Barbarian Quest

Chapter 106

Chapter 106

It was an up-close battle inside the narrow house of the farmer. The five bandits struggled to find space to maneuver, but they only ended up getting in each other's way.

Crash!

Urich threw a table, using it to block the bandits' view, and swiftly swung his sword.

The bandit who was the closest to Urich became his first target. He raised his sword to try to block Urichs attack.

Claaaang!

The clash highlighted the difference in the quality of their weapons and their strength. Urich easily broke through the bandits blade, slashing from the bandit's collarbone to his side, literally splitting him in half.

Gahhhh!

The bandit, his body split, collapsed with a screech. His blood pooled on the floor.

Splash.

Urich quickly set his sights on the next target.

Eeeek!

The bandits were already defeated in spirit. They were unable to use their numerical advantage against Urich and were being picked off one by one.

Oooooh!

Urich roared and swung his axe, smashing into a bandit's skull like a hammer.

Benevolence was a luxury for a warrior. A warrior was supposed to be devoid of empathy or compassion toward his enemy. Understanding the pain of the opponent was a barrier to becoming a top-class warrior. Regardless of the enemy's circumstances or story, a warrior must be able to take a life without hesitation. The essence of a warrior is not mercy and love but hatred and anger.

Crunchh!

Urich grabbed a bandit's head and thrust it into the fireplace.

Kaaaagh!!

The bandit's head caught fire. He flailed out of pain and panic, but Urich didn't pull him out of the fireplace until he was dead.

Phew.

Urich withdrew his burned hand and singed arm and brought his eyes to the remaining bandits. They had already lost their will to fight and escape was the only thing left on their minds.

Hmph.

Urich grabbed the fireplace poker from beside the fireplace and hurled it with force. The poker pierced one of the bandits who were trying to escape and protruded from his mouth.

"Now just one left."

Urich muttered, clutching his abdomen. The bloody line across his stomach was evident. His wound seemed to have reopened from the exertion.

"Y-Youre a monster."

The last bandit, seeing his comrades killed one by one, was terrified. The level of violence was beyond anything he had experienced. He too had been one to do some cruel things to the people he had robbed in the past, but they were not even comparable to what the man in front of him was showing him. He was treating humans as if they were nothing.

I have to run.

The bandit ran toward the window, planning to leap through it to his escape.

Grab.

Urich lunged forward and grabbed the bandit's leg.

Thud!

The bandit fell heavily to the floor like a rag. Urich repeatedly lifted him up and slammed him down.

Gughh.

The bandit's pelvis and leg joints dislocated, and he hung flaccidly from the leg that was caught by Urichs hand. He screamed before being smashed to the ground again. His front teeth, which smashed into the ground, shattered and fell out of his mouth. It felt like his head was being overwhelmed by a loud and bright thunder and lightning.

Crunch.

Finally, Urich twisted the bandit's ankle in the opposite direction.

Ugh, gugh,

The room was silent. None of the bandits were unharmed. They were all either broken in several places or were about to die.

"Dammit."

Urich looked at his bleeding wound. The cut that was gradually healing had reopened and blood was dripping out of it.

"Hey... no, never mind."

Urich started to speak to the cowering family in the corner, then stopped. Their faces were pale. They were trembling out of fear of Urich. The being who had saved them was neither heroic nor holy. It was ruthless, merciless violence that had rescued them.

Drag, drag.

Urich dragged the fallen bandits outside the house.

"Keughhh, p-please let me liv..."

Urich made sure that any bandits still breathing were finished by slashing their throats. His motion was cool and calm as if he was simply wringing a chicken's neck.

"I'll help too."

Ges, with a swollen face, staggered outside. Urich nodded and gathered the bodies together.

"I must have missed quite the ordeal while I was out. Even my wife, that tough woman, was terrified. Shes worried we might have to spit out all the gold coins you gave us."

"It's fine. I gave you gold coins because I had no change."

"Try to understand our family's reaction. Theyve never seen people die like this before."

Ges glanced back at his family, who were still very much fearing Urich.

"But you don't seem too scared."

"I was conscripted twice when I was a young man. Both times were for some lords territorial disputes. I've hidden under corpses with intestines spilling out just to survive."

Ges spoke calmly. Urich wiped the sweat off after piling the bandits bodies together.

"How will we get rid of the bodies? Dump them in the mountains?"

Any funeral methods other than cremation were one of the most terrifying things for the followers of the sun god Lou. Without it, souls cannot reach Lou.

Ges shook his head.

" No, we'll cremate them."

Urich was surprised. His eyes widened.

"Cremate them? Even though these guys tried to violate your wife and daughter? Are you sane?"

"They paid for their sin with death. You must surely be a judge sent by Lou."

Ges spoke faintly. He believed that Urich was an extraordinary warrior. He wiped out every single one of the bandits all by himself. He didn't think someone of Urich's caliber would visit by chance.

This must be Lous revelation.

Ges prayed and recited Lous name.

"Bullshit. I have nothing to do with Lou," Urich said as he sat on a log.

"I simply follow Lou's teachings. The mercy I show today will return to me in the future. Lou will acknowledge it."

Ges piled up the wood and poured oil on top of the pile. He placed the lifeless bodies of the bandits and set them ablaze.

Crackle, crackle.

The scent of burning human flesh filled the air. It was indistinguishable from any other meat if one didn't think of it as a person.

Urich looked at Ges's face. He was swollen, but his eyes were at rest.

"Thanks to you, my son won't babble about becoming a knight now. He's seen what it means to take a life. Boys his age think they'll be something grand. One day, out of nowhere, they steal a cow, trade it for a sword, and run off, only to realize too late how lucky they are just to have land they can farm."

Ges smiled through his split lips.

Urich and Ges chatted as the bodies burned, exchanging trivial words. As dawn broke and the bodies nearly finished burning, only occasional sparks flew.

Ges nudged the dozing Urich. The two men went back inside.

"A-ah."

The girl who was cleaning the blood-stained house stuttered upon seeing Urich.

Ges looked sternly at her.

"Thank him properly. He is our savior."

The girl steadied her heart and cleared her throat.

"T-thank you for saving us."

Finally, Ges nodded in satisfaction.

Urich ate breakfast and went to bed. Unlike the others, who had completely lost their appetite after what they had witnessed, he had a hearty appetite and devoured their meat and bread.

After the meal, the wife brought a clean cloth and tended to Urich's wound.

"Here's a gold coin."

Urich offered a gold coin as usual, but the wife silently shook her head to refuse the coin and left the room.

Ges's family provided for Urich without accepting any more money during his stay. He stayed there for three more days.

"I heard you're leaving soon," Ges's daughter said as she entered Urich's room.

"Yeah, I have a long way to go. I have to get moving as soon as I can walk properly."

"I see. This it's almost winter, and I thought you might need it."

The girl offered a hand-knitted woolen scarf, large and long enough to wrap around Urich's neck and shoulders. Her eyes looked tired like she hadnt been getting much sleep recently.

"Huh, this is the first time I'm getting something other than a slap from a woman," Urich muttered. Hearing this, the girl chuckled and smiled brightly.

Urich awkwardly wrapped the scarf around his neck and shoulders, struggling to get it right. After seeing him struggle, the girl came up behind him to help.

"Just wrap it like this to hold it in place."

Urich touched the scarf, finding the fluffy sensation not unpleasant. It was even softening his alert senses.

"It's white. It will soon be stained with blood."

Urich spoke of his future.

"I didn't have time to dye it."

"I'll take care not to stain it with blood."

Urich almost patted the girl's head but stopped his hand when he saw her flinch.

And umm

The girl hesitated before leaving out the door and looked back.

Urich, who was poking around his new scarf, looked up.

"What?"

"I-I'll eat a lot and become a big-chested woman."

She hurriedly closed the door behind her and left, leaving Urich chuckling to himself.

* * *

Urich left the farmhouse on Kylios back, with Ges' family seeing him off. To them, Urich was undoubtedly a hero. He had practically saved their entire family, which is much more remarkable than any king or knight. He was a hero greater than anyone else.

"Let's go, Kylios. Gained some weight, have you? Didnt take you too long, did it?"

Urich tapped Kylios' sides playfully, and the horse snorted in response.

It wasnt difficult to pick the next path. Urich just needed to follow a well-trodden path in the northern direction.

Clop, clop.

Traveling was no longer an issue for Urich. He was a wealthy traveler, and even without that, he was a survivalist fully capable of sustaining himself in the wild. He camped out in mountains and hunted to keep himself going, and replenished his supplies whenever he came across a village.

"Its getting colder. This scarf is really coming in handy."

The only challenge was the cold. The winter only grew harsher as he traveled further north. His homeland had a warmer climate, so they never had to worry about the cold. Even Urich, as strong as he was, couldnt stand the cold.

"Woah, woah. What's that? Theres something there."

Urich reached a plain with low grass. It felt like the cold along with the damp air was making frosts on his face. He rubbed his face to warm up.

After thawing out of the frost on his face, Urich opened his eyes wide to look straight ahead of him.

'Someone's passed out over there.'

Urich tied Kylios somewhere nearby and approached. A traveler, wrapped in a fur cloak, lay on the ground.

'If he's dead, I could use his supplies.'

Urich had been running low on food after passing the last village over a fortnight ago.

"Huh?"

Urich rubbed his eyes.

Is he a northerner?"

The weapons laid beside the passed-out traveler looked familiar. They were a round shield and a two-handed axe.

Sven used to bring these around. I wonder what hes up to now?

Urich flipped the traveler over with his foot.

" that answers it.

Urich muttered in disappointment. It was Sven, passed out with his face pale.

'He's still alive.'

Urich checked Sven's breathing. It was irregular and slow.

'Hurry up and light up.'

Urich quickly gathered dry wood and leaves, creating sparks with flint and steel to start a fire. After a few attempts, he successfully made a campfire.

"Hey, gramps."

Sven didn't respond. Urich noticed blood on his lips and shirt.

Did he hurt his guts?'

But there wasnt a sign of a fight. Had he been attacked by bandits his armor and weapons should have been stolen.

"Youre sick, huh, Sven?"

Urich chuckled bitterly. He brewed a meat soup with some jerky and the herbs he'd gathered in the mountains.

"Eat up, old man."

Sven struggled to swallow. The meat and soup came spilling out around his beard.

"Man, do I really have to do this?"

Urich chewed the tough jerky until it was soft and then mixed it back into the soup.

"Oop."

He filled his mouth with the soup and meat, then opened Sven's mouth. Like a mother bird feeding her young, he transferred the meat soup.

"Phew."

After repeating this process several times, Urich rinsed his mouth with water and spat several times.

"Ptooey, ptooey. Never thought I'd do something like this."

Urich frowned, sticking out his tongue. It seemed like his efforts were paying off as Sven swallowed the food without spilling it this time.

Urich dozed off beside the campfire.

Whether Sven came to or died, it was his fate. Urich had no control over it; he had just done his best.

"Urich! It seems Ulgaro has guided us to each other. Oh, Ulgaro!"

Sven's first words upon regaining consciousness were of thanks to Ulgaro with his arms outstretched.

"It wasn't Ulgaro who saved you, it was me, you old fool."

Urich opened his heavy eyelids and complained.