"This creature is somewhat similar to the monster that destroys the earthly kingdom in the Biographies of the Heavenly Father's Saints. Monk Joe looked at Todd's sketch of the creature and touched his chin.

Kendi, a southerner, thought about it carefully: "It looks a bit like the 'Th'uban' of *** myths and legends, a demonic dragon that breathes flames, and a servant who is easy to serve." ”

Todd looked at the two in front of him, his mind racing. So that is to say, in both the Heavenly Father Cult and the Southern religions, there is the existence of this dragon-shaped monster?

But is there a similar legend in North Island mythology?

Thinking of this, Todd became more and more curious about the "sacred forest", and he made up his mind and decided to hand over the work of developing electron microscopes to the scholars, and he would go to the North Island again as soon as possible.

After inquiring about the dispatch of troops from Cumberland and arranging everything in Twilight, Todd took a boat, loaded some necessary supplies, and set off for Talon again.

During Todd's departure from the North Island, Huggins led his soldiers to defeat several groups of infidel raiders and hang their bodies from the treetops as an example, the craftsmen helped the two tribes repair some buildings, build basic living equipment, and build a simple trading post on Talon and Blackskull, and the monks who accompanied them relayed the teachings and helped the North Islanders heal their diseases. Under this combination of grace and power, the relationship between the expeditionary force of the Knights of Dusk and the local tribes became more and more harmonious, and everything was developing in a good direction.

Todd's arrival was a bit of a surprise to both the tribe and the expeditionary force. The cautious Huggins finally breathed a sigh of relief after repeatedly confirming that there was no major problem between Twilight Town and the North Island.

Todd found the elders and elders of the Talon clan and showed them the dragon he had drawn, and one of the elders, the elder, recognized the creature at a glance, and found several old shields in the tribal warehouse and placed them in front of Todd.

Pointing to the faded pattern on the shield, the elder said in a serious tone that he had never felt before, "Once upon a time, the gods and their world had an end of the world—Ragnarok. Winter has struck three times, fierce beasts are raging, and war is flooding the universe. The serpent Jormungander awoke from the mud bed of the sea, the churning waters flooded Asgard, the Burning Legion rose from the ground, waves of fire burning every corner, and the Goddess of Death slew every living cranny with the Frost Giants and the Necromancy. In the end, the gods chose to die with the invaders, and the whole world was destroyed......"

Todd listened to the elder's words, and his mind recalled the Norse mythology of his previous life, and there were too many similarities between the two legends, and they could even be said to be exactly the same. Is this just a coincidence? Or is there some deeper truth?

The elder took the dragon' statue painted by Todd, pointed to a huge figure on the shield and said, "This painting resembles the black dragon Nidhogg, which, according to legend, spits venom and plague, destroys several roots of the World Tree, and is the Lord of Despair in Ragnarok. ”

Todd looked at the dark shadow on his shield soaring above the sky, and his mind began to string together recent events, trying to find the most plausible answer.

A different world similar to the previous life, a different species that exists because of microorganisms, Sutherland archaea, the end of the world, the appearance of dragons, ......

The more he thought about it, the more headaches he had, and in his opinion, it was like a puzzle, and several important pieces were missing to get the truth of the facts.

"I want to enter the Sacred Forest. ”

Todd's request made the people of the Talon tribe frown, and the old men looked at each other, but no one responded to his request.

Todd lowered his head and muttered for a while, then said slowly: "I can provide the Talon Clan, ten sets of heavy armor, ten heavy swords, guaranteed to be the best quality." ”

The eldest said to Todd, "Lord Todd, it's not that we don't want to help you. Rather, the 'Sacred Forest' is guarded by the Valkyries, and anyone who enters needs their consent, not to mention that you are not a believer in the gods......"

Todd looked at the expressions of the other people in the room, and finally understood that due to the events such as "Twilight Town Attack and Defense" and "Honor Duel", the Talon Clan still did not let down their guard against themselves after all, and it seemed that they could not rush into the matter of entering the "Sacred Forest".

Bidding farewell to the elders of the Talon Clan, Todd finds Huggins who has been left behind and asks him about what has happened recently.

Based on the information he and his men have received, Huggins has summarized a few things that Todd might be interested in:

1. Although the Talon and Blackhead tribes signed a peace agreement and the two sides started trading activities together, the long-standing feud was not so easy to resolve. The people of the two tribes had several skirmishes, but fortunately they were discovered in time and were finally suppressed by Huggins one by one.

Second, there is an interesting thing about little Jerry. The cause was a gladiatorial fight between the Blackskull Clan, and by accident, Jerry Jerry also participated in this gladiatorial fight and won the championship. After the game, a woman from the Blackhead tribe saw the birthmark on Jerry's back and shouted that he was from our tribe. According to the memories of the old man of Blackhead, when the tribe was forced to move out of Blackhead Island, there was indeed a child who fell into the water from the boat and has not been heard from since. Originally, the people of the clan had lost hope, but they did not expect to see this child here again.

3. The last message is about the Valkyrie. As Todd had ordered, Huggins gave them wine, meat, weapons, and shields. Surprisingly, the leader of the Valkyries, Brünnhilde, rejected the items and claimed that he would not accept gifts from heretics. Feeling a headache, Huggins inadvertently discovered that every once in a while, the tribe would place the newborn baby girls at the entrance to the Sacred Forest, and the Valkyries would take the babies away. Upon inquiry, long ago, the Talon tribe would perform an ancient vow to sacrifice the tribe's baby girls to the Valkyries as a token of gratitude for their protection. After learning the news, Huggins took the attitude of giving it a try, and purchased some goat's milk that babies can eat, and delivered it to the "sacred forest" regularly. To his surprise, the Valkyries finally accepted the gifts after a moment's hesitation.

Todd listened to Huggins's report and was surprised by the Slavic man's bold and careful character, but he was even more pleased that the other party had done him a great favor this time.

Patting each other on the back repeatedly, Todd happily praised Huggins's approach, and he gradually had a rough idea in his mind about the admission ticket to the "Sacred Forest". But first, there is a way to gain the trust of the Talon tribe.

In the days that followed, Todd stayed in the camp of the expeditionary force and began to draw drawings of strange objects and asked the craftsmen to create them. In the midst of this busyness, a week passed, and the first cargo ship of the two tribes to go south for the seafood trade returned.

The people gathered on the beach, pulled the rope and dragged the ship ashore, and when Morgan lifted the tarpaulin from the hold with his head held high and with great pride, the mountain of coins and barters made everyone in the Talon and Blackhead tribes forget to breathe.

I don't know who shouted first: "We are rich!"

Then, everyone erupted in earth-shattering cheers.

Three days later, at the entrance to the Sacred Forest, the Talon Patriarch and the Blackhead Patriarch fell on one knee in front of Brünnhilde, praising the good deeds and favors of the Knights of the Twilight.

Todd saw the affirmation in the Valkyrie leader's eyes, and with the idea of striking while the iron was hot, he hurriedly commanded his craftsmen to offer a lot of strange things.

A vial made of silver with a pacifier made of animal skin, a small bed 60 centimeters long and 40 centimeters wide made of fine birch lacquer, a small bathtub carved out of a single piece of wood with beautiful patterns painted with paint, and, most surprisingly, a large number of animal dolls sewn from linen, cotton wool and buttons......

While everyone was still curious about the purpose of these things, Brunhilde rolled over and dismounted, stroking the newly created objects with indescribable thoughts in his eyes.

"Leader of Twilight Town, I have accepted your gift. Say, what do you want?"

Todd listened to the silver-haired woman's words and lowered his head, a smug smile slowly appearing on his face.