Age of Empires From Scratch

  Chapter 23 The Old Hunter and the Little Hunter

  Although she was skeptical about the "better environment" that David said, Laura did not object because she was curious about the person David was going to take her to meet.

  Laura was very clever, and guessed that what David was going to meet was Addis, the old hunter who raised him and taught him to be a hunter.

  Walking around the outer city of Iron Tree Fort for a while, I gradually saw relatively scattered houses in front of me. Through David's explanation, Laura understood that because of the threat of elves in the Iron Tree Forest in the northwest, Iron Tree Fort also built a fort in that direction, so after the development reached a certain level, the people no longer settled in that direction.

  The civilians who later settled in Iron Tree Fort mostly chose the south side of Iron Tree Fort. The various houses and buildings in that direction are more than three times that of the west side, and the number of civilians is even greater.

A small number of people will live in the southwest direction. For various reasons, there are much fewer residents in this direction. The defensive fortress is mainly to defend the direction facing the iron tree forest. The pass is stuck on the road leading to the north, and the west can also take care of it. , but the southwest of Iron Tree Fort is relatively weak for defense, and it is relatively close to Iron Tree Forest. Living in this area has certain risks.

   "Generally speaking, the people who live in this area are mainly woodcutters and hunters." This direction is convenient for them to go to the nearby forest to obtain firewood and prey.

   "You used to live in this place?"

"Yes."

  Because there are few residents, the houses are not nearly next to each other like the "outer city" seen before, and there are much less "domestic garbage", so the environment is relatively "better".

After walking for a while, David and Laura stopped outside a wooden house—compared with the houses they had seen before, this house looked much neater and cleaner, and it also surrounded a yard with fences and planted various flowers and plants , the fragrance of these flowers and plants greatly relieves various odors in the air.

"It's here? The environment is really good." Laura looked very surprised. She thought that the Addis she was going to meet would be a rough man with a beard and a slovenly appearance. In addition, he was a hunter, and there might be a lot of furs or fresh prey at home. corpse.

  In any case, she never expected such a painting style.

  Actually, it wasn't just Laura who was surprised, David was also a little surprised... I've been away for more than two years, why has this place changed so much?

  Looking around, I was sure that I was right, and except for the flowers and plants in the yard, everything else was the same as I remembered.

   "Could it be..."

  Old tree blooming? The old bachelor got out of the singles?

  In this case, it seemed inconvenient for me to break in directly, so I had to stand outside the 'yard' and shout loudly: "Adis, I'm David, I'm back to see you!"

  According to his previous temper, he should have sent some 'kind' greetings casually, but now all these words have been deleted by him, but he soon realized that he might have thought wrong.

The wooden door opened, and it was not a "mother" who came out of it, but a small and thin child standing at the door and looking at David outside the yard: "Adis went into the forest in the morning (there are not only I went hunting in a forest in the Iron Tree Forest and haven’t come back yet.”

   "I'm David, did Addis mention me to you?" Seeing this child, David immediately understood what was going on—it seemed that Addis had adopted another child.

   After carefully looking at it, this child is quite thin, with a handsome and fair face, and his skin is so delicate that he doesn't seem like a child who would live in this kind of place.

  There was a cloth strip tied around his head, which made David think that the child might be injured and recuperating at home. According to his previous experience, Addis would take the child with him when hunting under normal circumstances and teach him how to become a qualified hunter.

   "Yes, I heard him mention it."

Just as this beautiful child was talking to David, an old hunter with a gray beard walked over slowly, and started to growl from a long distance: "Alfie, I didn't ask you to stay in the house in?"

   "..." The child named Alfie was taken aback, and couldn't help taking half a step back as if he had done something wrong. Nuonuo explained: "I only opened the door when I heard him say his name is David..."

   "Did he just say he is David? You are so stupid! I can't imagine how you will live in the future." The old hunter's roar was not subdued by Alfie's defense, and even became more deafening.

"Hey!" David on the side noticed that there might be something wrong here. Although Adis's temper was not very good before, he was not so irritable, and although his tone was bad, the concern in his words was very obvious. It seems that this The child's identity is not simple: "Old man, besides his temper getting worse, his eyes are getting worse and worse, don't you recognize me?"

Addis had already walked up to David, casually threw the hare and pheasant in his hand into the yard, and looked at David face to face: "Although you have changed a lot, this special expression that deserves to be beaten is still the same. Change."

  Opened his arms and hugged David: "I inquired about the situation of the Blazers, and thought you would never come back."

   "It's not that easy for me to die." David opened his hands and hugged Addis, and at the same time patted the old hunter's back vigorously: "Don't you still expect me to take care of you?"

  Adis, who loosened his arms, smiled happily: "So, after you come back this time, you plan to honestly become a hunter in Iron Tree Fort?"

  In Addis’s view, David should choose to give up and return to his original life like the previous pioneers. In Addis’ view, this choice is more practical.

  As for why David, who always looks like he wants to do big things, chooses to give up, it may have something to do with the woman next to him. As a man, once you have the bond of being responsible, you won't think about so many unrealistic things.

   "What's the girl's name?"

"Laura Crawford, you can just call me Laura." Laura has been learning the common language of this world. Due to her ordinary language talent, Laura has long been able to communicate with people proficiently in the common language .

   "Laura...Crawford?" Adis showed a little surprise on his face. After carefully looking at the woman in front of him, he easily noticed that Laura was special.

  He didn't say anything, but warmly invited the two into the room to talk.

  Adis’s house is also a wooden house. Compared with the new log cabins built by David in Cold Winter Village, this wooden house is much larger, and the interior is a little more complicated, with several rooms separated.

  As soon as you enter the house, you will find the most spacious living room, with a wooden table and several chairs, as well as cabinets and shelves for weapons and prey.

  David looked around after entering the room, and there was no change from when he left.

  Put the backpack and hunting bow aside, and after Laura put down her things and sat down, David noticed that Alfie was processing the prey thrown into the yard by Addis in the kitchen, and cast curious eyes on David from time to time.

David returned a smile, turned his head and explained to Addis that he did not give up his identity as a pioneer and returned to Iron Tree Fort to be a hunter on this trip: "Although the pioneering team I was in encountered many difficulties, in the end it was Successfully established the village."

"Oh? Success?" As a member of the Kingdom of Tilan, Addis certainly understands what it means to successfully build a village: "But I heard from those who came back earlier that the environment in the north is very bad, and it is impossible to build a village." .”

   "I was lucky. After taking over the position of the village head, I found a wild crop, and now I have started to reclaim a large area of ​​land and plant this crop."

"Wait... You just said that you took over the position of village head?" It's nothing to discover new crops and start planting on a large scale. What really shocked Addis was that David actually became the village head. I also understood why David came back to Iron Tree Fort this time: "So, you came back this time..."

   "I came back this time to make Rinwinter Village an official territory of the kingdom."

Hearing David say what he wanted to say but couldn't believe it, Addis straightened his back in shock and leaned back. At the same time, he reached out to touch the small water bottle hanging on his waist. After opening the lid, After a few pauses, he calmed down.

   "This joke is not funny at all."

   "I'm not joking." David stared directly at Addis in front of him, and the other party also stared at David with rounded eyes, as if he wanted to see some flaws in David's face.

  The two men just stared at each other for more than a minute. In the end, Adis took the lead in sighing and broke the deadlock: "It's actually true... It's unbelievable, you guy actually did it."

   Shaking his head, Addis took another big mouthful, a little red gradually rose on his face and neck: "Congratulations."

"Thanks!"

  Addis turned his head and shouted at Alfie in the kitchen: "The rabbit and the pheasant are both made for dinner to celebrate David becoming the village chief."

"OK."

  Alfie's voice came from the kitchen, and David looked at the child who was still working hard in the kitchen, thinking of himself back then.

   "This child, is my successor?"

In David's view, after learning about the situation of the Pioneering Team, Addis thought he would not be able to come back. It is not surprising to find a new successor to train. He has long known that this old hunter adopts children and teaches them to become hunters. , just so that someone can take care of himself after he is unable to hunt, and provide for his retirement.

  But when David turned the topic to this child, Addis's expression became very strange, as if there was something inconvenient to say.

   "Is there any trouble?"

   "No, nothing!" Adis obviously hesitated for a few seconds, but finally said nothing.

  But David noticed that Addis glanced at Laura while hesitating, and seemed to be wary of Laura.

  (end of this chapter)