HEO 2

Wolf, who had been listening silently, drew on the dirt floor. A burly, muscular blond man. In one hand, an axe dripping blood. Over one shoulder, he carried a woman flailing her legs.

“It’s said that even 152 years ago, when the <Ill Omens> first invaded the Atania Continent, they had no written language. Their weapons and standards of living lagged centuries behind Atania at the time…”

Wolf drew a woman too. An axe dripping blood in one hand. A man flailing his legs over one shoulder. Only the gender differed; she was identical to the man drawn beside her.

Roy, watching from the side, whistled.

“Wolf, you’d be better off as a painter than a baker.”

“Hmm, I suppose so. But the bread tastes good.”

Wolf nodded while looking down at the drawing.

If you asked people on the Atania Continent to draw an Ill Omen, this is what it would look like nine times out of ten. In Atania, the Ill Omens aren’t crows. They aren’t a red moon, nor a half-open door of an abandoned house. They are people. The blond savages who suddenly appeared on the northern coast of the Atania Continent over 150 years ago.

“It’s exactly like the illustrations in history books. You should quit school and join Kane’s workshop on 26th Street. I heard even the royal court painter now is from Kane’s workshop.”

“No way. If I go to Kane’s workshop, I’ll be the worst painter there.”

Wolf wiped the drawing away with his toe, then abruptly stood up and turned away. Nearby, inside the main building window, the history teacher stood alone, book in hand, lecturing to students sprawled face-down asleep.

“For the <Ill Omens>, whose iron smelting technology was underdeveloped, a heavy axe was the ultimate weapon with no alternative… Huh?”

The teacher looked up at the window. Wolf withdrew his hand from tapping the glass and smiled. The teacher closed his book and tucked it under his arm.

“Not training? What is it, student?”

“Well, actually…”

Wolf slid the window open and placed his arms on the sill.

“I was listening to your lecture and got curious. You said the Ill Omens are stupid, right?”

“That’s the academic view.”

“Is there any opinion that it’s not that they’re stupid, but rather that they lack social skills?”

“Some. Though it’s largely ignored.”

“Could you explain that minority view to me?”

“Hmm.”

The professor pushed his glasses up with his fingertips and smiled.

“First, explain why you’re curious about that minority view.”

“<The Ill Omens> aren’t a union of law-based nations like Atania. They’re a tribal confederation organized at the village level. Excluding the capital, most tribes are known to have at most a thousand members, and typically only around three hundred. Such small tribes wouldn’t require the complex social order demanded by civilized norms. In Atania, resorting to violence recklessly gets you labeled a fool. That’s entirely reasonable in a civilized society. But as a logic explaining the violence of barbarian societies, it feels lazy.”

“That argument aligns almost perfectly with the problematic viewpoint in question. I needn’t add any further explanation.”

The teacher waved a hand dismissively.

“Now for the counterargument. You’re not unaware of the dangers of inbreeding, are you? Take, for instance, the distinctive underbite peculiar to the neighboring Lennar royal family. Many kings suffered from severe dental malocclusion, making even cheese difficult to chew, leading to shortened lifespans.”

The teacher exaggeratedly mimicked chewing food.

“Among the problems caused by inbreeding, there are also numerous cases of intellectual defects. And across the North Sea, the barbaric continent has lived in isolation as a single race for an extended period. For thousands of years since the dawn of light. With that much time, problems were bound to arise. For instance…”

A brief silence. The voice that followed was slightly lower.

“Women who impregnate women, men who bear children. Mutants that only occur on the barbaric continent. The clergy of Atania once claimed it was a curse from the gods, but that’s ancient history. Nowadays, the view that it’s a biological tragedy caused by isolation has gained more traction.”

The teacher shrugged.

“The <Ill Omens> knew this too. Turning all the abducted Atania men into studs… Hmm, I suppose that was a rather embarrassing example. Anyway, considering that unique isolated environment, the claim that the Ill Omens are stupid holds significant credibility. Now then, student. Any counterarguments?”

“Well…”

Just as Wolf hesitated, Roy smacked him on the back of the head from behind.

“What are you doing here, you idiot?”

“That hurts, jerk.”

Wolf rubbed the back of his head and bowed his head.

“Sorry for interrupting class. But did I promise to rebut anything? I’m out of here!”

He scrambled back to his practice area. Roy slung an arm over Wolf’s shoulder and whispered.

“Heard the whole exchange between you and that teacher. What the hell was that about?”

“Did I sound like a philosopher?”

“Not quite. More like a poet.”

Boys at Mayer Public School idolized painters. Poets, however, were objects of contempt. Painters drew female nudes, but poets just spouted incomprehensible nonsense.

For commoner boys, ‘normal behavior’ meant sleeping through class and scoring just enough on tests to avoid failing. ‘Stupid behavior’ meant studying hard and reading poetry books. An insult worse than ‘poet’ was ‘philosopher’.

On the way out of school, Wolf asked Roy.

“Don’t spread rumors about me arguing with the teacher earlier.”

“How could it not spread? Even if I keep my mouth shut, the history teacher will be bragging about it everywhere. It’s not like students ask questions in class often. Seriously, why did you do that? You were saying all sorts of weird things…”

Roy stopped talking and stared at Wolf with a scrutinizing gaze. It was the kind of look a coin appraiser might use, examining every detail of a new gold coin’s luster, color, and engraving.

“Wolf, you. Could it be…?”

“What exactly? Go ahead. You’ll probably be wrong.”

He replied curtly, but Wolf could hear his own heart pounding in his ears. Roy, who had been staring, jabbed his fingertip into Wolf’s chest.

“You! You hid a manuscript under your bed! Wow! My friend’s a literary boy!”

“Cut the crap! Call me a philosopher instead!”

Wolf jumped at the misunderstanding beyond imagination. Roy put him in a headlock.

“It’s an epic tale, right? A wandering knight wiping out the Ill Omens pirates…! That’s why you kept grilling the teacher about the Ill Omens, right? To use it in your story!”

“I told you it’s not! It’s not!”

“Don’t worry. Hey, I’ll be your first reader. You wrote erotic stuff too, right? I’ll keep it a secret from the school kids, so show it to me today.”

Roy urged him impatiently. Though limited to cheap hero tales and erotic stories sold in back alleys, novels were the third most popular form of entertainment for boys, after watching executions and plays. But Wolf wasn’t dumb enough to take his friend’s “I’ll keep it a secret” promise at face value.

“I haven’t written a single line. I hardly even read novels myself.”

“Wow, must’ve written a lot then. This is going to be good.”

“Don’t get your hopes up…”

Truthfully, not a single page of a novel manuscript existed under Wolf’s bed. The moment Wolf dreaded most was when the boarding house owner handed him a stack of papers, demanding he read the political intrigue novel.

“I’m staying at your place tonight. Time to do some reading after all this time.”

“Forget it. You take half a day just to read four lines of scripture, and you think you can—”

It was then that Wolf broke out in a cold sweat. A carriage blocked their path. The carriage door opened.

“Long time no see. You recognize me, right?”

A blond boy of their age called out from inside the carriage. His tone was friendly, but Wolf was bewildered.

“Who?”

“You don’t know? I recognized you right away.”

The boy flushed. Only then did Wolf realize who the boy was.

It was Prince Red Eagle.

* * *

Record from a sailor who first saw the Ill Omens 152 years ago.

Dozens of men and women disembarked one after another from the schooner moored at the pier. They were all tall like statues in the square, had blond hair, and wore animal skins. Their faces and bodies were covered in tattoos, one hand holding a wooden shield, the other an axe. It was a grotesque sight unseen anywhere in Atania. Soon, the harbor was engulfed in flames and screams…….

A vast rectangle. That was how the clergy of Atania defined the shape of the world. The edge of the sea plunged down abruptly like a waterfall, and beneath it, hell lurked. In that era, the words of the clergy were the voice of the gods. Some scientists and astrologers claimed the world was round, but few believed them.

The people of Atania could not even conceive that an unknown continent might exist beyond the sea. This was because they believed that among the world’s components—sky, land, and sea—there was only one ‘land’: Atania, fashioned by the gods. The sea held little value. Especially the storm-tossed North Sea was a forbidden realm even for seasoned sailors.

This was the story before the caravel appeared.

This new type of sailing vessel, equipped with triangular sails that could ride the wind, revolutionized the world. First, it advanced navigation. Previously, ships could only move forward when the wind blew from behind. But the caravel could set sail whenever desired.

Second, it attracted the <Ill Omens>. As demand for maritime trade grew, larger sailing vessels were naturally constructed. The disaster began when one of these large ships, built like mushrooms after rain, was wrecked in a North Sea storm and drifted to the barbarian continent. Only then did the blond barbarians realize a prosperous land existed beyond the sea, and their tribal council decided to launch a plundering expedition.

Lacking the technology to build large sailing ships themselves, the barbarians repaired the wrecked Atania vessel. They forced the shipwrecked crew to create navigation charts and taught them how to use compasses and astrolabes. They also drafted strong male and female warriors from each tribe. Within two years, the first expedition set sail for the golden new continent.

The Atania coastline was reduced to ruins. The blond-haired savages, having seized numerous large sailing ships and returned to their base, came back laden with countless fellow warriors. They even invaded inland by river, engaging in rampant plunder and abductions. Their atrocities were so heinous that the people of Atania at the time called them demons risen from the hellish abyss at the edge of the sea.

Four years after the ‘Ill Omens’ Invasion’, Atania signed a peace treaty with the blond barbarians. The terms required Atania to pay enormous annual tribute and grant free use of portions of its coastline as farmland. It was, in effect, a declaration of defeat.

Even now, 152 years later, the blond barbarians frequently descend upon Atania, committing kidnappings and pillaging, drawing widespread resentment. The base of those <Ill Omens> lies beyond the distant North Sea, a continent known as Stoll.

Wolf is a native of that very Stoll. His real name is Silver Wolf.