Mugul had taken control of an entire tribe and was using them as slaves, while some of them were serving as minions without even knowing that they themselves were sacrifices. Including those imprisoned in the underground dungeon, the number came to no less than six hundred.
When I sent back those who could fend for themselves and still had a hometown to return to, three hundred remained. Three hundred refugees with nowhere to voice their grievances and no ties left anywhere.
In this jungle, where people lived gathered by tribe, three hundred was an enormous number. There were scarcely enough people who could count that high. In this harsh and rugged land, there was only one place where that many people could stay right away.
Piu Village.
“Ooooooh! You really did it!”
After a journey lasting two full days, the regressor and I arrived at Piu Village, leading the three hundred refugees. Rash, who had been notified in advance, came out to meet the refugees with several immortals.
“Two hundred sacrifices? What sort of horrific ritual were they planning to perform! Teacher, boy! Thank you so much for helping us as though this were your own land, despite being outsiders!”
Rash expressed his gratitude with complete sincerity, solely because we had saved Piu’s life. However, several of the immortals who had followed him looked troubled when they saw the refugees we had brought.
“Three hundred? One, two… ten. No, I’m running out of fingers. Hey, how much is three hundred?”
“Who cares! It’s a filthy huge number! What are we going to do? Piu Village is going to burst at the seams!”
“They all look half-dead. Can we even prepare enough food? Don’t tell me we have to save them too?”
Piu Village was a gesture of consideration from the immortals to help Piu, who had lost his home and left because of some incident. But even if immortals could not die, that did not mean they could endure starvation. Even those who could not die had to eat something if they wanted to move.
Faced with a food shortage that had arrived alongside the number three hundred, the immortals began to seriously deliberate. ‘Left Leg’ moved on behalf of all of them.
“Right Arm. Your guests have done us a truly great service. That cruel sorcerer would surely have extended his claws toward our village someday, so your guests have effectively helped our village as well.”
Rash replied joyfully.
“See! Even people from beyond the grasslands understand honor! Then would it not be proper for us to repay their honorable actions in a manner that does not shame us?”
“Ah… Of course. Right Arm. Naturally, we intend to recognize and treat the people from beyond the grasslands as warriors. However…”
‘Left Leg’ once again looked at the three hundred refugees and shook his head.
“I’m sorry, guests, but we cannot accept them.”
“Are you serious, Left Leg?”
“Piu Village is a sanctuary prepared on one side of our land. The moment someone enters this village, they become our Piu, and we must care for and protect them. That is the way of living alongside those who die easily, passed down from the days of Muhoo.”
“You know that yourself, so why are you trying to abandon tradition?”
“Precisely because of that, Right Arm. We also have to eat and survive, do we not?”
‘Left Leg’ conveyed his refusal in practical terms.
“We accepted the increase in Piu Village’s population until now. We could simply hunt a little harder and gather a few more fruits. But adding three hundred people on top of this… We would have to go hunting every single day without exception.”
“So what? We never get tired. We can go hunting all the way to those distant grasslands and bring back three buffalo! If not us, then who will do it?”
“Right Arm. Not every member of the tribe is like you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we cannot leave to hunt for days on end just to feed the Piu. We have homes to look after, offerings to make, and children to raise, do we not?”
In this harsh jungle, even surviving was a difficult task. Even if one was an immortal who could not die, one’s other responsibilities remained unchanged.
The most prominent among them was food. Hunting was easier said than done. Overcoming powerful and dangerous beasts in competition for their meat was a grueling task even for immortals.
“If we feed all of them, we’ll wipe out the beasts. Piu are people who will leave someday. We cannot throw the balance of this land into disarray for their sake.”
“Hmm…”
Caught between the two, Rash wore an awkward expression. I and the regressor had defeated the black magician and rescued the people, bringing three hundred refugees here. If they cast them out in front of us, they would lose face.
But Rash, who lived in this village, could not ignore the practical problem ‘Left Leg’ had pointed out.
The silence grew longer. The regressor, who had been waiting patiently, eventually could not stand it any longer and asked,
“What? Are you going to drive them out?”
“Please wait a moment. There must surely be a way.”
“No, do whatever you want. It’s your village, and if you won’t accept them, I can’t exactly criticize you for it. I’ve done as much as I can, and you’re doing only as much as you can.”
‘Was killing that black magician really the end of it? The mission is over, but they leave me with nothing but bothersome cleanup. Isn’t there some other revelation or something?’
Despite the coldness of his words, the regressor seemed extremely displeased. Even the boisterous Rash was watching his mood.
But there was no immediate solution to a practical problem. Reality was cold. ‘Left Leg’ spoke.
“Then the conclusion has been reached. We will spare them a little food, so they can return to where they originally—”
“Wait. It’s not over yet.”
That was when Kallis appeared from the far side of Piu Village, leading the village watch. After ordering the people of Piu Village to care for the refugees, Kallis alone stepped abruptly between Rash and ‘Left Leg.’
“Left Leg. If there is a way to resolve the food shortage, will you allow me to take them in?”
Kallis spoke to ‘Left Leg’ with his chin held high and his arms crossed. ‘Left Leg’ answered with a sense of rejection and unease.
“…Right Arm’s mate.”
Huh. That was an unusual reaction. As relaxed and straightforward as an immortal usually was, ‘Left Leg’ was somehow tense when facing Kallis.
“The method I mentioned last time?”
“That explanation is not clear. Slash-and-burn agriculture. We burn the forest to make fields.”
“You mean you intend to set the devil’s fire upon this land ruled by the Offering God?”
“It is neither the devil’s fire nor the Offering God’s land. I… no, I merely intend to burn only those parts of the forest that may be burned, under firm control.”
Oh, this was militaristic thinking, something I had not felt in a long time. If one lacked the ability to support a population, one simply increased the fields. It was unmistakably militaristic thinking, devoted solely to achieving its objective, and it offered an answer that was difficult to accept.
Was this the posture of civilization when confronting barbarism? Kallis explained crisply.
“Separate the sections of the forest and set them on fire. Till the soil mixed with ash and twigs. Sow seeds in it and grow crops. It takes some time to do properly, but when combined with ritual magic, the entire process can be rapidly accelerated, allowing us to see results.”
“This land where the Offering God dwells is wet every day. It will not catch fire so easily.”
“We can use alchemy to refine the firewood.”
“Alche… what?”
“Let us call it a witch’s secret technique. It is less mystical than that, and more systematic.”
“Absurd…”
“No, Left Leg. It’s possible!”
The story looked as though it was about to become more interesting, so I quickly cut in to support Kallis’s argument.
“As long as the trees have been cut down, we can perform simple alchemy. Look. Separating moisture from the wood to prepare firewood and drinking water is a simple matter!”
Taking the opportunity, I snapped off a branch and separated its moisture through simple alchemy. ‘Left Leg’ frowned as he watched droplets of water fall from the wood.
“Hmm. How long would it take to transform this vast forest in such a manner?”
“Ah, don’t worry about that. Kallis is a former military magic officer and has quite a lot of mana. I’ll help too if necessary.”
After I vouched for him, ‘Left Leg’ looked twice as troubled. I smiled brightly and brushed aside his irritated stare.
It was not as if I particularly wanted to help Kallis. It would simply be a shame to let the military nation’s rough yet rational spread of civilization be rejected for no reason other than ‘it cannot be trusted.’ All I needed to give them was trust. Just trust.
“Beans grow where beans are planted, and red beans where red beans are planted. Even if you make fields, what will you plant in those empty fields?”
“To conduct independent operations, the military nation provides colonel-ranked officers on active missions with chimera bean seeds, allowing them to be self-sufficient. I have some as well.”
“You carry seeds with you? Hmm…”
“Wow. I’d heard that was the case, but you really do carry them around! I’m certain. These are chimera bean seeds!”
It sounds fake, doesn’t it? But that was how the military nation operated. Worried they might not believe it, I stepped forward and vouched for him. ‘Left Leg’ and the other immortals hesitated as they looked at the seeds Kallis held out.
“That isn’t very much. How long would it take to grow enough to eat?”
“Do not worry. Chimera beans also absorb the vital essence of other plants. Once they grow beyond a certain size, they can be propagated through grafting. It will take some time, but…”
“They can be propagated? If it were that easy…”
“Oh, and I possess the power of a druid. As long as there are fields, I can help their growth to some extent.”
For good measure, I made leaves sprout from a dry branch. The immortals reacted even more strongly.
The people of the entire world might not know magic or alchemy, but they knew druidism. When it came to grass and trees, there was no doubting a druid.
Their arguments against it were growing increasingly feeble. Now ‘Left Leg’ merely nitpicked like a difficult old man.
“What will you do if the fire spreads?”
“Ah, I’ll stop it. If I isolate the air with Cheonaeng and cut off the ground with Jijan, there’s no way the fire can spread, no matter what happens.”
Perhaps thinking the regressor might not believe him either, he demonstrated it himself. When he swung Cheonaeng toward a bonfire some distance away, the flames wavered unnaturally, as though blocked by an invisible wall.
All the immortals’ worries and arguments for opposition had become meaningless. With the regressor and me taking this side, they could not simply ignore us, either. The immortals were left with only a choice.
Either they drove out the refugees, or they accepted them. What choice would they make?
After pondering for a long while, ‘Left Leg’ finally squeezed out an answer.
“…This is not a matter that can be decided easily. We must speak with the Offering God’s priestesses. ‘Eye,’ ‘Nose,’ and ‘Mouth.’ And ‘Ear.’”
He would postpone the answer. It was the choice most frequently adopted since the beginning of history, and also the answer that had produced the greatest results. Clichéd, but effective.
But time was not on the immortals’ side. To postpone meant maintaining the situation as it was for the time being. They could not send away three hundred refugees when no conclusion had been reached.
Kallis smiled like a victor.
“Then in the meantime, we will have to take them in. Until you finish speaking with the priestesses.”
‘Left Leg’ clicked his tongue loudly. The winner and loser could not have been clearer.
So this was interesting.
In the past, the Kallis I had seen in the military nation was a cold-blooded man who would not hesitate to commit any kind of dirty deed for the sake of power. Rash, by contrast, was a kind and generous immortal.
That was how things should have been, yet now Kallis was trying to protect the refugees. Instead, the generous immortals were showing reluctance.
I grinned and read his thoughts.
‘If Piu Village’s population increases, my position will rise as well. I came here following Rash, but that doesn’t mean I can live here without doing anything. The level of this place is too low and barbaric. I need to raise Piu Village’s civilization to at least the level of a frontier village in the military nation.’
Kallis had not abandoned his desire for power. Only the direction of his ambitions had changed.
‘We’ve introduced ritual magic. Education is progressing well too. The barbarians who lost their homes and settled in Piu Village admire my movements and clothing and are actively learning from me. What Piu Village needs now is strength, and the ability to be self-sufficient. That is all.’
A change in environment did not erase the life one had lived before. Kallis, who drew a clear blueprint and carried it out like an operation, unmistakably possessed the mindset of the military nation.
‘And that way, the child I’ll have someday… won’t have to live the life of a barbarian.’
Though it was not solely because of his lust for power.
The immortals, including ‘Left Leg,’ sensed Kallis’s intentions as well—not as clearly as I did, but faintly.
Kallis’s ambition was not the sole reason he opposed accepting the refugees, but it certainly played a part.
“Right Arm’s mate.”
‘Left Leg,’ who had read the flow of things more accurately than anyone, quietly called out to Kallis. Not by name or position, but with words that meant he was nothing more than Rash’s partner.
“Do not overstep yourself. Even if you are Right Arm’s mate, in the end you are still a Piu. A… friend who dies easily and is under our protection.”
Whether Kallis was Rash’s mate, the chief of Piu Village, or anything else, he was still only a Piu. ‘Left Leg’ pointed to the red armband fastened around Kallis’s arm and warned him.
Rash shouted.
“Left Leg!”
“Right Arm. If you are truly one of our kind, take good care of your mate. What we gave the Piu was a sanctuary where they could protect their lives without fear, not the right to give us orders. Not everyone who comes from beyond the grasslands can become a Muhoo.”
Oh-ho. So that was how he wanted to play it? Well, territorialism was a right too. It was a somewhat petty response from someone who acted so proud of being an immortal.
I was watching it as though it had nothing to do with me when ‘Left Leg’ suddenly noticed the armband around my arm and spoke.
“And you there. The one from beyond the grasslands.”
“Yes? Me?”
“Yes. If you are also a Piu, bear my words in mind.”
No, why was I suddenly involved? I was not going to live in Piu Village, and I was merely a traveler who would leave someday.
“Left Leg. That’s enough.”
“Right Arm. We also—”
“No. I’m not saying this for my sake, but for yours. You are free to challenge him, but you must not disregard him. The teacher is…”
I appreciated Rash’s concern, but I also understood what ‘Left Leg’ was saying. I cut Rash off and spoke.
“It’s all right, Rash. I was the one who overstepped a little.”
“Teacher. I’m sorry. After you helped us…”
“No, no, no. It’s not that I’m offended or anything. I mean it literally. It wasn’t my place, as an outsider who will leave someday, to meddle in your affairs. I only hinted that I could help. I believe the decision is entirely yours to make.”
That was right. I was merely the sort of person who shoved choices in front of others so they could not ignore them.
When they closed their eyes, I grabbed their eyelids and forced them open. When they shut their ears, I seized their earlobes and hammered the truth into them. When they refused to think, I touched the deepest part of their hearts and forced them to face it.
If that was the choice they arrived at, I would respect it.
“Well then. Shall we stop here? We need to rest, and you immortals need to have your ‘discussion’ now.”
When I clapped my hands to bring things to a close, the meeting ended as though everyone had been waiting for it. ‘Left Leg’ went with the immortals to see the priestesses, while Kallis led the Piu Village watch toward the refugees.