I Have Come To End This Fight

Episode 37. Cold weather survival (3)

Ding Ding Ding Ding-.

As soon as the sound of the distant bell had disappeared, a black head peeked out from the white snow.

“huh?”

Yuri looks around like a meerkat.

His eyes sparkled with some interest.

‘Looks like the first dropout came out.’

Giving up after only ten days.

It was to the point where I wanted to see the face of what kind of idiot he was.

‘No, did they last a lot in 10 days?’

If what he had seen over the past ten days was the average of the reserve jockeys, he thought that ten days was a lot.

But such a shallow sentiment is short-lived.

He leaned back into the snow and focused on what he was doing.

Shut-Tack-Tack-Tack-.

Every time Yuri’s sword moved, the frozen ground dug out breathlessly.

Works much faster than with a shovel.

It was unbelievable that he could dig up the ground with a sword two fingers thick.

Yuri, who had been digging for a while, straightened her back for a moment.

He stared at his beloved sword in rapture.

“Kya! After all, our albino! Look at this one that didn’t go out!”

It’s just that the teeth didn’t come out.

In the past ten days, dozens of pits dug with white people are enough.

Despite digging through all sorts of dirt, tree roots, and pebbles, the white steel sword was not scratched.

‘This is why everyone was playing white steel sword, white steel sword!’

The performance of the white steel sword was checked in a slightly strange way, but Yuri didn’t particularly care.

Anyway, isn’t that what’s good?

“hehehehe~.”

Yuri hummed and shoved the albino into the ground again.

Shuk- Tak-.

And after a while, he stopped digging and pulled something out of the hole.

Hooded-.

What came out of Yuri’s hand was a tree root covered in soil.

“oh! This one is quite thick, isn’t it?”

What Yuri dug up was not just a tree root, but a root vegetable called Tosaba.

Tosaba is grown as a dry crop because it is less affected by climate and grows well in barren land.

However, if you don’t know how to find wild tosaba, you can’t even see it.

But Yuri was different.

‘When I was a snoring boy, if I dug a hole to eat just one tosaba, there would be thousands of them!’

He must have dug more holes than most rabbits, wandering all over the mountain.

Now, with just a quick glance, one can say, “Ah, if you dig that way, you’ll get a tosaba of a certain size!”

At this point, he deserved to be called a master of Tosaba.

And as if proving this, Yuri wandered through the snowy forest and picked up the tosaba that was being sold.

“hehehehe~.”

Yuri dug up the tosaba with a happy face.

Even after that, tosaba roots continued to come out in Yuri’s hand.

chin-.

“Hmm… … .”

After working for a while like that.

Yuri, who dug up the last tosaba, scratched her cheek as she looked at the tosaba piled up to her waist.

“… Are there too many?”

It seemed that he was too excited.

This is enough to last for several days just eating tosaba.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t throw away cans.

Yuri recalled the memories of the days when he was snoring again.

‘I was lucky enough to peel and eat a rabbit I found, and I couldn’t find food after that… I brewed the soup with the leftover rabbit bones and made it last for five days.’

After steeping rabbit bones for five days, they were practically nothing but plain water.

Yuri shuddered at the thought of that horrible taste and rebuked herself for feeling that there was a lot of tosaba in front of her, even for a moment.

‘A lot of bullsh*t! If I put it away, the day will come when I will use it someday!’

Yuri took off her jacket and scooped up Tosaba.

A glass that took care of everything without missing a single root.

“hehehehe~.”

After humming lightly, he used Unbo to alternately kick two nearby trees.

In an instant, a new model of Yuri stood on top of a tree branch.

Deuk- blame!

Utilizing the slight bending of the tree branch, a new type of glass was shot forward.

As a result, the snow accumulated on the trees was scattered like powder, but naturally blended into the snow scattered everywhere.

Going from tree to tree like that, Yuri quickly escaped the spot.

without leaving any traces.

* * *

after 3 hours have passed.

A boy appeared at a place a little away from where Yuri had been collecting Tosaba.

The boy’s name is Clarice Van.

He made his way through the snow at a brisk pace.

Whoop Whoop-.

Clarisse let out a heavy breath and quickly looked around.

‘I’m sure there will be.’

Clarice Van, he was the scion of a family that could be called ‘truly prestigious’ among the 503 reserve jockeys.

Born as the heir to the Ban family, he was raised with one ideology.

[Those who do not understand hunger are not qualified to lead the family.]

The ideology of the first head of the family passed down from generation to generation to the successor.

The fact that the Ban family passed on this ideology to the next generation was related to the family’s history.

about 150 years ago.

The southern area, which is now classified as Tabul District, was a very barren land due to the influence of the cold climate, and the Ban family started in the western village of the land.

A terrible drought that came to the already barren land.

A young man with the last name ‘Ban’ who rolls up his sleeves to feed the villagers suffering from hunger.

People who fell in love with the young hero’s dedication gathered together, which soon turned into a single force.

That was the beginning of the Ban family.

As time passed, the realm of the Ban family escaped poverty, but descendants created a tradition to remember the past.

That is, the adults of the family will live in the forest with the children for 100 days.

Even with the help of adults, it was never easy for young children to live in the cold forest.

Through this tradition, the children of the Ban family come to realize how precious the family protection they have taken for granted is.

Also, I learned what hunger is like and learned how to solve it from adults.

How to hunt, how to identify edible plants, and so on.

The children of the Van family had learned, albeit informally, how to survive in the barren land.

‘It was really, really hard at the time… … .’

But the day will come when that knowledge will be so useful.

The moment she realized that the subject of the Black Swordsman’s test was survival, Clarisse almost burst into cheers.

Since then, based on the knowledge she learned as a child, Clarisse has been surviving the cold weather quite leisurely unlike other jockeys.

Clarisse was so confident that if the Black Swordsmen were watching and scoring the survival test, she would definitely be number one.

… until a few days ago.

Whoop- whoop-.

“Please this time… … .”

Clarisse made her way through the snow that was piled up to her thighs, but when she noticed something, her eyes widened slightly.

“found!”

Clarisse’s gait sped up.

It was a coniferous tree with dark red leaves that stood where he was going in a straight line.

A tree with dark red leaves.

This was a characteristic of trees grown in soils whose properties were changed by tosaba.

‘Are you sure! If the leaves are dyed that deeply, it means that there is a tosaba colony nearby!’

Clarisse, slightly agitated, strode toward the dark red conifers.

However, as he got closer to his destination, his pace slowed down.

‘Stop, no way?!’

When Clarice finally arrived at her destination, a murmur like a sigh flowed from Clarisse’s lips.

“also… again… … .”

The ground dug here and there.

His eyes trembled as he saw the traces of Tosaba digging.

The tremors soon spread throughout the body.

shaking-.

It was a shiver from anger, not from the cold.

“how… What a bastard!”

Clarisse had been looking for Tosaba for a few days.

This is because tosaba is a crop that can be obtained relatively easily in the forest in this environment.

Having her own experience of how to find Tosaba in the wild, Clarisse was confident that she would be able to find it easily.

In fact, he even managed to find a Tosaba colony quite easily.

but.

‘Is there anyone besides me looking for Tosaba?’

Someone had dug up Tosaba before Clarisse.

Despite the first failure, Clarisse did not disappoint and moved again.

It was because the forest was large, so he thought he could find another Tosaba.

Four days passed like that.

On the last 4 days, there are ten Tosaba habitats that Clarisse has visited.

However, in all of them, there was someone who robbed Tosaba before Clarisse.

It sprouts without even a single root!

After repeating the same situation for several days, Clarisse was able to find one common feature.

‘There are traces of canning Tosaba, but there is no trace of entering or leaving!’

Only then did Clarisse realize that it was the same person who robbed Tosaba.

And the 11th tosaba colony discovered this time was also robbed by the same guy.

Hiss-.

Clarice’s eyes were bloodshot as she snorted violently.

He couldn’t stop the anger that was seething and eventually vomited it out.

“Hey, you heartless bastard! Do it in moderation and eat it! Are you planning on doing a Tosaba business?”

In the past few days, there are 11 Tosaba colonies that the scoundrel has robbed.

The amount of tosaba collected in this way was enough for one person to eat not for a month, but throughout the winter and survive until the next winter.

“aaagh!”

Clarisse’s furious cry caused snow to pour from nearby tree branches.

But Clarisse didn’t know.

That it wasn’t just Tosaba who was being robbed by ‘that conscienceless bastard’ he had cursed.

The Forest of Beginning began to suffer from Yuri’s beggar spirit and conscienceless greed.

And at that time when Clarisse’s high-pitched voice full of anger resounded.

Sussuk-.

Hundreds of Black Swordsman began to spread throughout the Forest of Beginnings.

* * *

An underground cave outside the forest.

Passing through the cleverly concealed entrance and walking along the narrow passageway, at the end of it came a cavity large enough for 10 adult men to lie down at the same time.

This was also the best hiding place Yuri found.

Clap-.

A bonfire burning in the center of the cave.

And the glass around it and the bone fragments piled up next to it.

well-well-.

Yuri tore off the last bits of meat he was holding and swallowed them, then tossed the remaining bony bones.

fault!

The moment a bone fragment was added to the heap of bone tombs, Yuri fired a cool belch.

Oh, oh, oh!

Afterwards, Yuri, who had been lying down with a large character, pounded his protruding belly.

“under… good night.”

The languid feeling that follows satiety.

The warmth of a bonfire added to it was the ultimate luxury to enjoy in midwinter.

Being full and warm, can’t this be called true happiness?

Yuri’s face, smirking with happiness, had gained more weight than when she first arrived in the forest and was shining.

A change that is the exact opposite of how other reserve riders turn into beggars as time goes on.

And the cause of such change could be found behind the glass.

Hundreds of tosaba piled high enough to feed hundreds of people.

Smoked poultry meat.

Various grasses and tree roots of unknown names that are presumed to be medicinal herbs or spices.

Tiny seokcheong and woodcheong that you can feel the sweetness just by looking at it.

Firewood being chopped and dried.

It is unbelievable that it was collected in the middle of winter, and even in just 10 days.

It was all the result of Yuri’s greed and beggar mentality.

Yuri, who had been rolling around for a long time, stood up.

He muttered softly as he watched the bonfire go out.

“hmm… It’s too easy for a test.”

Of course, it was from Yuri’s subjective point of view that it was easy.

The severe cold weather is getting worse day by day.

A four-legged beast that has completely disappeared from the forest.

Even the common fish was not seen in the stream.

It must have been an environment deliberately created to limit food resources in the cradle.

In such a situation, Yuri might be the only one who could lightly say that this survival was ‘easy’.

Of course, Yuri was well aware of that fact.

Even if I wanted to know, I couldn’t.

After walking around the forest for ten days, I saw all sorts of things.

Climbing into the snow, shivering and unable to light a fire.

An idiot who frantically throws stones to try to catch a bird.

An idiot struggling with a headache from devouring his eyes with a fine valley next to him.

Mojiri struggles to climb a tree that is not very tall to eat the leaves.

‘The world is wide, and there are so many assholes… … .’

Is this a gathering place for those assholes?

How come it seems like every single thing that stands out is loosened one by one?

How are things like that with higher education?

Of course, there were often guys who were good at it, but nine out of 10 were all less-than-sophisticated ones.

‘The fact that I quickly moved to keep these things in check… It’s embarrassing.’

All the idiots he’d seen in the past ten days made Yuri realize how easy it was to take the exam.

Also how painfully the other prospective jockeys are being tested.

So it was not strange for Yuri to say that the survival test was easy.

Because he deserves to say that.

However, the meaning of ‘easy’ that Yuri said here was not only the perceived difficulty of the test.

The method of testing was also included.

‘Is the test really over if I simply survive for a month?’

Is it really that the test is taken in such a simple and easy way?

‘I’m missing something…’ What is it?’

A few days ago, the question and the unknown awkwardness, Yuri agonized over to find the cause.

The moment I continued to worry.

“… … ?!”

Yuri picked up the sword lying next to him and stood up like lightning.

and.

Jerk-jerk-.

I glared fiercely at the passage of the cave where I heard the sound of small footsteps.