Chapter 173
Samikan left his tent and stood alone early in the morning, looking up at the mountains. His gaze followed the lofty peaks.
'They're coming to conquer our land.'
He had heard the stories from Noah. Samikan knew the history of the empire. The achievements of three generations of emperors filled him with awe, and he could easily conjure up the image of conquerors.
'Those who conquered neighboring countries and nations, now aiming to grasp another world in their hands.'
The third emperor wasn't satisfied with just his own world. Emperor Yanchinus coveted the lands beyond the mountains.
Samikan understood the emperor's greed. The thirst for a bigger world wasn't something that could be satisfied by merely conquering one's own world.
Samikan stretched his arms wide toward the mountains. Laughing, he looked through the gaps between his fingers at the mountains.
Step.
Footsteps sounded behind him.
"Urich, I see that you don’t sleep too well."
Urich approached from behind Samikan, who instinctively almost grabbed his weapon but instead casually turned to Urich with a smile.
"My back is still too sore to sleep properly from getting stabbed earlier.”
Urich was more than capable of strangling Samikan to death if that was what he wanted.
In the entire west, there was no warrior superior to Urich. Being called the ‘Son of the Earth’ wasn't simply flattery. How else could such an extraordinary warrior exist without some supernatural blessing?
'Urich would never stoop to such cheap means to kill me.'
Samikan trusted Urich. Urich was a straightforward warrior, one who wouldn't tarnish his honor with such deeds. It was precisely because of this that he earned the respect of other warriors.
"Why don’t you come with me for reconnaissance once the sun comes up?"
Samikan offered. They needed to observe the movements of the imperial army.
"You want me to come with you? Seriously?" Urich scoffed.
"Is it strange for two brothers to act together?"
"Do you think I’d keep my axe away from your neck when we leave the camp?"
"I think you will unless you want to destroy the alliance we've worked so hard to build..."
Samikan smirked slightly, and Urich laughed hollowly with him.
The focal point of the tribal alliance was Samikan. Through various political dealings and threats, Samikan wove together tribes with differing interests. He was undoubtedly a remarkable chief who had achieved rapid unification.
'I doubt I can do what Samikan is doing.'
Upon becoming a chief, Urich felt his limitations.
As a warrior, Urich was boundless. He could achieve anything he set his mind to. However, as a chief, Urich faced wall after wall and obstacle after obstacle, leading to frustration and a sense of helplessness.
At best, Urich was capable of uniting the tribes that were under the Sky Mountains. He wasn’t confident he could bring distant tribes under his sway as Samikan had done.
'Seeing how played me, he must have done even worse things to the chiefs who wouldn't follow him.'
Urich shivered from the sense of betrayal. The Samikan he had trusted had cunningly undermined Urich's authority.
"Did you think I would challenge your authority? Do you not trust me, Samikan?"
Urich's voice grew louder. He thought of the warriors who died in the mountains. They died purely to protect their land.
"It's not that I don’t trust you. I've dealt with this beast called power for longer than you. Power is a living beast. Did you get the title 'Son of the Earth' because you wanted it? Did you become the chief of your tribe out of ambition? Power is merely a flow of force, Urich. It’s not something that can be controlled by faith or trust. As power grows, it inevitably devours smaller powers. There's no such thing as equal power. If they're truly equal, one of them will die. Have you ever seen a wolf pack with two alphas?"
Samikan spoke calmly. His eyes were as clear as those of an old shaman.
"Enough bullshit. Do you think the dead warriors would nod along to that?"
Urich's eyes burned fiercely. The screams of the warriors who fell on the mountain echoed in his ears like phantoms.
"It’s because of that attitude the warriors all love you. Urich, just be as you are now. I'll take the responsibility of eating up everything—even all the nasty things—as the Great Chief."
Samikan looked directly at Urich, who trembled and then shook his head.
"... How did you manage to talk Belrua into your scheme? She hated your guts."
"A great chief knows how to bend themselves in order to protect their tribe. The position of a female chief in the alliance was precarious. Left as it was, even the status of the Red Sand Tribe would have fallen. So, Belrua chose the only way to preserve both her position and the tribe's status. Because she knew the responsibilities and duties of a chief, she had no choice but to make that decision."
Samikan had already tossed the unfeasible idea of marriage to Belrua early on, and soon the marriage was realized. Samikan's eyes saw more than others. He possessed the insight that allowed him to read the flow.
'He is the Great Chief for a reason.'
Urich felt ashamed for admiring Samikan's foresight and political acumen.
'But Samikan is underestimating the imperial army.'
Every decision Samikan had been making was only going to shine if the tribal alliance defeated the imperial army. But should he fail, Samikan would be seen as the worst leader in their history.
"According to Noah, based on their precedent, the 'imperial army' is expected to deploy their forces in ‘legions’ during the wartime."
Samikan mixed in a few Hamelian words as he spoke. He had been learning a bit of the language from Noah.
The legions were a wartime organizational structure of the imperial army. The empire's current standing legion was the Northern Legion, but even they were in the process of being disbanded after the Mulin campaign in order to re-establish security throughout the empire’s territories.
The cost of maintaining a legion was high enough to significantly impact the national treasury. Aside from the official formation, the empire's standing army did not refer to itself as a legion. Even during the reign of the second emperor, when wars against barbarians and suppression of vassal states' rebellions were frequent, there were only three legions.
"Apparently, a single legion consists of about five thousand men. Two thousand experienced heavy infantry known as the imperial army, two thousand troops levied from the nobles, and..."
Samikan was not ignorant about the imperial army. He had conquered the west by emulating their tactics.
Urich thought they should defend in the mountains. So, naturally, he was dissatisfied that the front line of defense had been pushed down to the bottom of the mountains.
"Their five thousand is not the five thousand we imagine. If we fight them in a formation battle in the plains, we are definitely at a disadvantage. If we want to leverage our numerical superiority, we have to fight them in the mountains."
"No, we’re going to let their legion cross into our lands. We’re going to allow all their forces to come over the mountains."
Samikan drew a map on the ground. It outlined the mountains and its gorges, the plains at the bottom, which was connected to the end of Yailrud, and not far from there, the Stone Axe Tribe's village.
Urich's expression changed. He clenched his axe handle and issued a warning.
"If they cross the mountains, Stone Axe is in the greatest danger! You said it yourself; a chief must do anything for his tribe!"
"Calm down. That is why the Stone Axe Tribe will move. Strategically, the village's location is not advantageous. Settle somewhere in between the Blue Mist and Red Sand tribes. Though the land there is more barren than what you currently have, the alliance will support the Stone Axe Tribe, so they won't starve. As brother tribes, we'll eat together and starve together. I swear it by our lake!"
Samikan pointed to the spot on the map where the Stone Axe Tribe would resettle.
"You... dammit."
Before Urich could argue further, Samikan drew a path going up the mountains and then back down to a midpoint in the gorge.
"Once the empire’s legion crosses the gorge completely, you will lead the warriors, sneak over the mountains, and seize their outpost. They'll think guarding just the entrance of the gorge is enough, so they probably won’t leave any defensive troops at the outpost. Destroy Yailrud there and cut off their supply lines."
"Even if we do take Yailrud instead of the rough paths, crossing the mountains through a route other than the gorge is going to result in heavy casualties. Are you trying to get the Stone Axe annihilated?"
Urich had no intention of leading the warriors of his own tribe on such a reckless climb.
"The warriors crossing the mountains won't be from Stone Axe, but from Blue Mist. I’m entrusting you with half of my warriors. You can kill them or keep them alive; I’ll leave that up to you."
Urich's eyes widened. The Blue Mist had over two thousand warriors. Half of that would be a thousand. Even if they descended into the gorge midway and took Yailrud instead of going over the mountain’s peak, significant losses were going to be inevitable.
Samikan himself was willing to risk danger and sacrifice for this operation. He wasn’t just pulling himself out of the line of fire.
He shared his plan in detail with Urich. The success or failure of the mission hinged on Urich's decision, as he was the only one capable of leading the warriors over the mountains.
"If the supply lines are cut, the imperial army will basically be sitting ducks at the bottom of the mountains. There isn’t a single army in the world that can't withstand hunger, no matter how strong they are. Even if they turn to plundering, the Stone Axe village will have already migrated. They’ll be left wandering the vast grasslands aimlessly. Oh, and also, it's not just Stone Axe that's moving; all tribes within a week's distance of the gorge will retreat. The alliance will support any lacking resources. This is why we formed the alliance, is it not? The entire west is going to fight as if we’re a single tribe. Us fighting together as one—they'll never see it coming.
Urich was seething. The words ‘as one’ came out of Samikan’s mouth. Everything he was saying was right, but just the fact that those words came from his mouth irked Urich.
"The problem is whether I can lead enough warriors to seize the outpost and reach the other side of the mountain."
Urich put aside his emotions and considered Samikan's strategy. Samikan nodded.
"You’d have to cross the mountains without the imperial army knowing, descend from the middle of the gorge, and cross over to the outpost through Yailrud. If the outpost's forces are somehow more numerous than we expected or if we lose too many warriors and are short on power, we probably won't be able to take over the outpost. If that happens, use whatever means necessary to destroy Yailrud to the point where it can't be repaired. In that case, we might not be able to plunder beyond the mountains, but we’ll at least be able to annihilate the imperial army that’s been cut off from their supply."
"Whether I succeed or fail, not even half of the Blue Mist warriors who go with me will return."
Samikan did not respond but quietly nodded. He had already braced himself for such sacrifices.
'Oh heavens, grant me immortal glory.'
Samikan looked up. The blue sky was vast. If he successfully led the alliance to victory in this war, the name Samikan would shine forever as an immortal symbol. It would be he who is remembered as the one who stopped the fierce invasion of the empire, not Urich.
The sun was now fully up. Urich and Samikan led the warriors out for reconnaissance.
Urich stared at Samikan's back. To Urich, Samikan was a being that gave him mixed feelings. On one hand, he was someone he wanted to snap the neck of given the chance, but on the other, he was a brother he wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with.
"It would be best to leave from here to avoid being detected by the imperial army after they’ve completed Yailrud."
Samikan and Urich surveyed the ridges far from the gorge. They memorized the relatively gentle slopes, assessing the terrain. Born hunters, the tribal warriors could easily remember a landscape they had seen once, without any physical records.
The barbarians had a higher learning ability and memory than the civilized people. Ironically, as civilization advanced, individual human capabilities declined. Even those who would not survive on their own if they were in the wild continued to live and reproduce in civilization. There was no such allowance in the world of barbarians. Falling below average either in learning ability or physical strength meant falling behind in survival.
Urich was practically a superhuman who was capable of adapting and surviving in any environment or situation. Even among elite barbarians, he was a special being. If other barbarians had crossed into the civilized world as Urich did, they would have at best avoided a life of slavery, and even that would have been a struggle.
Samikan looked back at Urich following him. Their eyes met, and both nodded slightly.
'I don't want to kill you, Urich.'
Samikan didn't want to give up his ambitions and power, but he also didn't want to kill Urich. Not just because of their oath of brotherhood, but because he greatly valued Urich's abilities. Yet, leaving Urich unchecked would soon see him become a legendary figure on his own. He was a man who was brilliant enough to overshadow Samikan in their era. Therefore, he kept Urich in check. The pleasure one gained from a life of brotherhood was short, but the glory after death was eternal.
A month passed, and the completion of the pioneering road Yailrud was imminent. The chaos created from the entanglement of the selfish desires of the two opposite sides and the belief that their plan was just was revealing itself.
The Sky Mountains continued to look down on the humans as they always had. And humans, also like always, continued to fight.
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