Raise Your Sword Chapter 1: Nuns

　　 (I hope you read the first chapter slower, human nature has spent a lot of pen and ink)

　　 There are no steam trains passing by, and there are very few tourists coming and going. This is a small mountain town with endless snow-capped mountains behind it. Except for the old people who have gone out, the people in the town are there. I have been living here, hunting for a living.

The center of 　　 town is a small square. There used to be a fountain, but now only the residue of the bonfire is covered with heavy snow. It is early in the morning when a footstep passes by the snow. Merlin came out of the house, carrying his suitcase. He is going to the mountain to gather some firewood. The footprints follow the clean snow trail and slowly extend to the distance.

　　 may be because there are few people passing by the side of the snow mountain, and most of the snow is very clean. But there was a slight bulge on the snow not far away. Merlin walked over and lowered his head. He saw the black cloth faintly exposed in the snow, and he completely slapped the snow away.

　　 "It's a woman, she passed out, I have to save her quickly!"

　　 Merlin hurriedly picked her up. The woman's body was already completely stiff. I don't know if she died, but she can't take care of that much now. Merlin carried her into the box and ran home.

　　 When he returned home, he boiled hot water and put some herbs in it, and carefully put the woman in the bucket. The body was stained with blood, and the skin had changed a little. Merlin glanced at the woman lying down. , Suddenly hesitated, but then walked forward——

　　The clothes fell one by one, and water vapor rose up in the small room, and slowly the woman's stiff body became softer.

　　 "I hope you can wake up." Merlin stopped in sweat.

　　 In the afternoon, Merlin was sitting at the door in a daze. He simply fenced a small yard outside the door. Some wood was piled scattered and a thick layer of snow was piled on it. There is also a wooden dummy in the yard, where my father taught himself hunting skills.

　　 Until one day my father went hunting in the mountains and didn't come back, my mother went to look for him... There was only one person left at home.

　　 "Merlin, Merlin" a voice interrupted his contemplation. It was Kate who ran over.

　　 "Good news, good news, Merlin, the prayer went well today, and we will have good luck." Kate rushed into the yard from the door happily. He was wearing a wide jacket, and he looked a little thin. He was one of Merlin's few friends in the town.

　　 "What's the matter?" Merlin rarely sees Kate so happy, a little strange.

　　"The lottery is about to start? I went to see Granny Suramar today and asked her to pray for us. She has always been very spiritual, and we will have good luck next week!"

　　 "That's great." Merlin also laughed, which is indeed good news.

　　The so-called lottery is a ceremony that has only been held in the town in recent years. The hunters in the town live on the snow-capped mountains, but there is a wild beast on the top of the snow-capped mountains. In recent years, they have come down to eat people, injure livestock, and destroy the town.

　　 After several times of extermination and no results, the town decided to send a person to the beast on the top of the snow mountain every year to eliminate the disaster... Of course, for the luck of most people, it is often right. The most desperate moment of the person who was drawn.

　　Merlin said to Kate earnestly: "We will have good luck." Kate once saved Merlin from a hunt. As a best friend, Merlin very much hoped that he and both of them would be fine.

　　 sent away Kate, Merlin was cutting a sharp wooden pole in the yard. His father once said that good hunters have one-handed arrow craftsmanship. Although Merlin didn't have much hunter talent, he still persevered. After all, he looked thinner and weaker than the strong hunters in the town.

　　 I don’t know how long it took, and suddenly there was some noise behind her. Merlin turned her head, and a girl with long hair was leaning at the door and looking at him with her head tilted.

　　 "You are awake." Merlin turned around and smiled and said: "Go to the rest meeting again, your body has not recovered yet."

　　 The girl didn't speak, her face was half hidden behind her loose long hair, she was staring at Merlin carefully. Merlin noticed that the girl's complexion was very clean, but slightly pale. She changed into a slightly thick cloth robe-it was mother's clothes, although it didn't seem to fit well.

　　 "No need." The girl will continue to say after a while: "Did you save me?" She looked at the small yard and asked.

　　 "You fell there, so I—"

　　 "Thank you." The girl interrupted Merlin directly, and then fell silent, as if she didn't want to continue. When Merlin turned around and planned to continue her work, she suddenly heard the girl say:

　　 "I will repay you." After speaking, the girl lowered her head and turned and walked into the house.

　　Melin was taken aback, then stood up.

　　The oil lamp is always bright, a small wooden table is placed in a clean room, and the fireplace next to it makes a crackling noise. It was repaired by Merlin himself the year before. With the fireplace, the cabin looks much warmer, and the window is squeaking. Compared with the blizzard, it is like two worlds.

　　 At the moment, Merlin is sitting at the table and talking to the girl.

　　 "If it is convenient, can I live here for a while?" After a few conversations, the girl lowered her eyes and turned her head and continued: "I'm just a homeless nun. I can't stop the wind and snow. ····"

　　"Do you...do not want to go home?" Merlin asked strangely.

　　The girl did not respond.

　　 "Okay, my name is Merlin...that, I don't know your name yet."

　　Meiling knew that the girl's body needs to be cultivated for a while, so she agreed. He didn't mention the blood stains on her body and how to cross the barriers of the mountains but fainted in this remote town. The other party seemed to avoid these problems deliberately.

　　 "My name is Jenny." The girl made a ceremony which seemed to indicate that the agreement was established, and Merlin sat there awkwardly not knowing how to respond.

　　 Just like that, the empty cabin became more popular, and the girl stayed in and slept in the room used by her parents. She changed back to the nun's robe that was once exquisitely made. The girl was taciturn and didn't like to talk very much. Merlin looked at her clothes and looked different from the people in the town, and had a special feeling.

　　 suddenly thought of something, Merlin said: "Don't go out before next week, otherwise everyone may catch you."

　　··········

　　 Time passed quietly. Today is a special day for the small town of Snow Mountain, because one person is going to die for everyone. At this moment, Merlin is sitting on the steps beside the square, beside him is his good friend Kate.

　　 "Merlin, who do you think it will be?" Kate asked.

　　 "I don't know, we'll be fine." Merlin comforted his nervous friend.

　　At this moment, everyone in the town is concentrated on the town square, covering the small square. There are four mutilated human-shaped statues in the four corners of the square, surrounded by several steps, and many people are sitting on it. The bonfire is slowly burning in the center of the square, and the cold look of people is reflected in the dusk. This is not a beautiful thing.

　　 Elder Xiuyi was reading loudly by the campfire: "The terrible beast, Bekal, nests on the snow-capped mountains and determines the fate of everyone. It brings wind and snow, brings fear, brings greed, and brings Come to die..." He is the elder in the town, and many people listen to him.

　　 "Kate, how can you kill that kind of thing?" Merlin asked.

　　 "That's impossible. After all, so many people have already died." Kate thought for a while and said, "Now everyone's thinking is-Bekal started attacking us recently, maybe it won't happen again in a few years. What? After all, I have been calm for so many years."

　　 Elder Xiuyi shouted loudly in the center of the bonfire: "...We have fought, we have persisted, but this is a nightmare bestowed by the snow mountain, the spear broke on its body, and the sword was turned into powder. , Ruthlessness and greed are its symbols..."

The sound of 　　 recitation was heard solemnly by everyone in the square. The wind and snow did not know when, for people in the snow-capped mountains, perhaps this kind of weather is the norm.

　　 "I don't like gatherings like this. If I have enough capacity, I want to go outside and see." Merlin looked at the twilight and said, the unpredictable night sky seemed as attractive as the outside world, but it was out of the snowy mountains. Can you really live well in the outside world?

　　 "I heard people say that the outside of the mountain is not very good, there are wars everywhere." Kate thought for a while and said, "I want to go outside too. I haven't seen a steam train or a radio yet. These are all these days. ~IndoMTL.com~ I heard that there are magical guns that can be used to kill a beast at once!...Unfortunately, it is said that it doesn’t work for Bekal."

　　 The old man Xiuyi's voice gradually became high-pitched. "...that is not a conquerable existence, its name is-Bekal! In order to calm its anger, we decided-to choose one person!" After falling, the surrounding crowd gradually produced a commotion, and trivial comments came from all directions.

　　 "Well, in fact, the reason why we are still here is only because everyone feels that so many people will not choose themselves." Merlin glanced at the crowded crowd in the square and concluded.

　　The lottery began. Elder Xiuyi began to put down a lot of wooden blocks by the bonfire in the square, and a person’s name was written on each wooden block. The process of the ceremony was to let everyone line up and pass in front of the wooden block to confirm Everyone in the town is inside, and eventually the wooden block will be received in a big bucket with a hole. The first wooden block that falls out when rolling will determine a person's fate.

　　 Not long after, the team moved slowly in front of the wooden block. Merlin hated this feeling, but he had to follow everyone. So there were circles and circles of marks being stepped on the snow, which looked like a noose that could strangle people to death.

　　 The barrel slowly rolled up. This was a slightly sloping **** on the square. For a while, everyone's eyes were focused here, as if they could ignite the wooden barrel. Merlin slowly swept over the drooping eyes of everyone present, and a trembling body beside him told him that everyone was not as calm as the surface.

　　 Then, the first wooden block fell out, and the barrel stopped rolling. Elder Xiuyi stepped on the side and picked up the wooden block.

　　 He took a look, then lifted the wooden block to the sky and shouted:

　　 "Kate!"