Make the Barbarians Great Again

Chapter 7: The Life of a Warrior (5)

Hindir and Duar wandered through Snow Dragon Valley for a few more days afterward.

Rather than wandering, it was more accurate to say they simply walked wherever their feet took them.

Even during that time, Hindir did not stop training.

Whenever they had to rest due to Duar's stamina, Hindir would find a rather hefty-looking rock and repeatedly lift and drop it, or walk while carrying a large log.

“Would I become just as strong if I followed you, brother?”

Duar had started calling him ‘brother’ before he even realized it.

“If you’re curious, give it a try.”

Trying to imitate him, Duar ended up overstraining himself and threw out his back, spending a whole day unable to move.

Meanwhile, Hindir also searched for a rare herb that might be hidden somewhere in Snow Dragon Valley.

When he had fought the Snow Fiends and unleashed his power in earnest, he had felt that his heart core had significantly depleted.

Although it had somewhat recovered due to the unexpected interaction with Sakadur’s magic, Hindir, who always aimed higher, could not afford to rest even for a moment.

“Excuse me? A rare herb? Is that something you can just find by looking around?”

When Duar heard why Hindir was searching through Snow Dragon Valley, he gave a subtle smile that bordered on mockery.

In that moment, Hindir felt an urge to smack him, disregarding the difference in age.

“Still, you're lucky. Before I joined the Snowy King’s Army, I used to gather herbs, you know?”

And a few days later, it was proven that he hadn’t been bluffing.

“Brother! Come look at this!”

Rushing over at Duar’s urgent cry, Hindir saw him pointing to some moss-like grass growing between rocks.

“Even at a glance, this doesn’t look ordinary. Isn’t this a spirit herb?”

Just as Duar had said.

It wasn’t potent enough to be called a rare elixir, but a dense energy could clearly be felt.

Just like with Blood Bear, a seemingly ordinary plant had survived tenaciously and was now on the verge of becoming something more.

“This is a proper find. If left alone, it will probably become a real elixir.”

“Oh! Really? Then I’ll just remember the location and come back for it later. When do you think that’ll be?”

“About a hundred and fifty years?”

“That’s not bad… Wait, a hundred and fifty years? Not a hundred and fifty days?”

Duar looked back and forth between Hindir and the spirit herb, confused.

“Then this is completely useless, isn’t it?”

“Not entirely.”

Saying so, Hindir gently scraped some of it off with his hand and began to chew it.

“Ugh… You’re chewing that raw?”

“Do you want to try it too?”

“Heh, I may not be a mana user, but I at least know that normal people shouldn’t eat that kind of stuff recklessly.”

Hindir shrugged and tore off the rest, chewing it all down.

He felt a few drops of mana drip into his heart.

“So the stuff about rare herbs being dangerous to eat raw is all nonsense?”

“It is dangerous.”

“But you look fine? Don’t you need to circulate your energy or something? Or is the effect just weak?”

“It’s my constitution.”

“Ah…”

Duar scanned Hindir’s massive muscles up and down and nodded, seemingly convinced.

‘Yeah, with that kind of body, he probably just powers through it with muscle.’

Without realizing it, Duar had come to a surprisingly accurate conclusion.

“But, brother, why are you trying to fight the Snowy King?”

As they resumed walking, Duar asked.

“To see whether that guy truly deserves to be called a king.”

“Are you serious?”

“There are some personal feelings mixed in too.”

“Ah, so there’s a story behind it.”

Duar figured it was something Hindir didn’t want to talk about.

“Brother, are you from the continent?”

“…Yes.”

“Doesn’t seem like it’s been long since you came over. You didn’t even know about the Snowy King’s Army.”

“The day I met you guys was the day I arrived.”

“What? You came here in just one day? Snow Dragon Valley is in the north of the Great Snowfields!”

“That’s right.”

“……”

“Let me ask you something, Duar.”

“Yes.”

Hindir finally decided to ask something he’d been pondering for days.

Just as Duar had started calling him ‘brother’, Hindir’s evaluation of Duar had also grown more favorable.

“Do you know anything about Sakadur?”

“Sakadur? You mean those lunatics from the western island?”

“So they’re still there. Do you know what they’ve been up to lately?”

“Didn’t you come from the continent? Shouldn’t you know better than me? I don’t know much, honestly. There’s not much contact between the Great Snowfields and Sakadur.”

Scratching his head, Duar continued.

“All I know is that they were the ones who picked a fight with the continent a long time ago.”

“When you say ‘a long time ago,’ how long are we talking?”

“Uh… I’m not exactly sure. Maybe over a hundred years ago?”

‘A hundred years’ was likely just a vague way to say ‘a long time ago.’

In any case, it meant it was in the distant past.

Perhaps the Cult War he had experienced was the last of it.

“So they don’t operate on the continent anymore. Then have you heard of the Charun Clan?”

“Charun? You mean Charun?”

“Cha. Run.”

“Charun? That’s the first time I’ve heard of them.”

“What about the Barbarians?”

“I’ve heard of them. Aren’t they the slaves who work in the Parno family’s mines? I’ve never seen them, but guys who grew up in the Great Snowfields have all heard the stories.”

“Do you know where they are?”

“Everyone says somewhere in Snow Dragon Valley, but barely anyone knows the exact location. Since the ice crystal mine is the Parno family’s lifeline, they keep it completely hidden and tightly controlled.”

Satisfied with the answer, Hindir nodded.

And his reason to meet and fight the Snowy King became even more certain.

“If I defeat the Snowy King, do you think I can take control of the Snowy King’s Army?”

“…You’re planning to swallow up the entire army?”

Duar swallowed dryly without realizing it.

He had somewhat expected it when Hindir mentioned fighting the Snowy King, but hearing it directly from Hindir’s mouth made him nervous.

“If you defeat the Snowy King, I suppose it’s not impossible… But there are a lot of other strong people around him. If they don’t acknowledge you, it might not mean much.”

“What matters is that I defeat the Snowy King, and that I bear the name of the Snowy King’s Army.”

Hindir of the Charun Clan, or Hindir of the Barbarians, could not face Parno.

Unless he had overwhelming power, which he did not yet possess.

The Snowy King's Army was said to be in cooperation with Parno.

Whether it was a proper alliance or not was uncertain, but defeating the Snowy King and taking over the army would at least give him the qualification to sit across from Parno.

“Why? Worried I might defeat the Snowy King?”

“Haha, why would I worry about that?”

Duar continued in a discouraged tone.

“I’m scared of losing… If you lose, won’t I get dragged down with you too?”

Understanding his concern, Hindir patted his shoulder.

“If you'd run away with that bastard, you’d have been someone's meat by now. But you've survived this long. That’s something, isn’t it?”

“…Yeah. That’s real comforting.”

“If you don’t want me to lose, then go look for more spirit herbs. I need to eat good stuff and build strength if I’m going to win, right?”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Duar let out a long sigh and began walking again.

After a few more days of scouring Snow Dragon Valley, the two finally exited toward the Great Snowfields.

Since escaping Snow Dragon Valley only required going straight south, it had just been a matter of time.

Of course, that only applied because it was Hindir.

Before long, the two discovered a small mountain outpost nearby.

“It’s not Hurakche, but they’re definitely part of the Snowy King’s Army.”

Duar spoke after confirming the flag of the army was hanging there.

“Are you going to kill everyone there too?”

“Why? Do they eat people too?”

“Good grief, what are you saying? I’m just worried since you tend to charge in and bash everyone’s heads in.”

“Talking things out is always the best approach.”

“Ah… conversation, huh.”

As hard as it was to accept, on second thought, Hindir had actually said the same thing when they first met—just sit and talk.

“Ahem. Anyway, would you let me handle this one? It’s probably better if someone from the Snowy King’s Army talks, rather than an outsider. Plus, I’ve got a silver tongue, you know.”

While Hindir didn’t agree with the last part, it was true that his presence might feel threatening to them. So he took a seat on a nearby rock.

“If the talk goes well, I’ll wave my hand.”

However, regardless of Duar’s confidence, Hindir believed the conversation was more likely to fail.

Even though Duar claimed the Snowy King’s Army weren’t just bandits and were better than the Snow Fiends, in essence, they were probably not much different from Hurakche’s Chaaju, who drew his sword without hesitation.

Still, since Duar had boldly taken the lead, Hindir decided to watch for now—but after spending a few days together, he couldn’t let the guy get stabbed.

Though Hindir looked relaxed on the surface, his legs were tensed and ready.

“…Seriously.”

Suddenly, Hindir let out a hollow laugh.

“That guy doesn’t even consider the possibility that I might stab him in the back.”

What a hard-to-understand fellow.

Meanwhile, unlike Hindir, Duar trusted him.

At least the Snowy King’s Army didn’t treat people like meat chunks like the Snow Fiends did.

So he believed talking would be enough to get their understanding.

“Hm? Stop right there!”

Noticing Duar approaching, some men rushed out with swords drawn.

Perhaps it was because he was with Hindir, but they didn’t seem threatening at all.

So Duar shouted boldly.

“I came from Hurakche!”

“Hurakche?”

“Yeah. You know about the recent orders to track Blood Bear, right? I went on that mission with the Chaaju and we were attacked by him.”

There was no need to go into all the nitty-gritty, so Duar made up a convincing lie.

“You met Blood Bear?”

“That’s right. Judging by your location near Snow Dragon Valley, you guys must be on the same mission, no?”

“Ugh… This is Choranche… W-wait here a moment.”

Turning awkwardly, the man returned to the outpost to report the news, and soon several others emerged.

Among them stood a large man with a long scar across his face, facing Duar.

“Where did you say you were from?”

“Hurakche.”

Duar instinctively knew this man was the Chaaju.

“If it’s Hurakche, that’s over the next valley, isn’t it? Wasn’t your Chaaju Ratan?”

“Yes. Chaaju-nim was taken out by Blood Bear, and I escaped…”

He was about to explain how he was lucky to survive thanks to a savior, and ask if he could stay the night.

“Bullshit!”

“A savior… Huh?”

“I know Ratan well. That lazy bastard went on patrol himself?”

“Well, weren’t Chaajus ordered to confirm things personally?”

“That’s exactly why it’s bullshit! No one was going to double-check it, so why would a Chaaju bother to go himself?”

“……”

Among all the lies, the one undeniable truth was that the Chaaju really had gone on patrol.

But now that part was being doubted, and it made Duar furious.

“Who the hell are you! Where’d you come from, you bastard?”

“I-it really is Hurakche. And yes, Chaaju Ratan is lazy, but he’s also a coward. He went himself because he was afraid of headquarters’ punishment…”

“Shut up! That confirms it. What kind of subordinate insults his own superior like that?”

Duar’s eyes quickly scanned the soldiers standing behind the Chaaju.

Judging by their expressions, they were thinking the same thing he was.

‘He’s spewing nonsense…’

‘This bastard just wants to beat me up, doesn’t he?’

“You’ve obviously come from Jakduche! What, did that bastard Ubol send you to check if we had booze?”

“…Where is that? And who’s Ubol?”

“Tie him up!”

As if he had no intention of listening any further, the Chaaju barked the order.

“W-wait! Let’s at least talk…”

The sound of swords being drawn rang out from all sides, and Duar instinctively drew his own.

But that wasn’t going to scare them.

“B-brother!”

In the end, he frantically called for Hindir, and that move convinced the enemy.

“Forget tying him up! Leave the head and cut up everything else…!”

Boom—!

A loud crash sounded as a cloud of snow shot up from behind, drawing everyone’s attention.

Through the haze, a massive, blood-red figure appeared faintly.

“B-Blood Bear?”

At someone’s murmur, everyone began stepping back all at once.