On the beach not far off the west coast, tall warriors wrapped in animal skins and carrying wooden crosses and shields, clutching ropes, are pulling a dragon-headed warship up to the earth.

Turning over the tarpaulin on the bow of the ship, the leader standing at the forefront, turned his heavy double-edged battle axe, turned his elbow, took it lightly in his hand, and trampled the soft ground under his feet with his felt fur leather boots, and heard the conversation of the tribal warriors behind him.

"There is less and less food. Last year's harvest was not good, and the fish migrated to warmer areas. ”

"The rations of the women and children have been reduced again and again, and even the ale wine in the 'Holy Fire Festival' in the clan is half a cup per person. ”

"The Panya tribe has been encroaching on our territory, and less than half of the people who went south this year were less than half of last year. ”

The leader inserted the battle axe into the card slot of the shield behind him, and looked at the sky of the land ahead, dark clouds overwhelmed the realm, and the thunder was faint.

"By the way, you know what? Just the day before yesterday, Vaughn of the clan was possessed by the 'fierce god', killed his wife and daughter, and was finally beheaded by his father. ”

"The gods are above! I'd rather die on the charge than get a bit of Berserker blood!"

The leader put his hand on his chest, patted his heart, and closed his eyes in pain.

Packing up the longboat and sails, and taking dry rations and weapons, the team of sixteen warriors began to march inland.

The first village to arrive was just three kilometers from the coastline.

The firewood in the stove was still warm, but there was no one in the village. The chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep in the livestock pens, the precious and soft houses and the dried meat and fish on the drying racks were all taken away. The only things left for the "guests" from the ocean were empty rooms and miscellaneous items rolled up by the wind.

A puff of black smoke behind the village house attracts the attention of the pirates.

The leader walked to the open space at the back of the house, looked at the burning remnants of a pile of plants on the ground, squatted down and stretched out his hand, picked up a little and tasted it on the tip of his tongue, and his face darkened.

"Give up searching for villages along the coast. ”

Hearing the chief's order, someone loudly questioned: "Give up the search? This is just the first village!"

Taking the burning black ash in his hand, the leader said to his warriors: "This is the red willow, someone raised the beacon smoke before we arrived, and searched the coastal villages, and we will still find nothing." ”

"Sacru, what are we going to do, and go back empty-handed?"

"Nope. Turning his head to the east, Sakuru's eyes were filled with a thirst for war and wealth: "We continue to the east, to the interior. ”

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A forest trail on the east side of the twilight west coast.

A group of people lurked quietly on both sides of the road.

Walton tightened the crossbow machine behind his back, checked the quiver, looked at the monk hiding in the grass not far away, and said to the ironclad knight beside him, "Chief, why do we agree to this errand?"

Alfonso didn't speak, but his eyes looked at the man next to Todd, and moved his eyes thoughtfully.

The boy with the red mark on his forehead glanced at the short and fat man, and his mouth showed no mercy: "How do I remember, there are always people shouting in my ear about boredom these days." ”

Walton glared at him, and turned back in a huff.

After receiving news from Huggins about piracy, Todd immediately went to the church camp, avoided Paul, found a priest he knew, and offered to borrow the strength of the Guard, giving the reason that it was to exterminate the pirates in Twilight Harbor.

Although it was not clear why the other party was interested in fighting off the pirates, the good friendship that had been accumulated on a daily basis was discussed by several priests of the Church visiting group and agreed to Todd's request.

The borrowed troops included several papal knights directly under the Church and their retainers, a militia regiment aided by the diocese of Silver Ring, and a group of believers from the cathedral, totaling about 140 men. Todd had no intention of seconding so many troops when he heard that the number of pirates attacking was usually around thirty at a time, but Huggins' insistence made him change his mind.

With the strength of the troops, the next step is to formulate the operational policy.

Todd, who didn't know anything about this, simply handed over all the command to Huggins.

After some thought, the man did not choose to fight head-on, but adopted the method of ambush. The ambush site was placed on the path at the entrance to the forest, about seventeen kilometers from the harbor of Twilight.

In this regard, the monk again expressed puzzlement. According to intelligence, the pirates' active range used to be limited to fifteen kilometers of the coast, and if they set up an ambush at such a distance, would they end up in vain? Moreover, the Moon Creek Plain is so large, why did they choose this forest as an ambush site?

Huggins gave a simple explanation, based on the introduction of the "acquaintance" who often went to sea. The pirates who invaded this time belonged to a tribe called "Grey Skull" had been in a state of food shortage and famine for a long time, and if they returned empty-handed this time, it would be a disastrous consequence for the survival of the tribe and the prestige of the leader. Therefore, there is a considerable probability that the pirates who cannot afford to fail this raid will choose to take a desperate gamble and leave the safety zone and go inland.

As for why this entrance to the forest was used as an ambush site. There are two reasons for this, firstly, it is one of the closest routes to inland villages, and secondly, the coastal area of the Yuexi Plain, where there are not many places where you can hide your whereabouts, and this forest is one of them.

The man also made a plan to turn the ambush into a pursuit if the pirates did not pass through this place. Based on the black smoke from the attacked villages, lead the troops to block the pirates' retreat.

Todd listened to the other party's explanation, nodding from time to time, in his opinion, this arrangement is not only not wrong, but clear thinking and tactics. Glancing deeply at the man with pigtails on his chin, the monk recalled that he had spent so much time with Huggins that he never seemed to listen to him and took the initiative to talk about the past. The story of his wife and daughter, if it weren't for Edgar's big mouth, I'm afraid he would never have had a chance to know.

Todd suddenly noticed Huggins' figure, as if he had noticed something, and followed the other man's gaze to look back.

A conspicuous figure entered his field of vision.

The knight, hidden under Anglo's chain mail, had a pair of eyes behind his fully covered helmet, locked on Huggins's body.

The latter twisted his head, his body shrunk back, and he twisted his body a little uncomfortably.

The monk turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

The man sighed helplessly: "It's nothing, it seems to have met an acquaintance." ”

"Yes, you have a lot of acquaintances......

Huggins lowered his head and smiled wryly.

Less than an hour after the ambush was set up, several tall figures appeared at the edge of the forest.

Huggins pressed the monk, who was still watching, into the grass and put his finger on his mouth in a silent motion.

Todd's eyes widened and he suddenly realized that a war was coming.