"What is 'Wolfblood'?"
On the way back, Old Qin drew close to the silent lich and asked quietly:
"I just heard your great-grandson say it was the greatest shame of your life, even of your family. Did you lose it?"
"It was a sword."
Lich Baldwin's voice sounded no different from before; there was no obvious change in his tone.
He looked toward the Filthy Swamp, which stretched to the distant horizon, and said:
"It was a war sword bestowed upon me by the North Wind God when I followed King Boris the Hero to conquer the Great Wilderness. Forged from sacred wolf fangs, it wielded the Wolf God's fury. It was the symbol of the Baldwin family, and one of the 'Three Nord Relics.'
The other two are the 'White Frost' scepter, currently held by the Wolf Maiden, and the 'Winter Scripture,' housed in Northwind Fort's Great Cathedral. Both were gifts from the North Wind God, and they are the most legitimate source of the descendants of King Boris the Hero's right to rule the Great Wilderness.
I still remember the glorious wars I fought by his side in the Great Wilderness. It took us many years to complete the conquest. Then, amid the frigid winds of the far north, the North Wind God came to our camp one night and acknowledged the Hero King's rule.
The god bestowed three relics upon Boris. The Hero King wore the Wolfblood Sword himself, but when the second Black Calamity came, Boris personally handed it to me so I could command his vanguard.
That Black Calamity wasn't very large. It was only an echo of the first one.
Our campaign went very smoothly until we entered the swamp. The heroes of the other races and I established a camp there, at the