Barbarian Quest

The night was dark, with the sun not yet risen. Despite the hours, there was a commotion on the streets of Hamel.

Standing in the bustling streets was Emperor Yanchinus. The citizens of Hamel, seeing the army moving, stayed inside their homes.

Boooom!

A ground-shaking explosion sounded. Soldiers were rolling barrels filled with flame oil here and there.

"This way! They're coming this way! Get in!"

Soldiers descended into the sewers, moving the barrels.

"They really did sneak in through the sewers as Your Majesty predicted. Without your foresight, this could have been devastating."

The defense captain marveled at the emperor’s insight. No one had anticipated that the barbarians would choose the sewers as their infiltration route.

"Do not let them escape alive. Their leader is probably with them."

‘Urich isn't the type to send others to do this kind of thing.’

Yanchinus curled his lips in a smile. He had brought out all the flame oil the Empire had stored for this defense maneuver.

‘I don’t care how much flame oil we use as long as I can capture Urich here.’

The soldiers descended into the sections of the sewers that had been subdued and brought good news to the surface shortly after.

"The waterways are littered with the charred corpses of the barbarians!"

The Imperial Army's morale soared upon the confirmation that the emperor’s foresight had paid off.

"Lou is watching over us! The barbarians will never dare to covet Hamel again!" The knights shouted.

"Things are completely different with His Majesty with us. Who else could sweep away the barbarians so easily?”

"Without their sneaky ambushes, they’re nothing to be afraid of."

The soldiers entered the heated sewers and brought the charred corpses to the surface. Even while looking at the gruesome bodies, the soldiers were grinning.

"Hup."

A soldier grabbed a corpse by the armpits and dragged it.

Schring.

The barbarian, who was thought to be dead, moved. With his excellent skills, he snatched the soldier's sword and swung it.

"Geugh!"

The soldier fell with a bubbling breath as his throat was slit open.

"Kaaaah!”

The roaring warrior had one of his pupils shriveled from the burns, which made him look more like a monster than a human.

"H-he's still alive?"

The startled soldiers drew their weapons to kill the barbarian.

"Do not kill him, capture him alive!" The knight in charge shouted. The soldiers brought hooks to catch the warrior by the neck and dragged him.

Thud! Thud!

The soldiers mercilessly beat the warrior with clubs.

"Ke, keke."

The warrior laughed, spitting blood. Knowing he wouldn't survive with the injuries anyway, he lunged, hoping to take at least one more enemy down with him.

"Our Great Chief Urich will tear you all apart! He will avenge his brothers!"

The knight flinched at the mention of Urich. The soldiers tried to capture the warrior alive but had to kill him due to his fierce resistance. The warriors fell to his knees after being stabbed in the stomach by the soldiers coming from all sides.

"Looks like Urich is really here," the knight muttered, pushing the dead warrior over with his foot.

The soldiers retrieved over a hundred dead bodies from the sewers and brought them to the surface.

Murmur, murmur.

The people who were hiding in their homes with their doors locked opened their windows to see the barbarian corpses and clapped and cheered upon seeing the charred barbarians.

"Hooray! Long live the emperor!"

"Hamel will never fall to the barbarians!"

The still-dark city became lively. Seeing hope, the people stopped trembling in fear and came outside.

"Seal off the sewer passageways and go after them."

Yanchinus ordered the knights and returned to the palace. There was no escape from the sewers.

‘Urich, you made a foolish decision.’

Yanchinus felt his superiority and smiled with satisfaction. He had outsmarted Urich the barbarian and had this victory to show for it.

‘The sewers are a good infiltration route for sure, but if the enemy sees you coming, it's like walking into a bear’s den.’

* * *

The gates of Hamel did not open even at the promised dawn while the warriors on reconnaissance desperately waited as they watched the gates.

Creak.

The gates finally opened, though briefly, and closed after a few carts came rolling out.

Rattle, rattle.

Slaves pulled the carts straight toward the Porcana-Alliance army. Commanders and knights quickly gathered.

"Look at this!"

The knights of Porcana pushed the slaves aside and lifted the cloth covering the carts. A foul stench spread everywhere, causing those with weak stomachs to turn their heads and vomit.

"They failed."

"Urich and the warriors lost."

The carts that came from Hamel were filled with the corpses of the Alliance warriors. Headless bodies filled one cart, and severed heads were piled high in another.

Varca looked at the carts with trembling eyes.

"Ah, aah."

People were horrified, and then they saw atop the walls of the imperial city a blackened, charred corpse impaled on a stake.

A slave who had pulled the cart handed a letter to Varca that contained the empire's warning along with the message that they had massacred Urich and the warriors.

"I-is that charred corpse supposed to be Urich?"

There was no way to identify the burnt corpse.

The Porcana-Alliance army fell into chaos upon seeing that Urich and the warriors had failed and returned as corpses. The failure was one thing, but the death of Great Chief Urich was a major blow.

"Is Urich dead?"

"The Great Chief has ascended to the heavens!"

"That can't be true. This is bullshit!"

"So this is how it ends. Urich has incurred the wrath of the heavens. He didn’t have their blessings for the final battle."

"Shut your mouth!"

Conflicts arose among the warriors. The Alliance that was held together by Urich as a unifying force was on the verge of crumbling to pieces. The chiefs, watching each other, gathered their close aides and held separate meetings.

"U…rich? Did you really die?"

Varca’s eyes alternated between the carts and the letter as he felt like he was about to collapse. Then, his legs trembled and gave way.

"Your Highness!"

The knights supported Varca. The death of Urich was a severe shock to him as well.

‘You always came back in the end. Are you really dead?’

Varca knew he needed to come up with a new plan, but he couldn’t think properly with the image of Urich still lingering in his mind.

"Take care of His Highness!"

Varca was helped into his tent by the knights. He drank the water a servant offered, panting heavily. His heart was still pounding.

"Did you actually die?"

Varca leaned back and covered his face with both hands.

‘You are not someone who would die so meaninglessly.’

Everyone knew that the sewer infiltration was a dangerous mission. It was a risky move that could result in the annihilation of the unit even if they successfully opened the gates, but no one had opposed it when Urich said he would do it himself.

‘They all thought Urich could do it... and so did I.’

It was due to their absolute trust in Urich. Deep down, everyone was certain that Urich would naturally succeed.

‘I should have stopped you. When you said you'd go on such a dangerous mission, I should have done whatever it took to stop you.’

Varca suppressed his rising emotions.

Duke Lungell, having heard the news, came running into the tent.

"I heard they got Urich! Who will keep the barbarians in line now?"

Urich was not just a Great Chief. He was the sole link between the Alliance Army and the civilized army.

His powerful presence was the only thing that mediated and allowed the two armies from two completely different cultures to coexist. Without Urich, the Alliance was meaningless.

"They are illiterate fools! There is no way they honor the alliance treaty now that Urich is gone," Duke Lungell ranted, but he wasn't wrong.

The Alliance was still just a tribal army without the framework of a state, and it wasn’t completely wrong to consider them a large band of bandits. Porcana had invested in the Western Alliance, expecting it to settle into a state.

"W-we can't be certain that Urich is dead yet. Who can say for sure that the corpse hanging on the gate is actually Urich?"

"Even if that corpse isn't Urich, the reality is that the sewer infiltration failed! Your Highness, we have no way to attack Hamel now!"

The situation was dire. The Alliance Army, having lost its leader overnight, could revert to a mere collection of barbarian tribes. The death of a great leader had that much impact.

The Porcana-Alliance army had to make a new decision. Should they continue the fight, or admit defeat and retreat?

* * *

The Alliance was on the verge of crumbling. While Urich's death wasn't certain, the chances of him returning alive were extremely low. Above all, a leader was needed to fill the void of the Great Chief.

The first name mentioned was Belrua, the chief of the Red Sand Tribe.

“Belrua? Are you suggesting we follow a woman?”

“But in terms of power, there's no one more suitable to be the interim Great Chief than Belrua. In fact, Urich entrusted her with full authority before heading to Hamel.”

Without Samikan and Urich, Belrua was the next in line for power in the Alliance.

‘I can’t tell if this is an opportunity or a misfortune.’

Belrua immediately summoned the chiefs. Normally, it wouldn’t take long for them to fall in, but the chiefs delayed their response while they calculated their own benefits. Each tribe set their internal policies based on their interests before attending the tribal council.

“We must also genuinely consider the possibility that Great Chief Urich is dead.”

Belrua started the discussion, looking at the chiefs.

“There is simply no way the Son of the Earth is dead. Watch your mouth with those blasphemous words.”

“Even the Son of the Earth can die if he incurs the wrath of the heavens. This happened all because he pushed Six-Fingered away and embraced the gods of civilization. He dug his own grave, really.”

“Watch your mouth!”

The Alliance always had diverse factions. While Samikan held the Alliance together with schemes and strategies, Urich unified the tribes through his achievements and sanctity.

‘What do I have that can bind the Alliance together?’

Belrua asked herself but found no answer. Both Samikan and Urich had the capability to lead the Alliance.

“Until we confirm the death of the Great Chief, we must act cautiously. We also have our alliance with Porcana to worry about.”

“Porcana? What alliance with those cowards? We never needed them in the first place.”

“It’s an alliance made directly by the Great Chief, so we must respect it. Isn’t that right, Belrua?”

The chiefs looked at Belrua, who nodded in agreement.

“We need to send people to the Porcana side to emphasize that our alliance is still intact, though they might not believe us now that Urich is gone. He was the symbol of our trust.”

Belrua summoned a warrior who spoke the language of the civilized world and a civilized mercenary to convey friendly words to the leaders of Porcana.

‘We have to maintain the alliance with Porcana. If the Porcana army isn’t here when Urich returns, it would truly be the end.’

Belrua looked at the chiefs. The number of attendees at the tribal council gradually increased as more chiefs, who had arrived only after they had determined their policies, took their seats.

“Does anyone here really think Urich is dead? Is the Great Chief Urich you know someone who would die so easily?”

“B-but isn’t it true that the Great Chief has recently defied the will of the heavens?”

“I still don’t believe the Great Chief is dead. That monstrous man wouldn’t just die like this. I’ve seen him move around perfectly fine after being struck by lightning with my very own eyes.”

Several chiefs nodded in agreement. They pounded their knees and shouted that Urich was still alive.

“If that’s the case, let’s call our priest to divine the fate of the Great Chief, as well as the fate of our Alliance.”

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