Chapter 51: 51

Barbarian Quest

Chapter 51 – Road to the Empire (3)

Havald threw the black powder into the campfire again. It created a crackling sound.

The black powder reacted with the campfire and created a flame of a variety of s. The flames instantaneously reached high and beautifully wavered.

‘What was that?’

Urich’s eyes were wide open. His heart was pounding as hard as the time he crossed the Sky Mountain Range. It was the first time he saw a phenomenon like this.

“We call this ‘flame powder’. In the end, this isn’t something like magic. It’s something that anyone can do with this powder.”

Even though Havald spoke coolly, the mercenaries weren’t able to easily calm down. Even Fahel, who was extremely knowledgeable from reading literature, stared at Havald with his mouth agape.

“Hand it over. I want to try it.”

Urich broke the silence to grab a handful of the flame powder before throwing it at the campfire.

BOOM! FWOOOOSH!

The campfire’s flames rose to the sky. Urich felt the scorching heat and gave a smile filled with pure delight.

“Haha! I’m the magician, you bastards!” he yelled excitedly. Some of his bangs had gotten singed, but he didn’t mind it at all.

‘So their leader is a converted barbarian,’ thought Havald while looking at Urich’s Sol necklace. Urich’s actions were ridiculous to him.

“Sir Phillion, for what reason are you traveling with a mercenary group? The injury on your hand also doesn’t seem to be that old either…”

“That’s a bit difficult to say. Even if you are a Sun Warrior,” replied Phillion, hastily.

He didn’t tell Havald his motives, and the Sun Warrior didn’t pry any further. Havald then looked around at the surroundings.

‘Those people over there are Northerners. Are they still unconverted?’

Havald, who was looking throughout the mercenary group, stared at the Northerners who were in one corner. A sense of duty rose up from his chest. He gave a short prayer inwardly and stood up.

“Oh, my mother’s people, please convert. The Sun God is forever waiting for their prodigal children who have lost their paths,” said Havald to Sven. For Sven, those words were the last straw.

Lift.

Sven raised his two-handed axe and approached Havald. Havald flinched before quickly pulling out his sword. The situation was seconds from going to the point of no return.

“Both of you, stop.”

Havald felt a cool chill at the back of his neck. Before he knew it, Urich was holding an axe against his neck.

‘When did he get behind me and unsheathe his weapon?’

Havald tried to pull out his short sword from his waist to respond to Urich.

Grasp.

However, Urich quickly grabbed Havald’s hand to prevent him from unsheathing it. Havald, who had the Northerners’ blood flowing through him, was strong. Urich was just stronger.

‘A strong grip. It feels like my fingers are getting crushed.’

Urich, after completely restraining Havald, looked at Sven.

“Sven, the leader of the mercenary group is me. How dare you pull out your weapon without my permission? Do you want to fucking die, old man?” growled Urich. Sven scowled for a second before nodding.

“I was thoughtless, Leader.”

Sven obediently admitted it and stepped away. He respected Urich’s authority.

“And Havald. I don’t care if you’re a Sun Warrior or whatever. Don’t order my brothers to do this or that. I am a believer of Sol, but if you insult Sven one more time, you’re going to be the one who’ll end up dead. There are things that must be kept between each other. As long as you are mindful of that, we can be friends.”

Havald nodded and put away his sword. Urich also put away his axe.

‘His grip strength is still unbelievable. It’s as if he were endowed with it,’ thought Phillion, relieved. For a moment, even he thought that something was going to happen.

“I apologize, Mercenary Leader Urich. And to him as well.”

Havald also apologized to Sven. Sven slightly nodded his head in return, pretending to accept his apology.

After the tense mood was eased, the mercenaries sat down again and started speaking to one another. Urich tapped on Havald’s shoulder while laughing.

“Alright, then. Why don’t we keep playing, Havald? Do you still have some of that powder left?” asked Urich, his eyes still sparkling. Havald gave him the rest of the flame powder. There wasn’t much left anyway.

‘I thought he was just a simple person, but that wasn’t exactly it…’

Havald murmured to himself while looking at Urich’s back. The sound of the campfire exploding could be heard one after the other.

* * *

* * *

The following day, the mercenary group escaped from the forest. The dense woodland ended and led to the open plains.

“The Northerners’ God is the only god for true warriors,” said Sven as they walked. He spoke to Urich. He didn’t enjoy the Sun Warriors’ company at all.

“I know, so calm down, old man.”

“Sun God Ru is not a god that likes battle. Ru treats everyone the same, even farmers and warriors. But the Northerners’ God, Ulgaro, prepared a hill. A hill for only us warriors! So if you are a warrior, naturally, you believe in Ulgaro,” Sven continued, spit collecting on his beard. Urich shrugged.

“But I believe in Sun God Ru as well.”

“It’s because you’re not a Northerner.”

Sven peered over at Urich. The two of them locked eyes.

‘A human from beyond the mountain range.’

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While Urich didn’t tell him directly, Sven had a good idea of where Urich was actually from.

Clang.

He placed his two-handed axe over his shoulder. His rusted helmet was pressed hard on his head, and his eyes shone fiercely underneath. Every step Sven took, his armor would cling and clang together.

“It might be best for you to also prepare a set of armor like this,” he said while inspecting Urich.

Urich wore scraps of fur as his armor. The fur didn’t cover all of his body either, and even the areas that were covered only had little defensive utility.

“I don’t like my senses getting dull.”

“It’s not like the people who wear armor aren’t aware of that. It’s just that the advantages of wearing armor outweigh that. No matter how skilled of a warrior you are, there is no way you can block and dodge every attack,” said Sven while hitting on the round shield on his back. His main weapon was the two-handed axe, but he also had a round shield and one-handed axe as secondary weapons. He used different equipment for different situations.

The number of mercenaries who had become able to afford heavy armor was steadily increasing. The first thing that mercenaries with some financial freedom buy was equipment to protect their lives. Their cloth and leather armor slowly transformed into chainmail armor one by one.

“For mercenaries like us, there’s nothing more reliable than a set of chainmail armor. Because the only armor that’s better than this is platemail.”

Platemail was equipment reserved for the Empire’s knights and nobles due to the fact that those types of armor were only crafted in the imperial forge. While imperial steel weapons could be seen on the market at times, it was close to impossible to purchase platemail armor like that.

“Blood and flesh is weaker than iron. Remember that, Urich.”

After Sven finished his words, he stepped back. It was because he noticed Sun Warrior Havald was approaching Urich.

“Mercenary Leader Urich, I apologize for not recognizing you sooner. I am also familiar with the stories about you and the Silver Lions,” said Havald. He already heard such and such stories from the other mercenaries.

‘The mercenary group who successfully defended against the Silver Lions. Furthermore, their leader took on seven calvarymen and… I’m sure this is an exaggeration, but there is even a story about him running with a horse on his back.’

Urich gazed vacantly at Havald.

“Well, there’s nothing to be sorry about. But anyways, isn’t it about time for us to be splitting up? We already came out of the forest, and our mercenary group is going to be going straight up ahead here,” said Urich. He wanted to separate the mercenary group from them.

‘Just the Sun Warriors’ existence agitates Sven and the other Northerners. There’s nothing good about traveling together.’

However, Havald thought differently. He wanted to continue traveling with the mercenary group.

“We lost all of our horses to the magician’s traps. Wouldn’t it be fine if we traveled together until we are able to buy new horses at least? Furthermore, the security in this area isn’t too good. That was part of the reason why we were called out for a single magician. Because the current lord of this area fell into massive debt from trying to live an overly extravagant life, they disbanded their army. Because of that, this fief is unable to chase away any bandits or criminals that enter it. Soon, the lord will be deprived of their title and fief.”

Urich and the mercenaries would soon come to realize how lacking the security was.

Around half a day after they exited the forest, they saw smoke rising far away.

“That isn’t smoke from bread being baked.”

“Let’s not get caught up in it, and just go around it.”

The mercenaries discovered a burning farm. Gray smoke rose up to the sky.

“It looks like they’re getting ambushed by bandits? Oh, another one died. There are a lot of people entering the building, so I can’t tell their exact numbers, but there’s around twenty or so of them,” said Urich while squinting his eyes. He told the mercenaries around him what was happening at the farm.

“You can see all the way over there from here?” questioned Havald, eyes opening wide in shock. To him, it all just looked like small dots.

All of the mercenaries might have known about Urich’s eyesight, but it was a massive shock to Sun Warrior Havald. There was nobody in the Sun Warriors, an order filled with barbarians, who had that excellent of an eyesight.

“Urich! Let us go save them! Let us go, Sun Warriors!” shouted Havald while unsheathing his sword. The Sun Warriors were shouting as if they were about to charge in.

“Huh? Why would we?”

“Bandits are plundering those poor merchants! A believer of Sol shouldn’t turn a blind eye to that!” yelled Havald while stomping the ground. If he received help from the mercenaries, they would be able to defeat the bandits in an instant.

“Farmers harvest as many crops as they have broken sweat and bandits plunder as many riches as they have shed blood. Who can say who is good and who is bad? They’re not even my family either,” said Urich as he shrugged his shoulders.

Havald scowled.

“Sun God Ru will remember your words! We will rescue those farmers even if it’s just us!” he said. He held Urich in contempt. Then, he led the Sun Warriors down the hill.

“Praise the Suuuuuun!”

“Praise the Sun!”

“Sun God Ru!”

The Sun Warriors let out thunderous roars while running towards the burning farm. However, it was also rather funny watching five men charge like that on their feet.

“We are busy enough with our own journey, Your Royal Highness. Unfortunately, as Urich said, we don’t have the luxury to be worrying about those people as well,” said Phillion. Fahel petted Kilios before looking down at the knight.

After taking a moment to think, Fahel asked him a question.

“Sir, who am I?”

“Well, you’re Forlcana Kingdom’s sole direct heir, Your Royal Highness,” answered Phillion. Fahel closed his eyes then unsheathed his sword from his waist.

“Yes, I am Varca anu Forlcana. If even I, a future king, ignores and refuses to help those powerless people, who will look after the citizens?”

“Your Royal Highness, they are not our kingdom’s people. The lord of this fief is the person who should be embarrassed about being unable to protect their people. This is not our matter.”

Phillion was also a knight. However, his code of chivalry prioritized loyalty above all else. For the sake of his lord’s safety, he wasn’t afraid of using any underhanded or immoral means. Even if those actions went against doctrines set by gods themselves.

“What’s really embarrassing is only thinking about yourself despite having the strength to help others! Urich! Your employer isn’t Phillion but I! Now look, Urich’s Brothers! Sparkling jewels are waiting for you!” yelled Fahel. He was on Kilios’s back, taking a lap around the mercenaries as he spoke. The mercenaries roared and screamed while clanging their weapons and shields together.

“Long live the young master!”

“So how much are you going to give us, dear noble?!” shouted the mercenaries. Fahel pulled out a pearl pouch from his chest and tossed it to Urich. Urich caught the pouch and turned to the mercenaries after confirming the beautiful pearls. 

“Haha, you bastards. What are you waiting for? We got our money. So now, we have to work!” he yelled.

The mercenaries screamed as they charged, right behind the Sun Warriors.

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