The addition of Walrus Tusk meant that Yin Nuo had a stable rear base. After leaving seven mages to maintain the ice cave in Walrus Tusk, the intelligence team that had replenished supplies finally left Port of Peril. Start heading north.
And when they set off, the time finally came to the coldest time of the year in Freljord.
How cold is the coldest time of year in the Freljord?
It is no exaggeration to say that a drop of water becomes ice.
Even high-fat marinated fish meat tastes as hard as iron boots.
Among the team, the iron hairpins of several women were directly broken into irregular iron pieces under the cold.
In addition, because he was not familiar with the climate characteristics of Freljord, Yinno did not avoid the sandstorm like he did in Shurima. On the third day after setting off, a snowstorm swept the intelligence team without warning. Where I was, it lasted for a full three hours.
After the heavy snowfall, the coastline completely disappeared.
At times like this, the loss of coastline is fatal.
Starting from Forsbarrow to Ningshuang Port, the only certain route is to walk along the coastline - along this way, there are a series of port villages such as Borrell Port, Broken Ice Port, Frozen Tide Port, etc., along the way you can Get supplies.
Walking along the coast, there are no mountains around for positioning. Once you can't find the coastline, it means you are completely lost. Even the most experienced ice traveler will get lost in the endless white snowfield!
Thanks to the fact that the intelligence team are all ice elemental mages - they can spend the shortest time and the least effort to clear away part of the snow, find the edge of the ice-covered coast, and continue along the twists and turns of the coast, dragging artificial sleds and carrying Grabbing supplies, I meandered northward.
The cold-resistant physique of the ice elemental mages allowed them to eat cold pickled fish meat and chew pure ice cubes, but even so, the morale of the intelligence team began to decline rapidly.
The lofty ideals they had when they set out have faded away. Many people have begun to miss the warmth of Perrier Harbor and hope to turn around and return.
Looking for Ningshuang Port at this time is simply a trial for warriors!
Under such a situation, the gentle Yin Nuo rarely showed a majestic side.
"We accepted the mission. This is the mission of the Archon!" She rejected the proposal to return to Peril Port and asked to move on. "Next, we need to move forward at full speed until we reach the next stop, Broken Ice Port!"
Yin Nuo's words made all the royal guards look at each other, and many people's expressions became hesitant. It is already very difficult to move forward under such conditions, let alone traveling day and night!
"The sleds have been vacated a lot, and everyone can move forward in two shifts." Yin Nuo continued with a straight face, "I will work day and night to clear the way forward - if everything goes well, we should be able to finish the artificial lake before it is completed. Return to Forsbarrow, when the time comes, our 11th group will be the first among all the Dharma Masters to complete the mission!"
Although morale was still not high, due to Yin Nuo's leadership and encouragement, the intelligence team was still reluctantly divided into two classes and began to march alternately.
The weather was good, and there was no snow in the next few days. Although the weather was terribly dry and cold, under the bright moonlight, the intelligence team did not need to light too many torches to continue moving forward.
And Yin Nuo also followed his promise and used the same energy as in Shurima. He stayed at the front of the team and searched for the edge of the coast.
After another three days, they finally saw the next stronghold.
Broken Ice Port!
……………………
There is no broken ice in the Broken Ice Port at this time of the year. The reason for its name is that this port is the outlet of a river. At the mouth of the river not far from the port, there will be large areas of broken ice on the water in spring. The port Hence the name.
Unlike Peril Port, which is controlled by the Walrus Tusk and only has an alliance with Avarosa, Icebreaker Port is already considered the real sphere of influence of the Avarosa tribe, although there are also many members of other tribes and foreigners here. Ice travelers, but at least the port manager is already an Avarosan.
Unlike Boreal Port, Icebreaker Port does not have a lively tavern.
Although Avarosa grew a lot of hardy cassava, Ashe banned wine. Although she did not form an organization to catch bootlegging, she set an example and never drank alcohol.
After all, the food in Avarosa is very precious, and it would be a waste to use it to make wine.
In addition, it is far away from Demacia and there are no Demacia merchants to sell alcohol, so even the Avarosans in Icebreaker Port will drink, but most of the drinks they get are from sporadic exchanges with other tribes, or simply A small amount of home-brewed wine.
In this case, there would naturally be no such thing as a tavern in Broken Ice Port.
As for the taverns built before the Avarosa people took control of the area, after they could no longer be opened, they were transformed into activity centers by Ashe - a training ground for warriors, a storytelling hall for the elderly, and a playground for children. The mobilization place where War Mother orders are issued.
At the beginning, people were not used to living without spirits. In the first year after Ashe announced a complete ban on large-scale brewing, many people held objections.
But with the gradual surplus of food and the increase in the proportion of newborns surviving their name days in consecutive years, the Avarosa people finally became accustomed to spending more time elsewhere.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Avarosa tribe's population growth over the years and the rapid spread of farming technology are inseparable from these taverns that have been transformed into activity centers. Here, knowledge and technology are respected, and Ashe is very Kang generously shared it with all the ice travelers, and her reputation spread to far away places along with word of mouth among these ice travelers.
Why was Avarosa able to grow rapidly from a small tribe without relying on military conquest to become the largest force in the West Freljord subcontinent?
Because Ashe has truly found a way to make the lives of the Freljord people better - as a powerful war mother, Ashe has the ability to conquer the surrounding tribes, but she did not choose to do that , but in another way, he won respect and support.
When Yin Nuo and the intelligence team arrived at the Icebreaker Port, they saw a completely different style of Freljord. This port, with its simple buildings and low walls, surprisingly gave everyone a sense of familiarity. .
It seems that it contains some kind of special equipment, which is quite similar to Fosbarrow's temporary camp.
In such bad weather, a group of forty or fifty people appeared, which naturally attracted the attention of the guards.
After discovering Yin Nuo and others, the guard blew the horn without hesitation.
Soon, a group of heavily armed soldiers climbed up the low wall. The man who looked like a captain at the head shouted loudly.
"Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you going?"
"We are envoys, coming from Demacia." Looking at the faded Avarosa flag on the port wall, Yin Nuo stood up and replied loudly, "We are going to Ningshuang Port!"
"Demacia?" The person on the wall asked in confusion with a thick Freljord accent, "What tribe is that? Shouldn't the south be the Walrus Tusk?"
"It's Demacia!" Yin Nuo tried to correct her while taking out a long walrus tooth. "Our first stop is Port of Peril."
The tusks of walrus can be regarded as a representative gift of the walrus tusk tribe. They will hunt a small number of walruses before winter every year to obtain the walrus oil needed for ice fishing that year, and the tusks of walrus are They will be specially treated and given as gifts to their friends - in Ashe's hand, there is also a very long walrus tusk.
After seeing the walrus tusks, the people on the wall obviously relaxed a lot. In the Freljord, although walruses are not at the top of the food chain, there are very few tribes that can actually find traces of walruses and hunt them. , who can produce such processed walrus teeth, most of these people should be recognized by the walrus teeth.
So, while maintaining vigilance, the door to the wall of Broken Ice Port was finally opened, and Yin Nuo and others successfully entered the port.
……………………
In the port, Yin Nuo saw the person who had shouted and communicated with her on the wall before, calling Demacia "Demacia".
The other person is a woman who looks to be about forty or fifty years old. She has a large frame and a tall body that are common among Freljordians. Her hair is not pure white, but she is wearing very little. She is holding a small bag in her hand. A spear, the wooden shaft of the spear is black in color and the material cannot be seen, but the blade of the spear is crystal clear ice.
"My name is Sazo." She introduced herself. "I am the captain of the Icebreaker Harbor Guard. I am also responsible for maintaining the rules here. You said you are a friend of Walrus Tusk?"
"Yin Nuo." Yin Nuo nodded, "Grandma Walrus asked me to say hello to you."
"Oh? Is she in good health?"
"You can also drink a large glass of walrus milk in one breath." Yin Nuo spread out his hands, "He is also very powerful in dealing with those drunks in the pub."
"That's great, Grandma Walrus." Sazo nodded, his expression finally relaxed, "You said before that you were the messenger?"
"That's right, Fosbyro from Demacia." Yin Nuo nodded, "We are going to Ningshuang Port."
"Demacia, I've never heard of this tribe." Sazo frowned, "Is it south of Peril Harbor?"
"It's south of Freljord." Yinno corrected with a smile, "It's Demacia."
"Wait, are you a warm-blooded person?" Sa Zhuo's eyes widened, "No, something is wrong, you are clearly of ice blood!"
"If you are talking about blood, maybe I do have thin ice blood in my body." Yin Nuo was very open-minded about this point, "But I'm sorry, I am indeed a Demacian, not Freyr. The Zodians—at least in my great-grandfather’s generation—have been living in Demacia.”
"So, are you returning to Freljord to trace the source of your bloodline?" Sazo looked at Yin Nuo, and then at the Archon behind her who was wearing lining and robes, "You also heard that He has returned as the successor of Avarosa and in response to the call of the three sisters?"
This time it was Yin Nuo's turn to be confused.
Didn't you speak clearly?
He has already said that he is a Demacian, has been a Demacian for several generations, and is Demacia's Forsbarrow envoy. Why does this guy in front of him still wishfully think that he is here to pursue the source of some bloodline?
Helpless, Yin Nuo could only emphasize her identity as a Demacian again, and denied that she was pursuing the source of blood or responding to the call of the three sisters.
"I am the messenger, the messenger representing Forsbarrow!"
"No, you are of the ice bloodline!" To Yin Nuo's surprise, Sa Zhuo still stubbornly believed that she should have come because of the fate of the ice bloodline. "It was the three sisters who guided you back, otherwise you would not have been able to cross the blizzard. Came here from Boreal Harbor!”
"I can come here because I can control the ice and snow." Yin Nuo shook his head helplessly and waved his hand to clear the ice and snow under his feet. "No one guided me, I followed the coastline."
Yin Nuo explained it very clearly, but unfortunately, Sa Zhuo still didn't want to believe it - which made her attitude seem quite contradictory. On the one hand, she respected Yin Nuo's identity of Hanbing blood, but on the other hand, she was dissatisfied with her unwillingness to accept her fate. Attitude.
This contradiction has always been with Sa Zhuo. Even after arranging a place for Yin Nuo to stay, she still tried to persuade Yin Nuo to accept her fate...
In desperation, Yin Nuo could only use Kalya's words to express that her goal was to meet Ai Xi. If she was really the heir of Avarosa, I believe she would be able to convince herself, but I'm afraid you can't.
Although this statement is a bit offensive, Sa Zhuo readily accepts it. It seems that in her heart, Ai Xi is indeed a sacred existence, qualified to command all ice bloodlines...
This almost fanatical attitude made Yin Nuo feel a bit familiar, as if the Rakkor people under the Titan Peak had a similar understanding of the Titan.
The problem is, in Yin Nuo's impression, the giant god is faith!
But whether it is Grandma Ling’s description or Grandma Walrus’s statement, Ai Xi is a very enlightened and thoughtful leader. She is completely different from the giant gods who enslave the Rakor people with their faith. Why is this called Sazo? A guy who is as fanatical as a giant?
"A person's thoughts and attitude cannot completely determine other people's opinions of him, even the War Mother." In response to Yin Nuo's doubts, Kalya sighed and explained helplessly, "Well, people, There’s always a need for some kind of name recognition.”
"Like Nashrame under the banner of Shurima?"
"It kind of means that." Kalya agreed, "I don't know if Ashe really hopes to be the successor of Avarosa, or if he has his own ideals and goals, and just relies on this name to act, but at present It seems that quite a few members of the Avarosa tribe are united around her because of this name."
"This doesn't seem to be a good thing." Yin Nuo said thoughtfully, "For this reputation, maybe Ai Xi will do something she doesn't want?"
"At least Setaka used to be."
