Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Justification = Boring, Pretentious / Plunder = Stimulating, Easy
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No sooner had she spoken than Lilian, who had been trotting ahead briskly, suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Then, like a deflated balloon sign, she slowly slumped to the ground.
Plop―
"I'm tired.... Carry me...."
I looked down at her in disbelief and clicked my tongue.
"Cut the crap and get up. You've only walked fifty steps. Even a snail could go farther than that."
"We've been walking nonstop since earlier.... I was standing the whole time inside too, and I used magic... Magic consumes stamina too, you know...."
"Yeah, right."
If that were true, then a shriveled-up old grand archmage would head straight to the afterlife after one spell.
Lilian's slender legs were trembling as if she really was at her limit.
Her face was too pale for it to be just play-acting. Was this for real?
"It's true.... Back at the academy, I even skipped classes because walking from the dorm to the lecture hall was too hard. When I graduated, the professor said it was a miracle my attendance wasn't lacking."
"Is that something to brag about?"
Mages were supposed to have poor stamina, but this was on another level.
I sighed and turned my back to her.
I grabbed her by the scruff like a puppy and hoisted her onto my back.
......Why is she so light?
Was I just that strong...? Not to exaggerate, but it really felt like I'd slung a single hamster onto my back.
Lilian clung to me like she'd been waiting for this, rubbing her face against my back.
"Hehe, Sir Kel Bark's back is so broad and warm. The trapezius cushioning is pure art! Uhhehe, the feel of these firm muscles...."
"......Don't laugh like a pervert and just hold on tight so you don't fall off."
I trudged forward with her on my back and asked,
"Enough nonsense. Tell me more about the Ayula border defense knights. Anyone we need to watch out for?"
Lilian wrapped her arms tightly around my neck and whispered in my ear.
"Hmm... The border guards themselves are a ragtag bunch. The guy called Baron Hound is so corrupt he doesn't even pay the soldiers on time. Morale's in the gutter. But...."
"But?"
"Just one person. That's why no one touches the border."
The playfulness vanished from Lilian's voice.
"The iron wall of the border city, Knight Commander Sir 'Hart Helm.'"
Hart Helm? The name even had "helm" in it. Sounded ridiculously rigid.
"He's a High Sword Expert. Just one step below Sword Master. Stubborn as hell—won't take bribes, and his sense of duty is borderline pathological. Basically, the entire Ayula border rests on his shoulders alone."
High Sword Expert. Top 5% even across the entire central continent in terms of raw power.
"What if all our chiefs gang up on him?"
"Hmm... You want the honest truth?"
"Spit it out."
"It'd be an insult to even compare them."
"...That good?"
"Yes...."
My footsteps paused for a moment.
Suddenly, I felt the wall in front of me.
Of course... Aura users aren't to be trifled with.
Aura users had stages: Beginner, Adept, Expert, Master.
I recalled the back-alley days when a single "Low Adept" aura user turned an entire gang into a slaughterhouse.
How much more terrifying would a High Expert, several stages above that, be? A strategic weapon in human skin.
But.
"Doesn't mean we give up."
I started walking again.
"Even the sturdiest castle wall has a dog hole somewhere. If a head-on fight won't work, we flank, dig traps—whatever it takes to win. Winners make the rules, after all."
"As expected of our Kel Bark. So sneaky and cowardly—it's too cool!"
This little brat...
"......Your stamina's back, isn't it? Get down."
"N-no! My legs are still shaking! I swear, I'm telling the truth! Clap clap clap!"
I wanted to hurl the kid—who was now reciting from the language textbook while clinging even harder—off my back, but I held off for now.
Three days later.
The messenger hawk from Fox arrived.
Magic communication via crystal orbs cost a fortune to maintain, so we stuck to good old-fashioned messenger hawks.
Truth be told, with Fox as our only contact, there was no need for fancy new gadgets.
It was like buying the latest smartphone when your only saved contact was Mom.
The note had a short, punchy message:
– Capital situation worsening. Explosion imminent.
The time had finally come.
I immediately assembled all tribe members in the training grounds.
One hundred handpicked warriors, excluding those needed for base defense, plus the Shaman Division making their real combat debut.
A hundred pairs of eyes gleamed fiercely under the sun.
I climbed onto the platform and raised my voice.
"Warriors! The day of the final battle is upon us!"
"Woooah!!"
"Today, we march on the Ayula Kingdom border! There, we will secure the resources for our tribe's future and lay the foundation for great prosperity! Men are the nation's strength, labor is money! We will liberate those suffering and...!"
I bellowed the departure speech I'd prepared since yesterday...
"...Why are we doing that?"
"...Eh, Kel Bark must have his reasons."
But the response was lukewarm.
Karak was blatantly picking his nose, and Monta was eyeing a bird in the sky like it was lunch.
The warriors yawned widely, bored out of their minds.
Goddamn idiots.
Didn't they know a proper send-off speech boosted morale!? And gave us justification!?
But lofty ideals from books like The Prince couldn't penetrate the thick eardrums of barbarians.
I switched tactics.
I drew Kel Kar and thrust it toward the sky.
"You worthless bastards!! It's time to plunder!! Take everything!!"
The reaction exploded instantly.
"Woooaaaahhh!!!"
"Kel Bark!! Tahu!!"
"Kahaha!! Now that's more like it!! Kel Bark's orders!! Let's loot 'em dry!!"
"Waaarrrggghhh!!"
The ground shook with their roars.
Yeah... This was justification enough for you lot....
Crazy bastards....
Then Aila, standing beside me, asked in disbelief,
"Weren't we going to rescue people...?"
But I was one of those crazy bastards too.
"Plundering people is plundering too!!"
Aila furrowed her brow deeply.
"...Isn't that usually called kidnapping?"
Lilian chimed in excitedly from the side.
"Aila sister's right! We had a social agreement to call it that!"
"Shut up! Anyway! The whole army—advance!!"
Three days later.
Without any major incidents, we arrived at a fertile plain near the Ayula border.
This was prime farmland—not desert or wasteland.
But it had been abandoned for years just because it bordered barbarian territory.
Hmm, what a shame...
Well, we'd think about this land later.
"Alright! Set up camp!"
My order sent the warriors moving in perfect unison.
Nomads by nature, their camp-building speed was astonishing.
Two or three warriors pitched a tent in under five minutes.
Dozens of tents sprang up in the blink of an eye.
This expedition might turn into a prolonged campaign, so we'd brought ample supplies.
Especially a cloth-covered carriage to shield Lilian from the blazing sun.
"Good. Now we start scouting."
I took Karack, Batu, Aila, and Lilian and sneaked toward the fortress.
Atop a hill in the darkening plain, we lay flat on our bellies, peering past the walls.
But.
"......Huh?"
My eyes narrowed.
Beneath the fortress walls, in a blind-spot valley, faint campfire lights dotted like stars.
Looking closer, dozens of tents were already pitched there.
"What? Those aren't kingdom troops, right?"
Lilian, stuck to my back like gum, peered through finger binoculars and whispered,
"Doesn't look like it? Kingdom guards don't use such shabby hide tents."
"Then, another tribe?"
Aila looked through her magic telescope and paled as she answered.
"......Kel Bark. See that flag? Black background with a red crocodile."
"What, you know 'em?"
"That's... the 'Rokturan Tribe.'"
Aila's voice trembled.
"One of the most belligerent warrior tribes in the south. Infamous for their cruelty, and they held real power around here."
"How strong?"
Then Karack, radiating killing intent beside me, growled low.
"I know those bastards, Kel Bark."
Karak's eyes were uncharacteristically serious.
"Be careful. Those guys... have 'Beast Forms.'"
The essential condition for advancing to higher stages—the barbarian legacy we'd all lost.
Beast Forms?
It felt like we'd come to plunder and stumbled on a goldmine.
A predatory smile crept across my lips.
"One more thing to loot now."
Aila snapped at my words.
"Didn't you hear? They're insanely strong! Honestly, even Karack can't handle them!"
I glanced at Karack.
"For real?"
Karak bit his lip in frustration and growled.
"Hate to admit it... but even if four of me ganged up, we couldn't win. Especially that bald guy called 'Araktu'—he's 'Elite' grade."
"What?"
Seemed like Karack knew them personally.
Barbarian power ranks differed from knights: Novice, Skilled, Elite, Great Warrior.
Karak was the tribe's top warrior, but only Skilled grade.
Equivalent to a knight Adept.
But that guy was an Expert-level 'Elite Warrior'?
Shocking, but I brushed it off casually.
"So what? Scared?"
Aila yelled in exasperation.
"This isn't like the Yagur tribe where some clever scheme gets you through! Those are straight-up disasters!"
Disasters my ass.
"Don't make me laugh. No situation's unbreakable. Give up, and that's your limit."
This familiar sensation creeping up.
The back-alley slum crisis sense I hadn't felt in ages.
Me, who'd overcome countless life-or-death crises.
This? A hundred times better than back then.
Not a scrawny kid anymore, not cornered by dozens of thugs with a hole in my gut.
I curled my lip smugly.
"For now, let's watch. See what those bastards do."