Barbarian Quest

Chapter 69

‘I come from the west, and I crossed the line between life and death.’

Urich’s words echoed in Pahell’s ears.

‘My home is beyond the mountains. I’m probably the first man to cross that boundary.’

His words were hard to believe. Pahell closed his eyes and prayed.

Pahell knew Urich’s intentions. Urich wanted him to reach for the end of the world, just like how he crossed the Sky Mountains.

‘Urich wouldn’t lie to me about something like that.’

Pahell had faith in Urich’s words. He believed that Urich crossed the Sky Mountains in the west.

Click, click.

Footsteps echoed off the marble hallway. Pahell picked up his head from his prayer. He was in a temple that wasn’t too busy as it was outside of regular service hours.

A priest was replacing the candlestick that had burnt out. He stared at Pahell, who was praying alone.

“Pray, my brother. Lou is always watching over you,” the priest said with a soft, serene smile as he lit the new candle. Staring into the wavering flame of the candle brought a certain sense of serenity.

‘Is there a world beyond the seas, just like how there is one beyond the Sky Mountains?’

Pahell asked Lou, only to be met with silence.

“What am I supposed to do when the reality is different from what Lou has said?”

Pahell asked the priest, although without any hope.

“That is a common threat to our faith. Remember that you are being tested by Lou, who wants to test your faith. Trust in Lou.”

The priest gave his habitual answer and watched Pahell’s expression darken.

‘He seems troubled.’

After finishing his chores, the priest took a seat next to Pahell.

“Tell me, please. What is burdening your heart?”

“My mission burdens my heart and brings me pain. I might very well fail, but not only will that affect me, but it will also require the sacrifice of many of my people. I do not have the courage to bear that much sacrifice in my heart.”

“If your mission is truly the righteous way, then you will be guided by Lou. The success and failure of our jobs are up to Lou; all we can do is just give our all.”

Pahell grinned bitterly. He placed his prayer hands on his forehead and fell silent.

“It seems like I wasn’t able to be of much help.”

The priest nodded and left his seat. Pahell wasn’t able to find comfort, not even in the priest.

Noon: it was the time when the light of the sun in the Sun Garden was at its brightest point. As the sun slowly set past noon, the temple darkened along, leaving only the wavering candlelight.

‘What Emperor Yanchinus wants is achievement.’

Pahell had accurately read the emperor’s intention. He longed for an achievement.

The first emperor unified the civilization world, and the second emperor conquered the barbarian lands of the north and south. The third emperor Yanchinus wanted an achievement that was on par with the first two.

A large shade was thrown over Pahell’s back.

‘What if I…’

It was a terrible idea, but Pahell already had something that was worthy to be a gift to the emperor.

‘The world beyond the Sky Mountains would be a gift sufficient in the eyes of the emperor.’

There was nothing to think about. While the eastern continent was merely a legend, The world that Urich had come from was real. The emperor would lead his army over the mountains as soon as he heard of its existence.

Thump, thump, thump.

Pahell’s heart raced as his pupils repeated the cycle of becoming dilated and shrinking.

“Ugh.”

Pahell covered his mouth as he gagged. He was disgusted with himself.

“What am I thinking?” He said to himself.

‘Urich revealed where he was from to me because he trusted me.’

Urich did not even demand an oath to the sun. He trustingly told Pahell about himself.

‘Urich didn’t ask me for an oath because he trusts me, just like Phillion did.’

Pahell fell asleep during his prayer. In his shallow sleep, he dreamt.

He saw the ocean. From his kingdom, he could see the horizon just by opening his window. The sea nurtured his sensitivity. It had been way too long since he last saw the ocean. His dream shattered and scattered away as he saw the bundle of hopes and ambitions, the death of his uncle, his coronation, the construction of the ship, and the several hundred ships setting sail.

The east. The direction from which the sun rose. That’s where the continent was.

‘The land of the sun god Lou.’

Pahell’s eyes sparked open.

Thump!

As Pahell shot up from his seat, his knee rammed into the pew so hard that it almost left a bruise, but Pahell didn’t care. He limped to the center of the chapel and fell on his knees.

“I saw it, oh, Lou.”

Pahell had seen his revelation.

“This was your test for me.”

He finally understood Lou’s will and the doubt in his faith disappeared. The chaos was blown away and the path that he was to take became crystal clear.

“I will find the land of the sun with your guidance.”

Searching for the eastern continent was not going against the will of Lou.

‘From this moment on, the end of the world is no more.’

That was his mission, and it was a joyous sensation of fulfillment. A religious uplift swept over Pahell’s back like a wave.

“Lou opened up a new path in the sea—a path prepared for me.”

Humans were not prepared to meet the new world until now, and that’s why Lou had that world blocked off with the cliff at the end of the world.

‘The path is now open. Everything is Lou’s will.’

The conquest of the north and the south was finished, and Urich the Warrior had crossed into civilization from beyond the Sky Mountains in the west. The world that was in pieces was now coming together.

‘A revelation.’

What was all this pointing toward?

Pahell burst into tears as he realized the very reason why he was born.

“This is the mission that I have been given.”

Pahell rose to his feet.

‘This is my path prepared by Lou. Now I finally know why I must become king.’

Click, click.

The priest returned to replace the candlestick once again. He looked at Pahell.

“The day has grown dark, but the shadow has lifted from your face,” the priest said to Pahell.

“Lou is always right. There is no reason to doubt him.”

Pahell answered the priest. He limped out of the temple with his sore knees, but his stride was proud.

* * *

“Hmm.”

Urich groaned as the hardened blood broke off his leather clothes. He had picked up a serious wound from the final match of the jousting tournament.

“Dammit, the chain did dig into your flesh,” Phillion said as he assessed Urich’s wound. If not taken care of properly, it has the chance of developing into tetanus.

“I have dinner plans with the emperor tonight, so just call the doctor already,” Urich said to Phillion.

The crowd was still chanting his name in and out of the arena while Urich was in bed waiting for the doctor inside a dark preparation room.

‘I should have never let him compete with such a cheap armor.’

Phillion felt guilty. He had expected something like this to happen, and that made him think that this was his fault for not stopping Urich from competing.

“I insisted on competing,” Urich reassured Phillion as if he was reading his mind. He calmly waited for the doctor in his bed.

“Did you know? One, or even up to two out of five jousting champions die from their wounds after the match,” the doctor spilled discouraging words as soon as he entered the preparation room. But unlike his rash words, he carefully assessed Urich’s wound and body.

“The chains are completely crushed, and their fragments are all over his flesh. It must have been some cheap armor.”

The doctor washed the blood off the wound. Using a pair of skinny tweezers, the doctor extracted the pieces of the shattered chain links one by one.

“So, what do you think?” Phillion asked the doctor.

“Everyone always asks me that, and my answer to them is always the same. If he’s lucky, he’ll live. If not, he’ll die. Life and death are all up to Lou, anyway.”

Even similar wounds that received the same treatment saw different outcomes. Unlucky people died even just from a shallow cut, and some even died from infection after being scraped by the armor that was supposed to keep them safe.

“But I do think that this man isn’t going to die. His wound isn’t as deep as I thought it would be. Just make sure to routinely clean the wound with clean water and replace the bandage.”

After hearing the doctor’s instructions, Phillion stared at Urich’s wound with a puzzled look. After washing the blood away, his wound didn’t look all that bad.

‘I swear it was a big wound…’

Urich also looked down at his wound.

“If it was a lance made of real metal, I would have died. The competition lances break with impact.”

Urich chuckled. The lances that were used in the jousting tournament were designed to break upon impact to reduce the damage to the knights. On top of that, Urich’s muscles were extremely solid. The broken pieces of the lance and chains were not able to bury themselves deeper due to the layer of hard muscle.

“Your bleeding was bad because the chains swept a wide area,” Phillion said as he breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been horrible had the wound been any worse with chains buried deeper in the flesh. Urich would have had to go through the pain of having a pair of tweezers digging into his body to remove the metal fragments.

“When the bandage starts to feel iffy, make sure to replace them. The more often you change them, the better it is for your healing.”

With those last words, the doctor left the room.

With Phillion’s help, Urich returned to the Swallow Residence. The passersby recognized Urich and greeted him.

“That’s the champion of the jousting tournament!”

“I would like to have you over for dinner.”

The Swallow Residence was the place of stay for the guests of the Imperial Palace and those guests were people of high status. Urich was feeling their attention on him.

“He is wounded, come back later!”

Phillion said as he turned the crowd away. Urich laughed as he watched them.

“Haha, it’s fun watching all of them flock to you as soon as you win the jousting tournament.

“It’s only a temporary interest.”

Urich shuffled down the hall and into Pahell’s room.

“Sorry, Urich, I was busy so I couldn’t be at your match.”

Pahell was busy writing something. His face was beaming with gleeful enthusiasm. The desk was strewn with books, and Urich could recognize the words now.

‘Chronicles of the Northern Conquest, The Solar Doctrine.’

Two books caught Urich’s attention. The Chronicles of the Northern Conquest was hand-written by the previous emperor, and The Solar Doctrine was the bible of solarism, containing its doctrine.

“I’m reading over the doctrine right now to make sure that what I’m about to do is good. There are some contradictions, but it shouldn’t matter. I’ve received a revelation.”

Pahell’s words were rushed.

“A revelation?”

Urich said as he sat in a chair and replaced his bandage.

Pahell shouted as he grabbed Urich’s shoulders. His face was all smiles.

“Lou told me to search for the eastern continent. The east is where the sun rises from, and you’re from the west—from beyond the Sky Mountains! The whole world is coming together. If this isn’t a revelation, then what is? Searching for the eastern continent is my mission.”

Urich didn’t understand all of Pahell’s words, so he just scratched his chin and carried on replacing his bandage.

“I don’t know what revelation you’re talking about, but it looks like you’ve cheered up and that’s what I care about. So, am I finally meeting the emperor?”

“The emperor showed his interest in you, probably because of the jousting tournament. Try… to be a bit more respectful than usual,” Pahell’s voice carried his concern.

“Don’t worry. I’m always respectful.” Urich shrugged.

Urich took to rest until the time of the dinner. Warriors slept when they were wounded, as sleep healed their bodies. Urich believed in the warrior’s way. Even though he had converted to Solarism, he was still Urich of the Stone Axe Tribe; his identity didn’t change. That was also the reason he couldn’t be a Sun Warrior. Urich often dreamt, like how Pahell received his revelation. His dreams were always surreal.

‘The burning land.’

‘Screams.’

‘Warriors.’

‘Metal and blood.’

To some, it was a nightmare. But for Urich, it was a familiar dream. He was a warrior with a deep connection to blood, and dreams of killing were his daily routine. The wavering dreams eventually faded and disappeared.

Urich didn’t know what his dreams meant. He was an excellent warrior, but his experience with introspection was still young. He was at an age to solely focus on charging forward.

“Urich, wake up. It’s time.”

Pahell shook Urich awake, and Urich opened his drowsy eyes.

“Ah, alright. Let’s go meet the Ruler of the World,” Urich murmured as he wrapped his hands around his head.

The palace official was waiting for Urich and Pahell outside of the room. He showed them to the banquet hall.