Sin City

Chapter 7

Spring.

It is an exhilarating season, after a long winter, people can finally start the new year, they do not have to endure the cold anymore, and food will be easier to come by, he said, living things gradually became richer, therefore, when spring arrived, it was the most important festival every year, not only humans, but dwarves, orcs, elves, and so on, and even the ogre holds the most important celebration in spring. Of course, the world is so complicated that there will always be exceptions, such as the inhabitants of the underworld, for whom spring means little, exceptions can be even more extreme, like the snow demon who hates spring the most, however, for most humans, spring is always pleasant.

When warm, humid air flows over the coastal Mountains until it reaches the village of Rutheran, the villagers know that spring has arrived.

The Rutheran region, located at the foot of the Coastal Mountains, is an inconspicuous little dot in a huge mountain range stretching thousands of miles, and is also one of tens of thousands of human settlements, this area that belonged to Baron Tucker at once was the territory of the Holy Alliance Empire, but if calculated by the straight-line distance, Baron Tucker's castle was nearly 300 kilometers away from here. The baron tax collector is only seen in the village every autumn harvest, only at this time the owner has a sense of existence that cannot be ignored. The baron tax was very light, collecting only a few local products unique to the mountains, so it did not have much impact on the daily lives of the villagers, but the village production was limited, if the tax impact was greater, he said, it will be a matter of survival.

Living in the mountains is not really difficult, just need to keep working hard.

After spring arrives, the land outside the village needs to be re-planted, the grain that can be harvested when summer is planted now, the hunters start to enter the forest, the, since monsters in the depths of the forest that were hungry after passing through the winter would gradually wake up and start foraging as well, they became extremely dangerous and aggressive. However, some monster-specific products, such as glands that can be used as valuable medicinal or spice ingredients, can only be sold at the highest price when in the best condition. Every year in this season, hunters will be killed and injured, but every year hunters will go to the mountains as usual. Therefore, in the Rutheran village, the goddess of the forest and hunting had the highest trust, besides the immortal dragons, the gods and the Norland continent's beliefs were as many stars above the head.

The Norland Continent was a land rich in products, a land that supported power, and a land with strict laws.

Even a remote and peaceful village like Rutheran is marked by the development of the times, the villagers are simple and sincere, but they also respect the strong and compare the weak, consisting only of small areas, but they also respect the strong, but there is a high status.

A small figure appeared outside the village, this was a boy, but he was carrying a basket that was about the same height as himself, which was full of breadfruit, in spring, when he was born, winter food reserves have basically been exhausted, and when new crops have not been harvested, this type of fruit that tastes bad is a very important ration, this fruit is very easy to get, he said, just need to pick up in the forest next to the village.

Behind the boy, three big boys who were one head taller than him appeared together, they carried hunting bows and short forks in hand, with short blades tied around the waist, they were carrying, deer and rabbits as well as other prey on their backs, although they are less than ten years old, but they can already go hunting in the mountains. Of course, the prey is not a monster, but some animals are tame, their way of hunting mainly relies on traps, but this is not easy, most of the children of the commoners and nobles in the city were still learning and training under the supervision of parents at this age.

The big boy suddenly shouted loudly: "Hey Richard, where is your father? He didn't teach you how to hunt? I've entered the mountains to set up a rabbit trap at your age!"

A big boy next to him smiled in agreement and said, "A fatherless child can only pick up fruit!"

The three big boys laughed, walking past the little boy towards the village, they walked leisurely while each was carrying dozens of kilograms of prey, the little boy ignored their ridicule, and keep walking towards the village with the basket on the back. A strong middle-aged man sitting at the entrance of the village had already seen all that, he waved to the little boy, calling him to come, then placed a piece of dried meat in the little boy's hand, he waved to the little boy, stroking his head lovingly and asking, "Little Richard, aren't you angry with their Pirou bullying you like this? Later uncle will teach them a lesson, although still a child also can not be outrageous."

Unexpectedly, the little boy shook his head and said, "No need, I'm not angry."

The little boy smiled and said, "If I don't have a father, but I have the best mother!"

Hearing this, the man could only continue scratching his head, smiling and saying, "Yes, right."

The little boy hummed a song, while carrying a large basket, and occasionally jumped while walking to the village, at this moment, the bad mood in Richard's heart had already been swept away and became happy again, after all, because his mother once said that no matter when it is, still have to make yourself happy.

Richard was six years old this year. Since he was six years old, he has learned to be happy.

The middle-aged man was named Bobby, who was a blacksmith in the village, and the mother of the little boy was rumored to be a witch student. When Richard's mother came to Rutheran Village alone, little Richard was still wearing bedong cloth in his arms, Richard's mother was a woman who was not very beautiful in appearance but as gentle as water, his arrival brings a new atmosphere to the small village of Rutheran, for the first time, finally there is a doctor in the village, who, so they don't have to go to a city that's a dozen kilometers away just because of a mild illness to see a doctor, or force to hold it until it heals on its own, Richard's mother's name is Helen, Helen, he opened a small apothecary near the village, even though he could only make the most basic potions, but he had saved more than one villager's life in the first year, he said, so the village chief and the elders decided to give Helen a piece of land and officially accept her as a member of Rutheran, in this small Rutheran Village, the profession of hunter was the most numerous, and there are only three other professions, namely blacksmith, Helen who is a doctor, and the village head who is a retired soldier, these three people support the operation of the entire village.

Life in Rutheran Village was calm and peaceful, time passed unnoticed, and in the blink of an eye, the next spring arrived.

Little Richard had grown over ten centimeters, and looked similar to an eight to nine year old, according to Rutheran Village tradition, he should have learned to make and set traps to hunt rabbits or other small herbivorous monsters. In the forest not far from Rutheran Village, there were many such small monsters, while the huge monster was barely visible at all, and the place was used as a place provided to train children in the village, the hunters never hunted small animals there, there, but they regularly patrolled to clean up the dangerous big monsters that occasionally barged in, but every few days, little Richard would still carry his basket on his back to the mountains. The basket on his back did not look too proportionate, it showed that he was still picking fruit, breadfruit was not too tasty and easy to get, the villagers preferred the tasty monster meat, it was the best, although not thinking about the taste though, the monster meat is still a food that can make consumers become stronger.

However, Richard still had to pick fruits when he was in the age of hunting, it was his mother's request, not only that, he also collected herbal medicine, there were four types of herbal medicine for each season, he said, then process it according to a predetermined and complicated process, half the process is done when the herbs are harvested, and the other half is done after returning home, what he did not understand was that breadfruit had to be processed in the same way, and the process took far more time, no one in the village had ever done this, he said, breadfruit is the easiest food to obtain, once fully ripe, the Breadfruit will automatically fall to the ground overnight and can be directly eaten, however, the fruit will automatically fall to the ground, richard's mother always requested that the breadfruit not be collected from the ground, but must be plucked from the stem, the size and color of the selection have requirements, and how to pick it is also special. Richard did not understand the reason, for he did not feel any difference in the taste of breadfruit picked with Sukun picked in a special way, but each of him did not collect breadfruit as his mother had requested, his mother could always figure it out, so after several scolds, Richard no longer played tricks, but took good care of every boring move. It was only in winter when he could no longer pick breadfruit that his mother told him that the purpose of all this was only to strengthen his sense of perseverance.

Richard is seven years old this year. By the age of seven, he had learned to do things with perseverance, an unpleasant memory from the age of seven Richard was a breadfruit made into dinner every day, this little incident ended up being one of his childhood nightmares.

The new spring arrived, the Rutheran village was still the same. Bobby the blacksmith was single, Helen's pharmacy business wasn't thriving either, and the village chief was still strong, whenever there were monsters that were hard to deal with, he would be at the forefront.

Richard was finally able to learn to set a trap. At this moment, Pirou and the others had already started carrying short bows and following the hunters in the village to the mountains. Those who turned ten years old, could already be called teenagers, and their tall figure always made people mistake them for fifteen or sixteen years old.

Setting a trap is knowledge that requires extensive experience, a pair of observant eyes, a pair of reckless hands, and luck. With only makeshift tools, except for experienced hunters, beginners tend to injure themselves when setting traps. Little Richard was very talented in learning something, for the first time, he showed an edge over the other teenagers in the same village, and the trap he set on the first day of a big success, so praised by adults throughout the village. Bobby the Blacksmith even happily told it to everyone as if Richard was his own son. But as for Bobby's thoughts, almost everyone in the village knew that if Richard could call him father, Bobby might be willing to close his blacksmith shop.