Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Sisters, Not Ordinary
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130―――――
Sisters, not ordinary
Uh... fuck?
What the hell?
This isn't right.
We can't start a life-or-death duel this early?
‘Fuck!’
Sion screamed internally and hurriedly tried to stop Eos.
But before he could even shout, she was already charging forward at terrifying speed.
“Eos!”
“Shut up, you bitch!”
Kwaaang!―
It should have been the clash of steel on steel, but instead, it roared like a meteor collision.
The impact was so massive that both Zhan and Eos were flung off their horses, plummeting straight to the ground.
“Zhan!”
“Temuchin!”
Voices of concern for their leaders erupted from the Aigiore and Karta sides.
But the two women landed lightly on the earth as if the worry was unnecessary.
Their movements were impeccably clean, impossible to believe they'd fallen from horses.
“...What the hell are you doing?”
“You first.”
“I came to kill the kingdom's dogs.
Splitting the tribes with your twisted words...”
“You think they came here to drive a wedge between you and me?
They came for the final judgment.
If you strike them now and start a war with the kingdom, it won't just split opinions—it'll tear our tribesmen limb from limb!”
Zhan tightened her grip on her sword and aimed it squarely at her sister.
“I'll make sure that doesn't happen.”
“...I know you're strong.
But you think the kingdom has no other warrior who can fight you?”
“I'll win.”
“That's why I can't fucking join you!”
A leader must have the foresight to look far ahead.
Even if it brings immediate gain, even if it sustains success for a while.
A leader must plan much further into the future.
A warrior swings a sword and rides into the immediate battlefield, but a commander gazes farther and directs the warriors.
“You think I don't want our tribes to live happy lives?”
Eos's blade sliced precisely toward Zhan's thigh.
Not to injure and subdue, but to sever arteries—the brutal style unique to northern barbarians, meant to kill outright.
Zhan didn't dodge or block the vicious strike. Instead, she launched her own effective blow first, letting Eos's attack fizzle out on its own.
Exploiting her slightly shorter reach, she aimed to slash her sister's side.
Eos gritted her teeth.
If she pressed the attack, her sister Zhan would take a fatal wound for sure.
But she'd suffer the same deep gash to her own side.
If they both collapsed like this, the tense situation could erupt into full war between Aigiore and Karta—and the kingdom might seize the north.
‘Tch.’
Biting her lip, Eos twisted her body slightly, angling her blade inward.
As her attack veered off mid-swing, Zhan withdrew her sword without a flicker of expression, spun once, and slashed down vertically with full force.
Kagak!―
Sparks flew as the two warriors locked blades, glaring in a test of strength.
Sisters, born closer than anyone.
Yet their differing convictions had made them farther apart than anyone.
“We don't have to do this.”
“...”
“Being their guardian would have been enough.
You didn't have to empower the shortsighted demands of those who can't see beyond their noses or become their protector—no tribesman would complain!”
“...We can't lean on others forever.
I want the north fully independent.”
“You think building your grand nation will let us live without the kingdom?
Cutting off even the trade routes we had?”
“...”
“Beyond that, do you really believe our tribes can endure that life?
Tribesmen who ride horses daily and herd livestock on the plains—do you think they'd be happy like that?”
Zhan bared her teeth, poured strength into both arms, and shoved Eos's sword away.
At the same time, she tossed her blade onto the field as if such weapons were pointless.
She then swung her fist, smashing into her sister's face as she staggered back.
Pbek!―
Blood sprayed, and Eos's head snapped sideways.
A blow that would fell most warriors, shaking the skull.
But Eos calmly worked her jaw and spat out a clot of blood.
Then, mirroring her sister, she discarded her blade as unnecessary and swung her fist.
Puk!―
Zhan took the hit square to the face.
She staggered back two steps to absorb the shock, wiped the blood from her burst lip with the back of her hand, and glared at her sister.
“We don't have time for this.
We need to march on the kingdom now.”
“If you wanna die, go alone.
No, that's not it.
You're just throwing yourself away like firewood for those damn tribesmen!
Snap out of it, you lunatic!
That's hell down there.
Don't think the kingdom left us alone just because they're scared of our strength!”
At her sister's scream, Zhan sighed inwardly.
She wasn't blind to it; she faintly sensed it herself.
That everything she was doing could end up a meaningless delusion.
That it could be utter stupidity, charging everyone into the flames.
‘But we're at a dead end now, Eos.’
Three years of trade had upended the northern tribes' lives, sustained for over two hundred years.
A land of constant hunger, where even dung for fuel was scarce amid endless cold, where everything was lacking and forlorn—abundance arrived for the first time.
At first unfamiliar, then easing life, and once accustomed, impossible to relinquish.
That pulled the trigger on everything.
As three years of trade dwindled from depleted northern goods, the land reverted: hungry, cold, scarce again.
‘In the end, the northern tribes decided.
To take it back.
No—to build a world like the kingdom's and live in it.’
Impossible? No matter.
Humans regret inaction more than action, after all.
Puk!
Thud!
Zhan feinted with a few moves and drove a powerful kick into Eos's gut.
Without stopping, as Eos doubled over, she followed with a strike to the face.
Despite the searing pain splitting her lip and spilling blood, Eos's eyes blazed undimmed.
“If we let them go, it's slaughter anyway.
The kingdom won't leave them be.”
“And you know that...”
“But if I'm there with them, it'll be different.
We might even crush the kingdom's army.”
“And then?
We win against the kingdom's army—what next?
When another comes?
Fight again.
And after that?
Think you can keep winning?
You know defending and conquering are worlds apart.”
Unlike the north's eternally firm grasslands, just a bit south into kingdom lands turned to spring mud and warm embrace.
A nightmare for cavalry; one twisted horse ankle, and warhorses were useless.
“Snap out of it.
This isn't the time for swords and saddles.
It's time to sit in chairs and think coexistence with the kingdom.
If that fails, I won't stop you anymore.
But not now!”
After several exchanges, Eos's fist slammed into Zhan's torso.
Hitting ribs dead-on, Zhan coughed and backed away, glaring at Eos.
“So, what did the kingdom's dogs in your ger say?
Surrender?
Hand over the heads of kingdom rebels?”
“They didn't say that crap.”
“They haven't yet.
War or peace—choose one.
Peace means stand down Karta now, crawl back north quietly like before. What's the difference?”
With that, Zhan seized her massive sword from the ground.
Eos watched and sighed.
She'd hoped for words, but now northern courtesy demanded combat.
“We northerners have a fine law.
You remember it, Eos.”
“...The leaders duel to the death; victor claims the loser's authority.”
“I never wanted to invoke that law.
But now, no other way.”
The sisters, who had traded fists, now gripped swords again.
Two of the north's top warriors, dead serious—mutual destruction likely, yet neither could yield.
And almost simultaneously, as the sisters charged with blades aimed—
Chaeng!
Kagak!―
“Huh?”
“Wha...?”
In the blink of an eye, a man wedged between Zhan and Eos.
Swords poised to dice him, yet he blocked both head-on—one hand on his sword, the other on its sheath.
“What are you, scum!”
“...You?”
Zhan: a total stranger.
Eos: vaguely familiar.
The man she'd thought mere escort was blocking the north's elite—herself and her sister—with one hand each.
‘Possible?
Alone?’
Even high knights couldn't handle them casually.
Yet this man intercepted sincere killing blows in that instant.
“...Nngh.”
Kim Yu-hyun bit his lip enduring the blades. As Eos's slackened first, he swung the sheath to repel her, then both hands at Zhan, forcing her back.
He'd blocked assaults from super-elites who could best high knights solo.
“Where'd this guy come fro—.”
Zhan recoiled in shock, raising her sword again, when another voice halted her.
“Enough, both of you.
I'm not here to watch a swordfight.”
His tone casual, but sweat beaded his forehead.
Proof of his desperate sprint to this sisterly battlefield.
‘Crazy, they fight for real.’
Not just swords—even fists had Sion's heart dropping.
Attacks that would crack his bones on a graze, they took body-first, countering precisely.
Then Kim Yu-hyun's eyes flashed; he bolted!
Sion raced madly, fearing a three-way clusterfuck.
“What the hell, Eos.
These men...”
“Bit awkward, but introductions first.”
Catching his breath, Sion strode boldly to Zhan.
Her sword looked deadly, but cowering helped no one. Sion feigned nonchalance.
Like with Eos, he showed empty hands and stated his name.
“Sion.
Sion Cloudzen.”
“What...”
“Call me the kingdom's final authority on northern matters.”
Sring―.
Suddenly, Sion felt a prick at his neck.
In one blink, her massive sword hovered there.
‘...This is bad.’
Sion's spine chilled.
Zhan Temuchin, the 'Khan,' was fearsome enough aflame—but Lily, Risikida, Trisha watching from behind terrified him more.
“Sister.”
The crisis peaked; even Eos called her 'sister' to her face unwittingly.
Kim Yu-hyun gripped his sword but held back—Zhan's blade too close to Sion's throat.
“Please, sister.
Not that.”
“...”
“Calm down.
He's unarmed.
Kill him mid-greeting?
That stains northern warrior honor.
Please don't.”
“...”
“Damn it!
You lunatic!
Even against the kingdom, that's not it!
Not just any envoy—the Hispania war hero! War hero!
Touch a figure like that crudely, and who knows the kingdom's madness?”
“War hero?”
Zhan latched onto the odd term, finally reacting seriously.
She scanned Sion head-to-toe with killer eyes.
Thus, Sion stood awkwardly, blade at throat.
‘Not a damn appraisal.
Or zoo monkey viewing.’
Anything—please remove this sword first.
He genuinely feared Trisha's lightning from behind.
Here for northern stability, not hellfire.
Then, whether Eos's curses worked or Sion's desperate wish—
“Hmph.”
Still murderous, but Zhan withdrew her sword and stepped back.
Escape from instant death or hellfire.
As Sion sighed relief, rubbing his neck—
“Normally, I'd have your head already, but that face is so ridiculous it made me laugh.
Even staining this blade with your blood feels a pity.”
“...?”
Did I mishear?
Sion went from baffled to absurd, nearly laughing.
Mana-less or not, this face had cleared many hurdles.
Sudden looks-bashing?
“Scary, might haunt my dreams.
That's kingdom folk for you.”
“...”
Something snapped in Sion's mind.
He could take anything, understand anything—but not that.
Insulting looks to his face?
Fuck, this struck a man's pride.
‘I held back for Lily-nim and the ladies' sake?
But damn.
Can't let this slide.
No way.
You're mine now.
You goddamn thug sis.’
―――――――Author's Note―――――――
No wild tale without excuses.
Hot, looks like you forgot recommendations, folks!