Chapter 51

Inside a massive tent made of leather.

The man awoke and, stroking his scruffy beard, looked around.

The rich scent of women filled the spacious tent, mingling with the traces of activities left on the bedding and throughout the tent.

Three women, who had been caught in the heat of the night, were sprawled like frogs on the bedding.

As the man gazed at the women who lay unconscious, their ample bronze and white buttocks exposed to the sky, he chuckled to himself, pleased with the evidence of his virility proven over the night, shaking his shoulders in amusement.

“Wake up. The sun must be high in the sky by now. You sluggish girls.”

“Ugh…”

The man, enjoying the satisfying sensation of striking the young and supple white buttocks, ignored the groans of the women as they were forced awake and began putting on his leather pants.

Unlike the women’s smooth skin, the man’s body was rugged, covered with well-developed muscles and rough scars.

He donned only an outer garment and left the women behind, stepping out of the tent without a hint of hesitation.

As he lifted the entrance cloth of the tent, he squinted for a moment at the bright sunlight before soon becoming accustomed, opening his eyes wide.

Before him opened a vast number of tents, so many that they seemed to stretch beyond his vision.

The warriors bustling about outside the tent turned to the man as he stepped out, offering him a salute.

“Did you cough, Bayatur?”

He took the same path as the man walking the great northern road but had no desire to carry the title of king.

Now wishing to be called Bayatur, the ruler of the south, Mutuk smiled fiercely, savoring their salute.

Orphan. Sewer rat. Swarm of locusts. Plague of the plains.

The despised orphan had now subdued and unified the 84 villages of humans in the southern part of the Takla Desert at an unprecedented speed, possessing eight hundred camels, fourteen hundred horses, and seven thousand date palm trees, along with over two thousand soldiers at his command—The southern king, Bayatur, Mutuk.

He killed and burned anything that defied him or displeased him, taking any desired woman even if she had a husband.

Even with such atrocities, the humans living to the south of the Takla Desert could not voice any grievances against him.

Even attempting to escape from his grasp was futile, as a harsh Takla Desert blocked the way north, making it difficult to flee.

“Are you well prepared to spend the winter here, Nomhoon?”

“We have plenty of supplies, and the settlement is nearly organized. I believe we can get through this winter smoothly as well.”

“Good. Next spring. Priegoss will surely come over that Takla Desert. He is young and ambitious. He won’t be satisfied with the territory he has, just like me.”

Although unifying had come late for him, Mutuk tapped his adjutant on the shoulder, who was a head shorter.

“Though I am late in unifying, I am fully prepared. I don’t think I will lose. Right?”

“Indeed, that’s correct.”

Nomhoon answered sincerely.

In the south, where Mutuk had led his soldiers for years, he and his army were considered akin to the army of gods.

“The one who wins this war will be the ruler of this world. Do you know that, Nomhoon? Unlike the plains, the north is abundant in food, and the women are said to be modest. Don’t you want to see beauties raised finely laid beneath you and moaning?”

“…Indeed, that is so.”

Imagining Mutuk’s crude words, Nomhoon slyly smiled in response.

“Hm? The sage has arrived. You should return and properly prepare for winter. It’s fine to roll around with women in the tent this winter, but make sure your belly doesn’t get bloated. I despise those who are sluggish, you know?”

“Of course. I will not let you down. Leave it to me.”

Mutuk sensed an approaching presence and gave another command to his adjutant, then welcomed the figure approaching with open arms.

“Oh. Sage Algul. How were the women you provided last night? I picked them quite carefully.”

“I have no interest in mating with human females.”

The man known as Algul to Mutuk was a giant at least three heads taller than him.

While Mutuk also had a tall stature compared to others, Algul was on an entirely different level.

He bore a large staff and draped a heavy tattered cloth over his head.

Most astonishingly, his face was obscured by the very small shadow cast by the cloth.

No matter which direction he looked, one could feel no hint of light at all.

Yet, beyond that darkness, a voice emerged, and a pungent smell of blood wafted through the air.

Mutuk realized that this smell of blood led back to the tent from which Algul had come and clicked his tongue.

‘After offering up beautiful women… such a waste, that monster of a child.’

However, he did not show any displeasure outwardly.

That was because the monster in front of him was the main contributor to Mutuk’s rise from a leader of a band of robbers with merely 40 subordinates to such heights within a few years.

Moreover, the harlots from Takla, whom he had considered simply mad women, had gone to serve Algul as if they revered him like a god.

His army, too, was now an object of fear, yet Algul and the witches were just as well-known in the south as the army he commanded.

Though awkward, he sought to maintain a good relationship with the sage, someone whose face he didn’t even know and whose human nature he was uncertain of, due to his useful and powerful potential.

“I gathered the humans together as you wished. Why don’t we head north?”

“It’s not that I won’t go. Even if I were to cross the desert now, on the other side lies the land of winter. It would be suicidal to cross a desert in a fatigued state only to endure winter in an unfamiliar land. The same goes for our opponents. Essentially, we can’t start a war until winter has passed. We’ve done well so far. I know that what you desire lies to the north, so bear with it a little longer. You will soon get it.”

“…Humans are truly weak.”

Algul, ignoring Mutuk, stared for a long time to the north, emanating an eerie aura. Unsatisfied, he shook his head and returned to his tent.

As Algul departed, the shadows moving with him seemed to echo with the pealing laughter of mischievous women.

“What an unlucky monster. Once I become the ruler of this world, I’ll behead him and feed his head to the birds in the fields along with the harlots.”

As Algul completely disappeared into the tent, Mutuk spat on the ground and mumbled.

After muttering for a time, he envisioned the sweet future ahead to soothe his foul mood.

“I hear that the beautiful women whom Priegoss cherishes, along with the priestess who believes in strange beings, are indeed beautiful. I truly look forward to the day I can hold them in my arms.”

Excited, Mutuk licked his lips, not once thinking of his defeat, as usual, and considered the fruits he would reap at the end of the war with Priegoss, while watching his subordinates busily prepare for winter before returning to his tent, where the women awaited to warm his cold body.

◈ ◈ ◈

“How long has it been since I’ve felt this freedom.”

I lifted the round hat after a long time and spoke while gazing at the open nature with no barriers in sight.

“I can’t believe I stayed locked up in the temple for 5 years; I ran out of the suffocating forest.”

I sat comfortably at an angle on Rudolf’s back, hearing the sound of hooves hitting the ground and feeling the unshakable stability of riding, while the cool autumn breeze tousled my front hair, making me smile contentedly.

I had with me only a pocket with some money and two pouches filled with snacks.

A sword sheathed at my waist.

With a light burden as light as my spirit, I was heading north.

“I’m reminded of my first journey.”

Has it already been close to 8 years since I left the forest?

While counting the numbers in my mind, I was suddenly surprised by the passage of time.

That I had spent as much time in the human world as I had in the forest.

Most importantly.

“In just two more years, I’ll have caught up to my previous life.”

In my previous life, I lived in exile, fearing the shadow of a reaper that could come at any moment in a deserted place.

That short, frightening, and lonely life paradoxically felt long with each passing day. Now, while a long life is promised ahead, each day seems short, and I am gradually catching up to the length of my past life.

“Eighteen years have already passed, feeling like just a moment.”

The reason it felt that way was likely because my days had been filled with hope and warmth rather than fear and anguish.

It would continue to be that way.

As I gazed at the landscape passing by with Rudolf’s pace, a lake came into my view. “… Should I try fishing for old times’ sake?”

I used to do it often in the forest.

Although my sisters disliked it, I regularly went with Palas and Elmony.

It was a surprisingly pleasant and practical hobby to indulge in.

Indeed, this was quite the outing after a long time.

I wanted to enjoy as many different experiences as I could, knowing that I wouldn’t know when I’d be able to go out again.

Boom-!

At that moment, the ground shook, startling Rudolf and causing him to tremble.

I easily regained my balance amid the shaking and exhaled a sigh.

It seemed difficult to fish because of this fellow.

To fish, it was crucial for the surroundings to be quiet, yet there was the one creature most distant from calm on this land.

“Silv! Are you not focusing properly? How did you manage to move just this little distance without breaking your training outside?”

“Uh, sorry!”

Silv, who stood still scratching his head, and Golb, who stopped alongside him.

I sighed once more at the two giant brothers I had been trying to ignore to enjoy the traveling atmosphere.