Barbarian Quest

Chapter 31: Prince of the Sea

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Along the coastline of the eastern end of the continent was the Porcana Kingdom. Like all others, Porcana was also a vassal of the Empire.

“The... sea...?” Urich’s eyes widened. He collapsed on the ground and froze. The moment he climbed to the top of the hill, he finally saw the culprit of the cool breeze and fishy smell that he had been sensing for quite some time now.

Squawk, squawk.

The seagulls squawked away. Urich stared blankly at the horizon.

“Get up, you hillbilly,” Bachman said as he rubbed the bridge of this nose. He finally got to show Urich the ocean that he had been talking about for so long.

“Ahh, the sea. It has been a while,” Sven said as he took a big breath in and sniffed the smell of the ocean. There were many seamen among the northerners as they inhabited the coastlines of their land.

“Ah, so this is the sea?” Urich was stunned.

‘The water really is as endless as the plains.’

It was fascinating, yet frightening.

“Come on, let’s start heading down. Saltwater fish are quite delicious when they’re grilled. It’ll be my treat.”

Bachman pulled Urich up. He glanced at the solar pendant that was hanging by Urich’s neck.

‘Urich is a believer of Solarism now.’

The fact that their leader was now a part of their religion was significant news for Bachman and the other mercenaries. It gave them an extra sense of comradery and relief.

‘Now, we don’t have to worry about Lou’s wrath for following a pagan leader.’

Two months had passed since Urich’s baptism. Since then, the mercenary squad had taken on and completed three more jobs as they moved further east.

“All the way from the city of Ankaira at the foot of the Sky Mountains to the eastern coastline. We crossed the continent this year, too,” Bachman remarked. Back when they were gladiators under Horus, crossing the continent was an annual occurrence.

Clunk.

Each mercenary was carrying a hefty load. Every time they took a step, a heavy clunking noise of metal followed.

“Soldiers?”

The citizens who had come out to the outskirts of the city were startled at the sight of Urich’s mercenary squad. They had grown to forty-six men, which was enough to deal with almost any conflicts and battles, or even loot a small village—if they wanted to.

“Hey, are they not worried about building a city in a place like this? What are they going to do when the ocean rises from heavy rain? Won’t the city get flooded?”

Urich’s words made the mercenaries break out in laughter.

“Hah, listen to how considerate our leader is. You think the ocean’s going to flood because of some rain?”

“The ocean never rises enough to put a whole city underwater. Well, I guess there’s the heavy tide when there’s a storm, but still.”

The embarrassed Urich got up from his seat and sniffed the ocean breeze. It was a smell that he had never smelled before, so new that he couldn’t find an appropriate comparison.

‘It’s the smell of the ocean; nothing compares. Something that my brothers on the other side of the mountains have never experienced.’

Clunk.

The heavy packs rattled as the mercenaries shifted. Urich’s Brotherhood saw a big growth in their combat power. Their equipment had improved to the level of an average standing army, and a few experienced mercenaries had joined their squad after hearing about their achievements.

‘There’s Sven and the northerners, as well.’

Sven saved every cil of his earnings and spent it on freeing his northern brothers. He had rescued three northerners so far, bringing the count within the squad to four.

“Stop right there!”

The soldiers of the wall stopped the mercenaries at the gate. The captain of the guards emerged, staring at them.

“What brings you to our city?”

“We are mercenaries. We’re here to look for a job.”

“Hah, here? Jobs for mercenaries? We are the coastal city of Caracan.”

The guard captain laughed. Coastal cities rarely had any jobs for a mercenary squad. In fact, the only reason why Urich’s Brotherhood made their way to a coastal city was to satisfy Urich’s desire to see the ocean. However, that also reflected Urich’s authority within the squad as its leader who was strong enough to convince the mercenaries to come to a city where work was scarce.

“Only ten men can enter the city at a time. The rest of you can set up your camp at the bottom of the hill outside the castle walls. We’ll be keeping our eyes on you,” said the captain of the guards. It wasn’t easy for a smaller city like Caracan to let a mercenary squad of forty men enter through their gates.

“Dammit, we came all the way to the city and we still have to camp? This is why I don’t like small cities.”

“What can we do, man. Urich really wanted to see the ocean.”

“Actually, I’ve never seen the ocean myself.”

“Huh? You’re a hillbilly like our leader too?

The mercenaries bantered away. The guard captain got a decent understanding of what he was dealing with here.

‘They’re tourists.’

Tourism was a big part of the Porcana Kingdom. The kingdom was a famous vacation spot that attracted many nobles every summer.

“Does your squad have a name? Tell me, so I can put it down on the guest log,” the captain of the guards asked as he grabbed the quill, assuming that Urich was illiterate based on his appearance. Dressed in fur instead of clothes, it wasn’t wrong to assume that he was an uneducated warrior.

“Nah, I’ll write it myself.”

“L-let me go! Who do you think you are, how dare you!”

“Dare this, dare that, no one who had spoken like that to me had ever gone home with all their bones intact.”

Urich threw the young man into the ocean. It was his superhuman strength again; though this time it was a young man on the leaner side.

Splash!

The thrown man’s face showed how stunned he was in the water. His face soon became red hot with anger.

“You bastard!”

The man drew a short dagger from his belt. It was a dagger for self-defence, only just as long as his forearm.

“What is that? Why do you have such a girly dagger?” Urich asked as he reached for his sword behind his back.

Cliiiing—!

The sword forged with imperial steel was drawn with an eerie sound. Its sense of power was on a different level than a mere self-defence dagger.

“This is what you’d call a real sword.”

Urich’s sword was a murderous one that had been feeding on the blood of the men it had been slaying. Its blade showed the remnants of real battles.

“A-ah...”

The young man was intimidated. Even the nobility of status meant nothing special before death.

‘Lou does not discriminate between the high and the low of the human world.’

The words flashed through the young man’s mind.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing!” A middle-aged man yelled from afar. He ran toward Urich with an enraged look.

Clank!

His sword aimed for Urich’s neck. Urich easily parried the attack by raising his blade.

Clink! Clank!

The swords clashed repeatedly. Urich glared at the middle-aged man.

“Are you this kid’s guardian? Get a hold of your kid,” Urich said as he bit his lip.

“You raghead, coming from out of nowhere!” The middle-aged man was still furious.

‘Hah, how pathetic.’

Urich had multiple chances to kill the man.

‘Murder is a serious accident here.’

The old Urich would have already chopped both men into pieces without much thought and carried on with his day, but now he had learned the rules of the civilized society.

“If only the guard captain...”

Urich kicked the shin of the middle-aged man, who collapsed on the ground face-first.

“...hadn’t told me not to do anything stupid, I would have killed you a long time ago.”

Urich put the blade of his sword against the neck of the man on the ground, then withdrew it.

“Youuuuu! You shall be punished. How dare you lay your hands on this man! Oh, my young master!”

Even after losing, the middle-aged man kept talking. He rushed to the young man and helped him up.

“Man... these civilized people...” Urich sighed as he put his sword away. The middle-aged man relentlessly cursed at him until he was out of his sight. It seemed like he was properly angry.

“Hmph, I should probably get going.”

Urich asked the people on the streets for directions to the red-light district. A few of the mercenaries were leaving the establishments after getting their needs taken care of.

“Hey, leader! The women here are pretty tasty, although they do taste a bit fishy, hehehe.”

“Pff, go get the other guys. Their dicks are probably throbbing from staying hard for so long.”

Urich bumped fists with the other mercenaries and walked into a brothel. After getting his fill of women, he returned to the camp by sundown.

“What’s for dinner?” Urich asked as he entered the campground.

“That’s not important. Get inside, there’s a job for us,” the mercenary on lookout duty told Urich. Urich shrugged.

“Work, already?”

He entered the tent where Donovan and Bachman were talking to the client.

“Eh?”

“Y-you!”

Urich and the client both widened their eyes after seeing each other’s faces. It was the middle-aged man who was nearly killed by Urich on the beach. He stared at Urich as he trembled in anger.

“Hey, hey, relax, now. I am Urich, the leader of Urich’s Brotherhood.”

Urich couldn’t contain his chuckle. He took a seat at the table with a big grin on his face.

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