Barbarian Quest

Chapter 188

"B-barbarians! Barbarians have attacked and set the village on fire. They are looting everything!"

A shabby man prostrated before the lord, reporting urgently.

"Where did these barbarians come from?"

The seated lord frowned, still groggy from having woken up at noon. He was sensitive to even minor disturbances.

At the lord’s reaction, his butler came up beside him and whispered,

"My lord, do you remember when the imperial army requested supplies, not too long ago? That was for a bridge going westward..."

"Barbarians from the west? What nonsense!"

The man who had come with the report listened to the lord and his butler’s exchange and came further forward on his knees as if he had been done wrong.

"They are ferociously brutal, my lord! They are k-killing everything in sight, those d-dreadful beings!"

The man wept. He had narrowly escaped the ravaged village and barely made it to the lord for the report.

"How many were there?" The lord asked the man.

"Thousands, at least..."

The man's answer startled the lord into standing up. His domain was a small city. Even if he tried to muster all the conscripts he could, the number would hardly reach five hundred. The permanent guard barely numbered a hundred.

"T-thousands, you say?"

"The entire village was s-swamped with barbarians. It was truly h-horrific, my lord."

The lord and his lieges murmured among themselves.

"If what he says is true, we must draft a plea for reinforcements immediately. There's still time to alert the surrounding lords..."

"Do you really think they'd jump up from their seats to help us? They're all but waiting for my downfall."

Lords in the feudal society were competitors. It was highly unlikely that they would help each other unless they were ordered to do so by the central government.

As the lord and his lieges deliberated, a guard burst in through the door and announced, "An unidentified army has been spotted beyond the horizon!"

The man from the village screamed in panic upon hearing the guard.

"They're here! The barbarians have followed us here!"

As he became frantic, the soldiers in the room restrained him.

“They reached here that quickly...?”

The lord jumped to his feet and went up the city walls with his lieges. Only half a day had passed since the village was attacked. The barbarians' advance was unexpectedly swift.

"My goodness! Gather the men and open the armory!"

The lord commanded upon sighting the barbarian army. He could easily estimate over two thousand troops on the horizon.

"Perhaps sending an envoy to discern their demands would be wise..."

A liege hesitantly suggested then trailed off. The barbarians were right in front of their noses.

"Oooohhh!"

The alliance army employed the tactic of swift and efficient attacks. They had selected two thousand elite warriors for a rapid march. This allowed them to attack the lord immediately upon the news reaching him. The mobility of the western barbarians surpassed that of any infantry in the empire.

The lord was faced with the task of defending against the attack of two thousand warriors without a chance to prepare. But it was impossible to stop a force of two thousand men with just dozens of city guards.

"As expected."

Urich scratched his chin as he watched the charge of the alliance army. Deploying two thousand quick elites was his idea.

‘No matter how great our mobility is, a full march of ten thousand can’t compare to this speed.'

If they had opted to move their entire army of ten thousand warriors, the same advance would have taken them two, or even three times longer. Urich and the two thousand elite warriors delegated the loot and supplies to the following troops. They carried only their armor and the minimal siege instrument. Since the warriors were quick on their feet, this tactic allowed them to reach the city walls by the time the man who escaped from the village delivered the news of their invasion to the city.

Urich's force initiated the siege before the lord could mount a defense.

“Put up the ladders!”

The warriors threw up ladders all over the city wall. The small number of soldiers on top of the walls was nowhere near enough to stop the warriors who were climbing up.

"Now, it's my turn to climb."

Urich also ascended the ladder. His barbarians were already tearing the soldiers apart and tossing them off the walls.

"Who dares to stop the Son of the Earth!!"

The warriors shouted upon seeing Urich joining them in the fray, proud to be at the vanguard alongside him.

Urich jumped down the wall. The people of the city were already busy running for their lives.

“Hup!”

Urich launched his axe. He hit a fleeing soldier in the back, shattering the cheap chainmail and embedding the chain shards into the victim's back.

"Ah, ahhhhhh!"

A soldier tried to crawl to his escape, but Urich was already standing over him. He retrieved his axe and stomped on the soldier's head.

Urich had no mercy for those who were carrying a weapon. Soldiers and warriors were men who risked their lives to seize something.

‘If you've picked up a weapon without the resolve to risk your life, then it's only right that you die.’

Urich shook the blood off his axe and scanned for his next prey. The castle was already plunged into chaos. People were busy packing up and fleeing.

‘We advance faster than words.’

To fend off an invasion of thousands of barbarians, a new legion would need to be formed. But even with the emperor's absolute power, forming a legion out of nothing overnight was impossible. It was going to take the empire at least three to four months before they could summon the army and dispatch it after hearing the news.

Until the legion arrived, the local lords had no choice but to fend off the barbarian invasion themselves, which was practically impossible.

‘And by the time the legion can get here, we'll already be in the Langkegart Kingdom.’

The alliance army had enough time to devastate the Langkegart Kingdom. By the time news of the barbarian invasion on the civilized world spread, the alliance army would have already crossed into Langkegart territory.

On average, a small city of civilization was located at a two to three-day walking distance, and a moderately sized city was found about a week apart. With the mobility of the alliance army, they could march at the speed of average travelers. This meant that they could destroy a city with a population of ten thousand every week.

‘There are many ways to win a war. Winning physical battles is merely one of them.’

Urich was deeply impressed by the scorched earth tactic. War was not just an extension of battles. Even if you lost a battle, there were still other ways to win the war. Avoiding fights was also a method of warfare.

Step, step.

Urich entered the lord's mansion. He found the lord trying to pack his treasures.

"S-stop that man!"

The lord intended to flee with his treasures. He ordered his servants and soldiers to attack Urich.

Clang!

Urich's sword and axe danced as they shook the marble decoration. The limbs of the soldiers who charged at him were flung up to the ceiling.

Criiiing.

Dragging his sword across the marble floor, Urich followed the lord. The lord was disgracefully running away, even dropping his treasures like a trail.

"If you’re a lord, you should really try to act like one."

Urich kicked a silver teapot that had fallen to the ground.

"Gaah!"

The teapot struck the lord's head. The lord fell and rolled on the floor.

'My treasure? Or do I run?'

It was a brief moment, but the lord internally debated. Leaving behind all of the spilled treasures to flee pained him. But he scrambled to his feet and ran again to survive.

"A lord is the ruler of this land and its people. Isn't it irresponsible to show such cowardice?"

Urich cackled as he walked after the lord down the corridor. He was disgusted by the sight of the lord. This man was a feeble-minded man who was not worthy of the position of lord which was equivalent to a tribal chief. Yet even such a coward had ascended to the lord's position.

"Since you’ve got a position that you are unworthy of, you deserve death. That is my verdict.”

Urich murmured to himself as he lightly threw his axe.

"A-aaaaah!"

The lord screamed upon seeing the axe lodged in his thigh. He tried to stop the bleeding, but instead, the blood made his palm warm in no time.

"Now, pray to your god."

Urich stomped on the lord's belly and pulled out the axe. The smell of urine mixed with blood rose from the floor.

"I-if you spare me, you can receive a huge ransom! I'll pay you myself, w-whatever it takes! Please, have mercy!"

The first thing this lord did, without even knowing who these barbarians were, was beg them for his life.

"Don’t ask me for mercy. Go ask Lou for it."

Crack!

Urich swung his axe, splitting the lord's head in half. Blood and brain matter splattered on Urich's face.

Urich wiped his face with the back of his hand and walked to the window. The city was on fire.

'I am...'

Urich felt both regret and pleasure simultaneously. He was destroying the civilization he admired. His heart pounded. Civilization was never meant to be his. Even if he longed for it his entire life, he could never possess it. The tribes reaching the level of civilization in his lifetime was impossible.

'...Jealous.'

It was the emotion he had suppressed and denied for a long time. Once he truly realized he couldn't reach that level, admiration turned into jealousy.

"Dammit."

Urich kicked the dead lord's head and cursed.

* * *

The alliance army maximized their march speed with a crossing advance. The speed of their conquest was a level that was unheard of in the civilized world.

The alliance army sent two to three thousand warriors ahead in rotations, with the follow-up forces dragging all the loot and supplies. They did not linger in conquered territories but kept moving forward relentlessly.

The speed of their march essentially equated to the speed of their conquest. The lords of the civilized world often encountered the barbarian army even before hearing anything about them.

These were warriors who lived a nomadic life without any other means of transportation to rely on. The foot mobility of warriors who had spent their lives running and walking in the west surpassed the common sense of civilized people.

"This is absolutely insane."

Georg marveled at the march path they had taken so far. Even seeing it with his own eyes, it was hard to believe they were the same infantry.

Georg and the civilized mercenaries couldn’t even participate in the battles. They were tasked with managing the aftermath in conquered territories and operating supply wagons.

"Georg, look at this! Hehe, we're going to be rich in no time. It seems like those barbarians don't even care about treasures."

The westerners didn't overly covet treasures. The only thing they intensely desired was better armor and weapons. As nomads, they had little desire for personal property and also didn't fully understand the value of treasures of the civilized world.

The civilized mercenaries grinned at the treasures just falling into their hands. Since the barbarians were taking care of all the plundering and fighting, they didn’t even have to put themselves in danger.

"Those guys really are something. They've taken down several cities in just a month since departing. The Langkegart Kingdom is right around the corner now."

The alliance army selected their routes to go through small cities and villages that could be quickly conquered. Large cities, with their high walls and solid defenses, posed difficulties for rapid advancement.

Georg traced the path of the alliance army's movement. The vanguard that cross-marched was already crossing the borders of Langkegart.

The civilized world only began to respond by the time the alliance army was already crossing the border of Langkegart.

News of the raiders from the other side of the mountains spread, and the lords began preparing for the barbarians one by one.

Even in the capital of the empire, news of the western raiders had already spread. People of the civilized world trembled at the emergence of new barbarians, demanding protection and action from the emperor, the ruler of the civilized world.

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