Teogonia: Volume 1 (Premium)

by Tsukasa Tanimai

  Fire...

  Fire magic appeared again at his fingertip.

  Then he focused his concentration such that the flickering of the flame gradually increased. The flame grew to be as intense as a torch, and then he realized that his face had changed.

  It had appeared on the surface of his face like a pattern of ripples.

  There’s a kumadori... on my face.

  It was one of the most striking characteristics of a guardian bearer — one who was under the divine protection of a land god. In the same way that human faces could vary infinitely, each land god also produced its own unique pattern.

  The lines formed a pattern similar to the rings of wood grain that appeared when shaving down a log, emphasizing his nose and eyes. The lines covered his entire face with a dark red color, like the color of bleeding beneath the skin.

  A distinctive feature of Kai’s pattern was a large area on his forehead that was round like an eye, and swirled like the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. It reminded him of the monstrous cyclops that ravaged the southern regions.

  “Hah... Hahaha.”

  The kumadori was proof that he was a guardian bearer, and that he was a member of the human country’s ruling class. The words “position of authority” came to his mind as he felt his legs give way, leaving him sitting down on the ground in a cold sweat.

  Shivers ran through his whole body, and he hugged his knees while waiting for the feeling to pass.

  It appeared that the unthinkable had happened.

  10

  The battle between humans and orgs that had started that day became nothing short of a bloodbath.

  Humans and orgs were two humanoid species with an intense hatred for each other that led them to kill indiscriminately. It was no longer possible to tell which of these species the pieces of flesh and blood scattered across the land belonged to.

  The living would tread on the fallen corpses, only to be killed the next moment, adding new flesh to the pile. Those left alive would trample the freshly dead, spreading blood and entrails and creating pools of foul-smelling bodily fluids that would flow between corpses until they found their way into streams. Rivers of blood flowed between the piles of the dead.

  The orgs drove back the human soldiers, braying with excitement as they crossed through the mush beneath their feet. The humans, with their superior numbers, maintained their formations and came to the aid of those under attack from the orgs. The hunters suddenly became the hunted, and the orgs were pursued by human war cries.

  Org soldiers weighed several times as much as a human, and on the soft earth of the wheat fields they were easy prey. The cunning human soldiers had driven the orgs into this trap, where they killed them in great numbers.

  Hoping that the human formations might break down, the org soldiers chose to fight where the footing was at its poorest and the ground was littered with corpses. Any human soldier that tripped was quickly set upon by an org. As the humans struggled to stay coordinated, the battle began to go in the orgs’ favor.

  The number of humans that had fallen on the battlefield was already beyond counting. It was hard to say who was winning and who was losing. Each soldier simply focused on killing the enemies before them. They killed and were killed.

  After a half toki of continuous fighting that felt like an eternity, a guardian bearer on the org side was eventually brought down in a fight against multiple human guardian bearers, reducing the strength of the already-outnumbered org forces and changing the course of the battle.

  “The foul swines are on the run!” someone cried.

  The cry became a cheer that spread quickly among the humans, signaling that the battle was coming to an end and giving new morale to the humans.

  Somewhere, a human lord let loose a roar, and it turned into a roar of victory. No one gave the order; every human simply took it upon themselves to raise their voice. Perhaps it was triggered by some deep-rooted instinct common to all living creatures.

  As their roars shook the earth, shocked org soldiers began to flee the battlefield in ones and twos. The humans instinctively gave chase.

  Now that the org forces had finally begun to leave the battlefield, Count Balta’s forces who were held in reserve behind the stone walls of Banya came flooding out as if this was the moment they’d been waiting for.

  At this point, the outcome of the battle was decided.

  The org forces returned to the forest, leaving the region at peace once again. Most of the soldiers had fallen to their knees and were breathing heavily when Count Balta’s announcement of their victory rang out.

  “We’ve won! We are the victors!”

  There were cheers of joy from the surviving soldiers.

  A party of scouts from Count Balta’s army was dispatched. There was some fear that the retreat by the orgs could have been a feint, but demi-humans would often use their superior physical strength to retreat to some place far off whenever defeat seemed highly likely. The forest was their garden, and it was hard to hunt them down once they’d returned to it.

  Now that the soldiers knew they were victorious, the blood-soaked weapons in their hands felt as heavy as lead, and they threw their weapons down.

  The moment cries of victory were heard, many soldiers had begun searching for survivors. They roamed the battlefield while holding up flags bearing emblems of their lord’s houses as symbols of their villages.

  Hundreds of names of the missing were called out, and one of those names was “Kai.” Simple sounding names were incredibly common in the borderlands, so it could have been that they were searching for someone else with the same name.

  The soldiers from Lag had of course searched for members of their own who’d been missing during roll call and hadn’t returned since. Many men were found heavily wounded, and the bodies of many times more were recovered.

  After some time, another count was performed to determine the losses that Lag had suffered in the battle.

  Of the 50 soldiers sent out, there had been 21 missing. Now 12 of those had been found dead, and 9 were still unaccounted for. Everyone accepted that those who’d been unable to make their own way back were unlikely to be alive.

  Of those who’d survived the battle, a third were so badly wounded that they couldn’t walk. There were just 19 soldiers who were uninjured. That was less than half their original number. It was proof of the ferocity of the battle they’d just fought.

  Olha had remained on the battlefield until the very end, and had joined the search for missing soldiers before quickly returning to the main camp in the village when summoned by Count Balta.

  All of the lords appeared to have been summoned, and the topic of discussion was how to deal with the aftermath of the battle.

  Banya’s farmland was already in a state of ruin. They had no way to offer gifts to the lords who were present, so that also became a topic for discussion.

  There was much crying and sobbing from the survivors of the ruined village. The elders of the village were repeatedly crying, “Our village is done for.” The women struggled to hold back their sobs when they saw how their fields had been mercilessly trodden down.

  So much flesh and blood had been scattered, and so many footprints left by heavy feet that the effort required to restore the wheat fields to their original state was clearly beyond them.

  To make matters worse, far too many of the men who’d been reliable laborers for Banya had died in the battle. The previous betrayal had caused the lords to lose many of the men in their command, and so they’d been unapologetic about their use of Banya’s men as human shields on the front line.

  It looked impossible for the village to recover. The other soldiers all faced similar problems in their own villages, so they knew just how bad Banya’s situation was.

  Other than the soldiers from a neighboring village who were to bear witness to the “guardian inheritance” by the girl who was the successor, everyone wanted to leave this hopelessly contaminated land as soon as possible.


  It was predicted that the poorly maintained roads of the borderlands would soon become jammed by lords returning home with carts filled with their dead.

  “Don’t get flustered just because a serving girl made eyes at you.”

  “I know you’re not used to attention from women, but don’t let them fool you. It’s pretty obvious they just want male workers.”

  “No kidding.”

  In a corner of the village, a gathering of Lag soldiers were hungrily eating the watery wheat gruel that the survivors from the village had given them, but the strange looks they were getting made it hard for some of them to relax.

  “What’s taking Lord Olha so long?”

  “Maybe he’s after something? He’s with that count of the borderlands, isn’t he?”

  “Now that you mention it... our leader did spend a lot of time around the count’s position when we were in the forest...”

  “...”

  The reason Lag’s soldiers had suffered such heavy losses was because their leader, Olha, had so carelessly abandoned them to move to another position, and now his standing among the other soldiers had plummeted. The atmosphere was tense, and some of the soldiers were showing contempt for Olha behind his back.

  “He’s never cared about us, has he?”

  “He should think about his own people before he goes sucking up to that count.”

  “He’s still young, and he still lacks experience. I won’t let you speak so critically of him. You hear me?” A few calm words from Setta, the second-in-command, put a stop to escalating criticism like sand thrown onto a fire.

  The reason that their baron, Lord Vezin, had sent his eldest son to participate in the council was so that Olha could strengthen his position as heir, and everyone knew that House Moloch and its heir were under close scrutiny.

  It was common for young people to make mistakes while they still lacked experience. That was understood. But it was hard to accept the fact that so many lives needed to be lost for Olha to gain the experience he lacked.

  The heavy atmosphere was suddenly broken when someone called out, “Hey...” The voice caused several people to look up.

  As the soldiers looked around, they first looked to the man who had spoken, then they followed his gaze, and soon there were many eyes focused on the same spot.

  “Ah!” Manso raised his voice in surprise.

  The other members of his squad followed suit, raising their voices too.

  “The kid was alive...”

  “He made it back.”

  One soldier pointed a finger at him, and there was laughter in response.

  After everything bad that had happened, this was a little piece of good news, and they all wanted to be part of the celebration.

  “You took your time!”

  “What a tough bastard! The god of death must be scared of him!”

  When he saw the smiles on the faces of his fellow soldiers, the small young boy waved at them as he approached. In the turmoil of the battle he’d gotten lost in the forest, and with his whereabouts unknown, he was thought to be surely dead. But now, the young boy had returned unharmed.

  The laughter from the Lag soldiers soon got the attention of soldiers from other villages.

  When they learned that someone had made it back alive and unharmed after being lost in the turmoil of the battle, many applauded and congratulated him.

  “Kai.”

  “It’s Kai!”

  “Kai! Good to have you back!”

  A stone axe that the boy must have taken from an org was resting on his shoulder. He showed them that he could easily raise it into the air with one hand, and then he spun it in the air. His smile was bright and carefree.

  “I’m back!”

  After being missing for a full day, Kai had safely returned to his people.

  11

  The boy thought he’d heard a bird. The bird call echoed around him as if it was reaching his ears from somewhere far above.

  Huh?

  Kai stopped working on the field to look up at the endless blue sky in search of the source of the bird call. There were few clouds at this time of year, and the bright sky was colored a rich blue.

  He’d very clearly heard a bird call, so he strained his eyes to look for the bird that he felt sure was nearby.

  But he found nothing.

  “Kai.”

  A nearby worker with their spade deep in manure called Kai’s name angrily, causing him to come to his senses. But again, he heard the bird call, as if it was mocking him.

  “Don’t just stand there doing nothing, Kai!”

  The bird was nowhere to be seen.

  He couldn’t understand it, so Kai tried hard to think of an explanation. Then he remembered something with unexpected clarity.

  That’s right... It’s the same bird call I heard in the valley.

  Here in the plains of the borderlands, there were very few bird species. What he’d heard was the cry of a bird that lived in the forest.

  Just then, a shiver ran down his spine.

  I want to see the valley... The thought suddenly hit him, and the desire was hard to resist. Every hair on his body stood on end with excitement.

  “Kai! Get it together!”

  “Wha—Kai?!”

  No matter how strong his desire was, every villager had to work to support their meager way of life, and Kai couldn’t abandon his duties. Kai took up his plow with renewed energy and began turning over the hardened, unsown soil of the wheat field.

  It was tough work best performed by an ox pulling a plow, but Lag didn’t have enough cattle to work all of their farmlands. Most of their fields were painstakingly plowed by human hands.

  Little Kai was getting that work done rapidly. Those around him were struggling to keep up because Kai’s strength was clearly on another level.

  “Kai, wait! Calm down!”

  “When did you get so strong?!”

  Other men working in the next field laughed loudly at the scene playing out nearby, and some passing women guiding a herd of cattle watched with great interest. No one minded too much if Kai went all out because it meant that some of the more punishing work would progress quickly. In fact, some people were cheering him on.

  Kai thought that if he could finish up the work in front of him he might be given some free time, but in reality, there was no way that he’d be given a break by himself just because work was progressing more quickly.

  In the end, Kai’s continued efforts meant that much more farm work was completed that day than anyone had expected. All Kai received in return were some words of gratitude from the other villagers, but that was enough to leave Kai feeling proud of himself.

  Everyone had been surprised by Kai’s sudden development after returning from the battle of Banya. Kai’s newfound strength was visible to all in a variety of ways, and to everyone it seemed obvious that he was a “hatchling fed on godstones” (which was like saying he was a bird that learned to fly young). Indeed, he told everyone that for one day and one night while he was missing, he’d collected godstones from the bodies of fallen enemies in the forest and eaten them one after another in an attempt to stay alive.

  Anyone left to wander lost among the enemy would do the same thing in the same situation. Keeping a precious godstone all to oneself was generally considered shameful, but everyone understood the circumstances, so rather than criticize Kai, the village accepted his rapid development and recognized his great potential.

  Just like the women who’d watched Kai’s farm work, other women in the village had also started to pay close attention to Kai. When a boy with potential stood out from his peers, even just a little, he’d have the honor of being listed as “marriage material” by the women of the village.

  Unlike his fellow soldiers who worried a lot about how they looked in the eyes of the women, Kai was still 13, and his thoughts were more focused on food than sex. Unfortunately, Kai hadn’t even noticed this particular change in how they w
ere looking at him.

  In the afternoon training session for soldiers, there was once again a sudden difference in Kai.

  It was already well known to the soldiers that Kai had been able to collect many godstones in battle, causing his strength to increase rapidly. Even though his past life memories would cause him to think about things deeply, Kai was still at that age when boys fantasize about having special powers, and impressing everyone around him with his newfound strength brought him great joy.

  When everyone gathered for spear training, Kai wielded his spear with increased precision and a whistling of wind accompanied each of his movements.

  This soon caught the attention of the higher-ranking soldiers, and he found himself receiving direct guidance from Basco and Setta, who were two of the most skilled fighters.

  The leader of Kai’s squad was Manso, a soldier five years his senior who had carefully built his strength and was currently the strongest in the squad. Manso and Kai were now treated as their two top fighters.

  “You’re catching up quick!”

  “Next time... don’t think... you’ll be able... to leave me... behind... in a forest...”

  “Hah? You know... I had no choice. Sorry.”

  “I’m not... blaming... you!”

  Even in the middle of an intense bout, he could carry out a conversation without getting out of breath. Manso was a good match for him, so they became regular sparring partners.

  In reality, Manso was worried about Kai’s sudden rise in the squad, and wanted to train with him for the sake of maintaining the balance of power, but Kai hadn’t realized that. That said, although he got carried away at times, there was a more mature side of Kai that knew to hold back a little. There was Manso’s reputation in the squad to think about, so Kai naturally stayed one step behind him. If Kai was their squad’s number two, and if he could stay one step behind Manso in terms of practical skill, that felt like the right place for him.