotel run by the family will open for business.
Roland, who hadn't heard the merchants singing and making noise or introducing various anecdotes for a long time, couldn't help but look forward to what novel and interesting stories the Ve Company's caravan would bring. Judging from the long-haired brother just now, they should be polite.
A good customer who is easy to talk to and happy to pay.
Because of his high expectations, it was hard for Roland to understand that for a moment, the smile on his father's face didn't seem happy.
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Small theater time
Brunhil: A new character has appeared, and he is a cute boy.
Li Lin: Yes, yes, a cute boy finally appears.
Brunhil: What's wrong? Your Excellency, aren't you already accompanied by Lord Nidhogg? Why do you look forward to a cute human boy so much?
Li Lin: What about the shot of 750... That's not a popular game, it's a horror movie... It's more interesting to watch when it's only in human form...
Brunhil: ...Why do you want to crush a cockroach, but the anger of a bedbug surges up to your head?
Li Lin: (————b) That’s an illusion, it must be an illusion. Well, today’s prize-winning guessing question is the geographical name. In addition to the reward, book friends who guess correctly will also be rewarded with 15 points. Welcome to all book friends.
Participate actively, please explain the prototype of the following country names in this book - Albion, Charlemagne, Castile, Lapland, United Duchy of Rus. Please answer as soon as possible!