Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 127

127

Sisters, You’re Not Ordinary

“I’m giving you one last warning.

Take your people and fall back.”

“….”

“If you block me and my siblings any further, I will eliminate you before the kingdom, and then head south.”

Thwack!

Crack!―

My sister before me accomplished something no woman should be able to do.

The sturdy log table made of northern wood was shattered into two pieces with a single punch.

“H-How rude!

Even so, this is Aighior’s ger….”

“Shut your mouth.

I might chop you into pieces and feed you to the hyenas.”

It was no joke; the woman before me had a history of personally chopping up those who had fallen for her and feeding them to the hyenas as a tasty meal.

The old man bit his lip and tried to retort, but another woman sitting next to him held out her hand to stop him, and he had to swallow his words and step back.

Sighing, Eos looked at her sister sitting across from her.

They looked the same, but their thoughts were completely different. Looking at her twin, who was so different from her, she slowly opened her mouth.

“This way will only lead to destruction for everyone.

You know that, don’t you?”

“Nonsense.

Destruction is only for cowards like you.”

“Not being afraid of destruction doesn’t make you brave.

It just makes you foolish.”

“…What do you want to say, Eos?”

“Fighting the kingdom is impossible.”

At the confident tone, the woman’s eyebrows twitched with anger.

How could she say such a thing so freely, even after witnessing her own power and the power of the tribe with her own eyes?

It was an insult to her and, furthermore, an insult to the entire tribe.

“Are you really going to block my path?

Do you really want to start a civil war?”

“Do as you wish.”

At those words, Jan Temujin, the leader of Kalta, gritted her teeth.

Her sister, Eos Buyler, the leader of this Aighior, was not showing such composure without reason.

‘…Eos already knows that I can’t easily do anything to Aighior.’

Jan’s goal was to overthrow the kingdom.

She wanted to unite her divided tribe, but the logic of this world was that they would not get along well unless they had a common goal.

Therefore, she wanted to gather the scattered public sentiment in one place under the pretext of invading the kingdom, and hoped that a powerful kingdom would be established in this northern land called the land of barbarians.

‘But Eos is against it.

Why on earth!’

As the leader of Kalta, attacking Aighior would mean losing the public sentiment that had gathered around her.

What’s more?

She would lose half of her forces even before starting a full-scale war with the kingdom.

She came to this place assuming that the best-case scenario was to advance to the kingdom without losing any troops by joining forces with Aighior.

When the kingdom’s envoy came, Aighior sent him back to the kingdom just like Kalta, so she thought that they were finally on the same page.

“What’s the reason?

….”

“Didn’t you send back the kingdom’s envoy just before?

You know better than anyone what that means.

It means that we have chosen war instead of dialogue with the kingdom.”

“I sent the envoy back, but not like our ancestors, with his head cut off.”

At Eos’s words, Jan exclaimed in disbelief.

“Do you really not know the kingdom’s intentions?

The envoy is just an excuse.

The moment we rejected him, we chose a war that separates life and death!”

“It may not be so.

I didn’t send the envoy back with that intention either.”

“I don’t care about your thoughts.

What about the rest of the tribesmen!

Are you telling them to just rely on the kingdom to live?

We are the ice, snowstorm, and storm forged in this winter land.

The kingdom will be surprised and run away if we strike once.

There’s no need to let them come all the way here!”

With that shout, Jan stood up from her seat.

As if a winter snowstorm had struck, her body was filled with a chilling mana that swirled around and then subsided.

“Don’t forget, Eos.

We are the cold wind, snowstorm, and winter itself of this vast northern land.

There’s no use bringing a spring breeze to this land.

The moment the savagery disappears from this land, the kingdom will reveal its hidden teeth and try to sweep us all away.”

Jan left the ger [a traditional Mongolian round tent] after saying those words.

She gave up hope that she might be able to see the end of the story with her sister today.

“….”

Watching Jan’s disappearing figure, Eos sighed deeply while sitting in her seat.

She only felt heartache at the sight of her stubborn sister and the way they hurt each other every time.

“How is Kalta’s movement?”

At Eos’s question, the old man standing next to her quickly bowed his head and opened his mouth.

“Scouts have reported that they are still waiting near the northern snowy plains.”

“….”

“But if Temujin returns, they may head south immediately, and if that happens….”

“It’ll be one of two things.

They’ll clash with Aighior, or they’ll ignore us and head south to the kingdom.”

“What are you thinking of doing if they head south to the kingdom as is?”

“Well….”

Eos stared blankly at the empty seat in front of her and said without realizing it.

Eerily, she spoke words that froze the atmosphere.

“Should I stab them in the back?”

“B-Buyler?”

Stabbing them in the back was no ordinary matter.

It was no different from saying that she would unite with the kingdom and massacre those who were once from the same tribe and had been doing relatively well.

“Buyler.

Are you serious?”

“If the kingdom is really going to wage war, I want to at least get my people out of the pit where everyone will die.”

“Aighior….”

Even now, Aighior and Kalta are not names that represent a tribe.

They are forms in which various northern barbarians are combined, and what divides them is not the tribe, but which woman they believe in and follow as their leader.

Those who follow Jan Temujin, who claims a decisive battle with the kingdom and wants to occupy their land, build a new world, and live in a new land, are Kalta.

Those who follow Eos Buyler, who speaks of reconciliation with the kingdom and says that they can live in this land as their ancestors did, even if it is insufficient, are Aighior.

‘At first glance, Temujin’s argument seems much better and seems to be for the future.

But….’

If that were possible, it would have been done long ago.

The reason why the kingdom cannot treat them carelessly is because of the cold climate of this northern land, the feigned retreat tactics they use, and the terrain that makes it possible.

Giving up all those advantages and heading south is no different from sticking their necks into the jaws of a hyena.

‘Knowing that, Buyler tried to persuade the entire tribe to stay in this land and feed them through trade with the kingdom, but….’

The northern land is not suitable for farming.

It was almost impossible to produce food, which is the most basic and important trade item.

There were some grasslands, so they designated sheep, goats, and horses as trade items, but it was very difficult to trade in large quantities.

In the end, the best way was to head to the snowy plains further north than the grasslands, hunt rare monsters, and trade the by-products from them, but even that has become a situation where the trade items are decreasing because they have been catching too many monsters these days.

“It was our mistake.

We were blinded by a moment of greed and massively captured the monsters, but that ended up tightening our noose.”

“The warriors were too fanatical about hunting.

We didn’t expect that the monsters would become extinct in just three years, and that the remaining ones would all flee to the Blade Mountains.”

The three years of short peace achieved through trade came to an end.

The north had to return to its former poverty, and the people who thought they would enjoy a full and prosperous life had to suffer even more than before.

In the end, the savage and fierce public sentiment spread with nowhere to go and smoldered, and its target was directed at the innocent kingdom.

No, perhaps the fire was natural.

For generations, when the northern people ran out of food, they invaded the kingdom’s borders and filled it with plunder.

As a result, the attention of the northern people was naturally focused on those who were building a hostile atmosphere towards the kingdom and their leader, Jan, and soon they created a huge force and named it Kalta.

They offered Jan the name ‘Temujin’ and asked her to lead them.

They offered the name of a legendary warrior passed down among the northern people.

“I hoped my sister wouldn’t accept it.

No matter how many forces gathered, a group that is not led by a strong person can never survive in this harsh north.

But….”

“Buyler’s sister is never one to abandon her tribe.”

“Yes.

Like a foolish sister.

She couldn’t stand seeing the starving and pitiful tribes, so she accepted it.

She knew very well what she had to do after grabbing the knife they offered.”

Plundering the kingdom and waging a full-scale war are completely different matters.

The northern territories of the kingdom, which are well aware of the situation in the north, deliberately avoided fighting with them by giving them a certain amount of food to prevent plunder, and so far, the various tribes of the north have been plundering within a set limit to prevent the kingdom’s punitive forces from coming to the north.

Somehow, they had learned how to coexist.

Even if they drew their swords and shed some blood, it wasn’t a huge bloodbath where everyone died.

‘But invading the kingdom’s territory and occupying it is a completely different matter.

It’s not just a matter of territory, it’s the same as declaring war on the entire kingdom.’

Those who realized the seriousness of the situation rushed to Eos, who had been taking a conciliatory stance with the kingdom, to stop Kalta.

And in order to stop Kalta and its leader Temujin, they offered Eos another legendary warrior’s name, ‘Buyler,’ and hoped that she would stop them.

Eos hated confronting her sister and her compatriots.

However, if things continued as they were, a full-scale war with the Hispania Kingdom was just around the corner, so in order to stop Kalta, she eventually decided to become the leader of this newly formed group, claiming peace.

“How long has it been since we sent back the kingdom’s envoy?”

“It’s been almost a month.”

“…The kingdom would have made a decision long ago.”

“Perhaps a punitive force has already been formed and has begun to advance.”

“That’s our limit.

Unlike them, we don’t have reliable eyes or ears.

The most important thing in war is to observe the enemy’s movements, but we can’t even do that properly.”

“There’s nothing we can do.

They are the ones who have only lived in this land as their home.

A full-scale war with the kingdom that has such a vast territory is terrifying just to imagine.”

This is a fight where the side that attacks first will shed more blood and suffer more severe injuries.

In that situation, no matter how much they burn the kingdom’s territory and occupy it, the northern people are not good at protecting it.

Charging in, ambushing, plundering, retreating, and then targeting the flanks is their specialty and easier than eating.

But standing firm in one place and blocking something is a completely different matter.

“I hope the kingdom realizes our intentions.”

“I was very surprised when Buyler first said she would send back the envoy.

I thought you would choose war like Temujin.”

“I believed that you would realize my intentions before long.”

Why did Eos send back the kingdom’s envoy without even properly meeting him?

It’s obvious.

No matter how much of a royal envoy he is, he is just a ‘messenger’ from this side’s point of view.

If they still look down on them as barbarians instead of looking at the north from an equal position, the angry public sentiment may explode at any time.

Eos secretly conveyed it to the kingdom.

If they want to calm the angry snowstorm of winter, they should send outstanding people who are suitable for this situation.

She told them to give the various northern peoples the assurance that the kingdom was not ignoring them, and at the same time, to protect this side’s pride.

‘If the kingdom really chooses war, I may have no choice but to make a choice then.’

Both she and Jan are strong.

The kingdom will acknowledge that.

Because they are warriors who can win even against the upper-level knights they boast so much about.

But what about the other tribesmen?

They are different from her and Jan.

If a full-scale war breaks out, they cannot guarantee the future.

“Buyler!

Buyler!”

A voice urgently calling for Eos was heard from outside the ger.

She allowed the guards to bring him in, and after a while, someone who appeared to be a scout hurriedly entered the ger.

“I greet Buyler!

I have come to report directly due to a sudden event during reconnaissance.”

“…Did Kalta move?”

If a mere scout was reporting to Buyler’s ger, it would have to be news of that level.

It was the moment when Eos clenched her fist tightly as if what was coming had finally come.

“T-That’s not it.

A group of people from the kingdom has just crossed into our land.”

“From the kingdom?”

At that moment, Eos became much more nervous than hearing the report that Kalta had moved.

What is the kingdom’s intention, war or a final request for dialogue?

“When our warrior requested a conversation, they said they would request a meeting with everyone in the north.

As they said that, the one who appeared to be the leader of the escort revealed his identity….”

“Revealed?”

“He says he is the vice-commander of the Royal Knights.”

At that moment, the face of the old man standing next to Eos was filled with shock.

How could the leader of a mere escort be the vice-commander of the Royal Knights?

Does that mean that some member of the royal family has come?

“…Then who requested the meeting?”

This is important.

If they sent just any person, the meeting would be very likely to be ignored.

But on the contrary, if there is someone amazing inside, even Kalta will have no choice but to respond.

“I don’t know the name well as a lowly person.

He said he is the successor of Klausen….”
The Shield of Hispania!

The moment she heard that name, Eos let out a hollow laugh.

Ordinary northerners may not know, but while interacting with the kingdom, she unknowingly collected as much information as possible.

And among them was information about the Klausen March, the family that is entirely responsible for one of the kingdom’s borders.

‘According to the merchants who last came to the north, the young war hero who was the worst brat and suddenly changed and mercilessly crushed the enemy is coming here?’

What on earth does the kingdom want, Eos had to be lost in thought.