Blood Alliance

"Speaking of which, what was that goat phantom behind you just now? I've never seen anything so terrifying... it was as tall as a small hill."

"A phantom image? What phantom image?"

Harren didn't turn around at the time, so of course he didn't know that an illusion of Ornn appeared behind him when he used his divine power. He only understood after Sejuani described it to him.

No wonder that group of "lost persons" arrived so quickly and made such a commotion; it was hard not to attract attention...

"To put it simply, I would probably consider myself a chosen one of the gods."

"The spirit of the ram?"

"Hmm... but I prefer to call him the Mountain-Hidden Flame, or Old Ornn."

"Heh, you two sound like you know each other pretty well."

"certainly!"

Herren gave a thumbs-up and pointed to the horizon.

He dared not speak of anything else, but since his transmigration, the person he had seen the most was that old Ornn.

"We meet often, and I can take you to see Him sometime."

"Ha, you're just bragging."

Sejuani rolled her eyes, used a knife to cut a piece of meat off the chunk, took a big bite, and then handed it to Heron.

"Here you are."

Helen frowned upon seeing the blood and teeth marks on the piece of meat, then shook his head in refusal.

"I like to eat cooked food."

"So many problems..."

Sejuani snorted softly. As expected, the Hearth Household was quite troublesome.

She handed the piece of meat to Ashe, who, not caring whether it was cooked or not, took it and started to eat it in big bites.

The way she wolfed down her food made Sejuani feel a little sorry for her.

"Aishie, I didn't mean to reopen old wounds..."

Aisha remained silent, swallowed the raw meat in her mouth, and then spoke.

"It was the Frost Priest... Our tribe's Frost Priest betrayed us; I'm the only one who survived..."

"Frost Priests... these guys are like slow poison, using spells and medical tricks to bewitch people. It's the same in our tribe."

"Frost Ritual?"

Herren stroked his chin.

"Lissandra?"

"Hiss, be careful, that witch might be able to hear us."

"Come on, do you think she has that kind of ability?"

Herren scoffed. What a joke! Even old Orn only gets things done when he comes knocking on his door. How could Lissandra be any more powerful?

"Why do you act like you're so close to her..."

Not only are we very familiar, but I also used to play with her a lot in my past life.

Sejuani continued speaking to Ashe.

"Anyway, those guys are all bad news. They just want incompetent people to be leaders so they can control everything... But the strong should rise to power and do the impossible."

"To do the impossible?"

Ashe's dim eyes suddenly lit up. These words, though seemingly casual, seemed to have completely awakened Ashe.

Yes, that's probably what Glenna meant before she died...

I must become strong, to do the impossible... even in the face of the greatest suffering.

"You're absolutely right, Sejuani. You'll definitely make a great Warmother."

"Only you have this kind of confidence in me..."

For Sejuani, Ashe's appearance was like a ray of light; only in Ashe's presence could she enjoy care that she could never normally receive.

"Who said that? I have confidence in you too."

At this moment, Harren pointed decisively at Ashe and Sejuani respectively.

"Don't worry, you two can both become excellent war mothers."

"Um?"

Sejuani looked at Harren with a puzzled expression, but there was no flattery or perfunctory look on his face. Instead, he had a calmness that seemed to indicate that this was going to happen.

"Just because I said that?"

"Not only that, of course, that's a good point. If Heaven wants to entrust someone with a great mission, it must first make them suffer, exhaust their body, and endure hunger... to increase the abilities they didn't originally possess."

"Heaven will entrust great responsibilities to this person," a saying Herren knew by heart.

Sejuani and Ashe were stunned for a long time before Sejuani finally spoke up, puzzled.

"You really are like a shaman, or rather a priest, saying things that can leave people confused... But I have to admit, you're right, that's exactly what I was thinking."

Seemingly quite satisfied with Herren's summary, Sejuani smiled and took a bite of meat.

"Oh, you want to say it but you're too tongue-tied to say it?"

"Oh……"

Sejuani's face immediately fell, and she changed the subject.

"However, your bad side is also like an ice priestess, for example, you always speak in a sinister and cutting way."

"Huh, really?"

Harren chuckled and nudged Sejuani with his elbow, which annoyed Sejuani, who raised her fist as if to hit him.

Aisha watched the two of them silently, a slight smile curving her lips.

No matter what, what's done is done, and there's no going back no matter how sad it is... That feeling, which was more painful than I imagined, seems to be gradually fading away.

……

……

"Helen will be stuck on the ship again, just like the fire-starters I remember, doing nothing but having food and drink..."

Sejuani, carrying her hunted game, walked with Ashe towards the location where the ship was moored.

She's traveling quite far this time; the journey by boat will take several days.

She wanted to take Ashe and Harren, these two outsiders, back to face the tribe's War Mother... so she didn't plan to eat the Gruffin meat on the ship, wanting to save it for Ashe's advancement.

Unable to go hungry, they stopped their boats along the way and hunted.

"Isn't hunting something women should do? Besides, there's so much meat on the boat, it's suitable for Herren, a man, to stay and watch the boat."

Ashe, carrying her True Ice Bow, said with a smile.

"Ha...all you do is tinker with that broken hammer all day, as if hammering it will make you eat. You still rely on us to bring you food every day, don't you?"

"It sounds like you have a problem with him?"

Ashe's smile grew even brighter. In her opinion, although Sejuani complained, she always made sure to give Harren a share of the spoils every time they went hunting.

"I feel he might be a very good craftsman. You saw it yourself; he has the power of the ram spirit... I heard from the blacksmiths that it is the god of forging."

"Ha, I don't believe a single word that Luhu says!"

"Ha...Speaking of which, Sejuani, you already have a blood pact?"

"A blood oath? Hahaha..."

Sejuani burst into laughter.

"Kogia found me a whole bunch of boys who were always hanging around me, as if they were afraid I wouldn't see them... One of them, Ercas, even gave me his sword."

"And then? You agreed?"

"No, I broke his jaw with one punch!"

"Huh?! What?!"

Ashe was somewhat shocked; wasn't this a bit too rough?

Ashe asked herself honestly, if a warrior would give her his sword and hope to become her sworn brother, even if she disagreed, he would at least not do something as hurtful as hitting her.

"Ha, what's the big deal? Our tribe lacks everything, but we don't lack boys... Anyway, why are you asking this?"

Ashe pointed to the Horen Ring on Sejuani's hand.

"Then this..."

While Freljord doesn't have the custom of wedding rings, rings are a common form of contractual agreement.

Based on Ashe's understanding of Sejuani, given Sejuani's personality, it's highly unlikely she would own such exquisite jewelry; it's more probable that it was a gift from someone else.

Sejuani, who has not yet become a Warmother, naturally cannot have any alliances with others; the most likely one is a blood alliance.

"Oh, this was a gift from that kid Herren, a little something to mark our meeting."

Sejuani said casually.

"It really was him. He seems capable of creating exquisite jewelry..."

"That's about it. What master-level skill? I've never even seen one. It's probably just hype..."

clang!

A crisp hammering sound came from not far ahead, and the two quickly quickened their pace and walked over.

But just then they saw Herren engulfed in flames, picking up a strangely shaped dagger, about the length of a forearm, from the anvil.