“Father.”
Yam returned to the small courtyard from the mountain forest path, carrying a short axe and a large bundle of firewood.
Seven small courtyards of varying sizes had been set up on this flat mountainside, with three to five people living in each. There were teenagers like Yam, middle-aged men as robust and strong as the one next to the vegetable patch in the courtyard, and many women and children.
There were three other mountain paths on the mountainside.
One led up the mountain, where there were a dozen more courtyards, also inhabited, and a larger vegetable patch and fields at the peak.
One led down the mountain, the only open path for ascending and descending this small mountain, which was less than three hundred meters above sea level.
Another led to the back mountain, which was the forest path used by the residents on the mountain for daily logging and firewood collection.
At this moment, Yam had returned via this forest path.
“You should rest for the next two days; no need to go to the back mountain.” The middle-aged man in the courtyard looked back at Yam when he heard the voice, then smiled.
Upon hearing this, Yam’s face brightened with joy. He immediately dropped the pile of firewood behind him and smiled, “The group is recruiting people?”
The middle-aged man, Yarn, nodded and smiled, “The last mission the group took received praise from the Tim Village Chief. Now that winter is approaching, Tim Village and another neighboring village have approached us, asking our group to be responsible for the defense of these two villages. The Leader feels we don’t have enough manpower, and coincidentally, your group has grown up, so he plans to recruit a few of you into the group and form another team.”
“That’s great!” The young man, Yam, was overjoyed.
But very quickly, he looked dispirited: “What about Mother…?”
When this was mentioned, the middle-aged man, Yarn, also looked somewhat helpless.
He naturally knew what his wife was thinking.
Yam was his second son. His eldest son had joined his mercenary group five years ago and unfortunately died in battle three years ago during a mission with the group. After that, she developed a knot in her heart. Last year, when Yam, after coming of age, proposed joining the mercenary group, his wife’s face immediately changed, and she adamantly refused to agree. Yarn didn’t know how to comfort her on this matter, as, selfishly speaking, he actually hoped Yam could join the mercenary group, because he himself was one of the two Deputy Leaders of the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group.
“Alas, this matter can’t be explained clearly to your mother in a short while. However, you can consider this trip with the group as a training experience.” Yarn sighed, then slowly said, “This newly formed team will be led by the Leader himself to Tim Village, so the safety is relatively higher. You just need to observe more, listen more, and speak less.”
“Yes, Father.”
Yam said nothing more, but quietly returned to a slightly smaller house next to the main courtyard.
This courtyard had a total of two houses. The larger one belonged to his parents, while this smaller one belonged to their three brothers.
“Brother.”
Looking at his younger brother, Yaka, Yam nodded, not saying much.
But when his gaze fell upon the rusty iron longsword hanging on the wall, he couldn’t help but sigh.
His eldest brother, Ya Sen, died in a mission three years ago, and only one relic was brought back: this rusty iron longsword.
It was said he bought it for a few copper coins in the city.
Although this longsword looked battered, with its pommel stone missing and the blade covered in rust, only upon holding it would one truly realize that it was surprisingly heavy, several pounds heavier than ordinary longswords, and its edge was actually very sharp, capable of even cutting through the fur of common magical beasts.
His father, Yarn, had once said that this sword was by no means ordinary, and their eldest brother had truly found a good item.
“If I die someday, don’t ever mention joining the mercenary group again.” Yam reached out and patted Yaka’s shoulder, “Big brother died. If I die too, and you still want to join Iron Wolf, Mother will go crazy.”
Yaka was younger, only thirteen years old now. Upon hearing his second brother’s words, his face couldn’t help but turn aggrieved.
In the evening, sure enough, arguments erupted from the main house.
And then very quickly, his mother’s weeping could be heard again.
After Yaka and Yam exchanged glances, Yam said again, “Did you understand what I said this afternoon?”
“Understood.” Yaka nodded dispiritedly at this point.
As night deepened, Yam remained sleepless, continuously replaying the day’s events at home.
He knew his mother actually understood, but there was a suppressed frustration in her heart.
This Iron Wolf Mercenary Group was founded by his father, another Deputy Leader, and the Leader, primarily to avoid taxes.
The Gem Territory had numerous taxes. Besides the agricultural land taxes in spring and autumn, there were also various other taxes like commodity tax, transaction tax, and city entry tax, as well as the adult tax, which was most hated by all the territory’s residents: all adults, regardless of gender, had to pay tax, one silver coin per adult per year.
According to these categories, a three-person farming family would have to pay nearly ten silver coins in taxes annually; for merchants, it would be between twenty and fifty silver coins. It was precisely because of this that the residents of Gem Territory lived very frugally, to the extent that even mountain bandits and brigands were unwilling to raid here, unless they were truly desperate would they consider raiding a village.
Yarn and his companions fled to avoid taxes. Although they no longer had to pay taxes, they also could not reside in villages or towns, which is why they established a foothold in this desolate mountain.
Even when the mercenary group took on missions, they dared not base themselves in Gem Territory, but instead had to travel to the neighboring Red River Territory.
Now, the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group was growing in scale. The Leader and the other Deputy Leader had both cultivated successors to take their places. If he couldn't inherit his father's position, then if something were to happen to his father someday, their family would no longer have any say in the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group.
“Creak—”
The house door was suddenly gently pushed open, revealing a crack, and moonlight spilled through the gap.
Yam immediately got up.
“Father?”
Following the clear glow of the moonlight, Yam saw the figure entering the room.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something’s not right.” Yarn’s face was solemn. “Many people have come up the mountain; I heard sounds. Wake your brother, and stay alert.”
With that, Yarn closed the door.
Yam hurriedly woke his brother, then thought about it and still took the rusty longsword, carefully hiding inside the house.
At this moment, Yam felt a slight regret, as he had not inherited his father’s acute hearing.
It was said that his father was once a scout for the Kingdom Army, with extensive combat experience, and only retired after taking an arrow to the knee, which made him unsuitable for rapid assaults.
The two brothers waited quietly in the darkness, like lurking hunters, silently listening to the sounds from outside.
“Brother?” Yaka suddenly clutched Yam’s hand and whispered.
“Don’t be afraid.” Yam felt a bit nervous inside, but he still gripped his brother’s hand in return, signaling him not to worry.
At this moment, he also heard footsteps coming from outside the door.
But these footsteps were somewhat heavy, different from any sounds he had heard before.
“Creak—”
The sound of someone pushing the door from outside was cautious, as if fearing to awaken those inside the house.
The two brothers were hidden in the shadowed, unlit area, so the person outside the door couldn’t see them immediately, but they could see the person pushing the door open and entering, illuminated by the moonlight.
A middle-aged man wearing leather armor and carrying a longsword!
The moment Yam saw the man’s attire, his hair stood on end.
In the entire Gem Territory, there was only one place where people wore such attire!
Gemstone City soldiers!
Those were the private soldiers of the Gem Territory Lord!
Why?
Why were they here?
Yam was at a loss.
But before he could figure it out, a scream suddenly erupted not far away.
The soldier abruptly turned his head, then quickly ran over with his sword drawn.
Yam also understood that the scream came from his father’s house, but it was not his father’s voice.
“Brother!”
“Stay here!”
Yam gritted his teeth, then abruptly shook off his brother’s hand and, likewise, grabbed his sword and ran out of the house.
As soon as he rushed out of the house, he saw his father already fighting with several soldiers.
Three Gemstone City soldiers were wielding swords, surrounding and attacking Yarn, while one soldier lay fallen nearby, his leather armor torn, blood gushing out. For a moment, it was impossible to tell if he was alive or dead, but from his appearance, even if this soldier wasn't dead, he probably wouldn't survive the night.
The encirclement here seemed to have just begun, but because the commotion had already spread, the soldiers from the six surrounding small courtyards completely discarded their caution and broke into the houses one after another.
Suddenly, screams, roars, and sounds of fighting echoed one after another.
Even more, the mountaintop suddenly glowed with a fiery red.
“Father!” Yam roared, “I’m here to help you!”
Yarn saw Yam suddenly charging over and hurriedly shouted, “Take your brother and mother, run!”
“None of you here will escape!” A soldier who was surrounding and killing Yarn suddenly roared disdainfully, then actually turned and charged towards Yam, “I’ll kill your son first! Then I’ll kill you!”
The two charged at each other, and the distance rapidly shortened.
This sword-wielding middle-aged man was the same soldier who had been about to enter the small house. In a few steps, seeing Yam enter his attack range, he unhesitatingly raised his sword and swung it horizontally, aiming directly for Yam’s head.
Yam was hot-blooded at this moment, his mind somewhat feverish. Seeing this horizontal slash coming, he surprisingly didn’t dodge or evade, but instead swung his own sword in a backhand strike.
Under the moonlight, the soldier could see the rusty longsword in Yam’s hand, and a look of disdain appeared on his face.
“Mere rusty iron…”
But before he could finish his sentence, the next moment he saw his fine iron longsword actually being severed by this rusty iron sword, and then the sword’s edge cut through his face without any obstruction, even slicing open his leather armor and flesh.
The other two soldiers who were surrounding and attacking Yarn were immediately startled, completely at a loss.
But neither Yarn nor Yam would give these two any chance to recover or react. With their combined efforts to kill one person first, the other had no chance of escaping and was immediately dealt with by the father and son.
After successively dealing with three people, Yarn quickly walked back to the fallen, bleeding soldier, and stabbed his sword through his heart, ensuring that the man was truly dead.
“Father…”
“Go first!” Yarn glanced at the situation of the few courtyards and the towering fire on the mountaintop, finally gritting his teeth and cursing, “Take your mother and brother, we must quickly go down the mountain and leave.”
“What about Uncle Mike and the others?”
“They can’t be saved!” Yarn’s eyes were bloodshot. “The Lord is treating all of us as mountain bandits and besieging us! If we don’t leave now, when the knights arrive, our entire family will die!”