Chapter 226: Northern Walls (2)
→ Northern Walls (2) ←
Beyon Solberg the Avenger.
He was a named character who appeared in the latter portions of the game, <Heroic Legends of Arhan> — a bloodthirsty avenger massacring the named characters from the Northern Kingdom that were crossing the breached walls of the north after the war against the Frost Giant.
Devouring every elixir he could, including the luminescent herbs unique to the Northern Kingdom, he was a semi-Unique Grade knight who endlessly pursued his purpose of revenge.
There was a time when I had to confront him regarding the execution of a captive.
[We must kill all of them! We can’t leave any of these wicked barbarians alive! Korin Lork! How can you stand on the side of these barbaric creatures as the hero of the kingdom!]
Both in the game and the last iteration, the only impression I had of him was that he was a berserker whose sole purpose in life was revenge.
Never had I imagined that he would be the chief guard of this city.
‘So that was the reason he hated the Valkyries so much, huh…’
Considering how the Valkyries were one of the main causes behind the instantaneous fall of the northern walls, I could somewhat understand his position but…
‘But it’s not just their fault.’
I only knew bits and pieces about what happened in the past to cause the walls to fall in an instant, but from what I could see, this man wasn’t without fault either. Another reason behind his constant rampage might have also been because he couldn’t forgive himself.
Regardless,
“I hereby start a trial against the Chief Guard of Bifrost, Beyon Solberg.”
This level of negligence was not something that could be ignored.
…..
…
The low-profile trial was held inside a small building.
It was purely out of consideration that we weren’t carrying out a public trial before the people.
“Ugh…”
After sobering up a fair amount, Chief Guard Beyon was evidently nervous as he kept glancing at me.
“Chief Guard Beyon. Do you admit your act of negligence?”
“S, so…”
“I will sentence the punishment of your act of negligence. Until further decisions are made by the command center at the capital, Chief Guard Beyon will step down from his position and serve the military as a normal soldier—”
“That is nonsense!”
“Nonsense?”
Was this old man still drunk?
“W, who even are you? If you’re here to investigate the climate, just do your job and go back! You are clearly overstepping the boundaries of your work!”
“A Grade 1 Justice of the Peace has the right to be involved in military matters in rural areas as a judge.”
“H, how can someone your age be a Grade 1…”
Without wasting more time, I showed him the golden badge of a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace.
“I hope you understand the severity of this incident, Chief Guard Beyon. The ‘young brat’ in front of you is a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace, a baron with territory, a Unique Grade knight acknowledged by the Guardian Association, and the president of the Central Guardian Association branch.”
“T, that’s impossible…”
It seemed that he was spending so much time drinking in the countryside that he didn’t know anything about what was happening in the capital.
“On the records, it says there are supposed to be 3,000 troops stationed here, but when I looked around there was only a little more than 500. The weaponries are also receiving the bare minimum maintenance, with the walls close to falling apart.”
At this point, it was surprising how the walls hadn’t been breached yet.
“Chief Guard Beyon. In this city alone are 10,000 citizens of the kingdom and further beyond are hundreds of thousands of our citizens. I hope you understand how severe and detrimental your act of negligence could have been.”
It was pretty much a determined fact that he would be fired from his post. Plus, it was highly likely that the command center would send him to the prison according to the military regulations.
However, I wanted to give this man a chance.
“Chief Guard Beyon. Now is your only chance to defend yourself.”
“…There was nothing.”
With his trembling fists curled up, he refuted.
“We had no budget! Repairing the walls is not something we can do for free! It’s hard to even find a carpenter in this city; how were we supposed to repair the walls, find weaponry and troops!?”
“…”
This part, I agreed with. As a small city attached right on the walls bordering an enemy country, it was incapable of economical self-sustainment, and most of its budget came from the capital.
The issue was that most of that budget was spent on purchasing food, with only a miniscule amount of money being allocated for the guards.
“I can see there were extenuating circumstances as claimed by Chief Guard Beyon, but the act of negligence committed is nonetheless drastically apparent and unignorable.”
“Kuuhk…”
Even then! You can’t drink in the middle of a workday, can you!?
“The same sentence will be given to Chief Guard Beyon. Until further decisions are made by the central command center, Chief Guard Beyon will be deprived of all privileges, be demoted to a normal soldier and carry out the same duties as them until commanded otherwise.”
“Kuuk…”
He dropped his head in embarrassment, but I was being very lenient here.
I came down after the final sentence and was met by Master’s smile.
“That was surprisingly a magnanimous punishment.”
“He is a capable person. I just thought it would be okay to give him another chance.”
“The order of command is also clearly set thanks to that. It’s like you caught two birds with one stone.”
“It is important wherever you go, after all.”
It was crazy how much we had to suffer in the last iteration because of that. Going around everywhere as the ones who knew the future, we knew we had to prepare for the inevitable, but the people there always hated us for being ‘outsiders that tried to intervene in everything possible’.
“Sir Beyon.”
I walked up to Chief Guard Beyon, who appeared greatly dejected and called his name with the title of ‘sir’. Normally, according to the result of the trial, he was just a normal soldier and it was fine to call him by his name, but I was saving his face by still referring to him as a knight.
“…Your will, Sir Korin.”
He seemed a bit surprised, but soon lowered his head.
“We intend to set this as our base camp before investigating what is beyond. However, we must first carry out a complete repair and renewed maintenance of this city, and we need the people of the city to provide assistance.”
“…”
Beyon had a distressed look on his face, knowing that my proposal was realistically impossible to achieve.
“We have barely any budget left from last year. The unending winter meant a stop in our economy and… unless we send the citizens to chop down the nearby forest, we won’t even have enough money for food…”
“There is no need to worry about that. Marie-sunbae?”
“Un.”
Marie, who had been watching from the side the whole time walked closer. We had already discussed this beforehand, before we even set off.
“We will have the Hresvelgrs and the wyverns carry food. Please tell me if there are any other materials you need.”
“Sorry?”
“Ah! It’s free so don’t worry. But we would need to borrow some temporary warehouses to store the potatoes.”
“Does that sound good?” I asked.
“Uhh…” Beyon murmured, not knowing what to say.
“That solves the problem for food. Next up on priority would be repairing the walls. Summon all the able men of the city, and tell them they’ll be paid with food and gold coins.”
“A, alright…!”
This was a method that was proven to work in the last iteration. Operation name: Throw away money until everyone else starts to work.
It was easier with Marie-sunbae around.
****
The northern border city of Bifrost was not in an ideal state. Many facilities were close to crumbling down, and the last time the northern walls were repaired was 14 years ago.
Some of the bricks were crushed and there were so many holes on the wall that they didn’t even know where to begin.
“Thanks for the help, Marie-sunbae.”
“It won’t take long, don’t worry~.”
Marie used her amplified mana to shoot water bombs at the wall. It wasn’t to destroy it; it was to drench them with water.
The water bombs exploded before contact and drenched the walls with water, which all quickly froze into ice.
“Since it’s so cold, it should stay like this until the winter ends.”
“This should be fine for the time being.”
Solid ice was tougher than some bricks. Our plan was to repeat this process several times as layers, as widely as possible, so that the walls would last through the winter.
“Apparently the heating is not working properly in the city. Can you take some of the Red Cult mages to have a look?”
“Sure! Chunsik!”
“Yes, yes! Master! Please let this humble servant take care of it, Master!”
Fortunately, we had hundreds of mages in our hands. There was, however, a problem with manual labor.
“Korin. We can use the citizens of city, but it’s too cold for them to move properly. They don’t have firewood either because of the longer winter.”
We were able to fortify the walls again and arrange for food and materials. The next problem we had to tackle was the cold.
“How long would it take if we bring thick coats from the capital?”
“Even on Hresvelgrs, it would take a week at the very least.”
“That’s too long. We would need some temporary measures to be in place then.”
“Yeah.”
There was still some time until the ‘valkyries’ and the barbarians would come attacking the northern walls, followed by the horde of monsters.
“Let me take care of that.”
I headed to the highest place within the city. There, I could see the citizens of the city cutting down nearby trees and transporting them to repair the walls.
They were motivated by the food and the gold coins but there were still limits to what a human could do. The winter was getting even colder over time, and they were shivering like crazy, to the point that I was concerned they might die from frostbites.
Only when backed by luxury and abundance was snow a sight to enjoy. In a land as poor as this, the cold and the snow were like a horrible curse.
“I will lend a hand.”
I gathered the divine energy of Claiomh Solais in the air above the city.
– Huh? What is this?
– Rain?
The aura of the Sun immediately melted the snow and turned it into rain. The rain fell down, wetted the ground… before freezing back into ice. Although there was less snow, this was bound to create a road of ice as soon as I retrieved the aura of the Sun.
“It’s not bad but…”
I focused more mana to float it in the sky. Before long, Claiomh Solais revealed its red ambience and manifested itself as a small sun.
– I, is that the Sun…?
– My word…
The citizens were baffled by the sheer sight of it. The manifested ball of fire was giving off such an intense heat that they could feel it with their skin… and the raindrops evaporated before hitting the ground.
“S, Sir Korin…! What is going on!?”
Sir Beyon, who looked for me to ask a question, was so shocked that his eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets.
“I will keep it up there for the time being. In the meantime, find ways to keep everyone warm.”
“H, haah…”
He continued looking at the Sun with a blank gaze and gulped without even replying to what I said. The same appeared to be the case even for the citizens of the city.
****
The research group that Korin brought was busy helping out with repairing the city ever since their arrival. They thought they would be going past the gates straight away and were therefore puzzled by the sudden command to repair the walls, but were nonetheless obedient.
It was natural though.
It had already been 3 days since they came here, and seeing the Sun in the sky that was floating there ever since made them awe the one behind that heaven-defying phenomenon.
“Quick! Hurry up! We will quickly process the trees we cut up to repair the walls!”
The guards and the soldiers stationed in the city, who had been constantly suffering from the insufficient budget, were thriving now that they had both manpower and food.
This was the first repair in over a decade, and they were fully aware how this could be their only chance.
– Kung!
That was when a human dropped from the sky with a gigantic tree on their shoulder.
“Huahk…!”
Everyone turned around at the same time, but soon focused back on what they were doing, as if they were used to it.
“S, Sister Hua Ran! P, please. I beg you please don’t jump down like that!”
“…This is faster.”
To be fair, she wasn’t wrong.
The trees in the nearby forest were of high quality and were a perfect fit for repairing traps and walls, but the biggest issue was in their weight.
Transporting it from the forest to the city was not an easy feat, and yet this tiny sister was able to hand-chop enormous trees, carry it on her shoulder and jump dozens of meters at once.
She was much more efficient than hundreds of men working on it, but the guards couldn’t help but feel startled whenever she was landing near them with an enormous log on her shoulder.
“By the way, Sister Hua Ran, there has been a request for assistance from the trap install group. Apparently the ground is frozen so hard that they cannot dig deep. Would it be possible for you to lend them a hand?”
Normally, it would be unthinkable to ask a Unique Grade knight to do something so trivial, but Hua Ran wasn’t the authoritative type to worry about that, so she returned a nod.
[They’re all working so hard. Should we swap?]
“…It’s okay.”
Hua turned down Ran’s offer, because this much of manual labor was nothing more than going on a walk for someone like her, who had the Unbreakable Vajra Body.
[Let’s make a lunch box in a bit and go over to where oppa is. He’s working the hardest, after all.]
“…Will he, like malatang?”
[He’ll like anything you make, Hua.]
Hua couldn’t conceal the blush on her cheeks.
[Let’s add some bird meat inside.]
“There are… only rabbits here.”
[No. Look at the sky. There’s a bird flying over there.]
Hua turned towards the sky as suggested by her sister. Thanks to the sudden increase in temperature due to the Sun, it seemed that the nearby birds were also gathering nearby for refuge.
“I’ll grab one of them.”
Just like what she did when carrying the log around, Hua kicked off the ground. Crushing the ground beneath, Hua jumped straight into the sky. The ground beneath her zoomed out until it appeared like a white canvas but her eyes were stuck on that one big bird.
– Quack!?
Before it could even react, the bird was grabbed on the neck by the girl wearing nun clothes, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It flapped its wings but couldn’t avoid the fate of falling towards the ground with Hua.
“Got it.”
Right as she was about to snap the neck of the resisting bird, both Hua and Ran widened their eyes in shock.
Two legs as thin as chopsticks; a long beak; wings were covered in white feathers except for the ends that were in black.
It was the only type of bird that Hua and Ran knew of, apart from chickens and eagles.
“…A stork?”
[…A stork?]
It was their long-awaited baby carrier.
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