Chapter 7

Chapter 7. At Last, the Civilized World

The moment Balun stepped out of the wagon, he felt every eye instantly swing toward him. Not just the two guards, but the people trying to enter the city and even the passersby.

From those converging stares, Balun instinctively sensed that life in civilization was not going to be entirely smooth. That was only natural. He could feel the curiosity in their eyes.

But that curiosity did not feel like the good kind.

No matter how he thought about it, it did not.

If it were not like that, why would they be staring at him that way? Like they were looking at a monkey in a zoo?

“Balun, why did you come out? I told you to stay inside and wait…”

“That Ironclad warrior talked about me.”

“W-Well, yes, he did, but…”

“There is a problem. I will solve it.”

At those words, Barel’s face turned pale.

“No, there is no need for that. You have already helped us so much. How could I ask for your help over something this trivial as well? Please, just go back inside for now. I will handle everything myself. All right?”

Barel forced an awkward smile and tried to push Balun back into the wagon, and since Barel was insisting so strongly, Balun was about to quietly do as he said.

He did not know what exactly was going on, but if Barel said he would handle it himself, there was no reason for Balun to step in.

Balun was not the sort to go seeking trouble for no reason. Whatever the argument was about, there was no need to bother involving himself.

That was, until he heard the guard speak.

“You’re using honorifics for a barbarian? What kind of fucked-up idiocy is this? Unbelievable.”

“He may be a barbarian, but he is highly capable and courteous. He was a tremendous help on this trade journey. He will not cause any trouble inside the city, so please…”

“Enough with the nonsense. Go somewhere else.”

As Balun was about to put one leg back into the wagon, he froze.

Naturally, he turned his head toward the guard and saw the man glaring between him and Barel.

Then their eyes met.

“What are you staring at?”

“……”

“Hey, barbarian. I asked what you’re staring at. What, do you have a problem with— Hm!”

The guard cut himself off with a start.

Balun had stopped climbing back into the wagon, pulled himself fully out again, and was now striding toward him.

“Balun! Please, listen to me and stay still. Please?”

“There is a problem. I will solve it.”

Barel tried to stop him, but Balun was adamant.

It was obvious at a glance that Barel was not going to resolve this.

The man was practically bowing and scraping, and the guard did not care in the slightest.

‘Honestly, how can a merchant have so little sense? Tsk, tsk.’

Balun was a man who prided himself on still carrying the spirit and soul of a twenty-first-century Korean inside him.

He wanted to show Barel that this was not how you got through an inspection checkpoint.

As Balun approached, the guard’s face stiffened.

The pressure coming off that enormous body was considerable. It did not feel like a man was approaching so much as a bear or a tiger.

When Balun finally came right up in front of him, the guard aimed his spear with a thoroughly cowed posture and stammered out his words.

“W-What? What are you trying to do, huh?”

“Come with me.”

“What?”

“Let us talk in secret.”

“What?”

The guard’s expression turned sour.

A secret talk? What kind of nonsense was that?

“Too many people. Cannot talk secret.”

“What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that, you insane barbarian bastard…”

The guard could not finish speaking.

He had seen what Balun was doing.

All at once, Balun began feeling around at his trousers and waist, as though searching for something.

Quite unfortunately, a hand axe happened to be hanging from the belt at his side, exactly where his hand was moving.

There was also a leather pouch hanging next to the axe that looked exactly like a money pouch, but the guard did not notice that at all. He did not even register its existence.

The barbarian was glaring at him while fiddling with a hand axe.

What else could that possibly mean?

‘Th-This lunatic… He is saying he will kill me if I do not follow him…’

“Come. Let us talk secretly.”

Their eyes met in that instant.

The moment he thought Balun’s eyes resembled those of a wild beast, the guard felt a chill race down his spine.

Cold sweat ran down his back. He could feel his legs trembling.

Balun’s flawless muscular body filled his vision, and then his eyes were drawn to those thick forearms, as thick as a slender woman’s waist.

In that instant, the guard’s thoughts spun wildly.

Should he thrust with his spear?

No, even if he did, would the attack even work?

Which would happen first? His own skull being smashed in by that hand axe, or his spear piercing that thick body?

“You do not like it?”

“W-Well, that is…”

The guard’s eyes darted around. He considered several options, but they all led to the same conclusion. Whether he resisted, called for help, or tried anything else, that axe would smash his skull first.

“I-I will come.”

“Good. Follow me.”

Balun nodded in satisfaction and turned around.

When the guard did not follow at once, Balun glanced back to see what the delay was, only to find him talking to the other guard.

He vaguely heard things like, “Will you really be all right?” and, “I will be fine, you guard the gate,” and, “Blow the whistle if it gets dangerous.”

After walking for about two minutes, Balun stopped once he had confirmed there was no one around.

Then he opened the leather pouch tied to his belt, rummaged through it, and pulled out several silver coins.

“Take it.”

“Uh… what?”

“You. I give.”

“Money…?”

Caught in a situation he had never imagined, the guard blinked.

The barbarian was giving him money?

“Y-You… what exactly are you plotting?”

“Balun is a good warrior. I give gifts. I passed. Nothing happens. Happy inspection!”

“What? W-What?”

The guard could not make head or tail of what Balun was saying.

But there was one thing he understood with perfect clarity.

This barbarian was threatening him.

‘He is saying he will kill me if I do not take this money.’

His vision swam.

He did not know where this barbarian had learned such intimidation, but he was terrifying.

“You… you think I will obediently do as you say?”

“You do not like it?”

“I-I… I will not submit to this sort of thing!”

“I see.”

Balun nodded readily and pulled several more silver coins from the pouch.

“I give more.”

“Y-You…”

“If you are too greedy, your belly bursts and you die.”

The guard could not keep bluffing.

What Balun had just said clearly meant that if he refused even this, Balun would rip open his stomach and kill him. At this point, the message was obvious: stop resisting and let him through.

So with a strained expression, the guard accepted the money.

A part of him even wondered whether the barbarian before him was showing him mercy.

Think about it.

What barbarian in the world acted like this?

“Done? You let me in?”

“Yes. O-Of course.”

“Good. Good guard!”

Balun smiled and started walking back toward the gate.

The guard followed behind him. He tried to pretend he was calm, but there was nothing he could do about his shaking legs.

***

“Balun, how in the world did you win over the gate guard?”

“I gave a gift.”

“What?”

“You give money. That is all. Very easy.”

Even after hearing that answer, Barel still could not believe it.

So what, he had bribed the man?

A barbarian?

‘He did not threaten him?’

They were already inside the city, and yet the expression on the guard’s face was still one of sheer terror.

It seemed suspicious, but Barel decided not to pry any further.

He had no desire to upset Balun.

“Whatever the case, Balun, thank you. Truly, thank you. I do not know how I can ever repay this kindness. I mean that sincerely.”

“We made a deal. I will protect you. You give me money.”

“Ah, yes, that is true. Even so, gratitude is gratitude. If not for you, Balun, we truly would have… Ngh.”

Barel wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes.

Looking back, he had owed Balun his life many times over.

No matter how much money they had agreed on, that did not change.

“There is nothing I can do for you right now, but one day, I will repay you without fail. Truly.”

“It is not over yet.”

“What?”

“Turn my spoils into money.”

“What do you— Ah.”

Barel scratched his head.

He had forgotten that there were still things left unsettled.

“My apologies. We still have accounts to settle.”

“I received all the money.”

“Yes. Of course I will give it to you.”

He truly was a peculiar barbarian.

A barbarian that is precise about money?

None of the other barbarians Barel had met in his life had ever been like this.

“For now, let us rest a bit first. That is fine with you, is it not?”

“That is fine.”

“Haha, excellent. I will take you to an inn. Please follow me!”

Guided by Barel, Balun headed to an inn.

It was a two-story building, with a dining room on the first floor and guest rooms on the second.

“Welcome to the Rising Night In— Ah!”

The serving girl began her greeting, then flinched in surprise.

She had seen Balun.

With his large build and primitive clothes, there was no way he would not stand out.

“Do you have room?”

“Ah, yes! We do!”

“That is good. Give us a good one. For reference, we are very tired from the long journey.”

“Yes!”

Barel stepped forward and rented the rooms.

Everyone else shared in pairs or groups of three or four, but Balun was given a double room all to himself. It was Barel’s way of showing consideration.

“Please get some rest. In the meantime, I will sell your spoils and convert them into money.”

“All right.”

“Would you like to come with me?”

“No. I rest.”

“Understood. Then I alone—”

“If you cheat me, I will kill you.”

“What?”

“I need a lot of money.”

“Eek! U-Understood!”

After putting his things down, Balun looked around the room.

It was a shabby space that contained only two hard wooden beds stuffed with straw and roughly covered with cloth, but to Balun, it looked like heaven.

Compared to the huts in the Red Fang Tribe village, this was on the level of a luxury hotel room.

With a pounding heart, Balun threw himself straight onto a bed.

It was not quite the cozy softness he had imagined, but it undeniably possessed the quality of softness.

That fact alone moved him deeply.

“Ahh! This is it!”

His heart swelled with emotion.

Yes, this was it. This was exactly it.

Something artificial instead of natural. The feeling of civilization. How wonderful it was.

It might be a medieval fantasy kind of world, but what did that matter?

Whatever it was, it was better than the Red Fang Tribe.

Over sixteen years, Balun’s standards had already dropped lower than he could have ever imagined.

‘Then again, maybe an inn like this is not really medieval? I heard that in the Middle Ages, there was not much distinction between separate rooms.’

Balun soon shrugged.

According to his shallow historical knowledge, that was true, but what did it matter?

This was not Earth. Expecting it to feel exactly like Earth would be unreasonable.

‘It is probably wildly different. This is a world where monsters exist, after all.’

Balun lay on the bed and got a little sleep, then went down to the first floor to eat.

Barel, who had gone out and returned to the inn, had already ordered food in advance.

The meal was steaming bread, a chunk of cheese, and a stew with meat in it.

Balun really did eat with reckless abandon.

It was delicious.

Delicious enough to bring tears to his eyes.

From a modern perspective, it was a meal with many shortcomings, yet that did not matter.

His tastes really seemed to have changed quite a bit.

Maybe living with barbarians for sixteen years had done that to him.

“I am glad to see you are eating well.”

“I ate well. It is thanks to you.”

“Not at all… I only regret that I cannot treat you to anything better.”

As Balun patted his stomach in satisfaction, he felt eyes on him from all over the room.

No one was saying anything, but all the customers were staring at him.

They were clearly conscious of him.

Barel seemed to have noticed that as well, because after glancing around, he leaned closer and whispered to Balun.

“I heard a rumor that several barbarians in this region have caused trouble recently. I suspect that is why they tried not to let you into the city… It seems you will need to be careful. Some people already appear to be watching you.”

“I know.”

“What?”

“Everyone here, all Ironclads, look at Balun. Not good eyes.”

Balun snapped his head left and right, scanning the room.

The people who had been staring at him quickly turned away.

Some looked embarrassed and covered it by coughing awkwardly or avoiding his gaze and refocusing on their food and drink, but the others were still very much aware of him.

That in itself was not strange.

People did that when they saw a foreigner. It was natural. Someone unfamiliar was interesting, and people wanted to look.

But such people did not usually radiate killing intent toward a stranger.

‘Ha, damn it. This feels bad.’

Balun scratched the back of his head.

When something felt bad, it usually meant something bad was about to happen. Someone might attack him. Someone might try to ambush him dishonorably. Something along those lines.

It was never merely a feeling.

It was more like a warning signal from his body.

Ever since childhood, Balun had been thrown into hunts and wars and had fought against the threat of death every single day.

In the course of that life, he had naturally developed a certain ability.

The ability to sense danger.

Especially killing intent.

Sensing killing intent was one of the abilities Balun trusted most.

It was one of the reasons he had survived despite being dragged into tribal wars countless times.

And that very ability was flaring now.

This prickling feeling against his skin could only mean hostility.

‘I was thinking of staying here for a month or two. Maybe I need to leave and go somewhere else.’

Another barbarian might have faced the threat head-on, but Balun thought differently.

Why fight danger when you could avoid it?

Back in the tribe, he had been forced to fight, but now there was no need for that. Balun decided to leave this city.

‘I should hand over that bandit chief’s head, collect the money, and then latch onto Barel so I can head for another city.’

After making up his mind, Balun rose from his seat.

He had no idea why they were targeting him, but the best course was to avoid danger.

“Where are you going?”

“To sell head.”

“What?”

“They said if I sell the bandit chief head, they will give money.”

The severed head smelled so rotten that he could barely stand it.

He needed to get rid of it quickly and collect the bounty.

“Ah, the Mercenary Guild. Shall I guide you there?”

“It is fine. I heard earlier. The big building to the north is the Mercenary Guild.”

“Understood. Then please, go and return safely.”

Balun rose, went upstairs to his room, grabbed the leather sack containing the severed head, and left the inn.

Then he headed for the Mercenary Guild.

The Mercenary Guild was some distance from the south gate area where the inn stood, so he had to walk quite a while.

As he moved, Balun looked around at the city.

‘The roads are better maintained than I expected. Though the streets are a bit dirty…’

About fifteen minutes later, it happened.

He had been walking along a main road and had just turned into a narrow alley when he suddenly felt something deeply unpleasant.

‘Hm?’

The feeling was difficult to describe.

It was like a blind arrow from an unseen enemy was aiming straight at the back of his head…

Without even realizing it, Balun twisted his body.

A large net brushed past him and flew by.

Balun jumped in shock.

A net, all of a sudden?

‘No, what kind of net flies that fast?’

Did they shoot it from some kind of gun?

But this did not feel like a world where guns should exist at all.

“Damn it, can’t you aim properly?”

“Ah, I did not think he would dodge like that.”

“You bastard. It would have been nice if you had caught him in one shot. You really are useless.”

Voices followed immediately after.

Then several men came sauntering toward him from both the front and the rear.

They were armed.

When Balun saw the nasty smiles on their faces, he let out a sigh.

‘My luck really is rotten.’

How had it come to this, that the moment he entered the city, his life was already under threat?