The Grasslands Feast and the Plunder of Secrets
The vast expanse of grasslands stretched between the plains where the nomadic tribes of the western frontier made their home and the lush, fertile lands of the Sel Late territory.
We had raided and looted Sel Iritas, and now we were the first to seize the narrowest pass along the shortest route that their fastest pursuers could take.
On the opposite side stood the five thousand strong army of Sel Late, defense wagons and magical devices abandoned, charging full speed toward us.
From the very start their momentum differed from the garrisons of the two cities we had trampled earlier.
Solid silver plate armor, hundreds of knights belching out mysterious Orer, and at the rear a handful of mages already chanting for protective barriers while being shielded.
The splendor of the regular forces boasted by that nobleman called Baron was quite impressive.
After that long, tense standoff a silence broken first by the middle-aged commander standing at the head of the enemy line.
He sat astride a magnificent white horse decorated with gaudy trappings, helmet off, and looked our way with contempt in his voice as he shouted.
“Listen up, you barbaric rabble of the plains! The crime of having invaded our Sel Late territory’s two noble cities is grave enough that the entire bloodline must be exterminated!”
He puffed up his chest and raised his voice.
“Our merciful lord does not wish for needless bloodshed! Surrender your weapons at once and hand over the head of the ringleader of this uprising, and the rest of you lowly lives will be spared!”
“…”
What a classic, utterly predictable trick.
He would hand us a commander to shatter our morale, force us to drop our weapons, then either slaughter us or sell us into slavery.
Of course my warriors and I couldn’t help but sneer.
“What kind of idiot says that? Thinking we’d bite at the bait he threw?”
“You’re right. Those whose heads are filled with nothing but fatty meat.”
Sarnai, pressed close beside me, laughed and chimed in.
At that moment a young officer rode out from beside the commander and fixed a gaze on us.
The spot his eyes lingered was on Sarnai, whose striking beauty shone despite the blood and dust smeared across her face.
A vile, filthy smile spread across the officer’s lips.
“Oh… Commander! That wild mare over there looks quite usable. Barbaric or not, her features are refined, and above all that rebellious glint in her eyes is strangely arousing.”
“…”
The commander’s eyes widened even more as he swept Sarnai’s body top to bottom in an openly lascivious manner and bellowed.
“Hey, you over there! Hand over that sharp-tongued bitch along with your own neck, and I’ll personally deduct a full hundred female slaves from next month’s tribute! How about it? Sounds like a deal, doesn’t it? Heh heh heh!”
Before his provocative words had even finished echoing, the atmosphere grew even heavier.
At the same time the killing intent of the Irayte, Ibin, and allied tribes surged into the sky like a storm.
Orhan’s bowstring was pulled taut to its limit, and Beike gripped his axe handle so hard it creaked.
How was Sarnai doing?
All trace of laughter had vanished from her face.
Her whip-holding hand was so tense the tendons stood out as if they might snap any second, and her terrifyingly vivid red eyes glowed brighter than any ruby from sheer killing intent.
“Temur, should I stick an arrow through that bastard’s mouth?”
Her voice was low and subdued.
I lightly patted her shoulder and replied.
“Too bad. Those two with the biggest heads are mine, so you can play with the big soldiers.”
“… That’s not a bad idea either.”
We hadn’t even been thinking about talking in the first place, but my patience wasn’t kind enough to let someone insult me and still live.
At this point it would be even better if I didn’t give them a chance.
I reached into my pocket, pulled out a red smoke grenade, and hurled it into the air.
“Negotiation is over.”
PING—!
While the signal that talks had ended, it also marked the moment before battle truly began.
As the enemy’s attention was locked on the three thousand cavalry ahead, a quiet signal was sent to the elite archer Ibaek hidden behind a small hill at the rear.
“W-what’s going on?! That red smoke!”
The commander cried out in panic at the exact moment.
SHUUUUU—!!!
The clear sky above the Sel Late army, with not a single cloud, was instantly blanketed in a black rain of arrows.
“Ambush! Put up shields—GUK!”
“KYAAAAAK! My eyes! My eyes!”
The mages tried to cast defensive magic belatedly, but the sky rained arrows with no mercy.
Arrowheads from behind pierced through the mages’ thin robes and speared their backs, then slammed mercilessly into the shoulders and thighs of the infantry trying to form ranks.
In an instant the five thousand strong army was plunged into chaos.
“Now! Cut off their throats!”
I drew my sword high and shouted the order for a charge.
“WOOOOO!!!”
More than three thousand grassland cavalry thundered forward with earth-shaking speed, hooves pounding the ground.
Of course our momentum didn’t last long.
Unlike the ragtag garrisons of the two cities, these were elite soldiers trained to the last.
Even in the midst of chaos the Sel Late knights quickly raised their Orer, desperately holding their defensive line.
CHANG! KAAANG—!
Silver Orer deflected their spears, and sturdy shields blocked the horses’ charges.
But it wasn’t enough.
In the hit-and-run tactics unique to the nomadic people—feinting from the front then splitting left and right to pour arrows from outside range—their solid formation began to crumble.
“KHAHA! Die, you tin-armored bastards!”
Toghrul’s massive mail-shaft swung down, and the bodies of two knights split clean in half.
Sarnai whipped her third arm around like a lash, wrapping the mage’s neck who was chanting a barrier and snapping it in one clean motion.
Seeing the enemy formation collapse completely, I rode straight into the heart of their ranks.
My target was only two men: the arrogant commander who had failed to even assess the situation and the young officer who had insulted Sarnai.
“Stop! It’s the commander! Stop him!”
The commander shouted desperately and tried to retreat, but he couldn’t withstand the axe strikes of Beike and the Ibin warriors pushing through to clear his path.
SWISH—!
I finally beheaded the last knight blocking my way, leaped down from my horse still covered in blood, and mounted the horse of the young officer whose filthy mouth had been running.
“Hi, hiik! Y-you… you know who I am… GUK!”
The officer panicked and reached for his sword, but my hand grabbed the back of his neck first.
“Grrr… J-just a moment…!”
“You think I don’t know who you are, you trash?”
CRUNCH—!!
The sound of bones snapping was followed by the young officer’s head twisting at a grotesque angle.
I hurled him to the ground still spitting dark red blood, eyes rolling back, then charged toward the commander cowering behind a shield, trembling all over.
“Don’t come! I-I was wrong… KYAAAAAK!”
I kicked away his shield and grabbed him by the collar, then slammed my fist down on the crown of his helmet.
BOOM—!
The helmet crumpled as his head slammed against the ground.
“Remember who owns the western plains. Carve it into that thick skull of yours.”
I raised my blood-stained hands high in the air after breaking both commanders in an instant.
The remaining Sel Late soldiers who had lost their commander threw down their weapons in utter defeat and began prostrating themselves.
“The survivors run away and tell them it’s Sel Late, or the Kingdom Union. The Ir-en are going to unify all the western tribes that fear them so much and become the masters of the continent.”
***
Abandoning weapons and stripping off armor, over a thousand defeated soldiers fled in nothing but their underclothes.
Looking at their backs as they disappeared into the dust, faces flushed with shame, the grassland warriors doubled over with laughter.
The battlefield that had reeked of blood moments ago had turned into a grand victory feast in an instant.
“Whoa! Look at this, Chief! Not a single tooth chipped on the blade!”
“What about this shield? I hit it with my axe with all my strength and not a single scratch!”
The surviving Ibin, Irayte, and allied warriors cheered, lifting the weapons and shields littering the ground.
Heavy, exquisitely crafted steel weapons they had never touched before.
They swung them in the air like children with brand-new toys, biting, tearing, tasting, and enjoying them.
Of course the process wasn’t all peaceful.
“This shiny blade was mine first!”
“Bullshit! I broke that knight’s helmet with my warhammer, so it’s obviously mine!”
Two warriors gripping a fine weapon tightly, snarling at each other, soon dropped the weapons and grabbed each other’s collars.
BOOM, BOOM! Their fists flew, rolling in the dirt, while the surrounding warriors cheered in a circle, refusing to stop them.
Eventually the victor who broke his opponent’s nose stood tall and tucked the blade into his belt.
It was the grassland way—clean and without grudges.
But that wasn’t all.
With the news of the battle over, the women pulling wagons from the rear had already begun roasting the meat for the feast and hauling wine barrels.
Some warriors still boiling with adrenaline from the fight locked eyes with the women, then wrapped their arms around each other’s waists and rolled straight into the nearest empty tent.
The raw, suppressed desire bursting forth right after nearly dying.
I watched the whole chaotic scene quietly and couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Yeah… this is what real living smells like.”
These rough, vibrant savages felt a hundred times more appealing than the pampered nobles who only pretended to be elegant while drowning in etiquette.
At that moment.
“KHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
A huge, booming laugh echoed from a corner of the battlefield, cutting through all the noise around it.
I turned my head and saw Toghrul, belly slapping against his thighs, laughing madly atop the wreckage of a fallen wagon.
I sheathed my sword and walked over to the old man at a leisurely pace.
“Did you find some incredible gold ingot among the spoils? You must be holding your breath.”
At my question Toghrul wiped the tears at the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, then grabbed a wooden chest on the ground and lifted it up high.
… Judging by the weight it looked like at least fifty kilograms of something heavy.
“KHAHA!! I thought maybe those bloodied rookies with the strongest arms to swing a sword were mixed in, but no!”
The lid of the chest he held opened, revealing thick leather-bound books packed tightly inside instead of gold coins or gems.
“It looks like some idiots were practicing mana breathing techniques and the Kingdom’s sword arts here!”
I reached for one of the books inside the chest the old man offered, my ears almost doubting my hearing.
“Sel Late Knights’ Basic Mana Manipulation and Breathing System”
One by one the titles of other books with white dust on them caught my eye.
Almost fifty volumes in total—secrets of noble families’ elite sword techniques, the western lords’ tactics for deploying troops, and even encrypted communication systems for coordinating units.
They were nothing but the core secrets of magic and knightly martial arts.
Probably those aristocratic young men who had only been theorizing from the rear instead of participating in the actual suppression.
This time they had packed their textbooks full of books and come out to build “merit” by showing their faces.
But for mobility they had abandoned heavy magical equipment.
So what was this bundle of books they carried? The sheer stupidity of loading it onto the wagon.
How thoroughly they had underestimated us could only be guessed.
Of course, it was nothing bad for us.
“Hah… I thought it would be nice if we grassland warriors could have a power like that Orer-wielding knights, but I never imagined they’d deliver it to us like this.”
Combine the nomadic people’s overwhelming physical strength and riding skills with the Orer and mana manipulation they had so proudly boasted.
It would turn us from plain wolves of the grasslands into tigers with wings.
I carefully placed the book back into the chest and let the corners of my mouth curl up slightly.
“The heavens must have decided to grant us a little investment.”
“Whether the sky helps or the ground helps, today is a perfect day to chew, drink, and enjoy!”
The sun had already set completely, and huge bonfires dotted the plains, blazing red.
The rich smell of roasted animal fat and the aroma of fine grape wine carried from the western lords’ wagons filled the night air.
I took a thick, perfectly cooked piece of meat from Sarnai and bit into it.
“How is it? Delicious?”
“The best. I feel like I’ve gained strength to fight even more.”
It was only the beginning, and while it was impossible to say we had inflicted any real damage, I still felt this was more than enough.