Chapter 50
“A sorcerer lives in the northern forest, so you’d better go around it.”
The farmer said, and his words triggered the curious ears of Urich, who was out to the farm village to buy some food supplies.
“A sorcerer?”
Urich tilted his head as he looked around the farm.
“Even the lord’s men who entered the sorcerer’s forest came back after being taught a lesson. They came out of the forest scorched from head to toe.”
“What’s a sorcerer?”
“The ones who have fire coming out of the palms of their hands and call upon the devil every night!”
“Fire from their hands? And what the hell is a devil?”
Urich’s eyes widened as he grabbed onto the farmer and bombarded him with questions. The farmer called the other mercenaries over as if he were annoyed by Urich’s curiosity.
“Someone come and get this guy off me! I’m a busy man with a busy farm, hah.”
Pahell, who was on the back of Kylios, trotted over.
“Leave the poor farmer alone.”
“Pahell, do you know what a sorcerer is?”
“A sorcerer?”
“Apparently, there’s one living in that forest over there. This farmer said that they can make fire come out of their hands and bring out the devil.”
The mercenaries murmured. It seemed like they had all heard a similar story.
After going around the farm village and gathering the much-needed food and other supplies, the mercenaries gathered around in one spot to discuss their next steps.
“It would be much faster for us to go straight across the northern forest.”
“But there’s a sorcerer in that forest. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“They say if you’re unlucky, you come out of the sorcerer forest as a bearded old man.”
“Whatever it is, wouldn’t it be better to just go around? The farmers warned us too. And apparently, there’s even people who’ve seen the sorcerer with their own eyes.”
The mercenaries didn’t seem too keen about going through the forest. Urich glanced at the mercenaries to see how they were reacting and opened his mouth.
“Let’s cut through the forest. We can’t waste any more time and give Harmatti a chance to catch up to us.” Urich said as the corners of his mouth twitched ever so slightly.
“You just want to see the sorcerer, you bastard.”
“Hey now, there’s no guarantee that we’ll get to see the sorcerer if we go through the forest, right? Don’t get me wrong, I just want what’s best for our squad as the leader,” Urich said as he tried to keep his face as nonchalant as possible.
‘He’s dying to go into the forest.’
‘At this rate, he’ll try to go by himself.’
The mercenaries knew Urich very well. He was a man who’d jump into a firepit just because he wanted to know how hot it actually was.
‘He really is a teenager. Look at his curiosity,’ Bachman thought as he kicked his tongue.
“I also think we should cut through the forest,” Phillion supported Urich’s idea. Urich looked at him with glee.
“R-right? Even Sir Phillion agrees with me.”
“You only call me Sir in times like this, mercenary leader Urich. Anyway, the farmers aren’t the brightest people. They call those that live around the forest sorcerers and fear them. Even if there was a sorcerer in that forest, he wouldn’t dare to engage with more than fifty warriors all by himself.”
The mercenaries nodded as if they were relieved.
“He’s right, there’s no such thing as sorcerers. The farmers probably just saw things. There’s no need for us to waste time being scared of a bunch of made-up stories.”
“Alright, let’s go into the northern forest.”
The mercenaries packed their stuff and made their way into the northern forest.
“Tsk, they still decided to go in there despite everything we’ve said.”
The farmer who was on his way to his farm said as he stared at the mercenaries entering the forest.
* * *
The mercenaries walked through the forest on a gravel trail. There were occasional chirps of the birds and the rustling sound made by the small animals roaming in and out of the bushes.
“I heard a story from my grandmother once. Apparently, if you get on a sorcerer’s bad side, he makes the devil suck the life out of you every night until you die. She said that’s how my great grandfather died after he cut down a tree in a sorcerer’s forest.”
“Getting my life sucked out of me every night... I think I’d be okay with dying like that.”
“Dumbass, do you not know that if you die from a curse, your soul remains cursed and wanders around?”
“Hmm, that’s not ideal.”
The mercenaries exchanged lame jokes in their effort to forget the anxiety that was caused by the creepy atmosphere of the forest.
“Some say that the animals of a sorcerer’s forest all used to be people. The sorcerer cursed them into toads and rabbits, apparently.”
“Stop it, why don’t you spend your time praying to Lou instead of saying all that bullshit? Do you know why the sorcerers stay in their forests? It’s because they’re afraid of the sun, so they hide away in the shaded forests. The sun God Lou is always watching.”
The mercenaries rolled their eyes. They were more on edge than usual.
“This is the forest with a sorcerer?” Urich muttered to himself as he led his squad. He breathed a deep sigh. The forest was just an average forest, nothing like what he had hoped for.
“Think about it, Urich. If you were a sorcerer, would you show yourself to a bunch of warriors who are dying to see you?” Pahell scolded Urich.
“Man, I really wanted to see fire coming out of their hands,” Urich said as he held his hand out. There was no fire coming out of his hands, of course.
“Try that a hundred times. You’ll have fire coming out of your hand.” Pahell laughed at Urich’s attempt.
It was going to take the mercenaries three whole days to get through the entire forest. After spending their first night in the forest, the mercenaries were no longer afraid. Nothing even remotely worth worrying about happened during their first night.
“Hah, I knew it. There’s no such thing as sorcerers.”
“Curse me all you want! The Sun God Lou looks over me!”
The mercenaries cackled.
“I guess there really isn’t a sorcerer.”
Urich was the only one who was disappointed. He looked around the forest and noticed a person’s shadow in between the trees.
Schring.
Urich quickly drew his sword and raised his hand to signal the mercenaries behind him. The mercenaries then tapped on each other’s shoulders to pass down the signal.
“Enemy?”
“I-is it the sorcerer?”
“God dammit, we better pray to Lou. Ask him to help us stop the magic against us.”
The mercenaries froze.
“Shit, I should’ve never come to a sorcerer’s forest. I’m gonna get my life sucked out of me just like my great grandpa.”
“Shut the hell up.”
“Archers in position!”
The mercenaries holding a bow and arrow pulled the bowstring. They locked their aim on the shadows that were emerging from between the trees.
“We do not intend to attack; it looks like we coincidentally are going the same way.”
There was a man’s voice behind the treeline. The mercenaries were even more alarmed and started to shout.
“It’s the sorcerer! The sorcerer is trying to trick us!”
“Urich, don’t go any closer, it’s dangerous.”
The mercenaries hesitated, but Urich shrugged them off and walked forward.
“Don’t shoot; it’s just a person. Hey, if you don’t want us to attack you, then identify yourself.”
Urich was the one who was the most eager to see the sorcerer, but he was also the most level-headed person in the squad. He was not afraid of the sorcerer even when faced with a stranger in the sorcerer’s forest. He saw him like every other person he had seen in his life.
“You must be the leader. We’re just warriors who are passing by. It would be nice if you could put your weapons down.”
“Warriors? That’s not good enough. I’m pretty on edge. Identify yourself before I crack your skulls. I count five of you including the ones hiding behind the trees back there,” Urich said with a murderous intent as he plunged his sword into the ground and drew his axe.
He was not joking. The mercenary squad was being hunted, and no one knew what kind of trickery Duke Harmatti was pulling to slow them down even just a little bit. He was fully intending to kill anyone who was making him even a little suspicious.
“Stop! We are the Sun Warriors!”
Armored men emerged from the trees. There was the symbol of the sun on the cloth draped over their chainmail.
“The Sun Warriors?”
Urich retorted and glared at the armored men.
“We told you who we are, so put your threat away.”
The man whom Urich had been talking to stepped closer. He was a man of a similar stature as Urich.
“We are the mercenary squad Urich’s Brotherhood. I’m the leader, Urich.”
“I am Harvald of the Sun Warriors.”
“Harvald? That sounds like a northern name.”
“My mother is a northerner, so I took her name. But I was born and raised in the Empire.”
Urich studied Harvald. Unlike his northern name, his mannerisms and the general impression were that of a noble. His northerner size felt wrong.
“Lower your weapons! They’re just passing by,” Urich shouted to the mercenaries.
“Thank you. It looks like we’re going to keep each other company. We’re going the same way.”
Harvald waved the rest of the warriors over. Including him, there were five of them in total.
‘They all have the cloth with the sun symbol on them. The symbol is even on their shields. They’re armory is quite nice, as well.’
Urich carefully looked at their attire and armory. They were quite heavily armed.
“It’s the Sun Warriors. I never thought I’d see them in a place like this.”
The mercenaries who recognized them said. Phillion and Pahell also recognized them.
“Please forgive the insolence of the mercenaries, Sun Warriors,” Phillion apologized as he slightly lowered his head to show the knight’s respect. The Sun Warrior Harvald returned the gesture.
“You can call me Harvald,” Harvald said politely to Phillion who was older than him as well as a warrior. It was the behavior of a civilized man who had learned his manners.
Phillion and Harvald chattered away. It seemed like they were getting along quite well right away.
“Pahell, what’s this thing called the Sun Warriors?”
Urich asked with his arms crossed. The mercenaries also quickly warmed up to the Sun Warriors. They seemed to be trustworthy people.
“They started off as an army of barbarians who converted to Solarism. Then, the first emperor recognized the physical and battle prowess of the barbarian warriors and issued an edict that made them his own army. Even now, they’re solely made up of barbarians or those who have the barbarian blood mixed in them. Also, it’s not just a matter of religious conversion; the requirement for enlisting is quite strict. They have to be outstanding in both faith and skills to get in. For meeting that standard, they get the same treatment as the imperial knights.”
The Sun Warriors accompanied the mercenaries. Though they were of barbarian origin, they were renowned as the defenders of faith. Their faith was stronger than the average civilized people’s, and their existence alone was a symbol of trust.
“Urich, we’ll walk behind the group. Walking alongside is making me sick,” Sven said in a disgusted tone. He and the other northerners walked at the very end of the group.
‘I’ve never seen Sven despise someone like this.’
Urich was puzzled, and Bachman explained the reason as he shrugged.
“It’s best if we leave Sven alone for a while. To the northerners, the Sun Warriors are nothing but traitors whom they would love to shred into pieces. They converted to Solarism and pointed their swords at their fellow barbarians. The conversion wasn’t the problem, it was the betraying that got them so much hate.”
The mercenary squad also shared their camp with the Sun Warriors. As both groups were traveling through the forest toward the exit, it would have been stranger for them to go different ways.
“What brings the Sun Warriors to a place like this, Harvald?” Phillion asked the warrior.
Harvald smiled brightly and pulled out the sack that he had been carrying with him.
“This is the head of a sorcerer.”
His words made Urich’s eyes flip.
“Sorcerer!”
“There really was a sorcerer in this forest?”
The mercenaries gathered around one by one as Harvald unwrapped the sack. Out of the sack came the head of an old man, dead with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. His skin was covered in age spots, and the cross-section of his neck that was cut off was thick with blood that hadn’t yet congealed.
“It is also the duty of the Sun Warriors to hunt down those who deceive the sun and claim to be sorcerers with their measly shallow knowledge. Here, look.”
Harvald took out a handful of black powder from his pocket and threw it at the campfire.
Woosh!
The fire glowed blue and flared up before returning to its original color. The mercenaries stumbled back.
“H-he’s the sorcerer!”
“The Sun Warrior used magic! He’s a sorcerer! A sorcerer disguised as a Sun Warrior!”
“Oh, Lou.”
There was an uproar, and some mercenaries even drew their weapons.
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