The Death-Calling Rider (6)
The naked tribe’s villagers looked visibly annoyed by our sudden appearance and reluctantly put on clothes. Men, women, young and old alike — it was all micro-dresses or robes. What the hell is this, some kind of deadly binary choice? Doing our best to ignore the jiggling and bouncing, we stepped into the chieftain’s house.
“Please, sit. Is Britannian speech acceptable?”
“Yes. There are many who don’t speak the tongue of Erin.”
The Ulster tribe’s village was basically a shantytown. Some lived in tents like nomads, while others, like the chieftain, had relatively decent houses. ‘Looks like Britannian style,’ I thought as I scanned the interior. The chieftain spoke up.
“We learned how to build houses from the people of Flusmirror Village. That was during my mother’s generation.”
“I see.”
Cultural exchange, huh? The awkward fusion of two different cultures left us with no choice but to sit on the floor. I was the only one sitting cross-legged — why the hell is this Victar guy sitting in formal seiza? — and I was wondering if I should switch to kneeling too, but before I could adjust my posture, the chieftain began speaking.
“First, please accept my apology for our rudeness. If you wish, we can offer compensation for our wrongdoing. However, as you can see, we descendants of Erin truly have nothing that would please foreign guests such as yourselves.”
I thought she was trying to weasel out of paying any apology fee, but the chieftain wasn’t that shameless.
“If our wisdom, shamanic arts, or anything of that nature would suffice, I will answer whatever I can. Please, ask me anything.”
““What?!””
Two voices cried out in shock. Dana and Hiromain. Both of them were Ulster scholars, apparently. The chieftain’s offer must have been incredibly radical by Ulster standards.
“Ah, no, it’s just… In my experience, descendants of Erin rarely trust outsiders so easily.”
When I glanced at her questioningly, Hiromain hesitated before answering.
“Even if it’s just about the incidents happening here, the fact that you’d teach us your shamanic arts… Ah! Of course I’m not saying I want to learn it! That would be far too shameless when I haven’t done anything to earn it!”
Even as she denied it, Hiromain’s eyes kept drifting toward the tattoos on the chieftain’s hands and neck, and the green flames burning in the brazier behind her. She looked so adorably clueless that I might have actually given permission if I weren’t a professor.
“Let’s talk about that later. First, could you tell us why you’ve illegally occupied the forest?”
Learning the techniques of artisans passed down for thousands of years wasn’t a bad deal. It was practically overkill as compensation for beating up two pieces of trash and one Tarzan-man. ‘But they’re admitting their fault so easily and even offering to teach us their techniques?’ This was basically them bending over backward to accommodate us. It wasn’t like this was some skill-acquisition quest in a game. Could Ulster shamanism or magic really be learned that easily?
More importantly, if they were the type of people who could recognize their own mistakes and apologize immediately, why the hell were they camping out in a forest that wasn’t even theirs? ‘It’s the same principle as why non-crazy vegetarians never appear on TV.’ Calm vegetarians don’t protest or resort to violence in front of others. Likewise, people who know how to apologize properly usually don’t make mistakes in the first place. And since Geborin had submitted to the chieftain, it wasn’t like they lacked hierarchy either.
“……I will not stop you from entering the forest. However, I believe I must give you a warning.”
“A warning?”
“Yes.”
The chieftain spoke without ever opening her eyes. Was she blind? Or maybe she was some kind of Asura who had opened her mind’s eye. A fully awakened Asura. She looked ridiculously strong.
“Two in the forest. Three on the plains. Do you understand what these numbers signify?”
“……Is this a Zen riddle?”
“No. It is fact. Five warriors and women of our village have been killed over the past two weeks.”
So it really was a bloody story after all. I had thought the villagers were glaring at us because they were annoyed about having to put on clothes, but it turned out they were on edge because strangers had shown up during such a sensitive time. I took a wild guess.
“Were they killed by a half-human, half-horse monster with a human growing out of a horse’s body?”
“Yes, that is correct. So you already knew. It wasn’t my imagination that I sensed that thing’s presence on all of you.”
Presence? A very blind-person way of putting it. I nodded and gestured to Veronica. She pulled out the head of a scythe from her bag. Well, technically she took it out from the slate stored inside the bag.
“Was it a monster carrying a scythe like this? If so, we already took care of it on our way here.”
“We did as well.”
……Excuse me?
“Please wait a moment.”
When we looked confused, the chieftain stood up and brought something out. Four identical scythes made of sea iron — exactly like the one Veronica had produced.
“Every time one of our villagers lost their life, we hunted down and killed the monster responsible. Excluding the inexperienced warrior who died during the first victim’s incident, we suffered no additional casualties while claiming the lives of four such creatures.”
—Clack.
The chieftain closed the box sealing the scythes and continued.
“However, the entity keeps appearing. Again and again. The once-bold warriors have grown so sensitive from sleepless nights worrying about a monster that now targets helpless children and elders that they are on edge.”
“──Pardon me for interrupting your conversation. Are you saying multiple Nuckelavee have appeared?”
“That’s right, Hiromain. It has been a long time. It seems I must correct the story I told you back then.”
Apparently they knew each other. The chieftain spoke with a resigned expression, as if sighing.
“Nuckelavee. That evil spirit said to slip from the Sea Mother’s hands every autumn has crossed the ages and appeared once more. And far from the oral tradition that there was only one, this is already the fifth.”
“……You mentioned there were victims in the forest as well. Was that why you tried to stop us? Then why didn’t you just explain the situation?”
“Because the people of Flusmirror have identified us as the masterminds behind this incident. I did not think they would believe us.”
So that’s how it connects. I clicked my tongue.
“Without any evidence?”
“They would have their suspicions. We changed our village policy starting last autumn and began interacting with them, but that was exactly when poor harvests began, disease spread, and now even murders are occurring.”
What did that have to do with Nuckelavee or the Ulster people? The chieftain noticed my confusion and explained.
“Nuckelavee is an evil spirit of the sea. It is said to steal from the earth, wither crops to death, and spread disease among livestock and people. The villagers seem to believe we are committing evil deeds under the pretext of that legend.”
“Wait, why? Did you have bad relations before?”
“Until a few years ago, we had no contact at all. Perhaps because of that, they spread all sorts of rumors about us and came to see us as cannibals. In truth, we do sometimes eat the hearts of animals while they are still alive……”
The chieftain explained that they had only managed to overcome those cultural differences and begin exchange last autumn. Eating raw hearts? Aren’t they afraid of parasites? Anyway, that led to misunderstandings and the current standoff.
‘Contact with an unknown civilization seems to go the same way everywhere.’
But cannibals? There was no way the Ulster people living in the forest were cannibals. They were a race that originally lived on the plains. ‘Maybe one of the chieftain’s ancestors was walking around with a dripping heart in their mouth and ran into some village woodcutters or hunters.’ Or perhaps there used to be a human-like monster living in this forest. ‘A cannibalistic monster that resembles humans…… an ogre?’
I suddenly remembered the four-armed rune-magic ogre I had met before, but since it seemed unlikely to be connected to something across the sea, I discarded the theory.
“That is why we have been blocking people from entering the forest. Unnecessary casualties would only deepen the misunderstanding.”
The chieftain spoke as if that was the sole reason they had stopped us. But I said nothing and simply stared straight into her eyes. Those closed eyes probably couldn’t see my gaze, but since she had been walking through the forest like that, she must have some kind of magic or shamanic art that let her see.
“……Haa.”
I hadn’t released any killing intent, but when I pressured her like a detective conducting an interrogation, the chieftain let out a short sigh and confessed.
“It was not a lie. However, by closing my eyes, I have gained the ability to see far more. If we could receive your cooperation, I believe we could defeat the root cause of this situation.”
“Root cause?”
“From the far side of the forest, across the plains that lead to the sea, waves of malice have been pouring out continuously for several days. That is why I could not go to the village to give a proper explanation.”
“So you want us to defeat that root cause? Even if it means teaching us your tribe’s shamanic arts?”
“Please do not misunderstand. This is by no means coercion, nor is it a request.”
The chieftain’s tone was extremely calm, carrying a persuasive power that touched the heart. Her words were probably sincere. We had no obligation to follow her. After all, she hadn’t even directly asked us to go into the forest.
“If you have business in that forest, you will inevitably encounter danger. I merely wished to teach you our shamanic arts so that it might help you deal with the Nuckelavee when that time comes.”
“……I see.”
It would have been nice if we defeated the root cause while we were at it, but she probably hadn’t dared to hope for that much. ‘If she had been trying to use us for free, she wouldn’t have told us any of this.’ That way we would have gone in blindly and fought the thing with our lives on the line. Who the hell would enter a forest knowing there’s a monster inside?
‘Right here, fuck.’
Just like with the ogre, we had no idea what might happen at Bicorn’s sanctuary, and since people were dying, it would be wrong to tell them to handle it themselves while we stayed somewhere safe and came back later. In the end, we had no choice but to fight the root cause of the Nuckelavee incident.
“Ahem.”
Hiromain seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me, but Victar, who had nothing to do with any of this, looked displeased. It was the face of someone who had only stopped by the village to rest and now found himself in a total mess.
“Victar, you are free to leave on your own, but I would not recommend it. The sixth Nuckelavee might come after you.”
“I know. Fuck, that’s just how a peddler’s life goes. I’ll do whatever you all decide.”
“Wise choice.”
It really was the only safe option. Looked like we had become Victar’s free bodyguards. Thinking of it as payment instead of carriage taxi fare made it feel less wasteful. ‘Might as well get help from these people while we’re at it.’ Since it was their own problem, they would fight with their lives on the line. The villagers wouldn’t be much help in battle anyway, and trying to persuade them would be as frustrating as swallowing a sweet potato whole.
Just as I opened my mouth to ask for a more detailed explanation and prepare for battle—
“Chieftain──!!”
—BOOM!!
Someone smashed the door to pieces and burst into the hut.
“Gwaaagh!!”
The broken door slammed straight into Victar. Instead of worrying about him, I observed the third party who had made such a dramatic entry. Then I immediately looked away.
Fuck, this woman was naked too.
She was, to put it simply, a white-skinned Amazoness warrior. Or, to use another description, a muscle-bound elf grand warrior (completely nude). Her abs were ripped into a perfect six-pack, and her skin was pure white like the rest of the Ulster people. Green tattoos covered her naked body, and because of her large frame, they looked like paintings on a canvas.
Fucking hell. A white-skinned, naked, tattooed, muscle woman warrior? What kind of combination was that? Kimchi pizza with sweet and sour pork?
“Is the man who defeated my daughter in a single strike here!! Daughter? Was she Geborin’s mother? The woman who had shouted looked around, then walked over to Victar, who was clutching his head.
“Man!! Was it you!!”
“Hwaaaaaagh!! No! It wasn’t me! It was Lord Nord over there!”
Victar was a true merchant. The kind who would sell off even his traveling companions at a discount. This son of a bitch was even selling people now. His every word and action reeked of the qualities of a master merchant. Or more like a slave trader, you bastard.
“Umm!! That means!!”
Stella’s eyes widened when she saw me — or more precisely, the Nuckelavee scythe I was holding.
“You!! You caught a Nuckelavee!!”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
“I am surprised!! Even our tribe’s warriors must swarm it in groups to defeat one, yet you caught it!! Good! You are more than qualified!!”
Qualified for what, you crazy woman. While I stood there stunned, she pointed straight at me.
“You!! Become my son-in-law!!”
“Ehhhh?!”
I wasn’t the one who shouted. I was still frozen in shock. The one screaming was Larilura. Why are you freaking out?
“W-wait, wait just a second? Please hold on! Son-in-law?! You mean you want to marry Senior off to your daughter or something?!”
“……That’s right, Stella. What kind of wind has blown through you this time?”
The chieftain asked while pressing a hand to her forehead as if she had a headache. The female warrior, Stella, answered.
“Chieftain! You said it yourself! We must accept foreign cultures and develop! I still oppose that statement! But strong men are an exception! A man who will not tarnish the blood of Erin!!”
“……And?”
“He caught a Nuckelavee and subdued that Diros brat in one blow! With those skills, he is more than worthy to be my son-in-law!!”
“How old is your daughter!!”
“She turned seventeen this year!! It has been seven years since her coming-of-age ceremony! She is still immature, but she will become the next generation’s grand warrior to succeed me!!”
When Larilura jumped up and down asking, Stella puffed out her chest proudly like a doting mother. But if you’re such a doting mother, please don’t try to pawn your daughter off on a man you just met today.
“Too bad! Senior doesn’t see anyone under nineteen as a woman!!”
Larilura made an X with her arms. I do see them as women, though. I just won’t touch them. Stella put her hands on her hips as if she understood.
“Then it’s me! You!! Become my man!!”
“Senior, run away!! Ulster is a den of crazy perverts!!”
“Wait, Larilura! Don’t judge the average Ulster person based on her! This village is just weird!”
“No! Don’t use Stella as the standard for this village! She’s the abnormal one!”
The chieftain refuted Dana’s words and pointed at the wardrobe.
“And Stella! I have told you until my mouth went dry to put on clothes whenever foreigners visit! Go put on my clothes at least!”
“Hmph! Sorry! I completely forgot!”
—Thud, thud, thud.
Stella strode toward the wardrobe after shouting that strange phrase. Her pale marble-like (and very firm) ass entered my field of vision. For fuck’s sake, please.
I closed my eyes.
“So!! It is time for your answer! Foreigner Nord!”
The muscle-bound milf grand warrior now wearing a micro-dress like the chieftain shouted while looking at me. Every single word from this woman was a damn lion’s roar.
“……I must decline. I already have three wives.”
“Three, four, five!! It’s all the same! Are my daughter and I not enough?!”
What do you mean five, you crazy bitch? Are you and your daughter planning to marry me together? Are you trying to turn me into a madman who performs fiery filial duty to his mother-in-law? You want me to tell my wife’s little sister, “Actually, I’m your father~” or some shit?
“……It’s not that marriage is lacking. I want to marry someone who fills my heart.”
“Is that so! Understood! Then love well!!”
She actually backed off. As if she had given up cleanly, Stella plopped down beside the chieftain. Was that really the end? I felt like I was losing my mind.
“……I apologize, everyone. Stella has always been blunt and short-sighted, but she has been especially like this lately……”
The chieftain swept a hand down her face, looking exhausted. I completely understood how she felt. I kept my mouth shut and looked at Dana. Dana chewed on her lip before answering.
“……My dad back home is kind of similar.”
“I’m eating a Clear Mind Pill before the family meeting.”
Don’t you dare stop me. If my sister’s father-in-law turns out like that too, I really will go insane.
‘……Though I’m not even sure if there will ever be a family meeting.’
Since I had disappeared for a long time and then suddenly gotten married, it looked like I would end up giving my parents a posthumous report. Dana had run away from home too, so she didn’t seem particularly eager to visit her parents either. Still, I was already terrified of the uncertain future that might await us. Once we found Tirsi, I should ask her to make me a bowl of cow bezoar heart-clearing medicine.