Chapter 92: The Young Man

On the western reaches of the Northland Plains, atop the walls of Highcourt, Scarface Johnny yanked a short-handled stone axe from the belly of a human warrior and kicked the body off the battlements. Compared with the middle section of the wall, where One-Eyed Sneech was holding the line, the pressure on Johnny was far lighter. Yet as he stared toward the north, toward Sneech’s sector, worry clouded his bloodstained face. “Anyone too exhausted, fall back and rest at once. Reserves, move up!”

As Johnny fought the human soldiers climbing the wall, he directed the battle with practiced ease. The hard work of ordinary days now made him look effortlessly in command.

“Medic! Medic! Over here, he can still be saved!”

A mouse warrior with a coat of red fur was convulsing in a pool of blood. The morning sunlight spilled over him, yet he still felt an unbearable chill.

As an orphan who had wandered the wilds since childhood, loneliness had long become his defining mark.

Before joining the clan, the red-furred mouse had survived in the wilderness by feeding on carrion. After entering the tribe, he still lived hand-to-mouth, scraping by on refuse. No friends, no family, no future; not yet grown, he had nothing in this world to cling to. Half a month ago, for the chance to eat one final full meal, he had chosen to join the reserves, and by fate’s arrangement, stepped onto the battlefield.

His frail body quickly gave out, and he collapsed into the blood. As death drew near, it seemed to him that his life replayed before his eyes in a final, flickering procession.

What a miserable, hopeless life.

Nothing in it worth remembering.

If he could have one last full meal, he would die content.

Alas, the heart was already dead, and there was nothing left to miss.

True poverty is not ragged clothes or an empty stomach; it is being neither needed nor cared for.

Just moments ago, this pitiful red-furred mouse had been struck in the shoulder by an axe from a dwarf warrior who had climbed onto the wall. Blood poured from the wound, and he had never seen so much of it in his life. He was only astonished that someone who lived by scavenging could bleed so much.

Ah, what a tragic life...

“I’m here! I’m here...”

Then, all at once, the red-furred mouse, whose whole body had been cold, felt a warmth like electricity bloom in his palm and surge through him from head to toe.

He was intoxicated by that warmth.

“Hang in there, little warrior!”

With effort, the red-furred mouse opened his eyes. A face of breathtaking beauty appeared before him, and a faint fragrance of a woman’s body brushed his senses, as though he had already been carried into heaven.

This was...

How could there exist eyes so clear, so moving to a mouse’s heart?

Calm as a deep pool, yet impossible to tear away from.

The one now before the red-furred mouse was Old Sand’s second daughter, Oridia.

With the help of the mouse warriors, Oridia and her elder sister Julie finally lifted the red-furred mouse from the blood-soaked ground onto a stretcher.

At this point, the red-furred mouse could not look away. That warmth instantly melted the frost long sealed within his heart.

“For one so small, you have so many scars. You really are an impressive warrior.”

It was the first time the red-furred mouse had ever heard anyone praise him like that, and tears immediately welled in his eyes. Usually, others only looked down on him because of his scars.

He gazed foolishly at Oridia before him, wanting to speak but not knowing what to say, and for a moment he simply stood there, dazed.

Oridia, too, was left a little blank by the red-furred mouse’s reaction.

In an earlier nursing lesson, Teacher Brittany had said that when treating the wounded, one should talk to them more to divert their attention, since thinking about something else could help them forget the pain to a great extent.

Being stared at so intently made Oridia feel somewhat uneasy...

To the red-furred mouse, however, this angelic girl had moistened the barren soil of his heart like spring rain, teaching him that there were indeed things in this world worth remembering.

But to Oridia, the atmosphere had grown awkward, so she hurried on to change the subject:

“What is your name?”

My name?

My name?

It seemed no one had asked it in a very long time...

Let me think...

Damn it! How have I even forgotten my own name?

Red Fur Clam—that’s usually what they call me, but that is definitely not my name!

Think. I have my own name!

Right, I remember now!

“I... am...”

“Quick!”

...

“Quik, is it? What a lovely name!”

“Work hard, and you will surely become an excellent warrior someday. Come on!”

Oridia flashed a brilliant smile, one that in Julie’s eyes was plainly too perfunctory.

But to Quik at that moment, that angelic, radiant smile was like a bright lighthouse over an endless sea in blackest storm, drawing him in so deeply that he could not free himself.

...

Before long, Quik had never felt time pass so quickly. He was soon carried by Oridia and Julie to the temporary field hospital. Watching the figure of Oridia, who was a little older than he was, recede into the distance, Quik felt an indescribable sense of loss...

I want to become a great warrior!

I want to live!

I must live on!

From that day forward, the seed of love was buried deep in the heart of the young Quik.

...

“Did you see the way that boy looked at you?”

Julie walked beside Oridia and asked softly.

“What’s wrong, sister?”

“He’s just a child who has never been loved. I merely stirred his heart a little.”

Julie shook her head at once.

“My dear sister, do you know? I have never seen such a sincere look!”

“Perhaps that is the power of love.”

...

In the south of the Northland Plains, within the lizardfolk domain:

“Chieftain, according to the scouts at the front, the battle at Highcourt has already fully begun!”

“Chieftain, send the troops!”

“Yes, Chieftain. If the mousefolk cannot hold, it will be more than a matter of neighboring walls being breached!”

“Chieftain, think carefully. There is still no word from that side; we had better wait two more days.”

Inside the command tent, a crowd of elders bombarded Xia Rong without pause.

“Quiet! Everyone, quiet for a moment!”

Morgan tried to calm them, but it did no good at all.

Leaning back in a chair, Xia Rong was equally torn inside.

He had not been able to contact Yang Jie for several days. The other side was like a dropped connection, utterly silent.

Over these days, Xia Rong had sent Yang Jie nearly a hundred messages, and every single one had sunk without a trace.

The more he thought about it, the more frightening it became.

Something had to have happened over there, or Yang Jie would never be too busy to return even a single message.

But there had been no movement from the dark elves either. Their security was tight, and the scouts could not get in at all.

What on earth should he do?

Xia Rong clawed at his hair. This was a question with no correct answer.

A single misstep, and everything would be lost.

The extreme imbalance of information left Xia Rong with no courage to make a decision.

At present, there was no way into Highcourt, and no way to send news out.

Ah, what am I supposed to do?

Yang Jie, you’re usually so capable—why are you suddenly mute now?

...

Just as Xia Rong was agonizing in indecision and the elders argued endlessly, a servant lizardfolk suddenly entered the tent.

“Chieftain, honored elders, an envoy of another race is asking for an audience outside!”

“Another race? An envoy?”

For a moment Xia Rong was bewildered, with no idea what was going on.

Soon the servant continued.

“This envoy says his name is Banjo. He claims to be from Faegon Forest, and says he represents their chieftain with important matters to discuss!”

Xia Rong’s eyes lit up at once, and the whole matter instantly connected in his mind.

Bang!

He slammed the table hard, just as Yang Jie often did, and said, “Bring him in at once!”

...

On the Northland Plains, this great war between the Human Alliance and the mousefolk had far-reaching consequences. The surrounding lords all watched the course of the conflict with close, secret attention, and the originally balanced order of the region was subtly beginning to shift.

...

Thunk!

Just as One-Eyed Sneech had finished his duel with Gotrek, he felt a slight tremor beneath the walls.

Thunk!

Thunk!

Thunk!

A dull, suffocating series of impacts rang out, and the ground beneath the wall began to shake as well.

“Not good! Their battering ram has started hitting the wall!”

The mousefolk only then began to react, but there was no chance to do anything. Dwarf assault troops continued to pour onto the battlements.

In an instant, the two sides were locked in fierce combat.

After repeated blows, the left ear section of the gate tower had already begun to deform.

In truth, the workmanship of the tower had been decent enough. Old Sand had skimmed plenty for himself, but he had not been careless where it mattered. If he had cut corners and built a shoddy wall, Yang Jie would never have tolerated it.

Unfortunately, a battering ram was a siege engine designed precisely to destroy walls. Under its immense force, it could damage the load-bearing structure from within.

With each impact, the wall shuddered. The internal supports began to warp, and at the point where the ram’s striking head met the wall, a depression appeared.

Beside it, the Mountain King Muradin Copperhammer raised the warhammer in his right hand. Magical light burst forth, circling around the head of the weapon in rings.

He lifted the hammer and struck the wall.

A thunderous blow!

He unleashed a thunder strike against the sunken section of masonry.

At once, the earth quaked and the mountains trembled. With only that single blow, the entire wall was shaken.

The bricks across the wall’s surface burst apart, and a surging force penetrated deep into the structure.

With a deafening roar, the nearly six-meter-high wall before them collapsed.

Behind Muradin Copperhammer, the dwarf warriors erupted in a tide of thunderous cheers.

The nearby mousefolk had barely understood what had happened before the wall suddenly came crashing down after that earth-shaking impact.

From the side, One-Eyed saw it clearly. The power of that thunder strike far exceeded his understanding.

That burst of strength was at least three times greater than Gotrek’s!

A monster. He was simply a monster!

After the wall was smashed open, the warriors of the Dwarf Hammer Corps swiftly filed through the breach.

“Everyone! Fall back into Highcourt!”

“At once!”

In that instant, the dwarven morale surged explosively.

After receiving the order, the mousefolk immediately covered one another as they retreated toward Highcourt.

At the same time, on the southern wall, Johnny, still fighting in blood-soaked fury, had no idea what had happened. He only sensed a great commotion rising from the north.

Then a mouse warrior stumbled over, shouting, “Bad news! The Highcourt wall has been breached!”

“The Supreme Commander orders all mousefolk to withdraw into the inner city of Highcourt. Immediately!”

...

Johnny froze at once, not yet having fully reacted.

The wall had been breached.

Highcourt was in grave peril.