“Hahaha! If your father saw you now, he’d probably start throwing punches the moment he laid eyes on you!”
“That sounds like a touching family reunion, Uncle.”
Khan replied.
Tarak, having beaten his son Ashuk to a pulp, laughed heartily while patting Khan’s back. Ashuk lay sprawled on the ground, twitching slightly.
“Indeed, it is! Regardless, your father worried a lot about you! He kept wondering if the weakling could even handle himself in a fight out there, or if he’d just meet a pointless end!”
Typical of a barbarian, what concerned the father wasn’t his son dying, but dying without putting up a proper fight. Tarak’s concern was truly barbaric in nature. Khan, wearing an expression of sheer disbelief, watched as Tarak patted his shoulder now.
“But seeing you come back so strong! It’s only right, as a father, to test his son’s growth himself, don’t you think?”
A wildly unreasonable statement, but if it referred to the Great Warrior of Hoarfrost Gorge, it was entirely plausible. In Khan’s memories, the Great Warrior was the epitome of barbarian nature.
If he met his son who had returned as a superhuman, he would certainly lose his mind and launch into an attack.
“…I’d like to talk about the Great Warrior. My father, who’s gone to the sanctum.”
“Did Ashuk tell you? Yes! Our god has summoned the Great Warrior!”
“Do you know why?”
“Hmm. I didn’t ask, so I don’t know.”
Of course, you didn’t.
Having expected as much, Khan wasn’t disappointed and moved on to another question he had prepared.
“I’d like to know about the sanctum.”
Information about the sanctum of the Hoarfrost Gorge clan was scarce. Even when the former ‘Gordi Khan’ tried to gather details, everyone clammed up, saying it was not for non-warriors to know. All Khan knew was that it was a ‘sanctum for warriors’ within the clan.
Another piece of information was that it was where the Great Warrior went upon receiving a summons from their god.
“The sanctum… Indeed, as a warrior who has passed the trial, you’re entitled to know! If you hadn’t left Hoarfrost Gorge, you would have learned about it naturally!”
Tarak cut straight to the chase.
“The sanctum is a place where one can get infinitely closer to our god!”
“Getting closer…?”
“Yes! And it’s also a place where warriors who wish to challenge the position of Great Warrior prove themselves!”
Isn’t it just about fighting?
Given the nature of the Hoarfrost Gorge barbarian, Khan thought they would just jump at each other to settle things. Hearing there was an actual procedure for challenging the Great Warrior came as a surprise to Khan.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve never seen anyone among the warriors directly challenge the Great Warrior.’
It made sense; challenges to the Great Warrior occurred in the sanctum, which was why the former Khan, not being a warrior, had never witnessed such battles.
“…So, that means it’s possible to converse with Karyan in the sanctum?”
“When our god is feeling leisurely, he sometimes comes to watch the fights!”
“Sounds like some kind of idle homebody…”
The idea that Karyan would remain in some divine realm and only come down to watch entertaining fights… Khan’s impression of Karyan, whom he had not even met yet, was already souring.
Given that Karyan was the ancestor of these Hoarfrost Gorge barbarian, it wasn’t unreasonable to assume he shared their unconventional mindset. Karyan might be even more straightforward and unrefined than his descendants.
‘Still, I suppose I’ll have to meet him.’
Ultimately, verifying the mage’s trail, which likely led to Hoarfrost Gorge, would be simplest with Karyan’s assistance.
“I’ve returned to meet Karyan. To do that, I need to go to the sanctum. Are there any other conditions, Uncle?”
“Well! Timing could be an issue! Sometimes the entrance to the sanctum gets blocked. I can send some warriors to check it for you if you’d like!”
“Gets blocked? Isn’t my father already inside?”
“Even if it was open when your father entered, internal issues within the sanctum can block the entrance later on!”
“Internal issues within the sanctum?”
“Yes!”
‘So, there’s more to the sanctum.’
Being a place where one could meet their god was significant, but the fact that ‘issues’ could arise within the sanctum indicated that its role wasn’t limited to divine meetings.
“Please do that. I’d like to enter the sanctum as soon as possible.”
“Hmm, understood! What about the dwarfs you brought along? What do you plan to do with them?”
“I have a request regarding that as well.”
“A request! Let’s hear it!”
Khan made two requests, and though Tarak seemed a bit puzzled, he agreed to both. The fact that Khan was the son of the Great Warrior and had grown strong enough to defeat Tarak himself was reason enough to grant his requests.
“Hmph, but can those dwarfs even endure? They look weak and frail.”
“If they can’t endure, then that’s the end of it. If they do, they’ll become warriors. It’s what they wish for themselves. I’m merely helping them achieve their goals.”
Tarak didn’t question further. It wasn’t in his nature to care.
“Then, I’ll go back to re-educate the brat Ashuk!”
With a giant bone club in hand, Tarak retreated, leaving Khan to head towards the tent designated for youngsters who had yet to become warriors.
In Hoarfrost Gorge, where the cold made Northland snow mountains seem mild, this tent was the warmest place.
“Welcome, boss.”
As Khan lifted the entrance flap of the tent, a wave of warm air greeted him, reminiscent of the temperate climates of the Midland continent.
Generally, residents of Hoarfrost Gorge accepted a certain degree of discomfort to remain sharp as warriors. However, this tent, built for newborns, was an exception, designed to be extra cozy.
“Use it sparingly. Once it’s gone, we won’t be able to restock.”
“Of course…! We’ll do just that!”
At the center of the tent, magical stones glowed a warm, reddish hue, raising the temperature inside. The harsh conditions of Hoarfrost Gorge had likely reduced their efficiency compared to other places, but Ludmilla must have decided that using the hand warmers was necessary to endure the environment.
Trusting Ludmilla to manage the resources judiciously, Khan approached the two figures quietly moving in one corner of the tent.
“Maya, Eson. You will proceed with the warrior’s trial as planned.”
This was the first request Khan had made to Tarak.
“The trial is likely to be in two weeks. Even without the Great Warrior, the return of the Three Idiots means it can’t be delayed further. Soon, the Snow Mountain White Wolves will begin hunting in Hoarfrost Gorge.”
“We need to acclimate to this environment as much as possible before then.”
“Exactly. The method to do that is—”
“I’ve arrived! Warrior Khan!”
“…They will help.”
Maya and Eson turned to look at the entrance of the tent.
There stood Amal and Fatun, bruised and bloodied, but grinning.
“Training! Training! From today, you’ll be fighting with us non-stop!”
***
Khan left the eager warriors—self-proclaimed suicides willing to take the warrior’s trial—in the hands of the Three Idiots, heading to his tent with Ludmilla.
“It’s called a tent, but it’s my home.”
Before possessing ‘Gordi Khan’, this was where he had resided. Proof of this lay in the various atypical items scattered around, uncharacteristic for a barbarian’s dwelling.
“Is that… a book?”
“Yes, though calling something bound in orc leather a book feels a bit odd.”
In Hoarfrost Gorge, where ice, beasts, monsters, and Greenskins were the common fauna, ordinary paper was non-existent. Thus, ‘paper’ in Hoarfrost Gorge often referred to thinly spread orc leather with inscriptions. Naturally, a ‘book’ was a collection of orc leather sheets.
“There’s some ancient language, and about half of it is written in Hoarfrost Gorge’s script.”
The former was left by the ancestors of the Hoarfrost Gorge clan, and the latter was compiled by ‘Gordi Khan’ himself.
“I don’t know how much it’ll help you, but if it’s you, you might be able to figure out something more.”
“I’d love to say, ‘Of course, who do you think I am?’ but… honestly, I don’t even know if I can fully concentrate.”
Khan chuckled at Ludmilla’s uncharacteristic lack of confidence, usually brimming with it. Even a woman born with such magical talents, dubbed a witch, is human in the end.
In this miserably cold place, if one could fully concentrate, could they still be considered a person? They’d be a savage.
“Take care of yourself and do it moderately. It’s not like you’ll have to exert much effort anyway.”
“If it’s something moderate… do you think she will follow us? The Sword Demon, I mean.”
“Yes. She might have followed us quite closely.”
“… Honestly, I can’t agree with you this time. If that monstrous woman were a knight or paladin, maybe, but a swordmaster’s body can’t surpass human limits.”
Khan nodded. Ludmilla’s opinion was a sound one. But Khan knew that Leniyar, unlike other swordmasters, had an extraordinarily robust physique.
Even so, it’s hard to believe Leniyar would be fine in the Hoarfrost Gorge environment, even with the help of an elf spiritist. At best, they could only overcome the snow-capped mountains.
‘But somehow… I have a feeling we’ll meet soon.’
It was an unfounded, vague hunch, but Khan was certain.
Sword Demon Leniyar.
A madwoman who, just because her training was interrupted, cut off the wings of a flying dragon over the capital with only a sword in hand. She wouldn’t give up here.
“If she really shows up as you think, we’ll have to squeeze out every bit of mana to stop her. It’s tough for you to face her directly, isn’t it?”
Still vividly recalling how Leniyar effortlessly nullified her spells with just a sword, Ludmilla rubbed her arm while Khan replied calmly.
“Well, we’ll have to see about that.”
Rather, this Hoarfrost Gorge might be the only place that could stand against Sword Demon Leniyar.
***
“You, y-you damn human…! How far do you plan to go!”
“As far as necessary. You asked me to catch that bastard.”
“I told you there was no need to go this far! Because of your stubbornness, our innocent kin…!”
“Hold on, can you shut up for a moment? These traces… yes, these are definitely that bastard’s traces!”
With pus oozing over the burnt scars on her reddened face, and with her broken ankle turned a dark blue, Leniyar grinned broadly.
Because right before her eyes lay an enormous crater, so deep and vast that it couldn’t be completely buried even in the midst of a snowstorm.
“I finally found it…!”
With the power of spirit magic, Leniyar traced Khan’s trail, and she, along with the elf hunters, finally reached the entrance to Hoarfrost Gorge.
And that day, Khan left the Hoarfrost Gorge clan’s refuge for the sanctuary.
With the promise to be back soon.