Chapter 31 : Slaves (3)
Chapter 31: Slaves (3)
The village of Larka, where the Barbarians lived.
Thoroughly isolated from the outside world, it was a secret place known only to a very few who carried the blood of Parno.
Because it was precisely here that the continent’s purest ice crystals were produced.
A small number of personnel selected from Parno’s Wolves monitored the Barbarians and oversaw the production of the ice crystals.
Once selected to work here, they were required to stay until they turned forty.
Except for regular leaves, it was a dull life of staring at the snowy mountains—but the job satisfaction wasn’t low.
The pay was high, and above all, there was rarely a need to risk one’s life.
The occasional resistance from the Barbarians was considered a minor danger.
Barbarians were indeed a troublesome lot.
Even though they only boiled grass to eat, their physiques were larger than most trained men, and their strength was impressive.
What’s more, they remained unaffected even in the Larka Mines, which caused mana intoxication in most people.
The development of that place and the ability to produce the finest ice crystals would've been impossible without the Barbarians.
Such beasts, unable to control their wild temperaments, often snarled and caused frequent conflicts.
Their combat skills weren’t much to worry about, so they weren't a threat, but minor injuries and nuisances still occurred.
But think about it.
Fighting lunatics active in the snowfields—like those Snow Fiends—meant risking your life.
It was better to deal with strong, dumb brutes than that.
Then one day, the mine’s surveillance captain checked a letter from the family and stiffened.
“Seems like something’s gone wrong in the family.”
“What’s the matter?”
The letter didn’t contain any specific details.
But the newly issued order was suspicious enough to cause such a guess.
“They say a Barbarian named Hindir might appear.”
“Hindir?”
Everyone looked at each other as if asking whether anyone knew the name, but all shook their heads.
“They say not to confront him, but to respond cleverly.”
“Cleverly? What kind of order is that? Are we supposed to take hostages or something?”
“……”
As the captain held back from replying, the others let out hollow laughs.
There was no greater humiliation than this.
“Are they looking down on us just because we’re stuck in this goddamn valley?”
“Watch your mouth. In any case, it’s an order from the family.”
The captain shared the same sentiment, but he couldn’t afford to be swept up and act recklessly.
“Gather all Barbarians currently in the village.”
At the order, the Barbarians gathered in the village’s cramped square.
The village itself was built along a cliffside, and the so-called square was dangerously narrow.
The fact that they had been summoned to such a place immediately triggered sensitive reactions among the Barbarians.
“You bastards. What’s your new scheme this time?”
A Barbarian woman with a face full of scars stepped forward and asked.
Her stance looked like she might throw a punch at any moment, but the captain, unfazed, pushed her back.
“Step aside, Seff. We’re just as annoyed and irritated to be here.”
He swept his gaze over the Barbarians and continued speaking.
“Orders have come down from the family. Do any of you know someone named Hindir?”
“…What?”
Murmurs began to rise from all directions.
“Don’t mutter among yourselves. Just answer the question!”
“Why Hindir?”
“I asked if you knew him.”
“Of course we all know him, you idiots. You killed him and don’t even remember his name?”
“What?”
“Don’t you remember? A few months ago, you chased and killed that kid.”
“…You call that a kid?”
“He wasn’t even twenty. If that’s not a kid, what is? Bastards. You’re not even human. You killed him, and now you’re asking why we know him?”
As Seff’s crude words poured out, the captain scoffed and said,
“Congratulations. Apparently, that guy might come back to his own grave.”
“You son of a bitc—what?”
Seff’s eyes bulged as she stormed toward the captain, reaching for his collar.
But the captain caught her thick wrist instead and subdued her.
“How dare you, with those filthy hands.”
“What the hell did you just say? Hindir’s alive?”
“What’s your relationship with Hindir?”
Unlike the others, Seff had reacted extremely sensitively. The captain stared at her with a meaningful look.
“He’s my nephew.”
“……”
“Tell me. Is that kid alive?”
Instead of answering, he exchanged glances with his subordinates and then, like lightning, drew his sword and held it to Seff’s neck.
“…What are you doing?”
“Kneel quietly.”
“You crazy bastard, what the hell are you doing? What about Hindir?”
Fsssh—
At that moment, the captured wrist was invaded by Ice‑Blood Qi, and her hand and forearm began to turn bluish.
“If you don’t follow orders, I’ll freeze your arm and shatter it.”
“……”
Seff eventually let go, took a few steps back, and knelt on one knee.
“Do you have any other blood relatives?”
“No.”
“You don’t have any kids either?”
“No.”
“Tsk. You haven’t fulfilled your duty. Once this is over, you’ll be disposed of too.”
“……”
“Then just grab some random guy. They all look the same anyway, so what does it matter.”
At the captain’s order, the subordinates approached and tied Seff’s arms behind her back.
They then randomly grabbed and bound a few more Barbarians.
“Everyone else, disperse! Get lost.”
Boos and protests erupted from the other Barbarians, but the Parno men drove them off at swordpoint.
“Move!”
Seff and the other Barbarians were dragged to a dwelling outside the valley where the Parno men stayed.
And then they were thrown into a prison built beside it.
As they locked them up, the subordinates spoke loudly among themselves—loud enough for Seff’s group to hear clearly.
A natural display of disregard, as they didn’t even consider Barbarians as people.
“Now that I think of it, I was on the pursuit team back then. But he didn’t seem that dangerous?”
“Didn’t they say he fell off a cliff and died?”
“We never actually confirmed if he was dead. But come on, he fell into the canyon in the middle of the night—no way he survived that.”
“Tsk. They say not to fight but to subdue him… If he doesn’t respond to threats against his family, what then?”
“In that case, the captain will figure something out. Ugh, it’s cold. Let’s go inside!”
Seff had roughly grasped the situation.
‘Alive? Is it true?’
The news that her nephew wasn’t dead was certainly welcome. But she had no idea what he’d done out there to make these people so edgy.
It seemed they planned to use them as hostages to capture Hindir...
‘You damn brat. If you escaped with such difficulty, why come back here again?’
Seff prayed desperately that Hindir wouldn’t show up.
But Parno’s cruelty didn’t stop there.
Starting that very day, rations were reduced, and the mine labor hours were extended.
A ploy to drain the Barbarians’ strength in case of emergency.
Of course, dissatisfaction erupted, and eventually, one Barbarian responded with physical resistance and was dragged into the prison.
“Kanar.”
“Seff.”
But the one dragged in—who looked as if he had expected this—was a Barbarian named Kanar, and he asked those who had arrived earlier:
“What do you think is going on?”
“Hindir might be coming back here.”
“He’s really alive?”
“Seems that way.”
“Wow… I always thought that brat was no ordinary savage from the way he acted as a kid—just like his aunt… Ack!”
Kanar rolled across the floor after getting kicked by Seff.
“Did you come here just to mess with me?”
“Ugh… of course not. Anyway, so?”
“Looks like they’re trying to take us as hostages. Seems like he stirred up real trouble out there.”
“Him? What the hell could he have done to make those bastards go so far as to starve us?”
“What? They’re messing with the rations again?”
“That’s not all. They’ve increased the work hours too. Everyone’s on the brink.”
“……”
Seff’s face hardened.
“If they cut any more, isn’t that dangerous?”
“It is.”
A brief silence fell.
“Seff.”
Kanar called her.
“Maybe that time has come.”
“……”
“We can’t hold out anymore. At this rate, people down there might start starving to death one by one.”
“Probably.”
“You know, right? That whenever the chance comes... we agreed never to end this pathetically.”
Seff gave a nod.
“Besides, whatever Hindir did out there, he’s coming back? You think someone comes back here because the outside world’s kind? Seff, he’s your nephew. Your one and only family who’s just as hot-tempered as you are. There’s a reason he’s returning.”
“You little…”
“I’m sorry for the guy… but let’s not do anything to make us sorry to him. He’s the only one who succeeded in escaping. He is our future. We can’t let Parno catch him again.”
With a long exhale, she turned to look at the others who had been dragged here with her.
There was no hesitation in their eyes.
They were far too resolute and proud for people who had lived as slaves for five hundred years.
“Alright. They won’t let us go, but Kanar—if they let you out, we start then.”
“Hehe, they might let me out as soon as tonight, just because they’re short on workers.”
Kanar’s prediction was spot-on.
That very night, Kanar was released and taken to the mines.
Time passed quietly.
Those locked in the prison waited in silence.
For the moment when Parno would fall into a deep sleep, and even if he woke, wouldn’t be alert—those early hours before dawn.
The moment the Barbarians would move.
Nine comrades had died.
Yet not a single enemy had been brought down.
A blood-soaked Barbarian glared at Parno.
“What the hell are you lunatics doing? Have you lost your minds and decided to die?”
Parno was flustered by a backlash that was not only more violent but more organized than ever before.
And Kanar’s words that followed threw them off even more.
“Hehe, go ahead and try killing us all. Not like you bastards have the guts to, anyway.”
He wasn’t wrong.
There was no way they’d dare destroy the family's property at their own discretion.
Killing a few was commonplace, but if too many were killed, it would hinder the mining of ice crystals.
If everyone died, the mine would come to a halt.
This was, in other words, the first and greatest crisis in the life of a Parno monitor.
But… they were also the proud Wolves of Parno.
There was no way their pride wouldn’t be wounded hearing things like that.
“You arrogant son of a—!”
In the end, the Parno men, driven by emotion, raised their swords once again and tried to suppress the rebellion.
They believed that spilling a bit more blood would bring the Barbarians back to their senses.
But the Barbarians didn’t retreat.
‘These maniacs. Are they really all trying to die?’
‘Stop! I said stop, you bastards!’
When the man in front fell, the one behind him rolled his eyes and charged again.
The one who had lost an arm clung to their leg with the other.
‘If this keeps going and they really all die…’
Crack—!
“Gah!”
Perhaps distracted for a moment—
One of Parno’s Wolves took a pickaxe to the chest and collapsed, snapping the others back to their senses.
They realized that if things continued like this, they themselves could end up on the receiving end of an even more absurd situation.
“You bastards!”
For the first time in Larka Village, a Wolf of Parno had been killed by a Barbarian.
Enraged and humiliated, they pushed their mana to the extreme and lunged forward.
All around them, frozen blood sprayed like mist.
And yet, even in that hellish chaos, not a single Barbarian let out a scream.
As everyone was swallowed by blood and madness, bodies tangled and clashed—
Rumble…
Suddenly, the ground shook.
“Huh?”
“What was that?”
Startled, they wondered if it was an earthquake, but the shaking soon subsided.
A brief silence descended.
Thanks to that, everyone could hear another sound coming from far away.
Thoom—
Thoom—
THOOM—
As the sounds drew closer, everyone lifted their heads.
“Huh? Th-that’s…”
Because they were surrounded by cliffs, only a sliver of the sky could be seen.
There, a single dark dot appeared.
It grew larger and larger, until finally, with a wave of blood-red ripples trailing behind it, it dropped into the middle of Parno’s ranks.
CRAAAASH!
“Uwaaah!”
“Wha—!?”
The tremendous shockwave sent Barbarians stumbling backward.
But many of the Wolves caught in the impact zone didn’t even have time to scream as their bodies were crushed and they perished.
What rose slowly from the center looked around with an expression too strange to decipher.
“A red bear?”
A red bear that had appeared from the sky.
No one dared to speak under the pressure radiating from it.