A Heart-Stopping Scare
My liver nearly dropped out of my body.
"Saintess!"
Today's guide appears to be Ji-geu. The boy came running over in a fluster.
"Today we're showing you the fields. We've already planned out everything we're going to introduce. Today's fields are ours and the one right next to it. Are you done with work? Can we go now?"
"Sure."
Mari smiled gently.
She had spent her first day doing nothing but resting, but from the next day onward, Mari and the other saintess had begun participating in village work. Sewing, cooking, drying herbs—there was always something to do. The village chief had told them they could rest a few more days, but working put her mind at ease. Half of her wanted to blend into the village as quickly as possible, and the other half simply hoped she wouldn't be cast aside as unnecessary.
If I don't become useful soon...
Even if she wasn't outright driven out, there was still a chance she could be sent to another village or traded for another woman. People in the first village she had passed through had made such demands. The thought of ending up in a place like that made her blood run cold with fear.
The village women seemed to understand the two saintesses' feelings and didn't hesitate to give them work. There weren't many families in the village—only about five. Since there were also men without wives, women were truly scarce, which made it easy for Mari and the other saintess to fit in among them. She had expected some territorial behavior, but there was none at all. The few women there simply told them to get along well.
The children strictly followed the chief's orders, so someone was always attached to the saintesses. Today, Ji-geu stayed by Mari's side while the little captain stayed with the other saintess.
On the way to the fields, several men stood along the roadside as if waiting and spoke to them. Hello, the weather is nice today, the soil in today's field is really good. The men, faces flushed red, offered these greetings.
This was a first for her. It felt strangely odd.
"The chief told the men to speak kindly to women. He said that's how love comes out. And when love comes out, you get married. So the uncles are just following what the chief taught them."
When Mari murmured "The chief...," Ji-geu nodded.
"When I grow up, I'm going to speak kindly too."
Speaking kindly to women. Those words seemed to lodge themselves in her chest. What kind of men would these children grow up to be, raised hearing such words? Imagining the children growing up and acting as the chief said made her chest swell with emotion. This village felt like an entirely different world.
"Ah! It's Dad."
Ji-geu tugged on Mari's hand.
"That's my dad over there."
"I know."
When Mari smiled, Ji-geu puffed out his chest.
"My dad is kind even without learning from the chief. When Mom left crying and yelling, he still didn't get angry. Even when my brother died, he didn't get mad at me. My dad's kind."
"I see. He's a good father."
At Mari's words, Ji-geu beamed brightly. Unlike the other men who spoke to her, Ji-geu's father only greeted her with his eyes before continuing his work in the field.
"He's not being cold. The chief said my dad is a warm person. A good man. That's what the chief said."
Ji-geu's face was filled with pride as he emphasized that the chief had said so. It wasn't just that he was proud of his father—it seemed he was happy that the chief he liked had spoken well of his father. The children in this village really loved the chief. They all said they wanted to be like him.
"But the soil here really is good."
Mari's gaze swept over the wide fields. No matter where she looked in this village, the land was excellent.
It's too good.
It was strange. She was the daughter of a poor tenant farmer. She had seen fields since she was young, but she had never seen soil this fertile. It wasn't because this was a frontier village either. The fields in the villages they had passed through hadn't been like this. Only this village was special.
Ji-geu puffed out his chest proudly.
"In our village, there's the Pudding that the chief raises. Pudding eats bugs and rats and makes the soil better."
"Pudding?"
It was something the children had been talking about since she first arrived in the village. She still hadn't seen it.
"Pudding is a slime. It eats anything. It eats mantises, earthworms, and rats too. Sometimes it eats grass, but it seems like it doesn't like it. It only eats a little and spits it back out."
She had never heard of a slime before. The village Mari came from was remote and small, with almost no contact with the outside world. Even traveling merchants rarely came. The only outsiders who appeared were slave traders who came to buy children or women during famine years. Mari herself had been sold by one of those slave traders and brought here.
Eating animals... The slime Ji-geu described sounded a little frightening.
"...So Pudding fights with Popcorn every day. Popcorn is a spirit. Our chief is a mage, so he has spirits with him. I don't know what it looks like exactly, but it sparkles and is really pretty. The chief says it looks like a small, round cloud to him."
While Mari was lost in thought, Ji-geu's words had moved on to spirits. She had seen spirits before too. When she first arrived and was at the village hall, she had seen them flying around sparkling. A spirit staying with a person...
"This village is a little strange."
The words slipped out unconsciously, and Ji-geu burst into loud laughter.
"It's because the chief is a mage. Our chief can blow people away with wind like this—whoosh. He's really strong."
After touring the fields while chatting like that, Ji-geu suddenly pressed close to Mari and spoke in a small voice.
"If we go a little further from here, it's our secret base. I decided to only show it to you, Saintess."
The place Ji-geu dragged her to was behind a rock near the fields. It wasn't visible from the fields, but from here, you could see the fields just by lifting your head.
"You can't go outside of this. It's dangerous out there. But the chief said this rock is okay because it's close to the fields."
If they had received permission like that, it was hard to really call it a secret base. Mari thought so but didn't say anything. Behind the rock were a few things the children seemed to have collected. Round, pretty stones, a slightly broken bowl, a dented iron can, and a few pieces of leftover firewood. In short, useless things that should have been thrown away.
"These are our treasures."
While Ji-geu spoke proudly, the other children came running over.
"We brought it."
"It was hard."
"We almost got caught."
The children crouched behind the rock and pulled out what they had hidden in their clothes. Two sausages, ten pieces of dried meat, and a handful of dried fruit. When Mari looked startled, the children spoke proudly.
"It's a welcome meeting. In our village, we hold meetings now."
"Since there are two saintesses, we'll do it twice."
Mari didn't know much about it, but this didn't seem like what a meeting was supposed to be.
"We were going to bring alcohol too, but the adults kept staring so we couldn't."
The little captain spoke regretfully. Mari shot to her feet.
"No. What if you get caught doing this?"
What these children had stolen was probably the village's communal property. Even stealing from your own house would get you beaten until the dust flew on a rainy day, but stealing communal village property? That would really get you beaten to death. Mari had actually seen such cases before.
The children looked at Mari with flustered faces.
"Oh, it's fine. If we get caught, we'll just get scolded a little."
"We're used to getting scolded."
"Getting flicked on the forehead hurts, but..."
"We can handle that much. We're boys, after all."
This wasn't something that would end with just a forehead flick. These children were still too young to understand.
"Anyway, we have to eat it quickly."
"If we wait too long, it might be time to work and someone might come looking."
After saying that, the children unhesitatingly put the food in their mouths. They took one bite of sausage each and passed it to the next person. They offered meat to Mari too, but she shook her head, suddenly frightened. She was an outsider. What if she was accused of making the children do this? The thought truly scared her. What should she do?
While Mari stood frozen in panic, Ji-geu suddenly started choking.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Did it get stuck in your throat?"
"Spit it out."
The children gathered around Ji-geu and patted his back, but Ji-geu couldn't speak and clutched his throat. His face turned red. It seemed like he couldn't breathe. This was bad. Mari turned and started running. After running for a bit, she saw Ji-geu's father in the distance.
"Help! The child can't breathe!"
When she shouted loudly, Ji-geu's father began running at an incredible speed.
"Behind that rock! He seems to have choked while eating meat!"
When Ji-geu's father got close, she immediately pointed to the rock. Following him as he ran, Mari returned to the rock as well. At the edge of her vision, she could see the chief and other people running toward them. Even though it was quite a distance, they seemed to have heard her voice.
Panting, Mari arrived at the rock to find Ji-geu's father holding the child, at a complete loss. The child's face had already gone past red to nearly purple, and his eyes had lost focus. Ah, he's going to die. Just as she thought that—
"Move aside!"
The chief, who had just arrived, pushed Ji-geu's father aside and held the child from behind. He placed his hands on the child's stomach and pulled upward as if lifting him. The child's body swayed with the chief's movements. Once, twice, he continued several times. By now many people had gathered, but the surroundings were so quiet you couldn't even hear breathing. Mari sank to the ground where she stood.
It's too late.
Mari had seen what a person's face looked like when they died. Probably everyone here had seen it at least once. Someone sniffled. To anyone's eyes, it looked like it was too late to save the child. She didn't know what the chief's actions meant, but he was clearly trying to save the boy. Unable to watch the chief continue trying to save a child who was clearly going to die, Mari turned her head away.
"It came out!"
Someone shouted loudly at that moment. Looking at the child again, Ji-geu—who had clearly seemed about to die—was coughing after spitting out a piece of meat. His face, which had been turning black, instantly flushed red again. Waaah—the child burst into tears.
"You little brat! If you died too, I would have..."
Ji-geu's father hugged the child and shouted before breaking down in sobs. Ji-geu also wailed with a hoarse voice.
"...sob...sob... I'm sorry..."
The other children seemed extremely shocked as well. Their eyes were wide as they stood frozen. One of them, as if remembering, swallowed the meat he had been eating. Watching this while crying, Ji-geu murmured with a sad face.
"...My meat..."
He seemed to regret the meat he had spit out. It was absurd that those were his first words after nearly dying.
"You brat, is meat the problem right now?"
Someone muttered incredulously.
"You nearly died. You almost went to the other side."
"Haah, these troublemaking brats really..."
People each said a word to the children. Ji-geu was still sniffling and muttering about meat.
"...sob...sob... My throat hurts... My throat really hurts..."
Ji-geu's father hugged the child tightly once before bowing deeply to the chief.
"...Chief... Thank you... Thank you... I nearly lost this child too. Thank you so much..."
Ji-geu's father kept speaking as he bowed his head. The chief also let out a deep breath of relief and took something out from his waist. It was a small pouch made of cloth. The chief pinched out a bit of glowing powder from it and put it in Ji-geu's mouth.
"It's medicine made by Pudding. I don't know if it'll work on something like this, but let's give it to him anyway."
After saying that, the chief let out a small sigh as he looked at the meat scattered on the ground. The villagers followed the chief in sighing. The children hunched their shoulders and lowered their heads. Mari clenched her hands tightly with an uneasy heart. What would happen to the children now?
The chief crouched in front of the children and opened his mouth.
"You brats, secret bases are fine, and stealing food to eat is fine too. But you have to chew meat well before swallowing. I told you before not to try swallowing big pieces of meat all at once, didn't I? I told you to chew thoroughly, right?"
"Yes."
"Yes, Teacher."
"We were wrong."
"Next time we'll chew thoroughly."
Even Ji-geu, who had been crying, answered the chief obediently.
"...."
Just chew thoroughly? Stealing food to eat is okay? Had this happened before too?
Is this real?
Mari unconsciously looked at the chief's and the villagers' faces. They were making scolding expressions toward the children, but no one was truly angry.
They don't beat the children even when they steal food...
It was truly different from the village she came from. After giving a few more words of lecture, the chief stood up. Ji-geu suddenly tilted his head and widened his eyes.
"My throat doesn't hurt! It got better right away. After eating Pudding's medicine, it doesn't hurt at all."
At Ji-geu's words, the other children looked at the chief with sparkling eyes.
"Teacher, give me medicine too."
"I want to eat it too."
"I haven't pooped since yesterday, will that make it come out?"
"I only have farts coming out."
As the children made a ruckus, the chief tousled their hair and put a little of the glowing powder in each of their mouths.
"...."
Medicine was expensive. She didn't know much about it, but if a sore throat got better instantly, it had to be quite expensive and good medicine. Giving that to children so casually—this village really was strange. Looking at the chief's face as he smiled at the children, Mari suddenly thought: If a man like that became her husband, how happy and safe would her life be from now on? As soon as she thought that, Mari was startled. How could she dare to think of the chief that way? The chief was a mage. Someone with mysterious powers. He would surely marry a much better woman than her. As she shook her head to erase the thought that had briefly surfaced, one of the village women muttered.
"Our village's young men are a bit pitiful. Once the chief makes up his mind, no one can compete."
"...."
It was just as she said. If the chief said he wanted to marry, Mari and any other woman would nod without hesitation. Glancing at the chief without thinking, she saw him looking at the children with gentle eyes.
* * *
After each person said a word to the children, they returned to their work, and Ji-geu's father hurried back to the fields, perhaps embarrassed about crying. The children gathered their heads together again and ate the remaining meat. Ji-geu seemed to regret what he had spit out quite a bit. Watching quietly, he brought Pudding over and fed it. Since he couldn't eat it himself, he seemed to want Pudding to eat it instead. Pudding, as usual, swallowed the meat without any hesitation, wriggling around. Watching the meat dissolve inside its transparent body, Ji-geu shed a few tears.
When I just stood there watching the children instead of leaving, they seemed to find it strange. The children tilted their heads and asked.
"Teacher, why aren't you going?"
"Do you want a secret base too, Teacher?"
"Do you want to eat meat?"
At the children's words, a sigh escaped me without realizing it. They had nearly died just moments ago, but the children showed no understanding of the gravity at all.
"You brats, I'm staying to make sure you chew your meat thoroughly."
When I said that, the children laughed loudly and ran away. They had really scared me out of my wits, but there wasn't even a fingernail's worth of reflection to be seen. Haah, I let out a small breath. I had acted calm in front of everyone, but I had really been shocked. I should teach the villagers the Heimlich maneuver so they can perform emergency treatment if the children choke again next time.
But I haven't seen Popcorn even once today. Not once from dawn until now.
He's been going out too much lately.
Just where is that guy and what is he doing?