Chapter 6. Wolf Crossing the Northern Mountains

[ Are you implying that we should wait? ]

At my words, Skram let out a puzzled voice. 

Looking at him, who acted as if I hadn’t thought at all, I calmly responded.

"If the leader of the immigrants is who I think she is, Darius won't be able to hold out for long. She will descend from the ridge and initiate another siege in downtown North Whedon"

[But if that happens, the safety of the citizens-]

“They cannot afford to be concerned about that.”

If we failed to keep the immigrants out, our entire family would be destabilized.

Although it was a family that had survived through the use of force, this was a precarious situation, and we would need to resort to sucking the blood of the citizens to survive.

"He will return soon. The animal that he thought was a weakling would turn out to be a wolf, and he will have no choice but to fight it."

I only saw him for a short period of three months, but the Darius I saw was not a very great general.

He might be a skilled warrior, but he lacked the qualities of a great commander.

And this shortcoming would prevent him from defeating anyone more powerful than himself.

‘I’m sure, he will return after defeat.’

Until then, I just had to wait quietly and prepare negotiation cards.

***

"Raise your shields! If you give up now, the next attack will be in North Whedon's city! Are the warriors of the North so foolish that they cannot even protect their own families?"

Darius’ angry cry burst out. 

If it had been normal times, the soldiers would have been terrified and followed his orders quickly.

But now, they didn’t even have the strength to do it.

They made full use of the geographical advantage of the mountain ridge.

Even if there was a slight difference in weapon level due to technical skill differences, the magic on their side was unaffected.

The road from the village to the ridge was well constructed on their side, so supplies were easy to come by.

There was no shortage of personnel, and the soldiers had not neglected training.

The northern giants who live on the outskirts have always trained their soldiers.

The enemy couldn’t even be compared in terms of morale. Because for the soldiers, if they were pierced here, the hometown where their family lived was right behind.

So they were doing their best to hold them back with their lives.

“Kuh!”

Suddenly, a thick, pungent smell of smoke filled the air.

It was not the smell of gunpowder used by the immigrants, but the strong smell of tobacco.

A woman who looked like a wolf was blowing cigarette smoke as if it were as easy as breathing. Her eyes were stained with bright red light from the number of deaths she had witnessed.

Thud!

As if chopping wood, the raised axe precisely split North Whedon’s soldier in half. He slid down the mountainside, completely unaware that he was dead.

“Again, again, she is coming!”

“The white wolf is running!”

- Kuduk.

“I'll take care of it!!”

Darius slammed forward, biting his teeth so hard that his veins popped out. He couldn't bear being humiliated by that woman any longer.

Wherever she passed by, fluttering the hems of her coat, only the strong scent of tobacco would linger.

As she climbed the mountain, she extinguished all the fires of life.

As Darius ran downhill, mana flowed through his toes.

Every time he took a heavy step forward, the surrounding trees shook as if screaming, shaking off the accumulated snow.

“Huh?”

Finden Ai, an immigrant woman called the 'White Wolf', found a man charging at her like a chariot and pulled back her hand holding the axe.

“You’ve finally arrived! Count Darius!”

“Don’t you dare say my name so casually, you vulgar human!”

Darius’ sword and Finden Ai’s ax clashed.

In terms of strength, Darius had the upper hand, so he thought he could kill Finden Ai with a single strike, and continued to push.

“Kungkung, just relying on strength, aren't you?”

“I have been fighting for years!”

“It wasn’t long before you became the head of household, right? I’m disappointed. You’re reckless and lacking in experience.”

Finden Ai, who raised her axe to the side, veering away from the sword, deflected Darius’ sword while her body glided through the snow.

“Look at how much blood is rushing to your head. You’ll be left behind in the Clark Republic if you fight like that.”

“Don’t talk about age and blood recklessly. Just look at it, you look like twenty yourselves.”

“Hmm, to be exact, I’m twenty-seven and a half, for a little while.”

Finden Ai, tapping on the shoulder with the back of her axe, sneered while spitting out her tobacco smoke.

“So I’m sure I’m much more experienced than you, right?”

“Nonsense! I’ve been following my father and protecting this mountain range since I was ten years old and could hold a sword. I dare not compare myself to immigrants like you!”

Darius was bristling, ready to split Finden Ai in two for disrespecting him.

The snow piled up on his feet and began to fly away violently.

“Yes, that’s right. Since you were only 10 years old, you must have been hiding in a safe post on the mountain ridge and killing my compatriots who came in over to live.”

“…………”

“You are just a Young mater acting tough. That’s not battle. That’s called hunting. How’s that different from catching rabbits or foxes? You’re a hunter, not a warrior.”

“I can’t stand any more insults.”

“Insult? The insult is what you’re doing. You lukewarm bastard who mistakes a massacre for a battle.”

- Ach-tooey!

Finden Ai spat the tobacco out of her mouth onto the floor. Her crimson eyes were filled with intense anger.

“I’ve been desperately running around since I was born, and I’ve been killing people to survive since I was 3 years old.”

- CRACK!

“Keuk!”

Darius’ eyes failed to follow the flying axe. The axe slashed into Darius’ right shoulder, shattering his shoulder pad.

“Ugh!”

In an instant, the menacingly rising mana was disrupted and vanished into the cold. Meanwhile, Finden Ai’s feet had already reached in front of Darius’ suffering eyes.

- Bam!

Following the initial attack, a kick flew right in and hit Darius' face accurately.

Darius’ body began to sway and fall backward. Finden Ai, on the other hand, did not stop there.

She turned around in the air after the first hit and landed a back kick into his chest.

- Thud!

With the sound of his ribs breaking through his armor, Darius collapsed onto the cold snow.

“Ughh, damn it!”

He couldn’t even scream properly due to the pain that wasn’t allowing him to breathe properly.

“It fits you perfectly.”

Finden Ai looked down at Darius and drew her axe from his shoulder.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

He screamed as if begging, but Finden Ai shook her head and wiped the blood from the axe.

The other immigrant who followed her held a hunting rifle and aimed it at Darius.

“It’s okay, let him go.”

“What? Leader, what’s this?”

'Mercy?'

'This kind of immigrant shows mercy to me?'

'Those who lived like slaves in the Republic of Clark were showing mercy to me, the Count of Griffin?'

Darius felt as if his intestines were twisting, but Finden Ai had no intention of showing mercy.

“I have to keep him alive so that another competent guy won’t take the Count position.”

“Ah.”

“…………”

Darius’ eyes were swollen with blood. The blood seemed to rush to his head, but instead, the bleeding from his shoulder worsened.

“Can you actually report a breach, Count? If you do so, at the very moment, won’t your family lose all the privileges it has enjoyed so far?”

“Kreurreuk!”

“I’ll spare you. Consider your options carefully. Whether you ask for support for the kingdom or acquiesce for the sake of the family.”

Darius could only tremble in shame as he watched Finden Ai’s laughing back, who marched towards the guard post.

The sky was still bright white, even without a single cloud.

Only the thick tobacco scent remained on Darius’ side.

****

Two days later:

Lord Darius returned to the mansion while lying on a sick bed.

His soldiers trudged with heavy steps, bowed their heads, and covered their faces with their helmets, just like the losers.

[You indeed have great insight. ]

“……”

Skram exclaimed in awe that my judgment was correct, but it came so naturally to me that I was unimpressed.

It was chaos inside the mansion, and the citizens of North Whedon, seeing the return of the defeated soldiers, trembled in fear that the immigrants were coming to plunder, and demanded answers from our family.

They paid taxes for times like this, so it was only a natural reaction.

When I looked out the window, I saw the city of North Whedon. There was a lot of commotion inside, but I didn’t see a single carriage leave the city.

“No one is leaving.”

[ Because  the northerners have had a strong attachment to their homeland since ancient times.]

Like icicles frozen on the ground, they did not think of leaving even in the face of an immigrant invasion, preferring to stay here.

As I was thinking about it, urgent footsteps could be heard outside. 

I looked out the window and put on my coat.

“It’s time to go.”

Skram bowed his head deeply to see me off.

The door, which had remained shut except for meal times in the last few days, stood wide open. 

As if it urging me to come forward.

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