The north of the Holy Empire is divided from east to west by mountains where snow monsters thrive. The east side is an extremely cold land, while the west side is an endless prairie.
This grassland is the habitat of the centaurs.
Centaur, the shape is as its name suggests.
When God created this race, he took the upper body of a human and pieced it together with the torso of a horse, giving them the intelligence of a human and the powerful mobility of a horse.
They are the most powerful cavalry in the world, bar none.
They gather like hills and disperse like wind and rain; they are as fast as lightning and as agile as eagles and falcons; their mobility to come and go freely, their unimaginable speed and their abundant physical strength make them almost impossible to defeat when fighting in open terrain.
Most importantly, their racial superiority is incredible.
They have two hearts!
Even if one of them is penetrated by the enemy, they can still be alive and kicking.
The only way to kill them is to chop off their heads.
It's just that for most races in the world, it is not easy to cut off the heads of centaurs who are generally over three meters tall.
It’s not easy for humans to do it.
In the history of the war between humans and centaurs, every time the humans killed a centaur, they had to pay the price of killing two or three people, or even more.
This was also the main reason why the Teutonic family took off the crown.
The long frontier defense line in the north makes it impossible for humans to rely on building the Great Wall or continuous fortresses to keep the Centaurs out of their territory. They can only rely on human lives to build a defensive lament. War is like a monster that can never have enough to eat.
It endlessly devoured the northern supplies, population and food, eventually overwhelming the Teutonic Kingdom.
Of course, God will not forget to add shackles when giving.
The powerful centaurs also have flaws.
With four horse hooves and a long body, they were unable to scale the city walls and breach the castle.
Moreover, the talents of the two hearts are so different that it is difficult for them to give birth to a strong person.
When they try to break through the shackles and step into the realm of the strong, the divine veins will close in both hearts at the same time, and the backlash they need to withstand is not as simple as one plus one.
Therefore, even though the centaur tribe has a population of more than 100,000 people all year round, and even more than 300,000 people at its peak, the number of khans has never exceeded three. Even in history, there was only one khan in more than a hundred years.
There was no embarrassing moment at all. The only time I had three khans was because of bad luck. It happened to be that the human demigods were still alive, and two of them were directly wiped out, and one was seriously injured. The hope of the rise of this race was wiped out.
Completely obliterate.
However, whether a khan is born or not does not affect their power.
Living on the grassland chasing grass, they have no fixed residence, so humans have no chance to completely exterminate them; their plundering tactics, which come and go like the wind and are not shy to escape, make it impossible for humans to effectively curb their invasion.
“Everywhere a horse’s hooves tread is pasture!”
This is the racial oath of the centaurs, and it is also the reason why they often invade human territory - in their eyes, humans are no different from the sheep they graze, and the only difference is that they walk on two feet.
Such cruel values have also brought them negative consequences.
Iron ore on the grasslands is very scarce and the output is very small, and no lord in the human world is willing to exchange with them. This makes them very scarce in daily necessities. Not only are many warriors' weapons made of ironwood,
Even the arrowheads had to be made of bone spurs.
Atwood, who has a Teutonic surname, is no stranger to Centaur customs and living conditions.
When he was very young, his father and brothers all told him about the ferocity of the centaurs. Even the old nurse who had lost many teeth in coaxing him to sleep said, "If he doesn't sleep, he will be captured by the centaurs."
"To scare him.
Teutonic blood also flows in his body, and he has a sworn hatred for the Centaurs.
However, now that he stepped into the grassland, he came to seek cooperation from the centaurs.
The reason is naturally the desire for revenge.
When he was eight years old, the last Teutonic Duke, his father, planned to send him to the imperial capital, in the name of serving as the emperor's attendant, but actually as a hostage.
But just as he stepped into the plains of Middle-earth, his father and the Teutonic family were destroyed.
In order to preserve the Teutonic bloodline, the old retainer who escorted him immediately dismissed all the accompanying guards, and took Atwood with him to hide in the city of Gardinanras.
The Mills royal family and the Hughes family, who betrayed the Teutons, both had secretly investigated Atwood's whereabouts.
It's just that as the hub of north and south, the city of Gardinaras, where countless unidentified people gather, is too easy to hide two people.
Moreover, at that time, many families loyal to the Teutons raised the banner of rebellion. In order to undermine the fighting spirit of these families and put down the rebellion faster, the Mills royal family and the Hughes family deliberately claimed that Atwood had been killed by them. Also,
They found a boy who was about the same age and height as Atwood, smashed his face, cut off his head and hung it outside the castle.
Therefore, they can no longer blatantly issue wanted notices and let lords from all over the world search for Atwood.
Atwood, who grew up anonymously in the city of Gardenanlas, had an extremely difficult childhood.
Because the only old retainer who accompanied him soon died of the epidemic.
That year, he was twelve years old.
He was bullied because he had no one to rely on. The high consumption in the city of Gardinanras made it difficult for him to survive, and the city gate tax of ten silver coins made it impossible for him to even go out of the city to find some wild fruits to satisfy his hunger.
Because in the city he could still survive by running errands for others, doing odd jobs as a temporary helper, or doing petty theft.
But when he leaves the city gate, he will only end up being kidnapped by bandits or mercenaries and sold as a small slave.
He always remembered the Teutonic surname and would rather die than become a slave.
In the same way, he would rather starve to death than become a beggar.
He had barely had enough to eat, and after two years of wandering around in the city of Gardenanlas, he finally reached a turning point.
It was an extremely cold night, and he had nowhere to hide from the cold storm and snow, so he ran to take shelter under the wall of a small blacksmith shop in the south of the city, hoping that the remaining warmth from the iron-making furnace would drive away the cold.
The owner of this blacksmith shop is old Charlie.
When he opened the shop door the next day, he found Atwood, who was almost frozen.
Feeling pity, he carried Atwood into the iron shop and used the heat of hot water and stove to snatch Atwood's life back from the hands of death.
"Eat, this is for you."
When he saw Atwood waking up, Old Charlie threw two pieces of brown bread over, but Atwood refused.
"Thank you, but I'm not a beggar."
He refused like this, without any hesitation in his expression or tone.
This made old Charlie immediately stunned, and then he looked at the scrawny young man in front of him and smiled, "I'm not giving this to you for free. Hurry up and finish eating and come over to work!"
In this way, Atwood became a handyman in the blacksmith shop.
There was no wages, but I had clothes that fit me, enough to eat every day, and I could sleep next to the stove.
Even when the iron shop's business was good and old Charlie was in a good mood, he would be taken to Hera's tavern and buy him a glass of rye.
Aunt Hera, who has a straightforward temper and a kind heart, also takes good care of Atwood.
After knowing that Atwood was helpless but often practiced martial arts secretly at night, she deliberately delayed closing the stable door for two hours every night. This gave Atwood a chance to come and watch her teach her son martial arts, and let Atwood
Twowood and her son sparred, honing each other's skills.
Well, her son's name is Rita Bronzebeard Stonehammer.
Such a strange surname with a beard, a hammer or an ax, you can tell without asking that it comes from the dwarves.
When Atwood turned eighteen, he stopped working in the blacksmith shop.
"I am the last Teutonic, I cannot be a blacksmith all my life."
He told himself this in his heart.
"I am already a man and I want to go out and make a living."
He said this to old Charlie.
Old Charlie, who had only little Jack as his nephew, had no intention of staying.
He just gave Atwood two swords, one long and one short, that he had forged long ago, and told him that if he had a hard time outside, he could come back at any time.
After leaving the city of Gardenanlas, Atwood initially became a mercenary.
They live by the caravans that travel from the small mountain town in the Lokidaran Mountains through the great wasteland to the dwarven kingdom.
Later, as time passed, mercenaries of similar age to him either died or got tired and left, so he became an experienced mercenary with good luck and reputation.
Then, he was recruited by the caravan and became a caravan guard who could more easily save his life.
Occasionally, he would come back to the city of Gardenanlas and give the gold coins he earned to old Charlie or Aunt Hera for safekeeping - neither of them were willing to accept gratitude in return, so he had to use the excuse of "keeping it on his behalf"
.
Many years passed and he was already thirty-five years old.
But he never found a wife or bought a house in the city of Gardena, no matter how old Charlie and Aunt Hera tried to persuade him.
Because he always remembers that he is Teutonic!
The last Teutonic!
The Teutons who bear a blood feud!
Before he became a strong man and had the strength to take revenge, he couldn't care about other things.
It's just fate that plays tricks on people.
He has already vaguely touched the threshold of becoming a strong person, but for some unknown reason, he has never been able to reach the critical point of becoming a half-step strong person.
In the history of the Teutonic family, all those who reached the threshold of being strong and reached the age of thirty-five have either died trying to break through the shackles, or have become strong.
He was confused about this, but had no one to turn to for help.
He is just a lonely ghost with nowhere to turn. Even Silver Moon and Red Moon are not willing to face each other when he invites him to toast.
Later, he met Chris, and when he heard the words "This is the south, the souls from the north will get lost when they go home", he let go of his anxiety.
Yes, he has almost forgotten what his hometown is like since he is so far away from home.
The castle may still be strong, the surrounding low walls may still be covered with nettles, and the fields may still have green wheat fields...but the flag hanging in the territory is no longer a snow monster that symbolizes the Teutonic family.
Head.
He wants to go home.
Because he was the last Teutonic Duke, he still remembered his father's appearance. He had the same long and narrow face, high eye sockets, and a narrow and long nose.
It's time for him to go home.
Because in every corner of the Holy Empire, there are whispers of speculation that human demigods are about to fall.
If you don't go back, it will be too late.
Becoming a strong man, he can use his Teutonic surname to take revenge.
But if he couldn't become a strong man, then he would settle for the next best thing and be willing to bear the infamy of the ages and use centaurs to take revenge.
So he set out on the road north.
After entering the Teutonic homeland, he did not take a look at the castle where the Teutonic family had lived for generations, nor did he notify the Teutonic vassals who had raised armies to resist. He just sneaked past the patrolling defense line of the Griffin Legion and went straight to the depths of the grassland.
.
After walking for five days, he lost his way.
Ten days later, he encountered a pack of wolves and exhausted the horses to make the wolves give up the pursuit, at the cost of losing their dry food and water bags.
After another eight days, he only had two very ordinary long and short swords forged by dwarves.
Summer in the northern grasslands is hot both during the day and at night, and there are many mosquitoes, but water sources and prey are very difficult to find.
There were many little bumps on his body, which were friendly visits from mosquitoes.
His shoes are quite damaged and I believe they will be thrown away in a few days.
Hunger took away his strength, and thirst destroyed his will to get up and continue on the road.
Am I going to die?
Has the bloodline of the Teutonic family been cut off?
He was now lying on a small puddle of water that had dried up, motionless. The scorching sun was falling on his body, unable to produce even a drop of sweat.
clatter...
Da da...
I don’t know how long it took, but the sound of horse hooves came from far and near.
Those were two patrolling centaurs.
One is very young, and the other has gray hair on the temples, but is still very strong.
Centaurs always move in pairs. The nearly three-meter horse body needs another partner to bandage when injured, comb the hair when bathing, and then apply a layer of herbal juice to prevent mosquitoes, etc.
The centaurs, who are divided into small tribes and migrate after water and grass, have no fixed place to live, and do not need patrolling soldiers.
And there are centaurs patrolling here, which means that the Khan's golden tent is nearby.
As for why they came~~
That was before Atwood fell, he used his last bit of strength to stick the sword upright on the ground, and tore a long strip of cloth from his body and tied it to the hilt of the sword.
"Take me to your khan."
When the shadow of the centaur's tall body enveloped Atwood, he was already drowsy and tried to make a hoarse sound from his chapped lips.
"Hahaha, a sheep walking on two legs, are you dreaming?"
The young centaur, who had just picked up the spear and was about to stab it, paused when he heard this and couldn't help but sneer, "Our great Khan, you can see it whenever you want?"
"Take me to your khan!"
Atwood repeated it again, with no room for doubt in his tone, "Your Khan will thank you for everything you have done today!"
Well?
The older centaur hesitated for a moment and waved his hand to stop the other, "Human, tell me your reasons!"
"You...you don't deserve to know!"
Atwood struggled to finish speaking, and then passed out.