Our goal is to defeat Totila!
The third peak from the east of the Erneshia Range, Narup, the fifth mountain consisting of the seven-mountain range, is like a single rock.
The terrain is rugged everywhere, with slopes ranging from steep to flat, and its shape is quite distorted compared to the surrounding mountains.
The mountain, so desolate that not even grass grows, is a natural fortress created by the earth.
The poorly drained terrain serves as a natural moat, the sheer cliffs provide a perfect vantage point for shooting arrows, and the narrow, horse-inaccessible passages confuse people like a maze.
From a distance, Narup Mountain appears to be stained red.
As you get closer, the smell of blood intensifies, and wild beasts attracted to it approach excitedly.
The fresh blood that colors Narup is, in other words, the blood of the indigenous people who originally lived there.
Their stubborn resistance and the difficulty it posed in conquering it were the cause of this tragedy.
Near the summit of Narup, a man stands in a place where he can overlook the surrounding scenery.
He crosses his arms and smiles as he looks down at the pool of blood below.
Then, he turns his gaze to the neighboring Sheila Mountain and beyond.
The robust man, dressed in red and green cloth, a warrior’s attire, carries a mountain knife at his waist.
He has scars on his cheeks that look like they were scratched by a beast, extending to the scalp where black hair grows.
Upon closer inspection, countless traces of battles cover his entire body, and his demeanor easily suggests that he is a seasoned warrior.
“my lord King of the tribe, excuse me.”
“What do you want?”
“Well… We issued a surrender proposal to the people of Sheila Mountain, but they killed the messengers who came and showed a hostile attitude.”
“What foolishness… Clinging to ancestral spirits and missing opportunities.”
His name is Totila, the king of the tribe.
Having conquered Narup, Gal, and Attica, he is a man whose name echoes among the mountain people.
Totila has always thought.
The people of the mountains are by no means inferior compared to other ethnic groups.
Equestrian skills, taming skills, hunting skills for magical beasts.
There are many things to be proud of.
(And yet, the people of the plains scorn us as barbarians, and the ragtag assembly of the alliance taunts us as descendants of losers!)
Totila couldn’t tolerate that.
And if he couldn’t tolerate it, he had to take action and demonstrate the results.
The people of the mountains are strong.
They prove it on the battlefield with their military strength.
For the world to have mountain people, for Totila, the king of the tribe, to be celebrated.
He briefly glances toward Attica, his hometown, then looks back.
There, dozens of warriors kneel with their heads bowed.
They are members of the personal guard, recruited from those who have been with Totila since his father’s time and those who are particularly skilled in other clans.
Many of them shared Totila’s ideas and admired his way of life.
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“Have the ancestral spirits ever protected us?”
“No, absolutely not!”
“Did the night attack bring us divine punishment?”
“No, the king’s actions are the divine will!”
Among the mountain people, Totila has very enlightened ideas.
While he is a warrior, he is also an excellent strategist.
With his intelligence, he has always thought.
Why are the people of the plains so wealthy, and why must we sit on this impoverished land?
It was immediately apparent that the reason was the faith in the ancestral spirits and the mountains where the ancestral spirits were said to reside.
Refusing to leave the mountains, the stiffness of settling in one place is gradually impoverishing the land where the mountain people live.
Because they foolishly confront each other head-on, believing in the reason that the ancestral spirits are watching, warriors waste away in vain, and those who go to plunder are defeated by the strategies of the people of the plains.
Therefore, Totila denied everything that the mountain people had built up until now.
If he didn’t do that, Totila was convinced that there was no future for the mountain people.
The lifestyle of the mountain people is incompatible with other ethnic groups.
So, it must be destroyed, and what is necessary to win must be created from scratch.
Learn what should be learned even from grass-eaters, unite the mountain people,
and let Totila’s name echo across the continent with fear.
“By the way, what about the three mountains west of Sheila?”
“Well…”
“Do you want your head to be cut off?”
“Yikes!? Mabu Mountain has already been captured by someone named Todd! There has been no contact with those who headed to the third mountain! If we assume the worst, it might have already been captured!”
Totila mulled over the pale-faced messenger’s words.
He knows the usefulness of information better than anything.
Therefore, he already knew that a different ruling power from himself was beginning to emerge among the mountain people.
Three months since he trained himself and the warriors of the clan, decided to take action, killed his lazy father to become the chief, and came this far, reducing and increasing numbers.
However, that guy, as if to mock Totila’s efforts so far, swiftly conquered the First Mountain Ning, and extended his reach to the Second Mountain Marb.
The man’s name was Todd, the details are unknown but he seems to be quite a fierce warrior.
Totila, as the king of the mountain folk, should have been happy for the arrival of a powerful person.
However, this case was different.
The reason being that this Todd character was a warrior from the plains.
Todd’s subordinate warriors were also mighty, and using their overwhelming power he was rapidly expanding his territory, it was said.
The good timing of his movement after Totila had stood up, had an eerie feeling as if someone was pulling the strings from behind.
Could it be that this person was the divine punishment from the gods imposed on me?
While thinking it foolish, I would be lying to say I didn’t think that.
But I am Totila, the tribal king of the mountain folk, sweeping away superstitions and building new foundations.
Totila regained his awareness and began analyzing the current situation.
(I didn’t expect them to have conquered the Third Mountain already)
In his predictions, he had simply assumed Todd and his forces were still expanding their clan around Marb.
Either their marching speed had increased, or they were using some kind of scheme.
In any case, it was clear that unexpected things were happening.
“What happened?”
“More importantly, it seems they have been sending calls for surrender, similar to us, to the various mountains. However, the contents seem to be…quite different.”
What came from the warrior who was acting as a scout was a preposterous story that made one want to laugh.
That Todd person was saying this while making his rounds to the mountain folk:
I respect the culture of the mountain folk. As long as I remain in this land I too will obey your laws.
I have no intention of forcing the culture of the plains on you. You may live as you please.
However, there is a man named Totila trying to destroy the culture of the mountain folk.
Would you lend me your strength to defeat him?
If it was the pre-king Totila who had yet to calm down, he surely would have been enraged.
He might have even beaten the scout to death for relaying such information.
(An herbivore claims he will protect the culture of the mountain folk? What kind of joke is that? Did they really believe such nonsense? They’ve been completely duped. The people of the plains are cunning, capable of deceiving using such lip service)
If the mountain folk were annexed by Todd, in the end our culture and civilization would be utterly erased without a trace, and their new culture would simply be built over it instead – why can they not realize this?
Totila scolded his urge to rage, and kept up the pretense of being calm.
“So they were taken in, huh?”
“Yes. Also, he promised not to take their women or food supply, which seems to be having a big effect.”
The other side had seen through the dire food situation of the mountain folk.
Furthermore, they had women back home in their country, so there was no need to steal any.
Such immediate benefits would surely shake people’s hearts.
Compared to fancy words about culture or whatever, those were pressing issues.
While neither Totila or Todd were favorable, presented with a choice like this…it would be no wonder for people to lean towards the other side.
Some might even withdraw from Totila’s clan.
“We’ve been had…We can’t do the same things they can now. If we try to recruit them without military might but through negotiation, we also won’t lose any troops.”
“However, it seems there are also some on their side rebelling. We’ve received communication from some who withdrew from their clan in the past, saying they want to return here.”
“Hmm, is that so… Disagreements happening with the herbivores can be taken advantage of. Let those who want to rejoin their original clan do so. But be sure interrogate them about their circumstances when they come back. Have them spill out as much information as possible before sending them away.”
So their side wasn’t united either, huh?
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