The Hunter Makes a Contract with the Village Chief
The Hunter Makes a Contract with the Village Chief
Anna was huddled in a ball, clutching her umbrella tightly.
Her eyes were puffy and red, and the tip of her nose was flushed.
Tear tracks glistened on her cheeks where she'd swallowed her sobs. Her bare feet were covered in dirt, and her fingertips, gripping the umbrella, were deathly pale.
Her eyes widened as she looked up at me.
It wasn't just surprise from joy; it was the fearful look of someone afraid of being ignored again.
I awkwardly cleared a path for her.
"Come in."
Anna looked up at me blankly.
"You'll catch a cold."
The hand holding the umbrella trembled.
Anna couldn't stand up; she just sat there, looking at me. Her eyes were indecisive, as if she couldn't tell if she was allowed to enter.
'She's a handful, too.'
I reached out a hand to Anna.
"You can come in. I'll warm up some soup, so hurry up and come inside so we can eat together."
Anna took my hand and crossed the threshold.
I placed a bowl of warm soup in Anna's hands.
The warmth from the bowl melted the chill in her reddened little hands. Anna didn't even think to grab the spoon; she just stared blankly at the rim of the bowl.
"Eat."
At my urging, Anna carefully bowed her head.
She pressed her lips to the bowl and took a small sip of the soup.
"Eek!"
"What are you doing, just drinking it like that?"
She'd already burned herself once, and she was still doing that?
I picked up the spoon lying next to her and placed it in her small hand.
I showed her how to use the spoon right in front of the child.
I scooped up some soup, blew on it to cool it down, and ate it.
"This is how you eat it."
"...."
Anna followed my lead, scooped up the soup with the spoon, blew on it, and ate.
Her throat moved slightly as she swallowed.
Slurp.
As the warm food hit her empty stomach, the tension that had been keeping her rigid seemed to melt away, and Anna's narrow shoulders trembled slightly.
Her cheeks flushed as she scooped up more soup to eat.
'Anyone would think I'd starved her for three days.'
No. Considering the food fairies eat, it might really have been three days since she'd had a proper meal.
Fairies only ate the hard crusts of bread or burnt meat offered at the altar. It was no wonder she missed warm soup.
'Is she worth following around?'
Even with the grand title of "Fairy," she was nothing more than a child, both inside and out.
Her emaciated body, suffering from malnutrition, looked precarious enough to break at any moment.
I don't know what the previous fairies were like, but they probably all met their end at a young age.
After a few spoonfuls of soup, Anna glanced at me, gauging my reaction.
"Do you want more?"
"Yes."
As soon as I finished speaking, she nodded her head up and down.
'I really seem to live a tiring life.'
I scooped up a fresh serving of soup and gave it to Anna, and as I set down my own empty bowl, I couldn't help but fall into deep thought about what was to come.
The water had already been spilled.
I'd had it drilled into my bones for ten years that kindness was a luxury in this world. A life taken in blindly was prone to becoming a noose around my own neck.
If I had to take responsibility, I had to bind it with something other than kindness.
'I hope the Village Chief is easy to persuade.'
Village chiefs were usually prideful and reigned over the village like kings.
Once things went sour, they stayed sour forever.
That was why I'd tried to be cautious. Hmm... Hams didn't seem quite like a "Village Chief" yet, so I had no choice but to rely on that.
I stood up from my seat.
"Stay still when you're done eating."
Anna looked at me with rabbit-like eyes.
"I'm going to go somewhere for a moment. You have to stay here, okay?"
"...."
I left Anna at the house and stepped out.
My steps were directed toward the Village Chief's house.
I found Hams.
"What is it now?"
Hams looked up at me with an annoyed expression as he brought a cup of hot tea to his lips.
"I'm here about the Fairy."
"...You."
He set his cup on the table.
"It seems what I said yesterday didn't sink in. I told you not to touch the Fairy."
"I couldn't just leave her be because I happen to know the method. Don't get excited, just listen to me. I came here to solve the Fairy problem."
"Solve it?"
Hams's brow furrowed.
I sat down across from him. I hadn't asked for permission, but Hams didn't stop me either. He looked curious about what I was going to pull out.
"When I was a hunter, I met someone."
"Are you suddenly going to tell me an old story?"
"An Elf."
Hams's hand stopped.
"You've met an Elf?"
"When you work as a hunter, you see all sorts of things. Spirits are just a bit rare. I met an Elf when I got lost in the forest."
An Elf.
A resident of the forest.
Living in harmony with nature, they are called friends of the spirits.
"I heard something about spirits back then... Interested?"
"What is this solution?"
He was impatient.
I rested my elbows on my knees.
"I can teach the Fairy how to handle spirits. It means you won't have to treat the Fairy with such anxiety like you do now."
"Hmph."
Hams leaned back against his chair.
His index finger tapped the cup.
"Are you saying you'll teach the Fairy to suppress the power of the spirits?"
"I'm going to teach the spirits human emotions—what they like, what they dislike. I'm going to teach them one by one, just like teaching a child what is good and bad, so they can understand humans."
Spirits aren't just alien beings that can never be understood.
They possess power that transcends cognition, but they were also beings capable of empathy—rejoicing when the Fairy rejoices, and feeling sorrow when the Fairy feels sorrow.
If that weren't the case, why would nature fluctuate with the Fairy's emotions?
In fact, it was far more dangerous to let a being capable of submerging a village on a whim understand human joy and sorrow in its own way.
Leaving it neglected was what turned it into a disaster.
"Hmm..."
Hams took his hand off the cup and crossed his arms.
"Is that even possible?"
"I've confirmed the possibility."
When the spirit almost went berserk due to Hans's mistake, Anna calmed it down.
"Anna can control spirits."
She sees the spirits,
She hears the spirits,
She speaks to the spirits,
She becomes friends with the spirits.
Beyond that, Anna possesses the talent to control spirits.
"You guys are lucky. There aren't even many Elves with that kind of talent. She was born with it. I guarantee it. I don't usually vouch for things like that."
"Hmm..."
But Hams was cautious.
He understood well that his choices could drag the entire village into trouble.
Hams opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He opened it once more.
"...If something like that were possible, it would have been done already."
"Do you really think so? Is there anyone in the village who has actually talked to the Fairy properly?"
"Logically speaking, why wouldn't they calm the spirits before getting soaked in rain and buried in snow? I saw how close we came to freezing to death."
".....Logic."
Right, logic.
Logic is the problem.
Logic was my trigger.
How much had I been trampled on because of that?
"Hams, do you know the name of His Majesty the King?"
"His Majesty the King?"
"I'm asking if you know His Majesty the King's name."
"H-how would I know that?"
"It's common sense, and you don't even know that?"
In a rural village like this, the name of the Lord carries more weight than the King.
I could live my whole life without knowing the King's name and it wouldn't cause any problems.
"If a village woman told you to do the dishes or laundry, could you do it?"
"...I couldn't."
"That would be common sense to them, so why?"
"Ugh..."
Common sense was very subjective.
Common sense is knowledge you learn naturally while living, so you know it without having to be taught.
If you are in the same community, you share almost all knowledge, and that is called common sense.
Common sense based on country, common sense based on profession, common sense based on age, common sense based on gender, common sense based on the year, common sense based on income, common sense based on the company.
Common sense. Common sense.
What even is common sense?
Hams was still on the understanding side.
Village chiefs who consider a village woman's chores to be "common sense" can be counted on one hand.
"Outside, the very existence of a Fairy is nonsensical."
"But what can we do? In a place where the Lord doesn't even send a single knight, the existence of a Fairy is essential for our survival."
"I understand."
The existence of spirits pushes monsters and magical beasts away from this land.
Arable land is extremely rare, but this land manages to produce it.
"But if you think about it differently, this is an opportunity."
"...What kind of opportunity?"
Hams lifted his cup and took a sip.
His hand was trembling as he set the cup down.
It wasn't conviction.
But he was wavering.
I pushed a little harder.
"If you let Anna's talent rot away like this, you'll be looking for a new Fairy before long. Judging by the state of things, maybe five years?"
"......"
Was that the answer?
"As it happens, Anna's talent is outstanding. If you can utilize that talent, you could last 10 years? 50 years? You could survive easily. And it could be safer than it is now."
She could make it rain when you want.
No worries about drought for the rest of your life.
No fields flooded by heavy rain, guaranteed bountiful harvests every year—a true guardian deity of the village would be born.
Hams's eyes changed.
"H-ha, but what do we do after that?"
"You seem worried about the consequences of the custom being broken after Anna dies."
It was a valid concern.
If the custom is broken, the spirits go berserk from being mishandled, and the village gets submerged.
However,
"Did you not hear a word I said? That's why I'm saying we should teach the spirits."
"Can you really teach spirits?"
"Usually, it's impossible."
I turned my gaze toward the direction of the hunter's house.
"But with Anna's talent, it's possible."
A talent that spirits want to follow.
That kind of talent is so rare that you could count it on one hand, even among Elves.
'To think a prodigy that the King himself should come to serve is living here as a sacrificial offering.'
It's absurd.
I truly felt that talent depends on time and place.
"Is there a guarantee? Where is the guarantee that you can teach well?"
"I'm not asking you to just trust my word. So let's make a contract. If we write up a contract and submit it to the Guild, I'll have no choice but to follow it."
I straightened my back.
"If I teach Anna and it causes harm to the village, I will compensate for that loss."
"Do you have any idea how much our village earns in a year to be saying things like that?"
"You're the one who shouldn't underestimate the income of a Gold Rank hunter."
I tapped my chest.
"I may look like this, but I was the party leader who led a Platinum Rank party. If I put my mind to it, I can earn a year's worth of village income in a month."
"T-that much?"
Managing the hunting ground was just a hobby I was doing to kill time.
"Still, just in case, I'd like to hear how much you earn in a year."
"Hmm... lean in and listen."
I leaned my upper body forward and tilted my head.
I heard the annual income of the village.
My eyes widened.
'I expected it, but is it twenty times that of other villages?'
Villages that farm are truly rare.
Since all the crops are supplied to the nobles, the price is incomparable to Earth.
"I guess the nobles really like to eat their vegetables."
"Will it work?"
"It's enough. Even if it fails, I'll just have to suffer for about two years. Besides, I don't intend to fail anyway."
Hams looked out the window.
His gaze was filled with many emotions.
"...When I was young."
His voice had changed.
In the place where the Village Chief's authority had slipped away, memories of my peer were laid bare.
"There was a Fairy. She was a cute kid with red hair and freckles."
He finished the tea in his cup.
"That child walked around in the rain, too. She never had a dry day. A little kid with shoulders only this wide would walk around soaked every time, saying she wanted to play with the spirits."
Hams's gaze fell to the empty cup.
"But one day, I saw that child sleeping curled up at the altar, and she never opened her eyes again. Ever since I saw the end of that first Fairy, that image hasn't been able to be washed from my eyes."
Hams blinked.
His eyes were red.
"When we brought in the next Fairy, my father told me. Don't even make eye contact. Don't even give her food. If we were caught, we'd get beaten with a club. If the Fairy had eyes that wanted to be friendly, anyone in the village had to be beaten in front of the Fairy."
He was still lost in sentiment over something that happened decades ago.
Hams's finger brushed the surface of the cup.
"After a while, the Fairy would understand that she couldn't help but be unable to be friends with us."
A short silence.
Hams's gaze turned toward me.
"Dane. As the Village Chief, I cannot trust your judgment, and I don't want to bet on it. But."
Hams stood up from his seat and reached out his hand.
"There must be changes in the village, too. I'm sick of burying Fairies every time. If what you've brought is a big opportunity, I can't let it slip away."
"You thought it through well."
I took his hand.
"Leave the villagers to me. But do it where the villagers can't see. If they get anxious, persuasion won't work."
"Just leave it to me."
Hams didn't ask any more questions.
He prepared parchment and a pen.
"Hams."
"What is it?"
"I like that you aren't old-fashioned for a Village Chief, but that will trip you up someday."
"...I'll take care of it."
We wrote the contract.
While writing, I suddenly felt a small presence outside the window.
An umbrella was peeking over the windowsill.
...That kid.
"...."
"It's all written."
After checking the contract, the Village Chief and I each signed it.