Chương 58: Chapter 51

The moons hung high in the starry sky, their pale light illuminating the tribehold as the young warriors returned from their first hunt. Or rather, what had started as their first hunt. Nobody expected to encounter a group of Pearot Barbarians invading their land, let alone fight those experienced warriors. Every single one of their foes had been strong enough to fight multiple young Barbarians, yet the warriors of Tribe Taskur survived. Most of them did.

Hakon led the group through the forest, projecting [Intimidation] to ward off monsters that dared to approach, and it worked. They returned to the tribehold late at night with no further issues. All of them were exhausted, some wounded worse than others, but they kept going until the pyre torches of the tribehold entered their vision. Björn was not the first to collapse to the ground as they stepped onto well-trodden paths, but he looked the worst for wear.

He regained consciousness at some point and ignored his wounds to walk back to the tribehold without any support. The Blessed warrior pushed his chest out and held his head high even as beads of sweat trickled down his deathly white face. He gasped for air and looked worse for wear the longer they moved through the darkness of the night, but he prevailed longer than the others. His endurance was rewarded, and he even began to recover slightly at some point, but exhaustion emerged victorious in the end.

Despite arriving late at night, Tribe Taskur was still wide awake. Several tribesmen and women rushed toward the young warriors as soon as they were sighted, offering their support without hesitation. They tended to their children first, scrutinizing them from head to toe and asking countless questions in gruff voices, yet their eyes sparkled with relief.

No matter how much Barbarians were in tune with death, the thought of losing their child before they could write a Saga worth remembering was heartbreaking to them. Hakon watched several families collect their dead children with emotionless faces. Tears twinkled in the eyes of those too young to have experienced many losses, but the oldest were already used to the loss of their beloved. It was a sad sight that burned into Hakon's heart. If I had been a little stronger…

He let out a deep grunt and turned to the families carrying the dead young warriors back to their huts.

"They fought well and protected their brothers and sisters against the Pearot Barbarians with their lives. Do not resent them for failing to live long Sagas, for the Ancestors will remember their bravery and power," Hakon called out, casting a dome of silence over the tribehold. The older Barbarians stopped and turned to him, confused.

"We fought Pearot Barbarians. They were in our territory. Ask the others if you want to know more about the first passage of their Saga: their victory against experienced warriors of Tribe Pearot," he added, his voice reverberating everywhere.

"The Sagas of those who lost their lives this night are short, but that does not make them any less valuable. They fought against those stronger than them, protected the people important to them, and are the very reason the rest of us survived. Honor them, think about them, and provide them with the grandest of farewells, because they deserve all of it and more!" Tears welled in the eyes of the men and women who had just lost their beloved.

Part of it was because they had lost their child, nephew, or grandson, but that was not all of it. They were relieved; their tears were of sadness, but also happiness, because they would not be cast aside and frowned upon by the Ancestors. No, the young warriors who fell to the blades of the Pearot Barbarians would be welcomed with tight embraces and given a seat at the Ancestors' table.

Even if their lives were lost, taken too early, they would feast with the Ancestors, their afterlives filled with the bliss of food, combat, and all they could wish for. Hakon hoped he hadn't worsened the situation. Telling the entire tribe about the Pearot Barbarians might cause trouble in the future, but it was not like he could–or even wanted to–hide their infiltration. If anything, the tribe had to know about Pearot's actions to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Glancing toward the mourning men and women, he grimaced. Had he made the right choice? Frankly, Hakon had no idea if he had, but he thought they looked better than before, knowing that their children would not be rejected at the Ancestors' feast. It didn't take long before he found the chieftain as well. His father nodded slowly before gesturing for him to go to the Healer.

He looked surprisingly tired, even worse than he had when Hakon had forced him to tend to his people at the training ground all day, but he still rushed toward the worst injured and helped them. What followed was organized chaos. The tribehold became a bustle of activity as the older tribesmen moved around to help carry the severely wounded. In the meantime, the mildly injured joined their families and friends to brag about their experiences.

Hakon heard them talk about their first hunt, how the 'Successor' found and gathered them to tell them about the Pearot Barbarians in their land, and how they defeated them. Being called Successor was still a little odd, but it sounded rather nice to him. He studied the tribehold and found a few more injured faces, familiar faces belonging to the young warriors he hadn't found earlier in the forest.

They stared at the scene unfolding before them in awe but clenched their fists tightly, jealousy burning in their eyes when they heard about the fight against peak 1st Ascension warriors and a Barbarian at the 2nd Ascension. They, too, would have loved to fight the tribe's nemesis to show the Ancestors what they were capable of, and, of course, to protect Tribe Taskur from Pearot's invasion. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Regardless of their intentions, Hakon was glad they were fine. Not everyone was present, but he didn't think the warriors he had trained would have died to most of the forest's monsters. If they had stayed near the tribehold, which appeared to have been the case, considering the mild injuries covering the present warriors' bodies. Their heads flicked to him, jealousy replaced by newfound respect and awe, but Hakon turned to his father, motioning for him to follow.

Although exhausted, the chieftain wanted to talk to him, so he followed him back into their hut.

"You are alive," the chieftain called out, matter-of-factly.

"I am." Hakon smiled faintly, all while sending waves of mana into [Natural Regeneration]. He tried to do the same with [Fatigue Resistance], but the Skill wouldn't budge.

"We have returned with trophies and news."

"Bad news. I heard about it. Pearot Barbarians on our land." His father let out a disgruntled snort.

"But you killed them, did you not?"

"We did." Hakon nodded slowly.

"It took some preparation, but we defeated them. Nine warriors at the peak of the 1st Ascension and their leader at the 2nd Ascension." The words made the chieftain stop in his tracks. He turned, eyebrows narrowed.

"2nd Ascension. And you defeated him?"

"Not alone. Like I said, we were prepared," Hakon said, then realized that this didn't explain anything. Organizing his thoughts, he took a deep breath and began to explain what had happened from the start.

"So… at first, I tracked a herd of Terror Deer…" It took quite a while to lay out everything that happened. Fortunately, the chieftain didn't interrupt him. He didn't utter a single word and listened intently.

Sure, a frown marred his face as soon as Hakon told him about the first plan he'd come up with, or when he mentioned how he roamed through the forest stealthily, and it only grew worse when he explained how he had retreated from the Pearot Barbarians' camp just to spend most of the remaining sunlight preparing for combat. Even then, the chieftain said nothing. His frown faded as soon as the story reached the fight, and Hakon could have sworn he had seen a glimmer of interest in his father's eyes.

At the end of the story, he even gave a sharp nod.

"You did well, son. Most would have led their warriors into certain death to receive the Ancestors' favor. What you did was not what most Barbarians would have done, yet you did not abandon the path of our people. Instead, you walked our path… just differently." That– Hakon couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. He half expected his father to lecture him for not following the Barbarians' way, but though he had looked disappointed at first, his current expression was one of proudness.

Or so Hakon interpreted his father's expression, making him smile brightly. Excited, he retrieved the scrolls he had collected from the enemy camp.

"I don't know if they will be useful, but I looted them from the camp, wondering why Barbarians carried scrolls." His father furrowed his brows once more, but he stepped closer and took a look at the maps. His brows twitched ever so slightly before he took one of the scrolls. It was dirt-smudged, and the colors on the old parchment were already fading, but the chieftain took the scroll and walked over to the table to spread it out. Hakon looked at the other scrolls for a heartbeat before putting them aside.

Curiosity won, and he joined his father to inspect the scroll's contents. Parts were covered in dirt, which made him curse his peers, but the rest was easy to read. Or would have been if there had been anything to read. Instead of words, father and son looked at a drawing depicting a lot of green, mixed with some dark. The upper parts of the drawing were colored in a multitude of grey shades, while the rest was mostly green, except for a few spots.

Some were circled and adorned with curious drawings, while others were crossed out with blood or a color that looked similar.

"That's the tribehold." The chieftain pointed at a small smudge near the bottom of the map. It was smeared with dirt and no longer clear enough to see much, but the chieftain sounded certain.

"A map?" Now that his father pointed it out, he could tell as well. The scribbles were pretty bad, but the upper portion was definitely the mountain range, the rest was the forest, and in between were some other things. But what exactly did the designs indicate? To find out, Hakon and his father spent the rest of the night awake. As exhausted as he was, Hakon wanted to find out more. He had to, and he did, as the first rays of sunlight shone through the window. [Fatigue Resistance Lv. 2 → Lv. 3] The Scripture was part of the good news, but it was only a portion. He was still tired and wanted to go to sleep, at some point. That said, he turned back to the scroll. The map was engraved with several marks, each labeled differently. Some were crossed out, and one in particular looked somewhat familiar. It was a cross around a mark that had been engraved on a small splodge of brown and green, which was surrounded by blue, hinting at a lake.

"Is that the Crawling Expanse?" he mused to himself in wonder.

"Your Fracture?" the chieftain asked, pointing at the crossed-out mark.

"Is that where your Fracture was?" Hakon nodded and proceeded to tell his father a little bit more about the Crawling Expanse and everything about it, including its location and the terrain around the portal. His father gave him a knowing look, his finger hovering above the dark green region of the forest, which indicated that the area was part of the forbidden lands. That was yet another point that confirmed how recent the map had been created.

As much as it was a mess of scribbles and splashes of color, it was more recent than the chieftain's map. Putting that aside, his father said nothing about him entering the forbidden land. Instead, he pointed out something else.

"The Crawling Expanse was Overflowing, you say? And nobody else was nearby."

"Yes. Maybe they crossed it out after realizing I closed it." Hakon shrugged, although he couldn't quite explain how Pearot would have found out about that.

"Maybe the other marks are also Fractures, and the crosses are Fractures they already closed." If that was true, then the map would be the most valuable treasure they had acquired from the Pearot Barbarians. Not even the normal Runeskin would match the value of that simple parchment. It was interesting, dangerous, but it also provided an opportunity. A grand opportunity. Plans formed in Hakon's mind, and he sure wasn't the only one. The chieftain met his eyes, the corners of his lips curling into a devious smile.

It was time to strategize. As for some well-deserved rest… Hakon could always sleep later.

"I think I know of a a way to weaken Tribe Pearot."