CH 43

Chapter 43 – Barbarian Hunter (3)

“It’s his work,” said Margrave Orkel.

He was looking at the bandits’ corpses.

‘A corpse that had their neck distorted in one twist, and this deep wound on the back of another that looks as if it were done by a wild beast… It’s clear that they ran away from the overwhelming aura that the barbarian put out.’

Margrave Orkel closed his eyes and thought to himself. He could vividly see how the barbarian fought.

‘How exciting, barbarian.’

Knights, after graduating from a squire, spent their entire lives learning swordsmanship. Those individuals are essentially living weapons.

‘Even those same knights are unable to defend against a barbarian’s attacks and end up dying.’

Knights wore better equipment than barbarians and had battle tactics that were developed over generations and generations.

‘If you are truly strong, you don’t need to rely on worthless tricks like that.’

Margrave Orkel knew a lot about the barbarians. They were people who stood on the boundary between beast and man.

‘If you have overwhelming strength, even a simple slash becomes an ultimate skill.’

Margrave Orkel had fought against those barbarians his entire life. They would slaughter the knights using shoddy weapons.

‘If you want to defeat a barbarian, you shouldn’t fight them as if you are fighting a person. They are beasts. Viscous beasts wearing human skin.’

The margrave signaled a soldier with his hands. The soldier put his hand into a corpse’s stomach to check the viscosity and temperature of the blood. It was still sticky and warm. Additionally, the blood near the heart hadn’t dried yet.

“Release the dogs. They couldn’t have gone far.”

The soldiers released the dogs from their collars. Three military canines raced into the forest.

“If you discover him, don’t rashly provoke him. He’s not someone you guys can handle,” sincerely requested Margrave Orkel.

He had only brought ten soldiers. Bringing his army past the border would cause diplomatic friction.

“It is important to take care of that barbarian, but the priority is to recover the prince. If the prince arrives at Hamel and has an audience with the Emperor, it’s over. We will be treated as traitors,” said one of Margrave Orkel’s aides. There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice.

“Did you think that I forgot my duty just because I am invested in the hunt?” questioned Margrave Orkel.

“I was simply reminding you,” said the adjutant politely.

“Prince Varca can’t do anything on his own. If we kill that barbarian, capturing the Prince is nothing. It might have been better if Princess Damia were born a man. When I met the two of them three years ago, I felt it deep inside my bones. Those siblings have had their fates changed,” muttered Margrave Orkel.

“Unless the entirety of the royal bloodline dies, there is no way for a woman to become king.”

“No matter how apt a woman is to become the king, in the end, she is just a woman. And because they’re a woman, they’re fated to just accept an appropriate seed and give birth to a child. …Damn it.”

After speaking those words, Margrave Orkel suddenly became furious. It was because he thought of his wife and son.

“I picked the wrong woman to give my seed to. I can’t believe I married an idiotic bitch that raises our son as if he were a girl. When I return, I’ll have to teach her a lesson.”

His adjutant didn’t respond to that. He just stared at Margrave Orkel.

‘The Margrave Orkel I knew—when he was still in his youth—was a belligerent military man, but he wasn’t this violent of a person. He was someone who wholeheartedly loved his wife. He has changed ever since he came back from the barbarian subjugation.’

Most people who were even a little close to Margrave Orkel knew of his questionable hobby. He would touch barbarian skulls every night and reminisce about them. Sometimes, he would get out of bed in the middle of the night and wander into the training ground. He would then fight their shadows while visualizing them.

‘Did he go mad because of the war?’

It was a war that was impossible to endure unless you were insane. Margrave Orkel, a knight from a small kingdom, was always forced to enter the front lines. He lost the majority of his friends, who were also his retainers, that he trained with ever since he was young. That was the reason why all of his aides were young.

“Before I get any older, I should try to get another son. It might even be better to impregnate a barbarian slave and… My heir having barbarian blood in him might not be bad,” the margrave muttered. His adjutant was waiting for him to stop talking to himself.

Some knights were forced to participate in the barbarian subjugation. The Empire requested troops from the smaller kingdoms to subjugate the remnants of the barbarians and forced the knights onto the battlefield.

“The war was only a subjugation in name. In actuality, it was a war as dangerous as the war for conquet. The remnants hid in lands that they believed we wouldn’t reach. In the North, it was a frozen land that froze my fingers and toes. In the South, it was a scorching desert that burned your flesh. It wasn’t a place where people could inhabit. It’s a place where only those barbarians, who are no different from beasts, could live in.”

His aide had already heard that story multiple times, so he just kept nodding his head.

“Of course, Your Lordship. It was a war with huge sacrifices.”

“But now, it’s a policy of barbarian assimilation? Those men, who supposedly read a couple books, say that those barbarians are the same people as us. And now, after all of the battles, they persecute us and treat us like criminals for killing barbarians. I can’t even tell people that my nickname is Barbarian Hunter. That nickname should not be of ill repute. It is a title that I proudly earned.”

Margrave Orkel’s eyes were fiercely shining.

“Of course. Your Lordship is a knight more skilled than any other.”

“For the kingdom and for us, the civilized, I killed barbarians! Before that damned Emperor said that the barbarians are the same people that we are! People don’t know! A youngin like you wouldn’t know either! None of you know what type of existence the barbarians are! The only barbarians all of you see are the barbarian slaves that are dragged out like defeated dogs. You only think of them as dirty and vulgar. Those aren’t real barbarians.”

His adjutant took a deep breath.

“Everyone forgot about the true nature of the barbarians. And someday, you will all regret it.”

Margrave Orkel laughed with drooping shoulders. A few moments later, he lifted his head again.

“Let us depart. It’s time for us to slowly follow them,” he said.

In an instant, he regained his composure. Only after throwing up all of his emotions would he return to being an excellent military man. His aide, as if he had been waiting for this moment, nodded.

“Understood.”

“I will end that barbarian’s life myself.”

Margrave Orkel chased the soldiers’ traces.

‘The night is getting long.’

The chase went on for longer than they had expected.

“Hm…”

Margrave Orkel’s eyes suddenly fluttered while riding his horse.

“Your Lordship?”

“Ah, I’m fine. Go ahead first. I’ll follow you.”

The margrave shook his head.

‘I didn’t expect to be this dizzy just because I stayed up all night.’

His vision closed in, and his head felt dull. It was because he didn’t sleep and overexerted himself.

‘Aging is a terrifying thing.’

When he was young, Margrave Orkel had times when he fought for consecutive days without sleep. He fought in an unfamiliar land without being sure when the barbarians would ambush him.

“Fuuu.”

He took deep breaths as he watched the night sky.

“GUAAAAAH!”

Then, a scream echoed. He kicked his horse to prompt it to go faster.

“I thought I told all of you to avoid a direct confrontation!” he shouted as soon as he arrived.

“We didn’t fight him. He was waiting for us in ambush!” responded a soldier. The soldier spoke with a dejected tone, feeling as if he was unfairly treated.

“What about the dogs?”

“They were already dead when we arrived.”

Margrave Orkel laughed after confirming the dogs’ death.

“Instead of running away, he plans on attacking us. He must be extremely confident in his strength. Of course he should. I would also act like that if I were as strong as him.”

The two soldiers and three dogs that were leading the formation have died. The barbarian hid into the darkness after killing the canines.

“Stay on alert of the surroundings. He will come again,” said Margrave Orkel as he pulled out his sword.

‘Rather than the Hunter, I am becoming the hunted. Quite good, barbarian.’

The soldiers slowly advanced while watching their surroundings.

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator – goguma

Proofreader – yukitokata

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* * *

Urich climbed on top of a tree.

“Damn it. These fucking mutts,” said Urich while pulling out the dog teeth that were embedded in his thigh.

Three dogs fiercely charged at him, but he only had two arms. While he was able to crack two dogs’ skulls immediately, the third dog bit into his thigh.

“Heut!”

Urich flexed his muscles to stop the blood flow.

“I wonder what they’ll do now.”

He opened his eyes wide and focused on his hearing.

‘They aren’t splitting up to search for me. They’re grouped up in one place. Tch.’

Urich was confident that he could kill the soldiers before they could scream. If they had split up, he would have been able to take care of them one by one. However, the soldiers moved as a group because they also knew that.

‘If they keep walking that way, they’ll find Fahel.’

If Urich and Fahel ran away on Kilios together, they would eventually get caught. It was because the soldiers each had their own horse.

‘Regardless of how easy or difficult it is, I have to clean them up here.’

Urich came to a decision. The moment he thought about fighting, his entire body was filled with energy. The sharp pains in his body disappeared. His head felt clear, as if it had been washed clean.

CLENCH.

He gripped tight onto his sword and axe. Veins started to rise up on his forearms.

‘How many would I be able to kill if I jumped in there?’

Urich closed his eyes and drew a scenario in his head. He saw the movements he would take once he jumped in amongst the soldiers. If the soldiers were a bit split up from each other, he would have time to kill them one at a time. This was also the same method he took when he killed the seven calvarymen. He had seven consecutive one-on-one battles.

‘They are completely huddled up right now. I’d probably die after killing four or five of them.’

Even if he won the battle, if he got stabbed by a sword, then the result would essentially be a tie. Even if he came out of the fight alive, if his injuries were severe, he wouldn’t last long and die. Urich saw countless warriors who died like that.

‘Warriors that charge in despite knowing that they will die.’

The warriors of the North used their bodies like tools. It was an unforgettable sight.

‘That’s because the Northerners have a resting ground waiting for them called the Hill of Swords.’

Urich thought of a lot of things. While he was thinking, the soldiers were continuously moving while being wary of their surroundings.

‘I have to decide now.’

He laughed. He breathed in the cool night air. There was no other option. The only way he could keep his life was if he gave up on all of the gods and vows he made and ran away.

‘If my current limit is four or five of them…’

Urich silently dropped down the tree. He chased behind the soldiers.

“Then let’s try to overcome my limit today.”

He approached a soldier from behind and pulled him off his horse. He slit open the soldier’s neck and created a fountain of blood. Urich smiled between the spraying blood.

“H-He appeared! Kill him! Karghhh!”

Urich then threw his axe at the shouting soldier to break his skull.

Two soldiers died in an instant. The remaining soldiers quickly pulled out their swords and rushed at Urich.

‘They have good movements. Rather than four or five, it’ll be difficult to kill even one of them.’

Urich could vaguely feel their skill just by watching how they responded to the situation. They were elite soldiers picked amongst over two hundred soldiers.

“GUAAAAAAH!”

He let out a wild roar. It was a low-pitched roar akin to a beast’s.

Neeeeeeigh!

The trained horses reared and panicked.

‘Fahel told me that horses hate me because of the predator-like aura that I put out.’

Horses are sensitive creatures. The horses were startled by Urich’s roar and wouldn’t listen to the soldiers’ orders.

“Wh-What?! Get off the horse!”

The soldiers quickly got off their horses. During that time, Urich cut down another soldier.

“Fuuu. Fuuu.”

He glared at them with his blood-covered face.

‘That’s it. That’s a real barbarian! Look at his overflowing vitality!’

Margrave Orkel was excited. The corners of his mouth kept creeping up. He felt as if his white hairs were turning dark again.