The Yang Clan's Chief Arrives
I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and lost in thought, when Balibali's voice called out from outside.
“Chief, the Yang Tribe chief has come.”
“Yang Tribe? What’s the business?”
“The words are different, so I don’t know exactly, but it seems like they want to join under us.”
“Yeah, if they join under our tribe, they won’t have to worry about starving.”
I nodded. Recently, several small tribes around us had been voluntarily trying to join under me. The reason was that joining under our tribe meant no hunger and no need to fight elsewhere.
Since defeating the Wild Dog Tribe, countless small tribes had joined ours. Without me doing anything special, the tribe's population had surpassed 7,000, an increase of 2,000 from before.
“How many people are in the Yang Tribe?”
“Thirteen adults and three children.”
“A small tribe. Then I don't need to get involved. Balibali, you handle it. Assign new fields to the new tribe members and give the chief an appropriate title. Do you understand?”
“Understood, Chief.”
Balibali had started as a clever servant, but over time he'd become more astute, and now I left even simple politics to him.
Just as Balibali was about to leave, I grabbed him.
“Wait a second, Balibali.”
“What is it, Chief?”
“Where's Hildegard?”
“That white woman? I don't know exactly. Recently, she's been going to the Umbanba Waterfall area a lot. If you go there, you might find her.”
“Really? Okay. Go ahead.”
After Balibali left, I put on the outer garment I'd received as a bonus from Martinez and headed out. With Kumpa as my bodyguard, I headed to the Umbanba Waterfall.
After walking for a while, the Umbanba Waterfall came into view in the distance. I searched around the waterfall but couldn't see Hildegard. There were footprints leading towards the cave, so I headed there and, in the distance, saw Hildegard's figure inside the cave.
“Kumpa, wait here.”
“Huh? Why, Chief?”
“Just wait.”
“Understood, Chief. Call me when you're done.”
There was a reason I had separated Kumpa suddenly.
Because far away, Hildegard was meditating completely naked, sitting in lotus position, under the waterfall water falling from above the cave.
What is she doing? Meditating?
Her white naked body entered my eyes without me realizing. She had a beautifully balanced body overall, but there were many scars. Suddenly, a thought came to me. Thinking back, when she first fell, her military uniform had quite a few medals.
She might be a soldier with considerable real combat experience. She seemed confident in her own strength.
It's a pity.
It was like a beautiful body reminiscent of an ancient Greek statue, but with so many scars. In this SF world, has the technology to fix scars not advanced?
While thinking that, I realized I had been staring too intently.
Oh, I stared too much. If our eyes had met, I would have been mistaken for a pervert no matter what.
Thinking that, I snapped out of it, approached the waterfall, and called out to her.
“Hildeg!”
I called several times, but she didn't respond, as if she couldn't hear. I got closer.
“Hildeg! I came because I have business with you.”
When I approached the small cave where the waterfall water fell, she answered.
“You can speak.”
“Before that, put on some clothes.”
“I don't mind, but if it makes you uncomfortable, then don't.”
After saying that, she suddenly stood up. I scratched my cheek awkwardly and turned my head. When I looked back, she let out a “pfft” laugh, rummaged through her clothes, and started putting them on.
“So, what's the business?”
Her body and hair, wet from the water, gave off some indescribable alluring atmosphere. Had she always looked like this? At that moment, I realized. Until now, I'd been thinking of her just as an assistant who came from the Galactic Empire, so I hadn't been looking at her in detail. I said it while trying not to make eye contact as much as possible.
“Business... well, there is, but before that, aren't you too exposed? If another man besides me had discovered you, what would you have done?”
“Sihyun. Look at me.”
“Huh?”
“Look at my face.”
I looked at her. We made eye contact. About 160 cm tall. Slightly lower eye level than me. Beautiful golden hair like premium silk and emerald green eyes that seemed to suck you in.
After staring into her eyes for a while, I felt my face heating up. Just as I was about to turn away because I was getting uncomfortable.
“Eh?”
She slowly began to disappear.
“What, what?”
She suddenly vanished. Her figure was nowhere to be seen. And a moment later.
Tap.
I felt someone place a hand on my shoulder. Startled, I turned around, and it was Hildegard.
“M-magic? How did you do that?”
“It's called Psy-cast.”
“What is that?”
“Well, even among scholars, opinions differ on what Psy-cast is, so I can't explain it precisely. But the best word to explain it to primitives is...”
She grinned.
“Superpower.”
“Su-superpower...”
I thought I came to an SF world, but is it actually a fantasy world?
An SF world with fantasy added is quite shocking. With such superpowers, if she decided to attack, our entire tribe would lose even if we fought against her?
“I can make myself invisible if I want to. So, as you worry, I won't show my naked body to other men. So don't worry too much.”
“But earlier, I didn't notice that you were coming here!”
“My Psy-cast isn't just invisibility. I can also detect humans within a 100-meter radius. I knew you were coming long ago.”
“...Really?”
“As proof, when you first discovered me, you didn't blank out for 8 seconds while looking at my naked body.”
At that moment, my face felt like it was about to burst from heat.
“N-no, that's not it...!”
“You don't need to worry.”
She smiled mischievously.
“I think it's quite an enjoyable experience.”
“...”
“You, being blanked out after seeing my naked body, and worrying about whether to show it to others.”
It was embarrassing, as if it was me who was naked instead of her. It had all been revealed. It might be better to think there are no more secrets from now on.
“So, what's the business?”
That word was like salvation to me. Because I could finally escape the embarrassing situation.
“Ah, this time, about 2,000 new tribe members joined. I'm worried about how to manage these people. I was already accepting tribe members, but now the number is suddenly increasing enormously. With so many people suddenly coming in, there will likely be conflicts with the existing ones. How can I minimize the conflicts?”
To hide my embarrassment, I explained actively. Then she asked with a puzzled expression.
“Why did you want to mix them from the beginning?”
“Huh?”
“There's no need to mix the old forces and the new forces. Before, since the number of tribe members was small, mixing them would naturally fuse. But from now on, we can't mix them and don't need to. The old forces are old forces, the new forces are new forces. Divide them into several groups and make each one swear loyalty to you.”
“Ah...!”
Now I get it. My idea was wrong from the start. Because I've been living as a primitive for too long, my sense as a modern person has faded.
“Now I understand.”
“What do you mean?”
“First, the land system. Currently, our tribe's land is public property. There's no concept of ownership, so everyone farms together in the same place. But to advance the era, what we need most is not improving wheat seeds or introducing modern weapons, but introducing a political system. When a new tribe joins, provide land according to the labor force they have, and issue a certificate that the land belongs to that tribe. Within that land, they will clear farmland on their own, and once cleared, provide more land, recognizing their private property. Then, the tribe members will be motivated by greed and competition among tribes to clear more land. As the cleared land grows, my power will strengthen. Many small forces will pay taxes to me together, and with that tax, I can expand the army. I didn't need to unite them from the beginning. The correct answer was to divide them finely and stimulate competition.”
“Excellent.”
She nodded.
“I was born into a noble family.”
I had roughly guessed that. She must be a high-ranking person.
“Therefore, I received quite a professional political education... but in your case, it seems you came up with it yourself. If you also receive proper education, you'll become an excellent noble.”
“It's not that much.”
Actually, I received modern education, so I'm not as pure as she thinks.
“If I tell my family that there's such an outstanding person on an uncolonized planet, they'll be surprised.”
Her words made her look quite sad, so the atmosphere wasn't easy to talk to her in.
But at that moment.
Whoosh!
A loud noise echoed in the cave. At first, I wondered what it was, but soon Hildegard started running out.
“Quick, Sihyun! It's the spaceship's engine sound!”
“A spaceship?”
I followed her. Outside the cave, a spaceship was indeed visible in the sky. However, its design was different from the spaceships I've seen so far.
“That one...”
“Haa... so that's what happened.”
She sighed.
“First time seeing a training landing ship? Since I've only seen passenger ships and warships until now, I haven't seen one.”
“A training landing ship?”
“It's a specialized ship for deploying infantry from the army to somewhere.”
“Then why is a training landing ship here...?”
She said in a serious voice.
“Training landing ships are used a lot in the military, but the place where they are used the most after the military is...”
“...Where?”
“Pirates.”
“!”
“Summon the army, Sihyun. It seems like enemies.”
I thought there might be a day like this someday. A day to fight those with future technology.
But it came much sooner than I expected, so I was a bit surprised.