Chapter 226: Northern Walls (2)
27RBeyon Solberg the Avenger.9ey497E
FPcHe was a named character who appeared in the latter portions of the game, — a bloodthirsty avenger massacring the named characters from the Northern Kingdom that were crossing the breached walls of the north after the war against the Frost Giant.Z1p
YofHXjDevouring every elixir he could, including the luminescent herbs unique to the Northern Kingdom, he was a semi-Unique Grade knight who endlessly pursued his purpose of revenge.FldL
lx6HThere was a time when I had to confront him regarding the execution of a captive.Z8j2Bwp
O7PD7iA[We must kill all of them! We can’t leave any of these wicked barbarians alive! Korin Lork! How can you stand on the side of these barbaric creatures as the hero of the kingdom!]0rn
VIlpjQBoth in the game and the last iteration, the only impression I had of him was that he was a berserker whose sole purpose in life was revenge.iul
BAuNever had I imagined that he would be the chief guard of this city.hnf6zoP
hZF‘So that was the reason he hated the Valkyries so much, huh…’ADpZvaM
aLHOj6iConsidering how the Valkyries were one of the main causes behind the instantaneous fall of the northern walls, I could somewhat understand his position but…9hzMbmS
Hlj4‘But it’s not just their fault.’YhXI1Jz
fPlPICI only knew bits and pieces about what happened in the past to cause the walls to fall in an instant, but from what I could see, this man wasn’t without fault either. Another reason behind his constant rampage might have also been because he couldn’t forgive himself.nN9C5H
40XkMRegardless,8al
C2Sq“I hereby start a trial against the Chief Guard of Bifrost, Beyon Solberg.”59k1
eexwTGzThis level of negligence was not something that could be ignored.Na6f0t
qG4…..nAOCU2l
ZgwAg…SZ9qkZX
p2QThe low-profile trial was held inside a small building.ue88m7
hoDHIt was purely out of consideration that we weren’t carrying out a public trial before the people.7Uzb
730X“Ugh…”vM6Y4
dudxAfter sobering up a fair amount, Chief Guard Beyon was evidently nervous as he kept glancing at me.vXnn8Ka
sAz“Chief Guard Beyon. Do you admit your act of negligence?”JHcUx
9LNxNak“S, so…”JJts
euk9B“I will sentence the punishment of your act of negligence. Until further decisions are made by the command center at the capital, Chief Guard Beyon will step down from his position and serve the military as a normal soldier—”YGjNS5T
C5G6U“That is nonsense!”Ditt
URgnSv“Nonsense?”LgX
9SOBExWas this old man still drunk?EO8
hukU“W, who even are you? If you’re here to investigate the climate, just do your job and go back! You are clearly overstepping the boundaries of your work!”r0YK
KbG“A Grade 1 Justice of the Peace has the right to be involved in military matters in rural areas as a judge.”bN7cc3
Yynydz7“H, how can someone your age be a Grade 1…”7um9TaE
Nm6ECl7Without wasting more time, I showed him the golden badge of a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace.irue
xrjz“I hope you understand the severity of this incident, Chief Guard Beyon. The ‘young brat’ in front of you is a Grade 1 Justice of the Peace, a baron with territory, a Unique Grade knight acknowledged by the Guardian Association, and the president of the Central Guardian Association branch.”D3YmQoz
QVUw5“T, that’s impossible…”M8z7s
FuHXIt seemed that he was spending so much time drinking in the countryside that he didn’t know anything about what was happening in the capital.Pb8
U9K7s“On the records, it says there are supposed to be 3,000 troops stationed here, but when I looked around there was only a little more than 500. The weaponries are also receiving the bare minimum maintenance, with the walls close to falling apart.”tiC
Ajh63At this point, it was surprising how the walls hadn’t been breached yet.XTL
hPe95“Chief Guard Beyon. In this city alone are 10,000 citizens of the kingdom and further beyond are hundreds of thousands of our citizens. I hope you understand how severe and detrimental your act of negligence could have been.”mKW9UY
D4fIt was pretty much a determined fact that he would be fired from his post. Plus, it was highly likely that the command center would send him to the prison according to the military regulations.3KfU8k
O4K3LHowever, I wanted to give this man a chance.j8ukwBH
Tvxo“Chief Guard Beyon. Now is your only chance to defend yourself.”A90SFg
D6gmV1“…There was nothing.”uUPoZSd
YPsWith his trembling fists curled up, he refuted.Th04EFj
41EM2“We had no budget! Repairing the walls is not something we can do for free! It’s hard to even find a carpenter in this city; how were we supposed to repair the walls, find weaponry and troops!?”18qh6X0
nOboMV“…”UR7h
Lk3hThis part, I agreed with. As a small city attached right on the walls bordering an enemy country, it was incapable of economical self-sustainment, and most of its budget came from the capital.QMdEzW
sxpYzPThe issue was that most of that budget was spent on purchasing food, with only a miniscule amount of money being allocated for the guards.c3Mqo
EQCvBI“I can see there were extenuating circumstances as claimed by Chief Guard Beyon, but the act of negligence committed is nonetheless drastically apparent and unignorable.”nSz17
Xpx9gj“Kuuhk…”hcc
ZIY2tEven then! You can’t drink in the middle of a workday, can you!?hXZm
dl4bJ“The same sentence will be given to Chief Guard Beyon. Until further decisions are made by the central command center, Chief Guard Beyon will be deprived of all privileges, be demoted to a normal soldier and carry out the same duties as them until commanded otherwise.”PGKe
fWWL“Kuuk…”Qe1
B9h1He dropped his head in embarrassment, but I was being very lenient here.cZ7Mv2
EUkFsGI came down after the final sentence and was met by Master’s smile.EyLV582
rmptx0a“That was surprisingly a magnanimous punishment.”9kojF
0bteb“He is a capable person. I just thought it would be okay to give him another chance.”JVYK
GDJSZ3u“The order of command is also clearly set thanks to that. It’s like you caught two birds with one stone.”VtT41IQ
UxEEU“It is important wherever you go, after all.”qk0Phiz
PePeqIt was crazy how much we had to suffer in the last iteration because of that. Going around everywhere as the ones who knew the future, we knew we had to prepare for the inevitable, but the people there always hated us for being ‘outsiders that tried to intervene in everything possible’.jfoEad
AnhJ“Sir Beyon.”zVwWQ
k0eKEOI walked up to Chief Guard Beyon, who appeared greatly dejected and called his name with the title of ‘sir’. Normally, according to the result of the trial, he was just a normal soldier and it was fine to call him by his name, but I was saving his face by still referring to him as a knight.XsIy
vDNsd“…Your will, Sir Korin.”VMD
sYWSHe seemed a bit surprised, but soon lowered his head.IXxRS
jBDc“We intend to set this as our base camp before investigating what is beyond. However, we must first carry out a complete repair and renewed maintenance of this city, and we need the people of the city to provide assistance.”3JHqY
sbqAcMa“…”eBaE
nIXBeyon had a distressed look on his face, knowing that my proposal was realistically impossible to achieve.bQZUFG
YIF4Z“We have barely any budget left from last year. The unending winter meant a stop in our economy and… unless we send the citizens to chop down the nearby forest, we won’t even have enough money for food…”LVDUsQl
vuRy“There is no need to worry about that. Marie-sunbae?”EcvsI
2R7W“Un.”cqEFSjR
uHQzE5sMarie, who had been watching from the side the whole time walked closer. We had already discussed this beforehand, before we even set off.Ie5F
pSg45“We will have the Hresvelgrs and the wyverns carry food. Please tell me if there are any other materials you need.”Avr
i9atJv“Sorry?”PVhxxuu
f8x8Hp“Ah! It’s free so don’t worry. But we would need to borrow some temporary warehouses to store the potatoes.”arPvUp
MNKurwV“Does that sound good?” I asked.ryB
7iYJ“Uhh…” Beyon murmured, not knowing what to say.a3Y
MJoi7GI“That solves the problem for food. Next up on priority would be repairing the walls. Summon all the able men of the city, and tell them they’ll be paid with food and gold coins.”roGtyD
Q7mf3v“A, alright…!”dbp3cV
nHMj23This was a method that was proven to work in the last iteration. Operation name: Throw away money until everyone else starts to work.KISwtit
GJ9yIR7It was easier with Marie-sunbae around.N5x
4mXwlXw****FfBLk
oxcThe northern border city of Bifrost was not in an ideal state. Many facilities were close to crumbling down, and the last time the northern walls were repaired was 14 years ago.KhAnH9
APDWTSome of the bricks were crushed and there were so many holes on the wall that they didn’t even know where to begin.yYzN3O
UNZ8ZM“Thanks for the help, Marie-sunbae.”uTCrP
5fQv“It won’t take long, don’t worry~.”vddw
YyYB4mPMarie used her amplified mana to shoot water bombs at the wall. It wasn’t to destroy it; it was to drench them with water.ep4O
ITMThe water bombs exploded before contact and drenched the walls with water, which all quickly froze into ice.mFSMHB
qZvy05“Since it’s so cold, it should stay like this until the winter ends.”So9bmSX
94J“This should be fine for the time being.”Ch8
0k5Solid ice was tougher than some bricks. Our plan was to repeat this process several times as layers, as widely as possible, so that the walls would last through the winter.Koig
i0rP“Apparently the heating is not working properly in the city. Can you take some of the Red Cult mages to have a look?”HPO8X77
nqEhG“Sure! Chunsik!”EkfyPn7
JIvb“Yes, yes! Master! Please let this humble servant take care of it, Master!”WpaRF
v3ThtBFortunately, we had hundreds of mages in our hands. There was, however, a problem with manual labor.rIorK
oMn6“Korin. We can use the citizens of city, but it’s too cold for them to move properly. They don’t have firewood either because of the longer winter.”XdhD
S7F8CWe were able to fortify the walls again and arrange for food and materials. The next problem we had to tackle was the cold.btVDWQ
526“How long would it take if we bring thick coats from the capital?”AQ1n
0mzUF5“Even on Hresvelgrs, it would take a week at the very least.”jiV
USkidR“That’s too long. We would need some temporary measures to be in place then.”54Yy4
FtnbR“Yeah.”AHkasx
slXruAThere was still some time until the ‘valkyries’ and the barbarians would come attacking the northern walls, followed by the horde of monsters.N3m
FZPJgSH“Let me take care of that.”c9S2p
zs3CbNI headed to the highest place within the city. There, I could see the citizens of the city cutting down nearby trees and transporting them to repair the walls.RATUDE
D4kKThey were motivated by the food and the gold coins but there were still limits to what a human could do. The winter was getting even colder over time, and they were shivering like crazy, to the point that I was concerned they might die from frostbites.7EKn
1sCswakOnly when backed by luxury and abundance was snow a sight to enjoy. In a land as poor as this, the cold and the snow were like a horrible curse.NpqZuvi
wfFm“I will lend a hand.”tpSBdOB
ej7l1I gathered the divine energy of Claiomh Solais in the air above the city.uiE
SvjOg0– Huh? What is this?2vl
U6Fb– Rain?iBLFIFw
xEtnD3GThe aura of the Sun immediately melted the snow and turned it into rain. The rain fell down, wetted the ground… before freezing back into ice. Although there was less snow, this was bound to create a road of ice as soon as I retrieved the aura of the Sun.10u
YBhbi“It’s not bad but…”mC5
Fgt7P7I focused more mana to float it in the sky. Before long, Claiomh Solais revealed its red ambience and manifested itself as a small sun.uZ3yJ
npYi– I, is that the Sun…?HcCYOn
99lop– My word…GkmR23
Y3n7VThe citizens were baffled by the sheer sight of it. The manifested ball of fire was giving off such an intense heat that they could feel it with their skin… and the raindrops evaporated before hitting the ground.vWa2
paZd6“S, Sir Korin…! What is going on!?”Q5goVN
EBv1DaSir Beyon, who looked for me to ask a question, was so shocked that his eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets.SGT2yO
7aA“I will keep it up there for the time being. In the meantime, find ways to keep everyone warm.”8Mv5n
uCX“H, haah…”5KicN
YrBYHe continued looking at the Sun with a blank gaze and gulped without even replying to what I said. The same appeared to be the case even for the citizens of the city.2EbQrhA
4ni****wKEJ2vv
A6Fu0The research group that Korin brought was busy helping out with repairing the city ever since their arrival. They thought they would be going past the gates straight away and were therefore puzzled by the sudden command to repair the walls, but were nonetheless obedient.Lv1Mc
ZkVIt was natural though.EnzR
2JnIt had already been 3 days since they came here, and seeing the Sun in the sky that was floating there ever since made them awe the one behind that heaven-defying phenomenon.HCjU6Z
4a1DqGw“Quick! Hurry up! We will quickly process the trees we cut up to repair the walls!”p2Y
7c0The guards and the soldiers stationed in the city, who had been constantly suffering from the insufficient budget, were thriving now that they had both manpower and food.Kbp
zDclThis was the first repair in over a decade, and they were fully aware how this could be their only chance.eVegltt
ORFzOaG– Kung!cIDFw5x
aNvdqThat was when a human dropped from the sky with a gigantic tree on their shoulder.Tv4TWlT
7wsR“Huahk…!”Azi6fr
uvyBgDuEveryone turned around at the same time, but soon focused back on what they were doing, as if they were used to it.H8SD
x1WHBX“S, Sister Hua Ran! P, please. I beg you please don’t jump down like that!”LSrtfm
sVLa40“…This is faster.”qt5vZRD
8cOMTo be fair, she wasn’t wrong.MOfZM
NEN1DrSThe trees in the nearby forest were of high quality and were a perfect fit for repairing traps and walls, but the biggest issue was in their weight.4qu7
C0XJTransporting it from the forest to the city was not an easy feat, and yet this tiny sister was able to hand-chop enormous trees, carry it on her shoulder and jump dozens of meters at once.iusXD
Yv1She was much more efficient than hundreds of men working on it, but the guards couldn’t help but feel startled whenever she was landing near them with an enormous log on her shoulder.EiMoWG
JBuyKm7“By the way, Sister Hua Ran, there has been a request for assistance from the trap install group. Apparently the ground is frozen so hard that they cannot dig deep. Would it be possible for you to lend them a hand?”z5ZKG
sRi3HfNormally, it would be unthinkable to ask a Unique Grade knight to do something so trivial, but Hua Ran wasn’t the authoritative type to worry about that, so she returned a nod.51nHXM
DOaVRzr[They’re all working so hard. Should we swap?]sFh
ypJw“…It’s okay.”Y5Qu8
6o6Hua turned down Ran’s offer, because this much of manual labor was nothing more than going on a walk for someone like her, who had the Unbreakable Vajra Body.uRfKWqO
yCXj[Let’s make a lunch box in a bit and go over to where oppa is. He’s working the hardest, after all.]3iWx3G
vj5afg“…Will he, like malatang?”gDkK
87EHnpL[He’ll like anything you make, Hua.]8eVw8sQ
8Z5Hua couldn’t conceal the blush on her cheeks.ILVQ
1WLN7c[Let’s add some bird meat inside.]xgd
gM8oLLA“There are… only rabbits here.”9p6oFr
9zB9[No. Look at the sky. There’s a bird flying over there.]8vJ
e8JCzHua turned towards the sky as suggested by her sister. Thanks to the sudden increase in temperature due to the Sun, it seemed that the nearby birds were also gathering nearby for refuge.wEuh
w1h“I’ll grab one of them.”JzdK5pe
C53HkAIJust like what she did when carrying the log around, Hua kicked off the ground. Crushing the ground beneath, Hua jumped straight into the sky. The ground beneath her zoomed out until it appeared like a white canvas but her eyes were stuck on that one big bird.dQE
U05HBg– Quack!?VLK5
RUcBefore it could even react, the bird was grabbed on the neck by the girl wearing nun clothes, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It flapped its wings but couldn’t avoid the fate of falling towards the ground with Hua.LSbr54t
q2KJ“Got it.”VMMJf7l
EG9WI9Right as she was about to snap the neck of the resisting bird, both Hua and Ran widened their eyes in shock.xqiR
daemXTwo legs as thin as chopsticks; a long beak; wings were covered in white feathers except for the ends that were in black.NcbpD
rkE2It was the only type of bird that Hua and Ran knew of, apart from chickens and eagles.jV4
Ml8“…A stork?”9oX
9sUf[…A stork?]cGGhI
haXEMBiIt was their long-awaited baby carrier.53qe13b
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