Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: From Now On, Plunder is a Sacred Rite
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On the way back to the oasis.
Lilian stuck her head out the carriage window, letting out one exclamation after another.
It was the top-of-the-line noble carriage she had been riding in.
Too fine and expensive to just abandon, I was riding in it myself. The cushioning was excellent.
"Wow..."
The Grom Kel village at the oasis.
Upon arriving at my base, now a proper village with all the fixings, Lilian's eyes went wide.
Her gaze was fixed on the backs of the barbarian warriors sweating it out in training on the parade ground.
"Muscles there too, muscles here too..."
I shook my head at the sight of her sparkling eyes and blissful expression.
"Oh my god... Is this heaven? Even the sweat in the air is brimming with vitality!"
She's got a real muscle fetish.
I'd seen nobles freak out at the sight of barbarians, but this was the first noble lady I'd seen drooling over them with such scholarly fervor.
During the ducal house's apprentice servant exams, excessive muscles were deemed "aesthetically unacceptable," but her tastes were certainly unique.
As the carriage came to a stop, the warriors swarmed over.
"Kel Bark! What'd you pick up this time?"
"Oh! A woman?"
"She's super pale! All bones, no meat?"
Lilian paid no mind to the warriors' mutterings, too busy admiring their pecs.
Then, a cold voice rang out from afar.
"What the hell is this?"
It was Aila.
Arms crossed, she scanned Lilian up and down as she stepped out of the carriage.
Her eyes were sharp with suspicion.
"Hey, she's from the central continent, right? How could you just bring an outsider into the tribe like that! And she looks like nobility too?"
Thorns laced her voice.
But Lilian lit up the moment she saw Aila.
"Wow... The women here are perfect too!"
Lilian marveled at Aila's firm thighs.
"Look at the development on those quadriceps! The firmness is insane! How many hours a day do you train? If I lived here, could I get a body like that? Can I touch your muscle fibers?"
"W-What?! What the hell are you saying!?"
Aila's face flushed red.
She backed away in disbelief, pressing her temple.
"Hah... Kel Bark. What the hell do you plan to do with this weirdo?"
I shrugged and stepped down from the carriage.
"She says she can pull her weight. She's a mage, so she'll be useful somehow."
"A mage?"
Aila's eyes widened. She shot Lilian a dubious look.
"Really? Mages are super rare even on the central continent. Someone like her wouldn't be slumming it out here."
"It's not a lie."
Lilian puffed out her cheeks, looking indignant.
"I'm a valedictorian graduate of Ayura Royal Academy. Well... in theory scores only."
"Theory scores only?"
"Practical stuff was tough because of my stamina."
"......"
No wonder she was so stunned.
Now I got why she was so obsessed with muscles and health.
"Still, she's an outsider!"
I sighed and told Aila,
"My tribe doesn't make those distinctions anymore."
"What!?"
"Southerners, central folk, or any other race. If they're useful to my tribe, they can live here."
"B-But!!"
"No objections to this decision. That's an order under Kel Bark's authority."
Aila couldn't openly challenge the Kel Bark's authority.
I smirked and told her,
"Take her along for now. She might help with the third-stage imprinting."
Aila's shaman workshop.
The table was cluttered with rare materials for third-stage imprints and intricate designs.
"You sure it's okay to show her?"
Aila asked with a sour expression. The tattoo designs were tribal secrets.
I nodded.
"Show her. It's not like it'll wear out. And without the special materials, she couldn't replicate it anyway."
Tradition matters.
But stagnation without progress leads to rot.
An outsider's perspective might open a whole new path.
Lilian examined the tattoo designs with intense focus, her expression deadly serious.
A stark contrast to her earlier antics.
"Hmph, what would you know? Barbarian shamanism is a completely different system from imperial magic..."
Aila scoffed at Lilian and moved to mix materials.
That was when Lilian casually dropped a comment.
"Hmm... This is a magic circle, isn't it?"
"What...?"
"It's disguised as a tattoo by blending in the artwork, but the foundation is an ancient amplification-type magic circle. It amplifies power flow and anchors it to the body. Being such ancient knowledge, it's not easy to tweak, but..."
She narrowed her eyes and picked up a quill.
"Here, the power transmission path is too direct. Probably because it follows the blood vessels, but rerouting it like this should boost efficiency, right?"
Aila bristled at the outrageous critique.
"What? Don't get cocky! This has been perfect since our ancestors—!"
But Lilian didn't stop.
The quill flew across the parchment without hesitation.
"No, look. Forcing power in brute-force isn't ideal. Sending it serially here causes bodily resistance and pain. Dispersing it in parallel and inserting an amplification rune midway..."
Scratch, scratch.
Lilian added tiny, complex symbols over the design.
They were subtle enough not to ruin the overall aesthetic.
Aila snorted at first, but as Lilian's hand moved, her pupils dilated more and more.
"Th-This is..."
The barbarians' crude, rough shamanic circuits were merging with refined magical theory, reborn in a new form.
"This should raise efficiency by about 8%. And reduce the recipient's pain a bit too. What do you think?"
Lilian set down the quill and beamed innocently.
Aila stared blankly at the design.
As the tribe's top shaman, she could see it clearly.
This outsider had pierced through inefficiencies she'd never noticed and fixed them in one go.
"......A monster?"
Aila looked at Lilian anew.
A scrawny body that looked like it'd topple with a poke.
But the depth of knowledge inside was the real deal.
"......Hmph. Not bad. She'll earn her keep."
Aila sounded aloof, but there was approval in her tone.
"Hehe, great! Then you'll teach me those exercises for a full, pumped-up body like yours, right?!"
"Th-That's just how I'm built! You think training turns you into this overnight?"
Lilian's shoulders slumped.
"That's mean..."
That evening.
A grand third-stage imprinting ceremony was held.
The subjects: me and three other captain-level warriors.
Urkan, Delker, and Monta.
Karak and Batu, having completed theirs long ago, just watched.
"Begin."
Aila, Lilian, and even Lunia joined to etch the leg imprints on me.
Sizzle—!
"Ngh!"
Pain like branding my skin with a hot iron.
As expected of the third stage—the agony dwarfed the second stage.
Even with Lilian's mana circuit tweaks reducing the pain, it was still this bad...
But I was used to pain.
This much was...!
How much time passed?
"It's done."
With Aila's voice, intense light burst from my body.
Whoosh!
My heart pounded fiercely.
Earth's power surged through my veins like a waterfall.
Every muscle compressed like steel, my senses sharpening acutely.
I clenched and unclenched my fist.
The air crushed in my grip. It wasn't just raw strength.
The very realm of how I wielded power had changed.
"Hoo..."
My exhaled breath formed a white mist.
The manifestation of the barbarians' trademark "battle spirit."
A power comparable to the central continent's auras.
This is killer.
Glancing sideways, the other captains were emanating transformed auras too.
"Kahaha! Power's overflowing! I could chew rocks!"
"M-Monta thinks he can eat even more now!"
Hold off on that... I can barely cover your food bill as is...
Now, our captain-level command was all third-stage warriors.
A force that wouldn't yield anywhere in the south was complete.
I smiled contentedly and turned to the two.
They looked drained from squeezing out mana for the imprints, slumped like laundry draped over Monta's jiggling belly.
"Good work, Aila, Lilian. Thanks to you."
"Huff, huff... You devil chief... Making us do four at once..."
Aila glared at me with hollow eyes, muttering.
"I-I'm taking tomorrow off. Can't do anything in this state..."
Lilian, on the other hand, was in a different state.
Half-lidded eyes drooling, she crawled zombie-like toward my ankle.
"Hehe... Amazing... The veins... twitching..."
"......"
"Um... Kel Bark, sir...? To check if the mana circuits settled right... I need to feel them with my hands... Cough."
Even hacking up blood, her unyielding will groped for my thigh.
Tsking, I pressed her forehead away with my index finger.
"Cut the crap and go sleep. You're about to collapse."
Night deepened.
Sitting by the bonfire, staring into the flames, I sensed footsteps.
Lilian.
Told her to rest.
The little thing bounces back quick and wanders around.
She sat cautiously beside me.
"Not sleeping? You okay?"
"Can't sleep. My low stamina means I recover fast."
Like a small cup filling with water quick... Neat.
She hugged her knees, staring into the fire.
Unlike her bubbly, quirky daytime self, a deep shadow hung over her face.
"Thanks for earlier. Everyone leveled up safely thanks to you. You more than earned your keep."
"No problem. You saved my life; that was the least I could do."
Silence fell. Only the crackle of burning wood filled the quiet.
I poked the fire with a stick and asked casually,
"So, spill it. Why were you being chased?"
Not a simple runaway.
For a marquis's daughter to flee to the desert's heart, pursued by a pro mercenary band, meant no ordinary story.
Lilian bit her lip.
She glanced around, then whispered so softly,
"......No one knows yet. It's not out, but it'll be public soon..."
"What is it? Stop dragging it out."
Her violet eyes trembled with anxiety.
"Ayura Kingdom's king... passed away at dawn yesterday."
"......What?"
My hand froze.
The king dead? Suddenly?
I'd heard he was still hale and hearty.
"Not natural causes. Probably... poisoned."
Terror laced Lilian's voice.
"The kingdom's in chaos now... a bloody prince's war for the throne. My house got dragged in, so I fled to survive."
Four nations bordered southern barbarian lands directly.
"Rotilian Empire," "Ayura Kingdom," "Kron Kingdom," "Arka Holy Kingdom."
All powerhouses.
One pillar crumbling?
Top-tier intel that could shake the south.
Kingdom in turmoil.
An opportunity for some, crisis for others.
But as a barbarian chief, what could I gain...?
For a fringe tribe leader like me...
One thought flashed.
Wait...?
This could be useful.
Who knew one raid would snag intel like this.
From now on, plundering is a sacred rite!
If I'm iffy about doing it on my turf, just hit someone else's territory!
I curled my lips slyly.
"Interesting. Go on."