"Murder." Björn said suddenly.

"What?" Ahriman asked.

"Murder." Lone wolf repeats. "You've at least heard the threats, huh? Blindman? You've definitely heard the words 'I'm going to kill you.'" Honestly, that's a cliché, but what if someone says I'm going to murder you? ”

With great interest, he plunged his fist into the river of blood, and after a stirring of it, he scooped up a piece of metal armor from nowhere.

Bjorn took it in his hand and shook it, wiped it again, and after making sure that the blood had been wiped off it, he picked it up and put it on his face, and began to pretend that he was the one who said it. He even grew his voice to a gruff voice, but Ahriman couldn't see his movements.

As a reminder, he's blind.

"I decide, I'm going to murder you." Bjorn finished solemnly and immediately chuckled. "What do you think that sounds like?"

"It's cold-blooded." Saul Tavitz on the side commented. "Saying that I'm going to kill you might just be a spur of the moment, but if someone suddenly says something like that to another person, I think he's probably well planned and prepared."

"Yes, exactly, Tavitz."

Bjorn whistled, then threw the piece of metal armor into Ahriman's hand, landing exactly as it did in the palm of his outstretched hands.

"So, while those demons haven't come back, I'm going to tell you a story." The lone wolf stood up, moved his legs, and spoke solemnly.

Thunder was the first to respond, and the golden-armored giant slammed his greatsword into the river of blood, then leaned on it, smiling and making a gesture to speak.

Sigismund opened his eyes from meditation and became the second person to join them. Thus, the story officially began.

"There's such a person." Bjorn scratched his cheek and grunted and kicked the river of blood. "Let's call him the Ice Breaker, a nickname we put on his head later. He's not a Fenris, he's an official, an official in charge of the maintenance of a ship's engine. ”

"When you hear about his position, you probably know that this man is not really from us, and we have a similar position on our ship, but we don't use that description. However, for three years or so, he and his ship did follow us. ”

"I can't tell you the details of this matter, it's confidential. But the icebreaker is a nice guy indeed, in every sense of the word. He managed the place he was responsible for in an orderly manner, and in the three years we met, he never went wrong. ”

"He's one of the few people who can drink with us—"

Bjorn burst out laughing, with a gentle taunt characteristic of wolves.

He tried drinking mead, and he took a small sip, and he lay down for two days before he recovered. Anyway, that's all for the introduction, I'm going to get to the point. ”

"Ahem, like I said, he's pretty good at managing his place, but he's not the captain of that ship after all, but even if he did, I'm sure he'd allow the crew to operate the black market on the lower deck or something."

He spread out his hands and shrugged his shoulders at his companions, the axe dangling from his waist and walking back and forth as if there was a fire in front of him.

"Every ship has a place like this, doesn't it? Repeated bans do not stop, and it is impossible to eradicate it at all. ”

Saul Tavitz nodded, agreeing with his theory.

"Yes. There are also people in our fleet, and they like to buy and sell small things. Use Throne Coins, or simply barter. I've seen them buy and sell art, books, weapon modifications, and some meat that doesn't know where it came from. ”

"And your pictures." Sigismund abruptly added.

Tavitz turned to stare at him and was silent for several seconds before asking, "What?" ”

"Your photos." Sigismund repeated. "Master Foggrim's can be sold at an uncapped price, followed by the company commanders, or some new recruits. They have a special place to trade these photos, outside the black market. ”

The Emperor's Son looked at him blankly, as if he had forgotten what to say in High Gothic, or where he was.

"I'm not lying." The Imperial Fist repeated solemnly, even raising its right hand. "Remember the half year I went to your fleet to participate in sword fights? I was allowed to browse around your flagship at my leisure. And then I found out about it. ”

"No, no." Tavitz raised his hand, his expression indescribable. "You're saying they're trading our photos? How did they shoot it? ”

"Diplomatic conferences, internal speeches, interviews, narrators." Sigismund began to count them all. "Anyway, that's probably it. I think Mistress Fogham knew about it, but he didn't say anything. ”

Bjorn immediately burst out laughing, and Thunder quietly turned his head away, but without making a sound, Ahriman lowered his head and began to flip through the book very seriously, pretending to be reading.

Let's skip this." Saul Tavitz said with difficulty. "I'm sure my original must have had his intentions in doing this, and a few pictures aren't a big deal. Go on, Björn. ”

Bjorn laughed for a full minute before continuing.

"Anyway—"

He spat out two words and laughed again, but quickly stifled the laughter in Tawitz's expressionless face.

"—The focus of the Icebreaker's story is on the black market, folks, on that damn black market on that ship."

"Most of the people in charge of the black market are veterans, and they know very well what they can and can't touch. Weapon modifiers can be touched, but the entire weapon cannot. A little stimulant can be touched, but a large dose of placebo cannot. Wine can be touched, meat can be touched, but not more than a certain limit."

"You see, they know better than the officials of the Ministry of Justice what can be turned a blind eye and what is absolutely forbidden. However, there will always be people who will try to cross this line. ”

He was silent for a moment, and his expression suddenly became a little serious.

"These are those who don't know what reverence is." Bjorn shook his head. "They're going to want to drink all the time, they're going to use a placebo all the time, and then they're going to drag everyone else into the water with them."

"The icebreaker coincidentally got behind such a man and entered the black market, and then he saw a sudden death. A man shoots the black market at gunpoint because he hasn't had alcohol for more than two weeks, and he still hasn't had any alcohol this week—no home-brewed, but no substitutes—and he goes crazy. ”

"He killed forty-one people, and the incident soon alarmed the military police on board. and Riemann Russ. ”

Björn smiled again.

"Ruth is a nosy man, well, actually, we're all like that."

His tone suddenly became quieter, and he stopped bantering before.

"And this thing is a huge scandal, can you imagine? In wartime, such a bloody massacre broke out on an auxiliary warship accompanied by the Legion, and the trial was quickly carried out, with the gendarmes as the guards of the court, the captain as the judge of the court, and Ruth and us as the jury. ”

The icebreaker himself was one of the witnesses, but before he could speak, the evidence was already very conclusive under the accounts of the previous witnesses. The full chain of motives is also clearly visible, and the killer himself even confesses. ”

The captain pronounced the sentence in advance, and the murderer was sentenced to death, and he was not even worthy of the transformation of the servant. But the icebreaker objected at this time, arguing that it was inappropriate for him to be a witness under imperial law and not given the opportunity to present his evidence and his own thoughts. ”

"Everyone is confused, except Ruth. The head wolf didn't react at all, not even surprised. I still remember the way he looked at the time, he was holding his hands, covering himself with a fur cloak, and smiling all the time, as if he had known what the icebreaker was going to do. ”

Then the captain gave the icebreaker a chance to speak. Do you know what he said? ”

Björn said as he took the axe from his belt.

Saul Tavitz stood up and slung his sword over his shoulder.

Thunder silently drew his greatsword from the river of blood, and the blood swirled and fell, smashing into the boundless blood stain.

Sigismund touched his forehead with his sword and breathed with his eyes closed.

Azek Ahriman struggled to his feet, the ancient book in his hand unwinded.

He stretched out his hand and pointed in a certain direction.

"Over there." The blind man said in a deep voice. "Over there."

Some roars came from the direction he was pointing.

"Do you want to hear it all?" Björn asked.

"It seems like a good story." Thunder replied in a loud voice. "So, yes, I want to hear it."

They began to walk slowly in the direction that Ahriman had pointed out, the remains of some demons on the ground that had not yet melted, and the air had begun to burn. The bloody river drowned their knees, and wave after wave came from afar.

It began to get hotter and rattle, and it became hot like lava.

The icebreaker said that he thought the man was so guilty that he deserved to be put to death, but he added that since they were now walking with the wolves, far from the borders of the Empire, and Riemann Ruz was watching. So—"

Bjorn said as he reached out his hand behind him. A blaster was passed into his hand by Ahriman.

"—Why not settle this matter by the law of Fenris?"

He began to fire, and the black mist swept from the end of the river of blood, and the demon tide surged, and the roar of the demons even drowned out the gunfire of the blaster.

"And then?" Saul Tavitz asked.

He had raised his sword, the double-headed eagle-shaped gauntlet clinging to the rusty handarmor. The blade was no longer bright, and the blood stains wrapped around it became a kind of mark that could not be concealed.

The dismantling stance still faithfully responded to Tavitz's call, and with a humming sound, an arc of electricity immediately wound around it. He raised his blade aloft and walked away from the group slightly, his long sword smashing down to smithereens a demon hiding beneath the river of blood.

Ruth agreed. Björn grinned. Then he stood up, the captain still trying to make a final effort, he didn't want to involve a protologist in the matter, and Krus was determined. He's like that, as long as he makes a certain decision, he will never be swayed by anything again. ”

Thunder strode past him, lightning wrapped around the giant sword, and the formidable thickness of the sword was now pitch black. Lightning escaped with his breath, creating a leaping arc of electricity in the air.

The demon tide crept in, with wings on its back, and the demon in armor rushed out with a wild laugh, and slashed at him with a giant axe in his hand, but was held by Thunder's horizontal sword lightly.

He began to wrestle with it, back and forth - but even so, he didn't forget to continue to ask Bjorn about the following.

"And then, lone wolf?"

He roared inquiringly, not caring who his opponent's name was. The demon roared in rage, and the bloody heat beneath the brass armor began to flow from a string of skulls around his neck.

"And then," Bjorn chuckled, his fist silently unleashed, knocking a batwing demon that fell from the sky and lunged at Ahriman.

A flash of sword light then flashed, and Sigismund slammed it to the front of Ahriman. Saul Tavitz arrived from the rear, Björn threw him a blaster and three magazines, and the responsibility of fire cover was handed over as a matter of course.

Nothing is tacitly agreed, they've done it 10,000 times, maybe 100,000 times — they should be so tacit.

Ahriman held the ancient book in his hand, its pages windless and automatic, as if it were being flipped through.

"And then."

Bjorn swung his axe, and he sliced open the jaw of a scrawny hoof demon. He lunged straight at it, and the blade of his fist, which had lit up, immediately stabbed into its brain.

A crooked sword fell from above his head, and a misshapen, fat demon burst out laughing, as if he had seen Bjorn's head fall to the ground. And it itself had been cut in half by Sigismund before this.

The lone wolf stood up with a bloody face, wiped his face, and began to continue his story.

Ruth said that Fenris's laws were quite simple, even barbaric. He asked the icebreaker, would he be okay with it? The icebreaker nodded, and Ruth said that Fenris's law was to kill for life. If someone is killed, then the deceased's relatives, brothers, and friends can all take revenge on the murderer. ”

"Turn." Ahriman muttered to himself. "Turn Here"

He had no eyesight to speak of, but the ancient books in his hand began to get hotter and hotter. He couldn't see anything, but he knew that someone was flipping through the books for him.

No, maybe it's not a human being, it's just a ghost.

His nose began to bleed, as if under some kind of pressure, and he began to speak in a language he had never learned. Björn began to speak in this language as well, and it is known as Juvik on Fenris.

And, somehow, they all understood.

The icebreaker turned his head and told the killer that he would meet him on the lower deck at six o'clock tomorrow morning with a knife. He decided that he was going to murder him in a reasonable, lawful and reasonable manner. ”

The captain asked him why he did this, after all, the murderer should have been put to death, and if it was postponed until tomorrow, it would have given him half a day longer. The icebreaker didn't give an explanation, he just looked at Ruth and asked, should the murder be paid for? ”

Bjorn frantically slung the axe over his shoulders and beckoned to a group of demons who were converging in the fog.

Ruth said—" he roared and raised his axe. "-The murderer deserves to pay for his life, and anyone can avenge their brothers, brothers, relatives and friends!"

He rushed into the tide, Sigismund followed, and Saul Tavitz stood in front of Ahriman, sword in hand, pistol in hand, and began to clear him of the fish that slipped through the net.

"The icebreaker has completed his revenge, he resigned as an officer, joined the wolves, and died in battle one winter day!" Bjorn yelled inarticulately. "And you're walking with the wolves now!"

"Does this story make any sense, wolf cub?!" Thunder roared back.

He was still battling the demon, who was at least eight meters tall, and each blow was as heavy as a battering ram. The sword and axe collided with each other, slashing out an even piece of blood. Pitch-black lightning and blood-colored flames engulfed each other, spiraling and twisting, hatred and slaughter going hand in hand.

"No point, Thunder!" Bjorn replied aloud. "I just wanted to tell you—"

Before he could finish his words, with a loud bang, he flew back upside down in great embarrassment, his armor had been completely shattered, and he was lying face down in the river of blood, life and death unknown.

Sigismund frowned, and immediately returned to the group, sword in front of Ahriman. Saul Tavitz threw down his depleted blaster and held his sword in both hands, making a serious starting pose.

All of them could sense the trembling in the air, and they knew that something was coming.

Something extremely barbaric, extremely terrifying.

A large figure began to condense in the blood mist, and the river of blood rose high and swirled the waves, and the demons screamed to be melted or slaughtered by their own blades, their flesh swept into the blood mist.

At the same time, the demon that was battling the thunder suddenly roared and spat out a name, one that didn't need to know their language to understand how it was supposed to pronounce.

"Kabanha ——!"

It swung its axe back the thunder and roared with unprecedented rage: "Get back! This is my slaughter! ”

"You don't deserve it," the thing known as Kabanha replied with a sneer. "This slaughter is no longer yours, you are a loser, beaten back by the unwanted test subjects abandoned by the cowardly god. This is about to become my killing field, where I will rip off the angel's wings. ”

It began to breathe deeply, and the mist of blood billowed away, swallowed up by the massive creature. Its true form was revealed, with hooves, horns, wings, and brass armor

On the surface, it may not be indistinguishable from the powerful demons that have ever appeared, but between its obsidian teeth is the corpse of a demon that is crushing to pieces.

It is devouring its own kind, something that has never happened before.

"What does it call you a test subject, Thunder."

Bjorn, who was lying face down in the river of blood, suddenly straightened up and laughed. He slowly stood up with his back to them, shards of armor slowly falling from his body, his crooked arms and twisted axe faces proving that he had tried to resist.

He resisted, but he couldn't.

Thunder didn't answer, but a storm lit up in his eyes. He caught up with the demon who was about to say something, and decapitated it with his greatsword in a desperate gesture, at the cost of being impaled through the devil's claws in the chest.

But he didn't care, just swung another sword, severing the claw, and turned around with his head in his hand, throwing it at Kabanha's feet.

"Your name is Kabanha?" Thunder spat out a mouthful of blood and asked calmly.

"Yes." The demon grinned and whispered. "What's the matter with you, Experiment? Does fighting alongside your own newcomers make you feel sad? ”

"They are my brothers." Thunder said. "But you-who did you just say cowardly?"

He raised his sword and rushed towards it, and they followed. Only Azek Ahriman limped to the other side with the book in his hand.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm honored." Björn muttered to himself breathlessly as he charged. "I'm honored."

And in their rear, far away, there was a continuous sound of artillery.

This chapter is 5.5k, and there is one more chapter.

(End of chapter)