Aslaf headed for Beden Castle. In any case, Beden Castle was located on the border with the Yeon tribe, so if he wanted to go to the Yeon tribe, he had to go that way.
After riding for several days, he arrived at Beden Castle.
When Aslaf, who had grown tall and sun-tanned over the past year, dismounted from his horse, the residents gathered around him.
“You have returned safely.”
“You truly worked hard, young master.”
They welcomed him as warmly as if they were greeting a victorious general returning from the battlefield.
“Aslaf. You have worked hard.”
Baron Lenke smiled brightly, hugged him, and patted his shoulder. Now, he treated him as his son without being conscious of other people’s gazes.
Aslaf informed Baron Lenke that he would be going to the Yeon tribe as the duchy’s envoy.
“I stopped by to pay my respects before leaving.”
“This time, you are going to the Yeon tribe?”
“This time, I am going not as a hostage, but with the status of an envoy.”
“Is that true?”
The baron was dumbfounded as he looked over the letter of appointment Aslaf held out.
He stared fixedly at Marquis Sigrid’s signature, clearly written on it.
He could not believe that Aslaf, at only seventeen years old, had met Marquis Sigrid, requested the position of representative envoy of the Duchy of Gironde, and obtained it.
“Oh, so this is how you carve out your own path. I am proud of you.”
He was an illegitimate son, and the second son at that, with neither property nor title to inherit, yet Aslaf was already more socially recognized than the eldest son, Tyron.
He had taken on and handled difficult tasks that others feared, thereby creating his own reputation and value.
The next day, Aslaf set out with Iwan.
“From now on, it will be truly dangerous. Stay sharp.”
Aslaf told Iwan what he should and should not do when they encountered the Yeon tribe.
“If we meet the Yeon tribe, unless they are very far away, there is no point trying to run. The Yeon tribe can shoot and hit an enemy even from a thousand paces away.”
Iwan nodded with a frightened expression.
“Then what should we do?”
“They do not kill nobles or wealthy people who can fetch a ransom. So if possible, you have to show off and bluff as though you have a lot of money.”
“Ah, I see.”
Iwan seemed to accept it for a moment, then tilted his head and asked back,
“But who would send our ransom?”
Beden Castle, located in a remote place, was poor, and Baron Lenke was a noble in title only, with no money.
“There is no one who will send a ransom. We have to buy time that way first, then look for an opportunity to escape.”
At Aslaf’s calm words, which essentially meant there was no way to preserve their lives, Iwan swallowed hard and stared at the endless desert with a tense expression.
Before they entered the desert, they waited in a border village, and a Yeon guide appeared and greeted them.
Aslaf had requested in advance through Yobik that a trustworthy Yeon guide be sent.
“You are Young Master Aslaf Lenke, correct? I am Yerei of the Blue Moon tribe.”
Yerei was a young man about Aslaf’s age. Seeing that the guide was younger than expected, Iwan looked at him with suspicion, wondering whether they could truly trust him.
He held out a letter of introduction written by Yobik.
The letter said that although Yerei was young, he was a brave young man who regularly traveled back and forth between the Empire and the Yeon tribe and had overcome all kinds of hardships.
“You will have to pay the guide fee in advance.”
At Yerei’s words, Iwan shook his head.
“What are you talking about? We will pay once we arrive.”
“How can I trust you when you say you will pay after arriving? Do you not know that guiding fees must always be paid in advance?”
Yerei did not budge, but Iwan also held his ground as though he would absolutely not back down.
“How can I trust you, whom I have never seen before, and pay in advance? You might take us somewhere strange. We do not even know whether you know the way or not.”
“Blue Moon Lake is my hometown. I have gone back and forth hundreds of times.”
Even at Yerei’s words, Iwan refused to open the money pouch and stubbornly held out.
“Pay him in advance.”
Aslaf told Iwan to give him the money. He did not think Yobik would have introduced someone untrustworthy.
“But, young master. How can we trust a Yeon tribesman we have never seen before?”
Iwan, who had grown up only in Beden Castle, had heard all kinds of horrifying rumors about the Yeon tribe, so he was extremely frightened of and wary toward them.
“The Yeon tribe are all thieves or robbers. We must be careful, because we never know when they will change their words.”
“It is fine. Give it to him.”
At Aslaf’s command, Iwan reluctantly opened the pouch and handed the fee to Yerei. Perhaps angered by Iwan saying that he was either a thief or a robber, Yerei snatched the money away without even a word of thanks, his expression blunt, and climbed onto his horse.
“Let us go.”
Yerei took the lead and drove his horse forward. Iwan kept glancing at him sideways, as though he did not trust that attitude.
Yerei seemed to cherish his horse greatly, stroking it again and again. Unlike the cold tone he had used toward Iwan, he whispered gently into the horse’s ear.
“Let us go. I will be counting on you for the long road ahead.”
As though the horse understood Yerei’s words, it wagged its tail cheerfully again and again.
‘I feel like I’ve seen that somewhere.’
That side of Yerei did not feel unfamiliar to Aslaf. It felt familiar, as though he had seen it many times before.
Yerei drove several camels loaded with baggage.
It seemed he was transporting goods purchased from the Empire through Yobik to the Yeon tribe.
When they entered the Yeon tribe’s territory, the grassy field became a dry grassland. As they went farther, it turned into completely arid land, and the grass grew sparse.
Their destination was Blue Moon Lake.
Blue Moon Lake was the oasis where the Blue Moon tribe’s village was located. The Blue Moon tribe was a tribe that combined herding with farming, and since it was partly self-sufficient in grain, it was the least aggressive toward the Empire. Yobik was also from the Blue Moon tribe, and many of the Yeon mercenaries in Alexei I’s army had come from the Blue Moon tribe, so Aslaf knew that tribe well.
“How is the Blue Moon tribe these days?”
Aslaf asked Yerei about their recent situation in clumsy Yeon speech.
“You know the Yeon language?”
Yerei looked at him in wonder.
“There are not many imperial people who know the Yeon language.”
“I can understand it... but I cannot speak it well. Still, if I am going to live with the Yeon tribe now... I should practice speaking.”
When Aslaf spoke clumsy Yeon, Yerei grinned as though amused.
“Grandfather Yobik said you were a good person, and it seems he was right.”
Yerei looked at Aslaf with a friendly gaze, since he had readily paid in advance and even knew how to speak the Yeon language.
The Blue Moon tribe interacted and traded with the Empire, farmed as well, and was a relatively wealthy tribe friendly to the Empire. If their influence grew, the other Yeon tribes also followed them in buying and selling goods, and friction with the Empire decreased.
However, if the crops they had grown were plundered by other tribes, or if they suffered a bad harvest, their situation worsened. Then trade would shrink, and their influence would quickly decline. When that happened, warlike tribes such as the Red Snake tribe gained strength, and plundering of the Empire increased.
Therefore, to understand the balance of power among the Yeon tribe, he had to know the Blue Moon tribe’s current situation.
“For the past few years, the Red Snake tribe has kept plundering our crops, so the mood is not good. There was even a time when we nearly lost the entire oasis to them.”
“The Red Snake tribe does not even farm, so what would they do with an oasis? They prefer stealing what others have grown, do they not?”
“You even know things like that?”
When Aslaf, who knew the Yeon tribe inside and out, responded in agreement, Yerei opened up and spoke about the details of the situation even without being asked.
“A few years ago, the Great Rock tribe had their flock of sheep stolen by the Red Snake tribe and asked us for help. We helped the Great Rock tribe recover their sheep then, and that earned us the Red Snake tribe’s grudge. Since then, our Blue Moon tribe has been under constant attack.”
It seemed the Great Rock tribe and the Blue Moon tribe were related tribes with the same ancestors, so they had helped them, and because of that, they had become enemies with the Red Snake tribe.
“How does it make any sense for them to steal someone else’s sheep and then resent you for taking them back? There is a limit to how shameless people can be.”
Even Iwan, dumbfounded, grew indignant despite it not being his own affair.
“The Red Snake tribe is increasing its power by subjugating more and more Yeon tribes. At this rate, the Blue Moon tribe will not be able to hold out much longer either.”
“I heard the Yeon tribe do not unite easily.”
He could not understand how the Yeon tribe, split into over a hundred tribes that constantly fought one another, was uniting under the Red Snake tribe.
“There are two reasons. The Red Snake tribe is exceptionally skilled at plundering the Empire. Since following them allows tribes to obtain many goods, there are tribes that follow them willingly. The other reason is that if they do not obey, the Red Snake tribe kills them all cruelly, so many tribes have no choice but to surrender and follow them.”
Plundering the Empire was not as easy as it sounded. One had to know the complicated roads, know where food and expensive goods were located, and prepare for the danger of being attacked by imperial troops from all sides. In that regard, the Red Snake tribe seemed to have shown outstanding results.
“Last year, the Red Snake tribe even annihilated Marquis Sigrid’s army, so their ability is recognized even more among the Yeon tribe.”
Since they had defeated the imperial army and gained fame on top of that, it seemed the Red Snake tribe’s one-sided dominance would continue for the time being. This was different from the Yeon tribe of the past, who had been easily divided by the strategy of pitting one against another.
Yerei stopped speaking midway and came to a halt as he examined the ground.
“Let us go that way.”
“Why?”
“There are footprints.”
He meant that if they encountered other Yeon tribesmen, they might be killed, so avoiding them was best.
Yerei circled far to the south and chose their path again. If they went around like this, Aslaf did not know whether they could reach Blue Moon Lake before their food and water ran out.
Perhaps because of that, even after night fell, Yerei did not stop. He looked at the stars, gauged the direction, and continued walking. Then there was a dull sound of something falling to the ground.
THUD-
Iwan had dozed off and fallen from his horse.
“Ow, ow.”
He jumped up in surprise. Only then did Yerei stop.
“Let us sleep here before going on.”
After the sun set, the temperature dropped in an instant, and it grew so cold that they shivered even inside wool sleeping bags.
“We cannot light a fire, can we?”
Iwan whispered in a small voice.
“We must not be noticed.”
Aslaf answered. Yerei heard their conversation, hesitated for a moment, then brought firewood and lit a campfire.
“Outsiders will have difficulty enduring the desert cold without a fire.”
He lit the fire, judging that since it was late, there would be no Yeon tribesmen moving around anymore.
“Wow, I feel alive.”
Iwan, who had been trembling until his teeth chattered, basked happily in the small campfire. Then he skewered dried bread and an apple and roasted them warmly over the fire.
Just as they were about to take a bite, Yerei flinched and sprang to his feet.
“What is it?”
Yerei glared into the darkness and listened closely.
Then he hurriedly poured sand over the campfire and put it out.
TACK-
At the same time, an arrow flew in and lodged in Yerei’s back.
“Argh!”
He screamed and collapsed. He drew his sword and tried to block the attack aimed at him, but as though his strength had left him, he staggered and fell again.
“Who is there?!”
Aslaf instinctively drew his sword, aimed it, and glared into the darkness.
From within the pitch-black darkness, a blade shining under the starlight flew toward Yerei.
Whoosh-
Aslaf calmly stepped forward and parried it before the blade could reach Yerei.
CLANG!
The sharp ring of metal echoed across the vast desert.
Alexei I had fought countless battles, and among them had been battles that continued into the night. He had fought in situations where he could not properly distinguish friend from foe, so even now, he did not panic and focused on the enemy’s presence.
Huff- huff-
Listening to the breathing and footsteps he could hear, he stared without blinking at the faint movement of a shadow.
“Hah!”
The moment the enemy’s sword came down, Aslaf, who knew the Yeon tribe's swordsmanship, instinctively took one step back and moved out of the enemy’s path. Then he struck down at the back of the enemy, who had cut through empty air and lost his balance.
SQUELCH-
He could not see clearly, but along with a dull impact at the tip of his sword, he felt cloth and flesh being cut.
“Urgh!”
The enemy screamed and collapsed.
Although it was dark, it seemed he had been struck properly.