Carcosa’s Barbarians—or the proud Dark Elves of the sea.
What others called them did not really matter.
As the Chieftain’s younger sister, Aroha already had more than enough internal problems to worry about.
“Aroha! Did we not agree that we would speak no more of Carcosa!”
At the elder’s shout, Aroha rolled her eyes.
She understood what the old people were worried about, but honestly, it was suffocating.
Aroha was sick and tired of life on a sandy island where even a single blade of grass struggled to grow.
“But we can’t keep living like this forever. You know that!”
Besides, life on this sandy island was not peaceful either.
More than half the tribe had now contracted the mysterious illness that had plagued them for some time.
They bled from their gums and other parts of their bodies, and as the illness worsened, their teeth fell out before they eventually lost consciousness….
It had reached the point where some ultimately died.
“More and more people are getting sick. And now the Kraken has suddenly started rampaging, and Magical Beasts are attacking our fish farms more often! Surviving is only going to get harder from here. Isn’t that right, Makui?”
At Aroha’s words, Makui, the Chieftain who had been listening in silence, nodded and added his own opinion.
Recently, conflict between the young warriors and the elders had been constant on the sandy island.
Generational conflict existed everywhere, but theirs had now become directly tied to survival.
“I understand why the elders believe it is dangerous, but I also believe Aroha’s opinion is valid. At this rate, even maintaining our current situation will be difficult, Elders.”
“See?! I told you we’re already at our limit! We have to ask them for help, or fight them and take what we need! We’ve reached the point where we have to do something!”
“You lot… how many more times must we tell you what dreadful creatures the inlanders are before you understand?! What could those of you who have never experienced it possibly know!”
At the elders’ words, Aroha finally stopped caring about manners and openly let out a long sigh.
They were stories everyone, from their parents to themselves, had heard constantly since childhood.
The humans of Carcosa—and especially their leader, Goldenwood—were supposedly vicious liars who would feed living people to Magical Beasts without so much as blinking.
“I know! I understand how terrible they are. But at this rate, we’re all just going to sit here and die! We might as well go and fight them! Even if we die, at least that would be an honorable death!”
Aroha found the same circular conversation unbearably frustrating.
No matter how badly her tribe had suffered at their hands in the past, those events had happened nearly seventy years ago.
She also took pride in the fact that those who had survived in this harsh land could not possibly be weak.
“Aroha. As for a treatment, if food really is the problem, we already allowed you to gather plants at the far edge of the mainland, just as you asked.”
“Yes. Why not think it over a little longer with that? You are already doing everything you can.”
One of the elders gently took Aroha’s hand and spoke soothingly, but Aroha’s thoughts had already gone elsewhere.
She also knew that her twin and Chieftain, Makui, as well as all the young warriors gathered here, were thinking something similar.
‘I don’t know what it was like in the past, but maybe we can change things.’
Despite thinking the exact opposite internally, Aroha decided to give an obedient answer for now.
“…All right. I won’t go farther inland this time either.”
After all the conflict between the warriors and the elders, the only permission they had ultimately gained was to gather things near the far edge of Carcosa’s beach.
But Aroha had no intention of stopping there.
Someday, even if she had to risk danger, she wanted to venture out into the wider world.
“Hey, could you give me a hand? I really can’t get out of here by myself.”
She had made that resolution only this morning, and as if on cue, the perfect prey had fallen into one of their traps.
Aroha looked down at the inlander casually calling out from the pit they had dug beforehand.
His relaxed attitude despite being trapped was a little frightening, but he did not look nearly as vicious as she had imagined.
If anything, with his dull blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin, he looked weaker than the Dark Elves.
“Wh-What should we do, Aroha?”
“Even in a case like this… do we have to follow the rules?”
Aroha turned toward the warriors speaking with confused expressions.
This beach was regularly visited by scouting warriors who gathered plants from the mainland.
They had dug several traps in the area to drive off Magical Beasts and keep them from passing through.
The traps had not been made to capture people, but there was still a basic procedure for dealing with anything that became caught in one.
If something unfamiliar and unknown was captured, tribal law dictated that it be shown to the elders.
“What do you all think?”
Having the elders inspect and decide how to handle unfamiliar things first was also one of the reasons their people had survived on this land for so long.
It was part of why the elders were respected.
But….
“If we bring an inlander back, there’ll definitely be an uproar.”
“Yeah… right. Don’t inlanders control Magical Beasts?”
“I heard they drove us onto the sandy island and offered us as living sacrifices….”
“How old are you, and you still believe that? If that were true, they would’ve summoned Magical Beasts and killed us all ages ago.”
“That’s… also true….”
Watching the troubled warriors, Aroha glanced back down at the inlander stuck in the ground.
He had heard their entire conversation, yet he had not particularly tried to argue against anything.
If anything, he seemed to be waiting to see what they would decide to do.
“…Not taking him back is a problem too. Should we just pull him out and let him go? Or are we going to kill him?”
When Aroha asked the warriors, their chatter fell silent.
Just as she had said, neither decision was something they could make however they pleased.
At least there were seven tribal warriors present, while the inlander was alone.
If anything, the inlander seemed to be the one in danger.
The young people, who had spent their entire lives living innocently in isolation on their island, felt uncomfortable upon realizing that they had somehow become the threatening ones.
“…I don’t want to kill him.”
One of the warriors finally voiced his honest feelings.
The others nodded in apparent agreement.
“Then in the end… don’t we have no choice but to leave the decision to the elders?”
If they could not decide immediately, there was only one conclusion.
Leave the judgment to the elders.
“…Besides, through this man, we might be able to find out how strong the inlanders are now and what they’re thinking. Who knows? Maybe the elders might change their minds a little too.”
At Aroha’s words, the warriors’ expressions changed slightly.
Feeling stifled by their isolated life on the island was something all the young warriors had in common.
“For now, let’s pull him out.”
At Aroha’s command, three sturdy warriors expertly dug through the sand and jumped into the pit.
Surrounded inside the narrow pit in an instant, the inlander was subdued so easily that he almost seemed helpless.
He looked nothing like the countless stories about inlanders that they had heard all their lives like ghost tales.
“Hey, no… wait! Ow! That hurts, that hurts! Easy, easy! I’m staying still!”
He made that much of a fuss just from having his wrists tightly bound.
On top of that, the only weapon among his belongings was a single sword, and his bag was packed full of some kind of fruit.
His belongings were simple enough that one might have mistaken him for an ordinary hunter.
“Quiet. The elders will decide what happens to you. It would be in your best interest to come quietly.”
Aroha spoke coldly, but inwardly, she was filled with anticipation.
If this was all there was to him, he was hardly a threat.
Perhaps the elders might even revise their opinion of inlanders.
The other warriors appeared to be thinking something similar, their faces slightly flushed with both tension and anticipation.
Whatever happened, the stagnant situation of their tribe was certain to change now that this inlander had drifted into their lives.
***
Alex safely arrived on the sandy island exactly as he had intended.
His hands were tied, but by Alex’s standards—someone who always accounted for the worst possible outcome—it was practically comfortable.
Still, listening to their chatter left him with complicated feelings.
‘The Barbarians were this ordinary and innocent?’
The young warriors had actually felt moral guilt over the idea of killing him.
It did not match at all with the Barbarians Alex had fought throughout hundreds of playthroughs, who had charged at him ready to kill or be killed.
Could their disposition really be this different merely because he had come a few months earlier?
What in the world happened to them during that interval?
“Aroha! What in the world were you thinking, doing something like this?!”
“Have we spoiled you too much?”
However, with old people shouting at him from every direction, Alex found himself wishing he could simply cover his ears.
Unfortunately, that was only wishful thinking, since his hands were tied.
“But….”
Alex looked once more at the woman called Aroha, who had brought him here.
The moment Aroha tried to say something, shouts erupted from all directions again.
“How do you intend to take responsibility for this reckless act, Aroha!”
“How could you bring an inlander onto the island!”
The elders were familiar figures Alex had seen countless times in the game—deeply wrinkled old people with their hoods pulled low.
Several of the more conspicuous Barbarian warriors also had faces Alex remembered seeing as special enemies in the game.
But Aroha was someone he had never seen before.
Alex frowned as he continued looking around while the scolding showed no sign of ending.
He was already behaving as quietly as possible so that they could find no fault with him.
‘But why are they scolding someone from their own tribe this much?’
To Alex, who was familiar with the Barbarians from the game, every part of this situation felt fresh and different.
By this point, Alex became certain of one thing.
Some enormous incident had to occur that caused the Barbarians’ dispositions to become aggressive.
Alex quietly intended to keep watching them while thinking about it.
How long could a bunch of elderly people possibly stay angry?
“How could you do something so foolish!”
“Have I not repeatedly warned you not to fall for the treacherous schemes of the inlanders!”
…Yet contrary to his expectations, they showed absolutely no sign of calming down.
It had been nearly seventy years since all interaction between his side and this tribe had been completely severed.
Even Hamilton only vaguely knew that such things had happened in the past.
He held no personal anger toward the Barbarians.
In fact, Alex had even managed to persuade him to let him come here.
“It was because of the Goldenwood bastards’ treacherous schemes that we ended up like this…!”
Even if the elders really were old enough to remember those days clearly, something still felt strange.
No matter how Alex listened to it, their anger felt oddly out of place.
They had been the ones doing the raiding, yet their hostility was so vivid that they spoke as if they were the victims.
On top of that, perhaps because they were afraid of him, they would not even keep their eyes on Alex for long.
“The Chieftain is coming!”
“Makui! What will you do about this?!”
“Chieftain!”
At that moment, the Barbarians surrounding Alex began murmuring and moved aside.
Naturally, Alex turned his gaze as well.
A huge man approached along the path opened by the Dark Elves.
“….”
Rarely, Alex swallowed dryly as tension ran through him.
Makui, Chieftain of the Dark Elves.
The man Alex had seen in the game was every bit as imposing in person.
Standing over two meters tall, he was a full head larger than the other Barbarians.
‘I have to find it, I have to find it, I have to find it…! Anything that stands in my way, die!’
‘I will pass judgment upon the sins of the tribe!’
‘Are you the source of all this? Die!’
A madman who had lost his reason so completely that he attacked friend and foe alike.
After the Black Star, he had even undergone Magical Beast transformation after his mind completely collapsed, much like Gilbert.
Although parts of his body had changed, Makui had largely retained his human form as he unleashed his rage.
Alex knew that Makui had gone mad after losing his only blood relative—his younger sister.
That was the Makui Alex remembered.
“….”
As the approaching silhouette drew closer, Alex tensed without realizing it.
Makui was walking normally, but his head still rose conspicuously above everyone around him.
He isn’t going to try to kill me on sight, is he?
Tense, Alex quietly prepared himself to deploy Sanctuary at any moment.
Even if Makui suddenly thrust a spear at him, Sanctuary should allow him to withstand at least one attack without serious harm….
“Everyone, stand back. Inlander though he may be, he is also the first guest we have received in decades.”
“…Huh?”
Alex, who had been completely on edge, let out a deflated sound without realizing it.
“My apologies. Everyone here is extremely wary. I hope you can forgive us for welcoming you in such a manner.”
Makui spoke in an exceedingly gentlemanly voice.
His attitude was the complete opposite of the Makui Alex had always known.
Since Alex had arrived earlier than the point in time depicted in the game, the Barbarians’ situation was significantly different.
He had considered the possibility that Makui’s younger sister might still be alive because of that.
But Alex had merely expected Makui to be somewhat easier to talk to.
This was practically a completely different person.
“Although my younger sister captured and detained you despite your innocence, we are a people who know honor.”
Alex’s eyes widened for a moment at those words, and he looked at Aroha.
What?! She’s the younger sister?!
Alex felt rather proud of himself for managing not to blurt out the instinctive question.
“So long as you do nothing unnecessary, we will not threaten you without cause.”
Makui’s attitude and everything contained within his words were shocking.
Just what in the world happened to these Barbarians that left them so utterly broken by the time of the game?