Encounter

The place where we had discovered the Petrifying Serpents was at the edge of a gorge some distance from the wall.

Normally, I wouldn't remember exactly where I had encountered a magical beast, but these snakes looked exactly like the one that had once entered the fort. They looked like its offspring, so they had stayed in my mind.

The slope was gentle and the forest still dense, making it ideal terrain for nomads to leave their horses behind, sneak in, and hide. I had walked for barely an hour before I found signs of human activity.

"Come out and identify yourselves."

"Ah, please don't shoot! We're traveling merchants who just returned from the Western Regions."

I aimed the short bow I carried as a secondary weapon, and two people sprang out of the bushes. They had packs strapped to their backs.

The frontier was dangerous, but it was also a crucial trade route, so merchants came and went frequently. Inspecting them was part of the authorities' duties as well.

"Show me your travel pass."

"Here it is."

"What's inside?"

"Frankincense and prickly ash."

"We have sable fur as well."

Perfumes and spices. Nothing unusual.

The travel passes were in order, and when they opened their packs, they really did contain trade goods wrapped in sable fur.

Normally, I would have simply let them go. But something felt off.

It felt as though a sharp energy were prodding the back of my head. It wasn't enough to make my battle aura react, but it was more than suspicious enough.

"Hmm?"

"Everything's all right, isn't it? Is there some problem...?"

Just then, a smell different from the spices wafted from the powder clinging to the sable fur. It was something shamans who wandered the grasslands with the nomads used in their sorcery.

Slash! I immediately drew my sword and stabbed him in the side. The one whose identity had been exposed instantly swung a sharp awl, honed from a magical beast's tooth, with the hand opposite the one holding his pack.

We both staggered at the same time, spurting blood, but I did not fall. I merely looked at my punctured shirt and thought that Yeonri would scold me for ruining yet another one.

"Bunhui, the guy next to you looks like a disguised barbarian too, so deal with—"

"Yes?"

When I turned my head, one corpse was already burning. Judging by the timing, it had happened almost simultaneously with my realizing their identities.

For all her eccentricity, she apparently possessed enough knowledge to identify barbarians, as befitted the captain of a fort. Had she somehow caught the smell of something burning? Judging by her usual behavior, that was the only explanation.

"How did you know?"

"Frankincense and spices are one thing, but prickly ash comes from Makbuk."

"What?"

"The two trade routes almost never overlap unless the Donggang River in the north freezes, and the routes are far apart besides. I thought they had attacked two groups and stolen their goods separately."

What was she talking about? For a moment, it felt as though I had been struck in the head with a hammer.

"...Did one of your subordinates teach you that?"

"No, I learned it at the academy."

"The academy? Where?"

"The Cheonyu National Academy."

The Empire had educational institutions as well, ranging from seodangs where young children learned their letters to the Muwon Academy and Taehak Academy, which were similar to universities.

And the Cheonyu National Academy Bunhui had mentioned was the highest institution of them all, one that only the finest minds could enter.

"Heehee, it burns nicely. Great General, can I burn that prickly ash too? If I carry all of it, it'll be hard on me on the way back."

"..."

Come to think of it, she wasn't even from a convict-soldier background. The fact that a criminal had become a Border Guard commander was unprecedented—and generally impossible—wasn't it?

I had been getting along so well with the soldiers of Pamagok, most of whom were convicts, that I had never even suspected her. In conclusion, Bunhui was neither a prisoner nor an arsonist. She was a genuine lunatic who went around setting fires.

Until the registration listing her as Jang Mu's younger sister was approved, I had thought the military administration was utterly incompetent. But I couldn't help praising the official who had recognized her dangerous nature during the aptitude assessment and assigned her to the Eleventh Fort.

"Just one piece, pleeease... I'll work hard to identify the barbarians! I'll deal with every last one I meet!"

"Fine. Just do this."

"Eek! Thank you! I really like you, Great General!"

When I handed her a sable pelt splattered with barbarian blood, she was so delighted that she looked ready to leap into the air. It was like a retriever being given a chew toy.

Pressing her fingers methodically from one corner of the sable fur to the next as if popping bubble wrap, Bunhui burned it and led the way in identifying barbarians, just as she had promised.

"I tripped while coming down the mountain."

"Barbarian."

"I fell behind during the march."

"This one too. Barbarian."

"A woman! It's female!!"

"A barbarian less than a beast."

Because we could not mistake innocent civilians for barbarians and attack them, it was a task that required extreme caution. As expected, however, she did not make a single mistake.

Still, there certainly were a lot of them. The Siseum had probably been annihilated, allowing several factions to move into their territory.

As I considered increasing the frequency of patrols in the area for the time being, we finally reached our destination. It was the place where the Petrifying Serpents had been summoned.

A huge tree stump had turned to stone, and even the leaves beneath my feet were sharp enough to stab through my shoes. As I looked around, I found several small pieces of iron.

They appeared to be parts used to fasten a traffic sign in place. However, I could not find any other traces of people or objects that appeared to be from Earth.

"So that really was the last one."

"..."

It was a bitter feeling, as though the last of my hope had gone out. My thoughts began to wander again, but I could not lower my guard here. I drew up a moderate amount of qi and steadied my breathing.

"Don't secretly take out the sable fur."

"Aww."

"Let's head back before sunset."

"Okaaay."

We needed to return before it got too late. I was stopping Bunhui from taking another sable pelt out of the pack to use as bubble wrap when—

—Fuck, did we really cross over?

An unfamiliar voice came from somewhere not far away.

*

"I told you! Using the magic core's disappearance reaction was the right answer!"

"Even so, who would think to go inside a monster's stomach?"

"It's true. It says we're inside a tower, but it doesn't say which floor. Then this really is..."

"A hidden stage. I think so."

Two women and three men. All of them were Korean, dressed in practical outfits that looked like modern clothes from Earth with a fantastical makeover.

They had not noticed us yet. Keeping a hand over Bunhui's mouth, I listened to a little more of their conversation.

"What should we do?"

"The rift we came through is still open. Should we go back right away? We need to report this to the Association."

"Are you crazy!? The Hunter Association will just give us a paltry reward and call it a day. If we sell it to a guild, they'll pay us according to how much of a first claim we have on this place. We could make ten million won a day."

"To do that, we need to gather more information. We don't even know what kind of civilization this is yet."

"One thing's certain: the concentration of something in the air—mana or whatever it is—is so high that it's hard to breathe. What kind of place is this?"

Association, guild, tower, hunters... A stream of unfamiliar yet somehow familiar words poured forth. Despite having fallen into a strange place, they did not seem particularly flustered, so they were probably a group with combat abilities.

"Mmph. Mm?"

Just then, Bunhui said something and tilted her head. Despite her appearance, even the well-educated girl seemed unable to determine at a glance whether they were barbarians from beyond the borders.

"Hmm?"

"Who's there!?"

At her single utterance, the hunters, who had been chattering excitedly, noticed us.

There was no helping it. I decided to get more detailed information directly from their mouths and stepped out into the open.

As a tall man with his arm around a woman's waist emerged from the bushes, the people on the other side hesitated before someone who appeared to be their leader slowly approached. With a smile that held a clumsy confidence, he asked me,

"Do you perhaps live here?"

"I do. I am Yoo Hyun, Grand Marshal of Military Forces of the Cheonyu Empire."

"The Empire? Grand Marshal...?"

"Whose people are you?"

"Uh, I'm An Junhyeon, the leader of the Biran Party. These are people who work with me in the tower..."

"Is this Biran person your master?"

"Huh?"

My usual habit had slipped out without my realizing it. Asking the name of a leader when meeting barbarians for the first time was practically standard procedure.

The Empire did not treat every barbarian as an enemy. We had to determine who they were, whether they had entered our territory by mistake, and whether they were a hostile tribe.

Of course, every member of the Biran Party was a Korean from the modern era. I knew better than anyone that they were different from savage tribes like the Yashin and Siseum.

But every time An Junhyeon opened his mouth, there were more things about him that grated on me.

"What should I say? Do I tell him the president's name?"

"Hey! Just don't use difficult words!"

"Ah, got it. Ahem, we don't have anyone like that."

For fifteen whole years, I had guarded the Empire's borders against magical beasts and barbarians.

During that time, I had nearly been killed by magical beasts, slandered by other commanders, and attacked by nomads.

But for the safety of my subordinates and the people under my protection, I had risen again and made it all the way here.

The longer the conversation continued, the other identity I had forged—from a frontier convict soldier to a Great General—began shouting a single conclusion about them.

"You have no master? Then where did you come from?"

"Well... It's a very distant place."

These men were barbarians.

"Far from Cheondo, where the Celestial Emperor resides? How far away is it? Is it farther than Makbuk?"

"I don't really know where that is, but it would be an incomparable distance. It would be nearly as far away as the end of the world."

The remotest of frontiers. Barbarians among barbarians.

"Did you come to fight, or to make a request? What do you want?"

"Ah! Let me explain why we came. There are several purposes, but as far as I know, the important ones are trade and a military alliance."

Trade with the Outer Regions was only grudgingly permitted when presenting tribute to the Emperor. It was not something they could open and close whenever they pleased, like the door to a privy.

They were even asking for friendship as equals? Barbarians? From us?

"Of course, the specifics of what I mentioned are for the Association or the guild to handle, so let's discuss them slowly later."

"Then are you saying that everything you've rattled off until now wasn't your business?"

"I'm only the leader of a party, so I suppose that's right."

That was enough.

But just as I was barely holding on to the last thread of my reason, An Junhyeon delivered the decisive blow.

"Our purpose is exploration, so we only need you to cooperate a little."

"Do you mean to enter the Empire? The land where His Majesty the Celestial Emperor resides?"

"That's right. There should be a city nearby, right? We'll just look around and go back."

"..."

"General Yoo Hyun?"

"You set your filthy feet on imperial soil, and now you presume to threaten me into opening a path for you. The insolence of these barbarians has gone too far."

"Yes...?"