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Chapter 34 – Prince of the Sea (4)
The mercenaries finally camped after trekking through the wild forest for half a day.
“We are ‘Urich’s Brothers’, and our youngest brother is Urich!”
A mercenary shouted those words as if he were singing them. The other mercenaries were cackling with each other.
“Urich, don’t you think your face looks a bit too rotten? Pffft. How do you go around with a face like that? Ahhhh, I think I’m going to go insane thinking about it again.”
The mercenary spoke as he spat out water.
“Shut up, bastards.”
Urich placed a wolf pelt on the floor and sat on top of it. He planted one of his axes in the ground.
“You want to hear me call you ‘big brother’? Then fight me.”
There was no mercenary brave enough to fight him. They were just cracking jokes.
Crackle, crackle.
They gathered dried firewood and lit a campfire. The warmth slowly spread.
“Keuk.”
Fahel groaned while taking off his shoes. There were blisters on his feet.
“Please hang on just a bit more.”
Phillion pulled out a salve and rubbed it on the bottoms of Fahel’s feet.
“Urgh.”
The young master flinched. Urich, who saw that, laughed.
“If someone saw you, they’d think that you were stabbed by a sword or something. Such a crybaby.”
Fahel glared at Urich after hearing those words.
“You bastard! Do you think that I am a vulgar human like you?! I am a noble. I am not someone who should be walking on the ground like this!”
Fahel shouted as his eyes glistened. A lot of tears were being held back.
‘What did I do to deserve this? Why?’
They walked on the mountains the entire day. It was the first time he felt pain like that. There was inflammation in his knees, and his feet were in constant pain.
“Young master, please calm down,” said Phillion. He gave a look to the mercenaries to not incite Fahel any further.
“Calm down? Do you think I can calm down? Sir Phillion! Go down this mountain immediately and fetch me a horse!”
“That’s…”
“Damn it! Fuck!”
Fahel started cursing and tired himself out. He covered his face and started crying. The boy’s sorrowful voice spread throughout the camp.
‘How weak.’
Urich took glances at Fahel. The young noble had similarities with Gotval but was still a very different person.
‘Gotval had something about him that deserved respect.’
Urich touched his sun pendant. He still remembered Gotval’s words.
‘There are various types of people in the civilized world.’
In his home, a person’s worth was only decided by how great of a warrior they were. A great warrior was also a great person. On the other hand, if you were an unskilled warrior, you were treated as something to not even look at.
‘Is there even something in a weakling like him that is worth giving loyalty to? Enough to give your life for? How is ‘worth’ given to people in the civilized world? Money? Status?’
Urich liked the civilized world where the people were as diverse as their numbers. He wanted to understand how they gave value to people. The way of thinking that made them show respect to those who weren’t warriors.
“Do you know how to read, young master?”
Urich sat in front of Fahel and spoke to him. He pulled out the writing textbook that he received from Gotval.
“A book?”
Fahel gave Urich a surprised look.
‘How did a barbarian get a book?’
Books were expensive goods. Monks would have to spend days and nights writing to barely finish one. It wasn’t something a mercenary or barbarian would be carrying around.
“Why are you so surprised? I also know how to read words quite well. This is the ‘Beginner Writing Textbook’. Don’t tell me, you don’t know how to read despite being a noble?”
Urich spoke while pointing at the letters with his fingers.
“You think I don’t know how to read? Who do you think I am?! I am someone who finished the Beginner Writing Textbook when I was just seven years old.”
Fahel huffed as he glared at Urich.
“Alright, then teach me some of the parts that I don’t understand. Studying by myself wasn’t going so well.”
“Wh-What is a barbarian like you going to do after learning how to read?”
Fahel folded his arms as he mocked Urich. The mercenary leader calmly pulled out his sun pendant and waved it.
“I am also a believer in Sol. I need to learn how to read so that I can learn more about Ru’s teachings, no?”
“Urgh.”
Fahel flinched as he heard Ru’s name.
‘Wow, it was a really good thing I got baptized.’
The civilized were weak to the Sun God. In fact, the higher the status of the person, the more likely they were to react after hearing the Sun God’s name.
“Ru, while I earnestly strive to learn more of your teachings, my brothers are not assisting me!” Urich jokingly prayed.
“Alright, alright. Where are you getting stuck?”
Fahel peered over at the book. Urich then pointed at the words that he didn’t know, one by one.
“Ah, so it was something like that. No wonder I wasn’t able to understand no matter how many times I read it.”
Urich slapped his knee as he spoke.
“The ink was erased because the book is old. It’s natural that you didn’t know.”
Fahel flipped through the book in seconds. To him, a textbook like this was like child’s play.
‘He’s quick at learning.’
He suddenly felt different from before—astonished by Urich’s memory.
‘Even though I’m just teaching him one time, he remembers the majority of it.’
It was something that all civilized who taught Urich were awed by.
“Why did you stop?”
Urich turned to look toward Fahel and tilted his head.
“No, it’s nothing.”
The young noble looked at him before turning away.
‘He’s not trying to make fun of me. He really just has a good memory.’
Surprisingly, Fahel concentrated as he taught Urich. The word he was teaching this time was ‘world’.
“Do you know about the world’s edge?”
Urich suddenly asked him. Fahel, like most nobles, was well-educated. Even though he was just teaching the leader simple words, extensive background knowledge would come out in the middle here and there.
“It’s the cliff at the end of the sea. It’s the place where the seawater falls down like a waterfall so that the sea doesn’t overflow. It was your first time looking at the sea back then, right? I never thought I would ever see someone drink seawater. It was funny.”
Fahel laughed again after thinking of that scene. Phillion, who saw his young master’s smile, breathed a sigh of relief.
‘I can’t believe the young master laughed. That’s a relief. A real relief.’
Fahel then drew something on the ground.
“The world is a flat rectangle. At the center is the continent where we live. To the West, there’s the Sky Mountain Range. And in the Eastern Sea, there’s the edge. Some people just call it the world’s edge, though.”
“From what I heard from the Northerners, there is apparently another land at the end of the Eastern Sea, not the world’s edge. And in the Land in the East, people who have black hair and eyes live there. So which one of you is right?” asked Urich.
“There is land at the edge of the sea? Who said that? It’s just delusional bullshit from barbarians who haven’t even been there. The end of the Eastern Sea is a cliff. The world’s edge.”
Fahel denied the existence of the Land in the East.
“Then that means that someone must have come back after seeing the world’s edge, right? Who saw it? Did you go on a ship yourself and see it with your own eyes?”
Urich’s questions were endless. Fahel answered him confidently.
“It’s been recorded. There were people in the past who almost fell off the world’s edge. They came back and wrote it down. The end of the Eastern Sea is a cliff.”
“So you’re saying that you’ve never seen it yourself.”
“Of course. I don’t want to die.”
Fahel crossed his arms. Urich slowly thought to himself before looking to the West, the direction that the sun set.
“Then what’s beyond the Sky Mountain Range?”
The corners of Urich’s mouth slowly went up. His eyes were shining with ambition. The beast known as ‘curiosity’ was pounding on his chest.
“Beyond the Sky Mountain Range is also another endless cliff. No one can go beyond the mountain range,” bragged Fahel.
“Yeah? Really? Are you sure?”
Laughter quietly escaped from Urich’s lips as he asked.
“Of course. Are you doubting me? Do you know how many books I have read? If you stack them all up, it would be much taller than you. Everything in the world is written in books. There is nothing I don’t know.”
Fahel spoke while hitting his chest. Phillion, who was listening from the side, spoke as well.
“The young master is an accomplished reader. Even clergies were surprised at his extensive knowledge after speaking with him.”
Fahel puffed his chest as he heard Phillion’s compliments. It felt like Fahel’s mood had gotten a lot better.
“It was a good conversation. Thanks to you, I’m sure of it now.”
Urich stood up from his seat. He looked at the dark forest. He would see evil spirits in his imagination. He often had hallucinations of the spirits of his ancestors and brothers watching over him.
“As expected, if I want to learn more about the world, I have to see it with my own eyes. Because books lie.”
After Urich finished his words, Fahel threw another fit.
“A-Are you looking down on me?!”
He felt like an idiot for thinking of the mercenary leader as a friend for a moment.
‘At the end of the day, a barbarian is still just a barbarian! Even if you teach them, there’s no point to it!’
His lips quivered with anger again.
“Why don’t you go to sleep now, young master? Tomorrow, I’ll ask you about the Empire’s capital. Wait… You have been there, right?”
“Of course I’ve been there! It’s a place so amazing that someone like you can’t even fathom it! Hamel isn’t just the Empire’s capital. It is the capital of the civilized and the center of the world! All roads lead to Hamel!”
Urich left the boy who was throwing a tantrum to himself and returned to his place.
He felt a strong gaze on him as he lay down on his spot. Sven was staring at him from across the campfire.
“If you have something to say, say it, Sven.”
“Urich, are you perhaps…”
Sven stopped his words and then looked to the West. Urich put his index finger on his lips and laughed.
“Shh.”
Sven was always curious about where Urich was from. His words and actions didn’t perfectly align with the Northerners or Southerners.
‘The West…’
The unknown lands that were uninfluenced by the Empire. Something whose existence was still uncertain.
‘So you were truly a stranger to these lands.’
The one who crossed the Sky Mountain Range.
* * *
“I told you to just hang on for a bit. You’re a man, right?”
Urich grabbed Fahel’s arms and pulled him up. The mercenaries completely cut across the mountain. They were obviously tired from the hike that had continued for days.
“We will be able to relax if we cross the Forlcana Kingdom’s borders, young master.”
Phillion was talking right next to Fahel as if he were trying to appease him.
“Damn it. Damn it.”
Fahel cursed as he forced his foot down. His feet were covered in blood.
“Good, good. Feel free to curse as much as you want, Fahel. That’s how you become a man.”
Urich patted the young noble’s back.
‘He might be a young master, but he has guts. He might complain but always does whatever it takes to keep up.’
Fahel gritted his teeth while climbing the next hill.
“I am… I am… of noble blood.”
When it comes to pride, Fahel’s was tall enough to pierce the sky. His clean face was covered in sweat and dust before anyone knew it. It was a mess. He sweated as if it had been raining.
“We’ll take a short rest here.”
Urich, who was the first to climb the hill, spoke. Even though everyone was tired, their leader was still relaxed. He gave a hand to all of the mercenaries that were coming up from below.
‘So this is the reason behind why Urich is able to lead his mercenaries.’
Phillion thought to himself while looking at Urich. The mercenary leader led by example in all jobs. He was always the first to step forward on difficult jobs. He was never condescending and never abused his privileges as the leader.
‘Age isn’t important. The mercenaries already respect him.’
There was almost no one in Urich’s Brothers that hadn’t received help from him.
‘It would be strange if they didn’t respect him after that.’
Despite climbing up the mountain first, Urich didn’t rest and kept helping and assisting the others.
“Hah, thanks for embarrassing me. I can’t believe I, the big brother, am receiving help from my younger brother Urich.”
Bakman spoke as Urich was trying to grab his arm.
Urich had a large smile.
“Bakman, come back up again.”
He pushed Bakman with his foot, and Bakman rolled down the hill.
“Oi, you little punk!”
Bakman screamed as he rolled down the hill. Recently, he had been having fun teasing Urich, but because of that, his results hadn’t been as good.
“Huh?”
Urich was enjoying the breeze but suddenly scowled. He looked at the birds flapping away. Then, he saw a familiar silver light between the dense trees.
“Donovan!” shouted Urich.
Donovan, who finally sat down and was catching his breath, turned around with an annoyed expression.
“What is it?”
“Prepare for battle. It’s the pursuit party,” said Urich.
Donovan didn’t talk back and stood up. Urich had the best eyesight amongst the mercenary group. To the other mercenaries, it was superhuman eyesight.
‘His eyesight isn’t the only thing that’s superhuman. There’s no way that body is actually human.’
Donovan had seen Urich’s valiant form multiple times. Most warriors had an experience or two that they could brag about through chance. However, Urich was a warrior that was able to accomplish those lifetime feats every time he fought.
Urich’s muscles tensed up. His muscles heated up and started moving.
“Fuuuuuu.”
He turned his head side to side. His mind was clear. He felt good whenever there was an upcoming battle because it felt like his distracting thoughts flew away. Almost as if he were someone who was born to fight.
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