Chapter 129

Then...

"I will continue to take in other Hearthblood who cannot survive along the way," Ashe said, looking towards the long line of her people. "I will prove Sejuani wrong."

"Yes, I believe you," Chen Ce replied with a smile. "I will prove it to her together— Freljord needs unity."

Upon hearing this, Ashe paused for a moment, then her eyes revealed uncontrollable joy.

But soon, she asked with a slightly worried tone, "What if... Sejuani firmly disagrees with my beliefs, and we can never reconcile, will you go to her side...? Just like you said before, you came to Freljord to take care of your old friend's stepdaughter..."

"That won't happen." Chen Ce shook his head, his expression full of confidence. "She will eventually understand that unity is the future of Freljord."

This indirect answer reassured Ashe, but it didn't directly address her question.

She still had some worries in her heart.

Chen Ce moved closer to her amidst the snickers of the female soldiers.

Their hands are almost touching now.

"I'll be there for you to solve this problem—I'll always be there for you. Trust me, okay?"

"Eh..." Ashe paused for a moment, then her pretty face flushed slightly.

"What... what are you saying all of a sudden... How can a young boy say such things..."

The female soldiers nearby laughed again.

The air was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

The tribe advanced for several more days.

With ample food and clothing, the Hearthblood traveled much faster, and Ashe no longer had to worry so much about being overtaken by the pursuers—in this vast snowfield, the Frostguard could only rely on a thorough search to find them.

Nothing major has happened in the past few days, and I haven't seen any more victims in need of help.

It wasn't until the evening of the fourth day that they finally encountered living people near a snow-capped mountain—at an icefield tavern.

There are no villages or towns nearby, only this somewhat dilapidated but still quite large tavern standing here.

Such a scene might seem strange or even bizarre to outsiders, but it's quite normal in Freljord —the Icefield Tavern is like a "rest stop" in other countries, a place where travelers can rest temporarily.

Ashe initially intended to go around them, but the frequent turns of some of the tribe's female warriors made her soften her heart.

In the freezing cold of Freljord, alcohol is the cheapest way to keep warm.

Most Freljord people have a drinking habit since childhood, but she hasn't touched a drop of alcohol in a long time.

Hmm... okay, actually, Ashe herself is also a little bit tempted to drink—she's been having too many worries lately, and she wants to use a little alcohol to reminisce about the good old days.

"Alright, alright, stop looking." Ashe was walking at the back of the group, suddenly spoke up, and the group of female warriors who had been secretly drooling over the tavern immediately tensed up and put on serious expressions.

But their Warmother was about to say something that would make them all excited:

"Stop looking, I'll go buy you some."

"Ohhhhhhh!!" The entire team erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

Ashe shook her head helplessly and then called over the logistics manager Ul, to do a detailed accounting.

This "escape team" of over a hundred people couldn't even scrape together a single gold coin. The only things they could use to buy alcohol were equivalent supplies—food or clothing, which were hard currency in Freljord.

I really regret not searching the Icefield Children Tribe when we defeated them... They must have kept all their valuables on their person; there wasn't a single coin in their warehouse...

The two of them spent a long time calculating together, and in the end, they only managed to scrape together a box of daily necessities that they didn't really need.

"These..." Ul scratched his head awkwardly, "Are probably only enough to exchange for half a bucket of the cheapest, lowest-quality liquor...?"

"That's true..." Ashe gave a helpless smile. "It's okay, buy as much as you can—I won't drink it, you can share it."

"That won't do! You fought so hard to get these back—"

"Ul."

"Sigh... you always do this..."

"It's just that I don't like drinking," Ashe patted the other person's shoulder reassuringly. "Really."

Upon hearing this, even though Ul knew the other party was "lying," he couldn't say anything more.

Just as she was about to push a box of supplies to exchange for alcohol, Chen Ce suddenly stood up.

"If we're buying alcohol... how about I go?"

"Huh? You?" Ul was a little taken aback.

"If you go there, it might expose the tribe's whereabouts—if the Frostguard catch up after a while, they can find out from the tavern staff that we've been here and where we're going. But if I, an outsider, go, we can avoid this problem."

As he spoke, Chen Ce pointed to his face, which clearly didn't resemble that of Freljord native.

"That's true." Ul nodded approvingly and immediately pushed the box of supplies over. "Then I'll have to trouble you, Warmother's little boyfriend."

"Ul...!" Ashe, standing to the side, clearly couldn't stand such a joke.

Chen Ce didn't seem to mind, smiled, and headed straight for the tavern—without even taking the box.

"Hey! The box!" Ul called out quickly.

"It's alright, no need." Chen Ce waved his hand with his back to the two of them.

"You have gold coins?" Ul's eyes lit up immediately.

Ashe asked with some concern, "Didn't you say that everything you had was washed away by the avalanche? What are you planning to do...?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Chen Ce still didn't turn around, but continued walking further and further away in the direction of the tavern.

"I can lend you money."

The moment Chen Ce pushed open the door, he saw an incredibly ugly face.

That was a troll.

He's also the owner of the tavern.

He was tall and ugly, with narrow eyes that always seemed to be secretly sizing up others... a typical Freljord troll.

This "standard" may sound like a stereotype, but it is actually an objective description of the troll race.

Chen Ce walked straight to the bar. The passersby didn't even bother to look up at him. Only a few burly women in the corner whistled frivolously—like hooligans harassing young girls elsewhere.

"Your skin is quite fair and delicate. How about coming over for a couple of drinks with me?"

"Looks like someone from out of town? Too thin and small."

"Although I prefer muscular men, it's nice to change things up once in a while... exotic flair, haha."

One after another, comments rang out in the tavern, but Chen Ce ignored them all.

He sat at the bar and glanced briefly at the price list hanging on the wall—the words were crooked and difficult to decipher, but the numbers were still legible.

"Give me ten barrels of the lowest kind of wine."

"Ten barrels?" The troll boss, who had initially looked down on outsiders, immediately turned around, a fawning smile spreading across his face—the grime between his teeth and the bits of meat, smeared with saliva and hidden for who knows how long, were clearly visible.

"Thirty gold coins, please pay in cash."

"Okay." Chen Ce didn't haggle and immediately took out a... from his pocket.

Empty bag.

The troll boss's expression changed.

Just as he was about to question the other party about whether they were there to cause trouble, a gold coin fell out of the seemingly empty, shrunken cloth bag.

Then came the second one, the third one...

The sound of gold coins landing on the table was crisp and pleasant, and the troll boss's mouth practically twisted into a grin.

"A perfect magic show! Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" he praised repeatedly, then, as if suddenly remembering something, quickly added, "But this doesn't count; I'll still take thirty gold coins."

"I'll give you a lot of money, hurry up." Chen Ce waved his hand dismissively.

This is definitely not magic.

It's "magic."

A skill he had previously considered useless and that had been gathering dust.

[Future's Market]

You can "borrow" several hundred gold coins at once.

It finally came in handy.

After paying, Chen Ce put the empty bag back and waited quietly for the troll boss to bring out ten barrels of fine wine for him.

Incidentally, he also casually "eavesdropped" on the conversations of other patrons in the tavern—those who could sit and drink in the Icefield Tavern were generally hunters, travelers, adventurers, and the like, who often possessed some secret information.

He eavesdropped for quite a while, relying on his extremely keen five senses.

Most of them were trivial bounty intelligence reports—like a wanted criminal by the Frostguard appearing in the north, a Noxus ship arriving in the south, or clues about a treasure in the east... and so on.

It's all information that's useless to me.

The troll boss also carried out several barrels of wine one after another, and Chen Ce prepared to take the wine and leave.

But just then, another conversation caught his attention:

"Did you know that someone recently saw that terrifying demon again in the north..."

"A demon? You mean the one that slaughtered several villages before?"

"Yes, yes, that's it... I heard it's somewhere near Nerazag now, but I don't know if it'll head south..."

"Hiss... that's terrifying..."

Listening to their conversation, Chen Ce almost instantly thought of a [demon] --

Rhaast's target.

The demon who wiped out Tryndamere's entire race.

World Ender attempting to destroy the entire world.

Aatrox...

Aatrox, the Darkin Blade...

"Excuse me--"

Bang!

Chen Ce was just about to spend some money to ask the two men what else they knew when a loud banging on the door interrupted him.

Everyone turned to look at the tavern, only to see that the door had been smashed into a pile of wood chips.

An enormous, almost unbelievable figure stood by the door.

"You filthy troll selling fake alcohol, get out here!" the man roared, pointing at the bar.

He was over two meters tall, broad-shouldered and stout, with arms thicker than an average person's thighs; he was a standard bald man, with a large, thick, brownish-red beard beneath his fierce, square face.

"Get out here!!" The burly man kicked over the table in front of him again, sending debris flying everywhere, much to the displeasure of the other drinkers.

The troll boss glanced at him disdainfully, then immediately straightened his hunched back—his height and dimensions were by no means smaller than the other man's.

As a member of the troll race, he was also a terrifying two meters tall, and his muscular physique looked even more impressive than the fat man at the door.

"Get out of here before I shove your bald donkey head into the Gragas!"

"You stinking fake liquor seller, you dare to talk back to me?" The burly man at the door strode into the tavern, and a fierce fight was clearly inevitable.

The drinkers started yelling excitedly, eagerly anticipating the start of this "entertainment program."

Only Chen Ce's eye twitched.

Because... he knew this burly man...

He knows this all too well...

The best wine in Runeterra...