What the Kraken said when he left became true, and the maelstrom that blocked the channel out of the sea in Heartless Bay showed no sign of subsiding after half a year. People are even beginning to wonder if this vortex will disappear one day. At the same time, the Bay's food and drinking water reserves are deteriorating, and after being cut off from the outside world, the largest maritime trading city in the western seas is becoming a complete island. Many people try to break through this dilemma when they realize that the situation is urgent, either by sailing out to sea or climbing the mountains behind them. But the results were all similar, and those who went to sea were either killed in the whirlpool or returned to port with deep despair and broken ships. But they should be glad that those who climb the mountains are the real unlucky.

"There's a reason why no one has ever come to Heartless Bay by land for so many years, and I've told him so long ago. And as a result? Has anyone listened to my advice? No! You don't have to pay me a penny for this kind of thing, and I'll tell you, because dead people don't make any profit! There are enough dead people in this city, well, maybe this mortality rate is normal for this here, but now we can't replenish the staff, and every one less person makes it a little harder for my business to do a little bit! You know what it feels like? It's like a piece of seagull that falls from the sky into your mouth when you leave the soft bed and the woman in a good mood for the day, and you breathe deeply in the sun!

Lothar rubbed his hair in some pain, and if he could, he was more than happy to put the chattering fellow to sleep, striking him on the head with the handle of a tomahawk. However, he couldn't do that, after all, the Count was not familiar with the roads of Heartbreaker Bay, and he hadn't been able to know the city as well as he did before entering the underground cavern. Lothar has spent more than half a year in bed, and it has been a matter of the last few days that he has been able to regain his mobility.

"Seriously, can I gag him or break a few of his bones so he can only scream?" the sailor who walked beside Lothar rolled his eyes, equally unhappy by the gossip of the bobcats along the way. This sailor is a crew member on the Black Arrow. To be precise, the team that is now operating together, except for the intelligence traffickers, the rest of the people can be counted as Captain Hafdan's subordinates. Among them were Lothar and four other sailors with cutlass pinned to their waists, nicknamed Mouse, who had just rolled their eyes.

As the leader of this squad, Lothar certainly wouldn't allow that to happen. But his patience with the bobcat was also about to reach its limit, and the Count pressed the shoulder of the intelligence dealer, "I remember that half a month ago, I couldn't find blubber in Heartless Bay." Or can you now synthesize that thing in your own body?"

Lothar's words seemed to irritate the bobcat, he turned around, pressed his hands on the earl's shoulders, and then said word by word, "You also know that there was no blubber half a month ago, do you know how I survived this half a month, ah? This boring damn shit is full of fishy smell for half a month? while you fool around with your woman, I..."

Before the lynx could finish his words, he was gagged by Lothar with a handkerchief. The Count can tolerate a lot of things, but recently there have been quite a few entries on his list of things he can't stand, most of which have to do with webworms. "You have to be a little respectful when you talk about her. Otherwise, I'll strip you naked later, throw them at the cannibals, and bring them some salt and firewood by the way. When you hear what you understand, you wink. The lynx blinked a few times, and then finally regained the freedom of his mouth.

The intelligence dealer opened his mouth to say something, but looking at Lothar's muscles that were still strong after half a year of recuperation, and the tomahawk in his hand, he swallowed the words back. I could only murmur in a low voice, "Okay, whatever you say is what you say." You're the boss here, and I'm a little intelligence merchant anyway, and now I have to listen to you great sailors. ”

The murmur of the bobcat made Lothar shrug helplessly, since he was still a lion, he didn't like to overwhelm people. But this is true of the situation in Heartless Bay now, where the lack of resources and the prolonged closure and the inaction of the witch colony have brought the city to the brink of order collapse. I mean, while Heartbreaker Bay was known for its disorder before this, as a human city, it can't really be utterly chaotic. In any case, the basic principles prevailing in human society must be valid in this city, otherwise it will not be able to function at all. But now that food and water are scarce, and without the strong rule of the witches, these basic orders have begun to crumble. This was not what people wanted to see, so a large number of captains joined forces to form a temporary ruling group, headed by Captain Hafdan. Speaking of domination, all they can do is to preserve the order of the city at a minimum with the strength of personnel and equipment, so that it will not completely degenerate into a jungle of man-made buildings.

However, many things cannot be solved by force alone, and the shortage of food will cause all kinds of problems. The cannibals in Lothar's mouth are one of them. According to the bobcats, these cannibals were originally a savage race that inhabited the mountains near Heartless Bay, and they would mercilessly hunt humans and other sapient creatures that stepped into their territory and cruelly consume the corpses of their victims. Those who tried in vain to cross the mountains did not succeed when they met them. However, the expedition was not completely wiped out, and several of the survivors became delirious after escaping back to Heartbreaker Bay, and the captains did not have the energy to deal with them at the time, so they found a random place to lock them up. In retrospect, it was a bad decision.

Cannibals weren't originally cannibals, and in the legend of sailors, those who were cornered and had to eat human corpses to survive would slowly mutate, a cannibalistic curse, and they would slowly lose the ability to eat other food, and eventually become sane monsters. The appearance of these monsters changes depending on how long they survive and how many times they eat, becoming more and more distant from their original appearance. In many places, this monster is also known as a ghoul.

Lothar has seen ghouls. He wondered if the legend of the sailors was the origin of the ghouls he knew, or if some of them were the origin of them. Anyway, his experience led him to learn of the horrors that were taking place in the city, and he volunteered to lead the team to Captain Hafdan. Taking out a few monsters that had just turned into ghouls, Lothar didn't think he had broken his promise to the webworms.

"Shhhh ”

。 Nine Heavenly God Emperors