Chapter 543: The Sheep and the Dog
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 543: The Sheep and the Dog
Environment makes the man. And man is an animal. Therefore, one could say that the environment makes the beast.
In that sense, to say that wild animals are violent is not a hasty generalization, but a logical deduction. The raw, untamed wild is filled with all manner of pain and disease, insects and predators, competition and starvation. In such a harsh wilderness, kindness is a weakness, a shortcut to death. The only emotion that preserved the species was a sense of kinship with one's own kind.
In that sense, it was utterly astonishing that a grazing water buffalo was carrying us on its back. An animal that eats grass is inevitably destined to become prey for an animal that eats meat. The same holds true even if it has a powerful body and sharp horns. It was in their nature to be more wary than curious…
For some reason, the buffalo Azzy had brought ran calmly with the herd, even with people on its back. The other buffalo didn't seem particularly wary either, brushing past us as they ran.
It wasn't as fast as the Regressor would have liked, but it was a much better pace than my walking.
Despite the comfortable, hands-free ride, the Regressor seemed displeased about something.
“Why do I have to ride with you?!”
“My Qi is too low! If I run out of energy, I'll fall off and be turned into mincemeat!”
“You’re a vampire now, you wouldn’t die from that!”
“Are you going to pick up the thousands of trampled pieces of my flesh and put me back together, Shei?”
I can read a person's thoughts and match their pace, but I can't read an animal's movements. This was especially true for a water buffalo, not some horse or donkey. The Regressor, with her ridiculously overpowered Heavenly Counter Domain Qi Art, could maintain perfect balance atop the running beast, but the moment my strength gave out, I’d be swept away by the buffalo stampede. I needed a safety measure.
“…Hold on tight. No, don’t hold on so tight!”
“So, just handle it myself, right? Got it.”
That’s not for me to decide. It’s up to the buffalo.
Just then, the buffalo leaped over a rock, its body lurching violently. The Regressor remained firmly attached with her Qi, but my body was thrown into the air, and I felt like I was about to be flung off at any moment.
“Where are you grabbing?!”
“Your stomach! I'm holding on to your stomach like a normal person, stop making accusations!”
As befitting the harsh wilderness, the ride was rough. It leaped over boulders and its large horns swung menacingly every time it glanced around. At first, I’d held on with a bit of playful mischief in mind, but soon I was clinging on for dear life.
Ugh! Not even my master touched me so carelessly!
In any case, thanks to the Regressor, I survived dozens of near-falls. A fact she seemed less than pleased about.
“Stop… grabbing me and use your Qi!”
“Ah. Okay.”
“Agh! Are you insane? Where are you using your Qi?!”
“I used it to hold on tighter because I thought I was going to fall.”
“Are you an idiot?! Are you trying to use Qi on another practitioner’s body? Qi is a form of dominion. Not even a master or a family member should use Qi on another's body so carelessly! It's far more rude than breaking into someone's house! It’s a good thing I wasn’t intentionally using my Heavenly Counter Domain, or you would have been instantly counterattacked!”
“It's an unavoidable situation. Just bear with it for a moment. All you have to do is endure it, Shei.”
“Why should I have to endure it?!”
Should I just grab him by the scruff of the neck and carry him? It’s not like he’ll die from a little choking, right? Or maybe I should tie him to Jizan and carry him around? That would be easier.
She’s being serious. This is bad. At this rate, the Regressor might actually carry me around like a kebab.
But I couldn't let go of her, either. Instead, to prevent her resolve from solidifying, I threw her a mental dog treat.
“Speaking of Azzy. Doesn’t she remind you of something?”
“Remind me of what?”
“It’s one thing for her to talk to other animals. But it’s not just that she’s conveying her intentions; the buffalo aren’t even scared and are running right alongside her.”
Azzy was running alongside the buffalo herd, reveling in her freedom. She would sprint far ahead of a distant buffalo, then circle back, covering several times the distance. It seemed all the walks she’d had until now were just a mere taste.
Even so, the buffalo would only glance at Azzy before quickening their pace.
“You’re right, the buffalo don’t seem to be wary of Azzy. But dogs are generally friendly with other animals, aren’t they? Maybe that’s why?”
“Azzy can be friendly, but it’s hard for the buffalo to be friendly back. Especially with a herd this large, there should be at least one that gets spooked and bolts. But right now, not a single buffalo has tried to charge her or run away.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true. To a buffalo, Azzy is just an unfamiliar animal with no connection to them.”
“Exactly. Which leaves only one possibility. Azzy has gained the ability to avoid hostility. Even from other animals.”
The Regressor couldn't think about two things at once. Completely forgetting that I was still clinging to her stomach, she fell into her own thoughts.
“The Grandiomor Royal Family?”
“That’s right. Among the powers the Five Sovereigns gained after ousting the King of Humans, it resembles the Grandiomor family’s ability to avoid hostility. Azzy is also a Beast King, altered for some reason. It wouldn’t be strange for her to possess such a power.”
“But why would she need an ability like that? It doesn’t seem like the will of the beasts would matter much at this point.”
“We won’t know what they’re thinking until we hear it. Not that they’re likely to tell us.”
“They will if I ask properly. The Sanctum will want to stop the King of Sins, too.”
The Sanctum couldn’t have created the King of Sins. But it’s clear they were trying to do something. The reason is… I wonder if this will be a clue.
Perfect. Distraction successful.
The Regressor’s worries and contemplations provided good food for thought on our tedious journey. This continued until she, having missed her chance to get off, suddenly jumped in surprise, threw me to the ground, and leaped off the buffalo herself.
“Woof woof! See you later!”
Waving a paw at Azzy, the buffalo herd galloped away.
Even in this harsh wilderness, our journey was smooth. We asked a passing zebra for directions and sent a crouching leopard on its way. Even life-threatening predators acted like meek lambs in Azzy’s presence.
Azzy also used force when necessary. Once, when a pack of starving lions kept following us, she shot off like an arrow, bit the male lion by the scruff of his neck, and dragged him away. Even the king of the beasts, who roamed the wasteland, could only watch with soulful eyes as he was pulled into the distance.
Without baring a single fang or shedding a drop of blood, we peacefully traversed the savage, unpopulated lands.
“It’s not that I’m scared of beasts, but it’s nice not having to kill them. A pack of lions would have been a bit of a hassle even for me.”
“It feels like we’ve become druids.”
“This is much better than being a druid. They can communicate, but they still get attacked all the same.”
Flying on Cloud Steps, and asking animals for directions when we rested, we pressed on across the Enger Plains, following the Regressor’s lead.
I had no sense of distance. No matter how fast we flew, I couldn't even guess how far we’d come. They say the land has a face, but to an outsider like me, it was all just the same hills and the same mounds. If life is a journey of endless repetition, then the Enger Plains were life itself—always seeing similar faces, endlessly walking across a plain with no end in sight.
And as always, I was full of complaints about life.
It’s hard enough just to step on clouds with Qi, but keeping my balance so I don’t fall is a chore in itself. My back and legs are killing me. I was excited at first when she said we’d ride the clouds, but I’d rather be walking.
“Ugh, I’m exhausted. Ow, I’m dying.”
“Woof! Woof woof! This is fun!”
Meanwhile, that dog was running around on all fours, her tongue lolling out, as if she couldn’t be happier.
“Hoo. I think I’ve done a year’s worth of walking right now. No more walks for you.”
“Woof? This isn’t a walk! This is work, walks are a right!”
“Since when did walks become a right…? Hah. I want to rest soon. Shei, how much longer?”
The Regressor glanced at the mountain range before answering.
“We’re almost there.”
“Almost there? You said that yesterday, too. Were you guiding us without even knowing the way?”
“I know the way, okay? I just can’t gauge the distance!”
“That’s the same thing. How can you know the way but not the distance?”
“The only reason it’s taking so long is because I have to carry you on these Cloud Steps! If we hadn’t stopped so many times for you to recover your Qi, we would’ve arrived already!”
“Oh, I don’t need to recover my Qi, so please just carry me on your back. The world is on the brink of destruction, we don’t have time to go this slowly.”
“No.”
If I carry him, he'll just grope me again. It's distracting and uncomfortable. He might find out I'm a woman.
I doubt you'd even notice if I touched you. Your stomach was pretty hard when I grabbed it before. I thought it was a stone pillar.
“Take this chance to train your Qi! This is the perfect opportunity for training, why are you being so lazy? If you only rely on tricks, you’ll hit your limit soon enough!”
“You know why I hit it so soon? Because I’ve mastered everything except what lies beyond that limit. If it weren’t for my own limit, my Qi, I’d be acting all high-and-mighty and meddling in your business just like you, Shei.”
“When have I ever acted high-and-mighty?!”
“Like right now. You have all those elixirs and relics, acting like you’re the best. If I had the same opportunities, I would have become much stronger.”
“You don’t know anything!”
Do you think I got strong for free, without any effort? My strength was forged through regression!
That regression ability was given to you for free. I’m saying it because I know.
“If you want to go there, you were born different! You’re the King of Humans, aren’t you?!”
“An exiled king. Hunted by the Sanctum, shunned by the Saintess. Forced to hide my identity and live in the shadows. Oh, what a cruel fate. What sin did I commit to deserve this?”
“Woof! You should behave better!”
“I have always behaved well. I treated every human with sincerity. It was they who held their own expectations and were disappointed.”
I was in the middle of my endless lament. The Regressor’s eyes briefly turned indigo. The sixth of the Seven Colored Eyes, the far-seeing Azure Eyes. Gazing at a hill so distant it was invisible to my own eyes, the Regressor muttered.
“It’s the Monastery of Blood. We’re here.”
“Wow, really? You’re not lying this time, right?”
“Yeah. I guarantee it. We’re really here this time. I can see it right in front of us.”
“Great. Let’s not rest and get there quickly!”
Of course, she was lying this time, too.
The Monastery of Blood she saw with her Seven Colored Eyes was nearly a full day’s journey away.
*
“Baaa~. Baaaaa~.”
There was a girl grazing among a flock of sheep.
Compared to other beasts, the animal known as a human has very little fur. But the girl before me looked as if she had more fur than most beasts. Her hair, as white and fluffy as a cloud, looked like it could yield a full set of cotton clothes with a single brushstroke. It was so thick and dense that the wildly tangled mass of it reached her waist. If she fell down a mountainside, she’d probably just tumble end over end, cushioned by her own hair.
She was among the flock, but neither the sheep nor she herself seemed to mind. It was a rare sight for the skittish animals.
However, one look at the curled horns on the girl’s head was enough to guess the reason.
“Huh?”
“It’s the Apostle of the Lamb! Sister! The Apostle of the Lamb is here again!”
Children who had come out to milk the ewes ran over, gathering around the girl with the sheep horns. Just as their curious gazes were becoming uncomfortable, a nun with her face covered by a black cloth approached and whispered softly.
“Remme. You’ve come again. Do you need a brushing?”
The King of Sheep, Remme. King of the timid and lost little lambs.
Sheep, living in fields of low grass, instinctively follow the herd. It doesn't matter if the leader isn't the same kind of animal. If a human with a staff leads them to a grassy field a few times, the flock will follow that hairless, wise leader.
“Baaa~. Hurry up and brush me-baa.”
“Just a moment.”
For this reason, sheep hold religious symbolism, and for the King of Sheep to appear at a monastery that raises them was a great source of pride. It meant the monastery was so peaceful and happy that even the timid King of Sheep would visit.
But for the past few decades, no other monastery had even seen the King of Sheep. Only the Monastery of Blood consistently sent in reports of sightings.
Some argued it was because the number of beasts in the civilized North had greatly decreased, but considering the millions of shepherds who still raised sheep, it wasn't a very plausible reason. After all, civilization was where the most sheep were raised as livestock.
So why didn't the King of Sheep appear anywhere else? A few humans, willing to risk conflict with religious authorities for the sake of rationality, proposed a plausible hypothesis.
The reason the King of Sheep didn't appear at other monasteries was because the Monastery of Blood was far more peaceful and happy.
It was a rather rational explanation, aside from the fact that the Monastery of Blood was heretical, and anyone who defended it would have their faith questioned.
Someone would pay the price of truth with blood, but the Monastery of Blood itself, failing to live up to its name, was peaceful. The nun looked at the children and said:
“Now. Who would like to brush the Apostle of the Lamb?”
“Me! Me!”
“I want to do it!”
“You got to shear the wool last time!”
The cheerful children shouted boisterously. Seeing the children raising their hands and vying for the chance, the nun smiled benevolently.
“Do not fight, little lambs. A rushed and clumsy brushing will disturb the sheep’s spirit. Empathize with the sheep, become deeply aware of its soft wool, and calm your hearts by recalling your past experiences with brushing.”
Her words, like a lullaby, quieted the children’s chatter.
“If you approach with a heart made impatient by squabbling, the other will surely keep their distance. Approach with a heart full of gratitude for what you have been given.”
The nun took the lead, stroking Remme’s wool.
“Share and share again, and it becomes countless. Give and give again, and everyone becomes happy. All things in this world originally belong to the Sky God. We must live each life with joy and gratitude. Now, let us express our thanks to the beautiful and gentle Apostle of the Lamb.”
“Thank you, Apostle of the Lamb!”
“Thank you, Fluffy!”
Remme, lying comfortably and being brushed, didn't seem thankful at all.
“Baa…? Hurry up and brush me-baa. I’ll be sleeping, so finish up-baa.”
There was no chance the King of Sheep would be hurt by the children’s brushing. Remme accepted their service with a gentle smile.
Peaceful, idyllic days. A series of moments that felt as if they would continue forever, unless something changed.
“Woof!”
Remme’s ears perked up, and she shot to her feet. With combs still stuck all over her hair, Remme trembled in fear and cried out.
“Baaaaa…! That sound!”
“Woof! Woof woof!”
“A wolf-baa! A wolf has appeared-baa!”