Chapter 5

005.

There is good news and bad news.

As life always goes, good things invariably come with a price.

The good news is that after harvesting potatoes, I am now on the verge of reaching Farming Level 4.

And the bad news is…… the Red Moon will rise soon. That was the problem worrying me right now.

The Red Moon.

One of the main culprits that sends the survival difficulty skyrocketing in the world of this damned game <​L.O.C>.

Well, the setting itself is nothing unusual.

At regular intervals, the moon turns red, and under its influence, monsters go berserk and come rushing in as waves.

‘The problem is the magical beasts.’

Even normally docile herbivores go mad and try to tear people apart, and ordinary monsters are also a problem.

But magical beasts that were already dangerous cross the defenses more than three times stronger than usual.

“Whew…….”

The reason I had not worried about the Red Moon until now was not simply because I had been complacent.

It was because I had no way of knowing the date.

But only after receiving the bone calendar, the shaman’s legacy, from Zakan was I finally able to calculate the exact date.

And the result.

‘One week.’

Exactly 7 days from today, the Red Moon will rise.

A chill ran down my spine.

According to the game’s setting, the early barbarians were wiped out by the Great Famine.

Since they perished from starvation, they did not die because of the Red Moon.

But that did not guarantee that I would survive when the Red Moon rose.

The protagonist was Zakan, the barbarian hero who survived alone, not some random Tribe Member Number 23 like me.

‘What do I do?’

I rubbed my face dryly.

Our tribe’s fighting strength was still miserable.

Including Chief Zakan, most of them were inexperienced warriors in their late teens, and there were many children as well.

And since they had been suffering from starvation until recently, they did not seem particularly healthy either.

- Zakan. The Red Moon rises in one week. What will you do?

I informed Zakan, but he gave no answer and only glared at his greatsword.

It did not seem like he had any solution either.

Letting out a small sigh, I called to the guy silently pulling weeds beside me.

“Hey, Malko.”

He was ugly, but after tasting potatoes, he had become my loyal subordinate.

“Why call me. Busy.”

Malko came running over, sweating profusely.

His rough hand held an uprooted weed.

“Are you strong?”

“Of course!”

He answered while pounding his chest.

“Can you fight during the Red Moon?”

“Of course. Fight and die. That is warrior’s honor.”

“…….”

Forget I asked.

His answer had not strayed outside my expectations.

Barbarians were not afraid of dying in battle. No, they were actually proud of it.

But I want to live! Eating potatoes while alive is far better than gaining honor after death.

Looking around, the other barbarians were in much the same situation.

They were all huge, but traces of youth still remained on their faces.

‘Should we hide?’

The thought suddenly crossed my mind.

If we blocked the entrance to the cave behind the village well…….

It was cowardly, but it was the surest way to survive.

At that moment.

A huge shadow fell over me.

I raised my head and saw Chief Zakan passing by with his greatsword resting on his shoulder, glancing down at me.

‘There’s no way that bastard would hide.’

Monsters invade and he turns tail to hide? There was no way Zakan could endure such humiliation.

And if the chief refused to hide, the tribe members would not hide either.

‘Damn it.’

I clutched my head.

One week. I had to find a way to safely survive the Red Moon within this short amount of time.

.

.

.

Time passed without mercy.

My head was complicated, but my body moved mechanically.

- Rustle. Thud.

With cheerful sounds, dirt-covered potatoes spilled out into the world.

Seeing the large potatoes at least lifted my mood somewhat.

When I dug up the potatoes from the tenth and final furrow, a transparent message window appeared in the air.

- Ding!

[Target harvest quantity of 500 E-rank Potatoes reached. Next target harvest quantity: 2,000.]

[Crop Understanding <​Potato> has increased. Current Understanding: 20% -> 40%]

[Level Up! You have reached Level 4. Lv.3 -> Lv.4]

[Stat Point +1 from leveling up. Class Skill Proficiency has increased.]

[The number of available Cultivation Slots has increased. 10 -> 13]

“Whew…….”

I let out a long breath and wiped away my sweat.

Today’s harvest was around 200 potatoes.

For now, I was still only getting about 200 every 3-day harvest cycle.

It was not enough to let 40 people eat their fill, but if we boiled them into soup with the small animals the hunting party brought back, it was enough to stave off starvation.

‘They’ve gotten quite a bit plumper.’

The barbarians really had put on a little weight.

But that sense of satisfaction did not last long. What was the point of keeping them alive?

The Red Moon would rise in one week. Wouldn’t they just become well-fed, plump prey?

That was when it happened.

“Shaman! Work hard. I like shaman!”

A young voice came from beneath my legs.

Looking down, I saw three or four little barbarians staring up at me.

Their mouths were covered in potato crumbs, their eyes sparkling as they looked at me with admiration.

‘Hmm…… cute.’

The warm, fuzzy feeling in one corner of my chest made me relax.

I reached out to pat their heads.

I wanted to say something warm to them.

[Failure! You speak and act like a barbarian.]

“Of course! I am the great Lord Barbarian.”

Damn it.

What came out of my mouth was a shout overflowing with narcissism.

Seriously. This damned Barbarian Spirit cannot read the mood at all.

But the children’s reaction was explosive.

“Waaaaah-! Great Barbarian Izak!”

“Izak! Izak!”

The children giggled, saying my shout was cool, and clung to my legs.

Their small, dirt-covered hands grabbed and shook my leather pants.

I deliberately frowned as though annoyed, but I could not hide the smile spreading across my lips.

Cute. Even if this race was rough and ignorant, children were still adorable.

No…… had I simply grown attached after seeing them every day? Or was I actually becoming barbarianized(?)?

At first, even the little ones had looked like potential monsters who would grow up and cut off my head, but now they were starting to feel like people…… no, like younger siblings.

‘I want to save them.’

The thought suddenly came to me.

I wanted these little ones to avoid starving and avoid being caught and eaten by monsters.

To do that, I had to farm even harder…… raise my level, stockpile potatoes…….

Just as I raised my head after making that heartwarming resolution,

my worries were unexpectedly resolved from somewhere else.

“We came to see the chief.”

Monsters were standing at the village entrance.

________________

Chief Zakan’s tent.

A space that normally felt spacious now seemed cramped enough to burst.

I sat uncomfortably on Chief Zakan’s right, in the shaman’s seat.

And across from me sat three outsiders.

‘……Are they monsters?’

I swallowed dryly.

Only after seeing them did I realize that the barbarians of the Northern Rock Tribe were relatively mild.

The people sitting before me were on an entirely different level.

Skin as red as lava, muscles as solid as rock.

With only a slight exaggeration, their seated height was about the same as our tribe’s warriors standing up.

Especially the giant sitting in the middle. I could barely tell whether he was a human or an ogre.

He was a full head taller than Zakan, the largest man in our tribe, and his forearms were as thick as my waist.

‘Western Volcano Tribe…….’

A suffocating silence filled the tent.

The red giant, chief of the Western Volcano Tribe, opened his mouth.

“We help.”

Zakan said nothing.

With his arms crossed, he stared expressionlessly at Burta, chief of the Western Volcano Tribe.

But I saw it.

The tendons standing out on Zakan’s forearms trembled faintly. He was suppressing his anger.

Burta ignored Zakan’s silence and continued.

“Red Moon soon. Rock Tribe has no adults. Only children.”

A direct hit with facts.

The veins in Zakan’s forearms bulged even further.

“When Red Moon rises, you die. Volcano Tribe protects you under our banner.”

In other words, in exchange for protecting our tribe, he was effectively notifying us that we would be absorbed as a subordinate tribe of the Volcano Tribe, but that was still far better than facing the Red Moon without any plan!

If those muscle monsters volunteered to protect us in this situation, I would gladly say thank you.

The calculator inside my head began working rapidly.

‘Say yes! Ask them to protect us. Ask them to protect us.’

I sent telepathic messages to Zakan in my head.

But.

“We are not weak.”

What came from Zakan’s mouth was a refusal.

“Rock Tribe protects itself. Need no one’s help.”

“……!”

I nearly fainted.

This stubborn bastard! This mule-headed idiot!

Those guys look like they are half-ogre.

How reassuring could they possibly be?

Burta’s eyebrow twitched.

“Zakan. You are still young. No need to be ashamed.”

“My sword will prove it.”

Zakan was firm.

As though there was nothing more to discuss, he placed a hand on the hilt of his greatsword.

A murderous atmosphere swept through the tent.

Seeing Zakan’s attitude, the Volcano Tribe members shot to their feet.

“Do not regret it, little boy.”

Leaving those words behind, they walked out of the tent.

Until their footsteps faded away, I could barely breathe properly.

Silence once again filled the tent.

Zakan glared at the greatsword in his hand.

His back looked unusually small.

A deep sigh escaped me.

I was angry, but at the same time, I could understand how he felt. I was an adult who had gone through a stormy adolescence myself.

“Zakan.”

I called to him, but he did not answer.

“Why did you refuse? Red Moon is not a joke.”

“…….”

“Our tribe’s strength cannot stop it. You know that too.”

At my questioning, Zakan slowly turned his head.

I was startled when I saw his terribly sad face and trembling eyes.

Although I had not spent much time with him, it was the first time I had ever seen him make such an expression.

Instead of the Chief Zakan who always seemed proud and unshakable, there stood a young boy burdened with far too much weight.

“Izak. My father and your father. And all adults went out to fight when Red Moon rose. To protect us. And none returned.”

His voice cracked.

“Asking someone to protect us is not what warriors do.”

“But…….”

“I do not want to be a coward who hides behind another tribe because I fear death. I would be ashamed before my father.”

He clenched his fist tightly.

So tightly that his nails dug into his palm and bright red blood seeped out.

He seemed unable to forgive himself.

The guilt of surviving because of the adults’ sacrifice.

And the self-reproach that his own weakness was putting the tribe in danger.

It was more than enough to wound someone as young as he was.

Perhaps that was why he saw asking for help as begging.

‘Haa…….’

I swept my hair back while looking at his complicated expression.

An honorable death, the pride of a warrior.

It was the stereotypical way barbarians in fantasy thought.

But…… but still.

‘I’m not a barbarian! I’m Kang Jin-ho, a modern man!’

Dying in battle? Screw that. I want to live peacefully, warm and full, digging potatoes until I die of old age!

While indulging in such selfish thoughts, why did the little kids outside suddenly come to mind?

I could not let those children who smiled at me and called me a great barbarian become monster food because of this young chief’s pride.

I made a decision.

I had to protect the pride of this stubborn young chief while also gaining practical benefits.

“We are not asking. Our Rock Tribe does not beg!”

When I suddenly spoke, Zakan looked at me questioningly.

“Stupid Zakan. Volcano Tribe did not say they would simply help us.”

“……??”

“Volcano Tribe wants Rock Tribe to go beneath them. That is submission.”

Zakan looked surprised.

As expected, he had not thought that far.

I stood and approached Zakan.

‘Now, let’s properly teach him the concept. I’ll explain the strategy of outsourcing the work to the Volcano Tribe and hiring them as mercenaries.’

Just as I, an adult with Intelligence 20, was about to impart wisdom to the teenage chief.

[Warning! The barbarian body resists logical thought.]

“Ugh…….”

A jolt suddenly ran through my head, and the world spun around me. Without realizing it, I grabbed one of the tent poles.

“I-Izak? Are you all right?”

The startled Zakan hurried toward me, but I raised a hand to stop him.

Even as I clutched my temple and cold sweat poured down my face, I stubbornly continued speaking.

“Rock Tribe does not submit. Instead, we trade.”

“Trade?”

“Yes. Ancestral god taught me.”

Enduring the pain, I forced out the rest of the words.

“Zakan. Until you become adult and true chief. Rock Tribe buys Volcano Tribe.”

“……Buys?”

His eyes widened.

Of course. It was a concept that did not exist in a barbarian’s vocabulary.

To them, people were either friends or enemies, not beings you could buy with money.

“Yes. We are not weak. We are rich.”

I pulled an E-rank potato from my clothes and showed it to him.

Its smooth skin gleamed brilliantly in the torchlight.

“Rock Tribe has many potatoes. We give them potatoes and borrow their blades. Volcano Tribe becomes Rock Tribe’s mercenaries.”

The Volcano Tribe was huge, so they probably ate a lot.

And in this barren land of death, these potatoes were worth more than gold.

I tapped Zakan on the shoulder, and he looked at me blankly.

Only now did he actually look like a teenager his age.

“You are not bowing, Chief. You buy Volcano Tribe and command them.”

Zakan stared with his mouth hanging open.

Inside his head, the equation of help = humiliation shattered, and a new equation of employment = domination began taking its place.

Life began returning to his eyes.

“Buy. Command…….”

He repeated those words several times.

I waited for him to organize his thoughts, and eventually confidence returned to his face.

“Izak. You are right. I do not bow. I buy them and make them work.”

“Exactly.”

I sighed inwardly. We were saved.

Damn…… is it really this hard just to say one thing properly?

Still, it was encouraging for me as well.

I defeated this insane Barbarian Spirit and spoke properly!

“Chase after Volcano Tribe immediately. And tell them. On the night Red Moon rises. If they fight for us, we will give them enough potatoes to make their stomachs burst.”

Zakan sprang to his feet.

Then he suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled.

“Huh?”

“Come, Izak! I go buy Volcano Tribe!”

What the hell, I have to go too?

Those guys scare me.

But Zakan was already excitedly dragging me outside by the wrist.

As I was pulled along, I thought.

‘Ah…… this ridiculously fragile guy.’

Still, sulky teenage Chief Zakan was kind of cute in his own way.

Though I was worried about how those Volcano Tribe men would react.