Todd first looked amusefully at the wooden "cage" in front of him, and then looked down at the hemp rope wrapped around his wrist like a rice dumpling.

If he wanted to, it wouldn't take him ten seconds to break the rope and break the cage. But the question is, even if you escape, where can you go?

Richer is still in a high fever, Aisha has a broken leg, and in the vast land of the North, wanting to enter the "Land of Shadows" without a guide is tantamount to a fool's dream.

It was getting darker and darker, and most of the people in the barbarian camp had returned to their respective houses to prepare dinner, except for a few naughty children, who remained outside the wooden cage, paying attention to the man's every move with fearful and curious eyes.

In charge of guarding the cage was the old barbarian with white hair, who placed his hunting bow beside the stake in the camp, waved his arms and screamed like a farmer chasing chickens, and drove the children back to their homes.

Leaving Todd and the old man staring wide-eyed.

"That...... Is there anything to eat?" Todd recalled, he hadn't eaten a grain of rice at the end of the day, and his stomach was now hungry.

Seeing that the old man was indifferent, Todd reacted that he was speaking a lingua franca, and the other party must not understand.

Making a gesture of reaching his hand to his mouth, Todd looked at the old man with a look of hope, but the other party just snorted twice, leaned on the stake and pretended to sleep, ignoring his plans at all.

Helpless, Todd could only sit down and endure hunger.

I don't know how long later, a familiar voice sounded in Todd's ears, and when he looked up, Richel, who was carrying a wooden cane, was carrying a small cloth bag, arguing with the other party in front of the old man.

After a few minutes, the old man covered his head and yelled, waving his hand vigorously, as if he had given up his rebuttal.

Rachel walked over to the cage and opened the cloth bag, which contained a wooden tube of water and two pieces of bran baked from grass seeds.

"The barbarians here live in poverty, and there is really no decent food. Rachel glanced back at the wary old man.

Todd grabbed a piece of cake and put it in his mouth, not caring about the rough and tasteless ingredients and the unpalatable texture, and asked as he ate, "Didn't the barbarian army have already sacked the Silver Ring City? If I remember correctly, this time should have returned, why are these people living so poor?"

After painstakingly bringing a wooden pod and placing it next to the wooden cage as a chair, Rachel slowly sat down and said to Todd: "There is a long version of the explanation and a short version of the explanation about this matter, which one would you like to hear?"

Todd patted the wooden cage lightly with his hand, and said with a wry smile: "It's long, the last thing I lack now is time......

"This land in the Wild North can be roughly divided into the northern region and the southern region. More than a thousand years ago, the barbarians of the northern and southern regions were mostly in the primitive clan stage. In countless battles with the Taylor Empire, the northern regions gradually absorbed the advanced ideas of imperial civilization, established numerous monarchical kingdoms, and had fully formed armies, relatively advanced smelting technology, and a political system similar to that of the diocese. ”

Feeling the night breeze getting cooler, Rachel wrapped the cloak he was carrying tightly and continued: "The barbarians of the southern region, on the other hand, adhere to the legacy of their ancestors and continue to live and fight in a clan way. Although there have been barbarian leaders in history who wanted to establish kingdoms in the southern regions, they all failed to tradition without exception. ”

"In terms of religion, most of the barbarian kingdoms in the northern region believed in the Danu gods, whose teachings were influenced by the 'Bible' during the Taylor Empire, recording events such as 'Genesis' and 'The Great Flood', while the southern region believed in the three ancient gods, namely the god of the sun, the moon and the god of fire. ”

"With the change of the times, the barbarian kingdoms in the northern region have become more and more powerful through annexation and alliances, while the barbarian clans in the southern region are still scattered. As the disparity in strength between the two sides grew, the North eventually declared war on the South......"

Todd sighed: "What was once a brother has become a slave today. ”

Rachel nodded: "As the victorious side, the barbarian kingdoms in the northern region have divided the various tribes in the southern region and incorporated them into their respective kingdoms as vassals. After that, each tribe had to pay regular tribute to the overlord, and in times of war, warriors were required, but the spoils of war went largely to the Northern Kingdom. ”

The barbarian old man walked to the cage and whispered a few times in dissatisfaction.

Rachel shook his head helplessly, struggled to stand up, and finally said to Todd: "This old man's name is Fried, and he has been with me several times, as long as we don't cause chaos, he promises not to target us." ”

Looking at the woman's distant figure, there was nothing to do, so Todd closed his eyes, and the fatigue of the day soon helped him fall asleep.

The next morning, Todd was awakened from his sleep by a sharp eagle whistle.

When he opened his eyes and looked into the distance, an unbelievable scene completely dispelled his sleepiness.

The rising sun stained the sky with a faint glow, and a huge figure with wings spread spread its wings and flew down from the clouds to the barbarian camp.

The eagle's sharp beak, the lion's long tail, and its pitch-black wings are clearly a griffin beast that only exists in myths and legends!

Todd climbed to the front of the cage, grabbed the pillar with his bound hands, opened his eyes, and said to himself, "I'm dreaming, right?

The barbarian old man Fried roared loudly, the hunting bow in his hand, but the winding arrow trembled slightly.

As the griffons drew closer, the barbarian camp exploded, the men grabbed their weapons and stepped out of the house to stand guard, while the women stood guard at the door to protect the children.

The griffon flew above the camp, circled a few times, and suddenly began to dive sharply. The first target of its attack was a low turret. With the aftermath of the downward rush and the sharp claws, the wooden building is like a child's toy, and it instantly turns into a pile of wood.

The barbarians fought back, raining down arrows, spears, stones, and even mud on the griffons.

These attacks had little effect, not only did not cause substantial damage to the monster, but instead ignited the anger of the opponent.

With a flick of its stone-hard wings, the griffon flapped one adult man into the air, then pecked open the other's celestial lid with its beak.

Red mixed with white, splattered on the red soil of the camp.

The barbarian men began to frighten as they formed a semicircle and began to retreat gradually into the woods.

The griffin looked at the retreating foe and screamed into the sky, spreading its wings and standing up. Then, as if picking a trophy, he ran to the camp's barn and looked around, and finally picked up the biggest goat in his mouth and wanted to leave.

At that moment, a boy who looked no more than five years old, taking advantage of his mother's inattention, rushed to the back of the griffin with a wooden stick and smashed it into its tail.

The griffon, caught off guard, let out a wail, then let go of its prey and turned around angrily to glare at the attacker in front of it.

Everyone was stunned by this scene.

The boy's mother ran out of the house crying and shielded her son with her body.

Fried shouted something, and the bow and arrow in his hand had just been raised, when a loud bang came from behind him, and he sat on the ground in fright.

Todd pushed away the torn cage in front of him, shook off the broken hemp rope on his wrist, the luster of steel slowly spread all over his body, he twisted his shoulders and said with a smile: "The rest time is too long, people are about to rust, it's time to move your hands and feet!"