Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: If You're Going to Fish, You Need Bait
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The moment I returned to camp, I urgently summoned Aila.
When I explained the situation regarding the sacrifice, Aila's face turned pale in an instant.
"A sacrifice? Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Tell me everything you know."
Aila swallowed dryly and lowered her voice.
"The Rokturan tribe worships the most insular and brutal shamanism even among the southern tribes. But human sacrifice rituals are supposed to be forbidden..."
"That's why they're more powerful. Think hard. There has to be something that rings a bell."
Her pupils trembled faintly.
It was the expression of someone dredging up a horrific memory.
"No way... That forbidden living sacrifice my aunt told me about? But I heard it vanished because it's a curse that even eats away at the shaman's lifespan."
"Looks like it didn't vanish—it was just hiding. What's the effect?"
Aila let out a groan.
"Monster summoning..."
"Monster?"
"Yeah... A monster that obeys the summoner's commands."
I'd heard similar stories back in the Empire.
Like how a black mage trying to summon a demon got executed by the Imperial Knights.
'This must be the barbarian version of that.'
A monster summoned through human sacrifice couldn't be anything ordinary.
The situation was spiraling toward the worst.
And if the refugees were offered up as sacrifices and wiped out, the labor force I needed would evaporate.
Above all, no evil human sacrifice ritual was going to bring peace to this land.
I needed a radical countermeasure.
I bit my lip and focused my thoughts.
'Think, Edel. You're the guy who survived the slums with nothing but your bare hands.'
I stared intently at the map.
Belvat's ironclad Hart Helm, the Rokturan tribe hunting refugees, and me, needing to snatch people from between them.
'I have to draw them out... But how?'
At that moment, I realized I couldn't sense Lilian fidgeting in the corner of the tent.
"Where's Lilian?"
"In the carriage. She said it's too cold inside the tent without Kel Bark."
That hit me like a bolt.
"...Right, the carriage! That's it!"
A sinister smile crept across my lips.
"Aila, Lunia. Assemble all the warriors at dawn tomorrow. I've got a killer idea."
"A good one?"
I grinned at the puzzled Aila and added,
"If you're going to fish, you need bait."
One rule from the back alleys.
Dangle what they crave most right in front of them.
No matter how fortified they are, a gap will open.
And I planned to hammer a massive spike into that gap.
The next morning.
"Aaack! Brother Edel! Let me go! Put me down!!"
"Shut up, hostage! Can't you be quiet?"
"You're serious!? This is too much! I have acrophobia!"
"Don't worry. I wrapped you up nice and tight with rope."
"What does that have to do with anything!!"
"Think of it as payback for using me as your personal heater all this time."
"Heating costs are way too high!!!"
"Winter heating bills are ridiculously expensive by law."
"What kind of nonsense is that!!"
Lilian's ear-splitting screams echoed across the Belvat Plains.
I said in mock seriousness,
"This is the best way to let everyone know you're alive. You wanted to tell your father you're okay, right?"
"..."
She shut her mouth at my logical argument.
"Um... You won't hand me over to the kingdom, right? I like it here! I'm useful! I don't eat much! Don't send me away!"
Heh heh... A noble lady begging to stay in a barbarian village...
Never thought I'd see the day.
I patted Lilian's head.
"Yeah, you're useful. Maybe I'll never let you go."
Lilian stammered in confusion.
"Wh-what!?"
"Don't worry. Even if I get hurt, not a hair on your head will."
"O-okay."
Good. The bait, the core of the plan, was perfectly prepped.
Now to cast the line.
A little later.
I drove Lilian's opulent noble carriage right up to the base of Belvat's walls.
And on the roof, I tied up the Rubien Marquess family's jewel, their only daughter Lilian, for all to see.
"What a bizarre experience."
The kid said it with a resigned air.
Well, this was probably a first for her too.
I gave a wry smile at her words.
"Think it's worse than mine?"
Dropped into a weird medieval-modern mashup world on Earth, scraping by until I ended up as a barbarian chieftain—who's got it weirder than me? Step up.
I took a deep breath and bellowed,
"Hup!!"
Infusing battle spirit into this barbarian body with its naturally booming voice makes it carry for kilometers.
"Quiet down, hostage! Keep yapping and you're dead!!"
I deliberately raised my voice for the soldiers on the walls to hear.
"This carriage is mine now! I'll offer Lilian Rubien to 'Araktu'! Kra ha ha ha!!"
I roughly drove the three Dromas, cracking the whip.
The gold-leafed carriage, gleaming brilliantly, kicked up dust as it raced at a moderate speed near Belvat Fortress's walls.
Too fast, and they wouldn't catch up.
"Kyaaack! Brother Edel, you real jerk! Slower! Slower!"
This is slower.
"Scream louder! That's how they'll open the gates and come out!"
I flashed an evil villain grin and looked up at the walls.
Up on Belvat Fortress's walls, they were dumbfounded by the bizarre scene unfolding below.
Knight Commander Hart Helm couldn't believe his eyes.
"What... in the world is that?"
His adjutant quickly assessed and reported.
"K-Knight Commander! The crest on that carriage... It's definitely the Rubien Marquess family! And the one tied up on top... Sky-blue hair, violet eyes—it's unmistakably Lady Lilian Rubien!"
"What...?"
Hart's brow furrowed deeply at the adjutant's frantic cry.
The pampered daughter of Marquess Rubien, who held the casting vote in the kingdom's civil war.
Orders to secure her had come from both the First and Second Princes.
Normally, he'd ignore such a crude barbarian provocation.
But watching the lady dragged around screaming and doing nothing would be dereliction of duty and political suicide.
'This damned barbarian... At a time like this...'
Hart gripped his sword hilt hard enough to crush it.
"...Prepare to sortie."
"You're serious?"
"Every soldier on the walls saw it. We can't hide or delay. If anything happens to that lady, we're all dead."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Hart drew his sword and shouted for the soldiers to hear, signaling he was doing his duty to rescue the Rubien lady.
"Assemble the heavy cavalry immediately! Open the gates and pursue that madman!"
"But the nearby barbarian tribes are stirring suspiciously!"
"Doesn't matter! I'll etch into their bones the price of touching a kingdom noble! All troops, charge!"
Unlike their ragtag reputation, Hart's direct knights were quick to ready.
Moments later.
Kuoooong—!
Belvat's gates finally broke their heavy silence and opened.
I glanced back at the gates.
Knights in iron plate poured out like a steel wave.
As expected of a High Sword Expert's decisiveness.
"Good! They're opening!"
"Brother! Y-you're really taking us all the way to the Rokturan camp like this?!"
"Of course! They need to see you to chase!"
"Why am I even doing this!!"
I cracked the whip, turning the carriage.
Destination: dead opposite the fortress, the Rokturan tribe's main camp lurking watchful.
"Let's go! Time to introduce the Rokturan scum to some delightful friends! Kra ha ha ha!!"
The Dromas foamed at the mouth, crossing the plains.
Behind, Hart Helm's cavalry chased close, roaring in fury.
He bellowed aura-infused from behind.
"Halt, you barbarian!! Stop right now!"
True to a High Expert, his voice boomed across the plains.
The knights' hooves shook the ground.
"Stop now, and I'll spare your life!"
Hart's shouts battered my ears relentlessly, but I snorted.
Spare the guy who kidnapped a noble lady? Yeah right.
Sure enough, the Rokturan camp appeared in the distance.
Hundreds of warriors, startled by the sudden cavalry, grabbed weapons in panic.
But they weren't ready yet.
'That's right, heh heh. Of course they'd panic.'
From the Rokturans' view, it was a bolt from the blue.
Peacefully(?) prepping their human sacrifice when the kingdom's elite knights charge full throttle.
30m
20m
10m
I finally reached the Rokturan camp.
"Merry Christmas, you bastards!!!"
"Kyaaaaack!!"
I veered the carriage straight into the heart of their camp, screaming.
As Lilian's shriek peaked, I yelled at her,
"Acting's over! Jump now!"
"Already? It was kinda thrilling!"
She was begging to get down earlier, now it's thrilling.
Can't fathom how a noble lady's mind works.
Lilian stuck out her tongue and snapped the ropes with magic.
I snatched her in one motion, tucked her under my arm, mounted the sturdiest Dromas, and
sliced the line connecting to the carriage.
'Mad Carriage - Wrathful Drift.'
Like a movie scene, the carriage slid on inertia, smashing into the Rokturan gates and halting.
Ku-kwang-kwang-kwang—!!
Kwaaang—!!
At the sudden explosion, Rokturan chieftain Araktu burst out swinging his serrated greatsword.
"Who dares—! Do you know where you are?!"
Bloody red battle spirit erupted from him like a storm.
Whoosh—!
Shit, almost got fucked if I was a second later.
That's what an elite warrior is?
But reacting to that power wasn't me—it was Hart Helm.
Two massive auras and battle spirits demanding they clash.
You two fighting was inevitable.
Keh heh heh.
"You're the ringleader Araktu!!"
Good, you even remembered the name I kindly provided.
"Ringleader!? What nonsense is this!!"
"I know all about your schemes!! Barbarian! Hand over the lady, or it's annihilation!"
"What? The weaklings from the center have lost their minds!! Die!!"
As their misunderstandings peaked.
Their powers exploded.
Brilliant silver-white aura wove into threads from Hart's sword tip.
'Aura Thread,' usable only by Experts.
A clean but oppressively razor-sharp energy surged to cleave all.
Araktu countered with a beastly roar.
"Kraaaaa!!"
His veins bulged like they might burst,
blood-scented red battle spirit surged, coiling around his massive serrated greatsword.
Araktu's battle spirit wove into threads too, amplifying the power.
'That's Aura Manifestation!?'
And they collided!
Kuwaaaang—!!
Seeing that, I curled my lips.
'Keh keh, just as planned.'
First step to securing labor.
'The frail noble lady just passed by, and weirdly, everything turned into a shitshow.'
Mission accomplished. Major success.