Even the cold air can't hide the smell of those cattle and sheep, believe me, it's definitely not a smell that can be easily adapted, even compared to the stench emitted by the trolls in Alice's impression, it's not much worse, uh, each has its own merits?

Of course, it is not unbearable for people who have become accustomed to these smells and have lived on the land for generations, and even in some cases, they are able to use these smells against the smelly predators of the grasslands, to mask their own scents and escape the tracking of enemies, such as jackals and werewolves, or white bears.

Because it was suspended in mid-air one meter above the ground, Alice did not leave a trace on the snow on the ground, and the people around her were still busy with their work, not realizing that an uninvited guest appeared next to her, curiously searching for their information.

This is a predominantly human gathering place, only a small number of other races live here, and judging from the way they dress and do odd jobs, their status in this gathering place is not very high.

But Alice did not feel the slightest hint of anger or rebellion in the faces of the other races, through their eyes, nor as if she had lost any hope, but was full of gratitude.

Thanksgiving, if such an expression appeared from the faces of honest minotaurs, it was debatable, but from the faces of these ignorant and savage centaurs who had not been transformed.

What did these Novgorodians do to make a race like centaurs grateful to them from the bottom of their hearts, so that they would be willing to be their shepherds?

With this curiosity, Alice lowered her body slightly, and followed a strong human woman to a house made of wood, which was so strong that it could stand tall in such a snowy weather.

Entering the house, a wave of heat blows in the face, and the roaring fireplace fills the whole house with a warm atmosphere, because the Novgorod region has a vast steppe, so the people living here have plenty of fuel to cope with the cold.

The interior of the house is not very large, but it is very well distributed, and the kitchen, living room and bedroom are separated by wooden walls.

After entering the house, the smell of cattle and sheep that was wrapped around the tip of the nose dissipated a lot, and was replaced by a rich smell of vegetables and milk, coming from the kitchen.

A girl who looked to be in her early teens struggled to come out of the kitchen with a cauldron half her body high, and the pot exuded a thick white smell and fragrance.

The girl looks a little older than she really is, at least the rough skin and calloused palms tell how difficult it is to live here.

The food in the stone pot that the girl was carrying was made of turnips, celery, beef, cheese, and other ingredients that Alice didn't recognize, and simmered for a long time, and the smell alone made you know that it was a delicious food.

It was then that Alice noticed that the clothes worn by the women and girls were slightly different from those worn by the common people in Scandinavia, and that they were generally made of sheepskin, but everywhere they were sewn with flax thread, a Novgorod specialty.

This makes these clothes stronger and more durable without compromising warmth, if not as good as those inferior leather armor, but not far behind.

Retracting her gaze from the mother and daughter, Alice looked at the décor of the living room, where the black dining table in the middle was made of centuries-old cedar trees, and the wood used for this table alone could be exchanged for a weapon that did not have much of a gap from the goblin's hand.

There was nothing else in the living room except for the table and a few chairs, except for a few wolf skins hanging from the wooden walls, and a heavy stone axe on the fireplace, which was already very dull.

The heavy stone axe was probably the only thing that could be considered a weapon in this ordinary family, after all, in this part of Novgorod, with the skills of the people who lived here, they could not have made something as high-end as a metal weapon.

The use of flax to weave light industries such as clothes is already the highest achievement they have developed, and it is impossible to go any further, there is not much why, just because the knowledge level of the people here is not enough, and they have no way to obtain higher level knowledge.

This is undoubtedly a very sad thing, obviously with such abundant resources, with all the necessary resources to be able to develop into a huge force, but because there is no corresponding technology, in key aspects, can only rely on outside merchants, especially those goblins.

Often, a cartload of high-quality iron ore can only be exchanged for a small dagger from the goblin's hand, and it is likely that the blade is notched or rusty.

Didn't the Novgorodians know this? didn't they know that the ore they had dug up at the risk of their lives had been plundered by the goblins in such a despicable way?

Of course, they knew this, but there was no solution to it, because of the problem of literacy, even if they got the technology to smelt metal, even if they followed the drawings, they would not be able to make metal, because even the most knowledgeable shamans in the tribe might not be able to understand the most widely circulated universal script in the main plane.

This is normal, not surprising at all, after all, not everyone is as lucky as Alice, who has the knowledge and divinity to read all words and languages, and not everyone can enter the magic academy opened by the lich and other spellcasters to learn all kinds of magical knowledge.

Most, mostly, of the casters living in these backward areas can only adopt the most primitive apprenticeship system, where an older caster teaches a few apprentices, and relies on word of mouth to pass on the caster's knowledge from generation to generation.

There are also some discerning people who want to open schools in the tribe and spread the knowledge of spellcasters on a large scale, but the talent and resources, especially the latter, make them discourage such ideas.

Therefore, even if this area is a rich Rus' steppe, even if they have joined the Attila Empire, in essence, this area has never been changed, and it is still in the most primitive tribal stage.

This is not something that can be determined by power, but a knowledge background, but a subtle cultural influence, which requires a long period of patient teaching to be able to move forward slowly.

Alice didn't think for long, as her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a conversation between mother and daughter, who were chatting about something ordinary in a strange lingua franca.

For example, the condition of the processed meat being dried, the situation of whether the livestock in the family is sick or whether they eat on time, and the concern about the male owner of the family, the woman's husband, and the girl's father outside.

From the conversation between the two of them, Alice learns that the owner of the house is a very good hunter, who is said to be able to shoot a wolf in the eye with a bow and arrow a hundred meters away in a violent snowstorm.

The bow and arrow made by the rudimentary techniques of the Novgorodians is very difficult to shoot a wolf in the eye a hundred meters away, not to mention in a snowstorm, even in the normal absence of wind.

When the women and girls talked about the man who owned the house, they began to complain that the owner of the camp had sent their father and husband to lead a small team to the west in such a snowstorm to solve some problems.

Alice didn't know the specific situation from the conversation between the two, but from their faces and tones, she could still hear that the problem that needed to be solved by the male owner was not a big problem.

I don't know why, Alice didn't directly use the magic of [Charm Human] to get information from the mouths of the two mothers and daughters, but patiently used this method that can be called a waste of time.

Maybe it's because they don't want to spoil the atmosphere between the two of them, the daughter and wife who are waiting for their father and husband at home, and every word contains unforgettable emotions.

Without disturbing the conversation between the mother and daughter, Alice leaned low and pushed open the window and went out, but the sound of the window opening and closing still attracted the attention of the woman, she walked to the window and looked out strangely, and saw that there was no one left and right, only the wind was still roaring, and finally had to attribute the reason to the carelessness when closing the window before, and did not close it steadily.

Although Alice had obtained a lot of information from the conversation between the mother and daughter and the decoration of the house, there was nothing about what she wanted to know, about the news about the druids in the snowy mountains, and about the disappearance of those predators in the Ross steppe.

So then Alice set her sights on the upper echelons of the tribe, such as spellcasters, such as those nobles, or directly to the chiefs of the tribe.

After all, the information that the people below can know is still very limited, and there are many people above the information who deliberately choose to conceal it and not tell the people below.

Alice flew high into the air, looked down from the sky, and searched for the largest, best-located, guarded wooden house in the entire settlement.

The wooden house in the center of the gathering was very different from the one Alice had just looked for, in addition to being made of wood, with men with weapons standing guard outside, and a little stone.

This is already a very luxurious thing in this area, because we have mentioned before, because of the problem of refining technology, metal is a very scarce thing here.

Therefore, weapons made of metal are only qualified to be used by people of high status or powerful people, and as for the people below, only sharpened stone weapons are an acceptable choice.

The people who live here, in any case, with their abundant resources, are not reduced to the point of using fragile bone weapons like those gnolls.

So, that's why Alice would use the luxury of a building built with a little stone, enough to make and polish dozens or hundreds of stone axes like the one she just saw.

Alice approached the building from a high altitude, she didn't dare to get too close, even if she didn't use magic, with the blowing of the air flow and the changes in the surrounding energy, Alice could tell that the surrounding area of the building was set up by the caster to warn of the barrier.

If you don't have the defense to bump into it, even if you have [Morrigan's invisibility cloak] that makes the body invisible to people next to you, it will make the people in this gathering place vigilant.

At that point, Alice had no choice but to use violence to get the information she wanted, although in terms of her strength, that would be a lot of effort, far from a big problem.

Of course, if she could, even Alice didn't want to bother with a lot of effort, on the one hand, because of her laziness, and on the other hand, this land was the hinterland of the Attila Empire after all, and no one knew how much power was hidden here.

Exposed her traces, and Attila knew that Alice was here alone, it is very likely that she would do whatever it took to keep Alice here, even if she couldn't leave Alice's life and hurt her, but it was still possible to drag her energy and make her unable to leave here for a short time.

Although Alice's strength in this main plane belongs to one of the people standing at the top of the pyramid, being strong does not mean that she is invincible, and there are not no people who can hurt her, and the number of people who can hold her back is even more.

If at this critical time, as the strongest combat force of the Baltic Empire and a spiritual pillar, Alice, the object of faith, was dragged down, and the news was spread and known to everyone.

Then what can be encountered, whether it is Siegel or Attila, or other forces, will not give up the fat that is sent to the mouth, will not give up in the winter, when the Baltic Empire weakens and becomes weaker, it will be solved, dismembered, divided, and replaced.

This is also the reason why Alice is so cautious in everything she does, she has to be careful, she has to be cautious, and even her behavior, which is so careful when she has such great power, is a powerful coward in the eyes of her unknowing.

As everyone knows, only timidity can make people grow, only careful can make geniuses grow into strong, as everyone knows, only by being cautious, can we step out steadily, step out, solid steps.