The Story Of The Second Son Of The Baron Family [EN]: Chapter 8

< The Story of the Second Son of a Baron Family – 08 >

“Yes. In three days, we will leave the Terra Barrier and head north, into the land of monsters.”

I had a hunch, and it turned out to be true. I looked around, hoping I had misheard, but it seemed I hadn’t. In three days, I was to be among those leaving the Terra Barrier and heading to the monsters’ stronghold.

“If there are no particular questions, you are free to go about your business. Renil, you seem to have many questions, so stay behind for a moment.”

“Alright, let’s get to our tasks. We might not return, so we should settle our affairs.”

“You’ll scare the newbie. Who says we can’t return?”

“Who else? Does anyone here truly believe they can return safely?”

“At least not me, so take your hand off. You’re jinxing it…”

With laughter, they left the conference room. At first glance, it sounded like hearty, confident laughter, but listening more carefully, it was easy to discern the fear they were desperately trying to hide.

‘Why on earth?!’

To leave the Terra Barrier and willingly walk further north, into a land where human footsteps are forbidden, was beyond my comprehension.

The Terra Barrier.

What more needs to be said? It is the fence that protects the Empire, and for the soldiers, it is a shield and armor that protects their very lives. An impenetrable shield that has never been breached. Yet today, the order from above was to discard that shield and armor, take up a weapon, and head into the monsters’ lair.

“You have a face that says you don’t want to go.”

“I have grown up nourished by the Empire and raised within its embrace. Therefore, I am well aware that I must follow orders, regardless of my thoughts. I simply do not understand the necessity.”

“You don’t want to die in vain. Is that it?”

I paused for a moment at Ild’s words, which cut to the core of what I had carefully avoided saying. Regardless of my relationship with Ild, he was my superior. It was not good for the words ‘dying in vain’ to come out in front of him regarding an order from above.

Nod-

“…That’s right. The Terra Barrier is the shield that protects the Empire. An impenetrable shield that has never been breached. I don’t understand why we have to throw away the shield and go outside.”

However, I trusted Ild’s character and took a chance. In the past two months, Ild had not been the type to simply order obedience without explanation. Rather, he was the type to explain the reasons and make one understand the order, so they would follow it willingly.

“It’s not strange to think that way. Without the Terra Barrier, such exchange rates [economic benefits from resource control] would be impossible to dream of. However, before explaining the reason, I must first say that the autumn expedition has been an annual event. If the expedition were merely a pointless death march, it would not have been maintained until now. Don’t you think?”

That’s right. The commander of the Terra Barrier is Duke Jik, one of the Empire’s three swords [highest-ranking military officers]. It was unlikely that someone would be appointed to the Terra Barrier, which effectively oversees the northern part of the Empire, simply because of their individual martial prowess. That’s why I’m curious. What benefits are there to venturing outside the barrier? What situation would arise if we didn’t, that would make everyone understand and accept it?

“You’ve become complacent.”

“Pardon?”

“Do you remember what I said about a month ago?”

A month ago, considering it in conjunction with the current story… Ild was probably telling me not to be careless.

“You said it’s good to gain experience and confidence, but don’t let it lead to recklessness and complacency. Are you saying I’m being complacent?”

“I’m not blaming you. This is a matter of experience. Broaden your perspective a little more. I could tell you the reason, but it would be better for you to realize it yourself for the sake of the future.”

Broaden my perspective? That meant my perspective was narrow. A narrow perspective meant I could only see what was right in front of me. I thought about it carefully after listening to Ild, but as he said, this was a matter of experience. If I were a truly outstanding genius, I could even transcend experience, but unfortunately, I was too much to be considered a genius. Perhaps a prodigy at best.

‘Large monsters, winter, expedition…’

The season is autumn, before winter arrives, and the goal is to eliminate large monsters. Large monsters are very tricky and troublesome beings.

Although their numbers are small, the influence one individual can exert cannot be calculated by numbers alone. Reducing their numbers was not a strange thing in itself. But if you ask me if it’s worth kicking down the barrier and going out, I would say no. As proof, we have been defending well until now.

“Do you know why beasts hibernate?”

“Ah!”

The small hint thrown at that moment. That one word helped me find the end of the tangled thread. The rest was just a matter of following the thread and gradually unraveling it. Now I could understand Ild’s words to broaden my perspective.

‘This wasn’t something we were trying to do. It was something we had to do.’

We had no choice from the start. Something we had to do, no matter the cost. That was the true nature of the autumn expedition.

“You are indeed rewarding to teach. You understand two or three things when I tell you one, so I can’t help but be rewarded.”

“I think I know what you mean by ‘you’ve become complacent.'”

In short, I had become complacent with victory. Even after dozens, hundreds of victories, we were always the ones on the defensive, and the monsters were the ones on the offensive. It was a story that had to be viewed from the monsters’ perspective, not the human perspective. Continuing to win made me mistakenly believe that we had the upper hand. The monsters, not us, determine the strength of the attack.

“It was something that could be easily understood from the monsters’ perspective. They will lack food in the winter, so more monsters will come down.”

Survival of the fittest. That might be the most appropriate way to describe monsters. However, even monsters have a hard time in winter.

Weak monsters will reduce breeding to save food and go deeper inside to avoid being eaten, and large monsters will have difficulty finding the massive amount of food needed to maintain their huge bodies. But isn’t there a place nearby where food is abundant?

Monsters with similar strength don’t usually fight each other. Victory is uncertain, and if they suffer a major injury, they will become food for other monsters even if they win. So, it would be more beneficial to temporarily join forces and remove the fence blocking them. Monsters had that much intelligence.

“Eighty points.”

“Twenty points are missing.”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a perfect score. After much deliberation, I couldn’t come up with any other answers, so I looked at Ild, and he told me the remaining twenty points as if to say I had done well enough.

“Have you ever seen the bodies of monsters after a battle?”

“How could I not? The corpses of monsters are all I see when I open my eyes.”

“How many of them are large monsters?”

The number of large monsters is very small. Of course, monsters like orcs and lizardmen have terrifying reproductive power, but in simple numbers, they don’t even account for 1%. But when I thought about it, the proportion of dead monsters was even smaller than that.

“Even for knights, it’s burdensome to break through the thick wall of monsters and face large monsters.”

“That’s right. For that reason, large monsters mostly return safely unless they get too close. What if those guys who have accumulated like that come down all at once in the winter?”

It was a terrible thing to even imagine. Defense… would be possible. However, most of the forces would have to be sacrificed in return, and they would be attacked again before additional support arrived. In the end, the Terra Barrier, which had boasted an undefeated myth, would collapse like a sandcastle in front of a fierce wave.

“Do you understand now? Why we have to go outside, even if it means throwing away our shield.”

I had forgotten in the face of continued victories. That no shield can defend against all attacks. That there is no shield that blocks everything.

#

After finishing the conversation with Ild and returning to my room, I accelerated the work I had been doing. The autumn expedition is said to scatter in order to avoid attracting the attention of monsters and search for large monsters. Therefore, even though I was a newbie, it would be troublesome to be a burden. If ten people share a loss of 10, they only have to bear 1 each, but if there are only two people, they have to bear 5 each.

Of course, there were only two days left. There was no secret plan to make noticeable progress in that time. If there was such a plan, I would have used it already. Then, the only option was to make better use of what I had.

“If I had more money, I could have experimented with more things.”

Two days passed in an instant. A yellow alert sounded once during that time, but as I had said in advance, I focused only on working for tomorrow. And now was the time to enter the final check. The ㄱ-shaped [similar to a 90-degree angle] iron weapon in my hand. A trigger to hook my index finger. The weapon called a pistol on Earth was in my hand, and several bullets were lined up in front of it.

Of course, it wasn’t a real pistol and bullets. The trigger only clicked, and the inside shape only had space for bullets to enter, with no other parts. The bullets were the same, just bullet-shaped iron lumps made of solid iron.

However, the pistol had the inscription Sa (射 – shoot), and the bullets had various inscriptions such as Bing (氷 – ice), Seom (閃 – flash), and Yeom (炎 – flame). Stone was not a good material for accepting magic, but proper minerals were too expensive for me to afford, so I had to settle for iron, which was average.

Swish-

The bullet is sucked into the barrel through the muzzle. All that was left was to aim at the target and pull the trigger. When I pulled the trigger, magic was slightly sucked in, and the inscription on the pistol began to shine.

At the same time, the bullet was fired. There was no bang. It wasn’t a real gun or bullet. Instead, the result was more surprising than a bullet. Freezing began rapidly from the target point, creating a lump of ice large enough to trap a person.

“It’s done!”

The remaining types of bullets also showed off their effects to the world without any problems. They flashed and burned. From the beginning when I first acquired the ability of inscription, my goal was to prepare in advance and pour out what was needed in necessary situations, to be able to cope with various situations, and the fact that there was no prior preparation time was very encouraging.

Unlike the Terra Barrier, where I could fight under the protection of soldiers, no one knew what kind of situation would come from tomorrow. There might not be time to leisurely make hand signs and chant spells. At that time, the current preparation would be of great help.

“I’m greedy. I’m greedy.”

During the past few hours, I poured magic into the bullets whenever I had time. Perhaps because of that, a decent power came out even with a one-letter inscription. If it was like this with just one letter, how useful would it be if I could inscribe words or two letters that I haven’t even touched yet?

Whatever my memories of my past life, I must be a magician. Seeing how much I want to research like this. To do that, I had to survive. Suddenly, one more reason to live was added, but it wasn’t a bad thing. The more motives there are, the more the will will burn.

#

“Alright, is everyone here!”

“Yes!”

“Then let’s go! Everyone, let’s meet again alive!”

The gates of the Terra Barrier, which had never allowed invasion in the entire history of the Empire, began to open. People quickly passed through the gates and sped towards the land not allowed to humans. For the autumn expedition, on which the survival of the Terra Barrier and tens of thousands of soldiers, and greatly, all the people living in the northern part of the Empire depended, those who knew the value of their lives began to wager their lives without hesitation.

< The Story of the Second Son of a Baron Family – 08 > End