Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 365: Chapter 31 Horse Palm Ivan_3

But Mrs. Mitchell thought enlisting in the militia was a good idea, which neither violated the law nor broke any oaths.@@novelbin@@

Gerard Mitchell and Ellen Mitchell had a huge fight, and Winters, who was staying with the Mitchells, could hear Gerard’s roaring and Mrs. Mitchell’s crying even from outside the mansion.

The youngest Mitchell daughter still unwed, Scarlett Mitchell, hid in the gazebo in the backyard with a lieutenant’s arm around her, desperately covering her ears and sobbing.

“It’s normal for a husband and wife to quarrel, I saw it myself when I was young,” Winters had to comfort the terrified young miss: “Haven’t you seen it before?”

Miss Michel sobbed in response, “They never used to fight… Is my dad going to kill my mom?”

“No… Don’t worry, he won’t…” The girl’s imagination left Winters dumbfounded.

After a long time, the mansion quieted down, and Mrs. Mitchell returned to her usual gentle and calm demeanor, although there were still a few strands of tear marks at the corners of her eyes.

Winters hurriedly stood up to greet her.

Seeing her mother coming, Miss Michel quickly ran away.

“Lieutenant sir,” Mrs. Mitchell said with a slight curtsy.

“Madam,” Winters nodded in return.

No sooner had Mrs. Mitchell spoken than she was on the brink of tears again, “In your militia… Can Pierre be safe?”

Winters pondered for a long time, and answered seriously and earnestly, “Madam, once one enters war, no one can be safe, I cannot guarantee that Pierre will come home unharmed. If the war goes well, the chances of survival for support troops are much higher than for combat troops. If the war goes poorly, the support troops would be the first to be abandoned. I cannot make any promises, war is a cruel and sad disaster.”

“If the war goes well, support troops can be safer, right?”

“Correct.”

“Thank you, Mr. Montagne.” After giving a courtesy, Mrs. Mitchell left sadly, murmuring to herself, “Father, brother, I can’t lose a son again. They’ll understand someday… they will…”

Once the matriarch of the Mitchell family made up her mind, the attitudes of Gerard and Pierre meant nothing.

Ultimately, Michel signed her name on the register with a bellyful of complaints.

…

The 32 participants had been confirmed, and the remaining candidates were just waiting for the drawing.

In the past, when drawing conscripts, the people of Wolf Town simply drew lots, each person one lot, and the unlucky one drawn would be it.

But this time, Winters Montagne, the Garrison Officer, had devised a simple set of rules.

First, whether laborers, self-farming peasants, or manor family members, all must participate in the drawing;

Second, families of the militia who had sacrificed themselves during beast disasters were exempted;

Third, only sons had one lot, while others had two lots—it was too preferential to give only sons complete exemption, but they should still be given some consideration;

Fourth, the other townspeople not selected would contribute money according to their status as laborers, self-farming peasants, or manor owners, which would be distributed to the members of the militia as compensation.

This was a very rudimentary scheme, but at least the people of Wolf Town could accept it. Compensating the unlucky ones who were drawn would also reduce the risk of desertion.

…

What Winters didn’t expect was that, upon hearing there was money to be had, the young hunter Bell was the first to come to him.

“Sir? Is there money for joining the militia?” Bell asked the lieutenant impatiently.

Bell, of course, was not among the 32 Dusacks who volunteered, although the young stable boy Anglu was listed among them.

“There is a little,” Winters replied without showing any emotion: “Do you need money?”

Bell didn’t answer directly, but asked eagerly, “Can you advance me the money if I sign up for the militia?”

Now Winters couldn’t just ignore him; he frowned and asked again word by word, “Do you need money?”

Bell shivered uncontrollably and nodded without saying a word.

“For what?”

Bell didn’t make a sound.

“For what?!” Winters raised his voice by three decibels.

“Paying off debts,” Bell said softly.

“What debts?”

“My father’s debts.”

“Sigh,” Winters sighed, “how much do you need? I’ll get it for you. You don’t have to join the militia.”

Bell stubbornly said, “No, I can’t take other people’s money.”

“What’s with the affectation, lad? Do you want the money or not?” Winters countered.

Bell deflated like a punctured ball, and mumbled softly, “I do…”

…

The little fellow didn’t ask for much money, but Winters was still worried.

Money was not important to him, but he had to make sure that Ralph’s son wasn’t heading down a wrong path.

That very night, he stealthily followed Bell into the forest, all the way to the hunter’s cabin where Bell returned.

After the old hunter’s death, Bell was taken to live in town by Winters, and the hunter’s family cabin in the woods had been left idle.

There was definitely something fishy about the little hunter sneaking back to the old house.

“What in blazes are you up to, you little rascal!” Winters kicked open the door.

“Ah!?” Bell stood up in a panic, blocking the way: “It’s… It’s nothing…”

Winters’s pupils constricted as his breathing accelerated sharply. Pointing at the shadow behind the young hunter, he exclaimed, “What is that thing!”

Knowing he could no longer hide it, Bell mumbled, “A cat…”

“Bullshit!” Winters couldn’t help but laugh in anger: “Would a cat’s paws be that big?”

Laughing, an abrupt realization struck Winters, and he asked in shock, “That… That’s a cub of a giant lion?”

Behind Bell, the Little Lion let out a milky cry of “Woo-ah”.

—— END ——

“Catalogue of Rare and Exotic Creatures”

by Bai Ruisi

“… Cave lions give birth to one or two cubs per litter, and their behavior is more like tigers than lions; the mother raises the cubs alone… Reliable records indicate that cave lions were still sighted in the northern foothills of the Jinding Mountains as recently as the year 580 of the Empire… However, with the constant shrinking of their population and habitat, this living fossil species ultimately went extinct… Today, people can only explore the true nature of the cave lion through legends, stories, and the written word…”

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