Hardcore from the Very Start
"Wait!!!"
I shouted desperately, trying to stop the old man from slicing open my back with his blade.
Snip, snip-snip-snip.
But contrary to my fears, there was no horrifying pain of flesh being torn away.
Instead, the sharp blade simply made clean work of the bandages binding my upper body.
"Hold still, I told you. What if a bent old man slips and cuts you open, eh?"
……Wait, so he wasn't about to flay me alive?
"Heh heh. To think I'd live to see this ritual performed in my time."
"Um…… what exactly are you doing to me?"
What could he possibly be planning to do to a critical patient who couldn't so much as twitch a finger?
"Hm? Why ask the obvious? You passed the First Great Trial, so naturally you must receive the Engraving of Urma."
Urma? What in the world is that?
"It will hurt a little. But a great warrior should be able to endure this much. Heh heh."
The moment the shaman's sinister chuckle scraped against my ears, the old man's skeletal hands touched my bare skin.
"Let the ritual begin!"
As the old man declared in a rasping voice, the people began prostrating themselves on the ground with a roar.
"Razkal! Razkal! Razkal!"
The earth trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
Then, at last, an unknown incantation spilled from between the old man's lips.
"Ji-Ur Amam, Esh-Gara Tar."
"Nu-Gar Ka'rak El-Bish, A'zg Dur-Bazak!"
FWOOSH!
In that instant, a pain so hideous it made everything I'd endured until now feel like a joke surged terrifyingly from my back — right where the old man's hands rested — and shot down both my arms.
It felt like molten steel, boiling hot, being poured directly onto my bare skin and seeping into my bones.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
The maddening agony burned through my joints and nerves whole, and in the end I couldn't even finish my scream before my consciousness gave out.
Over my slumped, unconscious shoulders, a deep silver pattern began to spread.
The markings writhed as if alive, crawling down my arms and stretching all the way to my wrists.
And when they finally took their complete form, the entire pattern covering both arms flared with one last brilliant light.
Then, like a brand seared into bare flesh, it sank slowly deep beneath my skin and vanished without a trace.
"……So it wasn't a dream after all."
The moment I pried my heavy eyelids open, what came into view was the ceiling of a tent — the second time I'd seen it now.
My head understood that I'd been transmigrated into another body, but deep down I'd still harbored a sliver of hope.
That when I opened my eyes again, I'd be staring at the ceiling of my tiny studio apartment back home.
But reality remained as cruel as ever.
"What on earth was all that last night……"
Recalling the horrific ritual — the sensation of my whole body melting in molten steel — I blankly clenched my right hand.
"……Huh?"
My fingertips curled smoothly inward.
The sensation of fingers responding precisely, exactly as I willed them to.
I cautiously tensed my abs and slowly pushed my upper body upright.
"The pain…… it's gone?"
I couldn't believe it.
Just yesterday I'd been a critical patient who couldn't so much as lift a finger.
"What the hell is going on here……"
I had no idea what was happening, but the simple fact that I could move around normally again was enough to let me breathe.
Telling myself I should at least take stock of the situation, I rose from the bed and set my feet on the ground.
My legs still wobbled a little, but standing under my own power was no problem at all. After that, I gave my limbs and body a careful once-over.
This body is way younger than I thought……
I'd been too out of it to notice yesterday, but looking again, this body belonged to a child — ten, eleven years old at the very most.
Once I'd finished my rough inspection, I walked slowly to the tent entrance and swept the hanging flap aside.
The scenery spilling in through the gap looked considerably different from last night.
The first thing that caught my eye was children running and playing under the beating sunlight. Beside them, women were tanning animal hides on broad flat rocks or hanging chunks of red meat on lines to dry.
And when I shifted my gaze slightly, I saw men gathered together carrying weapons — axes, spears, bows.
……They're literally one of those native tribes you only ever see in TV documentaries.
Just as I was taking in the view, a burly bare torso suddenly popped into my line of sight, blocking it completely.
A dark scar and hulking muscles filled my vision.
I didn't need to check who it was — I knew instantly. Tilting my head back slowly to look up, and…… yep. It was that ogre-faced man.
Third time crossing paths, and he was still ugly as ever.
Then a rather shitty thought crossed my mind.
Wait — my own face isn't like that, is it?
I wasn't asking to be as handsome as Ryu Si-hyuk, the genius-faced actor.
I just prayed — truly, desperately prayed — that I'd at least fall within the category of human being.
"You're awake! Great warrior!!"
That voice, booming loud enough to blow my eardrums out, was still going strong.
"Yeah……"
At my listless, dead-eyed response, the man's thick lips split into a wide grin.
Please stop smiling.
Your face is terrifying enough as it is — smiling just makes it worse.
"Then let's hurry. The Chieftain is waiting for you!"
"Huh?"
My dazed half-protest was brushed aside without ceremony. The man snatched my wrist with his boulder of a hand and began striding off at once.
"Wait, j-just a second……!"
I was a critical patient who'd only just woken up after hovering between life and death, thank you very much!
But my pitiful cries went entirely unheard, and I ended up half-dragged along by the man's brutal strength.
Where I was forcibly hauled to a stop was in front of a massive tent that was unmistakably grander than everything around it.
"There! Go in!"
Having apparently completed his mission, the man walked off without so much as a backward glance.
"Agh. I thought my wrist was going to snap."
Glaring once at his retreating back, I rubbed my throbbing wrist, which had gone an angry red.
Then I swallowed drily, slowly pulled back the tent flap, and carefully poked my head inside.
……Hm. Maybe I should just go back and lie down.
The moment I looked at the far end of the tent, a primal urge to flee welled up inside me.
A giant of a man sat on the ground, elbows on his knees, chin resting on his fists, staring straight at me.
Wrapped in gray fur pelts, he looked less like a person and more like an enormous bear — and when that already menacing face of his split into a grin at the corners of his mouth…… he was genuinely, disgustingly terrifying.
Given everything yesterday, this man really did seem to be the chieftain of this tribe.
"Why are you standing there gawking? Get in here."
The man's gravelly voice echoed through the tent.
Reluctantly edging inside, I finally noticed two other men who'd been hidden in the chieftain's overwhelming presence.
Two men sitting on the ground on either side, casting sidelong glances at me.
They were the very same bastards who'd come with the chieftain last night.
"Tch!"
One of them clicked his tongue openly the moment he laid eyes on me.
Apparently he found this entire situation deeply distasteful.
……So I'm hated, huh?
Feeling an inexplicable hostility, I watched their reactions warily as I approached the chieftain and carefully lowered myself onto the ground before him.
"I thought you were such a weakling that it couldn't possibly be my blood in you."
The chieftain straightened up from where his chin had been resting on his hand and spoke.
"And yet you endured a trial that no one — no one but the great Grand Warrior Volgrad — had ever survived. Hehahah!"
……Volgrad?
At that single name leaving the man's mouth, my head snapped up in shock.
The chieftain kept going on and on, booming with laughter — so it wasn't just reckless bravado, you truly are my blood after all — but not a single word reached my ears.
Volgrad.
The moment I heard that name, the puzzle pieces in my head began clicking into place.
This world…… it was the world of The Country Girl is Loved by Everyone?
Volgrad was a name mentioned only in passing within the novel.
Roughly 300 years before the main story's timeline.
The Grand Warrior who united the seven barbarian tribes scattered across the harsh Demonic Lands in the empire's north — Bellasion, the very heart of the story's setting.
And the man who brought his blade to the very gates of the imperial capital — to the barbarians, nothing less than a myth, a living legend incarnate.
The scenery around me and that one name had been enough to complete the entire puzzle.
I had transmigrated into the body of a barbarian — the very people who, in The Country Girl is Loved by Everyone, bring about the final moments of my absolute favorite character, Lady Ceris Argent.
Are you kidding me?! Out of all the countless extras, why a BARBARIAN?!!
I was still pouring curses on the body I'd possessed when a single thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
No, wait a second……
If this really was the world of The Country Girl is Loved by Everyone……
"Chieftain!"
My heart racing, I jerked my head up and bluntly cut off the chieftain mid-sentence.
"Hm? Surviving the First Trial seems to have given you some polish. Calling me 'Chieftain' instead of 'Father,' are we?"
……This man was my FATHER?
No — dark secrets about being the chieftain's spawn aside, that wasn't important right now.
"Um…… what year is it, exactly……"
I started to ask, then stopped myself.
Wait, these barbarians surely wouldn't use the imperial calendar……
What event could pin down the timeline?
"What is it? Didn't you have something to say?"
The chieftain gave me an odd look as I clamped my mouth shut mid-question.
Ah, right! The Crown Prince! That guy was around Ceris's age!
"W-well…… do you happen to know when the heir of those barbaric empire folk was born?"
"The empire?"
The chieftain tilted his head, clearly failing to grasp my meaning, and glanced at the man seated to his left.
"It refers to the land where the soft-hearted cowards of the south dwell," the man explained briefly, and the chieftain finally nodded as if he understood.
"Ah, you mean those effeminate bastards."
The chieftain's gaze swung back to me.
"But why would you care about the affairs of those cowards?"
Apparently my sudden mention of the empire had struck him as off, because the chieftain's eyes narrowed like a beast of prey, radiating a murderous aura.
Crap, was that too out of nowhere……
Facing those predator's eyes gleaming with suspicion, as if sizing up prey, cold sweat broke out damp on my palms.
To shake off the suspicion somehow, I put my brain into overdrive and forced out the most barbarian logic I could muster.
"If I become a great Grand Warrior like Volgrad! Then wouldn't the bloodline spawned by those cowards' leader make the grandest prey of all!"
Behind my booming declaration, a cold silence settled over the tent for a moment.
……Did it work?
The instant I swallowed nervously, the chieftain's lips curled upward.
"Hehahah! Yes, exactly! That bastard would be the finest prey of all!"
Thankfully, my answer had been barbarian enough.
Looking thoroughly satisfied, the chieftain stroked his chin and muttered as if rummaging through his memory.
"I believe I heard those bastards threw some loud festival about a birth or something……"
As the chieftain strained to recall, the man who'd explained the empire earlier chimed in flatly.
"About 13 years ago, Father."
Father?
So these two sitting beside him were this body's older brothers?
"That's it! Around 13 years ago."
The chieftain slapped his knee and nodded.
Thirteen years ago.
Then Ceris right now was still a small child — probably around the same age as this body.
Just as I learned this was the distant past, long before the original story's timeline, and the anxiety that had been pressing on my chest began to melt away, a breath of relief about to escape my lips—
"Well, if there's nothing more to say, let's begin the Second Trial at once."
"……Huh? The next trial?"
Another incomprehensible word dropped out of nowhere, and a stupid sound escaped me before I could help it.
"That's right. There's normally a year's grace after the First Trial, but…… I'd say my blood is a different story, wouldn't you?"
The moment I saw the chieftain's lips curl into that grin, an unmistakable sense of foreboding washed over me.
Sure enough, my ominous premonition wasn't wrong.
"YOU MOTHERLESS LUNATICS OF AAAAAAHHHH——!!!!"
I was currently plummeting toward the ground beneath a dizzyingly sheer cliff.