The First Gunshot
Tatatatang!
A sound of something bursting continued to echo through the night. Bright lights flashed and vanished from every direction, and every time they sparkled, several warriors collapsed.
Alotoro instinctively crouched down. And he discovered it.
The warriors of the Zakum Tribe, each wielding some strange iron weapon that spat fire.
“What… what in the world is that?”
Tatatang! Explosions kept coming. Screams rang out without pause among the Wild Dog Tribe warriors.
“Kuaaaak!”
“Aaaak!”
These screams, these explosions from all sides, the small suns floating in the night sky.
Everything was more than enough to drive Alotoro into panic.
“What in the world is this!!!”
Alotoro, lost in panic, instinctively stood up and roared. Classic panic. His mind shattered the moment he saw his warriors dying to an incomprehensible phenomenon.
And in the next moment, accompanied by countless gunshots, countless bullets flew toward Alotoro. Alotoro fell to the ground with dozens of bullets embedded in his body.
“Chief! Everyone has fallen!”
“Don’t be careless! There might be survivors. Send the warriors with spears to confirm the kills.”
“Understood! Warriors, follow me!”
Kumpa shouted, and a group of warriors approached the fallen Wild Dog Tribe warriors and began stabbing them one by one. Most were either real corpses or dying half-corpses.
But when his turn came, there was one who suddenly stood up and begged.
“Please spare me! I’m not from the Wild Dog Tribe! I’m from the Goat Tribe next to me! If you spare me, I’ll return to the Goat Tribe and never be seen again!”
“Chief.”
“Kill him.”
“Understood.”
Kwa-jik! Kumpa brought down his stone axe, sending the man’s head flying.
More corpses rose, pleading for life or suddenly rushing at Kumpa, but Kumpa calmly killed them all, and we achieved a truly perfect victory.
A hollow victory.
-----
“Can we go now?”
After a while of explosions, the child hiding in the warehouse asked.
“Not yet. Tonight, stay in the warehouse and sleep. Tomorrow, let’s go home.”
The old woman’s answer made the child ask in wonder.
“Why not?”
“Because bad people broke in.”
“Why did bad people break in?”
“Because our tribe has a lot to eat.”
“Can’t we share?”
“I can share a little, but they wanted everything we have. So I couldn’t let them go.”
“Ah~”
The child nodded as if understanding. Soon the old woman approached the warrior who came to relieve the watch.
“How did the battle go?”
“Don’t worry, old lady. We won.”
“Our grandson? Is our grandson Kumpa alive?”
“He has not a single scratch. No one from our side died.”
“Aah…”
Relieved sighs came from everywhere. Casualties: 0. Even against the Wild Dog Tribe. Truly an unimaginable result.
“Our chief, the way of the gods is undoubtedly correct.”
Sihyun, in his childhood, was just an unusual child. An unusual child who said things others didn’t and saw things others couldn’t.
But he invented farming, freed many from starvation, solved all big and small problems of the tribe, and expanded the tribe’s size to over 100 times the original.
To them, Sihyun was the best chief. Like a person sent by the gods to strengthen the Zakum Tribe.
“Long live the chief!”
Perhaps because he thought the same, a middle-aged man shouted. Then the same words began to burst out from everywhere.
“Long live the chief!”
“Long live the chief!”
Small voices, but the echoes of the long live continued to ring out. And soon, that echo began to spread uncontrollably.
“Long live the chief!”
“Long live the great chief!”
“Long live the great chief! Long live the great prophet!”
The echoes of the long live soon spread not only to the entire warehouse but to all five warehouses, and finally began to spread among the warriors.
“Chief, the people are all praising the chief.”
To Sihyun, who was checking the illumination gun he had just fired, Kumpa spoke.
“It’s embarrassing. What kind of trick is this. Can’t you stop it?”
“How many tribesmen are there? How can I stop them all? The chief is a being worthy of cheers. Today, it seems best to just enjoy the cheers.”
Is that so.
Well, since it’s a special day, I’ll allow it for today.
Thinking that, Sihyun sat down.
Except for shooting the illumination gun into the sky, he did nothing, but his body felt exhausted due to extreme tension.
If this planet had modern-level civilization, tomorrow’s headline would surely be this:
Zakum Tribe rises to the strongest on the planet.
-----
“You fought magnificently.”
Hildegard, who had been sitting on the warehouse roof watching the battle, jumped down and landed, then spoke to me.
“Yes. We won.”
“Your battle command was excellent. If you had been born in the Galactic Empire, you might have become a great soldier.”
“I’m not suited for being a soldier.”
“Why?”
“I don’t like taking orders.”
Indeed. She smiled and nodded.
For the aftermath of the battle, she looked around. As we started walking for a while, Hildegard began walking beside me.
“Unfortunately, I had no chance to pay the bill this time.”
“Did you want to fight?”
“If the battle turns unfavorable, I planned to sneak in and cut the enemy’s throat.”
“Alotoro is a great warrior. It wouldn’t be that easy.”
“In other planets, this strategy has already succeeded dozens of times.”
“…”
Now that I think about it, this woman originally had a lot of medals on her military uniform.
Now, it seems all the ones she had are gone.
“Then, can I ask for a favor next time?”
“Next time? Isn’t this planet yours now?”
“Yes. This planet is.”
I rose to the strongest of this planet. But I had no intention of being satisfied with being the strongest of this planet.
“You don’t mean…”
“Well, I have to do what I can.”
I had seen a space map before. In that map, our planet was there, but it was just a small dot, and even the name wasn’t written.
Our planet was in the ‘rimworld’ of the Galactic Empire. Rimworld meant the backwater regions of the galaxy. In other words, the backwater of the backwater.
But fortunately, it was quite far from the center of the Galactic Empire, and there were many planets similar to ours around it. In other words, a place where you can build power without being noticed by the central government, like in the Three Kingdoms, Han versus Cao.
“From what I know, this place is a rimworld. A place where the central government has little interest. So, does that mean I can become a warlord by avoiding the eyes of the central government?”
“Timing is timing, right?”
Eh? What timing is that?
“Yes? What timing?”
“Ah, I made a mistake. Forget it.”
“…”
By saying that, it makes me more curious.
“Is it a secret?”
“…”
“If it’s that secret, I won’t ask, but…”
“Haa… It’s my mistake for speaking out. Well, I’ll tell you.”
What kind of timing is it? I stopped walking and focused on her words.
“The Galactic Empire is currently in a state of coup.”
“Coup?”
“To put it in detail, it’s long, but briefly, the Imperial Chancellor Peter has occupied the imperial palace with his private army.”
“Yes?”
“To summarize briefly, after the old emperor passed away and there was a power vacuum, the ministers mobilized warlords and each installed a royal, leading to confrontation in the center. The noble faction led by Imperial Chancellor Peter and the pro-royal faction led by Minister of Internal Affairs Marcus clashed, but in that fight, Peter, the leader of the noble faction, won and took control of the imperial palace.”
“Then, perhaps the previous difficult situation…”
“Yes. I was part of the faction that supported Marcus. And Marcus was defeated and driven out of the central politics. The imperial army is chasing me. I’m actually being pursued.”
Now I understood why she came on a cargo one-way shuttle instead of a passenger one. She couldn’t have thought someone would hide on a one-way shuttle.
“I never intended to reveal this fact. But the reason I’m telling you is because I saw ambition in your eyes. You are a great person. Perhaps you might grow to save my failing empire.”
“…”
“I have lost power. But I still have military power. If you want, I will become your military power and fight. I can assure you that there will be no lack in the right arm of yours, Kumpa.”
Of course… since using future guns, it’s different from primitives.
“In the politics of the Galactic Empire as well, I’m quite knowledgeable. I can help you from both civil and military sides.”
“I don’t doubt that fact. Last time alone, thanks to Hildegard, I made a huge profit in trade.”
“I will do everything to help you. So, after your power grows stronger, please help me.”
Perhaps this choice might be a suicide mission.
She is in the middle of a political fight. Moreover, on the losing side.
Hiding her might be better than handing her over to the empire.
But after handing her over? I’ll just go back to being an ignorant primitive again.
Right now, I need an ally. An ally knowledgeable in the empire’s affairs and future civilization.
Deciding whether to sell her or protect her can be decided after gaining power.
“Good. Let’s try.”
In my previous life, I was an ordinary person. An average moral, average conscience ordinary citizen.
But after operating one tribe, I realized. If I need to protect my people, I might do dangerous things like teaming up with the empire’s escapees, or even the dirty act of betraying the ally who helped me.
I shook hands with her. The second handshake.