Chapter 31: Prince of the Sea

Along the coastline of the eastern end of the continent was the Porcana Kingdom. Like all others, Porcana was also a vassal of the Empire.

“The... sea...?” Urich’s eyes widened. He collapsed on the ground and froze. The moment he climbed to the top of the hill, he finally saw the culprit of the cool breeze and fishy smell that he had been sensing for quite some time now.

Squawk, squawk.

The seagulls squawked away. Urich stared blankly at the horizon.

“Get up, you hillbilly,” Bachman said as he rubbed the bridge of this nose. He finally got to show Urich the ocean that he had been talking about for so long.

“Ahh, the sea. It has been a while,” Sven said as he took a big breath in and sniffed the smell of the ocean. There were many seamen among the northerners as they inhabited the coastlines of their land.

“Ah, so this is the sea?” Urich was stunned.

‘The water really is as endless as the plains.’

It was fascinating, yet frightening.

“Come on, let’s start heading down. Saltwater fish are quite delicious when they’re grilled. It’ll be my treat.”

Bachman pulled Urich up. He glanced at the solar pendant that was hanging by Urich’s neck.

‘Urich is a believer of Solarism now.’

The fact that their leader was now a part of their religion was significant news for Bachman and the other mercenaries. It gave them an extra sense of comradery and relief.

‘Now, we don’t have to worry about Lou’s wrath for following a pagan leader.’

Two months had passed since Urich’s baptism. Since then, the mercenary squad had taken on and completed three more jobs as they moved further east.

“All the way from the city of Ankaira at the foot of the Sky Mountains to the eastern coastline. We crossed the continent this year, too,” Bachman remarked. Back when they were gladiators under Horus, crossing the continent was an annual occurrence.

Clunk.

Each mercenary was carrying a hefty load. Every time they took a step, a heavy clunking noise of metal followed.

“Soldiers?”

The citizens who had come out to the outskirts of the city were startled at the sight of Urich’s mercenary squad. They had grown to forty-six men, which was enough to deal with almost any conflicts and battles, or even loot a small village—if they wanted to.

“Hey, are they not worried about building a city in a place like this? What are they going to do when the ocean rises from heavy rain? Won’t the city get flooded?”

Urich’s words made the mercenaries break out in laughter.

“Hah, listen to how considerate our leader is. You think the ocean’s going to flood because of some rain?”

“The ocean never rises enough to put a whole city underwater. Well, I guess there’s the heavy tide when there’s a storm, but still.”

The embarrassed Urich got up from his seat and sniffed the ocean breeze. It was a smell that he had never smelled before, so new that he couldn’t find an appropriate comparison.

‘It’s the smell of the ocean; nothing compares. Something that my brothers on the other side of the mountains have never experienced.’

Clunk.

The heavy packs rattled as the mercenaries shifted. Urich’s Brotherhood saw a big growth in their combat power. Their equipment had improved to the level of an average standing army, and a few experienced mercenaries had joined their squad after hearing about their achievements.

‘There’s Sven and the northerners, as well.’

Sven saved every cil of his earnings and spent it on freeing his northern brothers. He had rescued three northerners so far, bringing the count within the squad to four.

“Stop right there!”

The soldiers of the wall stopped the mercenaries at the gate. The captain of the guards emerged, staring at them.

“What brings you to our city?”

“We are mercenaries. We’re here to look for a job.”

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“Hah, here? Jobs for mercenaries? We are the coastal city of Caracan.”

The guard captain laughed. Coastal cities rarely had any jobs for a mercenary squad. In fact, the only reason why Urich’s Brotherhood made their way to a coastal city was to satisfy Urich’s desire to see the ocean. However, that also reflected Urich’s authority within the squad as its leader who was strong enough to convince the mercenaries to come to a city where work was scarce.

“Only ten men can enter the city at a time. The rest of you can set up your camp at the bottom of the hill outside the castle walls. We’ll be keeping our eyes on you,” said the captain of the guards. It wasn’t easy for a smaller city like Caracan to let a mercenary squad of forty men enter through their gates.

“Dammit, we came all the way to the city and we still have to camp? This is why I don’t like small cities.”

“What can we do, man. Urich really wanted to see the ocean.”

“Actually, I’ve never seen the ocean myself.”

“Huh? You’re a hillbilly like our leader too?

The mercenaries bantered away. The guard captain got a decent understanding of what he was dealing with here.

‘They’re tourists.’

Tourism was a big part of the Porcana Kingdom. The kingdom was a famous vacation spot that attracted many nobles every summer.

“Does your squad have a name? Tell me, so I can put it down on the guest log,” the captain of the guards asked as he grabbed the quill, assuming that Urich was illiterate based on his appearance. Dressed in fur instead of clothes, it wasn’t wrong to assume that he was an uneducated warrior.

“Nah, I’ll write it myself.”

Scrub.

Urich grabbed the captain’s quill and scribbled the words on the guest log. His writing was clumsy, like a child’s but it was more than legible.

“Urich’s Brotherhood?”

The captain of the guards suddenly remembered the name from the songs of the wandering bards. They had been singing it to their heart’s content, saying that it was their newest release.

“You know us?”

Urich showed a fulfilled smile after finishing his writing. He was proud of himself for being able to write the name of his own mercenary squad.

“I heard the bards singing. Is this how it went? Ehem. The Mollando territory in danger! Mighty enemies!” The guard captain cleared his throat and then belched out the lyrics. The playful mercenaries followed.

“Twenty-four brave mercenaries out of nowhere! Ho!”

“They marched fearlessly forward against the mighty hundred-strong Silver Lion Mercenaries!!!”

The mercenaries slapped their knees and drummed their bellies as they laughed away and sang.

“I used to dream of being a bard myself. But I see that you’ve grown in number—the song mentioned that you were a twenty-four-men squad. Anyway, don’t do anything stupid inside the city.”

The captain of the guards granted them entry. The mercenaries decided to pick the first ten to enter the city with a game of rock-paper-scissors.

“Haha, luck’s been on my side ever since I got baptized. This god thing is a pretty nice thing to believe in,” Urich said after winning the game. He and ten other mercenaries walked through the city gates while the rest of the squad set up their camp.

The mercenaries ran straight to the red-light district. They were quite thirsty for women since it had been more than half a month since their last contact. They spent most of the money they made by risking their lives on women.

“So, this is the sea.”

Urich walked toward the harbor. There was a strange, fishy smell.

Step, step.

He walked along the ocean until a beach appeared past the harbor.

Sssss.

Sand slipped through between his fingers, and he stared at the falling grains of sand.

“Hahahaha!”

Splash!

The children were jumping in and out of the water and the sandy beach. Urich stared off into the horizon again.

“So there really is such a thing as a endless sea. Bachman wasn’t lying after all.”

He was witnessing what he had always been suspicious of. It was something that wasn’t imaginable even after hearing about it over and over, hundreds and thousands of times.

‘No words can describe this, even with hundreds and thousands of descriptions. It can’t beat seeing it with my own eyes just once.’

He involuntarily clenched his fists. His eyes chased after the horizon. At that moment, women were the last thing on his mind. He felt the cry of his heart burst out as he looked at the endless ocean.

“Ah, ahhhhhhh! Wahhhhhhh—!”

Veins rose on his face as he clenched every muscle in his body to let out the biggest roar. The children playing on the beach were startled and turned their heads to Urich.

“W-what is that crazy man doing?” The passersby stopped and murmured as they watched Urich.

“The sea is amazing,” Urich remarked as he spread his arms. He couldn’t hold the magnitude of the water, no matter how wide he spread his arms.

‘The sky, the earth, and the sea.’

These were the things that no man could have in his grasp or fathom the end of.

“Haha.”

All the shouting and roaring made Urich thirsty. He stepped into the cold ocean water and bent over.

‘Water’s all the same, so this should be okay to drink, right?’

Children were playing in the water just fine, so it seemed like it was clean water.

Urich cupped his hands together and scooped up some of the seawater.

Gulp.

As soon as the first sip trickled down his throat, Urich gagged.

“Yuck, what the hell is this? It’s salty. It tastes like...” Urich flung his tongue and frowned.

“Hahaha!”

A clear voice came from behind. A neatly dressed young man was smiling at him. His face still had the boyish immaturity. The young man had been watching Urich since he heard his roar.

“How do you not know that you can’t drink the water from the sea? Where are you from? From the way you’re dressed, you seem like you’re from far away. No one in Porcana wears fur,” the young man rambled on. His dark blue eyes made it seem like he had a gemstone for eyes.

“Shut up. Do you want to get beat up?” Urich cursed as if he was trying to get rid of his anger. The young man flinched.

“Ah, I guess you don’t know how I am. But you should watch how you speak to me. I’m a man of high status.” The young man seemed proud and nonchalant.

“Who’s gonna care about your status when you’re just a dead body floating in the ocean?”

Urich strode over to the young man and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

“L-let me go! Who do you think you are, how dare you!”

“Dare this, dare that, no one who had spoken like that to me had ever gone home with all their bones intact.”

Urich threw the young man into the ocean. It was his superhuman strength again; though this time it was a young man on the leaner side.

Splash!

The thrown man’s face showed how stunned he was in the water. His face soon became red hot with anger.

“You bastard!”

The man drew a short dagger from his belt. It was a dagger for self-defence, only just as long as his forearm.

“What is that? Why do you have such a girly dagger?” Urich asked as he reached for his sword behind his back.

Cliiiing—!

The sword forged with imperial steel was drawn with an eerie sound. Its sense of power was on a different level than a mere self-defence dagger.

“This is what you’d call a real sword.”

Urich’s sword was a murderous one that had been feeding on the blood of the men it had been slaying. Its blade showed the remnants of real battles.

“A-ah...”

The young man was intimidated. Even the nobility of status meant nothing special before death.

‘Lou does not discriminate between the high and the low of the human world.’

The words flashed through the young man’s mind.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing!” A middle-aged man yelled from afar. He ran toward Urich with an enraged look.

Clank!

His sword aimed for Urich’s neck. Urich easily parried the attack by raising his blade.

Clink! Clank!

The swords clashed repeatedly. Urich glared at the middle-aged man.

“Are you this kid’s guardian? Get a hold of your kid,” Urich said as he bit his lip.

“You raghead, coming from out of nowhere!” The middle-aged man was still furious.

‘Hah, how pathetic.’

Urich had multiple chances to kill the man.

‘Murder is a serious accident here.’

The old Urich would have already chopped both men into pieces without much thought and carried on with his day, but now he had learned the rules of the civilized society.

“If only the guard captain...”

Urich kicked the shin of the middle-aged man, who collapsed on the ground face-first.

“...hadn’t told me not to do anything stupid, I would have killed you a long time ago.”

Urich put the blade of his sword against the neck of the man on the ground, then withdrew it.

“Youuuuu! You shall be punished. How dare you lay your hands on this man! Oh, my young master!”

Even after losing, the middle-aged man kept talking. He rushed to the young man and helped him up.

“Man... these civilized people...” Urich sighed as he put his sword away. The middle-aged man relentlessly cursed at him until he was out of his sight. It seemed like he was properly angry.

“Hmph, I should probably get going.”

Urich asked the people on the streets for directions to the red-light district. A few of the mercenaries were leaving the establishments after getting their needs taken care of.

“Hey, leader! The women here are pretty tasty, although they do taste a bit fishy, hehehe.”

“Pff, go get the other guys. Their dicks are probably throbbing from staying hard for so long.”

Urich bumped fists with the other mercenaries and walked into a brothel. After getting his fill of women, he returned to the camp by sundown.

“What’s for dinner?” Urich asked as he entered the campground.

“That’s not important. Get inside, there’s a job for us,” the mercenary on lookout duty told Urich. Urich shrugged.

“Work, already?”

He entered the tent where Donovan and Bachman were talking to the client.

“Eh?”

“Y-you!”

Urich and the client both widened their eyes after seeing each other’s faces. It was the middle-aged man who was nearly killed by Urich on the beach. He stared at Urich as he trembled in anger.

“Hey, hey, relax, now. I am Urich, the leader of Urich’s Brotherhood.”

Urich couldn’t contain his chuckle. He took a seat at the table with a big grin on his face.