Standing in the Blackskull clan's longhouse, Todd approached the fire pit in the middle of the house, looking at the decorative shield hanging on the wall.

These wooden shields are made of fine birch and iron sheets, and their surfaces are painted with different colors of the clan's major events over the years.

The longhouse was dark and damp, there was no floor, and the ground was mud. In the bitter cold of the North Island, trees are scarce, and stones are rare. These Blackskull people used Turf, a mixture of grass and earth, to keep warm during the winter months. In such an important place as the tribal hall, the "Black Skull" people also made another sandwich wall with wooden planks on the inside of the brick wall, deliberately leaving a distance in the middle, and knocking it with their knuckles, so that the echo of the knock could be heard, mainly to prevent the wooden planks from rotting due to moisture.

Huggins led Morgan into the longhouse, who looked much more honest and said nothing when he entered the house, but the expression on his face was still a little resentful and ashamed.

Listening to the knight's whispered report, Todd had a little understanding of the current situation of the Blackskull tribe.

At the height of the clan, there were 500 people, including 160 warriors and 14 berserkers. But as the tribe's food dwindled and the southern expedition failed, the population plummeted. Now there are less than 200 people left in the entire clan, 46 warriors, and only 5 berserkers.

And the Morgan in front of him is the leader of the entire 'Black Skull' clan, and his father is the previous leader who disappeared - Sakru.

Todd now fully remembered what he had done against the pirates in the first place, and the pirates who fought against the Church forces at that time seemed to be from the "Black Skull", and the berserker who almost changed the tide of the battle was Sakru.

"Morgan, tell me, how are your people doing now?"

Hearing the high-level question, the voice of the black-headed patriarch sounded helpless and sad: "What else?! We have no food, no medicine, mothers do not have enough milk to raise their children, the soldiers have not tasted wine for half a month, and even the handles of their weapons have rusted and rotted! A week ago, several old people in the clan, in order to save food in the village, quietly exiled themselves and never came back......

Morgan raised his head, his eyes full of confusion and pain: "Outlander, why bother the life of the Blackhead? If you're here to plunder, you're going to be disappointed, there's no more loot to plunder. ”

The patriarch pointed to Lev beside Todd, "Why don't you try your luck at Talon? I heard that they teamed up with the barbarians to go south and rob a lot of good things. ”

Lev was still translating the other party's language, but after listening to Morgan's words, his face turned pale with fright, and he quickly glanced at Todd's expression, and hurriedly refuted loudly: "Don't talk nonsense! The alliance of Talon and the Barbarians is just a group of worthless losers in front of Lord Todd!"

"You mean, the coalition of Talon and the Barbarians has been defeated?!" Morgan opened his mouth in surprise as he looked at the young man sitting on the high seat and the knight in armor beside him: "Outlander, I think I need to rethink your strength......"

Todd looked at the 'shield painting' on the wall again, and said slowly: "Patriarch Morgan, I came to the North Island, not to plunder, and not to make enemies...... I'm here to make some friends. ”

Morgan laughed, "Making friends?" ”

Todd nodded at Huggins, "I'll allocate some medicine and food for your clan." ”

The patriarch was stunned for a moment, then squinted his eyes and looked ahead: "There is a saying in the North Island, the more fragrant the wine, the more incurable the poison. Say, stranger, what do you want, to make my people your thugs?"

Todd smiled and shook his head: "I don't have any conditions, just take it as a gift." ”

Morgan was incredulous, his expression suspicious, "I don't know what you're doing here, but if you're doing it with good intentions, I think we might be able to become friends." ”

Todd looked at the sky outside the house and said to Morgan, "I'll rest here all day, and then visit your neighbors." ”

The patriarch of the Black Skull looked at the panicked Lev and asked strangely, "The Talon tribe, are you planning to make friends with them as well?"

Todd laughed, "No, I'm going to collect the debt. ”

The next day, when Todd woke up from his tent with a sore back, the Twilight Expeditionary Force had finished preparing to go.

The patriarch of the Black Skull waited early on the beach with six warriors. Last night, watching his people eat their first full meal in months, and watching his warriors drink wine after a long absence, Morgan officially changed his address to Todd from "outsider" to "friend".

"I brought my own translator. Morgan pointed to one of the warriors beside him, his eyes glancing viciously at Lev.

Todd saw the latter shrink his head and smiled disapprovingly.

Huggins came to Todd's side, bowed his head and said, "Chief Commander, everything is ready to go." ”

The latter looked at the vast sea in front of him, and said with his chin bowed: "Inform everyone, let's go, the target is 'Talon Island'!"

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As the ship broke through the waves, Morgan looked at the outline of the island that was becoming clearer and clearer in the distance, walked up to Todd's side, and said to him, "That's Talon Island." ”

The latter thought for a moment and said, "Why is the island where Talon lives called 'Talon Island', but the island you live on is called 'Neper'?"

Morgan slapped his hand heavily on the side of the ship and said in a deep voice, "The island where the Blackskull tribe once lived was called Blackskull, but now it has fallen into the hands of Talon, and we have been driven from that island to our current residence. ”

Todd nodded, and then said, "I've heard Lev say something about the customs of the North Island. Can you explain to me about the fighting and obedience of the North Islanders?"

Morgan thought for a moment and said, "In general, it can be described in two words, faith and tradition. Let's talk about faith first, the North Islanders believe in gods, and they believe that the gods live in a place called Asgard, which is the equivalent of heaven. Naturally, there is also a hell in the underworld, called Niflheim. The people of the North Island believe that if a man dies in battle, the soul will enter Valhalla, the shrine of heavenly Asgard, where the heroic spirits of warriors will feast, sing and tell legends. If you are born as a warrior and die in your bed, then you are only worthy of going to the underworld to endure eternal torment. ”

"When it comes to tradition, the North Islanders live a family life. Parents, children, grandchildren, aunts and nephews live under one roof. They were loyal to each other, and when one of the family members was bullied, the whole family went to the tribal assembly together to demand justice. If a man is killed, his family will most likely demand compensation for money or land. If the tribal assembly thinks they do have the right to make such a demand, and the murderer's family readily pays the reparations, then it will be business as usual, but if the deceased's family feels that the verdict is unfair, they will kill one of the other party's members in private, and the endless feud may become an additional tradition of the ancient lineage. ”

"If the enemy met at sea, then the people of the North Island would follow the ancient tradition of tying the ship together, putting a gangplank on the bow of the boat, and then going to the field in turn, and everyone who stepped on the gangplank faced the fate of either killing them all, or dying in battle, and having their companions avenge themselves. If you feel scared, you can turn around and jump into the sea, no one will chase and kill the deserter, but the person who gives up the qualification to fight is no different from the dead, and even his family will ignore his existence from now on. Therefore, the first to go into battle in the bow of the ship was usually the most elite warrior of the clan. ”

Todd listened to the other party's narration and nodded slowly.

"Commander, there's a group of heavily armed warriors in ambush in the woods on the shore!" Edgar's shouts interrupted their conversation.

Morgan looked into the distance in some surprise, Talon Island was still 10 kilometers away from the ship, and the scenery in the distance was blurry, how did he find those ambushers?!

Todd glanced back at Lev, who was holding his head and shaking like chaff, and turned his face to Huggins with a blank face: "Go as planned." ”

The knight nodded, and commanded his men to carry out a sealed wooden box from the cabin.

The wooden box was opened, and the layers of oiled paper and lime powder were opened, and finally six folding cloth bags of 40 centimeters square were taken out.

Huggins pulled out the expansion belt of the cloth bag and waited for the warship to sail to a point only one hundred and fifty meters from the coast, igniting the fuse of the explosive bag. The knight grabbed the expansion belt of the cloth bag with both hands, and began to spin his feet on the spot, using the power of the back of the "dragon bone" and the high-speed centrifugal force, he threw the ignited explosive bag into the woods on the shore in the form of "throwing a chain ball".

Just when Morgan was confused, the sound of an explosion came from a hundred meters away. A huge shock wave uprooted the trees and blew the sea upside down towards the warship.

The patriarch of the "Black Skull" stood unsteadily, fell on the deck, and watched the "mushroom cloud" of flames rise in the woods in the distance, and more than a dozen warriors dropped their weapons and shields, ran out with their whole bodies on fire, and after burning for dozens of seconds, they were finally planted motionless on the beach.

Todd motioned for the ship to move forward and lower the gangplank.

The chief of the Order looked at Morgan, who was lying on his side on the deck, frightened, and said calmly, "It's time to collect the debt. ”