Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Impostors' Folly
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While Enri was away from his seat.
The barbarians who had secured promises of tribute from him began whispering and giggling to each other.
"Dumb insiders."
"They fall for this. Total idiots."
"Living on such fertile land, no wonder they can't think straight."
The kingdom lumped everyone living beyond their borders—on land they deemed unworthy of pioneering—under the single label of "barbarians."
But that was truly arrogant. Even within the kingdom itself, factions split between royalists and nobles, and those factions further divided into their own power groups.
So how could they imagine that the vast inhabitants of the great plains could be bundled under one word like "barbarians"?
"Well, we just need to grab the Jina tribe princess and make our escape."
Those who had come to the Claudia Duchy were not Jina tribe warriors. They were members of the hostile Mugan tribe.
They had overheard by chance that the Jina tribe princess had been kidnapped by kingdom forces and thought they might score big if they played it right.
As the plan progressed smoothly, the Mugan tribe warriors couldn't hold back their grins, chuckling nonstop. Not only the tribute they could extort from the Jina tribe with the princess in hand, but also the gifts they could snatch from the kingdom by pretending to be Jina tribesmen.
One stone, two birds—no, three birds with one stone.
"—Sorry, sorry. Made you wait?"
And at that moment.
Enri, who had briefly stepped away, returned.
His face was full of smiles, like someone bringing a fine gift.
"Finished the report upstairs."
"Result?"
"Take good care of me from now on, brothers."
Enri extended his hand as he spoke. A handshake. Symbol of peace. The Mugan tribe warrior curled the corner of his mouth and gripped that hand in return.
"Good. Very good, brother! You've made an excellent choice!"
"Yeah, yeah. Oh, by the way—they said the things you requested will arrive here in a few days. Can you stay and wait at this outpost in the meantime? Meals and bedding not guaranteed."
"Of course! We Jina tribe trust and follow our brothers!"
The proposal to rest unguarded in the heart of enemy territory, where they had been brutally clashing swords just recently, was enough to make one's head spin. But the Mugan tribe warriors accepted it without a second thought.
It wasn't blind faith in empty words. They simply had confidence. Confidence that no matter what trap these people laid here, they could escape unscathed.
And indeed, they did.
'Dumb insiders.'
They were the strongest elites bolstered by their shaman's spells. Unlike knights who weakened without armor or swords, they were indomitable warriors who wouldn't falter until their spells broke and tattoos faded.
'They trust people so easily... Invading deep into the kingdom might not be such a bad idea...'
Udura smirked with that thought, while Enri gazed at them with a beaming smile.
'Dumb beast whelps.'
Seeing them just laugh it off, it seemed they hadn't even realized that their true identities were known.
"Take good care of me from now on, brother!"
"Yeah. You too."
The two shook their clasped hands vigorously up and down, all while sharpening the blades they hid behind their backs.
In preparation to swing those blades soon enough.
"Pardon? W-Withdraw, you say?"
"Yes. Leave only minimal forces and return everyone else. It's a ceasefire."
"A c-ceasefire? But how can you trust the barbarians..."
The very day the negotiations with the barbarian warriors concluded, Enri's first action was to send every frontline soldier back to their homes. Only minimal forces remained at the outpost—Enri himself and a few officers to handle meals and service for the barbarians.
"Barbarians! Anyone who calls them by that hate-filled name will be punished by my own hand!"
It was such a radical move that even if the other side truly intended alliance, one might reconsider. Yet Enri pushed it through relentlessly. The expressions on the soldiers' faces as they left the outpost in bewilderment were priceless.
Inside the outpost, now left with fewer than a few dozen soldiers—fewer even than the barbarian warriors—they cackled, mocking the foolish kingdom fools.
But Enri's hospitality didn't stop there.
"Brothers, do you like alcohol?"
"Alcohol?"
"Heh, how'd you know we love the stuff."
He brought out alcohol and appetizers that even kingdom folk rarely enjoyed, piling them high. The officers were aghast watching them guzzle expensive wine straight from the bottle like cheap swill.
Tasting the exotic liquor, the barbarian warriors gradually let their guards down and lounged about.
"Haha! Take my technique!"
"Urgh—!"
"Not block with strength—dodge or counter with the same move!"
They fetched weapons from the armory to show off their martial arts or even taught the kingdom soldiers directly. Enri, amused by the sight, stepped up for spars himself, barely scraping by with victories after breaking a sweat.
"Whew! Impressive. As expected... Jina tribe—no, not barbarians—your martial prowess is not to be underestimated."
"Not something to say after winning."
"Hey, I'm the top knight of the duchy, you know."
Watching Enri grin like that, greed began to flicker and swell in their hearts. True, Enri had won those spars... but only one-on-one.
There were swarms of Mugan tribe warriors here now. More numerous than the soldiers, and unlike Enri, the soldiers couldn't hold their own against them.
Literally, the outpost was ripe for the Mugan tribe to plunder at will.
'—Easy. Too easy.'
The only reason the Mugan tribe hadn't attacked recklessly was that there was nothing worth looting at the outpost yet. They weren't truly mindless despite the "barbarian" label—they had the patience to wait for the princess and food supplies soon to arrive.
Enri, his face slightly flushed, lifted several bottles.
"Up for a bet?"
"A bet? You asking if we're confident?"
"Hahaha! We Jina tribe drink whole units under the table! Prepare yourselves!"
Gulp, gulp—
They chugged crate after crate of liquor that cost gold coins per bottle, men competing in a battle of booze.
Downing alcohol with alcohol as a chaser, filling their guts with booze on sheer bravado and pride.
Their boast of drinking a whole unit under the table wasn't exaggeration—the barbarians emerged victorious, astonishingly.
"Puhah! More?"
"Urp... I... I forfeit."
"Hahaha! Brother! What's the point if you can't hold your liquor!"
They slapped Enri's back hard as he retched, forcing him to vomit before laughing in satisfaction. Clutching his spinning head and staggering, Enri exhaled booze-heavy breath and carefully slumped into his seat.
"Huff, huff... How do you drink like that? Some kind of magic?"
"Magic? Thinking we'd rely on such sorcery is an insult!"
"No, but... you've got those tattoos. Don't they prevent getting drunk?"
"Ridiculous! These tattoos don't work that way!"
"Then what do they do?"
"These tattoos accept beneficial things like alcohol and filter out only harmful poisons—"
Drunk out of their minds, they spilled secrets they would never have uttered sober.
"You insiders lump us all as one 'barbarian' group, but that's not true. Not just us Jina tribe, but Gold tribe, Fearwater tribe, Fiercelight tribe, and more..."
Tales from beyond the plains, unheard anywhere else.
To everyone else, drowned in booze with no memory to linger, those stories would fade away.
But one person alone listened intently.
Thus, a dreamlike week passed.
The promised time arrived.
Carts loaded with food poured endlessly into the outpost. Trains now circled the kingdom's interior, but wagons remained the mainstay of transport.
Before the mountain of piled carts rolled in one more—an elegant carriage fit for nobility.
Food and princess.
The barbarians' demands had been met, arriving moment by moment.
Enri approached the carriage and opened the door as if escorting the lady inside. The carriage tilted sharply to one side with a creak.
"—Oof."
The one who stepped down was a princess with gleaming red hair and alluring chocolate-brown skin.
The Mugan tribe warriors, seeing the Jina tribe princess for the first time, froze and exchanged glances.
"...Hey, is the princess normally like that."
"No, even for a princess..."
"Does that even make sense...?"
"—You said Jina tribe warriors came to rescue me."
She, easily over 120kg, asked while jiggling her thick belly and double chin. Watching her waddle like a pig, the Mugan tribe warriors let out disbelieving snorts and drew their weapons.
"What kind of joke is this."
No way a pig like this was the Jina tribe princess.
Instinct told them so, and they aimed their drawn weapons.
Enri glanced at the weapons pointed their way, then casually hummed a tune while trimming his nails.
"Insiders. Tricking us costs your lives—Guh!?"
In that instant, all the barbarians who had drawn weapons staggered and clutched the ground. Intense vertigo overwhelmed them.
Confirming the drug had finally kicked in, Enri approached with a light smile.
"Collapse after chugging that much drug?"
"H-How... this..."
"How? You explained your weakness yourselves. Only an idiot wouldn't exploit it."
The barbarians' shaman spells decomposed substances harmful to them. But they didn't break down everything entering the body. That would waste capacity and risk decomposing even nutrients.
Thus, it targeted only severely destructive bodily threats.
"We've got an excellent alchemist on our side."
This world had plenty of drugs that knocked one unconscious without bodily harm. Enri had targeted that. The week wasn't for preparing tribute and princess—it was to brew a new drug.
"—Sweet dreams?"
"Y-You... insider..."
"We're a bit vicious, you see."
Enri looked down at the staggering barbarians and spoke.
"We charge high fees."
With those words, every barbarian lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.