The Treasure of the Haerin Tribe (1)
...Hadn't they said it was just one dinner?
But in the time it took me to blink, other members of the Haerin tribe had begun gathering around us one by one. The campfires multiplied, and before long the whole clearing had taken on the air of a festival.
"So you're the human who treated the Chieftain's wounds? Thank you, truly — thank you! Haha!"
"I'm sorry we greeted you so roughly earlier. And thank you for healing the Chieftain. You're a genuinely good human."
Tribespeople passing by tossed a word or two my way as they went. Most of it was gratitude. Their attitude had flipped completely from the wariness they'd shown an intruder only hours before. They seemed sincerely thankful that I'd treated the Chieftain's injuries. Obvious, perhaps — but still.
"Here. All done. Try this."
Anne held out a skewer piled high with freshly grilled fish. Steam curled off the meat in lazy ribbons. I took it, blew on it, and tore off a small bite. The blazing campfire caught the confident smile on her face.
"Well? Incredible, right?"
"Yeah."
It was as good as she'd promised. Fruit, smoked meat, the fish Anne had caught, and still more food besides — the spread in front of me was a full-blown feast.
"I'm glad it suits your palate."
The Chieftain chuckled heartily as he crunched through a fish, bones and all.
"A drink would've been nice, though. Shame we haven't brewed any — this is only a temporary camp."
Alcohol. Come to think of it, I hadn't had so much as a sip of liquor since possessing this body. I hadn't exactly been in a position to.
I glanced around, taking in the Haerin once more as they sat in easy clusters at every fire, enjoying their meal. Some tended the meat. Some raised their voices in lively argument. A child whined about how long the meat was taking to cook. Off to one side, a few men were already walking toward the far woods with spears in hand, apparently intending to catch still more fish. Unfettered. Free. That was the feeling the scene gave at a glance.
"We always gather to eat like this. Truly a joyful, abundant time."
The Chieftain said this as he looked over his people. I asked him:
"Now that your wounds have healed, will you leave this place at once?"
"That's the plan. Our journey's been delayed long enough as it is. We ought to move as soon as we can."
This time, he asked me:
"And you? I'm curious whether you found what you were looking for."
I nodded.
"Fortunately, thanks to you, I did."
Anne, who'd been devouring her meat with gusto, spoke up, spraying bits of food as she did.
"That's right, Grandpa! Earlier, underwater, I almost got boxed in by a school of fish and died, you know? Then this guy spewed blood and killed them all in one shot!"
"What are you talking about?"
"No, I mean, the blood clumped up in his hand like this, and then he went boom, and it exploded, and..."
Anyone who hadn't been there would have had no idea what she was talking about. The Chieftain, however, merely smiled.
I found myself curious, and asked:
"From the moment we first met, you seemed to have a fairly clear read on me. Am I right?"
"You are."
"Is that a Haerin ability as well?"
As I recalled, the Haerin weren't particularly gifted in that regard. Was it simply that the Chieftain's instincts were unusually sharp?
He shook his head with a gentle laugh.
"I wouldn't go so far as to call it an ability. It's only that, with death drawing near, I've begun to see things I never could before. The exalted presence leaking from your soul, for instance."
Ah. Emperor's Soul...
I had nothing in particular to say to that, so I said nothing. Anne, however, went stiff-faced and spoke with sudden seriousness.
"There you go with the dying talk again, Grandpa. I told you to quit saying crap like that. Your wounds are all healed — why would you die?"
The Chieftain chuckled softly.
"Child. Do you think denying it will let you defy the natural order? I've already told you several times. Don't make me say it again."
"...That's exactly why!"
Right — he'd said something about not having much time left. The Chieftain seemed certain his lifespan was nearly spent. How?
"Our tribe's homeland is the Poluv Sea, in the north of the continent."
He began the story before I could even ask.
"A very long time ago, we left that place. We followed the rivers, and at times we walked the land, wandering the seas that stretch from the continent's north to its west. To live without ever settling, as our ancestors did and as our descendants will — that is the way of the Haerin. A cycle."
His tone was that of a man reciting days long past. I listened in silence.
"When I was young, the elders of the tribe used to say that when the time came to return to nature, we would long for home. That every Haerin felt it. Now that my turn has come, I cannot explain it to another, but I feel it with certainty. Strangely enough... I find myself yearning for the sea of my birth."
...So that's why they were heading home. To meet their end in the place they were born.
"And that is why I am truly grateful to you. Without you, I might never have reached home at all. I might have laid my body down right here."
The Chieftain smiled with a serene, detached grace and stroked Anne's hair.
"..."
She wore an irritated look, and yet her eyes were sad, and she did not pull away from his hand.
A Chieftain with little time left. A reason they had to return home. Only then did I understand why she had broken down so wretchedly that day. For the tribe — and especially for her, his granddaughter — fulfilling the Chieftain's last wish would have been something they simply had to do.
The meal ended, and it was time to go. The Chieftain, Anne, and the other Haerin saw me off.
"Ron. May there be only the happiness you wish for on the path ahead of you."
I said to him:
"And I hope you all reach your homeland safely."
It wasn't a courtesy. I meant it. The Chieftain smiled faintly and nodded.
"Hey. You can come back tomorrow and have breakfast too, you know."
Anne scratched the bridge of her nose as she said it. I had no intention of coming back, so I didn't bother answering.
I left the cave and headed for the carriage, glancing back for no particular reason. It was quiet. Maybe it was because I'd heard them talk about home. A strange feeling I couldn't name settled over me as I turned and walked on through the forest path.
After the meal had been cleared away, Anne stood in front of the cave, looking up at the night sky. A tribesman her own age passed her on his way inside and called out.
"What're you doing, Anne?"
She waved him off, looking annoyed. He grinned, wicked.
"Don't tell me you're thinking about that human?"
"...What?"
"I mean, come on. You've been staring at him this whole time. Wait — is that actually it? I didn't know you were into that—"
"Oof."
Her fist slammed into his side with a heavy thud. He staggered back, eyes watering.
"It was a joke. You didn't have to hit me..."
"Shut up and go the hell to sleep."
Once the rest of the tribe had gone inside and she was alone, Anne glanced toward the far woods. Then she clicked her tongue, tasting the disappointment.
"...His face was kinda my type, though."
Not like she'd see him again, right? She shook her head and was about to head into the cave.
"...?"
That was when a figure slowly pushed through the underbrush toward her. Color rushed into Anne's face. She'd thought — she'd hoped — it might be Ron.
"Hey, why'd you come back—"
The excitement in her voice died in an instant. Her expression went rigid, then drained to white.
The man who stepped out of the brush was a middle-aged human in robes. He addressed her as if nothing at all were the matter.
"Is the Chieftain inside?"
"..."
Anne couldn't answer. She could only feel her hands trembling, and glare at him with eyes gone wide with terror.
The monster of a human who had attacked the tribe as they passed through Seintea's territory. The one who had gravely wounded her grandfather. Why was he showing himself here again?
"You—!"
She was just drawing breath to scream into the cave when footsteps sounded from within. The Chieftain was already walking out.
"G-Grandpa."
The Chieftain's face hardened the moment he saw the man. He let out a low sound, then asked:
"How in the world did you track us this far?"
The man ignored the question entirely.
"..."
"There's no water nearby this time. You won't be so lucky as to escape like before."
A thunderous crash split the air. The man swept his hand, and a colossal surge of mana shot forth at a terrifying speed, slamming into the Chieftain. He raised both arms where he stood and blocked it — then staggered a step back.
At the commotion, the tribespeople poured out of the cave.
"What's going on?!"
"Th-that human—!"
They paled the instant they saw him. The Chieftain drew one deep breath, then roared so that the whole clearing rang.
"Everyone, run! Gather anyone still inside — don't look back, leap into the lake!"
As if the previous blow had been nothing more than a greeting, even vaster mana began to coil and flow around the man. The Chieftain wrenched up every scrap of power he had and swung his fist. A blast of fist-force lanced out like lightning — and vanished without a trace against a barrier that had already bloomed in its path.
In the same breath the Chieftain launched himself forward. He gave the man no room, hammering him with blow after blow. Two vast forces collided; the earth tore up around them and the undergrowth was ripped from the ground. The tribespeople who had hesitated had no choice. They ran for the lake on his command.
"No! You can't! Grandfather!"
Other tribespeople seized Anne as she screamed herself hoarse and dragged her away. The Chieftain was driving the man back as if burning through the last embers of his life. But that was all it amounted to.
"Ghk...!"
His violently moving body seized for an instant. Then he coughed blood and crumpled. The backlash of moving so fiercely while internal injuries still remained had caught up with him at once.
"Done struggling, are we?"
The man still hadn't taken a single step from where he stood, barrier unfurled, and his voice was utterly unmoved.
"Anne! Don't—!"
Anne threw off the hands holding her and sprinted toward the Chieftain.
"You little fool, I told you to run..."
"Shut up! What the hell is this?! Why is it always you, Grandpa — always you alone—!"
Tears streaming, she struggled to prop up the Chieftain, who could barely stay conscious. The man watched their desperate thrashing with deadened eyes, then slowly extended his hand. A massive bloom of fire unfurled in the air and swept over the two of them like a wave.
Flame roared.
The tribespeople fleeing toward the lake looked back and could only stare, hollow, at the sight. The man turned. He meant to deal with the rest of the Haerin as well.
"...?"
Then his brow furrowed, and he had no choice but to turn his head again.
When the fire and smoke cleared, a man was standing there. Whatever had stopped the flames, they had not so much as singed him — or the two Haerin behind him. Anne, still crumpled on the ground, stared up at him in a daze.
"Ron..."
A young human man with black hair and golden eyes. He had appeared from nowhere; there hadn't even been a hint of approach. That fact sent a chill through the man in robes, and he asked:
"Who are you?"
...That had been close.
I kept my eyes locked on the man in front of me and let out a silent breath of relief. I'd been heading for the carriage when I suddenly felt a massive surge of mana, so I'd rushed back — and this was the scene that had greeted me. I'd been a long way off. I'd chained Spatial Leap after Spatial Leap and just barely managed to block the attack, but...
The situation was as bad as it could get.
I knew who he was. That insane level, and the story the Chieftain had told me, made it easy enough to guess.
Archmage Rakiel. The Chief Mage of the Seintea Imperial Court. Had he tracked the Haerin all the way here?
He'd been staring at me in silence. Then he opened his mouth.
"Who are you?"
Instead of answering, I glanced back at Anne and the Chieftain, collapsed behind me.
Ah... I was actually going to lose my mind. I couldn't just let them die, so I'd stepped in on reflex — and now I was standing off against him. I looked at the barrier spread around him and swore inwardly.
Fuck.
With a barrier like that up, there was nothing to pin on Instant Kill. My fatal weakness. If a fight broke out here, the best I could do was defend and dodge.
"If you've no intention of speaking..."
He drew up his mana again. A dozen thoughts flashed through my head at once. Keep defending? Run? And the remaining Haerin? Should I reveal I was a Lord? Would he even believe me?
That was when a laugh rang out from one side of the forest. Every gaze turned toward it.
"Well, hell... what kind of mess is this?"
The woman who pushed through the underbrush had red hair. The moment I confirmed her face, I went rigid with shock — and the Archmage's expression hardened to stone. He muttered, voice thick with disbelief:
"...Gwangrang?"
Gwangrang, the 5th Lord. As if the situation weren't chaotic enough, her completely unexpected appearance only threw me into further confusion.
Gwangrang looked at the Archmage, whose hand was still stretched toward me, and laughed under her breath.