Shadow Trails in Azeroth

Chapter 448 1. Trolls and furbolgs are good neighbors when they are not attacking.

Amber Pine Town, the second colony of the Kingdom of Lordaeron in Northrend.

It is said to be a town, but it is actually about the same size as a small city. It is built on the mountain and has an excellent location. Except that it is located in the forest and cannot build a city, it is almost a perfect colonial territory.

The town is adjacent to a large river with abundant water.

Because the environment has not been damaged at all, the catch in this river is amazing. The fishermen in the town only need to go out for an hour or two every morning to get a lot of fresh big bass.

In the large forest nearby, there are enough prey for hunters to display their skills. Over time, Amber Pine Town has become a fur distribution center on the Northrend continent.

The various furs produced here are of excellent quality, and you can earn a lot of money by sending them back to the Eastern Continent.

Because of this, many hunters from the Eastern Continent gather here to "dig for gold". Every year during the hunting season, Amber Pine Town becomes very lively.

The people here are also very hospitable.

To any outsider with no ill intentions, they will enthusiastically offer a large glass of home-brewed amber secret wine to introduce travelers to this rich and beautiful land and their not-so-distant colonial history.

If the visitor has malicious intentions, the tough men outside the town will have to take action.

The Kingdom of Lordaeron has stationed a small but very elite legion here. Their station is in an open area north of Pinewood Town.

As long as a signal is given, the cavalry will arrive in just thirty minutes.

"But when you are really in danger, don't expect those soldiers to save your life. Everything is good in Grizzly Bear Hills, except that there will always be trolls, bears and other scary things popping out of the woods.

That is completely different from the kobolds and murlocs of the Old World. "

In the tavern of Pinewood Town, the drunken local sheriff was smoking a pipe, puffing away smoke and bragging to the traveler sitting opposite him:

"Every time newcomers like you come over, I will remind you tirelessly. Don't go too far from the town at night, and don't go deep into the woods without someone accompanying you.

Especially close to the big tree on the gray hill in the northeast, you can't go!

That's the territory of the Crazy Bears, who are different from the Raging Claws in the snowy mountains. They are a bunch of depraved maniacs, the kind that will scare the piss out of you.

And over there in the north.

When the weather is nice, you can go with the hunting team to the Gilnean Silverstream Town. The girls there are very enthusiastic.

But going to Silver Creek is the limit of hiking, and you can’t go any further north. "

The Sheriff grabbed the big wine glass and drank half a glass of secret wine. His face turned even redder. He opened his collar and showed the old wound on his chest to the traveler opposite.

He also said in a threatening tone:

“North of Silverstream Town is the power of the damn Frost Trolls.

Those trolls were very savage, and they were cannibals. The young man who likes tender skin like you the most will catch you and roast you on the fire.

Eat the limbs first, then the trunk.

Did you see my injury?

This was left behind a few years ago when I took the militiamen to rescue some swingers from the Old World. That hateful troll's knife was less than a few centimeters from my heart.

Those bastards who were looking for excitement were scared to death, but guess what?

Ha, I have a dwarf musket hidden in my hand.

When the troll's knife plunged into my chest, my gun also blew off half of his head. Afterwards, those young men planned to hire me back to the Old Continent to be their housekeeper or something.

But I like the freedom of this land, so I am too lazy to serve those nobles who don't know what they are called. "

After talking about his heroic deeds back then, the completely drunk Sheriff started complaining again. Like all old men, he began to criticize today's young people.

He scolded:

"Now Silverstream Town is ruled by a new earl. That guy is a coward who likes to mess around with men. The soldiers under his command are also a group of cowards, and they can't stop the frost trolls at all.

Pooh!

They can't even stop the pirates.

Some time ago, pirates from the North Sea went upstream along the Dragon Bone River and rushed into Silver Creek Town to plunder. If our soldiers from Lordaeron hadn't arrived in time, those pirates could have burned down the town of Gilneas cowards.

Pooh!

Shame on you, the Gilneans are the worst!

All of them can only talk and talk about how they are like wolves. They are very good at doing small business and have a way of making money, but when it comes to fighting, they are very tired. "

"Yes, yes, I also think that the Gilneans are just bragging. They are not as brave as us Kul Tiras people, and certainly not as tough and unyielding as you Lordaeron people."

Black Shaw, who was also drunk and listened to several stories for free, grabbed the wine glass at hand, took down his dwarf pipe, and said to the old sheriff in front of him:

"Come on, let's go. Don't be afraid. Drink hard. I'm paying for the drink today."

"Hahaha, young people who respect their elders like you are so rare these days."

The old sheriff was immediately satisfied when he heard that he didn't have to pay for the drinks. While praising the generosity of the young man in front of him, he yelled at the tavern waitress for more glasses of good wine.

I thought to myself that the young man in front of me was really polite and knew how to listen to wisdom from the elderly. Unfortunately, he was blind at a young age and was wearing a weird red cloth strip.

How miserable.

"I grew up in Kul Tiras. There are no trolls there, but I also killed trolls when I fought in the Eastern Continent. There is nothing good to say about these barbarians.

Tell me about the Bear Man.

There are no bear people in the Eastern Continent. This is the first time I have seen those weird guys. "

Blake took a sip of wine, put his pipe in his mouth again, and while puffing away the smoke, asked softly to the old local snake in the Grizzly Hills in front of him:

"To tell you the truth, I am actually a bard, and I came to Northrend just to collect some good stories. I heard that the local bear people have gods they worship?

And that god appeared by the river near Amber Pine Town? The bears called it 'Arcturius', but the native humans called it 'Bighorn'.

You said you have lived here for decades, have you seen it? "

"Ah, Big Horn, of course I have seen it! But the gods of the bear people are called Ursoc and Ursol, and Arcturus is just the son of the god? There seems to be such a theory."

The old sheriff was drunk and confused at this moment, and he had entered the state where he was most susceptible to being talked into. When he heard Black's question, he became drunk and said enthusiastically:

"That was when I just left my hometown and came here from Andorhal. I'm not bragging. When I first came here, how could Pinewood Town be as prosperous as it is now?

It's a rundown town, with less than a hundred people in total.

And I am the hunter with the best marksmanship among them. Many girls admire me. Unfortunately, I already got married in my hometown.

But hey, man. "

The old man smiled proudly and gave Blake an ambiguous look, which you know, but he also thought that the young man in front of him was a poor blind man and could not share the little secrets between men with him.

He could only shrug helplessly and talk about his experiences back then.

He said to the pirates:

“At that time, we had just arrived here, and the Gilneans had not yet arrived. In the entire Grizzly Hills, only bears and trolls were fighting for control of this forest.

We gave gifts to the local tribe of Raging Claws, and they allowed us to live here.

It was at that time that I would occasionally hear strange roars by the river at night. They were the roars of bears, but a little weirder.

No one else can hear it, only me. "

The old sheriff touched the wine stain on his mouth. He also said with a nostalgic expression:

“At that time I thought I was possessed.

You know, people who come into contact with trolls will always have problems of one kind or another. Those bastards will use barbaric witchcraft to harm people.

I was very scared during that time. Whenever the roar of the bear sounded in my mind at night, I would hold the gun in my hand tightly. I could feel that the bear seemed to be calling me.

I was so scared.

Finally one night, I could no longer stand the torture of fear in my heart, so I rushed out of the town with my gun in hand. I followed the sound of the roar and went down to the river.

There I saw it.

Big horn.

It really exists.

A lot of idiots didn’t believe it, but I swear, I was absolutely right that night. It was like a true divine being, huge, bigger than any bear I'd ever seen.

But it is covered with starlight, extremely beautiful and sacred.

It saw me too. "

When the old man said this, he shook his head regretfully and said:

"I was shocked by it. It seemed surprised by my appearance, so it walked toward me curiously. The closer it got to me, the more scared I became.

I was so young at the time that I foolishly raised the gun and pulled the trigger, thinking it was going to hurt me.

Then it disappeared.

After that, I never heard the roar of the giant bear that sounded in my heart. Until a few years ago, when I was ordered to go back to the Old World to support the war against the orcs, I accidentally met a dwarf hunter.

I told him this.

The dwarf told me that I had missed the opportunity that all high-level hunters longed for but could not achieve in their lives. I was also qualified to become one of the best hunters in the world.

When I returned to Pinewood after my service, the dwarf came with me.

He waited here for a full year, and in the end he just took away a giant bear with explosive teeth that he had tamed on the snow mountain, and left here feeling lost. "

"Then do you regret it?"

Blake "looked" at the old sheriff in front of him, took a sip of wine and said:

"You missed that opportunity after all."

"It's definitely impossible to say I don't regret it."

The old man shrugged, touched his big red nose, and said:

"But how can I put it, I am very satisfied to see the gods spoken by the aliens with my own eyes. The bears did not kill me because I collided with their gods, nor did they massacre the village.

So, I'm already very lucky.

I told this story to many hunters, and they thought I was bragging. Those who listened to it in full would sneak to the river at night and squat.

I also made a lot of money selling tents to them.

So, there is nothing to regret. "

Having said this, the old man hesitated for a moment. He lowered his voice and said to Blake in front of him:

"Actually, I have saved enough money a long time ago, and my son and daughter have been urging me to go back to the Old Continent to retire. Isn't the war over? I really want to go back, but I can't let go here.

The most important thing is that I want to see if there is another hunter who can hear its roar like me and complete what I failed to do.

I want to see it again and apologize for my stupid behavior back then.

I definitely freaked out about it.

Maybe it was because of my stupid shot that it never appeared in this place again. Maybe it appeared, but I couldn't hear its call.

you.

Although you are blind, I always feel that you have an aura that no one else has. Are you also a hunter? Are you also here for the legend of Arcturus? "

"Hey, this is so rude of you. How could you say to someone's face that they are blind?"

Blake said dissatisfied:

"As for my identity, I am indeed a hunter, and I am indeed here for Big Horn, but I have been here for three days, and I have not sensed any trace of soul beast activity nearby.

According to you, it hasn't been seen for years, and I now suspect it's in trouble. "

"Um?"

The old sheriff was stunned for a moment and said:

"Why do you think that way?"

"Because the local bear people are weird."

Blake put down his wine glass, leaned on the table, and said to the old man:

"If you think about it carefully, have the behaviors of those bear men become more and more strange over the years?"

“Well, they’ve been weird.

Because I met Big Horn, I had contact with some local bear priests. In fact, they are not as stupid as ordinary people think. On the contrary, they are very smart.

Especially the priests, who can easily learn our language.

I also visited their Raging Claw Temple.

But the bear people are actually divided into two groups. The bear people who live in the big tree in the northeast are not the same group as the bear people in the temple.

They often go to war with each other, seemingly because the tree-dwelling werebears stole a sacred artifact from the Raging Claw Temple many years ago.

They don't want to say much to me. "

The old man scratched his sparse hair and said:

"The bears are actually very good neighbors.

As long as you understand their taboos and don't offend them, they won't take the initiative to hurt you. We give home-brewed mead to the bears on the snowy mountains every year, and they occasionally help us when trolls attack.

Those idiots in Gilneas want to imitate us.

But they had the wrong person.

I heard that the envoys they sent to that big tree were all eaten by the crazy bear-men there. Those bears who live in the big trees are bad guys who eat people randomly, but our white bear friends here are good ones. "

“Well, the bad things done by the fallen bears in Greymaw Castle are not just as simple as stealing the holy relics of Ursoc, the God of the Wilds, or eating people at will.

Saying it will scare you so much that you won't be able to sleep tonight. "

Black shook his head and stopped talking. He said to the old sheriff who was almost drunk:

"Anyway, thank you for your story. I don't need to waste time here waiting. I have to go to the Ursine people, if I can find Arcturus.

I will bring it to meet your 'old friend'. "

"boast."

The old sheriff laughed and poured the last glass of wine into his mouth. He drunkenly said to Black who stood up:

"So many good hunters haven't found it, and you alone... ahem, it's better not to go anyway. I'm afraid you won't be able to recognize the road and get lost in the snowy mountains."

"Don't be afraid, I don't use my eyes to find my way."

The pirate stood up, threw a gold coin on the bar of the tavern, put on his hood, and walked out of the tavern quickly, easily finding the little star outside.

A group of young people were surrounding her, giving her various small gifts, which made people feel that the charm of little stars is really powerful.

"Hey, let's go."

Blake called out, and Little Star responded, happily running over with a gift and helping the captain to walk out of the town. The innocent young people behind him were shocked.

ha!

Do beautiful women like to look for people like this these days? Could it be the legendary sugar daddy? But the blind man also looked poor and old.