Chapter 31
Barbarian Quest
Chapter 31 – Prince of the Sea (1)
The Forlcana Kingdom was located at the eastern coastline of the continent. It, like all other kingdoms, was a vassal state of the Empire.
“That’s the sea…?”
Urich’s eyes widened. He sat down the moment he crossed over the hill. He finally discovered the root of the fishy smell and salty breeze.
Squawk, squawk.
The seagulls were crying as Urich blankly gazed at the horizon.
“Hey, bumpkin. Get up already.”
Bakman spoke while lifting his chin with pride. He finally showed Urich the sea.
“Ohhh, it’s been a while since I’ve been to the sea. How long has it been?”
Sven also took in a deep breath and smelled the ocean breeze. Since Northerners often lived near the coastline, there were a lot of seamen amongst them.
“S-So this is the sea?”
Urich was mind blown.
‘Water really endlessly fills up the horizon.’
He thought it was amazing, but he was also terrified by it.
“Let’s go back down. The fish from the sea taste pretty good when it’s grilled. I’ll pay for it.”
Bakman lifted Urich and put him on his feet. He looked at the sun pendant that was dangling on their leader’s neck.
‘Urich is now also a believer in Sol.’
It was an important change for Bakman and the other mercenaries. They felt a huge sense of kinship and relief from the fact that their leader also believed in the same religion as them.
‘Now, we don’t have to worry about receiving Ru’s hatred. Because our leader isn’t a pagan anymore.’
It had been two months since Urich’s baptism. During that time, they had continuously moved east while taking on three more requests.
“From Ankara, a city at the base of the Sky Mountain Range, all the way to the eastern coastline. We crossed the continent again this year as well,” said Bakman.
During his time as a gladiator for the Horus Gladiator Troupe, they would travel across the continent each year.
Clunk.
The mercenaries were each carrying heavy luggage. Every time they moved, iron clanged against each other.
“Mercenaries?”
The people at the outskirts of the city were surprised by the sight of the mercenary group. Urich’s Brothers had 46 members. There were enough members to participate in most conflicts or battles. If they felt like it, they could easily pillage a town.
“But why would they construct a city here? Are they not scared? What will they do if the city submerges because the sea overflows when it rains?”
As Urich spoke, the mercenaries were grabbing their stomachs and laughing.
“Man, our leader… He’s such a benevolent man. Worrying about them and everything. The sea is going to overflow because of the rain?”
“Well, there might be tsunamis because of a hurricane, but there’s no chance of the city submerging because the sea overflowed.”
Urich awkwardly stood up and breathed in the ocean breeze. It was the first time he had smelled something like it. There was nothing to compare it to.
‘It’s just the smell of the sea. The sea that my brothers beyond the mountain range haven’t seen.’
Clunk.
As the mercenaries moved, the luggage bobbed up and down. The combat power of Urich’s Brothers went up quite a bit. Their equipment was passable as a militia, and experienced mercenaries—who heard rumors of the group—came to join them.
‘We have Sven and the Northerners too.’
Sven saved up all of the money he earned to use it on freeing his brothers. He had freed three Northerners up to now, and there were currently a total of four Northerners—including Sven—in the mercenary group.
“Halt!”
Soldiers blocked the group in front of the city gates.
The captain came out and looked at Urich and his mercenary group.
“What brings you here?”
“We’re mercenaries. We came to find work.”
“Huuuh? Karacan is a coastal city. Why would mercenaries come here for work?”
The captain laughed. There weren’t a lot of jobs for mercenaries in a coastal city.
The reason that the mercenary group came to a coastal city was purely because of Urich’s stubbornness. They came all the way here solely because of his resolve to see the sea. He had unwavering support from within the mercenary group—enough for them to follow him to a coastal city where there was little work to do.
“Only ten of you may enter the city at a time. The rest of you can camp at the base of a hill outside the city gates. We will always be watching you,” said the captain.
Because Karacan wasn’t a large city, they weren’t able to let a mercenary group with over forty mercenaries enter all at once.
“Fuck. We have to sleep outdoors right in front of a city? I knew small cities weren’t the correct choice.”
“What can you do? Urich said that he really wanted to see the sea.”
“But you know, it’s also my first time seeing it.”
“What? You were a bumpkin like our leader?”
The mercenaries were fighting at the back. The captain, who heard that, quickly understood what was going on.
‘So they came here as tourists.’
Tourism was a huge business in the Forlcana Kingdom. The kingdom was a famous vacation spot that many nobles would visit there during the summer.
“Does your mercenary group have a name? If you just tell me the name, I’ll write it down on the register.”
The captain obviously thought that Urich wouldn’t know how to write and held onto his quill. He, who wore pelts instead of clothing, looked like an ignorant warrior to everyone.
“No, I’ll write it myself.”
Fsss.
Urich grabbed the captain’s quill and took it. He wrote down words on the register. It was sloppy handwriting, as if a child wrote it, but it was written clearly and correctly. Anyone could tell what was written.
“‘Urich’s Brothers’?”
The captain then remembered the name ‘Urich’. He had heard the bards singing their sagas while walking around. They would say that it was a new song.
“You know us?”
Urich gave a prideful laugh after writing down all of the letters. He was proud of himself for learning how to write the mercenary group’s name.
“I have heard the bards’ singing before. How did it start? Ahem, ahem. Molando fief in danger! Strong enemies!”
The captain cleared up his voice and then cheerfully shouted. The mercenaries, full of mischief, followed along behind him.
“Valiant and heroic mercenaries of 24 that suddenly appeared! Ho!”
“They faced and fearlessly charged at the hundred Silver Lion Mercenarieeeeeees!”
The mercenaries hit their knees and stomachs, laughing as they sang the song.
“I once dreamt of becoming a bard. Your mercenary group’s number has gotten bigger. I heard that there were just 24 people. Anyways, don’t cause any trouble inside.”
The captain allowed them to enter.
The mercenaries played Rock Paper Scissors to decide who would be the first ten to enter.
“Haha, I’ve been lucky ever since I was baptized. You shouldn’t doubt gods,” said Urich after winning his match.
Ten mercenaries, including him, went into the city first while those who remained prepared camp.
The moment they entered the city, they ran towards the brothel. It had been around a month since they last embraced a woman, and they were desperate. The majority of the money that they earned by putting their lives on the line evaporated at the establishment.
“So this is the sea.”
Urich walked towards the harbor. It had an unfamiliar, fishy smell.
Step, step.
He walked along the coast, and past the harbor was a sandy beach.
Shhhhhhh.
Urich watched as the grains of sand fell through the gaps between his fingers.
“Kyahahaha.”
SPLOOSH!
Children were running around, playing in the water and on the shore. Urich stared into the horizon again.
“So an open sea without land really exists. As expected, Bakman didn’t lie.”
He saw with his own eyes what he was skeptical of. No matter how many times he heard what the sea was like, he couldn’t picture it.
‘Just seeing it once is enough. Explaining it hundreds, thousands of times… It’s pointless.’
His hands naturally formed into a fist. His eyes were chasing the horizon.
Right now, Urich didn’t care about embracing a woman. He felt his emotions burst out of his chest as he looked at the endless body of water.
“UWOOOOOOOH! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”
Veins came up on Urich’s face. He yelled as if he were squeezing every ounce of strength out of his muscles. The children who were playing in the sand were startled and looked at him.
“Wh-What? What’s with that psycho?”
The people who were passing by also murmured while glancing at Urich.
“The sea is amazing.”
The mercenary leader spoke while spreading his arms. No matter how wide he spread them, he couldn’t contain it all.
‘Sky, land, and sea.’
All of these are things that people couldn’t put into their arms. Humans are unable to fathom its end.
“Haha.”
His voice was hoarse from all the screaming. He walked into the water and lowered his head.
‘Since it’s water, I can drink it, right?’
It seemed like clean water since the children were playing in it.
Urich gathered his hands to capture the water and drank it.
Gulp.
“Uweeck. What is this? It’s salty. The taste is so…”
He scowled as he stuck out his tongue.
“Wahaha.”
He then heard a clear voice behind him.
A well-dressed boy was standing behind him, laughing. A youth’s characteristic childishness lingered on his face. He had heard Urich’s roar and saw him drinking the seawater.
“You can’t drink it. You don’t even know that? Where did you come from? Looking at what you’re wearing, you’re probably from a faraway place. No one in Forlcana wears fur like that.”
The boy spoke continuously. His blue eyes stood out, looking as if he had jewels for eyes.
“Shut it. Do you want me to hit you?”
Urich spat out abusive words as if to relieve his bad mood. The boy flinched.
“Well, you don’t know who I am. But be careful with your words. I am someone of high status.”
The boy spoke pridefully while acting calm.
“Would anyone know if your status is high or low if you drown in the sea?”
Urich lumbered over to the boy and grabbed his collar.
“U-Unhand me! How dare you! Do you know who I am?!”
“There hasn’t been one bastard that returned safely after saying some bullshit like ‘How dare you’.”
Urich threw the young boy into the sea. The boy had a slim build, but it was Urich’s strength that allowed him to throw the boy with one hand.
Plonk!
The boy had a stunned look while in the water. Soon, his face was red with anger.
“This bastard!”
The boy pulled out a short sword from his waist. It was a sword about the length of a forearm made for self-defense.
“What? Why pull out a sword that some bitch might use?”
Urich slowly reached behind his back.
Kiiiing!
The imperial steel sword let out a chilling sound as it was pulled out. It had a different sense of intimidation than the boy’s sword.
“A real sword… is something like this.”
Urich’s sword was a murderer’s sword that had drunk human blood while actually cutting people. There were even visible traces of actual combat on it.
“A-Ahhh.”
The boy was overwhelmed. Even nobility and one’s rank were equal in front of death.
‘Ru doesn’t discern between who is of high and low status in our world.’
The boy instinctively thought that.
“What are you doing right now?!”
A middle-aged man shouted from a distance. He charged toward Urich with an enraged expression.
CLANG!
His sword aimed for the mercenary leader’s neck. Urich lightly lifted his blade to protect it.
CLANG! CLANG!
Their swords clashed against each other multiple times. Urich glared at the middle-aged man.
“Are you this brat’s guardian? Take care of him better.”
Urich spoke while twisting his lips.
“This damned insignificant beggar!”
The middle-aged man was still in a fit of rage.
‘Haaah, how pathetic.’
Urich had multiple opportunities to kill him.
‘But killing would be a huge mistake.’
If it were the old Urich, he would have already cut down both the man and child then went his merry way. But now, he had grasped the basics of how to behave in a civilized society.
“The captain…”
Urich kicked the middle-aged man’s shins. The man fell down to the ground, chin first.
“…If he hadn’t told me to not cause trouble, you guys would have already been dead.”
Urich put the blade of his sword against the man’s neck then pulled it away.
“You bastarrrrrd! You will receive divine punishment! How dare you lay your hands on him?! Arghhh, young master!”
Even though the man had lost, his mouth kept blabbering. The man then ran toward the child to support him.
“These civilized… Haaah.”
Urich put away his sword and held his tongue.
The middle-aged man spat out all sorts of curses at him until he couldn’t see Urich anymore. It looked like he was really pissed.
“Ahhh, should I also go now?”
Urich found the brothels by asking people while walking around. The mercenaries already finished their deeds and were on their way out.
“Oi, leader. The women here are quite nice. They taste a bit fishy, though. Haha.”
“Just go switch out with the guys back at the camp. It’s probably packed with guys who are waiting all stiff.”
Urich bumped fists with the mercenaries to say goodbye before entering the brothel. He was also filled with libido and only returned to the camp after dark.
“So, what’s for dinner today?” asked Urich after entering the mercenary camp.
“Before that, go inside. We have work.”
A mercenary, who was standing guard, was the one to inform him. Urich shrugged his shoulders.
“Did work come in already?”
He entered the tent where Bakman and Donovan were speaking with the client.
“Huh?”
“Y-You bastard! You’re—!”
Urich and the client both had wide eyes after seeing each other.
It was the middle-aged man who almost died to Urich at the beach earlier. He was shaking with anger while looking at the mercenary leader.
“Whoa, whoa, calm down. I’m Urich. I’m the leader of Urich’s Brothers.”
He couldn’t stop his laugh, cackling as he took a seat.
—————
———
———
—————
Comment