Barbarian Quest

“We must defend this place while His Majesty is out leading the campaign in the north!”

The knight in charge of the garrison shouted as he walked around the platform in the training grounds. He gestured wildly, encouraging the soldiers. The remaining combat force in Hamel was only about three thousand, but that was enough to hold off tens of thousands of siege forces.

“Our walls are high, and they are nothing but a bunch of ignorant barbarians!”

“Hoh!”

The soldiers stomped their feet and struck the ground with their spears.

“Hamel will not fall! If they come for this place, they will only pay for their foolish judgment! Who will make them pay that price with their blood? We will!”

The garrison commander shouted until his voice was hoarse. It felt like his face was turning red all the way up to the crown of his head as the veins on his neck became prominent.

‘If Hamel falls, it will be difficult to reclaim it.’

With the walls of Hamel, defending an enemy even a hundred times bigger was not impossible. Even an untrained man could do their part with just a crossbow. Hamel's walls were tough to breach no matter what kind of siege weapon one had. The moat was deep and wide, making it impossible to cross with siege towers or ladders. The stockpiled military supplies were sufficient to last over a year without issues.

The empire actually preferred a siege. They had already suffered a significant defeat in open battle. But in a siege, variables such as the ones they experienced earlier were almost non-existent.

“We must defend Hamel in His Majesty's absence.”

The garrison commander finished his speech and assigned the deployment of troops to his adjutants. He gathered the forces by gathering whoever was eligible among Hamel’s citizens. Even retired soldiers with gray hair voluntarily picked up weapons to defend Hamel.

“Come on then… barbarians.”

The garrison commander climbed the battlements and looked out at the Porcana-Alliance army's camp. Smoke rose in the distance, but there was no significant movement in two days.

“Raise the oil barrels to the walls! We don't know when they will attack!”

Workers moved busily below the walls. The garrison positioned siege defense materials on every battlement, thoroughly preparing for the attack.

“Sir Sarvan! There is someone coming.”

A soldier rushed over to the garrison commander.

“Is it their messenger? These barbarians have the decency to declare war?”

“It might be a messenger from Porcana. Being a civilized kingdom, they might follow protocol.”

The garrison commander went up to the gate without even donning his armor. A man on horseback was galloping across the plain from a distance.

“It’s a barbarian! A barbarian is coming!”

Dozens of workers who were outside the walls fled inside in fear. It was only one man, but that was how terrifying the plunderers were. To the civilized people, the plunderers from the west were not seen as human. They were essentially monsters from an entirely different world.

“A-ahhh!”

The workers even threw aside their equipment and ran frantically.

It was obvious that the man on horseback was an extraordinary barbarian even from afar. His massive build was enough to make even the horse look small.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen these walls. It was hard to believe humans built them,” Urich mumbled as he pulled the reins. He stopped quite a distance from the gate.

“Calm down, Kylios. We’re not here to fight today.”

Urich reached out and brushed the horse’s mane. Kylios exhaled contentedly.

Kylios was a good horse. It was rare to find a horse that could withstand Urich's rough handling. Kylios was the perfect battle horse, strong and fearless. Most importantly, it was resilient enough to survive just by feeding on grass.

“I am Urich, Great Chief of the alliance!”

Urich's voice rang out loudly. Imperial soldiers murmured at his words.

‘That’s the famous Urich.’

By now, nobody was unaware of Urich. His infamy spread like an infectious disease. Bad news traveled fast.

The plunderers were no more than ominous shadows to the civilized world until Urich showed up. He was the one who solidified their form. The fact that his name already had a certain renown in the civilized world made him even more fearsome.

‘We don’t know much about them, but they know us well.’

The knowledge of their enemy. That was what set apart the current plunderers from the northerners of the past.

Northerners were conservative and too busy fighting among themselves to notice the external threats. They knew that there were good lands to the south, but they were too occupied with their long tribal rivalries to expand southward. The most they did was send small plundering parties into the civilized world during winters.

The civilized world was united under the empire’s banner. The empire conquered the barbarian world in order to expand its territories, and the north was helpless. Just as times create heroes, Mijorn appeared to unite the north, but it was already far too late to reverse the tide.

‘We are different from the north.’

Urich looked at Hamel's walls. They were so high his neck ached from looking up. The walls of Hamel were not something one could conquer with ladders. To conquer this city, he would have to be prepared to lose all of the alliance forces.

Westerners acted cunningly. Because they knew the civilized world, they only fought battles they could win and even accepted civilized mercenaries and allied with kingdoms when needed.

A flexible mindset and a willingness to learn.

These were the strengths and common traits of Urich and Samikan. Urich gained his understanding of the civilized world by crossing the mountains, while Samikan did so through Noah, who came from the other side.

“Phew.”

Urich took a deep breath.

“We will attack at dawn! Tremble in fear! Pray that the sun doesn’t rise tomorrow! I promise you that your god will only watch as we take you down!”

Urich's voice rang out, even echoing beyond the walls.

“Shoot him.”

The garrison commander opened his mouth. It was certainly not an honorable act, but there was no need to uphold civilized manners against barbarians. Most importantly, the leader of the plunderers was standing right there. Tribal armies self-imploded when they lost their central leader.

‘If we kill him here, the victory is practically ours.’

The barbarian was just barely within their range, but the crossbowmen took aim regardless.

“Fire!”

Dozens of arrows flew.

Whoosh!

Urich pulled the shield hanging from his horse’s flank and blocked the arrows skillfully. He then struck the arrows embedded in the shield with his axe and broke them off.

"Dammit!" the garrison captain cursed.

Urich rode his horse in circles just out of range as if he was teasing the garrison. He then suddenly dismounted, pulled down his trousers, and urinated in the direction of the gate.

"T-that son of a bitch! We need to kill him!"

The agitated voices of the soldiers turned into curses.

Urich shook off every last drop and pulled his trousers back up.

"Hah, you cowards! Is no one going to come out of the walls? Really? And you still call yourselves honorable knights and imperial soldiers? There really isn’t a single man in there who’s willing to clash their weapons against mine?"

The garrison captain suppressed his urge to rush out immediately.

"Should we send out a pursuit squad?" An adjutant asked.

"No, we won’t catch him. We might even get ambushed if we chase him."

At this point, even one trained soldier was too precious to lose. The garrison captain just seethed, staring at Urich.

Urich spat on the ground, mounted his horse, and returned to his camp after thoroughly mocking the imperial army.

"Urich the Plunderer has declared war."

"Are they finally coming…"

Urich's declaration quickly spread within Hamel. Everyone in Hamel from street beggars to noblemen heard Urich's name before the soldiers even announced the news.

"Is it really that barbarian Urich from the jousting tournament?"

"My friend in the imperial army says it's true."

"The fact that we once cheered for that demon…"

"I am sure Lou will protect us."

"You think so? The priests are saying that the plunderers are a punishment from Lou."

"They’re not a punishment, but a trial. A trial we must overcome."

Hamel spent the day in heavy silence. The Sun Temple was completely packed with people coming to pray. There was nearly no place to even take a step in.

Women prepared what might be their last meal. Every household was filled with prayers mixed with sobs. The only ones laughing innocently were the children, who knew nothing.

"As long as we follow our training, there's no reason we can't hold them off."

The garrison captain gathered his adjutants and officers for a long meeting inspecting the walls and supplies without missing anything. The meeting went late into the night, even skipping dinner.

"But he must have something that’s giving him confidence if he is provoking us like that."

The imperial army knew nothing about the western plunderers. This made them even more uneasy. They would have felt much more assured if their enemy was also from civilization.

‘Nobody knows what bizarre tactics they'll use to attack the walls.’

The barbarians often employed strategies and tactics that went beyond the predictions of the civilized. This was possible because of the difference in culture. Even if they were looking at the same thing, different religions and cultures made them perceive it differently.

The moon waned, and the night deepened. The insects of summer chirped away. The westerners were accustomed to the humid night air by now.

"Hamel…"

Urich sat on a hill that was some distance away from the encampment. He stared at Hamel without even a campfire. The city walls were illuminated by soft light even at night, as one would expect from a city as large as Hamel.

Urich's eyes swirled like whirlpools. He had seen much in the civilized world. He learned different values and ways of life from the several influential people he met. His heart burned as if to melt all the things that he had experienced.

Throb.

His heart pounded, almost aching. The imperial capital of Hamel was the epitome of the civilization he admired.

‘Our warriors have never been inside there. Even Samikan died before he could see what kind of place Hamel was.’

The warriors were unaware of Hamel's greatness.

Hamel was backed by mountains, with water flowing from the mountains into the city through canals. That water was distributed throughout the city through spider web-like channels on top of buildings while waste was treated underground, preventing it from mixing with clean water.

‘Even if we capture Hamel, the warriors will mercilessly plunder and destroy it. My brothers will not understand Hamel's greatness. That’s just the way they’ve lived their entire lives.’

Not many warriors had the sensitivity that Urich had. Only a few had the desire to learn about civilization, and they were close to being prophets. The rest were only interested in pleasure and plundering.

"Urich."

Urich wrote his name in the dirt with a stick. He enjoyed learning how to write. He wanted to share this joy with his brothers, but he also knew he wouldn’t be understood by them. A warrior would rather spend time sharpening his axe than learning how to write.

Urich turned his head to gaze into the darkness. Outside the city was dark as if nothing existed.

If civilization was light, barbarism was darkness. Urich didn’t see a future in the world of barbarism. They were too busy killing and plundering each other for survival. The only value in that world was the warrior life.

At some point, Urich stopped seeing the evil spirits. The anxious shadows that were whispering of the afterlife had left him.

"No matter where I go after I die…"

Urich chuckled. He looked at his name written in the dirt.

"People will remember me."

There was no need to be anxious.

Not only his brothers but even the civilized people would remember him.

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