Surviving a Shounen Manga

Attack, Start!

Regarding the qualifications one would need to be called a warrior, different people have different opinions.

Some say that you have to be strong, and others say that you need to be skilled with weaponry. Yet others may say that only those who can survive in battle after killing the enemy are worthy of being called warriors.

But the requirements for warriors of the Skull Empire are a little clearer than that.

First, of course, power.

In order to be called a warrior of the Skull Empire, one must have power several times stronger than others. If you don’t have the strength, how can you go further beyond all other countries while carrying the honour of the empire on your back?

And second, adaptability.

A warrior of the Skull Empire should be at home no matter which strange faraway land he finds himself in. He must be able to acquire food and supplies by analysing the local flora and fauna, and he must be able to adapt to the local climate, no matter how harsh and unfamiliar.

A conqueror needs not just strength, but adaptability and perseverance to withstand new environments.

Bayar Khan had said that the first checkpoint in the final round was to test that.

Adaptability, and survivability.

I thought it wouldn’t be too difficult.

Look at me, wasn’t I still surviving even after falling into this alien land?

The problem was, I wasn’t the only one who had to meet this requirement, this time.

I looked at my horse, panting next to me.

Even though he hadn’t had to touch the ground with his legs that much, he seemed quite tired.

The road to Maroon Mountain was a harsher trial for horses than for humans, to be fair.

For some reason, everywhere we passed, was filled with this guy’s natural enemies.

Swamp leeches, forest snakes, sand scorpions, poisonous river frogs…

And not just that, a strange, tangy smell pervaded the air everywhere.

Bayar Khan called it the smell of a ‘mountain cat’. A very ferocious feline species that inhabits only certain regions within the Skull Empire, and horses and sheep are a staple of their diet.

From the looks of it, either these guys had been caught elsewhere and released back here on purpose, or our path had been deliberately chosen to cut through their habitat.

"Are there no other paths? Don’t we just have to reach the mountains, whatever route we take?"

"There must be. But the road the horses flinch from is the fastest. That’s how it’s always been, the old man said."

"Hmm…"

Of course, it wasn’t that I’d been carrying this horse of mine all the way. If a place wasn’t a swamp or a forest, had no enemies nearby, and the stench was faint, it’d run a little bit. After the princess coddled him a bit, even his stamina had increased a little.

But,

Whinny–.

It was still too much for him, apparently.

Not only did his panting not stop, this guy was now even crawling down on the ground.

"…"

To be honest, by this time I couldn’t help but be suspicious.

Maybe this guy was just pretending right now, and cackling inside.

Maybe seeing the vast expanse of the desert before him, he just wanted to lie down?

I’d been flustered at the repeated ups and downs of his mood at first, but honestly, there’d been times when he’d looked perfectly fine. Especially when somebody gave him food.

I watched the princess hand out hay.

The guy who’d just been looking like he was about to bonelessly collapse, was now licking his tongue and eating very enthusiastically.

"This guy… isn’t he healthy?"

So, I asked a quick question.

"Look at how tired he is, does that look healthy to you?"

"No, well, he’s got energy enough when it comes to eating, don’t you think?"

"That’s just because he has to eat if he has to live."

"… Is that so?"

It didn’t answer my doubts.

The princess seemed to notice my displeasure.

"You shouldn’t feel like he’s a burden. That’s the difficult part of this obstacle."

"No, rather than a burden…"

To be honest, he was worse than a simple burden. Burdens can at least be thrown away if they weigh you down.

But him, on the other hand…

"The empire was able to conquer such a vast territory because all its warriors loved their horses more than their own lives. The harsher the environment, the harder it is on them. People can say when it’s tough, when it hurts, when it’s cold or painful, but they can’t do even that. I’m not really parroting the old man here, it’s my own opinion. No, it’s a fact."

She said, a little sharply, sharp enough to sting a bit.

"Yeah, I get it."

"You might call him a coward, but the issue here is that you aren’t somebody he thinks he can rely on. Don’t expect this guy to recognize your power. You have to show him something different. You have to make him trust you, that you’ll always be by his side, and that you’ll never leave him."

"Trust…"

In fact, I’d also been somewhat aware of my own complacency.

To be honest, I’d been far too confident in my backgrounds, [Southland National Park Zookeeper] and [Apprentice Racetrack Jockey]. Confident enough that I’d never really tried to form a bond with this guy.

If something is cheap, there’s a reason for that.

It seemed that the princess also recognized my thoughts from my expression. Because she smiled and tried to lift my spirits.

"If you study carefully, the distance he can run will increase little by little. Like us, horses need a period of adaptation."

"… Alright."

However, there was still one last thing that I wanted to ask.

‘Then why’s yours in such good condition?’

That cheeky black horse ran well from the start. Just having high mutual trust couldn’t explain that, surely?

When the stench of those ‘mountain cats’ came out, he just lost his appetite. Whereas my horse was constantly whining with fright.

Was there a realm beyond trust, or something?

How complicated.

‘I should’ve gotten it when I first saw it…’

Then,

"You can rest a little longer. We’ve got time."

The princess said in a relaxed voice.

She’d seemed to have interpreted my dark complexion differently.

"Really? Weren’t we on a pretty tight schedule? We haven’t been making very good time, either."

The day was slowly turning towards night.

The sun was setting over the sand dunes at the horizon. As if waves of indigo were meandering over the red desert.

I didn’t know exactly where Marron Mountain was, but I thought it was probably still a long way off. Because we hadn’t travelled that far.

But the princess didn’t seem to care overmuch.

"If we keep going like this, yes, but it’ll be fine for now. The three days limit doesn’t apply to just us, but the ones that start late, too. They have to have a chance to reach the destination too, right?"

"Aha, that’s true."

It was a plausible enough theory.

So I, too, spread out my cushion on the sand.

"Emergency! Emergency!"

Suddenly, a squawking was heard from somewhere.

"Those damn bastards! It’s them, the dark ones!"

It was Coocoo.

Ah, he’d been quiet, hadn’t he?

I jumped up from my seat.

Soon I could see a white pigeon circling the sky above, then flying towards me.

"There’re about twenty people in front."

"Twenty? Hmm, that’s not a small number, isn’t it? Great job."

As I tried to pet him, the pigeon jerked his head back.

"Keep your filthy hands away from me. And just some empty praise won’t work. You guys need to be more grateful for my hard work."

"Now you’re just tooting your own horn[1]. But yeah, just wait a while. I’ll have something for you soon."

Then I turned my head to the direction Coocoo was pointing.

After a while, just like he’d said, suspicious-looking people, clad in black, started popping up one after another over the dunes.

I’d been anticipating a fight for some time.

The reason was simple. Whether it was about attacking me or encouraging me to abandon the princess, now was the right time to launch such a disruptive operation.

Same as the preliminary round, people could watch the final obstacle as well. Moreover, even the ‘Khan’ himself would be attending, so anything that had to be done, had to be done before that.

To be more specific, although the first obstacle of the final round was about ‘hunting’ and ‘travelling’, it was rife with cases of ‘defeating your competitors’ as well, even though that had nothing to do with the obstacle itself. Since the monitoring from the invigilators was the loosest during this section of the test, there really was no better time to attack.

So, I’d been guessing.

Perhaps enemies would be hiding somewhere along the path and waiting for us, or would catch up with us while disguised as participants.

‘Now where are these guys from…’

Assassins who’d followed us from the ship? Or the new enemies we’d picked up afterwards? Or perhaps a third force?

It was difficult to tell just by looking at them.

Just then –

Clip-clop.

One among the crowd slowly trotted closer on horseback.

It was a bit puzzling.

‘Alone? Does this guy have no fear, or what?’

I inspected him carefully to see if he had any trump cards, but I couldn’t read anything special off him.

Closing upon us, he looked around and spoke.

"You couldn’t have made the journey, anyway."

He was commenting the state of my horse, which had collapsed in a sorry state, it looked like.

I just stared at him, silent.

Hmf! Giving a snort, he continued –

"Princess Thermis, you should just give up the test at this point. That’d at least save your life. I won’t tell you twice."

He was smirking as he looked at the princess.

What a chatterbox. He wouldn’t mind revealing his identity, right?

I took a step forward.

"Hey, shouldn’t you say who are, first…"

"Are your horses like this when you aren’t even halfway through? Hah! Ridiculous. It’s better to just turn back right now, that’s the only way to save your life. Forget about Maroon Mountain, you won’t even make it past this desert."

"…"

What a crazy guy. Couldn’t he see me talking to him?

The princess tried to stand up, but I stopped her.

Then,

"Hey, don’t you know me?"

I took one more step, closer to him.

Then –

"… You’re that one, with the squat jaw."

The guy finally turned his head to look at me.

"Ah… that’s it?"

I guess he really doesn’t know.

"I heard that there was a guy who bragged about his piddly power and ran wild during the preliminaries."

"Piddly power? So you never heard how much?"

"You cheeky punk. You think battles are won only by strength? Not just that, this here is a desert! Hellish heat and cold alternate, the land is full of miasma and poisonous insects, and you can’t find even a drop of water. A place where the unprepared can’t even make it through the night. Just because you’re a bit strong, do you think you can beat us in this place?"

He let out a brief chuckle.

"So if we don’t give up the race, you’ll keep annoying us all the way?"

"Oh, are you annoyed?"

"No, wouldn’t it be strange if we didn’t have any complaints? Why are you even asking that?"

"If you have a complaint… well, your fate’s now sealed. Originally, I was only going to talk to the princess, but that cheeky face of yours is so disgusting, it’s hard to stand the sight of it. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if a servant lives or dies, I suppose."

"What… servant?"

No matter how I saw it, these guys were way too sloppy.

I checked the group behind him. The distance between us was about 20m. They were all on horseback, holding their mounts still by the reins.

‘Do they have some kind of plan of action?’

But soon I shook the thought off. How can you have a plan of action if you can’t even size up the situation?

"Alright, you all come and give it a try."

"… Are you trying to fight us all by yourself?”

"You guys would be in real trouble otherwise."

I glanced at the man, and he flinched for a moment.

Slowly, he must’ve started feeling that something was wrong.

"Oh, and since you guys were ready to follow us across the desert… you must have enough supplies? Food for ten to twenty people, clothes to survive the cold night, stuff like that?"

"What?"

I’d actually been waiting all along. For people to attack us.

The reason why I hadn’t brought any meat jerky, other dry rations or blankets along? The princess seemed to have chalked it up to having the self-sufficient spirit of a warrior. But this had been the actual reason. Because I’d thought we could just grab some along the way.

I strode closer.

Then,

"A… ugh?"

Dragging the guy off his horse, I lifted him up.

"Are you maybe ninety kilos? A hundred? Do you know, I’d thrown something five hundred times heavier than you by a few dozen meters?"

And then –

"Take care!"

I threw him at the group of people in the distance.

"Ugh, aaaahhh!"

Of course, I didn’t stand still.

I ran straight at the group. I had to catch them, after all. Before they could come to their senses and scarper.

Since they’d been the ones to attack, they had to pay the price.

"Give me everything you’ve got, you bandits!"

They turned out to be horse thieves from the nearby region, who’d been hired by the warhawk faction.

Judging by how they lacked information about me, they hadn’t prepared very meticulously.

Although they’d probably come cheap, to be fair.

Anyway, they were the first wave of the attack, so we ended up catching only the clumsiest of the lot.

Still, it was quite fortunate for us. Since they left quite a lot behind.

Dry food such as jerky, as well as water, oil, clothes, maps and other daily necessities.

And to cap it all off – horses.

"… Will it work?"

I glanced at the princess and the horse lying next to her.

To be honest, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to change to another horse. I couldn’t carry him around forever, right?

But I had a strong feeling that I shouldn’t. Because this was a shounen manga.

It felt unfair, but from the moment I’d first lifted him up, I had to think of this horse as my colleague.

There’d already been a lot of weird scenes with us two, and he’d even made some progress.

The readers, of course, would be looking forward to his future growth.

Moreover, one of the three basic elements of a shounen manga is ‘friendship’.

To abandon him in this state?

Just imagining the readers’ comments gave me the shivers.

So –

"Alright, let’s go."

I firmed up my mind. I was just going to have to suffer for a few more days.

And… well, if that guy started running properly later, I’d be fine with such a scene, too.

After I finished sorting out the loot, I quickly took in our surroundings.

It’d suddenly become dark all around.

In the middle of the barren desert, after darkness had descended. There could be no better environment for a raid than this.

"Were there any other guys that caught your eye? Do you want to take another look around?"

I secretly whispered to Coocoo, who was pecking at the jerky.

But the guy scornfully laughed, hehehe, and spat out the jerky he was eating.

"Do you think I’m your servant? Damned Squatjaw. You want to work me to death in exchange for a a few pieces of dried meat? If you really want me to do it, you’d better…"

That was then.

Suddenly, he clammed up.

And, began to tremble.

"I… I-I-I t-told you… d-damn it… to leave me a-alone and go…"

"What?"

He wasn’t the only one to show an abnormality.

Whinny–!

It wasn’t my horse that cried out.

When I turned around, the princess’ cheeky horse was the one showing signs of caution. This was his first time reacting like this.

And at the same time,

"Kgh… what is this?"

A great stench came from somewhere.

A smell strange yet familiar.

‘… A mountain cat?’

I thought I’d gotten used to their stench, but I was wrong.

The smell was similar, but several dozen times stronger than that, strong enough to make the tip of my nose tingle despite coming from afar.

And finally,

Purr–.

A strange sound came from behind.

I naturally turned my head.

Something was there, staring at me.

"Really… a mountain cat?"

I wasn’t sure what to say. It was my first time seeing its like.

A feline animal with a bright yellow body and red eyes.

Although it was the size of a leopard, the threat it exuded was in a whole other league.

I didn’t know its exact species, from where it’d appeared, or what its purpose was.

There was only one thing that I knew.

"Coocoo… do you know this guy?"

It was a divine beast.

Editor’s Notes:

[1] 생색은 (lit. fresh colour), exaggerating one’s own achievements to fish for praise.