Chapter 28

“Their territory begins here. The mountains and forests hate intruders,” Sven said as he let out a big breath. The extermination party was climbing the mountain, looking for the bandit hideout around the area.

“If we don’t find their hideout before sundown, they’ll hit us again with another night raid.”

The raid last night left three soldiers wounded, and six more had to leave the group to bring them back to the city. Including the dead mercenary, the extermination party had shrunk by ten men.

“There are about thirty bandits. It’s not that many,” Setton said as he called over his adjutant and the mercenaries.

“The bandits have a bunch of good mountain men. If we fool ourselves and think that we outnumber them, they might wipe us out,” Urich said as he chewed on the dried meat. Setton frowned.

“Don’t say anything that could demoralize us.”

“No, I’m serious. I tried to trace their steps in the morning after the raid, but their tracks were completely gone halfway in. I’m a hunter, and I’ve chased wild animals for up to four days and nights. The fact that I lost them means that they know how to utilize the mountain to their advantage,” Urich said calmly.

“So, they’re not some amateur bandits...” Setton pondered as he rested his chin on his fist. If the party returned with too many casualties, the mission would be considered a failure even if they were successful in exterminating the bandits. This was in fact an extermination, not a war. It was the responsibility of the captain of the guards to ensure that he returned to the city without losing any of his men.

“We’re saying that the bandits likely have barbarians and hunters in their group, guard captain. If they were a bunch of starving peasants, they wouldn’t even have thought of attacking us like that,” Donovan said from the background.

“That much I know. It’s hard for us to move unless we know exactly where their hideout is...”

Finding the bandits was proving to be much more difficult than expected. They couldn’t split up the party because that would just leave them prone to more ambushes.

“I’ll look for the hideout; just lend me a few soldiers who are decently agile. Even better if they used to be hunters.”

Setton narrowed his eyes at Urich’s request.

“Are you confident? Didn’t you just say that you couldn’t find them because their tracks disappeared?”

“I mean, I can’t magically make a broken track show up. I’m not the god of hunting, am I? But I do know that the bandits had their fill of fun and that they’ll probably try it again. That’s when I’ll chase them down.”

Setton nodded at Urich’s idea. He selected a few soldiers who were either hunters or just purely athletic to lend to Urich. They seemed terrified of the barbarian.

As the day wore on, the fatigued exterminators set up camp once again, this time with several lookouts around the perimeter to prevent the same less-than-ideal outcome. Urich and the search party had just woken up from sleeping through the day. They wore no armor and only had minimal equipment.

“Mercenary leader, do you think they’ll attack again?” One of Setton’s men asked Urich, who was dusting the blade of his axe with charcoal to mute the reflections.

“They were pretty good mountain climbers. I’m sure they’ll come back for another try since they’ll be confident that even if they fail somehow, they won’t get caught. That’s what I would do, anyway. Oh, and just call me Urich, Jesva.”

Jesva was a hunter before he became a soldier. After growing tired of the precarious life of a hunter, he took the qualification examination to become a city guard and eventually became a soldier of Havilond.

“Alright, Urich,” Jesva answered. He and four other soldiers had been placed under Urich.

“Haha, I never thought I’d be hunting in the mountains here,” Urich grinned. He was excited to be hunting again after a long hiatus, regardless of what it was that he was hunting; an animal or a person. Just the act of chasing something down made his blood boil in excitement—the blood of a hunter was flowing within Urich.

“I too was a hunter once, Urich. Thought I had some talent, as well. Whenever I went up the mountains, I always came back with a catch—no matter how long that took.”

Urich and Jesva conversed. There wasn’t much to do while they waited for the raid, anyway.

“But being a hunter didn’t pay well compared to the risk that came with it, especially with the influx of fur and pelts from the north and south which killed off whatever income I had left coming in. And I had just gotten married too, so I knew I had to do something. I needed a consistent income to feed my wife and kids.”

Jesva vented, to which Urich paid all his attention.

“Why did all that fur and pelt come in from the south and the north?”

“As the Empire’s conquests stabilized, the barbarians became more and more civilized—you probably know more about this than I do, don’t you? Anyway, there were many excellent hunters among the barbarians, and they exported their product to the Empire through the merchants.”

“Ah, I see!” Urich chimed in. Jesva shrugged and continued.

“That’s when I heard about the guard recruitment in Havilond, and the rest is history. Life as a soldier is quite good in Havilond, especially compared to the surrounding territories and cities. They treat us well and we never have to worry about making ends meet. On top of that, my wife is now pregnant with our third, and she’ll soon...”

Urich clamped his hand over Jesva’s mouth.

“Shush,”

“A-are the enemies here?”

Urich shook his head.

“People who talk about their families in situations like this always die in battle—at least in my experience.”

Urich was right. Jesva nodded in agreement.

“Then I probably shouldn’t talk about my family anymore. I wouldn’t want to bring any bad luck before our hunt, haha,” Jesva laughed.

‘I was worried about him being a barbarian, but now that we’re talking like this, I think we’re getting along just fine.’

The mood lightened. Jesva was actually frightened of Urich at first after seeing him pummel two of the soldiers with his bare hands like they were just a couple of animals.

‘He’s not that violent at all, and he seems quite young, too. He’s also a good listener as well.’

Jesva now believed that this hunting mission was going to go swell with Urich. They had developed a bond through their chatter. A bond between allies was a crucial component in the success of a mission. Urich and Jesva were both aware of that.

“They’re here!”

Buuuup!

The lookout blew the signal trumpet. Unlike the first night, the soldiers already had their shields prepared by their side or were already taking cover as they rested. No one was blindsided by the raid this time.

“Which way is it? Throw the torches!” The exterminators shouted as they searched the area. The bandits, who hadn’t achieved anything from this raid, scurried away without much regret. They didn’t come with much expectation in the first place.

“Let’s go, my friends.”

Urich and the soldiers chased after the bandits. They maintained their distance as they followed the track of their prey. Thanks to the soldiers all being quite athletic, they were able to pursue the bandits relentlessly.

“Huff, huff.”

As time passed, the soldiers’ breathing grew rougher while the bandits only got faster.

‘Their stamina is unusually good for a bunch of bandits,’

Urich glanced at the soldiers. It was going to be difficult to drag them along and chase down the bandits at the same time. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Take your time. I’ll snap the branches on the way to keep you on track,” Urich said.

Jesva’s eyes widened as Urich’s stride became larger. He overtook the soldiers in the blink of an eye.

‘And here I was thinking that I was a good climber... He’s basically an animal—a wolf.’

Urich kept his footsteps concealed as he closed in on the bandits without wasting any time.

Crunch.

During his pursuit, he snapped the tree branches with a leather sheet wrapped around them to muffle their snaps.

‘They’re as fit as our warriors back in the tribe.’

Urich felt like something was off. Civilized people were weak compared to his tribesmen. It was strange that some bandits would have such high physical abilities.

‘No one would have been able to follow them other than me.’

Urich hopped from rock to rock. The bandit hideout seemed to be in a more rugged place than he’d imagined.

Shhhh.

A chill went down Urich’s spine and his hair twitched.

Thwip.

Urich hopped down to the rock below him. Some of his hair had been sliced off.

“You dodged that well,” the man who attacked Urich said to him. His entire upper body was covered in strange tattoos.

“You knew that I was following you?” Urich asked as he drew his axes.

“I felt an itch on the back of my head, so I knew I was being followed.”

The man with the tattoos was holding a scimitar, a weapon that Urich had never seen before.

‘I have to kill him quick.’

Urich was at a disadvantage. There was a good chance that anyone who joined their standoff right now would be an enemy, not an ally. The bandit hideout could be nearby.

Clank.

Urich lightly clashed his axes and darted forward with the sound as the signal. The double axes were Urich’s specialty. He used his brute strength to relentlessly attack his enemy.

Clink! Clank!

The metal weapons clashed and released embers that briefly lit up the surroundings. The man’s tattoo showed more clearly in the light.

‘A snake?’

The man’s tattoo was of a snake that was wrapping his entire body.

“Hmph!”

Urich poured his strength into his arms and swung the axes with all his might.

Clank!

The barbaric strength of Urich was enough to knock the scimitar back.

Sling!

His second axe slashed deeply into the tattooed man’s neck.

“Keugh, gurgle.”

The man fell to the ground, clasping his bleeding neck. He looked up at Urich in disbelief.

“I’m pretty strong.”

Urich shrugged and grabbed the man by the hair before bringing his axe down on the nape of his neck.

“Aw man, that ruined my blade,” Urich whined as he looked at his ruined axe. It wasn’t able to withstand the impact of his strength against the scimitar.

‘The imperial steel really is the best for weapons.’

He regretted leaving his imperial steel sword behind thinking that it was only going to bother him. A blade forged with imperial steel would have been fine even after a battle like this, and that was the reason why they were so sought after among all warriors. They were indeed very expensive and hard to come by, but they were worth every cil.

“We finally caught up to you.” Jesva and the other trackers caught up to Urich.

“That’s the symbol of Serpentism. He must be a southern barbarian,” one of the soldiers said after seeing the snake tattoo on the dead man.

“Serpentism?” Urich repeated.

“It’s a nasty southern religion that uses children as a sacrifice. They’re not just heretics, they’re a cult. Even most southerners frown upon them. They are disgusting people,” the soldier said and spat on the tattooed man’s corpse. The people of civilization usually accepted other heretic religions, but Serpentism was despised.

Shh, shh.

Urich felt yet another twitch in his hair.

‘These guys are serious.’

Several more men in the same snake tattoo suddenly surrounded Urich and the trackers. Urich couldn’t detect their presence until they had already gotten too close. They saw their comrade’s body on the ground and frowned.

“Haha, so you have comradery, too?” Urich forced a laugh. There were more than ten of them.

“W-when did they surround us?” Jesva was startled and drew his sword. There were only five of them: Urich, three trackers, and himself. They were up against more than double their number.

“Blow the trumpet, Jesva. We have no choice but to hold on until the support arrives.”

Jesva took out the trumpet and put it against his lips. Just as he was about to blow the signal, blood spouted from his chest.

‘An arrow.’

Bandits with arrows emerged from the bushes. They were part of the bandit group, although they were missing the snake tattoo.

‘So, it’s about twenty, now.’

Urich supported the dying Jesva with his shoulder as he scanned the increased enemies.

Jesva coughed up the blood that was drowning his airway.

“See, I told you people end up dying after talking about their families right before a battle,” Urich showed a bitter grin. Jesva was already as good as dead, so Urich used his dying body as a shield. The archers couldn’t get a clear shot on him.

“Ah, ugh.”

The soldiers who came on the tracking mission were trembling in fear. Being surrounded was only amplifying their sense of panic.

“Shout as loud as you can as you fight. We need to signal our men.”

Urich took a look at the surroundings. The only advantage he could see was the darkness of the forest.

‘Huh, so there really is a chance that I might die here.’

The corners of his mouth twitched. He took a deep breath in and let it out.

“AHHHHHHH—!”

Urich roared. His thunderous voice echoed across the mountain. There was no need for a trumpet. The echo of the mountain repeated his roar.

Urich had fought in many tribal wars, and he didn’t always come out as the winner. There were times when he had to retreat, and there were many times when he was at a disadvantage. The deaths of his brothers taught him how to survive on the battlefield.

He backed away slowly, weaving through the trees. At this point, he couldn’t afford to look after the other soldiers. Keeping himself alive was a hard enough task.

“Come at me, and I’ll cut off the head of the first one who does,” Urich threatened the bandits as he bared his teeth. His intimidation was enough to make the tattooed men hesitate for a moment.

All the odds were stacked against him, but at least time was on Urich’s side. The rest of the army was surely on their way after hearing Urich’s roar. The bandits were the ones under a time constraint. They charged toward Urich and the soldiers.

Urich grasped the two axes in his hands and looked at the charging enemies.

‘What happens if I die here? Where would my soul go? Would I really become an evil spirit?’

He laughed at the absurdity of his own thought.