my age of magic

Chapter 165. The Blood on the Altar
Walking into the windmill hills, I found out that this place will be called Bangor Manor, because there are a lot of sweet potatoes planted on this hilly land, and the dark green sweet potato seedlings with heart-shaped leaves have been stubborn and tenacious in the wind and sand. growing.Before I came here, I never thought that there would be orcs who knew how to plant. The entire field of potatoes was covered with hundreds of hills of all sizes, and the edge could not be seen at a glance.

On the farm, some beast women who only wore a pair of cow-nose trousers were standing against the wind and sand, holding a short animal bone hoe in their hands, and clearing weeds in the fields. It seemed that their movements were a little slow, but all of them worked hard. There is no conversation between each other, and everyone is hard at work.There are orcs with leather whips not far away in the field. When they saw our team from a distance, they all watched curiously.

I thought to myself: This place is so rich, this chief Maxine has a unique insight, and he knows how to rush to plant a batch of sweet potatoes in such a famine year. When these sweet potatoes mature, I don’t know how many orcs can eat. Question, but I don't know one thing. I heard the old orc Gribaschin once said that on the edge of the dead swamp, that is, in the swamp south of the drowning, wild sweet potatoes grow and rot year after year If it wasn't for the sudden disaster that made people unprepared, the orcs of the Raitu tribe would never go hungry, just because there are countless sweet potatoes buried under the ground of their homes.

I think Maxine is a very conservative orc warrior. He would rather order his orcs to plant these crops than take the risk of digging at the edge of the dead swamp. This practice is an invisible protection for ordinary orcs. , it seems that he is a generous and benevolent chief.

This was originally the first thing that made me feel a little contradictory. There are a lot of sweet potatoes under the adjacent drowning swamp, but they are still planted hard.

The second thing that makes me feel contradictory is the leather whips in the hands of the orc supervisors. Obviously these working orc girls are so conscientious, so why would someone hold a leather whip to supervise their work.

Moreover, in such a windy weather, it was a bit too cruel for those beast girls to wear simple cow-nosed pants like a loincloth and work against the wind and sand.

So at this time, I am already full of curiosity about Chief Maxine, and I really want to know some of his ideas, and this large-scale cultivation of sweet potatoes is exactly what I want to do with Kurtz.

I jumped off the Yagui Beast and quickly chased Kuz's argali. When Kuz found me chasing him, he turned the sheep's head and waited for me for a while, then pulled me onto his mount, and then led me Follow Chief Maxine who is leading the way.

At this time, I saw the burly orc werewolf warrior Chief Maxine at close range.On his bald head was a tattoo of a man-faced spider. Eight sharp and sharp spider legs stretched forward to his face. He was born with a pair of triangular eyes, a golden closed ring on his big nose, and a wide mouth. Showing four sharp canine teeth, it is impossible to see that he can be so kind.

He looked at me with a little surprise, and I saw a tyrannical murderous aura in his eyes.At this time, he was pointing to the vast field and proudly said to Kuz: "Kuz, your name is very good, come and see here, I let the orcs in the tribe plant a large field of sweet potatoes this year, haha , I’m afraid you don’t know, if I hadn’t given these homeless orc girls a bite to eat, maybe they would have eaten up all the grass roots on the wasteland, and now they are starving to death in the wilderness, that’s also possible son's business."

"Hmph, now that I'm talking about it, I'm not bragging. There are not many places where you can get a full meal. My Bangor estate in Windmill Hills is in the best condition. You don't know that old fellow in the quarry Horsens , the group of gray dwarf mine slaves under his hands have starved to death so many times this year. The old guy’s pants are almost pawned. Pants, hehe, it’s a coincidence that your grandma bear, your name Also called pants!"

Maxine made fun of Kurtz's name unscrupulously, which made me feel a little uncomfortable. I thought to myself: all orc warriors are not all such rough people! , This orc's talking is really annoying, seeing him like this has already lost interest in talking to him.

"I grow these sweet potatoes. I will not only feed the orcs who picked them up from the wasteland, but also sell some to that old fellow Horsens. Well, just exchange some black iron rich ore with him. When the time comes, I will We are building a metallurgical workshop, and maybe those dwarf slaves with blacksmith skills can make some plate armor. Our blood wolf clan relies on wolf cavalry to fight the world. If every wolf cavalry is equipped with plate armor, then It’s even worse, don’t you think so?” When Maxine spoke, the white spittle splashed out against the wind and sand, and was blown far away, and he still talked to Kurtz about his various actions in Bangor Manor , very proud.

I hate this Chief Maxine from the bottom of his heart, his appearance, his conversation, any expression of his, even his attire, although I know that I can't judge people by their appearance, after all, this orc who looks extremely rude In fact, he is a warrior, and his eyesight and mind are slightly better than that of ordinary orc chiefs. At least the orcs in his territory did not go hungry. It is said that these measures can reflect his wisdom, but I always feel that I have overlooked something.

The more I walked in, the more orcs I met, and the more I walked, the more I felt something was wrong. The orc girls I met along the way had almost no expression on their faces. They looked dull, and only when they saw the orc supervisor, Only then will there be a look of fear.But when Maxine walked by, I could feel that everyone was almost shaking with fear, despite their best efforts to hide it.

Everyone has their own emotions, whether they are humans, orcs, or dwarves.Just like the team led by Kuz and I, these orc girls who have been taken in by the orc girls of the Raitu tribe in the wilderness are also working very hard. Just had the opportunity to ride an argali, they have to tear down the tent every day before sunrise, and pack it up, have a hasty breakfast and go on their way, and do the same thing before going to bed at night, they will be exhausted every day, but They are still in good spirits, their faces are getting more rosy every day, at least they can still see smiles on their faces, and even when the weather is good, they can still hear loud and clear singing, which makes our team look full of vitality.

But in Bangor Manor, you can't see these things, there is a dead smell everywhere, and the beast girls look terrified and tired.

I looked back at Sister Guoguo who was riding a horse behind me, and sure enough, she also made a strange gesture to me, and my heart sank.Tia in the team had already disappeared, and the warrior Yue Lun was leading Tia's Gubolai horse and following behind.It seems that Viru must have discovered the abnormal situation, and asked Tia to go ahead to investigate.

"You young masters of big clans are so delicate! You even hired human bodyguards here to be the lords. You see, those people's thighs are not as thick as my arms. What's the use? Maybe the first time you see a swamp zombie When it was time, I was so frightened that the crap ran away." Maxine chattered to Kurtz again.

My disgust has reached its peak. This big werewolf man with a spider tattoo on his head squinted his eyes and leaned over. Yao looked me up and down with interest, and opened his big smelly mouth and asked: " Hey, the human kid looks good!"

When he said this, he kissed his chapped lips with his scarlet tongue. I think the so-called good words in his words are definitely not complimenting me, but saying that my meat is fresh and tender. His unscrupulous eyes are like It is a cold poisonous snake.Then I heard him ask Kurtz again: "Is this your slave?"

"No, he is my brother. He has been learning herbal medicine knowledge from my grandfather, and he will become a great witch doctor in the future!" Kurz is also raising my identity, lest I be seen by these people Flattened.

"Is it the Kuru shaman? Oh, I haven't heard from him for a long time, and he is still alive. I thought he would die under the hammer of those dwarfs!" Maxine patted her bald head and said with a big laugh. .

The owner of Bangor Manor didn't show any respect to Kurtz, not even a perfunctory one.Kuz and I looked at each other, and I was worried again. It seems that Chief Maxine is definitely a lunatic. He has no respect for the soulwalkers of the blood wolf tribe, and he has nothing to hide. Show these emotions, or say this in front of Kurz and me, what the hell is he thinking, when our brother is dead?

The atmosphere became tense amid Chief Maxine's exaggerated laughter.

After the wind and sand blown by the western wilderness entered the hilly area, the wind had weakened significantly, and the entrained yellow sand and dust settled down, and the hills were piled up by the wind to form mounds. These will become hilly land fertile soil.It is cursed that the wind and sand in the desert feed the windmill hills so fertilely.

Viru also felt the danger spreading. They were worried about the comfort of Kurz and me, and they no longer cared about taking care of the orc girls in the large army. Gubolaima rushed towards me with small steps all the way. .When the figure of Qianbach was at the end of the team, slowly emerging from the wind and sand, his strong body appeared so thick under the dwarven chain armor. He was carrying an exquisite one-handed warhammer and a black iron Round shields, these two weapons are selected from the weapons seized by the gray dwarves.

When he saw Qiangbach, Chief Maxine's complexion became ugly. When the wind and sand receded a little, when Viru, who was completely wrapped in linen, appeared, I could clearly see that Mark The veins on Xin's forehead were throbbing non-stop, and the suppressed anger in his eyes was about to reach a peak.He turned his head and stared at a wolf knight viciously like a madman, covered his heart with one hand, stretched out the other hand and pointed his index finger at the captain of the wolf cavalry, and asked in a low and hoarse voice with a little pain : "How the hell do you do things? You can't do such a small thing well. If I raise you with gold coins, you will only be a white-eyed dog, a bunch of waste!"

The wolf cavalry who walked quietly behind him remained silent like deaf men. In this awkward atmosphere, Kurtz and I couldn't advance or retreat. However, since Viru has rushed over with the members of the chasing team, we He and Kuz were more confident, so they pretended to be fools who didn't understand anything, and walked directly into Bangor Manor. Even though this situation has already occurred, then we have to explore the reality of the Black Fang tribe no matter what.

But these incidents of mine made me even more awkward. These reactions of Chief Maxine are hard to explain. From the unscrupulous sarcasm and ridicule of Kurz at the beginning, to the fact that he was disrespectful to old Kuru later. When the atmosphere became tense, Wei Lu and the others appeared, and the haze on Chief Maxine's face was so thick that it was about to drip water.From his expression, I found that he didn't seem to know the existence of Vilu, Jambach and Duo Lunlie before. It seemed that he had only seen Sister Guoguo and the warrior Yue Lun before, and at this time, Sister Guoguo was wearing a suit. The black cloak with a cone cap does not reveal her occupation at all. I don't think Chief Maxine would have thought that there was a human magician in Kurtz's team.

When those wolf cavalrymen reported our strength to Chief Maxine, for some reason they missed the demon hunter Viru, the shield warrior Jambach, and the swordsman Doronlie, which made Chief Maxine miscalculate our strength. Strength, along the way very presumptuously used words to run on Kurz.After Chief Maxine said the most taboo words of Kurtz, it was too late to regret it.

After Chief Maxine's complexion changed several times, a three-pointed smile finally appeared on his stiff face, and he turned to Kurtz and said, "Little brother, you have come all the way, you must have traveled a long way. You have worked so hard, and you are short of food and clothing. Now that you are here, you must sit in our manor. The sacrifice event will be held today. The slaughter of pigs and sheep is ready. The roast sheep from our Black Fang tribe Legs are very famous in the whole West Wilderness! Today, brother, you must taste them."

Kurz has matured a lot recently. The reckless orc boy before has become a calm, thoughtful, tribal leader who is more willing to consider the overall situation.Although the smile had disappeared on his face covered with green stubble, his expression was extraordinarily calm.If I hadn't been behind him and saw that the hand behind his back was tightly arched with an alloy bow, and the knuckles of his fingers were already slightly white, I would have thought that he hadn't heard Maxine's ridicule, and hadn't heard it. Don't mind the sarcasm.It seems that Chief Maxine, the owner of Bangor Manor, pissed off our young orc Kurz, but Kurz endured it like this, most of the time he still didn't want to fight with the Black Fang tribe chief who has wolf cavalry at this time. Turn your face, those of us are all in other people's territory.

When they came, Maxine and his wolf cavalry rode over, so naturally they came very quickly.

Our group was followed by beast women, old people and children trekking on foot. Nearly half of the more than 170 argali were carrying supplies on their backs. Uncomfortable beast girls.Therefore, it took only half a day to walk around the winding mountain road between several huge hills. Maxine, who was leading the way, was obviously anxious, but the twenty or so wolf cavalrymen still followed blankly. behind him.

I guess he's rushing back to preside over the sacrificial activity, and it's inconvenient to leave us here.After finally climbing up a huge slope, there is a huge valley surrounded by many hills in front of us. A manor full of orc style appears in front of us. The wooden fence surrounded by logs is tied with colorful cloth. Probably because of the scarcity of wood here, the buildings in the manor are all made of striped stones, and the hundreds of courtyards look like a village.

You can vaguely see a lot of orcs gathered in the square in the center of the manor, and it looks a bit chaotic. Some orcs are running constantly, and the orcs with whips and iron swords are constantly chasing. It seems that Maxine has left temporarily, offering sacrifices There was a little hiccup in the event.Chief Maxine patted the warg on his crotch, and took a few steps forward to carefully observe the situation in the manor.

Taking advantage of this moment, Kurz and I exchanged glances, and Kuz said to me in a very low voice and very fast in imperial language: "Let Geril and the women from the tribe stay here for dinner and rest, We and Sister Guoguo went with them to the manor to participate in the sacrificial activity. Let's talk to them separately."

I quickly nodded and agreed, I will naturally go to Weilu and Sister Guoguo to talk to them.When I turned around and ran back, Vilu had already got off his horse and handed the reins to Yue Lun who was beside him. The members of the Windchaser team also got off their horses and gathered together.At this time, Tia came out from nowhere, panting heavily with a pale face, Sister Guoguo gently chanted the magic spell, a pale white halo instantly enveloped Tia, making his breathing much more stable.

Kuz called Geril off Yagui Beast's back, and the two whispered next to Yagui Beast. Gerile was a bit reluctant at first, but after Kurz insisted on saying a few words, he agreed docilely .

I rushed to Sister Guoguo, and Viru was asking Tia about the situation: "How is the situation in the manor?"

Tia swallowed, let herself breathe steadily, and hurriedly whispered: "There was a turmoil in the manor. Some foreign orcs were dissatisfied with the tyranny of the Black Fang tribe, and they rebelled one after another. Several foreign orc girls died, but it seems It was suppressed. There are probably less than 200 wolf cavalry inside, and there are more than [-] werewolf warriors and archers. The population of the entire Black Fang tribe should be over a thousand. In addition, they also took in a large number of orcs who fled from the famine. Most of the people are doing hard labor here..."

The news brought back by Tia is not good. It can be seen that Maxine has absolutely no kindness towards us, and even before seeing the powerful Viru and Qianbach, he intends to swallow us directly into his stomach.However, the reason why Maxine has such a strong ambition is also based on her own strength.Before, he must have thought he could swallow us all up and not let anyone get away with it.But after he saw Viru and Jambach, his mind has changed.

Viru frowned and asked, "What's the matter with the sacrificial ceremony?"

"It should be to kill some orcs. It is said that it is a ceremony dedicated to demons and praying for good weather." Tia said, and then he said: "There are some orc children inside. They are all outsiders, orcs who fled in the wilderness. The resistance just now was probably because of this.”

After hearing Tia's words, I felt a chill in my heart, and asked in a low voice, "It's not cattle and sheep that are sacrificed to the gods, but orcs?"

Although Viru's adventure group has traveled to many places, none of them can surpass me in terms of understanding of the way of life of the orc tribe.From what I know about the Blood Wolf Clan, this is an orc tribe that believes in the power of their ancestors. Every warrior in their tribe has inherited the powerful blood power. The reason why the Blood Wolf Clan can live in a corner and occupy the The most basic reason for the Yigaoyuan Gludin Fortress is that the blood wolves have the talent of "self-healing" bloodlines, and they gained such powerful power only by believing in their ancestors.

But now, the Black Fang tribe of the blood wolf tribe here is holding an evil sacrifice ceremony, which is against the will of the ancestors.

"Yes, the entire altar is soaked in the blood of orcs. Every time the orc executioner kills a orc girl, he will collect the blood in a clay pot and pour it into a huge copper tripod. More than half of the blood has been collected. They The dead bodies are piled in the center of the altar. Oh, those orc children are kept in wooden cages, and they should not be killed until the end of the sacrifice!" Tia's face was a little ugly, and she was still afraid of these cruel scenes.

"Shall we go and see?" Viru turned to me and asked.

I didn't expect this taciturn leader of the Wind Chaser Adventure Group to take the initiative to mention the next action.

A female orc warrior responsible for distributing dry food carried a linen bag, took out smoked sausages that had turned brown, and handed them to the orcs of the Raitu tribe who were resting on the side of the road. They took off the water bags from their bodies. Can't wait to drink two mouthfuls of clear water, and began to munch on those sausages as thick as forearms in the windy place, and ate them with relish. Unexpectedly, these sausages were the most popular food among the tribe orcs, just for convenience To store, these sausages are somewhat salty.

I raised my head and said to Vilu, "All the women and children in the tribe stay outside. Kurz and I will go to the manor with you to have a look!"

"Well, this is the best way, and there are so many people that you can't take care of it!" Chambach said on the sidelines. He and Vilu have been friends for many years. The two of them are just like Kuz and I. They are partners who grew up together. Strong After Bach finished speaking, he looked at Sister Guoguo again.

"Take the horse. If something goes wrong, everyone will rush out together. There is always something in the air of this manor that makes me uncomfortable, Jia..."

Sister Guoguo actually wanted to ask me: Jia, do you feel those strange magical elements?But before the words slipped out of his mouth, he realized that this matter could not be said, so he quickly stopped talking, paused, and said, "Jia, you have to follow me in a while, don't run around."

I whispered, "I can protect myself."

"Understood." Sister Guoguo said helplessly.

She patted my head affectionately, and it immediately became dusty.I curled up in Yagui Beast's leather saddle this morning, as if buried in sand, my body was covered in dust.

(End of this chapter)