Serta placed her rough hands over the fire and roasted them carefully.
In the reddish flames, a trace of warmth permeated the room and spread to everyone.
Beside the wine cabinet, Aliria was sharpening her dagger with a whetstone. And Grundy was sitting at the table, carefully wiping its shield that was already riddled with holes with a towel.
"Norsca, that's what the southern humans call us collectively. Or they call us savages, predators, people who live with wild beasts, etc. Those proud southerners always call my people this way."
"However, they have never truly known Norsca. I bet you, Elf, that you have never truly known my race, my people, and my tribe, either."
Selta sat in front of the brazier and spoke slowly.
This was completely different from his previous behavior. If you didn't look at his clothes and face, but just looked at his words and deeds, he would have thought it was some imperial mercenary telling his past.
"The Hague Clan, the Dragonbone Clan, the Blood Ax Clan, the Frostfang Clan, and many other tribes live in that barren and cold land. It's not like your southern land or the elven jungle. In the vast land where my people live,
On the ground, farming is almost impossible. We have to contend with freezing temperatures and wind and snow most of the year."
"Food is also in short supply. We must rely on hunting and plundering south to obtain food to survive. If we don't plunder south, we can only obtain the food and supplies needed for survival by plundering other clans."
"Often, two clans will fight over a prey, and even the whole clan will join the war to snatch resources."
"I know what you want to say, elf, but let me finish."
Before Aliria could speak, Celta stopped her.
The barbarian sighed deeply and continued——
"Everything is just for survival. In your eyes, this is called barbarism. That's because you don't understand our living environment. The land you live on can grow crops and food. But where we live, we can't even see grass.
As far as the eye can see, there are wastelands, snowy fields, and razor-edged mountains and cliffs.”
"In this environment, going south is our only option. Otherwise, we will have to fight for the meager resources in endless internal fighting."
"To Kislev and the Empire, Norsca was an invader and they would not let the Northerners have their land. So, this never-ending war lasted for thousands of years. The people of the clan fought to survive,
The southerners, on the other hand, resisted us in order to prevent their land from being invaded."
Celta whispered, and the wood elf looked expressionless, seeming to agree with this statement, but also seemed to disagree, and just let the barbarian teammate finish his point of view.
"It's all about survival."
"You may be wondering why there are so many northern raiders every time they go south. That land does not seem to be able to support so many warriors."
"It is indeed impossible to feed... Therefore, in order to survive, every time the tribe goes south to plunder, they use the strength of the entire tribe to go south and come out in full force. Every man in the tribe is a warrior, and of course there are some women. A clan often only has a few
Hundreds of people, then every time he goes out to plunder, he takes almost all the males with him. As long as he is over 13 years old and has a strong body, he will be taken to the longship. And 13 years old, for those sissies in the empire,
Maybe he’s still a kid.”
Aliria frowned. Obviously, Selta's statement made her a little bit excited. After all, in the world of wood elves, 13 years is just a blink of an eye, and only 13 years after birth, for elves,
, definitely a child.
"Did you know? A single plunder can either keep a clan going for a few years, or it can directly wipe out the clan. The average age of men in the tribe is only about thirty years old. Except for the chief, few men can live beyond the age of sixty.
Most of them will die in battle in their young adulthood, but most of them will leave seed for the women at home before setting off."
"Children who are born without a father are easily bullied and have been bullied since childhood, but they will quickly learn to resist and learn to use violence to maintain their dignity."
"Perhaps it is the long-term violence and killing that has caused many tribesmen to be charmed by the evil god. Over the past hundreds of years, more and more Norscan tribes have become minions of the evil god of chaos. The darkness has given them stronger power.
and the body, to kill each other and obtain the scarce survival resources. Or guide them to go south in groups, burning, killing and looting to satisfy the desires of the dark gods."
"So, not every Norse tribe believes in evil gods?"
Aliria interjected.
"Yes, not every tribe believes in evil gods. For example, the tribe I once lived in did not believe in any dark gods."
"However, it is often extremely difficult for such tribes to survive."
Celta sighed again and whispered——
"First of all, you have to face challenges from other tribes that believe in evil gods. They have stronger power and can defeat you more easily and plunder you. Secondly, you cannot go south. The empire and Kislev will treat you as
The mortal enemy will not let you easily set foot in their territory. Therefore, tribes like ours are caught between the two and gradually disappear."
"It's very tragic, but it reminds me of the history of our dwarves. Ha, there are some similarities."
Grondi put down his shield and joined in the conversation.
The firelight reflected the completely different faces of the three people.
The dwarves have thick beards under their broad cheeks, and their skin is as rough and hard as stone. The barbarian captain's face is covered with wrinkles and scars. Although he is the youngest, he looks extremely vicissitudes of life. The wood elves still maintain their exquisite facial features.
As for her face, time does not seem to have had any impact on her. Regardless of the contours of her face or figure, she maintains perfect curves.
Of course, from this point of view, it is enough to see that Aliria's combat skills are superb, and in her long life of hunting and ranger, she did not leave too deep scars.
"You dwarves are also a tough race. Believe me, my opinion of dwarves is much better than that of southerners."
"Damn, I don't like the weather here."
Celta suddenly cursed and changed the subject.
"Cold and wet, it reminds me of the north."
"I have never thought before that the territory of vampires can be so cold and cold. They are further south than some provinces in the empire."
"It's not surprising. This land cannot see the sun all year round, and some places are as cold as Kislev."
Aliria continued:
"Vampires will use their magic to cover the sky with dark clouds, so that the entire land cannot see the sun and is in darkness all year round."
"If there really is such a powerful spell, then if we come here, aren't we going to die?"
Celta asked with a sneer.
"I didn't say it was done by one vampire. It could have been done by a whole family of vampires, or by all the vampires in the territory uniting to do it."
"Oh, I see……"
"Then I still don't think Diego has much chance of winning. Alone, no matter how strong the witch hunter is, he has only a mortal body. When he meets a real vampire, he can still chop him down."
"Perhaps his mission is not to assassinate a vampire, but..."