Chapter 44: 44

Barbarian Quest

Chapter 44 – Barbarian Hunter (4)

“Out of the waaaaaaaay! I will face him!”

Margrave Orkel eased his frightened horse and charged at Urich.

“UWOOOOOH!” shouted the barbarian. His roar was directed at the charging margrave who was on horseback.

The horse flinched again. But this time, Margrave Orkel sharply scraped his boots against the horse’s side. The flinching horse remembered its owner’s orders and charged forward again.

CLAAAANG!

Margrave Orkel’s strike had the horse’s strength behind it as well. Urich firmly planted his feet on the ground and received the blow.

“UWOOOH!”

The margrave’s body bent backwards. Even though he was on a horse, he was still pushed back by Urich’s strength.

‘At this rate, my arm will break.’

He relaxed his legs and purposefully received the blow. He fell off his horse and rolled to the ground skillfully.

“Your Lordship!” shouted the soldiers.

“Surround him! Attack him from all sides at the same time!” the margrave shouted. People who weren’t able to take care of their own body weren’t qualified to command. He quickly stood up and clenched his sword tight.

“Heut!”

Urich threw the remaining axe that was in his hand. Its blade went halfway into a soldier’s knee, and the joint was in tatters and bent the opposite way. The soldier sat down on the ground, screaming.

Urich had used both axes now. He rolled on the ground and picked up a fallen soldier’s shield. It was one that got slimmer as it went down, forming an inverted triangle shape.

‘Shield.’

Urich didn’t enjoy using shields. The only time he used it was to block arrows back when he was still a tribe warrior.

‘Is it like this?’

Urich imitated the shieldmanship that he saw others do.

The civilized were skilled in shieldmanship. They used it both for offense and defense. The inverted-triangle shield had a sharp corner and could be used as an offensive weapon.

CLANG!

Urich swung the shield around to deflect the soldiers’ attacks. The attacking soldiers were pushed back by the shield.

Ffffft!

The barbarian’s body recoiled. The arrow, which was fired from a crossbow, was embedded in his back. He paid no attention to the arrow in his body and kept fighting.

“H-He didn’t even flinch?”

The arrow wasn’t able to enter deep into Urich’s body. The fur that trailed from his shoulders to his waist as well as his back muscles were essentially armor.

“Aim for his head! The head!” shouted Margrave Orkel. The soldiers who had prepared their crossbows aimed for Urich’s head.

Ffffft!

Urich raised the shield to block both his head and body. The arrows stuck into the shield. And Urich, who was successful in his defense, quickly sprinted towards them.

‘Those weird weapons take a long time to reload.’

Urich had seen a crossbow multiple times and recalled its disadvantage.

“Damn it!”

He shoved a soldier with his shield and dropped his knee onto the soldier’s skull. The soldier’s face was completely crushed and caved in. Urich quickly moved his hand to cut a different soldier’s Adam’s apple.

“What are you doing?! You can’t let yourselves get scared!” encouraged the aide. The soldiers were overwhelmed by the aura that Urich gave out and were dying one by one.

‘If we can just do a proper pincer attack, we can kill the barbarian in one move.’

There was no reason they wouldn’t be able to win. Their opponent was a barbarian that recklessly charged at them with no proper armor.

“Kaack!”

But the ones who were dying were the soldiers. Only then did the aide realize that something was going wrong.

‘The fear that whoever attacks him first will die. We’re being pushed back by that image he exerts.’

That was the reason why they couldn’t coordinate their attacks. Whichever soldier charged in first was sure to die. Even if they could kill the barbarian, what did it matter if they also lost their own life? No soldier here had high enough morale to sacrifice their own life.

Because each soldier was waiting for the others to charge in first, it resulted in the worst possible outcome of them dying one by one. If the soldiers weren’t afraid of death—like the Northerners—Urich would have surely been stabbed by a sword and dead already.

‘Was this the “barbarian’s spirit” that His Lordship was talking about…?’

The madness to willingly run into your own death. The boldness to rip your heart out of your chest and fight if needed. The young aide quickly realized why morale was important on the battlefield.

‘I can see why the civilized army struggled against the barbarians.’

The aide, who just had an epiphany, also knew that he would soon die. Urich’s blade cleanly cut his neck.

Countless knights and warriors died before they were able to build experience. Skilled knights and warriors were born on top of a mountain of corpses. The dead aide was also just another corpse on the mountain.

“Kuku, kukuku.” Margrave Orkel laughed. He had lost all of his subordinates but laughed with his face in his hand.

“Haaah, haaah.”

Urich was standing while using his sword as a cane. The terrified soldiers were unable to see his true state. That was why they were so frightened. Urich, in actuality, was an injured and tired beast.

The deep cuts were visible on his limbs. He just barely managed to protect his life by avoiding the attacks aimed at his torso and head. Blood flowed out of the open wounds. His face was turning pale, and every time he moved, the arrows would dig deeper into his flesh.

“I won’t get deceived. I am already used to that overblown fear.” Margrave Orkel snickered. He saw Urich’s true form clearly—a pitiful barbarian who was having difficulty even standing.

Swoosh.

The margrave raised his sword high with both hands.

‘I won’t give you a moment to rest, nameless barbarian. Even amongst all of the barbarians that I have met, you were the greatest.’

Margrave Orkel was not at all saddened by the deaths of his subordinates. His heart was already worn down long ago. He was a knight that had brushed past death too many times to be sad about someone else’s death.

The only thing that was in this knight’s heart wasn’t contempt for the enemy but a twisted sense of awe.

Urich looked at him. It was difficult for the barbarian to even think. Extreme physical exhaustion also led to mental exhaustion. Thoughts could only be formed if there was room to relax.

‘I… have to think.’

Urich was muttering gibberish. He couldn’t put strength into his arms and legs; it was as if they were escaping him. He felt like he would fall over if he didn’t lean his body weight onto his sword. His eyes were getting blurry after losing too much blood.

Step.

Margrave Orkel didn’t let his guard down. He knew about the threat of an injured beast. He maintained his stance while slowly closing the distance.

‘I will pretend to cut his shoulder but twist my blade to cut deep into his neck. That will be enough.’

Unlike Urich, Margrave Orkel was able to think properly. He ruminated over the path his sword would take over and over again.

Clip, clop.

Margrave Orkel suddenly glanced to the side after hearing the sound of a horse’s hooves in the darkness. In between the fallen torches, he saw a youth with blue eyes. It was Prince Varca anu Forlcana.

‘Why did the prince enter the battlefield himself?’ questioned Margrave Orkel. However, he didn’t have time to hesitate.

“Urich!” shouted Fahel as he stepped off the horse. Margrave Orkel quickly tried to attack Urich.

‘I have to save Urich.’

Fahel found a crossbow that had fallen on the floor. He remembered his one or two experiences firing a crossbow in the past.

Click.

He grasped the weapon with trembling hands. Luckily, it was already loaded.

Margrave Orkel was concerned about Fahel’s hand movements.

“Damn it.”

He judged that it was too late and lifted his shield instead of attacking Urich.

Ffffft!

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Margrave Orkel raised his shield to his head and waited for the crossbow bolt to hit it.

‘There wasn’t a sound of it hitting.’

There was no sound of the bolt hitting Margrave Orkel’s shield. Because of that, the margrave raised his shield longer than he had to.

The bolt flew to a completely different place. Fahel had horrible marksmanship. If Margrave Orkel continued his attack instead of defending, Urich’s life would have surely been forfeited.

The shield that lowered a bit too slowly—that was the deciding factor in victory. Stealing the opponent’s attention for an instant was enough.

Urich gathered his breath, took half a step forward, and swung his sword with his remaining strength. Because he was still unable to properly exert strength, he also used his body weight to swing the sword widely like a club.

CLENCH!

Margrave Orkel tried to block it by giving up his right arm. He thought that he could counter by switching the sword to his other hand and attacking with it.

‘“The One-Armed Margrave” isn’t that bad of a nickname either.’

Margrave Orkel believed that he could block an exhausted barbarian’s attack with one arm. That was his mistake. Urich’s sword didn’t stop at his right arm and reached all the way to the margrave’s head. The helmet distorted and dug in from the blow.

Cough.

Margrave Orkel fell over while vomiting blood. Blood streamed out of his eyes, nose, and ears. There was a spot of pink in his dented head.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t able to kill you in one blow. I will finish you now.”

Urich, who fell over with the margrave, spoke those words as he struggled to raise his sword. Margrave Orkel, after hearing Urich’s words, couldn’t help but laugh.

The barbarian was looking down on him. The margrave saw an image of his past self overlapping with the young barbarian. Countless barbarians have died while looking up to the young Orkel like that.

‘Now, I’ll die while looking up to a young barbarian.’

The last thing Margrave Orkel saw was the edge of a blade.

Stab.

Urich stabbed the margrave’s neck. His final moments were short. Margrave Orkel closed his eyes.

Urich laid down next to him. He didn’t have the energy to move any more.

“Why did you come? I told you to hide. But I was able to survive thanks to that. I really thought I was going to die this time,” said Urich. He turned his head towards Fahel as he spoke.

‘This is something that Urich did by himself? All alone?’

Fahel bit his lip and looked around. There were traces of a fierce battle. A sense of embarrassment rose up in the corner of his heart—something he had never felt before.

“I don’t know either. Maybe I was just scared of hiding by myself,” said Fahel. He reached his arm out towards Urich who was laying on the ground. Urich grabbed his arm and lifted up his upper body.

“I can’t believe you’re even scared of hiding. You’re an amazing coward.”

Urich let out a coarse laugh.

“It was because… I was scared of becoming a coward that only hides… Because I am someone who will become king,” responded Fahel.

It was difficult for him to say that he would become king. Fahel then grabbed Margrave Orkel’s sword and equipped it on his waist. The sword’s weight felt strange.

* * *

* * *

Fahel was exhausted. He had been treating Urich’s injuries all night.

“Damn it. How can a person with this many injuries still be alive? Haaak. Ptoo.”

Fahel threw up multiple times. Seeing the flesh under the skin was a disturbing thing.

“We have to cauterize the wound, so heat it up,” said Urich while seated down. Sweat was dripping down his face. His eyes looked emaciated, and his lips were not only dry; they were turning blue.

“Got it.”

Fahel wiped his mouth and pulled out the sword that had been heated by the campfire. The blade was scorching red.

‘He said he’s around my age, but how many scars is he living with?’

Urich’s body was covered in scars. His body was covered in cut and stab wounds, and grotesque smears were scattered throughout his body from cauterizing them.

“I feel like I’m going to die while trying to take care of you,” said Fahel while lowering the tweezers and dagger. He had been digging through Urich’s wounds to find the arrowheads. It was something he never wanted to do again.

“Stop whining so much. It’s much worse for me. Fuu, fuu.”

Urich was taking deep breaths. He placed the heated blade onto his wound. It’s a method used as the last resort if there were no other ways to sterilize it.

Fsssssssss!

“FUUUUUCK! I feel it every time I do this, but it still hurts like hell. Damn it.”

Urich grumbled while cauterizing his wounds one by one.

“Urgh.”

Fahel blocked his nose at the smell of burning flesh.

‘It really hurts like hell. I’ve never suffered this much since crossing the mountain range.’

It was the first time Urich struggled this much since he slayed thirty men; the time he killed thirty warriors from the opposing tribe one by one over the span of three days. It was the incident that caused the surrounding tribes to also learn of Urich’s name.

“Fahel, no, what was your name again? Var…” said Urich. His face was pale.

“Varca anu Forlcana. It is my real name.”

“Yeah, Fahel Varca. If I don’t wake up from this and die, even if you cremate my body, make sure to cut off some of my hair and throw it at the edge of the Sky Mountain Range.”

“What does that mea…”

Fahel couldn’t finish his words. Urich closed his eyes at that moment and was instantly knocked out.

‘He didn’t die. He’s still breathing.’

Fahel was relieved after confirming Urich’s breath.

“If I think about it, it was a ridiculous feat.”

Urich injured his back while carrying Kilios. Moments after realigning his back, he fought… Then he fought again. In the span of just a few days, he killed around twenty soldiers.

“Something like that is a talking point someone can brag about for the rest of their lives.”

There were a lot of famous knights and warriors in the world. There were individuals like Blademaster Perjen who blocked a hundred people on a bridge.

“You will become famous too, Urich.”

Fahel looked at the sleeping man. Urich was a mercenary and a warrior. His abilities, his behavior… He was a great man with nothing embarrassing to nitpick.

‘Even though I am trying to become king, am I a man worthy of that title?’

Fahel kept questioning himself.

‘If I were a horseman or a farmer, it would be fine if I was a coward. But I am someone who will become king.’

The world wasn’t easy. He smiled bitterly.

“I’m not special.”

It was a truth he didn’t want to admit.

Fahel used the cape and fur to create a rug. He then connected it to Kilios with the use of ropes.

“Even though you lost so much blood, you’re still so damn heavy.”

He then grabbed Urich’s upper body and dragged him on top of the rug.

“Kilios. I leave it to you.”

The stallion let out a light cry and pulled the rug that Urich was laying on.

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Fahel wandered around for another day and discovered a huge road that people traveled through. Luckily, he was able to meet a merchant group that was traveling to Balgma and joined up with them. They entered the city in just a quarter of a day after grouping up with the merchants. Urich finally woke up after a couple more days in Balgma’s inn.

The next day, Urich’s Brothers joined them in the city.

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