Chapter 21
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Barbarian (1)
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Riding out of the Northern Duchy’s capital on horseback, a massive wall came into view in the distance.
About thirty minutes later, we drew close enough to make out the magic circles engraved on the wall.
A man in heavy armor had apparently been notified in advance and was waiting for me at the gate.
I dismounted and shook hands with the approaching knight.
“Are you Sir Eric?”
“I’m neither a knight nor a noble, so why ‘Sir’?”
“Then I’ll call you the young hero of the North.”
“Haha... Just Sir Eric is fine.”
The knight smiled warmly at my awkward grin.
‘Young hero of the North.’
That’s what the people of the North had started calling me after I saved the Northern Duke.
It made my skin crawl every time I heard it.
But since they seemed to enjoy it even more when I showed I disliked it, I’d given up protesting.
“You’ve already received the report, but I’ll explain the situation beyond the Great Barrier Wall once more.”
“The last report was from a week ago. Has anything changed?”
“No, the patrol swept the area just yesterday, but nothing unusual turned up. That said, yesterday too, some barbarians approached the Great Barrier Wall, scoped it out, and left.”
Until two months ago, the barbarians had appeared around the Great Barrier Wall only once a week.
But now, with the original story’s invasion date drawing near...
They showed up every single day to scout and retreat.
I looked up at the top of the wall, where soldiers stood in tight formation.
“They haven’t shown up yet today, right?”
“Yes, they usually appear near the gate around 2 p.m.”
I pulled a clock from my subspace pocket.
It was currently 7 a.m.
The Northern Duke had survived, unlike in the original story, but there was no telling when the barbarians’ invasion might begin.
I needed to meet them as soon as possible.
As I spoke with the knight, the massive gate of the Great Barrier Wall creaked open.
Beyond it stretched a pristine snowfield.
Swirling snowflakes obscured my vision.
I remounted my horse and followed the knight leading the way toward the gate.
“Come back safely. We’ll be waiting here.”
“Next time, I’ll bring more friends.”
The knight cracked an awkward smile for the first time.
My plan had already been shared with the Northern Duke and his key advisors.
But few took it seriously.
They simply believed I’d return alive because of the oath the Northern Duke had once sworn to me.
Still, I had no intention of giving up on them.
‘I can’t abandon a warrior race like the barbarians, not if I want a future.’
I’d saved my childhood friend at 3rd Circle.
The Northern Duke at 4th Circle.
So at 5th Circle, saving one whole race felt like it’d balance things out.
With that silly thought, I passed through the Great Barrier Wall into unknown territory.
I cautiously reined in my horse and flipped back the hood the Duke had given me.
A savage wind, far fiercer than anything in the Northern cities, clawed at my face.
I glanced down at the horse I’d ridden here.
As if asking why I’d stopped in such a breeze, it swished its tail and smacked my rear.
“Alright, let’s go.”
I pulled the clock from my pocket and checked the time since crossing the Great Barrier Wall.
‘About two hours...’
Too early to run into any barbarians yet.
I kept riding in the direction the twig in my pocket pulled me.
Even if I didn’t encounter a scouting party...
The twig, linked to the great chieftain’s soul by the Northern Duke, would lead me to his position.
How long had I traveled?
I spotted a black liquid flowing like a river across the pristine snowfield.
Near where it snaked through the snow, the ground was exposed, the snow melted away.
As I drew closer, an unpleasant, unidentified stench hit me.
‘This is... like the stink of rotten fish?’
A revolting odor beyond simple words.
My head began to ache, so I backed off and dismounted.
I conjured a protective suit and oxygen mask with mana to block the smell, then approached the black liquid.
‘Not traces of a magic beast or demon...’
Scooping some carefully with a ladle from my subspace, it stretched like dense honey.
I peeled off a bit from the clumped river and dropped it a short distance away.
It seemed drawn to its source, slowly inching back toward the black river.
I fetched a campfire magic tool from my subspace.
I lit the kindling and dropped the liquid in; flames flickered briefly before dying out.
‘Obviously not petroleum...’
Utterly unaffected by the fire, the black liquid just sluggishly flowed back to the river.
I erected a mana barrier to keep it from rejoining, then hurriedly pulled items from my expanded subspace—now brimming with all sorts of things since hitting 5th Circle.
Provisions. Spare steel. A whetstone. A hammer...
Poking at it with various tools yielded nothing useful.
‘Hm? The amount’s decreased a bit?’
While rummaging for something new, I noticed less than I’d separated initially.
Looking ahead, the black liquid stuck to my mana barrier was vanishing.
Confirming it, I pulled out a low-grade mana stone from my subspace.
Dropping it in, the black liquid began to dissolve slowly.
Moments later, the mana stone lost its glow.
‘Not like it’s evaporating...’
Not boiling into gas—more like its very existence was erased from this world. An eerie phenomenon.
I manifested mana threads and flung them at the remaining liquid.
Where they touched, both my mana and the liquid annihilated each other.
‘Come to think of it... It’s weird the patrols never spotted something like this...’
We were a fair distance from the Great Barrier Wall, but still within patrol range.
Impossible for them to miss a 10-meter-wide river of black liquid.
As I moved toward it for more intel, a fierce blizzard roared in from the west.
‘Blizzard?!’
I instantly teleported beside my horse using a prepared low-grade mana stone and wrapped us in a mana barrier.
In seconds, a wall of snow engulfed my vision.
Vision limited by the blizzard.
Countless magic beasts emerged from beyond it.
I immediately cast camouflage over the mana barrier.
Snow trolls, cyclopes, snowfield wolves, yetis, bear-men...
Hordes of beasts swarmed the snowfield.
From a safe distance, I spotted a colossal silhouette.
A body towering 100 meters high. Dozens of long tentacles.
Black slime oozing from its entire form.
A giant octopus. A kraken.
A black portal rippled above the kraken’s head.
‘A gate...’
The otherworldly army from the original story’s final act.
And it had appeared in unknown territory.
The procession of magic beasts dragged on for over an hour.
As the horde passed, the black liquids churned like they might explode at any moment.
Twisting into grotesque shapes, they soon morphed into magic beasts.
Snow trolls, snowfield wolves, and more...
The black liquid transformed into various beasts and joined the march.
Footprints left in their wake were quickly buried by snow.
I stood and gazed at the now-peaceful snowfield, as if nothing had happened.
‘That gate above the giant octopus... Definitely from the novel’s end, right?’
A ridiculous setup from the romance fantasy that I’d grilled my knowledgeable brother about.
I mounted up and galloped north.
They say calm follows the storm.
Warm sunlight bathed the snowfield the horde had crossed.
A gentle breeze whispered over the serene expanse as I rode toward Alexandria.
“Alexandria’s a bit much, huh... You’re red, so how about Fire Truck?”
Maybe rattled from the unexpected enemy.
I joked with my red horse to shake off the tension and steady my nerves.
As if understanding, it galloped on while swishing its tail to smack my butt.
“Fire Truck’s no good? Well... The truck my team rode was nicknamed Ace—the best performer in our station.”
This time, the red horse seemed pleased, lightly wagging its tail side to side.
“What, you really get it?”
Another tail smack to my rear.
“Makes sense in a fantasy world—horses understanding people isn’t impossible.”
Lost in idle thoughts, I raced across the snowfield for a while.
Eventually, a small city atop a hill came into view, ringed by a low wooden fence.
Tiny compared to Northern cities.
But far too large for a mere village.
Rudely built homes of wood and pine needles dotted around it.
Igloos of various sizes filled the space within the fence.
Barbarians averaging over 2 meters tall strode between the structures.
I slowed gradually, approaching until they spotted me, then dismounted.
‘Better not rush in first for something like this.’
As I stood waiting after dismounting...
From the rowdy crowd, a man with a massive sunken scar across his chest approached.
A large bear tattoo on his collarbone marked his rank.
‘One bear tattoo... That’s centurion level.’
I steadied myself and waited for him to speak.
The bear tattoo began to glow, his body heating up.
Clear battle readiness.
His Imperial tongue was a bit rough, as Northerners heard it.
“What brings a fox like you all the way out here?”
Fox.
The barbarians’ slur for folks beyond the Great Barrier Wall.
Given their culture of revering the strong and scorning cowards...
This was top-tier insult hurled my way.
I grinned back and pulled the twig from my subspace.
The man’s eyes widened in surprise.
Over the past two months, I’d drilled the barbarians’ tongue endlessly with the Northern Duke.
“I’ve come for the coming-of-age rite.”
No one masters a language perfectly in two months.
My pronunciation leaked and sounded ridiculous, but the meaning came through clear.
“You’ve come for the coming-of-age rite?”
Barbarian words—not Imperial—flowed from his mouth.
“Adults go to dangerous places, no?”
Adults venture to perilous spots to prove themselves warriors.
A rite every barbarian, man or woman, underwent.
“You won’t dodge arm wrestling or ssireum, saying you’re not worthy?”
“UHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“Warrior! A warrior’s come!”
Before I knew it, surrounding barbarians roared with laughter that shook the heavens.
Barbarians settled rank through arm wrestling and ssireum.
L life-or-death duels were reserved for blood feuds, not casual grudges.
I’d smiled confidently, but inside, I worried they’d refuse.
Obviously, rank challenges were for barbarians among themselves—an Imperial like me getting turned down wouldn’t be odd.
But...
“Festival! Prepare the feast!”
“Slaughter the goats!”
Luckily, my gamble paid off.
The man, having ceased his tattoo’s use, approached and clapped a hand on my shoulder.
“Good! Prove you’re a warrior! But...”
His gaze shifted to the twig.
“With that, meeting the great chieftain comes first.”
“Of course.”
I smiled and awaited his next move.
“Follow me.”
I trailed the leading man past the fence toward a massive log house.