Chapter 92
After encountering the chieftain, Hrung-ga led him to his own house.
Surprisingly, even though Hrung-ga had earned the title of Guardian Warrior, he did not live more luxuriously than the others.
Instead, his house was a bit larger than the others, but that was for reasons unrelated to his status.
Upon entering, Erich saw a human skull still dripping with blood hanging on the wall.
He frowned as if witnessing something unpleasant.
[So you really are a head hunter. I didn't think you'd literally have them dangling here.]
[Did you think I was joking?]
[I mean, well, just because someone is called a 'butcher' doesn't mean they really go around butchering.]
[Hmm. That might be true. Do you have any such titles?]
Erich quietly recalled the titles he had heard. Apostle of Incensus. Well, saying that wouldn't mean much here. The next that came to mind was...
Barbarian Butcher?
'That doesn't sit right.'
He couldn't exactly tell a barbarian to his face that he was their people's butcher.
So, as Erich was about to answer, he just mumbled evasively.
[Nothing in particular yet.]
[Odd. With skills like yours, I'd want to give you a nickname. Perhaps it's because you don't have a father? No, wait. You just revealed you're Heidrich's son. My apologies.]
– Grrr.
The direwolf at Hrung-ga's side growled. Already annoyed after hearing both an insult and an apology, Erich felt like punching the wolf as it bared its teeth.
[You can make up a nickname for me later if you want. For now, I have a lot of questions. Hrung-ga.]
[What are you curious about? I'll tell you whatever I know.]
[Let's start with why you're fighting among yourselves. What was that all about?]
Hrung-ga nodded and explained to Erich about the war between the two factions.
After parting ways with Erich in the cave, Hrung-ga set out to return to the wolf tribe.
To his surprise, the end of the sacred ground lay in the south, and his journey was by no means short.
Nonetheless, Hrung-ga said he encountered the bear tribe's Guardian Warrior, laboon, during his travels.
[Do you know about Guardian Warriors?]
[No, you could say I know almost nothing. Is a head hunter the same as becoming a Guardian Warrior?]
Hrung-ga shook his head.
[A Guardian Warrior is a warrior granted the Goddess's will. That will is delivered in many forms, but usually, it involves inheriting a relic.]
[... Is that club the relic?]
[Club, you say... Crow's ignorance, seriously. Anyway, I fought a blood duel with Laboon, the Guardian Warrior of the bear tribe who possessed that relic.]
Hrung-ga said that in that fight, he experienced yet another awakening—he had opened his eyes to the true power of a head hunter.
Thanks to this, Hrung-ga was able to slay Laboon, seize his relic, and become a Guardian Warrior himself.
'... So, a Guardian Warrior is basically whoever manages to kill and take the role from the last one.'
However, Erich, curiosity piqued, asked Hrung-ga,
[But why is that such a problem? If taking the Guardian Warrior's spot always caused a war, your people would have gone extinct by now.]
[That's where the disagreement lies. To be a Guardian Warrior, one must be recognized as a member of the tribe. Therefore, a wanderer cannot become a Guardian Warrior. At the time, I had been sentenced to exile from the sacred ground.]
In other words, the bear tribe saw an issue with Hrung-ga's status at the time.
Although he had been banished from the wolf tribe, Hrung-ga, the first ever to return alive from the sacred ground, was a rare and exceptional case.
Having lost the Guardian Warrior's throne, the bear tribe claimed the position was unjustly taken because Hrung-ga was still an exile.
Meanwhile, the wolf tribe—who had gained a Guardian Warrior more or less by accident—argued that exile from the sacred ground was void as soon as one escaped it.
Thus, the northern tribes, marked with beast tattoos, split into two factions and went to war.
Furthermore, according to Hrung-ga, there were two great powers among the northern tribes: the bear tribe and the wolf tribe.
Those two tribes alone outnumbered the rest of the combined tribes.
At this, Erich let out a wry chuckle, thinking of Grossnak.
[... Killing you outright was also an option. I imagine Grossnak saw more gain in suddenly getting a Guardian Warrior.]
[Exactly so. Grossnak is a cunning warrior. A tribe that produces a Guardian Warrior receives great honor. Grossnak would never have let that chance pass.]
Erich nodded slowly, though he still didn't quite understand.
'Surely, the wolf tribe was divided into two factions at war with each other.'
According to Hrung-ga, the current conflict was between the bears and wolves—two totally different tribes.
But if it was simply that the two big tribes split into factions, why were wolves fighting among themselves?
When Erich voiced this question, Hrung-ga petted his direwolf and replied:
[As I said, our wolf tribe is vast. Within it, there are different lineages.]
[... For example?]
[This place, Kabal, is the home of the wolf tribe and the origin of the white wolves. Most here are white wolves.]
[So, does that make the other group the black wolves?]
[You catch on quickly. Not far from here—cross the Fuga Gorge, and you'll find the black wolf tribe's stronghold. They're like brothers, but they've always resented that the chieftain comes only from the white wolves.]
Even within what was thought to be a single lineage, the wolf tribe had split between white and black wolves.
With pent-up resentment, the black wolves now took the side of the bear tribe.
Erich responded to Hrung-ga with a sardonic grin.
[You're not so different from us, after all.]
[People are the same everywhere.]
[How can you tell the difference between white and black wolves?]
[That's easy. We white wolves, from birth, are paired with a direwolf born on the same day, and we live our whole lives together. The black wolves, though...]
[Don't tell me...?]
Erich recalled the wolf pelts draped over the black wolves' shoulders. If black wolves and white wolves had different cultures, the wolf pelts they wore might be...
Hrung-ga nodded.
[The black wolves also grow up alongside direwolves, but when they come of age, they fight their direwolf partner to the death as part of their rite of passage. Then they wear the pelt as a badge of honor. Truly, it's a barbaric custom.]
Hrung-ga gazed narrowly at his own direwolf, Lan. In response, Lan let out a soft "ki-ing" sound.
[That's actually just what imperial folks imagine you're like.]
[Is that so? Well, we've also heard a lot of bad rumors about your kind.]
Erich gave a brief chuckle. Of course there would be all sorts of rumors about each other. Still, seeing them consider each other brothers despite such different customs, he realized there must be deeper reasons for it.
He understood up to that point. Next, Erich wanted to know about Ungrim's faction—in other words, external intervention.
[Let's move on. I heard the eastern barbarians are getting involved with them. Has Ungrim's faction joined with the bear tribe?]
[Erich, you surprise me often. I wondered how you knew about Ungrim when you were negotiating with the chieftain. But to answer, yes. Ungrim has sided with the bears.]
[I see. One of my reasons for coming here was to eliminate Ungrim.]
[... Eliminate Ungrim? That's music to my ears. But to do so, you'll have to go all the way east.]
Hrung-ga thought for a moment, then his eyes widened in realization.
[Are you planning to cross Mount Haratakan, the Great Snow Mountain!]
[You're quick, aren't you?]
[That's insane, Erich. Haratakan is a land of death. Not even shamans are allowed to set foot there.]
[Well, I can't exactly cross the frozen lake, can I?]
[... That's true. I can't help with that issue, but I'll try to think of a way. Still, I'm relieved to hear you're also aiming to take down Ungrim.]
[But why does Ungrim support the bear tribe? Isn't this just a domestic quarrel among you?]
Hrung-ga didn't deny Erich's words. Instead, he gently stroked the direwolf sleeping with its head on his knee.
[We believe head hunters are granted by the Goddess.]
[That aura isn't handed down by anyone...]
[I know. One gains aura through training and battle. But we believe the process is bestowed by the Goddess, and that head hunters grow stronger through collecting heads.]
Erich nodded slowly; the logic wasn't exactly wrong if that's how they chose to believe. Belief was their choice, after all.
[Alright. Please continue.]
[But Ungrim denies the Goddess and has insulted our sacred head hunter duty.]
[Denies the Goddess?]
Erich's eyes narrowed. The barbarians he knew were fanatics for the Goddess.
No matter what happened—life, death, whatever—it was all about the Goddess.
Every barbarian he'd met so far treated the Goddess as the center of their faith.
'Yet he not only denies that, but still has so many followers?'
Even as an outsider, Erich found it hard to believe.
[It's true. He claims the Goddess is just a mere human and that he, himself, can grant the power of the head hunter. The bear tribe dared to betray the Goddess and, by accepting Ungrim's power, have created fake head hunters like rotten rags.]
[... He grants head hunter power?]
But as soon as Erich heard this, something clicked for him.
'So they say Ungrim has the power to mass-produce head hunters....'
Could it really be true?
In short, the bear tribe abandoned their Goddess-worship in order to fight the wolf tribe, and turned to Ungrim to obtain head hunters.
Meanwhile, Hrung-ga's teeth clicked in rage—just thinking about it infuriated him.
[It's unthinkable. Such a thing should be impossible in this world. Even granting that it were true, it could never compare to the power of the Goddess.]
Unlike Hrung-ga, however, Erich fell silent in thought. How had things played out before he regressed?
In the future, Ungrim's army truly did possess vast numbers of head hunters.
Though none of them even approached the level of a swordmaster, Ungrim did indeed command many head hunters capable of wielding special powers.
'... Strange.'
In truth, due to that past experience, Erich had tended to underestimate head hunters.
'I used to think their level was inferior compared to transcendents like swordmasters.'
But since his return, after meeting a true head hunter like Hrung-ga, Erich's opinion had changed.
Their power was not so insignificant. Even now, the strength Erich sensed from Hrung-ga was formidable.
Hrung-ga was the barbarian who'd shattered Erich's prejudices about head hunters.
So then... Erich asked Hrung-ga,
[Are you saying Ungrim can create head hunters?]
[If you can call such a power 'head hunter', then yes. He can create them, and he has many as proof.]
But Erich knew Hrung-ga was mistaken about something.
As far as Erich knew, Ungrim's ability wasn't creating head hunters.
His 'power' was his own overwhelmingly transcendent strength.
'.......'
From this, Erich drew a conclusion based on the present and what he'd heard of the past.
Ungrim. Someone has been making head hunters for that man.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
I'm guessing Hrung-ga died in the sacred ground in Erich's past life...
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】