Sword of the North – 3

Saberfang’s sharp teeth dug into her shoulder. A chilling sensation ran to the top of her head, and her vision flickered.

She instinctively gave up her shoulder; a moment’s misjudgment, and she would have been bitten through the neck, rolling across the snowy field.

A gush of blood soaked the snow.

Drinking the blood that seeped into the earth, tough grasses would grow.

She thought.

Thump, her legs gave way, and her knees hit the ground.

Her body trembled, a sign that the bleeding was considerable.

She used her injured arm to push herself along the ground.

She thought her crawling figure was pathetic.

Finding a suitable rock to lean against, she rested her back against its smooth surface.

In a half-reclined position, the cloudless sky came into view.

High and blue, the ground was filled with blood, sweat, and panting breaths, a stark contrast to the peaceful scenery.

She felt lightheaded. The exhaustion after the fierce battle and the dizziness from blood loss came together.

Charging at the Saberfang was a mistake born of recklessness,

Allowing the Saberfang to bite her shoulder was a fatal wound created by her lack of skill.

Having spent her seventeenth winter, she rummaged through her pouch.

Perhaps it had fallen during the fight; the vial containing the Hemostatic was nowhere to be seen.

“Ah.”

Only then did the reality of death sink in.

She had killed the Saberfang before dying, so it wouldn’t be a dishonorable death.

If she was lucky, another line of Tattoo might be added to her dead body.

Thinking that, she laughed.

Tattoo, yes. Tattoo.

Look at the size of the Saberfang; it was definitely the biggest one caught by the children participating in the coming-of-age ceremony.

If she died here, Tark, who had been pointlessly obsessed with her lately, would forever lose his chance to beat her.

The thought of him snorting and stomping his feet at her funeral brought a chuckle.

More blood drained away.

Her heartbeat seemed to be slowing down.

“Earth Mother, I will soon return to your embrace.”

Her sweat-soaked black hair drooped down.

She quietly awaited the eternal silence that would soon come.

She heard footsteps when her blood had dyed the surroundings crimson.

Thud, thud, thud.

“Barbarians?”

“It seems so, Young Master.”

Slightly opening her eyes, she saw a man of similar age looking down at her.

And beside him was a wrinkled, skinny old man attending to the man.

“People Inside the Barrier?”

She said in a voice that seemed like it would be carried away by the wind, and the man’s eyebrows rose.

“People Inside the Barrier?”

“Ah, that’s what Barbarians call our Imperial people.”

Barbarians. Normally, if she heard that word, she would have smashed their heads with her greatsword…

She resented the fact that she couldn’t muster any strength in her hands.

“An interesting expression. So, do they call themselves People Outside the Barrier?”

“They call themselves ‘People Outside the Barrier’, ‘Children of the Earth’.”

“A wonderful name.”

“A wonderful name… If the Duke heard you, he would scold you severely. Haven’t you forgotten? House Biltenfrem is…”

“A family entrusted with the honorable mission of guarding the northern border. I’ve heard it so many times it’s practically ingrained in my ears.”

“Seeing you trying to make contact with Barbarians like this, it seems you need to hear it more.”

As if the situation itself was unpleasant, the old man showed no intention of relaxing his scowling face.

“Looks like she’s injured. Did she defeat that Saberfang over there alone? Impressive.”

Despite the old man’s dissuasion, the young master approached her.

Even with the approach of a strange presence, she couldn’t offer any resistance.

Were they going to kill her for getting close to the Barrier? Dying at the hands of People Inside the Barrier would be dishonorable.

She thought about her honorable death.

“The wound is quite severe. Kedine, bring the first aid kit.”

“Young Master.”

The old man spoke as if begging him to swallow those words, but the young master did not budge.

While the old man ran towards the luggage, the young master examined her wound.

“She looks about my age, but to kill a Saberfang that size alone… I’ve also heard that I’m quite skilled with a sword, but I guess the world is vast.”

Even in her dazed state, she clearly saw the young master’s brown hair.

It was like seeing a flower stubbornly bloom through the snow the day after a heavy snowfall.

He continued to praise her skills, and in the meantime, the old man returned with the first aid kit.

“Ah, Kedine. It would be good to bring some dried rations too. We need to feed her something to help her regain her strength.”

“Haa… I understand.”

The old man headed back to the luggage, and the man began to treat her wound with the first aid kit.

He wiped the blood with a cloth, then applied Hemostatic to the wound.

Then, he tightly bandaged the wound.

She tried to capture the man’s face, which was right in front of her.

“Why. Are you helping me?”

Asking with caution and doubt, the young master shrugged.

“There’s no reason for one person to help another. If you had attacked our castle, you would have been an enemy, but at this moment, you’re just a girl in need of help, aren’t you?”

Girl.

The unfamiliar term made her shut her mouth.

Was it because she had lost a lot of blood? Her face felt hot.

The young master’s treatment took quite a while, but she felt that the time had passed very quickly.

“Then, return safely. And I hope we don’t see each other again. If we meet again, we’ll be enemies.”

The young master, with a kind smile, handed her the dried rations, mounted his horse, and returned to the Barrier.

She engraved their figures, disappearing into dots in the distance, into her eyes, and then returned to her tribe.

The hunted Saberfang was placed on her shoulder.

“You’re the only one who would think of catching a Saberfang at the coming-of-age ceremony.”

The Shaman said, closing the container filled with blue dye.

He rolled his eyes as if dumbfounded, after tattooing an Arrowhead Tattoo on the girl’s body.

“Is it a great prey?”

“It is a great prey. Even the warriors in the tribe who are known to be skilled don’t think of catching it alone. It’s fierce, intelligent, and fast.”

“I definitely thought it was a great prey when I caught it…”

“Is your adolescence late? You’re unusually calm.”

“It’s just that something more interesting has caught my attention.”

“Hmm, did you see a more attractive prey in the process of catching it?”

“…Maybe. But I don’t think I’ll be able to see it again. It lives far away from the tribe.”

“Then hunt it.”

“Huh?”

“We Children of the Earth built our foundation through hunting. Hunting is the foundation of our culture. We hunt to protect the tribe, we hunt to maintain the tribe, we hunt for honor, and sometimes we hunt to possess that prey. If there’s prey that has caught your attention, then you should hunt it, shouldn’t you?”

“Oh… is that so?”

“Geez, I wondered what you were worrying about.”

The Shaman got up from his seat as if dumbfounded and left the tent, and the girl looked at where he had gone and recalled the conversation just now.

“Hunting that man… and bringing him back to the tribe?”

She pondered whether she had understood correctly.