“Not long after death, divine spirits return to their rightful gravesites. If you’d take it into yourself, I’d urge you to do so quickly.”
“If I eat it, will I get the land god’s powers?”
“It is not possible for one to carry two guardians. But divine power can be absorbed many times. The spirit will return any moment. I urge you to consume it now.”
“I’ve sealed it so the god can’t get out. We’ve got time.”
Kai focused his spiritual energy and made sure it enclosed the godstone.
When its host died, the spiritual membrane around the divine spirit would be lost, exposing it to the outside world and triggering its return home. Kai didn’t know how he knew this, but as long as he kept the godstone completely surrounded with spiritual energy, the spirit of the land god inside it would not be lost.
Right... there’s no way I could have two or three guardians at once.
It was a little disappointing, but if it was so easy to have multiple land gods as guardians, someone else would have already done it a long time ago. For example, if the count of the borderlands had wanted to do so, he could have attacked all of the weaker guardian bearers around him and claimed their guardians for himself. Kai had never heard of such a thing happening, so he knew that Porek was telling the truth.
The voice inside Kai’s head had told him, “Seal it.” He guessed that there must be some other way to benefit from the godstone.
“God of the Valley?”
“Is there a way to use this thing besides eating it?” Kai asked Porek, feeling as though the old koror knew much more than himself.
Porek knew that Kai had only just inherited the god of the valley as his guardian. He appeared to think about it for a few moments before he replied.
“The higher gods, those closer to heaven, are able to choose loyal followers and grant them a land god as their guardian.” He gestured toward the koror standing around them. “The chosen follower gains the land god as their guardian and in exchange become subservient to you.”
By loyal followers, he meant the other koror around them. But Kai still didn’t have complete faith in them.
Porek must have judged from Kai’s reaction that there was no chance of a new koror guardian bearer being born today. He followed up by asking, “Are there none worthy among your own kind?”
The faces of Kai’s fellow soldiers from Lag came to his mind, but he shook his head. He had many friends who he trusted, but it would only lead to conflict in their peaceful community.
“No.”
“In that case, you may use it to increase your own power without hesitation. There are many powerful guardian bearers in this world. If you wish to protect the valley, you’d best gain power quickly so that you are a match for the six mighty orgs of the Rigdaros who lead the orgish armies.”
Porek had knowledge of parts of the demi-human world that were unknown to humans.
There were many famous human lords who had two names, and it sounded as though the orgs also had powerful guardian bearers who were famous among members of their species. It seemed as though orgs had power over a nearby region, so the most direct threat to the valley was the powerful guardian bearers of the orgs.
Rigdaros? Kai wondered if any of them had been there at the battle of Banya.
Kai looked at the godstone in his hand and made his decision quickly.
He had no way to preserve it, and the marrow was best consumed while it was fresh and would have the most effect. He wouldn’t be able to win a new ally, but if he could gain much of the nourishment of the marrow while the spirit of the land god was still trapped inside, there would still be some meaning in following the strange instruction that had come to him.
The godstone of the guardian bearer was incredibly tough. The rough surface of the bony substance was an indication of its hardness. When Kai found that he couldn’t break it against the rocks on the ground, he quickly lost his patience and created his invisible sword at his fingertip so that he could slice the bone open.
The part that was sliced off flew right into the hands of Porek, who was impressed by Kai’s method of opening the godstone.
“Take it. That part’s yours.”
“Y-You are sure...?”
“You helped.”
Through the round opening in the godstone, the rich, amber-colored marrow packed inside was visible. Even in terms of mass, it looked like it contained ten times as much as a normal godstone, and large amounts of rich juice dripped from it, making Kai’s stomach growl with impatience.
First, he took a bite. Then he violently thrust his mouth at the opening, gnawing and slurping. Before long that small opening wasn’t enough and he cut the whole thing in two using his sword. He continued to eat greedily.
Kai’s feast was a mouth-watering sight for the koror. Even though many of their people had just died, some of them couldn’t help but growl hungrily as they watched.
The koror were just like humans in that they collected every godstone except those of their own kind. Kai suspected that if he tried ordering them to eat those godstones, they’d only become sick and start vomiting. Kai had no knowledge of the ceremonies in which a retired lord’s godstone would be eaten by their successor.
The marrow from the guardian bearer had tasted frightfully good. As he ate it, he felt a strange sensation as if the spirit of the org soldier was being absorbed into himself.
Then when he had almost finished eating, there was a strange feeling inside him, as if a violent struggle was going on inside his stomach. Kai intuitively knew that this was the spirit of the land god, and for a few seconds he fought back, holding his breath so that he might absorb a little more from it. Finally, its feeble existence escaped like a gas leaking from every pore of his body.
It seemed it wasn’t possible to completely consume a land god.
Kai’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Hot...
His godstone inside him was burning up, and it felt as though his blood would boil as the heat spread. Then came a terrible sensation that felt like his body was being rearranged while leaving his human skin in its original shape.
I can barely stand...
Kai put the still unfinished godstone into his pocket and walked towards the valley on unsteady feet. Porek had also sat down as if his share of the godstone had made him drunk, but he was alert enough to notice Kai’s strange behavior. He ordered his people to help him.
Kai brushed off their attempts to support him and said, “I’m going back.”
He shook the koror off completely by using the last of his strength to run to the valley’s edge where he made a calculated jump from the cliff. He intended to let the lake break his fall.
As his body sailed lightly through the air, he caught sight of Aruwe who had been left in tears at the bottom of the valley. She’d been crying against the god of the valley’s grave.
While her people were being attacked, she hadn’t tried to go to them. Instead, she’s stayed there and prayed. Kai realized that she was sincere in her promise to serve him.
He wondered if she was someone he could put his faith in. He felt as though she was.
The lake caught him, and he struggled to put his racing thoughts in order as he swam to the surface.
As the water dripped from his body, he began to feel as though there was no great difference between the beautiful scenery of the valley and the figure of the girl who was running towards him.
29
“The hell is this? I need more.”
“Don’t give her a hard time.”
“I’ve been breaking my back all day. I can’t live on this. I need a little more at least.”
“I’m sorry... If we don’t reduce the servings there won’t be enough for everyone.”
The girl serving dinner had to bow her head and apologize each time a soldier asked for more.
Today’s dinner was half the usual amount of watery soup with some hard bread. Most of the soldi
ers ignored the little arguments that resulted.
Just like last year...
Kai’s squad had already gotten their food and was sitting at the table. Despite the favoritism the women had been showing him lately, even Kai was sitting with a half empty plate. The food situation in the village had really grown serious.
“How long’s that fucking toad going to stay in our village?”
“Till he’s done with his inspection or whatever.”
“I heard that the toad said he didn’t like the soup, and what we’re eating now are his leftovers, watered down. He doesn’t eat even half of the meals he gets given, but when they gave him less he went mad and slapped one of the girls waiting on him.”
“He’s not much nicer to the women they send him at night. You see them crying in the shadows sometimes.”
“...”
When guests who were used to the comforts of the capital visited the borderlands, they would often make demands without any care for the scarcity of food. This was especially true in recent times because the royal household’s power over the region was fading, and their unreasonable requests were caused by their lack of confidence in their own authority.
The inspector and his party that were visiting this year were just as heartless as any other. The whole village was put at risk by their attempts to indulge a small number of people, and the situation had gone beyond a joke.
“Women...?”
“Do you even know what we’re talking about, Kai?”
“Leave him alone. Kai’s still a kid; he doesn’t need to hear it.”
Kai’s squadmates were all older than him, so they had a tendency to talk down to him. He knew that it was half in jest, but it was still more than he was willing to put up with.
“Just you wait until tomorrow,” Kai told them.
That made them go quiet.
“You guys are dead,” Manso said. “Nice knowing you.”
Manso was looking smug with his arms folded, and the other squad members couldn’t help but smile. Then they started to laugh, and their shoulders shook as they tried to hold it in.
As unhappy as they were about the reduced amount of food, the soldiers accepted the situation for what it was. As far as the soldiers were concerned, the reduced quantity of food was something they would just have to endure until the next harvest. It was something they could deal with through individual stoicism.
The same could not be said for the women of the village. If they were to carry the child of a guest from another land, it would be nothing short of a disaster. All the more so if the guest was of such high social standing that they could treat women as objects to be used for their own pleasure. The women would be cast aside and quickly forgotten.
There were herbal concoctions that could prevent a child from being born, but those came with lingering side effects. The women wanted to avoid carrying the child of any man who wasn’t willing to stay with them as a lifetime partner.
There was an awkward look in the eyes of the girl who served Kai his food. Her eyes seemed to say, please don’t be suspicious, he hasn’t touched me.
The serving staff stood close to the baron’s table, near the baron’s children who received slightly better portions of food than soldiers. Lady White was there looking deep in troubled thought.
The baron, Olha, and the baron’s wives were nowhere to be seen. They were all dining elsewhere together with the guests and were probably trying hard to win back their favor. One of the main reasons that Lady White was not dining with them was to keep her out of sight from the guests.
Few guests would be so bold as to ask for a lord’s daughter to be sent to his chambers at night, but she still needed to be protected from them.
“Someone told me Lady White tried to argue with the inspector.”
“I heard about that... you think it’s true?”
“Well, Lady Carolina can’t say no to the guests, so it was Lady White who stood up to them... Turns out the toad was asking for pure girls.”
“Widows not good enough for him?”
There were many widows in the village whose husbands had died an early death. They were often selected for unpleasant duties because it was thought that the harm it caused them compared to other women was not as great. But there were many widows who would cry and protest despite the women’s council leaving no room for argument when they made their selections.
Naturally, those women would have preferred to find themselves new husbands, and these unpleasant duties were damaging to their reputations.
“And we give thanks to the brave spirit of the land god...” Lady White started the prayer before the meal.
Her clear voice carried through the whole dining hall, and there was an awkward feeling in the air as everyone recited the prayer with her.
**
With the food situation in the village looking dire, the soldiers were assigned a new task. Everyone suspected that the order had been given as a means of quickly reducing the number of mouths to feed. The baron had announced that they would help with the survey being carried out by Truthseeker Nada, the priest staying in the village with the inspector’s party.
“You’ll be headed deep into the forest. People will be chosen by drawing straws.”
No one relished the thought of visiting the forest’s depths.
When humans faced demi-humans with superior physical strength, they compensated for this disadvantage by using group tactics, just barely making themselves a good match to their opponent. But group tactics weren’t well suited for use in the forest.
This was one reason why humans rarely ventured deep into the forests, and would instead gather on cleared land, which they were better able to defend. The depths that could be reached within a single toki were the limits of ordinary human activity.
The leaders of 20 or so squads had gathered to draw straws made from narrow pieces of wood, some of which had colored tips. Kai’s squad members were superior to most in terms of combat ability, but Kai was still an inexperienced leader, so he was the last to draw a straw.
Unsurprisingly, the final straw that was left for Kai resulted in his squad being selected with no room for argument. In reality, the pieces of wood used when drawing straws had been used so many times that some soldiers could tell which ones were the short straws just by looking. In effect, it provided an easy get-out for senior soldiers looking to avoid dangerous missions. The result was that the dangerous tasks would always fall upon the least experienced squad leaders.
The upside was that those being sent to perform dangerous work would receive slightly more generous servings at mealtimes, and there was always the possibility that they would find sources of food here and there in the forest. Nuts and fruits were in season, so there was a good chance that they could enjoy nuts, wild vegetables, and wild game rich with fat. Whether this benefit was worth it when weighed against the risk of dying in the depths depended on who you asked.
“Good news, lads. We’re going to have all the maca we can eat.”
It was Manso who broke the bad news when he saw that Kai was struggling to find the words. The rest of the squad must have half expected this outcome. They pretended to be pleased. Kai felt glad that they were his squadmates.
The squad noisily got their gear ready for the trip and put special attention into maintaining their weapons. They’d been urged to retire to their beds early to prepare for their departure the next morning, but the high chance of dying left everyone feeling tense, and no one wanted to sleep.
Manso told Kai to snatch up some food that they could take on the expedition, so he headed for the food stores. They would have been supplied with food the next morning without needing to ask, but they wanted to first pick the least rotten supplies and Manso said there was a chance of getting a little something extra.
That kind of knowledge was essential for any leader. There were already several visitors to the food stores beside the kitchen, and a large, redheaded woman was arguing with t
hem angrily.
This redheaded woman was Adelia, a fierce woman who was considered one of the three highest-ranking members of the women’s council. She had been known to throw punches at adults and children alike in the name of discipline, and people knew to choose their words carefully around her. She was in charge of food in the village and was married to Basco, one of the highest-ranking soldiers.
“Three dried potatoes are all the extras you’re getting! Nothing more.”
“Give us something that’ll last longer! Ten at least!”
“I don’t think so. I’ve given you your fair share. If you don’t like it, well tough luck!”
“Hah... this old bitch...”
“You’ve got something to say?”
Adelia moved her ear closer to the man being rude, as if daring him to say it again. When he remained silent, she gave him a sharp head-butt and shouted, “Get lost! I’m done with you!”
Her control over the village food put her in a strong position. The scene had made everyone watching laugh.
Then Adelia noticed Kai.
She appeared to be thinking something over for a moment, but then she smiled as if she’d thought of something amusing and beckoned Kai over.
Kai didn’t dare do anything to upset her, so he hurried over. She beckoned him closer still and then whispered in his ear.
“There’re some dried potatoes in it for you if you can stick around and help us with our work here in the stores.”
“I’ve got things to—”
“Help us out, Kai. Go on, head on in.”
Kai was forced to help out without any chance to argue.
Kai’s rapid development had garnered a lot of attention, so everyone in the village knew how strong he was. He walked into the food stores expecting to be given some heavy sacks to carry. Inside were a number of girls who must have worked for Adelia, busy at work.
The moment they noticed Kai, they all came rushing over to him.
“This way.”
“Why...?”
“Just come this way!”
Teogonia: Volume 1 (Premium) Page 18