Soul of Burning Steel

Starfall, 831, December 17, evening.

Hesse Fortress in Moldova, heavy snowfall.

The cold wave showed no mercy because the fortress standing among the mountains and white snow had just experienced a great battle. It mixed with sudden snow and cold wind constantly blowing between the streets and towers, condensing layers of frost.

The gloomy clouds are overwhelmingly pressing down, spreading the heavy atmosphere. Now, there are no pedestrians walking on the road made of gray stone, only scattered broken weapons and destroyed armor equipment are abandoned by the roadside. Their owners may have long been Killed in battle, perhaps survived by luck, but in any case, this scene is extremely bleak.

And the silver-haired girl walked slowly on this deserted street, her green pupils showed no emotion.

Her steps are light and full of girlish vigor. She is wearing a white women's double-breasted military uniform, matching trousers and silver leather boots. She wears a pair of light leather gloves, which she can occasionally see from the gloves and White and slender wrists can be seen between the cuffs... I have to say that such a beautiful girl full of vitality is not suitable to appear here.

But Firefly felt it was very appropriate.

Looking around at the surrounding houses and towers, the magical girl breathed the smell of war and experienced the aftermath of the battle. She looked at the incomplete weapons on the ground, her eyes softened, as if she could communicate with these dead things. But she didn't stop there, but walked straight in one direction.

The silver leather boots and the stone street collided with the ice and snow, making a soft 'thump' sound. This sound echoed in the street with only the sound of wind, and was transmitted to the distance.

It's really miserable...

With a soft sigh, Yingying said with some emotion: It's also besieged by the Kuroshio. Although the master's territory is desolate, it's not so desolate...

After all, when the Moldavian fortress was most critical, Joshua rushed to the scene and killed the golden beast. Otherwise, the Moldavian fortress whose walls were breached would definitely be more tragic than the current Moldavian fortress A hundred times, it is a blessing to have a living person survive.

But no matter what, the final result was that Joshua arrived, and his master cleaned up all the monsters and troubles, but the master here couldn't manage the same thing, so this resulted in such a result, this is the gap.

But it should be like this, how can my master be like an ordinary person?

Thinking of this, now, Hotaru is in the center of the fortress, and this place has finally gained some popularity. From here, the patrolling knights set off to go to various parts of the city. They wore armor with dust and blood on their faces, and they looked tired and tired. Strong cheer up and march in line.

And beside the street they were patrolling, the rows of houses that were already empty were extremely quiet, only a few small buildings had the light of flickering flames, and the gray smoke from the burning of the walls floated from the chimneys.

It's like an empty city.

Facing the black tide composed of 200,000 wild beasts, the Moldovan Fortress actually did not suffer heavy casualties, at least not as big as imagined, but there were so many injured and exhausted people that many people are still fighting on their own. Falling into a dreamless slumber at home and in the barracks, even such a team of exhausted soldiers was hard to get together.

Because of their sense of duty, honor, and the orders of their officers, these soldiers tried their best to cheer up their spirits so that they would not fall asleep while walking and lie down in the ice and snow. Mingming held a pyroxene lamp for lighting in his hand, emitting a fog-like white light, but his head seemed to be covered with a dark cloud, which was bleak.

In the middle of the avenue, these soldiers met Hotaru who was watching them. The soldiers who didn't know her were a little surprised that there was such a spirited and lovely girl in the fortress, but they didn't do anything. On the contrary, there was a kind girl The leader of the team was sleepy, and reminded: Children, the fortress is under curfew now, you can't go out, and it's so late, go back and be with your parents, don't let them worry.

Yeah, it's so cold, what are you doing outside?

The other soldiers also echoed in unison, and one guy even made a little joke: Actually, she is not dangerous. Look at this clothes and hair, and her skin is as white as snow. Walking on the street full of frost and snow , if you don’t pay attention, you won’t see anyone at all.”

It's true, it's all white.

With this forced joke, everyone smiled, their spirits were lifted a little, and then they continued to patrol. As for Yingying—how could there be any danger in the fortress now? It was nothing more than to remind her not to go home too late, to scare the little girl in their eyes.

...

With puffed cheeks, the silver-haired girl turned sideways and looked at the backs of the group of soldiers going away. She said with some displeasure: I'm not a little girl, obviously... the master is twenty-one or twenty-three years old. ...Yes, I am obviously twenty-one years old!

The explanation came a bit late, and the patrolling soldiers had already reached the other end of the street, so they couldn't hear her answer.

After walking for a while, not far ahead is the central warehouse of the fortress—it is said to be a warehouse, but it is actually a material transfer area. As the most important place in the fortress today, there are about twenty or thirty people guarding back and forth in and out of the warehouse. Wearing mail armor and a half helmet, carrying a long sword and a strong wooden shield, patrolling back and forth with the hexagram flag on a red background and a gold border as the base point.

Although monsters are not like humans attacking and defending each other, they will focus on raiding each other's material centers, but after all, there are many flying monsters, and there are also many smart ones. As long as there is a possibility of being attacked, they must not relax their carelessness. Not in bad spirits, although he seemed a little tired, but at least he looked like he had gotten enough sleep.

At first, the guards in the warehouse wanted to prevent the little girl from approaching, but the chief here had already received a greeting from his superiors. After confirming that Hotaru had been granted permission, this girl looked haggard and looked like a few days ago. The guy who didn't sleep well brought the silver-haired girl into the warehouse with a wry smile on his face.

As an officer, he doesn't get much sleep.

Oh, it's really miserable. There is actually no shortage of weapons and armor in the warehouse. Otherwise, everyone wouldn't throw the broken weapons by the roadside, but there are enough weapons and not enough manpower...

The haggard warehouse chief complained bitterly to Yingying as he walked: The general militiamen can't wear this kind of heavy armor at all, and even formal soldiers may not be able to walk smoothly when wearing it. What is most in short supply now is light chain mail. And the broad wooden shield... If these heavy armors can help those reinforcement knights, just take them away, it is really useless to put them here.

He didn't intend to save money for his lord, and this is exactly what Verdani meant - fifty silver knights are nothing in the beast tide, but on the city wall, they can at least guarantee a range of several hundred meters Absolutely not lost, it is enough to put in a lot of effort, fifty sets of armor are nothing to the wealthy Scarant family.

To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that the fortress was originally hollowed out from a small rocky mountain, the body would be too large. Otherwise, the fifty knights would definitely be a very crucial force, but the vast defense line weakened it. The importance of knights.

The knights have their own armor, and I took it for the master alone...

After explaining a little bit about the reason for her visit, Hotaru chatted with the warehouse chief from time to time, asking what things she had never seen before, and this tired middle-aged man still had the energy to explain them one by one.

It wasn't until they entered the warehouse on the second floor that the two became quiet.

In the center of the warehouse on the second basement floor, the white light of the pyroxene lamp was shining, and this light reflected and shone on the surrounding sealed armor and swords, illuminating the entire warehouse hall.

What kind of armor does the Moldavian lord like? Tell me the size, and I can choose it for you.

It can be seen that Hotaru seems to have some reasons and can't choose at all, but the warehouse chief said this sentence confidently: Aside from other things, in terms of familiarity with the styles of armor and weapons, there are not many people in Moldova who can surpass me. .”

...In that case, please.

Yingying, who was distressed, simply reported a large number of data, and it didn't take long for the warehouse chief with a smile to fetch the armor that met the requirements.

The armor turned into a small model by the reduction technique and the weightlessness technique was placed in a small box and handed to the silver-haired girl.

Thank you so much!

We should be thanking you.

Waving his hand with a wry smile, the middle-aged man shook his head and said, Anyone can see that if the lord hadn't led the troops to disperse the beast horde, today would be the day our city would be destroyed... Sigh.

Having said that, he sighed again: Anyway, at least I can rest now... You and that adult must take care of your health.

……Um.

After taking the box and saying goodbye to the guards, Hotaru left the city center.

In the cold wind and haze, the silver-haired girl walked on the quiet street following the induction of the contract.

She walked slowly towards the wall in front of the fortress.

Master, it's right there.