Chapter 4: 4

Barbarian Quest

Chapter 4 – My Name is Urich (1)

Crunch.

Urich wrapped the cloak tight around him and chewed off pieces of the unknown dried meat. He took only food and clothing from the exploration team’s corpses.

The arrow punctures in his back still ached and itched, but he decided to not pay attention to it. He believed in his body and youth.

He traveled down the Sky Mountain Range, running towards the endless ground in front of him. Oftentimes, he would trip and tumble down the hills and even almost fell off a cliff to his death.

It was a rugged mountain range that was not forgiving to humans traveling on it—neither did it easily let go of the people who entered it. The Sky Mountain Range gave trial after trial to Urich in an attempt to kill him.

Splash.

“Arooo. Arf!”

Urich jolted from his sleep. He quickly pulled out his sword and stabbed the wolf that snuck up, inches from his back.

“I guess I’m eating wolf meat for breakfast.”

Urich snickered while looking at the wolf pack. Their eyes were shining through the darkness.

‘Five of them.’

He counted the number of wolves, stretched his stiffened body, and cracked his neck.

Crack, crack.

His stiff body quickly limbered up. He took a stance to signal he was ready.

“Fuuu.”

His breath dissipated into the wind. His altitude sickness was a lot better now that he was a considerable distance down the mountain.

The wolves were on guard against him… and decidedly lowered their tails while retreating into the darkness. They realized that Urich was not their prey.

“Smart beasts.”

Urich spoke after watching the wolves completely disappear. There was still a while until the sun rose, so he randomly picked a direction and walked down that way.

‘The world beyond the mountain range…’

His eyes were sparkling, and the corners of his lips kept climbing up.

‘I’ll see it with my own eyes.’

Urich had the exploration team’s supplies. He took off the fur clothes he was wearing and wore their clothes.

‘Their iron is stronger than ours, and their clothes are soft and warm.’

Everything was amazing to Urich. His heart swelled up. He turned his back on his home without even saying goodbye to his brothers.

‘I hope there is something here worth all of that!’

At daybreak, Urich finally saw the opposite side of the mountain range that he constantly dreamt of.

“I’m here! Unknown lands!” Urich roared at the top of his lungs. Surprised birds scattered away, flapping their wings. A new strength rose up from his exhausted body.

“Ha, haha! Ha!”

Urich ran. He ran until he was completely out of the mountain range and in the meadows.

“I knew that hag was wrong! This isn’t a world of souls. It’s the same land! A land where people live!”

Urich screamed with joy while tearing up the grass. He was not unfamiliar with the smell of soil. The plants he saw growing here were also found in his homeland.

“Hahaha,” Urich cackled as if he were hysterical. He was unable to hold back his joy. A world of unknown and new things was waiting for him.

“I’m going. I’m going! I, Urich, am going!”

Urich searched for a river. He knew that a village would come up if he followed one. No matter which tribe village it was, they always hugged the river. After all, no humans could live without water.

* * *

* * *

In the outskirts of the Empire, not too far away from the Sky Mountain Range, a chase was going on.

“Damn it, you fucking cheat! Stop there!”

Three thugs were chasing a swindler.

“Huff, huff.”

The swindler was a weak-looking man. He was, like they said, a cheat, and his main method was gambling. Even today, he got caught while cheating in a gambling match and ended up getting chased down like this.

“Huff, huff.”

His breathing got more ragged the more he ran. Even from just looking at him, one would be able to tell that he had bad stamina.

‘If I get caught, I’ll die. Or at least get beat up enough to be at death’s door.’

If he wanted to live, he had to run. But fate is a cruel mistress, and he tripped on a protruding stone.

Thud!

The swindler rolled on the ground, causing a bit of dust to come up.

“Haha, you bastard. Look at you now. Hey! Bring me a knife! I’m going to start with cutting his finger off. This fucking rat bastard.”

The thug spoke while grabbing the swindler by his collar. He was shaking as he apologized and kept rubbing his hands together.

“Ahhh, big bro, please let me go this one time. I-I’m begging you. I won’t do this again. No, please let me do whatever it takes to atone for myself!”

“Why are you calling me ‘big bro’ when you clearly look older than me? What bullshit are you trying to pull? I never had an old-looking younger brother like you.”

The thug snickered and grabbed a dagger.

“Please, just not my hands. Please. H-Hieeek!”

The swindler caused a commotion, but the thugs tightened their grips on his shoulders.

Step, step.

Someone walked into the alley where the thugs had cornered the swindler.

“H-Help me! I-I’ll give you a reward!” the swindler screamed. The thug walloped the swindler’s face.

“Oi, shut your mouth. Do you want me to slice off your tongue as well?”

The thugs looked at the new, unfamiliar young man. They assumed he was a traveler after looking at his disheveled clothes. There was a single sword on his waist.

The traveler was Urich. This was the first time he met another human after coming down the Sky Mountain Range. He looked around while observing them.

“What are you looking at? Fuck off.”

The thug spoke as he felt Urich’s gaze on him. Obviously, Urich couldn’t understand their language.

‘Multiple people are attacking one person? Why would they do that?’

Urich was curious, but he could not converse with them. He stared at the thugs and waited for their next move.

“I know you don’t understand what I’m saying, but you guys can keep doing whatever it is you were doing. I’m just curious about what you guys are going to do.”

Urich spoke and folded his arms. The thugs’ eyes widened.

“I-Is he a foreigner? It’s my first time hearing that language.”

“He’s probably some bumpkin from the South.”

The thugs laughed. They waved him off again, signaling him to walk away.

Urich didn’t budge an inch and kept staring. One of the thugs let out a sigh and walked up to him.

“Oi. Can’t you tell what’s going on? Fuck off. Do you want to die far from your home? Huh?”

The thug tried to pull out a large dagger—the size of a forearm—from his waist. The moment he reached for it, he saw a flash of light.

Crack.

“Huh?”

The thug’s brain couldn’t comprehend what just happened. His neck was twisted, and suddenly, he was looking behind him. The people who were watching jumped and screamed.

“That fucking psycho! He snapped Max’s neck!”

“Kill him! Kill that bastard!”

The remaining two thugs were enraged and yelled.

The only thing Urich did was snap that thug’s neck since he was reaching for his weapon. It was something as easy as twisting a young child’s wrists.

Thud.

The thug dropped to the floor, and his body convulsed. Urich stepped on his head and completely sent him to the afterlife.

“You were the ones that started it, no?”

Urich shrugged and plainly watched the thugs charging at him.

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Swoosh.

Urich’s arms moved as quick as lightning. As he passed by, there were two more corpses with twisted necks.

‘What kind of person is he?’

The swindler was trembling. The young man before him just easily killed three people as if it were nothing.

Step, step.

Urich walked up to the swindler.

“Lead me to where your tribe is.”

The swindler could not understand his words. Urich sighed and sat on the ground.

Swoosh, fsssss.

Urich grabbed a branch and drew on the ground. A house and people.

“Ah, did you mean a city? Follow me!” the swindler screamed while nodding.

‘I’m alive. I’m still alive. I don’t know why he did that, but I’m still alive thanks to him.’

“My name is Donau. Donau.”

The swindler pointed at himself as he spoke. Urich also recited Donau’s name.

“I’m Urich. Urich.”

Donau glanced at him.

‘Is he a traveler from the South?’

There were many different regions in the South that all spoke different languages. He assumed that Urich came from one of those regions.

“Hey man, I know you don’t understand what I’m saying, but it’s going to be a good idea to learn some of the Empire’s language. If you learn that, you can talk with anyone anywhere.”

Donau muttered to himself. He was frustrated because his words did not work on him.

‘But he’s someone who twists people’s necks like it’s nothing.’

Chills ran down his spine. Donau acted as calmly as he could while showing Urich around the city.

“Ah.”

Urich opened his mouth. He saw a city stretched out to the horizon.

“Is that your tribe?”

His jaws dropped. It was packed with buildings that he had never seen before—ones made of stone instead of earth.

“Hey man, we’re here now. This is ‘Ankara’.”

Ankara City. It was the city closest to the Sky Mountain Range. A city that had been revived from the discovery of the copper veins in the ground connected to the mountain ranges. Due to this, the city became known for its specialty product, copper.

“It’s an overwhelmingly large town.”

Urich restlessly moved his eyes. Everyone in his village knew each other. But in this place, it seemed like no one knew one another. It was filled with people passing by, ignoring each other without even saying hello.

“Then, since I brought you here, I’ll just go now! Uwaack!”

As Donau tried to leave, Urich grabbed his shoulders.

“Not yet.”

Urich looked him straight in the face. He could tell Donau’s suspicious behavior from his expressions and actions.

“Hieek.”

Donau flinched at Urich’s fierce words.

‘Damn it, but he is someone who saved my life. He’s strong and even good at fighting. If I can just turn this to my advantage…’

Donau’s eyes widened after thinking that.

‘He’s a traveler, but he doesn’t seem to really know what’s going on in the world?’

Donau dragged Urich into a pub—one that travelers frequented.

“Hey, is there anyone here who understands his language?”

There were a lot of foreigners amongst the travelers. Donau paid various foreigners money to check if they could interpret for him.

“But I came from beyond the Sky Mountain Range,” Urich muttered while sitting on a wooden chair. No one in the pub could understand his words anyway. He didn’t want to make it known that he came from beyond the Sky Mountain Range either.

‘If they find out I came from beyond the mountain range, they might change their attitudes towards me. Like those people that attacked me and my brothers.’

Urich acted cautiously. He still didn’t know about anything around here.

“I can’t tell what he’s saying at all. I don’t think this Urich guy came from the South.”

“He must be from out in the boonies. Or maybe he’s from the North?”

“He’s somewhat similar to those guys from the North. The barbarians from there are usually as big as he is. People from the South are short and thin like women.”

“What? Did you just look down on the South? Do you want to fight? Huh?”

“I thought you looked thin. So you were from the South after all? Keke.”

“You bastaaaard!”

The crowd’s interest in Urich quickly faded, and the fight between the drunkard and traveler started.

During this mess, Donau sighed and looked at Urich.

“Hey, where are you from? The South? The North? You probably won’t be from beyond the Sky Mountain Range.”

Urich was observing the drink that was placed in front of him. It was a glass filled with a drink that had a yellowish hue. It was beer, a brand new drink for Urich who had never seen grain liquor. To him, liquor was always made from fruits.

‘Based on the atmosphere, this should be alcohol.’

The atmosphere in the pub was like an evening warrior meeting. Everyone drank alcohol and played loudly. There was also the pungent smell of alcohol when he walked in.

“I’m paying for this one, my man,” said Donau as he clinked their glasses together.

‘He won’t be able to run away with this alcohol in front of him.’

Urich raised his glass and gulped it down like the people around him. The bitter taste spread throughout his mouth. It made him almost spit it out, but he swallowed it to the end.

“Guuck.”

“Whoa, man. You’re good at drinking. One more round!”

Donau ordered another beer. Urich wiped his mouth and took another glass.

‘What is that?’

Urich observed his surroundings while he was drinking his beer. It was filled with new things, but the thing that drew his eyes was the currency.

Not a bartering system, but with the use of currency.

It was a method Urich never thought of.

‘It’s completely different. It’s a completely different world from the place I used to live.’

He was more excited than fearful. He also wanted his brothers to also experience what he saw and felt.

‘The world is large. How many more new things are there in this world?’

Even the bitter taste of the beer was refreshing.

New tastes, new buildings, new people.

“Hahah.”

Urich laughed. He felt good.

“Looks like the beer suits your tastes, my man.”

“It tastes like shit. Isn’t this what piss tastes like?”

“Haha, Ankara’s beer is pretty good! Have another glass, then!”

The context of the conversation wasn’t correct, but it still continued.

His face slowly got red. His pupils were shining. He thought about the existence of ‘money’ that was exchanged between the people.

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Within the tribe, they would use dried meat, hide, livestock, and iron ore to trade. It was a bartering system, but they did use things with stable demand in place of currency.

‘I think I got it.’

Urich realized that he needed money.

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