Book 2-3.2 Heading Back (I)
With Yarumaha with them, Yulian’s progression had no more rough patches.
10 out of Pareia’s 11 oasis had accepted Yulian as the Glow and pledged their loyalty.
What was left were only two oasis. The largest oasis, which was the location of the Provoke Family, and the oasis that Librie’s family was in charged of.(1)
Janet, who suspected that things were not well, asked Librie’s family to return to the Empire with them, but Librie’s father and head of household, Duripue, declined the offer.
It was questionable whether the warriors would follow them, and as someone who had lived in the desert his entire life, he didn’t plan on living out the rest of his life in the empire. It would be enough if he could live the rest of his life without having to walk on eggshells around them.
Librie wanted to go to Silence with Janet, but Orca did not move an inch from his paoe and was refusing to eat any food. With Orca like that, there wasn’t much she could do.
Since the reason Janet was asking them to go to the empire was to use Orca in the future to eat up Pareia, with Orca not wanting to go, he did not push them to go with him and quickly left with his group of people.
Librie and Janet’s terrible deed had caused a lot of harm to Pareia, but it was crumbling down just as quickly as it happened.
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Yulian glared toward the large oasis with both longing and fury before speaking in a stoic voice.
“I think it is time we put an end to this short but terrible nightmare.”
The death of his father whom he had respected very much. The betrayal of his family.
But what he managed to gain was his younger brother, and faith in himself.
Yulian’s eyes started to shake with complicated emotions. But he quickly started to fold up his emotions.
What needed to get done needed to get done.
“Is there no news yet?”
As Yulian asked Yarumaha, Yarumaha obediently answered.
“Since we have sent them an ultimatum, they will soon decide whether they want to fight or give up. But are you really planning on letting them live if they surrender? The sins they committed by murdering the Glow is extremely heavy.”
“Honestly speaking, this was a family matter. My father might even be relieved at the outcome. If there was a civil war, many of Pareia’s people will be killed. I’m sure my father would not want a bloody revenge for his death.”
“I agree with Glow Yulian-nim’s statement, however, you must set the example. Especially because you have just become the Glow.”
Pere agreed with Yarumaha and chimed in.
“It wasn’t just Librie. All of her family took part in it. You cannot let the warriors of their oasis live either.”
Yulian looked at Pere and Yarumaha, as well as the warriors surrounding him as he started to speak.
“Librie’s family is one thing, but what sins have the warriors of the oasis committed? The most important thing for a warrior is to listen to the command of the chief. And do you think Librie’s family told the warriors the truth to convince them? To them, I was the person who poisoned their Glow, and the immoral child who killed his father. How could we blame them and punish them for that?”
“......”
“For those who put down their weapons and surrender, you must not swing your shamshir at them. That is my first order. My innocence should already be known by both of the oasis. I do not believe they will attack me knowing the truth.”
“If their chief orders them to do so, they may attack.”
“I am the Glow. I am the person who should be giving them their order. I am confident that the smart warriors will know who really has the authority.”
At Yulian’s firm statement, nobody else could say anything.
“People are coming out of the oasis.”
The scouting warrior ran over to report, and Yulian turned his gaze over to the arriving dust cloud.
“Have you made up your mind? I hope you made the wise decision. That is, unless you want to leave a dark mark in Pareia’s history.”
Yulian muttered like that before running toward the arriving dust cloud. His followers and 10,000 warriors followed behind him. It was a situation that might end up being Yulian’s first battle.
‘But I do not want it to be against my own people.’
Yulian’s honest feelings were that he did not want his glorious and memorable first battle to be recorded against his own tribe.
The 6,000 warriors who came out of the oasis, as well as Yulian and his 10,000 warriors met in the middle of the desert.
Victory and defeat in battle was determined by the warriors’ momentum.
Since the warriors were similar in skill level, victory and defeat was determined by the commander and the morale. It was actually not rare to see warriors defeat the enemy, even if the enemy was multiple times the size of the friendly warriors.
The 10,000 warriors following Yulian outnumbered the other side, and since Yulian, who had received the blessing of pretty much the entire group of chiefs to become the Glow, was their commander, the morale was higher than ever.
On the other hand, the warriors coming out of the oasis looked like they did not want to battle.
It seemed like they came out because they had to follow.
Just from that, you could already tell that Victory was in Yulian’s hands.
Yulian stepped forward on his own.
“Are you going to raise your shamshirs at me, Yulian Provoke, the successor of the deceased Glow Baguna, and the one who has the rightful claim to be Pareia’s Glow?”
Yulian’s voice, which had a trace of ki mixed in, could be heard clearly in the ears of the close to 20,000 warriors who were standing there.
The warriors started to whisper to each other about Yulian’s abilities, and Duripue, Librie’s father, walked forward to the middle and stood in front of Yulian.
“It has been a while, Duripue Anishun-nim.”
Yulian spoke coldly as he glared at Duripue with eyes full of hatred.
At one point, he was one of the chiefs that he had respected. But now, he was the enemy who had committed a bitter betrayal.
Duripue could not make eye contact with Yulian. All he could do was look up at the sky and sighed in regret.
“Ali...ve… it’s great that you are alive. Truly great.”
The old warrior’s shaky voice dug into Yulian’s heart.
“I must have been possessed by the devil. At such stupid temptation … yes, that must have been it. But thankfully, you are still alive like this and the worst situation has not happened. I just want to thank my guardian for this.”
“What is the meaning of this?”
Yulian’s heart was hurting, but knowing that this old warrior in front of him was one of the people who killed his father and tried to kill him and his brother, he pushed his emotions down as he asked.
As Duripue suddenly got off his pirma and kneeled and kowtowed in front of Yulian’s pirma, all of the warriors looking at him started to whisper to each other again.
“With my death… by killing me with the blade of Yulian Provoke, the Glow of Pareia, please forgive the rest of them. I would be extremely grateful if you gave me an opportunity to redeem myself, but I cannot make such a shameless request. Please let me die by the Glow’s hands. Please consider the fact that at one point, I had dedicated my body for Pareia and kill me yourself.”
Although Duripue’s shouts could not be heard by all of the warriors like Yulian’s shout earlier, the warriors could guess what he was saying to Yulian.
“It was all in vain. I sharpened my blade for revenge over and over to get here, but seeing you like this, it was all in vain.”
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(1) I know the math is wrong but that’s what the raw says :(