Chapter 225: Northern Walls (1)
3rYLvWzMerkarva Academy temporarily closed its doors and stopped its classes due to the ‘unending winter’. It was true that it was so cold outside that it was difficult to move around, but the biggest reason was to have the two of them join the party.oxMfS
L4hP“Master. Professor Josephine.”6wGzM
WZdMaster Erin and Lady Josephine. They were the top two powerhouses of Merkarva Academy, but they couldn’t leave their post frequently as the chairman and the senior professor of the academy.FVk3D
4Ji“Is it time for the rotation already?”yN43qeJ
uUGl“Yep. You can take a rest inside, professor. I can hold the leash. As for Master, I have something to talk to you about for a second.”1nG
QIZNZCaLady Josephine nodded in response before teleporting away to the movable container that was being carried by the Hresvelgr, which I was currently controlling by the leash.kGoD
YPtT4z“Did you have something to talk about?” Master asked.PFVY
mmvo“Yeah. There is something I wanted to discuss with you regarding the north.”N5qFxFa
8DpTdO“I’m assuming you are talking about what is past the walls.”uWUlb
Eh85vfP“I am. Specifically the remnants of the era of gods that are still there.”W4XeZKA
QsaDQtMaster was the only one I could have this kind of conversation with. I had experience from the future and knowledge of the game, but those were nothing but limited pieces of knowledge gained from a third-person perspective.8Ty6bQg
WKX7You could say I knew nothing compared to what Master Erin knew, as someone who had personally experienced that era.h2QAly
69zuX“Tell me what you know about them first,” she asked.R4ap
ZeKbF1“The Frost Giant. Valkyries and the dwarves.”ZXGN
OKQ2“How many valkyries were there in the future you had experienced?”Neu
oZcyThe walls had been breached and the valkyries were hostile to us. But there weren’t that many of them in the first place.8lrM
qIJNq“About forty… half of them were on Valtazar’s side, and most of the remaining half fell along with the northern walls.”DLI1hN
kTUP“…That’s terrible. I remember there being 540 of them before.”zhko
k5KShe added after biting her lips.g4Z
QBeM“The valkyries are messengers drafting the legion of the King of Gods. They were supposed to contend against the titans and demons with the epic legion in the final war.”LppHjH3
VKcUGy“That’s similar to what we have here.”zznLN
zZk“I suppose the fall of gods had been prophesied by many.”91E9K
HP4xAs one of them, Master couldn’t hide the bitter look on her face.qdImm
sRLYA“We had a few exchanges with them. We used to be enemies at one point, but we joined forces after having a common enemy.”qNmV
yqWtI“The titans?”KTO
vwG4“Exactly. They were immortal and were the closest forms of the primal beings. The descendents of the great Sky Titan were a powerful enemy for us who people referred to as gods.”YRRPOTK
1iKJust like how the main enemy for the Danann before the appearance of Goidels had been Demon King Balor and the fomorian titans, the gods of the north were in a similar situation.Rx606Xa
zLb8Frost Giants including the Frost Giant, Utgard.V7ns
dJVsDFlame Giants including Surtr.qWV
ToJiIt ended in the damnation of both forces. The eras of both the Danann and the north came to an end, which gave rise to the ‘golden era’ for humans.cACiz
F1vxq9Both cases followed the same trajectory of the end of the mythological era followed by the monopoly of humans.p0Yh
3FUA4“Since it’s so close, was there really no interchange at all for a whole 1,000 years?”jBFb
YUK“It looked like there were only a small fraction of gods who survived just like us. I heard there were a few of them left but…”YHXEQfy
LPRDN1“There were?”xOt
NFCLPKThis was my first time ever hearing about this.83bb
prUKA“But the previous previous previous God King, Eochaid Bres, seemed to have killed all the survivors.”Ont5O
L8M6s“…”NjC15XE
If656No wonder.0SuP
SyCbSYA god from another land, Tates Valtazar, had taken his place there for 80 whole years. Someone would have tried to stop him, but it seemed that Eochaid had killed all of them.6vva
D6joNf“No wonder he was using the Hammer of the God of Lightning and the Sword of Victory.”7L8l
79LMThe countless treasures in Eochaid Bres’s arsenal had included many treasures of the Danann, but there were also those belonging to the gods of the north.OlaU8
7CTE6G“Master. From what I know, the valkyries have the power to open the ‘door’. Is that correct?”JMF8g
tXa2cThat was what made the valkyries annoying. Them opening the ‘door’ had played a shocking role in the final war, after all.1Fb6
8CMdjn“I see. So they… really followed and worshiped Tates in the future considering how that is only allowed to two gods… Oh right. There was a time when I came here briefly 800 years ago.”ADjrj
vXW3She started talking about her distant past and what she had discovered north of the walls.nfTIs0l
b4UmTa5“That’s… interesting.”mRH
RrgmbThose were leads that could potentially flip the situation on its head.LwBwc
0fbjni****mZ0EE
mzx6Northern Walls.9HIj4
jQiaclIt referred to the walls stopping the plunderers of the Northern Kingdom and the demons, who grew incredibly large in size despite the harsh climate here.QIWXi
W2ZRbMIn the past, people stationed here were praised as guardians of the north, and protectors of the final defense line of the kingdom. However, as time went by, the praises gradually diminished, and they had to suffer increasingly more due to the constant shortage of food and constant external threats.HAh4LMp
3UKprrFLess and less people volunteered to come here. Recruits were few and far between, and the budgets were always tiny. Due to all that, they were constantly suffering from a lack of talents, munitions and food.zZZ
94jQF“Scari! I told you to put your damn kids back in the house!”rvu
UVa“O, okay man. Chill!”hHL
tpQFVThere were people making love even in a place as disgustingly cold as this. Senior Guard Direk grumbled to himself while waiting for a certain group to arrive at the gates of the northern walls.uZjZCZ
usr2“Fuu… So freaking cold. When is it going to get warmer…?”Opq
xJCIt was already mid-March. It was supposed to have become much warmer a lot earlier, but this hateful weather was showing no signs of such things.Gtygaks
8JKwneHAs such, the guards of the north felt horrendous. A longer winter meant the barbarians of the north would have fewer animals to hunt, which would directly correlate with plunder.kwfv
5hVtNaturally, for that plunder to work, at least one section of the walls separating the Northern Kingdom from the El Rath Kingdom had to go down. And obviously, if the wall were to be breached, those bastards living a peaceful life in the capital would create a fuss so the guards had to make sure that didn’t happen.gAI
wZfl“Hey Captain. When are they coming?”PgzQ4c
TstlVOne of his men complained. Direk threw him a glance before rubbing his ice-cold cheeks with the wool gloves.7RsYU
V2coK“How would I know when that ‘climate investigation group’ or whatever is gonna get here?”bMt0H
F7q6“So why the heck are they coming all the way here for something stupid like that?”WnYU
jCZ“Don’t ask me, man.”nQs9G
IAqt“For goodness’ sake. I hope they don’t nitpick everything. The old-man chief guard was drinking his ass off when I saw him just then.”FKp4
hEisO“Tell me something new. By the way, have we repaired the gates in the south?”yaWcj
mbRy“It’s been 3 years since we just put some planks over it, Captain. No-one is bothered to repair that. It just needs to be sturdy enough to stop a few demons.”euT
DQDmSince the walls were aimed at stopping intruders from attacking from the north, they repaired only the northern walls and gates, and were sloppier with the southern gates which connected to the capital.nH4J9v
j9L6e5kSometimes, whenever they had an audit from the administration, those people would say a few things about the southern barricades, but were lenient because they knew the shortage of budget that they were suffering from.ERc
ssPGqg– KURAAAAA…!dCBxHv
Dt3RYQThat was when he heard the faint roar of a flying beast from a distance. Along with that was the fluttering of wings.9ay
hP9‘Huh? Wait, how the hell is that even possible?’BIH9W
bgOPaAround this area, even normal wyverns couldn’t fly in the air during winter. The wyverns had to be meticulously bred, and the wyvern riders had to wear specially made anti-cold jumpers on top of that to fly.aOBVG
16tyQHow many wyverns did it have to be for him to feel the sound of their fluttering wings with his skin?CHR6H
7iVbf“C, Captain! Look! What the fuck is that!?”b3ax
mA3vhjOne of his men yelled out while pointing at the horizon. Direk was similarly flabbergasted upon turning towards the same place.5nWd
C56eI“W, what the hell is that?!”KGFF8
u6nsThere were a lot of wyverns.Nf4HZ
x7tA crazy amount of them, at that.U202pIj
At2There were at least 50 wyverns, surrounding 3 massive creatures like bodyguards.jzY
xuYcDC9– KURAAAAAAAAAAK!!VZRl
ywXA– KURAAAAAAAAAAK!!RFZ8
iUdV– KURAAAAAAAAAAK!!bp6IZ
iup3DWc3 Hresvelgrs.ODDkC1
3rsWYksThose monsters, who would eat a similar amount of food to the daily consumption of all the citizens of an entire border village combined, were flying towards them for some reason.DMe
EDzVs“A, are those wild monsters?!”GWU
fs1“What the…! We don’t even have anything here!”qGw5ecI
Gyqln“Emergency! Emergency! Activate the cannons! Now!”EBEW
2wp49RDirek quickly gave out orders to the soldiers to activate the defensive measures of the walls. Seasoned through their experience against the half-giants who tried to trample through the walls and beast tamers who tried to fly across the border on an eagle, the soldiers quickly set everything up.FXa
wOfP“Uhh, Captain? Those aren’t… wild monsters.”dnOzdJ
uFuQj“What do you… Huh?”qSf4lD
EUuHe picked up his binoculars and looked at the wyverns flying towards them.hHdj
CqjTo“Umm… Are those riders?”82dHVoj
9HbThe Hresvelgrs and wyverns had people sitting on them.M4yV
PEe91b‘What? Wasn’t it just a baron coming here for an investigation of the climate?’UNOXK
abFcwnThree monster carriers and 56 wyverns. At that point, it wouldn’t be strange even if the king himself was personally within that group.B22SsB
KiecTHAfter a while, they slowly started to descend on the wide plain in front of the walls. Although there were landing zones for wyverns inside the border city, it certainly wasn’t big enough to accommodate a group of this size.6kir
hkKVnB“U, uaah…”kNNrvo
siMXAlmost 60 flying monsters landed on the ground. Three of them were massive monsters, and the amount of high pressure air being pushed to the ground was therefore incredible.tGEnR
ppd5lyh“W, wait!”xpEtuDi
85xBy the time Direk was reminded of the planks of wood replacing the southern gates, he realized that the gates had already crumbled down from the wind.fKHi93
pUy1Y“…”XlKhq
0Ezjm5E“…”KKAbBJ9
KfBhb6jA young man, who seemed to have seen that from the rider seat of a monster carrier, said in a strangely audible voice despite the distance.Hl0Y
6Kgewm9“Even more of a mess than I thought.”NLhAq
8QsoDlGHe frowned but didn’t say much of anything else, as if he hadn’t been expecting much in the first place. Direk thought he was just a normal rider, but he seemed to be a celebrity, because one of his men immediately recognized his face.btSh
UNz3“I, isn’t that Sir Korin?”eipy
Q25Q“The one that’s famous these days?”nKk
38hyfQP“He’s not just ‘famous’! He’s the youngest in history to reach Unique Grade, and he’s the strongest knight in the entire country!”BewW
7PS0gHis evaluation was slightly off.ybNif2
oaKThere were 3 people who were officially proclaimed by the Association to be Unique Grade guardians. They were Marie, Hua Ran and Korin. Alicia was also acknowledged for her capabilities and was proclaimed a semi-Unique Grade.kQsKRyq
h0tWhatever the case, it was true that he was a massive bigshot that normal people wouldn’t even catch a glimpse of.WI6
jcbd“Wow…”qqJ
pDvX4WmPeople started alighting from the monster carriers and the wyverns. There was a shocking number of them in total.zFqqkd
0JwBLS4 people were getting off of each wyverns. 200 was already an incredible number of guests for the border city, but the monster carriers had been boarding triple the amount.lNG2G1
8xQ“H, holy…”SQUAc
ujHAnd the ones alighting from the monster carriers… were the ‘real deals’ that were each wearing glistering armors and robes.SUd
uvP20F“L, look at those plates…”ljn4V2
BJcEach and every one of their equipment was extraordinary. They were newer than the newest pieces of equipment you could get in this city.Fbim1s
IXHpBA“L, look! Are those all mages?”AKEqCd
VTEj0RgLastly they were dumbstruck seeing 300 mages leaving the containers.fyXth
e04This was a small city where a single mage was hard to come by. Even in the capital city, it wouldn’t be easy to find 300 mages like that!QkPYRzr
oASA total of 800 of them lined up in ranks like soldiers of a military in front of the gates.vHiA2Nn
Xu5cZjSeeing that, the guards couldn’t help but feel intimidated. Although it would never happen, a barren city like this would fall in less than 5 minutes if they wanted to reduce it to ashes.MLVjPQ
dImmRku“W, wasn’t it just an investigation of the climate?”Zch
mWay“That is what it said…”j35uW
Ob5JdRaThe man, who appeared to be the leader of those 800 men, smiled at Direk standing on the walls before casually jumping over the walls. In one simple jump, he jumped over 13 meters and reached the top.VcDwc
h2kKbr“There we go~”lP9An
zuWyS9b“Uooh…!?”xOdK
B8A2nIHow could a human jump this high up? Despite being greatly shocked by the Unique Grade Knight in front of him, Direk couldn’t get his eyes off of the amicably-smiling knight.zNMChr
KHA1Sf“Nice to meet you. I’m Korin Lork. I have the official document so please take a look.”YgfBRGo
9jDWrG“Uhh… Ah! Yes, of course!”BGO
udlDirek opened the official document.elvfO3
tOyD8vK[Royal Decree]XXlEB
sykUOTyI hereby dispatch a group to investigate beyond the northern walls regarding the recent abnormality in climate. Each official within the nearby cities is to fully cooperate with Captain Korin Lork.gS1
Eh1— David Joseph El Rath.5ZW
BDUBasically, it was telling everyone to listen to whatever he said. Direk carefully folded the king’s message, which he had received for the first time in his life, and gave a deep bow.w07
zzw“W, welcome to the northern border city, Bifrost.”YrGR
0gMkQb9Korin Lork was basically the new lord of the city.P4L
b6sCFq****ijY8h
ZBp63G4“It’s even worse than I expected.”E8L
LCNLAD9“Indeed…”Fbc2Q6e
OYYbdMaster couldn’t help but agree.NqU0
gCDKUvThe border city of Bifrost was in a worse state than what I could have possibly imagined.Df4N
LL4a9Putting aside the fact that a part of the wall and the gates crumbled down from a Hresvelgr landing nearby, even the most important state of the northern side was horrendous, and the guards were in a total mess.4S1nYx
tmQWvLQ“500 guards with minimal equipment protecting walls reaching 400 kilometers? Is this a joke?”9Ka
nawSoDrOn top of that, there was only one knight serving as the Chief Guard with not a single mage in sight.o0mahH
pQ3ZJnThe northern walls were basically like the Great Wall of China. The only difference was that there was only one gateway with the rest being tall walls.lSOQ4iI
32HIt was incredible how they could have possibly built something of this level, but the problem was that those immensely long walls were being guarded by 500 soldiers, which wouldn’t even be enough to protect the gates properly.GWH8j
Z0OryX“How was it like in the future?” Master asked.WcsLlc
G4blAQV“It fell before we could even do anything, so we didn’t have time to prepare for it. Looking at how it is right now, it makes a lot of sense.”BQJU0EU
UIEwSmIt wouldn’t be a problem if they were just being attacked by a small number of barbarians or demonic beasts. The long walls were connected all the way to the steep mountain ranges, and the weakest part of the border, right in the middle of the wide plain of nothingness, was where the tall gates were.fycLa
FaBEHowever in large-scale wars… especially ones that involved knights and mages, it would only be a matter of seconds before the borders collapsed.J9IqV
tjuVConsidering how this was a decently-sized city of 10,000 residents… it was probably at the fault of the higher-ups that it was in this state.zTe
T9UeVfjFrom what I heard, there wasn’t a mayor in this city, and most were just guards with a small number of them being administrative officials.1xzR9
x1E“I have gone around the whole city but I’m yet to find the Chief Guard.”PXzWhS
RlEFWhen I said that while looking at Captain Direk, he became extremely flustered, not knowing what to do.vqXsvY
M0Dgg0“Where’s your boss?”pRf
xErx“S, sorry sir!”QcDbsr
szG“I don’t care if you’re sorry or not. I am asking where your boss is.”hQZ7Q
Ub3UFl3“G, Garden of Fairies! T, the bar! He’s probably at the bar!”pgnWh
Im4RAr“Oh my days.”mvd
GzCPQIs this guy drinking in broad daylight? Let me crush this guy real bad.EOU9uS
eax………Dh4
CaEvM……7KL
oTWIlj…2Ac
QrkpkTpThe most popular place in a border city as cold as this was, naturally, the bar. Due to how cold it was, there was a common culture of drinking strong booze, and it was in fact recommended for the soldiers to drink to warm themselves up.fxw6V5w
H5t270vHowever, the Chief Guard of Bifrost and Grade 1 Knight, Beyon, had easily exceeded the recommended level of consumption.rEKhiTV
TAwX“More! Give me more booze!”xUj3
7aNiJ9Ever since he was dispatched to this place, he had been constantly living under the effect of alcohol.sP92lD
AlxThere were very few citizens and few supplies. The city didn’t even have a mayor and only had a small number of administrative officials, which made him the top powerhouse of this city.q4o83pO
99VHe was at a position where he had full control and unsurpassable authority in this countryside city, but he spent everyday drinking booze and refusing to work.XuSNy
xYcMSZ“Do you know who I am?! Huh! I am a top knight who even fought a massive dreak!”QsY78
9crn3fY“You mean a drake, sir?”sMfDaa
xgb“Yeah! That thing! It was breathing out flames! And yet…! I’m not some random guy! Who should decay in a place like this!”Buu6
YLhThe people, who were trying their best to communicate with the top authority in the city muttering in his drunkenness, somewhat agreed to his words.LK3o5Jn
30iDiAlthough he lived everyday drowned in alcohol, they knew how strong he was with the sword. Back when a half-giant was about to break through the gates last year, he jumped down and bisected the half-giant with a single slash.wJW2
2XLdRSeeing the severe alcohol-addict cut a half-giant in halves, despite being 6 heads shorter than it, even the citizens that didn’t like him had to admit that knights were indeed built different.sBC
Uri“Is this okay, though? Weren’t there some investigators or whatever coming from the capital city today?”MhE
Z7wru“It’s okay, it’s okay! They’re just nerds who only know how to do paperwork! I don’t need to go out!”yoRrm
V6JC– Kwang!3oNURL
y04u9That was when someone walked into the bar after kicking the door open. It was a young man with a wild appearance… and behind him was Captain Direk, fidgeting with a pale face.O72
hVqFidS“Yo. Direk. Are you off already…”2ZD8al
HREu5“Where is that bastard?” the young man asked.g57zJ8N
uwjpu“I, it’s that bald… I mean, person with no hair.”s2z
Ldk61pwThe young man walked forward in large strides until he was right in front of the Chief Guard.ujx
IUM“…Beyon?”XrsrD
5qECMZHis face, which looked like he was ready to punch someone to death, suddenly turned into that of confusion. However, it quickly vanished as the young man asked with a stiff look on his face.yYu
t5w“Are you the Chief Guard of this city?”QHsK
GPfLhz“Who is this… young brat…? Not very polite, are you!”JaW
xnzwE“I hereby start a trial against the Chief Guard of Bifrost, Beyon Solberg.”1R2
xNg“Trial? Triaallll? Who are you?”dsU
Va6N2xJThe young man… Korin Lork replied with a cold gaze.yee7wFc
VBJ“Justice of the Peace.”iRJg4lD
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