Twin Cities: I am the man of many myths

Chapter 197: A Different Claw of Winter
"Stand still! Don't move!"

The leader spoke in a slightly awkward Valoran language. She rode on a huge wild boar and rushed out of the cavalry.

Judging from her appearance alone, this lady is probably a girl who is not yet an adult. Her hair is like dry grass and is simply tied up behind her head. Her pale face shows her immaturity and seems to be malnourished, but her green pupils are bright and lively.

What was strange was that in such weather and environment, she was wearing very little clothes, only clothes made of animal skins to wrap the private parts of her thin body.

Behind the girl, she was carrying a huge steel knife with a notch on it. She was not short, about 1.7 meters tall, but in contrast to the steel knife, she looked small and thin.

The barefoot girl, wearing leather gloves on her hands holding the reins, rolled off the wild boar and looked at the people in the caravan with one hand on her waist.

"Li Ke, isn't she cold?" Jinx leaned against Li Ke, stood on tiptoe and whispered softly.

Although this is not yet the inner territory of Freljord, but after crossing the snow-capped mountains, the temperature in the border area of ​​​​Freljord is at least minus 20 degrees Celsius. The permafrost here has never melted, and the trees are always covered with ice and frost, not to mention the thick snow that looks like ice.

Stepping on it barefoot. Hiss, Jinx didn't dare to think about how her feet would be frozen if she did that.
Frozen pig's trotters?
You know, she is wearing a thick cashmere coat now, and she is wearing three pieces of clothes inside the coat to keep warm, and she even has warming patches on her waist and back. But even so, Jinx still feels cold.

How could the little native of Zaun have ever seen such a harsh environment as the Freljord in his life?

"Her physique is very special." Li Ke looked at the girl and answered Jinx's question with squinted eyes.

Yes, this girl was one of the few people in the group who wore very little.

As for this kind of person, a related word subconsciously popped up in Li Ke's mind - Ice Bloodline.

Ice blood is a special physique native to Freljord. People with this physique have physical fitness and sensitivity to magic far superior to ordinary people. Based on the concentration of ice blood in the body, the physique of these people even exceeds that of Valoran's most elite troops, the Fearless Vanguard.

In terms of military quality, the Fearless Vanguard is definitely better than this group of people, but if we really talk about potential and strength, the Ice Bloodline is more powerful.

The first thing to know about the Ice Bloodline is that this physique is rare but not scarce. It is not like what players and netizens think, that it is a physique that only Ashe and Sejuani possess.

In Freljord, there are many Freljordians with ice blood. The special thing about Ashe and Sejuani is that the concentration of their blood is much higher than that of ordinary people, not to mention the rumor that they both have "reincarnated bodies".

Therefore, when Li Ke saw the girl dismounting from her mount and walking in front of John, five meters in front of him, he knew that this girl was a warrior of the Winter Claw, and a small leader at that.

As for why Li Ke thought the other party was the Winter Claw and the small boss.
Oh, that's because in Freljord, the only army that can ride on wild boars in large numbers is the Winter's Claw.

Sejuani's mount is named Bristle, a Juvask boar. Juvask boars in Freljord are different from other wild beasts such as frost wolves, moose, yaks, etc. Juvask boars possess the rare bloodline of the gods, and Bristle is the best among them.

In other words, the Juvask boars of Freljord, tracing their roots, the ancestors of these wild boars are gods.
Therefore, except for the Winter Claw, the other tribes are unable to tame the Juvask boar, and this girl is the only one in the group who wears less and can ride a Juvask boar.

Another thing is, she was the leader and the first one to rush out. If she was not the leader, who was?

Li Ke looked at the other person and then at John.

He sighed that John was lucky because he helped himself and Jinx with kindness, and now it was Li Ke's turn to help him.

Li Ke came to Freljord to rescue Darius, and to save Darius, he had to deal with the Winter's Claw. Even without John, Li Ke would have taken the initiative to find the Winter's Claw, and now, the Winter's Claw ran out by himself.
Do John a favor and prevent his cargo from being lost, as a way of repaying him for letting Jinx ride in the RV.

Thinking of this, Li Ke prepared to come forward.

But just as he was about to take a step, Li Ke stopped.

He heard the conversation between the girl from the Winter Claw tribe and John in front of him.

"Where did you come back from?"

John quickly replied: "Greetings, Winter Claw, I am back from the small country of Bering."

"What did you transport?" the girl nodded and asked again.

"Kerosene, charcoal, pots and some food." John reported truthfully.

The girl raised her hand behind her back and waved gently. The two Winter Claw warriors riding on the snow wolves got off their mounts, walked towards the tall moose, then lifted the gray cloth and looked through the goods.

It was only a moment before they shouted, "Donna, it's all right, they were just pots and pans, no swords were found."

The girl named Donna heard the voice, looked at John, raised her chin and asked again: "Do you know the rules?"

"I understand, sir. Look. What do you need?"

Li Ke listened and frowned.

"Everyone has had a hard time recently. Noxus launched a war against us some time ago. Although they were defeated, many people still remained in the territory, not to mention that the Frostguard tribe has begun to take action again. You know them, right?" Donna said to John.

John nodded, hunched over and said, "Yes, sir, I know, and I am very grateful for what Winter Claw has done for us."

He agreed with Donna in his heart.

The Winter Claw is a bandit tribe, but most of the time, the Winter Claw will not persecute traveling merchants. They will only wage wars between tribes and absorb each other. Therefore, for traveling merchants, encountering the Winter Claw may be a bad luck, but it would be even more unfortunate if they encountered other bandit tribes.

Sejuani was a shrewd and great war mother. She ordered the Winter Claw to forbid the slaughter of Freljord's traveling merchants, because Sejuani knew clearly that it was because of these merchants traveling back and forth all over the world that Freljord had some good things today.

But Sejuani knew that it was different for the war mothers of other tribes. In the Freljord, where supplies were scarce and the living environment was harsh, many small tribes disappeared into history every winter.

In order to survive, these people will do anything. If they encounter the Winter Claw, the most they will lose is some goods, but if they encounter other bandit tribes, they will lose both their people and their money.
As for the Frostguard tribe, this is even more of a taboo in Freljord. This group of people obey the orders of the big man who exists "in the legend". Every time he appears, it will plunge Freljord into turmoil.

Recently, the Frostguard Fortress has begun to take action again, and for traveling merchants like John, encountering them means only death.

And at times like this, the only ones who can protect these traveling merchants are the bandits of Winter Claw.

Therefore, John now has fear and respect for Donna, but he does not hate Donna.

"How was your harvest?" Seeing that John knew the rules, Donna put away her domineering attitude and spoke with a smile.

Her face was really pale, the kind of sickly, malnourished paleness that could be seen not only from her skin color, but also from the bulging blue veins on Donna's slender arms and the protruding ribs on her tight abdomen. It could be seen that Winter Claw must have had a hard time recently.

"Sir, how much do you want?" John asked tentatively.

Donna was stunned and said speechlessly: "I really hate thinking the most. Forget it, let me think about it." Li Ke, who was listening to the conversation, gave up the idea of ​​coming forward.

The Winter Claw seems to be different from what you imagined?
It seems that the Winter Claw plays the role of protector of traveling merchants, and they only "pay taxes" to them?
After all, Li Ke could see that John did not have any aversion to the fact that part of the goods was going to be taken away, which shows that it was a case of one willing to fight and the other willing to be beaten.

What's the matter with Li Ke suddenly jumping out?
But to be honest, Li Ke originally thought that the Winter Claw would be a villain-like character. After all, for him, Ashe's Avarosa tribe was more acceptable to Li Ke than Sejuani's Winter Claw.

Ashe and Sejuani, between them, one is an idealist and the other is a conqueror.

With Li Kehua's thinking, he would certainly prefer idealists.

After a while, Donna raised her head and said, "As for me, I only want food. Just give me 20% of the food in your cargo."

John was a little surprised when he heard this, "Why is it only 20% this time?"

John originally thought that Donna would ask for 50%, but 20%?
You have to know that winter is coming soon. Freljord in winter is a test for every tribe, even for large tribes like the Winter Claw.

I remember when I passed by last year, John was surrounded by Noxians. It was the Winter Claw who repelled the Noxians and took away all the food from the caravan, of course, only the food.

And this time, Winter Claw only wants 20%?

"You are not in danger. If you were attacked by Noxians, Frostguard or other tribes and we arrived, I would definitely ask you for 80% of the food after I rescued you. But now you are just passing by." Donna said seriously: "Hey, this winter is not easy for us, and neither are you."

"Since everyone is having a hard time, let's just muddle through and work together to get through this winter." The girl said with a smile.

John looked at Donna gratefully, raised his hand, and said loudly: "What are you all standing there for? Quickly unload the food for the adults of the Winter Claw tribe, three no, four percent!"

"Sir, we are willing to give you 40% of the food." John looked at Donna and continued, "Can you escort us to Nelzayag?"

"As you said, the Frostguard tribe has started to appear again without your protection."

"That's fine, but I'll take 20 people to protect you, and the rest will escort the food back to the tribe." Donna thought about it, nodded and agreed, and at the same time she looked at John and said with a smile: "You old man are also dishonest."

John smiled, bowed respectfully, put his hands on his chest, performed the Freljord etiquette, and said seriously: "Pray for the great Winter Claw Warmother."

Soon, the Winter Claw tribe took away 40% of the caravan's food, nearly a thousand kilograms of food.

A single moose can carry the thousand kilograms of food perfectly while moving forward in the snowy mountains, while the Winter Claw transports the food in bags, with wolves, wild boars, and moose each carrying more than a hundred kilograms of food.

After all, they had to transport the food back to the tribe quickly. The first reason was that Winter Claw was short of food now, and the 40% of the food here could allow hundreds of people to survive the winter. The second reason was to avoid any further trouble and return to the tribe earlier so that they could feel at ease.

Donna fulfilled her promise and accompanied the caravan with a dozen people, preparing to escort John's caravan to a nearby town.

Li Ke and Jinx did not return to the carriage, but followed the team on foot.

During this time, Donna noticed Jinx and Li Ke. The girl showed a hint of confusion on her face at these two outsiders who were obviously not from Freljord, but she didn't say anything. After all, this was John's caravan.

"They are both from Zaun and are traveling to Freljord." Seeing Donna's confusion, John took the initiative to introduce them.

After listening to John's introduction, Donna showed a mocking smile on her face.

"travel?"

"Hey, traveling to the Freljord?"

"This is crazy. We were still fighting the Noxians half a year ago. During this time, the Frostguard showed up and several tribes were slaughtered. At this time, you come to the Freljord to travel?"

Donna didn't know how to describe the behavior of this man and woman, but she really thought it was stupid.

From their clothes, physical health, and facial expressions, Donna could tell that these two people lived a happy life and did not have to worry about food and the environment. Since they already had happiness, why would they take risks?

I don’t understand. I really can’t understand.

Seeing that Donna was looking at her, Jinx, who was already very curious about Donna, took the initiative to step forward, trotted to the side of the Juvask boar, and looked up to greet Donna.

"Get out of here!" But when Donna saw Jinx coming, she nervously pulled the reins and shouted angrily.

Jinx was stunned, her brows furrowed and she was about to lose her temper. What a joke! I, Jinx, was kindly greeting you, and you asked me to get out?

It was that the clothes were too thick and she couldn't take out the pistol, otherwise Jinx would have pointed the pistol at Donna and said again - say another word?
But just when Jinx was unhappy, the Juvask boar under Donna's crotch started to riot. The breath of strangers from outside the Freljord made it angry, especially because this breath was mixed with the breath of humans it had fought some time ago, which made the boar even more angry.

The Juvask boar shook its big head agitatedly, turned its head directly, and pointed its huge fangs at Jinx.

"No, Wana, stop it!" Donna exclaimed when she saw this.

Damn!

But she had no way of controlling the three-meter-tall monster while sitting on the wild boar. She could only watch as the Juvask boar named Wana charged at the girl who was wrapped like a white bear.

Just as everyone around was exclaiming, and everyone including Donna thought that the girl was going to be pierced by the Juvask boar and die on the spot, a hand suddenly stretched out from the girl's body.

The hand was extremely white, with slender joints, and it pressed lightly on Wana's fangs.

The next second, veins appeared on that white hand, and a man uttered a word in a clear voice.

"roll."

Donna suddenly felt her body suspended, and then she fell on Vanna's back, surrounded by floating, broken ice and snowflakes.

She looked ahead blankly. The girl was not injured because a black-haired young man appeared behind her.

He pressed Wana to the ground with one hand and stared at Wana's eyes with his dark pupils.

"Woo-"

Everyone saw the wild Juvask growl in fear.

(End of this chapter)