Near dusk, a jackal messenger riding a fire badger swaggered into the noisy city of Zanera. Many residents in the city were attracted by this rumored monster that was about the size of a bear and could breathe fire.

Terrified.

After all, although monsters like the fire badger are the most common beast monsters in the Varanato region, they are more beastly in nature after all, so they basically do not appear in densely populated urban areas. And most of the monsters in Zanera City

It was also the first time that the residents saw a live fire badger, and it was also the first time that they discovered that this kind of thing could actually be used as a mount.

But then again, even if they see the saddled fire badger staying obediently in front of them, most people will not want to try to ride on it and experience it. After all, the fire badger is a kind of monster.

In a sense, it is more intimidating than the gnolls, because people feel that they can at least communicate with the gnolls, but the fire badger cannot understand the Anno language spoken by humans in front of it.

Fortunately, this jackal messenger carrying a small flag did not ride a fire badger into the most crowded place. Instead, after entering the city, he went directly to a strange building composed of various broken boats piled up near the northeast side of the city.

Over there, and that is the current base camp of the Sharptooth Pirates.

Not long after, Abbas walked out of an underground arena naked and covered in blood. After his death, he simply washed the blood off his body and then met the messenger who came from his "hometown".

After reading the animal skin scroll handed over by the messenger, Abbas made a very rare frown expression, and looked back and forth at the contents of the scroll while making a rather confused grunt.

"Is there anything else?" Abbas asked the messenger in the jackals' own language in a rich and dull voice.

"No, the chief just said to ask you to hurry up." After finishing speaking, the messenger sniffed again, then looked at the huge bull carcass behind Abbas that was being carried by several jackals, and then stretched out his arms.

He stuck out his tongue and said: "My mount and I need some food."

"No problem." Abbas grinned and issued a kind invitation: "It is said that this is shipped from the great swamps in the west. I just tried it. It tastes very good and is very powerful.

.”

As Abbas spoke, he moved his thick arms, but at this moment, there was a scar on his arm that was not very conspicuous. This was the wound it suffered when it fought with the bull in the underground arena. Although this

The scar does not look very big, but in fact it is a wound penetrated by the sharp horn of a bull. However, due to Abbas's strong physique, this rather fatal wound is not life-threatening, and even this

Not long after he walked out of the arena, most of his wounds had healed to a certain extent. This also shows how powerful the Jackal... or in other words, Abbas's physique is.

After Zhileng left the messenger, Abbas summoned one of his cronies, a jackal captain named Haru.

"Haru, the great chief wants food, more food..." Abbas threw the scroll of the messenger to a one-eyed Haru and said: "We have incorporated a few more small tribes, but in the end we are fighting against humans.

We lost some food in the battle, and a lot of slaves...well...we may need to get some more back..."

The one-eyed jackal named Haru muttered dissatisfiedly while holding the scroll, and then asked Abbas: "Do we need to find a human merchant? But I don't think they will buy us more food.

"

"No, I'm not going to look for humans this time." Abbas scratched his head with his paws and then looked at the water channel in the distance and said, "Look for the fishmen! They have enough fish meat, and we can exchange supplies with them.

"

"But...the fishmen over there are not short of supplies now..." Haru stopped mid-sentence, then he hummed a few times as if he was thinking and then said: "They like to eat land.

Maybe we can use animals or...slaves in exchange for their meat?"

"Okay, didn't we just capture a lot of humans? Pick some that have a lot of meat and are useless and send them to them, but remember to ask for more fresh ones. Don't ask for meat cooked by the fishmen themselves, as it will be poisonous.

." After Abbas finished speaking, he shuddered subconsciously, as if he had some bad memories. But then Abbas looked at Haru again and suddenly asked casually: "The orc who killed our companions.

did you find it?"

"No, the forest outside is very big, and there is a dangerous smell everywhere." Haru snorted twice angrily, and then asked: "I heard that there is an orc near the coast to the fishman's lair.

The tribe’s settlement, do you want me to stop by and take revenge when I go to find the fishmen?”

"Don't go, let's get food first." After Abbas finished speaking, he left the place, but before he took two steps, he suddenly turned back and said: "You can send some people to test it, but remember not to

Wreck the boat and the food."

"Got it!" Haru responded excitedly before humming a subtle growl happily and left the place.

In the afternoon, Haru drove a pirate ship and led three cargo ships. However, what is interesting is that apart from the three cargo ships obtained from humans, the pirate ship that Haru personally drove was a jackal.

People built their own boats.

This pirate ship named "Tusk" was originally built by the Jackals themselves. This fact was indeed an interesting fact that most residents in the city talked about in the past. After all, the Jackals spent money since the establishment of the Fang Pirates.

They bought a shipyard in the city, then they expelled the workers in the shipyard, and the "Captain" Haru personally supervised the construction.

At first, the residents or pirates in the city regarded this as a matter of fun. After all, although this group of gnolls claimed to be sharp-toothed pirates, it was not difficult to know from their only few sailings that this group of "landlubbers"

"There is something ridiculous about calling yourself a pirate.

But there are always exceptions. For example, this "Captain" Haru is an anomaly among the jackals.

Whether it is his skill in maneuvering a ship or his use of navigation experience such as ocean currents and climates, this Jackal who exudes a "pirate" style from the inside out is no less than most of the captains in Zanera City.

Moreover, since the Jackals came to Pirate Fjord, the only "long voyages" they have made have been carried out by Captain Haru. Although the destination was only a trip to Big Fish Bay, the route bypassed the Fang Coast.

and the Mermaid Reef, sailed directly into the depths of the Lasveto Sea, and it is said that the natural enemy of the Mermaids, an evil ocean fishman, was found there.

The relationship between fishmen and mermaids is as contradictory as the Seven Human Kingdoms and the Nomadic Kingdom of Iles, but the former seems to have a very bad temperament. For this reason, it is basically impossible for human ships to sail into the territory of ocean fishmen.

For this reason, in the eyes of all the captains in Zanera City, the territory of the ocean murlocs is definitely a dangerous and forbidden place. But it seems that this taboo is not effective for the gnolls who are monsters like the murlocs.

, at least after learning this, people had a different view of the sharp-toothed pirates, especially Captain Haru, who was a little afraid.

After everyone learned that Captain Haru wanted to build a ship, the various pirate forces in the city still did not take this matter lightly. After all, people had already looked at the jackal pirates differently at this time, and at least at the beginning everyone thought it was okay.

Yes, they can sail, but the fact that they do not have their own ships is a fatal shortcoming. But now it seems that they are about to make up for this shortcoming. Once the jackal ships are launched and sail smoothly, then the human pirates

Some of the previous restraints on the Jackal pirates were about to come to nothing. Therefore, after the news spread, there were many people who planned to infiltrate the shipyard or cause sabotage. However, due to some reasons, more people chose to wait and watch in secret.

.

After all, whether you can sail is one thing, but whether you can build a ship is another.

Although the jackals are strong, brave and good at fighting, this does not mean that they are good at civil construction. For this reason, the shipyard was indeed a mess at the beginning. But then Captain Haru went to Dayu Bay again.

, and hired a group of kobold craftsmen on the black market there, and under the guidance of this group of craftsmen, the shipyard finally successfully built the very delicate jackal ship.

This first ship built by the sharp-toothed pirates was named "Tusk". Apart from the strange decorations and unique paint colors on the ship, people discovered that this was the first ship built by the gnolls.

It turned out to be a galley, an ancient ship type that had long since been eliminated.

But having said that, most of the pirates still have no sense of looking down on the Fang. After all, experts know how to deal with it. Those guys who are proficient in navigation soon discovered the uniqueness of the Jackal's Fang.

Because the entire hull of the ship is nailed with iron plates, ordinary kerosene or ballistae will basically not cause any effective damage to it. And although galleys have indeed been replaced by sailboats, some

The local sea area is still more flexible and faster than a sailboat, especially in coastal areas, such as the sea area from Pirate Fjord to Big Fish Bay in the west. Under the acceleration of the sails and row oars, there is basically no such ship.

The ship can catch up with or escape the Tusk's threat.

The Tusker, painted red and black, rushed out of the Pirate Fjord like a giant shark covered in blood, while the three cargo ships behind it had already been left behind.

In a coastal forest near the opening of the fjord, Azmat and Ajik, who was still holding his stomach and staggering, saw the sailing ship passing by. Looking at the sailing ship sailing into the distance

Azmat couldn't help but frown, because at the moment the Fang passed by, both Azmat and Ajik, who had extraordinary eyesight, saw that the crew on the ship were actually a group of grinning jackals.

"Oh, they are really jackal pirates." Ajik clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, then turned back to Azmat and joked: "I thought they were just planning to come here to cause trouble under the guise of 'pirates'

Well, I didn’t expect to actually see a wild dog that could sail a boat. This is such a big world and there are so many strange things.”

"That ship is very fast..." Azmat muttered.

"Oh, indeed." Ajik looked back at the ship that was about to disappear on the horizon and then asked: "So what?"

"Hmm... Then how long do you think it will take for this ship to sail from Lighthouse Town to the Cape Outpost?" Azmat recalled the speed of the unknown galley just now and calculated the load, and waited until it estimated

When he was almost there, he looked up at the uneasy Ajik and said: "I don't know exactly how many Jackals were on that ship, if you don't count the oars, but judging from the draft and the capacity of the deck, how many Jackals were there?

Ten to a hundred Jackals is not a problem, and I guess that at the speed just now, it will not take three hours to sail from the lighthouse town to the sea area of ​​​​the Cape Outpost. If the Jackals can have a few more ships like this

galleys, I guess they..."

"Stop talking..." Ajik scratched his head in annoyance, then looked at the sea level in the distance very discouraged and muttered: "Do you think this ship will do it?"

"Not necessarily, at least judging from the course, it shouldn't be heading to the Fang Coast. And with just one ship, how much threat can they pose even if they go to Zhaumo?" Azmat suddenly said again after he finished speaking.

I felt something was wrong, so I quickly changed my words and said: "Zhaumo may not be afraid of the threat of jackal pirates, but the small villages along the coast..."

"What should I do? I didn't bring the messenger bird." Ajik asked in a panic: "Do you want me to..."

What Ajik meant was to ask Azmat if he, a scout, should go back and report. After all, although he was injured, Ajik was a very elite scout after all, so even his current injured state would not be worse than

No matter how much slower Azmat is, it is probably too late for him to go back and report the message. But on the other hand, if Ajik goes back to report the message, then Azmat will have to sneak into the Pirate Fjord alone later. After all, the two of them will be together again this time.

The purpose of risking money to come to the fjord is to conduct an in-depth investigation of the situation of the Jackals, and based on Azmat's identity as both an orc and a hero of the Zaura tribe, basically everyone in the fjord can be considered his enemy.

Azmat had indeed planned to go to the fjord by himself before, but Ajik disagreed. After all, if he died in an accident, the most he could do would be for his compatriots to pay homage to him. But if Azmat did something,

If there is any danger, then Ajik can be regarded as the sinner of the entire clan. For this reason, Ajik will not agree to let Azmat act alone. But now the situation has changed. Although it is just an estimate, he is still on guard, but he will go back and inform the clan members to take precautions.

The matter of the jackal pirates is indeed not a small matter, and to be honest, Ajik still cannot accept it if he abandons Azmat and goes back alone. But the comfort of his tribe is not a small problem for him, even more

What's more, Ajik's home is also a small fishing village near the Fang Coast.

"Don't worry about me. I can escape even if I encounter danger by myself." Azmat once again began to persuade Ajik and said: "Don't forget what my other identity is. God will bless you.

Mine, so I promise you that I will not be threatened by any fatal threats."

Although Ajik still wanted to fight for it, he finally gave up the plan under Azmat's strong request. He had no choice but to say goodbye to Azmat and quickly disappeared into the woods. And Azmat

After Matt realized that Ajik had really gone far, he subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, because just like Ajik was worried about his own comfort before, Azmat was also worried about the body of Ajik who followed him forcefully.

Condition. His injuries have not yet healed. Therefore, although he appears to be alive and kicking on the surface, due to the unrecovered internal injuries, he is indeed not suitable for infiltration operations, because if a situation arises that requires fighting, then Ajik's seriously injured body will not heal.
To be continued...