The Barbarian (9)
"Huh? The blizzard is gone!" At Ellie's words, everyone's gaze shifted beyond the Great Wall. It was too far to see clearly, but the blizzard that had been soaring high into the sky had vanished without a trace. Then, a moment later, a massive light erupted, followed by a thunderous roar. We instinctively ducked behind the raised parapet.
Once the light faded, the Great Wall fell into silence. "What on earth was that..." Looking toward the direction of the distant explosion, we saw a massive crater. A pit so large it could be identified even from this distance.
"Prepare a patrol. I will go myself."
"Grand Duke, I will accompany you."
"Are you out of your mind? You lot return to the city."
Scarlett requested to join, but her plea was denied. A short while later, the patrol led by the Northern Grand Duke crossed the Great Wall, and we returned to the Grand Duchy.
A familiar ceiling. Or rather, should I call it a world? Once again, I am floating in a world submerged in darkness. 'I suppose I'm getting used to this, having experienced it once before.'
Before, I had been struck down without knowing why, but this time, I could feel it. I had become a round sphere. I stretched out my hand with all my might, and arms sprouted from the sphere. Could these even be called arms? They were essentially tentacles without suckers, lacking joints or fingers.
As time passed, I saw fish approaching from the surroundings. No, I thought they were fish last time, but they were different. They were much smaller than me, round spheres with nothing but giant mouths, shaped like finless anglerfish. If I get torn apart by these things, will I end up like them?
This time, before the anglerfish could approach, a light descended from the sky. A light much thinner and darker than before. I'm sorry to the Goddess, but I couldn't return just yet. I moved to the edge of the light and stretched my short hand into the darkness. Like fish in a pond where feed had been scattered, the anglerfish swarmed toward my hand.
The pain of having my very existence denied—a feeling I had never experienced before. Fighting alongside the barbarians this time, I felt it desperately. I lack offensive power. I had tempered my body with the Northern Grand Duke's unique training methods, but that was merely a stopgap measure. I am a mage. A mage must ultimately fight with magic to exert great power.
'If I could only manifest this pain... through magic...'
Since my last death, while working as a mercenary in the North, I had tried countless times to manifest this power. But I had never succeeded even once. Terrible pain surged from my outstretched hand. It felt like hours had passed, but now that my consciousness was clear, I calculated the exact time. Not even a second had passed since the light descended and I reached out my hand.
Is this what a life-review is? The terrible pain had stretched my perceived time to the extreme. I couldn't take any more. Instinctively feeling my limit, I withdrew my hand and moved toward the light. At the end of the bright light, I could feel someone getting angry. I had been told to cherish my life, yet here I was again, not even a year later.
As I escaped the pitch-black world, my five senses returned, and my body regenerated. I couldn't see because of the bright light, but I could feel the entity in front of me sighing.
"Grrr..."
This time, my mouth opened, and words came out. As I pondered what to say, the Goddess's voice echoed.
"Be careful. The enemy has pinpointed your location."
The moment the Goddess finished speaking, I was lying inside a massive crater.
'She didn't say I absolutely must not die, so does that mean I have one more chance?'
I thought I heard someone sighing somewhere.
I headed straight for the city where the barbarians lived. The freezing wind clawed at my body. My body, without even a pair of underwear, began to freeze over.
"I'm going to freeze to death at this rate!" I shouted toward the plains, but naturally, no answer returned. After running for a long time, I saw the city in the distance.
'Wait, is it okay to go to the city like this?'
Even if barbarians didn't wear much, they at least covered their private parts. I looked down at my bare body.
'Ah, screw it, I'm freezing to death, I'll just go and borrow some clothes.'
As I approached the city, I saw a group of five barbarians leaving for somewhere. I recognized a familiar face at the head of the group and shouted.
"Kellok!"
"Huh? ...Eric?" The bald Kellok's eyes widened.
"Hey! Give me some clothes!"
"No, how... more importantly, why are you naked?"
"I said give me clothes!"
"Hmm... is this confidence? You are indeed a barbarian. Amazing."
"What are you talking about!"
The barbarians' gazes fixed on one spot in unison.
"The qualities of a Great Chief are even here..."
"Are you perhaps half-barbarian? How is it bigger than mine..."
"Stop the sexual harassment and give me clothes! You want me to steal yours?"
There were no spare clothes, so I tore off the extra leather pouches the barbarians were carrying and covered only my lower half. 'I used to take my top off during arm wrestling, but wait... I was an Imperial noble, is this right?'
Have I been hanging out with barbarians for too long? Before I knew it, the etiquette of my Imperial noble days was gone, and I was acting just like a barbarian.
"Where's the Great Chief? No, more importantly, how long has it been since you killed that giant octopus?"
"It would have been fine to go meet the Great Chief just like that..."
"We are the only ones who saw the new Great Chief's hidden power..."
"Stop the sexual harassment and answer me, you bastards!" I eventually smacked Kellok’s smooth head.
"Eric, you dying... no, you didn't die, anyway, a month has passed since the last battle."
"A month? That’s not as long as I thought."
"The Great Chief is always in the log cabin. We have to go hunting, so we'll be going."
"Yeah, see you when I get back to the village."
I sent Kellok's group off and headed toward the giant log cabin. As I entered the city, the barbarians' gazes turned toward me. One barbarian dropped the luggage he was carrying, tripped, and fell. Even while rubbing his sore backside, his wide eyes remained fixed on me.
'Do it? Don't do it? Just do it?' I hesitated for a moment before finally committing.
"The next Great Chief has returned! I am going to claim the position of Great Chief now!" I rose slightly higher using Space Magic and shouted at the barbarians. The barbarians stared at me blankly, unable to distinguish if this was a dream or reality.
"You guys! I've returned, what's with that reaction!"
"Oh? Oh! It's Eric!"
"Eric has appeared!"
Only then did the barbarians shout and rush toward me. 'How long has it been, I've become a total barbarian myself.' I threw my body at the rushing barbarians, then floated in the air and shouted.
"Let's go to the Great Chief! It's time to welcome the new Great Chief!"
"Eric! Eric! Eric!"
Hearing the commotion in the city, the Great Chief came out of the log cabin. I landed on the ground in front of the Great Chief and stood proudly.
"I told you I'd come, didn't I? The Great Chief is me now."
"Good. What will you do now?"
"As I said before, let's get out of this damn cold North." I turned my head and looked toward the Great Wall. "I know a very warm and livable place, so let's go there."
"Our appetites aren't normal, so it won't be easy, will it?"
"There's a mountain of food piled up for us there, so we just have to go."
"Fine. You're the Great Chief now, so I must follow the Great Chief's words."
The barbarians crossing the Great Wall was a matter agreed upon with the Northern Grand Duke. I led the barbarians toward the Eastern Great Plains, where the war was intensifying.
A vast plain. Imperial soldiers wandered around a temporary encampment made by erecting wooden fences.
"What does the headquarters intend to do?"
"I don't know. There's even talk of withdrawal from the center."
"We were pushing them back overwhelmingly at the start of the year..."
"Even if there are no casualties, you can't continue a war if you run out of supplies."
"Because of those locust-like bastards..."
"Well, isn't it good for us if we go home?"
"Is that something a soldier fighting for His Majesty the Emperor should say!"
"No, well, who came here because they wanted to..."
"Listen well. If you are a subject of the Empire, you must perform your assigned duties..."
A comrade with strangely strong patriotism for a mere grunt. 'Ah, I’ve picked the wrong one...' The soldier on guard duty broke into a cold sweat.
"Ever since Commander Berg arrived, we’ve had consecutive victories against the nomads! We must seize this opportunity to make the Great Plains Imperial land..."
"Even Commander Berg says he can't do anything about those locusts."
"Where did those barbarian bastards appear from..."
"They say the ground shakes like horses are running even though they run on foot."
"Is that possible?"
"It's a story I heard, it's like a nomadic cavalry army is running..."
A vibration echoed from somewhere. The soldiers who had been chatting excitedly turned their gazes forward. Massive dust clouds rose from behind a small hill.
"...Huh?"
"It's them!"
Leaving the flustered soldier behind, the patriotic soldier ran toward a giant bell. The sound of the giant bell filled the encampment.
"Enemy!"
"It's them!"
A thousand-strong barbarian horde rushed toward the encampment past the hill.
"Don't panic! To the archer positions!" An officer who appeared from somewhere commanded the soldiers.
"Fire at 500m ahead!"
Arrows flew into the sky in unison, and a mage in a sky-blue robe next to the officer cast a spell. The arrows that were falling before reaching 200m caught the wind and flew toward the barbarians again. The moment the arrows poured over the barbarians' heads—
"HALT!!!"
The barbarian's roar echoed across the plains. The rushing barbarians stopped in unison, and an opaque barrier appeared above them. A white light shimmered over the opaque barrier. The flying arrows were blocked by the barrier and fell powerlessly.
"Count Aldric! The next volley..."
"This much is enough. Open the gates."
The low wooden fence was a sandcastle that would collapse in an instant the moment the barbarians approached. To minimize damage, the Count opened the gates.
Even though the gates were opened, the barbarians leaped high and vaulted over the walls. Beside the armored Count, the Great Chief, covered in tattoos from head to toe, descended. A man and woman in white robes and masks, who had dismounted from a red horse, approached via teleportation.
"Surrender. Please, I ask for mercy."
"I will leave you one day's worth of food. There are no nomadic armies left in the vicinity, so join the main force."
"I shall do so."
The Count turned his gaze to look inside the encampment. Barbarians had gathered in the central parade ground, having somehow produced carts, loading them with food and military supplies, and tethering the military horses. The other soldiers, seemingly used to this, had long since discarded their weapons and were watching the scene.
"My Rachel is off-limits!"
"If your lover is that precious, don't bring her. And take off the armor you're wearing too."
The barbarian who pulled away the wandering knight holding onto the horse's reins stripped off the expensive heavy armor. The inside of the encampment was in ruins in an instant. The man and woman in white robes moved to the parade ground and disappeared using large-scale teleportation magic.
"Prepare for retreat! We fall back to the main force!"
One year since the third force appeared on the Great Plains. The intensifying war fell into a stalemate, unable to stop the locust-like swarm that appeared from nowhere, stole only food and supplies, and vanished.