Section 11 Misunderstandings

"I see...... Wait, what do you mean...... How is it possible that the legions attacking the south have been defeated, they are blessed by the gods!"

"Southern...... Where I came, there was also God. And it doesn't look like it's lost to the four gods here. Ashrufat said softly. "Besides, sometimes, you lose not because others are strong, but because you have internal problems. ”

This sentence silenced Claire for a long time.

"The war is over?" she finally asked, still a little reluctant.

"That's right. Ashrufat replied. He was absolutely sure of this, because he had commanded the great battle in the first place.

"Where's the White Castle?"

"The eyes of the gods have departed from there. Ashrufat used a metaphor. This phrase was learned by him during this time, and the meaning is self-explanatory.

"I see. Claire thought for a long time. "No wonder we all came here peacefully...... Along the way, there were no attacks from others. She sighed. Suddenly, she was happy. "It doesn't mean to say...... We're not that bad?"

"Ah......" Ashruphat didn't understand for a moment what Claire meant.

"If every tribe is already in a state of limbo......" she said with some excitement, "maybe ......"

"Hehe, I'm still talking to Asowen. Ashrufat interrupted her. "It's useless to talk to me. With that, he began to unwrap himself in his cloak, apparently intending to sleep directly by the campfire.

"By the way, Ashrufat, I've always wanted to ask you something. Claire asked suddenly. "Can you answer me?"

"Ah, so what do I get by answering this question?"

"The answer to a question, of course, is a question that I can do and know the answer to. ”

"That's fair, ask. ”

"I've heard that those southern kingdoms are ruled by people called 'nobles'?"

"Yes, it does. Ashrufat didn't want to deny it at all.

"But, again, I've heard that the nobles aren't really the best. Nor are they the strongest of the warriors, nor are they the smartest wizards. But those mighty warriors and sorcerers are to serve the nobles and obey their orders......"

"Ah, so to speak. ”

"A warrior as good as you must listen to those nobles, to those who are far inferior to you in strength and wisdom?"

"That's true. Ashrufat said. "Let's say...... The leader of that country," he specifically used the word "chief" because he didn't know if Claire had the concept of a "king." "It was a little girl, well, she was only twelve years old at the time. ”

"Twelve, so why did she make you obey?" asked Claire, curious. "Don't you think it's inconceivable and at the same time hard to accept to obey someone who is inferior to you in every way (even a child) and to obey the orders of a little girl?"

"This ......," Ashrufat found it difficult to explain the problem for a moment. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts before he replied. "Actually, it is like this, the head of a country, is called a 'king'. She was able to become a leader because he inherited the blood of the royal family. Because her father was a king, she inherited this position. Well, just like this outfit on you. Your mother died, and these things were left to you. ”

"And her father...... So, there's always a beginning, right? How did the first king come about?"

"Let's put it this way, this little girl's ancestor...... It's very strong. It is the kind of real power that, relying on its own strength, has defeated, eliminated, and annexed all enemies, and established a solid country. He remembered the book. "According to a certain statement...... The so-called royal family is actually transformed from the strongest bandits and pirates. ”

"But what does this have to do with the little girl?" Claire was even more confused. "My mother was a witch—a third-rate witch, perhaps, but she was also a witch after all. But I don't know any magic. I can't inherit the status of a witch, because I really don't have this ability. ”

"This ......," Ashrufat thought for a long time, "probably because the gods over there are different from the gods here." ”

"God?"

"Because the gods there ...... Wouldn't do such a thing. For example, they will never interfere in the promotion of status. And some abilities, such as intelligence, wisdom, etc., are difficult to get accurate results without going through special tests. One person can be very smart, and others can be very smart, so which of the two people is smarter? You know, there are many types of intelligence, so this is extremely difficult to evaluate the strength of mortals. Mortals can only do mortal things. In the South, a warrior only needs the approval of his superiors to be promoted, and neither the approval of God nor the unanimous approval of the crowd is required. So you should understand that in that case, people can only judge the abilities of others in some simple way...... Let's say, bloodline. ”

"Ah......h

"Children born smart and strong should also be smart and strong. If he can disguise himself, then no one can lightly say that he is incompetent, except by a war or some other severe test. Ashrufat said. "I guess that's why. Because to really put this kind of rigorous test to the test, it means ......," he paused. "Never-ending war. ”

"I see, I see. Claire replied. "No wonder people say Southerners are weak. Greedy for a short period of peace, but forget that crises accumulate gradually. Let the incompetent lead the strong, and sooner or later, the crisis will erupt...... When the time comes......"

"That's it. Ashrufat said. "Now it's my turn to ask you. ”

"Say it. ”

"Well, a terrifying Chaos Champion who suffered defeat but didn't die...... What would he do to appease God's wrath?" Ashruphat asked. He knew that his question was a bit inexplicable, but at the moment he could only ask that.

"Ah, the blood god isn't necessarily angry. Claire looked at Ashrufat with that "you're so ignorant" look. "All he needs is blood. He only loves fighting and blood, and does not care about winning or losing. For the blood god, the sound of blood gushing and bones breaking is the best prayer sound. ”

"You mean, if a sadistic Chaos Champion is defeated, he's ...... Won't it fall out of favor?"

That's what it means. As long as he fought from head to toe in this battle to the end, the blood god would not only not be angry, but might even praise him greatly. But in fact, whoever is willing to kill recklessly will be blessed by him. Moreover, his subordinates were killed, and the blood god never cared. ”

"So...... If the Blood God is angry, how is he going to appease his anger? I mean," Ashruphat cleared his throat. Although this question may seem like a casual one, it is an important one for him. "Is there a need for some kind of ritual of human sacrifice? take a suitable captive and take it to some temple to sacrifice or something. ”

"Impossible. The Blood God never allowed believers to build temples and rarely cared about altars. As I said, the sound of blood gushing and bones breaking is the best prayer for the blood god. Whoever kills in his name will be favored by him. Claire said. "If someone really angers the Blood God, the solution is to try to kill and kill enough people so that you can get the Blood God's forgiveness. Altar or something...... Tzeentch will play this set. ”

"So if the abusive subordinates capture a prisoner...... Why?"

"Keep it for later. Maybe it's something else. Although there are many crazy people among the Blood God's subordinates, there are also many people with relatively normal brains. If a captive really has the value of his life, then he will be allowed to live. Let's say using captives to get ransom or something. ”

This answer caused Ashrufat to fall into deep thought, and after a long time, he finally spoke.

"My woman...... That's why I'm here, as I said before...... She was captured by her abusive men. ”

He said this for fear that it would alert the other person or something. But to his surprise, Claire's expression did not change at all, as if she had known it a long time ago, and now she was just listening to it again.

"I see. She replied lightly.

"Her captor was a horrified Chaos Lord. ”

"I believe so, too. Claire replied. She now fully understood the plan of the Prince of Joy - it was a good choice to bring such a powerful but weak-hearted warrior into the side and oppose his abusive men. Of course, she couldn't expose the schemes of the Prince of Joy. A qiē must be performed in the name of slaanesh.

Ashruphat grew more and more confused. This didn't seem like a scam or a disguise, because after a few days of contact, he had already understood that although this girl was a Chaos believer, she didn't have much scheming.

"I want to get her back, but first, I need to know what the Chaos Lord took her for. Ashrufat said. "Abusive believers are not known for keeping captives. ”

"This ...... Hardly. Even if you are a madman, some inexplicable thoughts will occasionally pop up. Claire replied. This is a difficult question to answer. ”

Ashruphat sensed that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

"Forget it, let's take a break, speed up tomorrow, and try to go back early. He said. Anyway, coming out to participate in the dangerous trade this time gave him a better understanding of the situation of the Chaos Tribe.

Just as he had predicted, the real Chaos tribe—that is, the daily life of the Chaos tribe—was very different from what was described in the Church's books. In fact, based on the fact that Ashrufat has personally come into contact with him these days, he can quite say that those books are a mixture of prejudice, lies, and myths. I really don't know what they sent so many spies to the northern wilderness for, so they wrote books that told far more truth than lies?

This journey back was also smooth and smooth, without any twists and turns. Perhaps, as Ashrufat had previously judged, almost all of the tribes had suffered heavy losses in the previous invasion of the Chaos Legions. So when they were in danger of going to some dangerous places, they didn't encounter scouts or anything. It seems, merely seems, that each tribe, which on the surface pretends to be unfazed, has in fact given up its attempts and efforts to expand its power.