Chapter 140
Chapter 140
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: If You Don't Want to Stand Alone
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“...What was that just now?
Master?”
“...Beats me.”
Sion slipped back into the clothes he’d set aside earlier to avoid drawing the warriors’ eyes, then answered.
It wasn’t like he’d been buck naked or anything—he’d had what you could reasonably call clothes on.
And he hadn’t even considered that a woman like Zhan Temuchin, or Khan, would react so sensitively to something like this. The sheer absurdity of it left him dumbfounded.
Sion scratched his cheek, finished dressing, and was about to call out to Zhan again when a bit of a commotion stirred outside. Someone peeked only their head in.
“Sion.
Uh, are your clothes on now?”
“Zallan?
Yeah, more or less.
If you saw Temuchin, tell her she can come in...”
Sion didn’t even finish his question before Zallan suddenly vanished.
Sion let out an incredulous chuckle at the sight, but Risikida, who’d been standing quietly beside him, spoke up.
“Master.
That man Zallan.
It looked like someone grabbed him by the scruff and shoved just his head into the tent.”
“...Like they were telling him to check if it was safe?”
“Yes.”
...No way it’s Zhan, that woman, right? Yeah, right.
Zallan was bigger than most warriors, and he was their leader to boot. There was exactly one person in all of Karta who could grab him by the nape and poke his head in to take a look.
The very woman who’d spun on her heel and stormed out moments ago—the one now striding back into the tent, pretending to be utterly composed.
“Ahem.”
Zhan reentered as if nothing had happened, as if she’d seen absolutely nothing.
She approached with her usual grave, heavy steps and addressed Sion.
Of course, still avoiding his eyes.
“Didn’t you come here to talk?”
“Ah, right.
Yeah.”
Zhan glanced briefly at Risikida as she spoke.
Meaning: This is between us two—mind stepping out?
But Sion dashed her hopes without a second thought.
“She’s not the type to go blabbing carelessly, and she’s my most trusted guard knight.
No issue having her here, so go ahead and speak freely.
I just finished washing up and want to crash.”
He didn’t hide his slight irritation at her barging in right when he needed rest.
Zhan picked up on it and nodded before speaking.
“It seems things turned out just as you wanted.”
“As I wanted?”
“The trigger for Karta’s warriors to rethink the war.
A sight utterly unlike those slippery, lying kingdom nobles.”
“I’d prefer you not lump me in with the kingdom’s northern nobles.
Really rubs me the wrong way.”
Sure, Sion had smoothly handled the incident in the capital and severed the fuse that could’ve sparked the Great Schism, so things were quiet now. But in the novel, as national opinion fractured, those northern nobles allied with the northern tribes harboring grudges against the kingdom and sparked a rebellion.
To crush those traitorous bastards, ‘Tank’ Kim Yoo-hyun deployed, and the munchkin protagonist literally blew the northern nobles’ heads clean off.
Being ranked alongside those do-nothings who’d wrecked the kingdom’s north while freeloading off it was a massive insult to Sion.
“Ahaha!
Ah, ahem!
Cough!”
Zhan burst into laughter, then hurriedly cleared her throat, desperately signaling ‘I didn’t laugh’—but Sion and Risikida standing beside him had already seen it all.
“Why the sudden laugh?”
“...Ahem.
It’s nothing.”
“Why’d you laugh?”
Sion leaned forward, refusing to back off until he got an answer.
Zhan squirmed and tried to pull back.
But sitting like this, leaning in let him close the distance faster than she could retreat. As he narrowed his eyes and pressed closer, she frantically held him off.
Then, after a hesitant pause—uncharacteristically cautious—she spoke.
“It’s just... intriguing.”
“...Intriguing?”
“You’re a noble of the kingdom, right?
Yet you complain about being lumped in with the other nobles of that same kingdom, say it makes you sick, and all that.
It’s like you’re a northern warrior chatting with us, not one of theirs.”
From Zhan’s perspective, it must’ve been pretty amusing.
Here was Sion, supposedly on their side against the kingdom’s northern nobles, gleefully tearing into them. How could that not be hilarious? Baffling?
‘But what can you do.
This is reality.’
Truth be told, Sion had volunteered for the north not just to sway Zhan, Eos, Khan, and Winter’s daughter—but also to smack down the kingdom’s slimiest northern nobles.
He’d already secured perfect immunity by getting the king to grant him ‘final decision rights.’ Now all that was left was grabbing scalps, be they northern barbarian tribes or nobles.
‘Sure, they’re behaving now, but some have dirty backsides for sure.
To solidify my position in the kingdom, I need results.
Who’s the kingdom’s hero? Sion Claussen, you idiots!
That’s the reaction I want.
So time to rack up some achievements.’
Whether she sensed his inner thoughts or not, Zhan fiddled with her hands and continued.
“As you know, we northern tribes are like ice.
Cold and hard, we hate anything intruding around us.
And those who touch us get burned by the cold sharpness, sick of it all.”
“Isn’t that just natural in this freezing weather?”
“Save the jokes.
I’m serious right now.
And drop the half-hearted formality with me.”
Hm.
Sion rubbed his chin and eyed Zhan.
At his serious response, she hesitated, then finally met his gaze of her own volition for the first time.
“...”
“...”
Whoosh—
She couldn’t hold it for even five seconds before turning away.
“Ice, huh.
Yeah, that’s the vibe.
But you can’t stay that cold, sharp ice forever, right?”
“That’s why the warriors want to attack the kingdom.”
“Nah, not that.
Do that, and you’ll melt away without a trace.”
“...Aren’t you underestimating the warriors?”
“Not talking military might or raw power.
Look at the big picture.
Say you seize some kingdom land and build your own nation—think you’d really be happy?
I guarantee you, no.
Your tribes have survived this way for ages. You gonna ditch that and adopt kingdom ways in just a few years?”
“...I’ve been worried about that.”
“Ice?
Fine.
Up here in the north, you need to be cold and hard to survive.
But step beyond that land—will it hold without melting?”
At Sion’s words, Zhan strained to meet his eyes, wondering ‘What’s he getting at?’
You need to see a conversation partner’s face to tell sincerity from lies.
“It’ll melt away.
Once you enter that land.
Some will assimilate into the kingdom, others will reject their tribal roots and live as kingdom folk.
Even the cavalry you tribes boast about? Gone one day.”
“...”
“If that’s how you wanna survive, I’ve got nothing more to say.
I can’t tell if you truly want to live ‘like the kingdom’ or ‘people of the kingdom,’ or just survive somehow.
But one thing’s certain.
You head down there? War.
Real war, not the skirmishes so far.”
“Battle doesn’t scare me.”
“You? No.
The warriors? Probably not.
But every tribesman? Doubt it.
Will those who want to live shove their heads into death’s jaws?”
Sion now fully grasped why the northern barbarians had no choice left, why they’d reached this point.
He’d gotten close to the warriors to hear their stories.
About the lives of the barbarian commoners, how their thoughts had shifted compared to before.
‘When trade with the kingdom slowed, they were content with their lot.
But once trade exposed the kingdom’s true face, everything they’d believed was shattered.
Their supposedly decent life in this harsh, frozen land—and the kingdom’s reality, no different from theirs. All of it.’
At a glance, Karta hated the kingdom while Aigiore seemed peaceful toward it—but the truth differed slightly.
Karta: those craving kingdom life.
Aigiore: those clinging to northern ways.
One side wants to seize kingdom land and live like them; the other, content with trade, refuses to abandon this soil.
Both now know.
They can’t go back. Can’t pretend they never learned what they did.
“The chiefs worry not just about war casualties, but lifestyles crumbling until you can’t even call it a ‘tribe’ anymore.”
“Is that so.”
“Not saying it’s bad.
Even I see your tribesfolk don’t fit kingdom life.
When it flops, you’ll grab swords, attack the kingdom to fill the gap, repeat.
What happens then?
Kingdom versus northern tribes—till one truly perishes.
Zhan Temuchin.
There’s a saying: He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.
You might rise by it now, but eventually, you’ll learn it’s wrong.”
This woman wasn’t some war-mad psycho itching to fight the kingdom.
She was a true warrior, leading for her people’s sake.
Dumping such a heavy duty on her left her dithering, unable to decide.
In the novel, she thrashed without answers until her brother killed her.
“Then what am I supposed to do?
Karta’s warriors demand decisive battle with the kingdom, and the tribesfolk quietly support it.
I just...”
“You push forward.
A leader can’t always coddle everyone below.
Sometimes you eat shit, hear the hate, but lead to the right path—that’s a true leader.”
Sion tapped the table and continued.
“I came to make you choose rationally.
Use me.
Food’s coming soon!
Trade restarts, just like you want!
If it’s a kingdom ploy, unleash that rage on them.
So wait just once.
If not, take the food and backstab ’em!
Like that.”
“You okay being used?
How are you so brazen?”
“Sometimes you let yourself get duped knowingly, find the rational path—it benefits us both.”
Finishing, Sion sighed wearily and leaned back in his chair.
He’d laid out every promise, word, proof he could.
Now it was their choice—Khan’s choice.
If war still came, he’d eliminate Khan regrets aside.
Dragging on northern issues shook the south; that shook the whole kingdom, wasting all his efforts.
“...”
Zhan sat pondering, then rose.
With a small sigh, she left with a hopeful ‘I’ll think it over.’
Her steps lacked the force befitting Temuchin.
Once her presence fully faded, Risikida—who’d stood silently—finally spoke.
“That woman rubs me the wrong way.”
Huh?
Sion tilted his head.
Rare for Risikida, of all people.
Trish or Lia-like talk from her? Was she turning Trish-ish bit by bit? Worrying.
“Oh, and Master.
You said you’d tell if I behaved.
Can it be now?”
“Here?”
“Yes.
I wanna hear.
You singing.
Playing the lute.”
She’d spotted the lute he’d brought just in case and kept begging: play and sing for her.
When he asked if she hadn’t heard him play in the Nudia army, she huffed unusually, ‘Of course not, I was out of it then.’
When alone like this, they could drop knight-lord for ordinary man-woman, he’d said. Seeing her gradually relax into it, Sion nodded and took the lute she offered.
‘What song suits singing for Risikida.
Something perfect for her...’
Even here, Sion’s mind spun nimbly.
Praising his ever-working brain, he began gently plucking the lute.
—Someday, somewhere not here—will there be a place that accepts me—without hiding my poor soul—will someone embrace me—
:
—Do I have wings to fly away—
:
—Standing alone in this windy world...
Risikida’s eyes instantly welled up.
Sion tsked softly, warning ‘Cut it out!’ low—and she hastily wiped them.
Thanks to his dad, a diehard Jaurim fan, Sion scored another win today.
And unbeknownst to the pair in the tent.
Zhan paused her pacing, lost in thought, at the faint song drifting from within.
—Senseless loneliness, the pain of being alive—
:
—This starry sky too beautiful—standing alone in this windy world—
Alone, alone.
Yeah, here I stand alone like this.
The one agonizing with me? Hilariously, a kingdom noble.
Zhan let out a tiny sigh and gazed at the clear northern sky full of stars.
Unlike her turbulent heart, damn it all—it was breathtakingly beautiful.