Chapter 51: Black Spear
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 51: Black Spear
The other Orcs and Trolls of the Black Spear Clan were quite a cheerful bunch. Seeing them raising humans for food had made me think their situation wasn’t so great, but they still brought out all sorts of provisions for the Blood Dagger Clan. We were even treated to alcohol, something I’d never seen in the Green Goblin Clan’s lands.
It was probably made from forest berries, but it was so good I wondered if Trolls had some kind of racial trait for brewing delicious liquor. It wasn't the same as the drink I’d shared with the Great Tribe Leader, but it was more than enough to warm my belly with its sweetness.
“So, what brings you here, Blood Dagger?”
As our clan members mingled and played, Black Spear, who was sitting beside me, finally spoke.
“To be honest, my business isn’t in this forest, but near the desert. Krrk.”
“I see.”
His expression was one of intense curiosity. Since it wasn’t exactly top-secret information among Green Skins, I decided to embellish the story a little to satisfy his interest.
“Krrrruk. I heard the voice of the War God. A voice telling me to find a new weapon. I don’t know the details, but for some reason, I feel I must go there.”
“The voice of the War God… How very interesting.”
As expected, the voice of the War God was all the explanation needed. He didn’t ask any further questions. Still, his expression seemed somewhat bitter. It looked like a long time had passed since he’d received a quest of his own. Seeing his downcast face, I spoke to him again.
“You look like you have something on your mind, Black Spear.”
At my words, he hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“I do, Blood Dagger…”
“…”
“Since it has come to this, I would like to borrow your wisdom. The truth is, I too have heard the voice of the War God. It was… about three months ago. A voice telling me to hunt humans and beasts.”
It sounded like a fairly simple quest. But the fact that he still hadn’t completed it suggested that either the required number was immense, or there was some reason preventing its completion. Prying into the details of another’s quest was considered rude back in my human days, but I figured things were different here, so I decided to ask.
“May I see the contents of the War God’s message?”
“Of course.”
[Quest - To Survive: You must hunt humans and beasts to survive. Continuously hunt the humans or beasts of the western small city, ‘Legius.’ (0/1)]
“I have hunted countless humans and beasts, but I have no way of knowing what the War God truly wants. To make matters worse, ever since I heard the voice, the number of humans coming out of their settlement has started to dwindle… The ones we have now are all we could barely manage to capture. It’s a situation where I can neither fulfill the War God’s command nor feed the members of my clan…”
“Hmm…”
I pretended to ponder it, but hearing the details of his quest, something immediately came to mind.
The quest’s title itself was significant. If it was telling him to survive through hunting, then there could only be one reason.
‘Food.’
The human population of the small city was shrinking. The cause was likely… my Blood Dagger Clan. I couldn’t be certain, but it was highly probable that after we started attacking the humans in Aia, summoners from Legius were transferred to Aia to supplement their forces.
The death of that bastard Lee Youngdon was probably the deciding factor. With a clan that controlled a large section of a major city gone, the clans in Legius must have seen it as a chance to play in the big leagues and moved to Aia to try and get a piece of the action.
In other words…
‘These guys are suffering because of the butterfly effect of the Blood Dagger Clan’s actions.’
Although magical beasts lived in this area, there were no particularly formidable ones. These Trolls likely depended on humans for most of their food, and when the humans started disappearing, they began searching for a breakthrough. As chieftain, Black Spear felt a sense of responsibility, and that desperation manifested as this quest.
“Hmm…”
“Do you have any ideas, Blood Dagger?”
The situation was absurd. To put it simply, to complete Black Spear’s quest, the population of the small city of Legius needed to increase. This was a matter directly linked to the survival of his entire clan. After a moment of thought, I organized my ideas and began to speak.
“It would be best to stop hunting humans for the time being…”
“What do you mean, Blood Dagger?”
“You must let the human settlement grow fat. No matter how many humans you hunt now, the God of the Battlefield will not answer your call.”
“Ah…”
Any other Green Skin might not have understood, but Black Spear surely grasped the underlying meaning. Come to think of it, for someone in such dire straits, he had put on quite a lavish welcome for us. It seemed he had intended to ask for my advice from the very beginning. He must have heard the rumors that I had perfectly passed the Warrior’s Exam and had been preparing for this.
“I understand what you mean, Blood Dagger. Thank you. Thank you.”
“Hmph…”
I simply nodded at his thanks, but I knew this wouldn’t be a fundamental solution. If the monsters outside the city went quiet, people seeking stability might flock there, but people with that disposition rarely ventured outside the city walls in the first place.
For the Black Spear Clan to get both the fights and the food they wanted, a large number of high-level adventurers who went on expeditions as a matter of course would need to migrate here.
In fact, there was a way to solve his problem completely.
However…
The problem was…
To solve his problem, I would have to give up on my own quest. If the adventurers here managed to clear the ‘Ancient Warrior’s Grave’ and announced it, countless mid-to-high-level summoners would flock to this area, hoping for some scraps or wondering if there were other dungeons nearby. The Black Spear Clan would be screaming with joy.
A stable city with a large population would undoubtedly supply the Black Spear Clan with both food to eat and opponents to fight.
I couldn’t help but feel conflicted.
‘Do I complete my quest, or do I help Black Spear?’
Oblivious to my inner turmoil, he was completely absorbed in the thought of fattening up the human settlement. And so, the welcoming feast he had prepared came to an end, and morning began to approach.
My deliberation was long, but I decided to go to the dungeon first.
After the sun rose, I began to lead my clan members out. Of course, I planned to wait outside the dungeon entrance for a few days, so I had stuffed our leather pouches full of the food we’d brought.
I already knew that the adventurers of the small city would discover the dungeon around this time, but there was always a chance my memory was wrong or that they had falsified their expedition logs. That’s why I intended to go and wait earlier than the original timeline.
As we walked, one person kept shouting.
“Uwoooooh! I get to protect Blood Dagger’s side!”
It was Gark, who looked thrilled to have pushed his brother aside and claimed the spot to my left.
Mev winced as if he was a little too loud, but the already-hyped-up Gark seemed ecstatic at the thought of going on a hunt with me.
Eventually, the Goblin Three Sisters couldn't take it anymore and started to restrain him.
“Be quiet, will you? Kkireuk kkireuk.”
“So noisy!”
“Kkireuk. Kkireuk. Kkireuk.”
They were being noisy themselves, but they clearly didn’t appreciate his ‘Uwoooooh’ war cry. In the end, I was the one who spoke to Gark.
“This operation requires stealth.”
“Ah… I understand, Captain.”
He went pale, terrified that I might send him back and take his younger brother instead. There was no real reason to be quiet just yet, but it was the surest excuse to shut him up. As expected, there were no humans nearby. This area felt like it had lost some of its vitality.
Worried that the party destined to clear the ‘Ancient Warrior’s Grave’ might have also left for Aia to try their luck with the Saint Knights Order, our clan continued to march forward.
After walking for a long time, the desert finally began to appear. First, I had to find the dungeon from my memory, so the Blood Dagger Clan and I started setting up a temporary camp in a suitable location.
We hid in a good spot and waited for the dungeon to reveal itself.
After about half a day, a wind slowly began to blow.
Whoooosh.
With that sound, the sand scattered slightly. Beneath it, a faint stone mass was visible. It was extremely far away and hard to make out; if I hadn’t known of this dungeon’s existence, I would have just passed it by.
I had the clan members wait and ran to where the sand had blown away to inspect the ground.
When I struck the ground with my greatsword, it wasn’t the sound of sand being displaced, but the sound of hitting solid stone.
Thud… Thud…
The sound echoed continuously.
“Krrrrrrk.”
I hastily dug at the ground with my hands, and it became even clearer. It really was the Ancient Warrior’s Grave. After confirming it, I returned to our camp, where Mev spoke up.
“Captain, did you find something?”
“Yes.”
Sensing my good mood, Jung Hayeon and the others also began to smile.
Exactly six days after we began our wait, our targets started to appear. A party composed entirely of high or mid-level members. There might be an archer with exceptionally sharp senses, so our Blood Dagger Clan held its breath and began to watch them.
We were at a distance where we could barely make out their gender and equipment.
Sixteen men, six women. I remembered hearing that twenty people had entered, so the information was slightly different from the expedition log I recalled.
Their light packs suggested they weren’t planning on entering today. Not knowing how many days it would take or how dangerous it was, they too seemed to have come to cautiously survey the dungeon beforehand.
Then,
As the party’s magician began to chant, a tremendous amount of magic could be felt, and in an instant, a gust of wind swept over their location.
The scale was beyond imagination.
KWAAAAAAA!
The sound of the wind tearing through the air was loud enough to reach us, even from so far away.
‘Fuck…’
It was only natural to be startled by the sight of a magician of such a high caliber. Even though our plan was to ambush them, I began to worry for a moment if we could even win against a monster like that. But this was a dungeon from which only five of them had returned alive. If our timing was right, everything would go according to plan. I forced myself to nod.
While I was lost in thought, the woman in the robe continued to hold her hands up to the sky. Slowly, bit by bit, the Ancient Warrior’s Grave began to reveal its complete form.
It was a place that anyone could see was an entrance leading underground. Statues of warriors welcomed them at the entrance. Even though they were just stone, the weapons they held looked quite fine, and my own heart began to pound a little.
And then,
As the man who appeared to be the party leader extended his hand, the dungeon door slowly began to open.
It seemed it hadn’t been opened in a long time, as a faint “thunk, thunk” sound reached us. Gazing at the sight, the 22 party members stared blankly at the ‘Ancient Warrior’s Grave.’
They probably wanted to see the fruits of their discovery in its full glory. But something was strange. Among the 20 humans wearing what were clearly extraordinary pieces of equipment, there were two women.
They had no equipment to speak of, not even a decent weapon.
I could see them looking around nervously, as if something was making them deeply anxious.
‘Squires.’
I’d heard rumors that high-level or higher parties usually took ‘squires’ with them into dungeons, and it seemed to be true. ‘Squire’ was a generous term. In reality, they were modern-day slaves. A profession that supported summoners in all non-combat aspects with all their might.
From preparing meals and maintaining equipment, to even taking care of the ‘sexual needs’ of summoners who couldn’t leave the dungeon for long periods of time.
Therefore, it was only natural that these squires were treated horribly. One might think that by continuously accompanying a party into dungeons, a path to a higher rank might open up, but of course, I had never heard a single rumor of a squire actually succeeding. And naturally, there were far more cases of people being forced into the role than entering it willingly.
Inside a dungeon, their treatment was truly subhuman. They were practically slaves.
Funnily enough, as I watched them, I began to think of a way to both complete my quest and help Black Spear.