Blue Sword

In the tavern, Sidrifa saw the pirates.

These guys were still drunk and seemed to have exchanged all their remaining money for alcohol.

Hidliba sighed, asked the store owner for a basin of cold water, and poured cold water on all these men.

The pirates supported each other and stumbled towards the port.

Hildelife suddenly had a bad feeling because there seemed to be few pedestrians on the street.

She quickly told Old Wilder, who was still a little drunk, and asked her men to speed up and head to the dock.

Upon arriving at the port, the pirates were stopped by a group of city guards.

Before they had time to draw their weapons, these hungover pirates were all stripped of their weapons by the guards and forced to kneel down, with the crossed swords pressed against their necks from behind.

Sidrifa slashed two guards, but when she was outnumbered, she was hit hard in the stomach by a third guard, and she quickly squatted down.

Several guards wanted to follow the same example and put their swords on her neck. At this time, a voice came from behind:

"No need to be so rough. Even if she is a pirate, she is just a woman."

Hidliba looked at the blond young man standing aside from the crowd, and something seemed to cool down in her heart:

"Laertes..."

"Hydrifa." Laertes looked at her indifferently, "You are indeed a pirate."

"There is no enmity between us." Hidley suppressed the anger in her heart and tried to negotiate with her. "Killing us here will do you no good."

"Oh?" Laertes smiled playfully, "Indeed, I did not come here to kill you."

"I'm doing this for you." He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Me?" Hildrifa was stunned and speechless, but the subdued pirates next to her immediately roared:

"Go away! Don't even think about touching a hair of my daughter..."

The pirate who made a sound was quickly beaten mercilessly in the face with the hilt of the guard's sword, knocking out his mouth full of teeth and bloody foam.

Laertes watched all this leisurely and said with some pity:

"Hidliba, why are you always so stubborn? If you were willing to follow me and convert to God, these things today would not have happened."

"Shut up! Vikings have never been superstitious about gods..." Another pirate cursed, but before he could finish his words, a guard pulled out a dagger and stabbed him in the mouth. Just one stir and he lost the ability to speak forever.

"So your target is not us." Hidrifa took a deep breath, "Your target is me."

"My target is you." Laertes frowned slightly, "Yes, what else? Why do you think I, as a noble, would spend time on a commoner girl?"

"The lost lambs need shepherds to guide them to the right path. The humble commoners also need the noble blood injected by the nobles in order to regain their lives." He opened his hands and said in a tone like an aria, "Hidrifa, you He has a sinful past, but that doesn't matter."

"As long as you are willing to convert to my Lord, I can give you an identity and let you return to the path you should take."

"What status?" Hidrifa asked coldly, "As your mistress?"

"This is a gift for you." Laertes raised his chin proudly, "It is better to be a noble woman than to continue to wander on the sea."

In an instant, the words that Old Wilder once said appeared in Sidliefa's mind like lightning.

"...People are not born equal..."

"...It's easy for him to take away what you cherish..."

Sidrifa trembled all over, and a certain helpless emotion filled her body again, as if she had returned to the village where she was killed.

That was her nightmare for countless nights: soldiers hacked her mother to death in front of her, and no matter how hard her young body struck, she could not break the opponent's hard helmet.

Now, she felt her weakness and powerlessness again.

"If..." Hidrifa said with difficulty, "I go with you...will you let them go?"

"Of course." Laertes smiled, showing the satisfaction of winning.

"Don't believe him." Old Wilder, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "As long as you leave with him, we will be killed immediately where you can't see it."

"Shut up!" the guard behind him yelled roughly, trying to hit him on the cheek with his fist, but old Wilder stood up like a bull, struggled and yelled at Sidrifa:

"Hidliba! A true Viking will never..."

Two long swords pierced his chest from behind. He angrily broke away from the rope that bound his hands and grabbed the battle ax at the guard's waist.

Then he was pushed to the ground by the guards... and died.

Sidrifa looked at Old Wilder's body in despair, her eyes were a little red, and tears burst from the corners of her eyes.

"Stop crying!" the first mate yelled, cursing.

Because Old Wilder had learned from the past that he resisted, the guard behind him quickly pressed his sword hard against his shoulder, scraping a bloody mark on his neck.

However, the first mate still showed no pain, and just said sharply towards Sidrifa: "I have told you before: it is better to bleed than to shed tears! What do you have to cry for...Are you looking down on us?" ! How could a real father ask his daughter to sacrifice himself just to survive?!"

He screamed furiously and twisted his neck towards the sword beside him, slitting his carotid artery.

"No!" Hidrifa shouted with all her strength. She tried to throw forward, but the guard behind her grabbed her beautiful long golden hair, so she could only watch the severe pain from her scalp with tears streaming down her face as the first mate fell in a pool of blood opposite her. The earth lost all signs of life.

The other two guards rushed forward and locked her arms from behind, one on the left and the other on the right. Sidrifa did not struggle and lowered her head numbly, while the pirates laughed.

"The first mate did this, are we cowards?"

"Come on, let's go! Valhalla is waiting for us!"

"Whoever dies the last will be punished with a barrel of the strongest wine at the door of the Hall of Valor!"

These pirates laughed wildly and unruly, bumped their necks against the sword blades next to them, and killed them one by one.

Laertes watched all this in horror, realizing that the situation seemed to be beyond his control.

When he hurriedly ordered the guards to push the pirates to the ground, there were only six or seven pirates left on the scene who had not committed suicide. It was not that they acted late, but that they had not yet mustered the courage to commit suicide. Some showed hesitation on their faces, while others cast pleading eyes on Sidrifa.

Even if they just begged with their eyes, no one could say the words "Let Sidliefa die for this".