Chapter 23

Chapter 23 - The Fugitives (1)

One day, when summer had fully arrived before anyone realized it, a chilly wind was still blowing across the Lands of the Barbarians.

If it had not been the middle of July, one would likely have seen this remote region buried beneath white snow.a

However, despite such softened weather, the world did not turn smoothly.

“Damn it! I am hungry!”

The words shouted by the man in black leather armor were more than enough to draw everyone’s sympathy.

In their homeland, which had recently become even more barren, even finding food as they had before had become an extremely arduous task.

Moreover, as they had ended up remaining in the Lands of the Barbarians under the command of the ‘Khan,’ the ruler of their clan, there was no way they could be pleased with their situation.

In fact, from a certain perspective, that might have been the reason they went hungry almost every day.

Even the last scraps of food that remained had all been requisitioned for the war against the Federal Empire.

“The ones who went southeast must be eating their fill by now…….”

“Khehehe. True enough. When it comes to plundering, fertile land is best.”

“Damn it! If not for the Khan’s order, by now……!”

CRUNCH!

The man in black leather armor stomped on a shriveled clump of grass, then sat down in irritation.

Eat, kill, and take. That was their pleasure and their creed.

For those who had been granted the honorable title of warrior, such dull time was like hell.

However, not everyone gathered there thought that way.

“War? It is good. But keep in mind that we are still among the better off. At least we were not given the tedious duty of guarding the Khan’s residence.”

“Kehkeh. For once, you are saying something right.”

If they sought only food and pleasure, then it was only natural that the imperial lands in the southeast would look tempting.

However, the stage that Esteban provided, relatively barren but certainly safe, and the frenzied massacre that unfolded upon it, was enough to offer a different kind of amusement from war.

Moreover, it was not as though there were no small gains at all.

The gazes of the barbarian warriors turned in one direction.

“Hehehe. Yes, at least there is some pleasure here.”

A dark red liquid had splattered and hardened across the ashen soil, along with traces of torn flesh.

The swords swung in their final resistance would now fulfill their role as trophies for the barbarians.

They were…… unfortunate victims of plunder who had set out on a merchant journey before hearing the news of the barbarians’ southward advance.

“It is a shame, but today we will have to be satisfied with merely filling our bellies.”

The “shame” they spoke of was not limited to material things such as liquor and meat.

The sensation of cutting into flesh, and the despair that seeped out from an enemy being trampled underfoot.

Since they would have monopolized all of it if they could, it would have been a lie to say they felt no regret.

“……Tsk.”

The man in black leather armor, who had been watching this with a displeased look, clicked his tongue and rummaged through a bloodstained bag.

However, when he soon confirmed that there was nothing inside, he flung the bag aside with an angry face.

“Damn it, carrying around useless things!”

Golden ornaments spilled out of the bag onto the ground, but no one paid them any attention.

In the end, their interests lay only in slaughter and the satisfaction of their desires.

THUD-

The man in black armor returned with an expression that said it hardly mattered and lay down on the blood-soaked ground.

Then, he immediately sensed something strange and wrinkled his nose.

“Huh? This feels……”

An earthquake?

The sensation was so faint that he had not felt it until now, but now that he was lying with his back against the ground, the vibration of the moving earth was clearly transmitted to him.

‘Have I starved for too long……?’

He felt around his belly, searching for the source of the vibration.

Contrary to his expectations, however, he felt nothing from his abdomen.

As unease swept over him at the unknown sensation and his expression changed, a barbarian warrior who had been rummaging through the bags clicked his tongue and asked.

“What is wrong? Is your back bothering you now?”

“No, this is……”

The barbarian warrior, who had been about to add more, stopped speaking. Something had suddenly flashed through his mind.

Where had he experienced this feeling before?

Yes, surely……

“……Hoofbeats?”

“A barbarian group has been discovered!”

“Do not give them time to respond. Exterminate them immediately!”

“At your command!”

Beyond the hill he turned toward, he could see knights in golden armor approaching with the sunlight at their backs.

……Why in the world were those bastards here?

The moment that question occurred to him, the sight of them rushing down the hillside like arrows snapped him awake.

“Damn it! You wicked Esteban bastards!”

For them to launch an attack at a time like this of all times……

They had surely moved after learning that all the forces attacking Esteban had shifted elsewhere.

However, their panic at being caught off guard lasted only a moment. Contrary to the fierce momentum of the charging knights, the faces of the barbarian warriors gradually began to relax.

“……What, only five?”

“Kahahaha! They must be mad. This is no time for a joke.”

There were fourteen barbarians present.

They knew that in a fight between the few and the many, numbers were not the only decisive factor.

If there was an overwhelming difference in individual strength, it could no longer be described as a battle, but a massacre.

Unfortunately for their enemies, however, they were the warriors of a tribe that guarded this land.

The clearly dominant power in this fight was none other than themselves.

There was no unexpected variable.

“Fight them! Show them the strength of the Khan’s warriors!”

“We will make them pay the price for daring to crawl into this land.”

The barbarian warriors drew their axes, waited until the distance was suitable, and began to move.

Now.

“Die!”

WHOOSH-

The movements of the warriors as they swung down great axes the size of a human torso were truly menacing.

It was obvious that the Esteban lackey charging at the front would be split in two along with his horse and fall to the ground.

SLASH-

“Craaargh!”

That was what they had thought until they saw their comrade collapse helplessly, his body and head separated.

“What is this……?”

The peacock feathers attached to the warrior’s headband scattered in the wind.

It was something that should have been absolutely impossible.

He was a man who could be considered all but certain to be promoted to Great Warrior once this war ended.

For such a man to roll across the ground after exchanging only a single blow was beyond common sense, no matter how hungry he had been.

At that very moment.

As if the dead man did not matter at all, the leading knight charged toward the barbarians with the same cold expression as before, and the bodies of the barbarian warriors froze in place.

“Keugh, keueeugh!”

It was not because they had lost the will to fight after their comrade’s death, nor was it because they had been overwhelmed by his momentum.

What bound them so they could not move even half a step was an intangible something that had approached regardless of their will.

And the moment they realized what it was, the barbarians met the blood-colored eyes that were choking their throats.

That was primal fear, so powerful it seemed capable of freezing even physical space itself.

“……Killing intent.”

Those were the final words of the warrior in black leather armor who had stood at the front next.

***

SWISH-

I shook the blood from my sword into the air and spoke.

“Casualties?”

“……Fourteen barbarians killed in total. As for the knight order, not even a single man suffered a minor injury.”

The eyes of the man who said that, the vice commander of the Sun Knights, Roder, were trembling for some reason as though they had lost their way.

After receiving the report, I nodded expressionlessly.

“Merchants in a place like this…… Judging from the look of it, they seem to have plundered passing smugglers.”

“……I do not know the detailed circumstances, but that appears to be the case.”

“I see. While the situation is being settled, identify them and sort out the belongings to be delivered to their families. Send them back to the homeland as soon as possible.”

“I will obey your command.”

Since there was still time before the follow-up unit arrived, I turned my eyes to the area around the place where the battle had occurred.

The Northern Expeditionary Force had been formed around me, the 1st Prince, and the Sun Knights, the royal family’s 2nd Knight Order.

Our goal was to disrupt the empty Lands of the Barbarians and inflict damage upon them.

‘Inflict damage upon the Lands of the Barbarians, is it……?’

Had the version of me from before the regression heard that, he would have treated the speaker like a madman.

That was how novel this feeling was.

This place, where there was nothing to be seen but dark, dingy soil and shriveled trees, had been the barbarians’ defensive line before my regression, a line no nation had ever pierced.

A place that felt familiar, yet was utterly different from the past.

Before my regression, how many soldiers had been sacrificed before we could stand in this place?

Esteban had been forced to endure painful losses in order to restore the troops it had lost.

“And yet now, we are the ones raiding them.”

Yet my face, despite expressing such sentiments, showed no change at all.

I turned my gaze back to the knights.

‘We have encountered one hundred and twenty-four barbarians on the way here.’

The more we moved, the shorter the intervals became between each encounter with them.

And their numbers were steadily increasing as well.

In other words, we were gradually drawing closer to the depths of the Lands of the Barbarians.

It was then.

“A barbarian group at the level of one company is approaching from the front!”

They had finally come.

I spread my senses in the direction from which a knight had shouted.

Before I knew it, my body had begun to itch, and it was finding new prey.

***

To repeat, this was the Lands of the Barbarians.

Since they had been moving quite aggressively after entering the remote region, everyone had expected some kind of response.

However, if the enemy had that many numbers, it was a different story.

“Damn it! Stop the cleanup and withdraw from the site! We will join the follow-up unit and strike!”

“At your command!”

Roder, the vice commander of the Sun Knights, shouted as he grabbed the reins.

Since they possessed an overwhelming advantage in mobility, once they left this place, they should be able to shake off the enemy’s pursuit.

However, what came back was the 1st Prince’s voice, so cold that it nearly stopped one’s breath with fear.

“Stop.”

“…….”

“Who told you to move as you please? I never ordered a withdrawal.”

Cold sweat ran down the heads of the knights present.

The 1st Prince, who had been wiping the blood caked on his sword with a handkerchief, walked over with steady steps and quietly muttered.

“There are fifty-four enemies. Among them, two are shamans. I will handle it, so all of you focus on the cleanup you were doing.”

Astonishingly, his voice was clear enough for every knight, even those spread apart, to hear.

However, Roder’s eyes shook violently as he looked at the pentagram that had appeared above their heads.

“Y-Your Highness! Please be careful!”

Unknown letters were filling the area around the ominous pentagram being drawn in the air.

The dark red magic circle, now half distinct, was pulsing with a grotesque gullet as though it would pour out flames at any moment.

And its target was clearly their commander-in-chief.

“Damn it!”

WOOOOONG!

After confirming that the spell had activated, Roder gritted his teeth and ran toward the 1st Prince.

It was immediately after that that the 1st Prince’s right arm flashed.

“……Huh?”

“I am certain I told you to focus on what you were doing.”

The 1st Prince’s right hand, which had been slightly raised, lowered.

And nothing happened.

The air, which had seemed ready to pour down and sweep everything away in a sea of flames at any moment, was empty.

As if the spell those wretches had used had been nothing more than an illusion.

All he had seen was the 1st Prince’s right arm flashing.

‘The magic…… disappeared?’

Was what I had just seen truly real?

Was it really possible to make magic vanish without any warning at all?

It was a simple situation, but it took quite some time to understand the process behind it.

As Roder stood with his mouth hanging open, he heard the 1st Prince’s distinctive voice, low and devoid of emotion.

“Even so, if you do not mind being caught up in it, you may disobey my order.”

Though if that happens, I cannot guarantee your safety.

Roder shook his head as if possessed.