Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Ambush in the Rain
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“...!”
Carlyle stopped his conversation with Gwen and gripped the hilt of Grimungandr.
*A lot of them. About fifteen.*
Fewer than in last night's battle, but fifteen was still a threatening number.
“Get back to your post.”
“So suddenly?”
“It seems enemies are approaching. A battle could break out, so return to your position for now.”
“Oh, I understand.”
Gwen hurried back to the combat engineers.
“They're coming.”
Carlyle approached Kudo, who was leaning against a tree smoking a cigarette, and reported.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Carlyle pointed to the faintly vibrating Grimungandr.
“Damn. I thought they'd lay low with this rain. Of all the times.”
Kudo frowned in annoyance.
“Is it because of yesterday's defeat?”
“Who knows?”
Kudo shrugged as if to say, *how would I know?*
“What's certain is that they're trying to disrupt our mining operation.”
“Yes, well. That's true.”
“How much time do we have?”
“Five to ten minutes.”
Carlyle answered after pinpointing the enemies' locations through Grimungandr.
“How many of them?”
“Fifteen.”
“Hmm.”
Kudo thought for a moment before speaking.
“Fifteen won't be easy. Most of our men are combat engineers.”
“Couldn't we circle around and pick them off one by one?”
“Hm?”
“The rain is making visibility poor and it'll muffle any screams. Isn't it a viable plan?”
Carlyle could suggest such a plan because the rain was coming down with ferocious intensity.
The downpour was so heavy, and the sound of raindrops hitting leaves and branches so loud, that it was sure to drown out almost any other noise.
Furthermore, visibility was limited to just a few meters, making it difficult to notice if someone right beside you were ambushed.
In these conditions, it went without saying that the attackers would have an overwhelming advantage.
“Since it's come to this, let's strike first.”
Carlyle urged Kudo again.
“Send me, and I'll take care of it.”
“Private Carlyle, alone?”
“I'm the only one who can track their positions, after all.”
“Ah.”
Kudo nodded in understanding.
Since Carlyle was the only one who could detect the barbarians' locations with Grimungandr, it would be absurd for other reconnaissance soldiers to try and get behind them.
“Very well. But I won't send you alone, Private Carlyle. Take Marder with you. He's a capable man; he'll be a great help.”
“I will.”
Carlyle fully agreed with Kudo's decision to send Marder with him.
Marder was a skilled hunter, making him perfect for an ambush. He was also a sharpshooter who could silently dispatch enemies with his bow from a distance.
“Let's go.”
“You go first. I'll follow.”
“Alright, then…”
As Carlyle headed into the forest, Marder followed.
***
The forest was even noisier than the magic stone mining site.
The dense trees and undergrowth amplified the sound of the rain.
Thanks to this, Carlyle and Marder could move quickly without worrying about their footsteps, circling behind the barbarian warriors.
*-There. Two of them.*
*-Acknowledged.*
Carlyle and Marder exchanged hand signals.
Two barbarian warriors were cautiously approaching the mining site.
Carlyle crept up behind the barbarian on the left.
*-Three, two, one.*
*Shunk, thwip!*
The tip of Grimungandr pierced the barbarian's back, while Marder's arrow pierced the head of the one on the right.
*Thud, thud!*
Two of their comrades had fallen in the blink of an eye, but the other barbarians didn't notice.
The very weather that had allowed them to approach the site stealthily was now leading them to their deaths.
*-Over there.*
*-Acknowledged.*
*-Three, two, one.*
*Shunk, thwip!*
Another two barbarian warriors fell.
*At this rate, we could take out ten of them.*
Carlyle's prediction was correct.
The barbarians remained completely unaware that they were being ambushed until exactly ten of them had fallen.
And the price for their ignorance was extremely deadly.
The moment Kudo's whistle pierced the air, the combat engineers turned around.
“...!”
The barbarian warriors were stunned.
The sight of men who had been engrossed in their work suddenly whipping around was quite chilling.
“Charge!”
“Kill the rats!”
Clutching their tools, the combat engineers charged in unison toward the barbarians' hiding spot.
“Dammit!”
The barbarians scrambled to grab their weapons and respond, but the outcome had already been decided before the battle even began.
“Wh-where is everyone?!”
The barbarian commander shouted in panic, but his dead comrades could not answer.
“Aargh!”
“Va-Valhalla... Gak!”
In the end, not only had the barbarians' ambush failed, but they were ambushed themselves and completely annihilated.
There was only one survivor.
“J-just kill me! Don't dishonor a warrior! Ugh!”
The barbarian commander screamed at the top of his lungs.
He had resisted until the very end and was subdued, making him the sole, lucky survivor.
Of course, whether it was good luck or bad remained to be seen.
*Ugh.*
Carlyle winced.
The man's state was horrific because he had been subdued by the combat engineers.
They had beaten him with tools like shovels and pickaxes, and while he hadn't died, he had been turned into a tenderized slab of meat.
“I am Tolok, son of Olgar! A Decurion of the honorable Butcher Tribe!”
The barbarian commander suddenly introduced himself.
“I haven't asked you anything yet.”
“You were going to ask anyway! I'm just answering in advance! An honorable warrior has nothing to hide!”
*Such needlessly honest bastards...*
“You've got the wrong guy. I'm just a lowly private, so I don't really have anything to say to you. If you want to talk, do it with my commander back at the fortress.”
“Impossible!”
“What is?”
“You may be ugly, but you're a pretty strong warrior!”
A smashed-in nose, a protruding jaw, a face covered in scars.
It certainly wasn't a comment the most handsome man in the North expected from someone with such a brutish and hideous appearance.
“Why am I ugly?”
“You look like a frail pretty boy!”
“...Right.”
Carlyle decided not to argue with Tolok about appearances.
The barbarians' standards of beauty were on a completely different plane from those of the continentals.
“But how do you know if I'm strong or weak?”
“Weren't you the one who fought Centurion Bjornsen last night? I saw it clearly with these two valiant eyes!”
“Ah.”
“For a warrior like you to be a mere private, do you continentals not know how to treat your warriors?!”
“I suppose not.”
Indeed, considering his skill and status, it was absurd for Carlyle to be a mere private.
In any other family, he would have started his service as a commander, an officer, at the very least...
“If it bothers you that much, you can tell my superiors. Ask them to give me a promotion.”
“Don't tell me.”
Tolok narrowed his eyes and stared intently at Carlyle.
“Are you... a Sigmund?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“Hmm. You seem too weak for a Sigmund...”
Tolok seemed to be struggling to wrap his head around it.
*I am pretty weak for a Sigmund.*
Carlyle gave a bitter smile.
The direct bloodline of the Sigmund Family were human weapons, living instruments of destruction.
If a *real Sigmund* had been here, a small-fry barbarian warrior like Tolok would have been erased from existence without even a single scream.
“What should we do with him?”
“Execution is the only answer.”
Kudo replied to Carlyle's question.
“Barbarians rarely talk, and this was clearly a retaliatory attack for yesterday's battle. I see no need to take him back for interrogation.”
“I suppose so.”
“Will you... do it yourself?”
“I'll pass.”
*Shunk!* The moment Carlyle refused, Kudo's sword pierced Tolok's neck.
[Notification: progress has reached 30%! (3/10)]
***
Carlyle's unit returned to the fortress only after completing the magic stone mining operation.
Having successfully thwarted the enemy's ambush and achieved a great victory, there was no reason to halt the work and withdraw.
On the way back to the fortress.
*Limp, limp.*
Carlyle noticed Gwen limping and spoke up.
“Injured again?”
“Heehee.”
Gwen giggled at Carlyle's question.
“I just happened to fall over during the charge.”
“...”
Carlyle was left speechless by Gwen's innocence.
Come to think of it, he seemed to recall seeing a small-statured soldier running with a pickaxe and falling flat on their face...
“But it's okay! A little injury like this is nothing! I'm a Northerner, after all!”
“Of course you are.”
Carlyle shook his head, exasperated by Gwen's cheerful response.
It was as if Northerners were born insensitive to pain; they often acted as if a few cuts and broken bones were nothing special.
It was so common that you could often see them chugging ale in a tavern even with a severe fracture, the white of their bone clearly visible.
*When you think about it, they're not that different from the barbarians.*
As Carlyle was having this thought, Kudo spoke while gazing at the faint outline of the fortress in the distance.
Perhaps due to the heavy rain and fog, the fortress's faint silhouette exuded a strangely desolate atmosphere.
“I'm worried, by the way.”
“What are you worried about?”
“There's no way we were the only ones attacked.”
“Ah.”
“Usually, when we return on days like this, we're greeted by a line of corpses... I'm already dreading our return. I hope the damage wasn't too severe.”
Kudo's eyes were filled with anxiety as he looked at the fortress.
Every soldier knew how dangerous it was to press on with operations on a day like this, and now that they had actually been ambushed by barbarians, it was only natural to worry about the other units.
And Kudo's worries soon became reality.
You could tell the situation was bad just by the expressions on the faces of the sentries guarding the fortress gate.
“Looks like we weren't the only ones attacked.”
“...”
After passing through the gate and entering the fortress, a heavy silence pressed down on them.
The faces of those moving about were rigid.
“...Ah.”
Carlyle let out an involuntary gasp at the sight before him.
About ten soldiers lay on the ground in neat rows, their bodies being pelted by the pouring rain.