The Gold-Eye Tribe and the Fox Beastmen Tribe (2)
The Gold-Eye Tribe and the Fox Beastmen Tribe (2)
<Darkest Academia> was a game the Goddess had released on Earth, set in this world.
The word 'Darkest' in the title said it all. You didn't need to play it firsthand to know the difficulty was atrocious. It meant the Goddess held a very dark outlook on the continent's future.
If you made even a slightly wrong choice in the game, someone died.
There were elements called 'Trials,' and if you failed to prevent or overcome them, the world was destroyed.
Plagues broke out at the drop of a hat. National regimes toppled at the slightest opportunity. The continental economy spiraled into inflation.
In the midst of those turbulent times, the characters you had to keep alive until the very end of the story—until the Demon King was defeated—dropped out one by one.
If things went wrong, the same could have happened to Frey.
"That's the house where I live!"
With a radiant smile, the girl from the Fox Beastmen Tribe pointed toward a village located far in the distance.
The thought that this smile would one day be twisted into despair gave me a sense of dissonance that was no joke.
I needed to stay calm. I had to think and act rationally. The whole reason I'd come all the way here at Vermel's request was to stop the catastrophe where Frey died.
And while I was at it, to acquire uranium.
I carefully reviewed my contract with Jormungand once more. At the same time, I recalled the conversation I'd had with Vermel.
Right. For now, I just had to prevent one single incident.
"It's nothing much compared to what humans build, right? But it's still a pretty big village!"
Frey tugged firmly at the hem of my clothes and announced it loudly, as if proud. Only then did I snap out of my thoughts and slowly scan the surroundings.
Dense, vividly green leaves fluttered in the gentle breeze. Amid those woods sat a small village.
At a glance, it was a settlement roughly thrown together by people who lived a nomadic life.
The fence was made from logs that had been knocked down and left as they were, and most of the houses were huts woven from branches and straw. The building in the best shape was a log cabin.
What stood out most were the livestock. In a small clearing between the trees, cattle and sheep were grazing on grass.
"So it was true that beastmen also lead nomadic lives."
"The Gold-Eye Tribe is nomadic too. Don't you live like this?"
"I wonder."
Since that was what my tribe was 'known for'—spreading a mat on the snowfield and foraging for greens. At this point, I wasn't even sure what was true anymore.
"But recently, we've started doing things like farming. Look over there! That's the field I made!"
Frey pointed to the high ground and spoke smugly. Just as the runt had said, modest vegetable patches were scattered here and there along the mountain ridge.
"If you're nomadic, is there really a need to farm?"
"We move around as a federation anyway, right? What we eat ourselves, we hunt or gather and keep separately. Stuff like that field is meant to be given to the Great Spirit or to the tribes above us."
In the game, those were all considered Frey's creations. After all, Frey was in the process of madly absorbing human civilization. Tilling a field with Earth Magic was a simple matter for her.
Not only that, but also raising earth walls and transmuting weapons. Frey was a prodigy of unparalleled talent, capable of displaying the fullest extent of her abilities so long as the Earth Spirit King permitted it.
Yet, it seemed there were those who failed to recognize Frey's true worth.
"What? Isn't that the runt?"
The moment I entered the village while chatting with Frey, I heard that right under my nose.
Frey immediately glared and showed her discomfort.
"What?"
"Did you deliver all your mana herbs properly? Runt?"
"You, you...! I told you not to call me a runt!"
"You're this short, so what else would you be? What am I supposed to call you?"
It was two Fox Beastmen Tribe members who had started picking a fight with Frey.
One was male, one was female. Both had strapping and bewitching figures.
"You must've forgotten! I'm the same age as you!"
"Pfft. Same age as us, with a body like that? Do you think that makes any sense?"
"If she's that short, then she's a runt. This is a disgrace to the name of the Pastrend Tribe."
Frey clenched her teeth and swallowed the curses rising in her throat.
Just then, several more Fox Beastmen Tribe members came over, drawn by the commotion, and began observing the situation. Every one of them was well-developed. The foxes who'd started trouble with Frey weren't anything special; this was just the average, apparently.
No wonder there was a saying about foxes bewitching people.
"So? Who's the human you brought with you?"
One of the foxes pointed a finger at me and asked.
Ah, right.
At the moment, I had the hat Frey had given me pulled down low. Unless you looked up from below, you couldn't confirm my eye color. That seemed to have caused a misunderstanding among some of the foxes.
A few of them aimed their spears and blades at me.
"Now the runt's bringing in unrelated humans, of all things? Do you seriously want to get kicked out?"
"Hey, but pointing a spear at a stranger on first meeting is nonsense. They might be someone sent by Count Saliere!"
"What does that matter? The problem is them entering our territory without permission."
"If the times have changed, adapt a little! How long are you going to stay hostile toward humans?"
This village was exhausting, too. To stop the misunderstanding from spreading, I took off the hat.
"...Isn't that a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe?"
Thanks to that, the foxes who'd been squabbling among themselves all fell silent at once, like they'd swallowed honey.
The Gold-Eye Tribe was a friendly presence to the beastmen. Wasn't the dragon who looked after these very Fox Beastmen Tribe members sporting golden eyes?
One by one, the foxes who met my eyes withdrew their spears and turned sheepish. Frey, who had been making a sound like a boiling kettle at being called a runt, smiled brightly and pointed at me.
"Yeah! This is my friend from the academy!"
"A-a friend? A member of the Gold-Eye Tribe?"
"A noble Gold-Eye Tribe would be friends with a runt like you? Nonsense!"
"You, you guys, seriously...!"
Ah, there she went again, about to burst into tears.
I had to make sure she didn't get stressed. I needed to drive the point home beforehand.
"She is my friend."
"What...?"
"Frey is a friend like no other; we've presented at academic societies together and have done love shots at the pub. Surely, my fellow kin do not doubt the friendship between myself and our Frey?"
"G-Goldie...!"
Giggling, Frey clung right to my side.
"And it's not right to tease your own tribeswoman for being short."
Though I teased her too.
Still, it couldn't be helped. To the beastmen, the Gold-Eye Tribe occupied the role of 'calm and venerable' sages. Vermel had told me that if I gently coaxed them with this soft, polite way of speaking, they'd back off on their own.
Just as he'd said, the foxes' momentum deflated in an instant, Frey excepted. They all withdrew their weapons and let their tails droop low.
"It's my first time seeing a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe!"
"She's pretty...."
Now-familiar reactions came out one by one. That didn't matter much.
"But what business does a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe have in our village...?"
"What business? I came to hang out with my friend, of course."
The biggest problem from here on out was working through the formalities.
**
No larger disturbance than that broke out over entering the village.
I asked the village chief whether it was all right to stay here for a while. Fortunately, the man turned out to be Frey's grandfather's relative. He was delighted, calling it a good omen that a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe—a friend, no less—would be staying in the village.
Well, anyway.
The house Frey lived in was a log cabin. Not a modest one either, but a fairly large log house.
For the Fox Beastmen Tribe, who led a mobile life in regular cycles, such a house was practically a luxury.
In other words, the tribal name 'Pastrend,' to which Frey belonged, was a designation permitted only to the filthy rich. The surname 'Shelkerni,' by which I'd first known the runt, turned out to be something like a private surname used only within the household.
She had to be rich in the first place. This was someone who paid Tillet Academy's tuition and drank booze she bought with her own money.
"Mom, I'm home!"
Frey opened the door to the log house and cried out in a loud voice. At that, a frail-looking woman came down the stairs, step by careful step.
"My, my daughter!"
"Mom!"
"Yes, my daughter!"
"Mommm!"
Frey, who had been clutching my collar and acting as a navigation system all the way to the house, went dashing over the moment she saw her mother.
"My daughter... *cough*, *cough*!"
The mother covered her mouth and coughed repeatedly. She had a chronic illness.
"Mom... are you okay?"
"Yes, my daughter. Did you have a good trip?"
"I sold a ton of mana herbs! Even if I did doze off a little on the boat this morning...."
She must have been like that because she was small for a Fox Beastmen. It was the same thing as young children sleeping a lot.
"I'm so sleepy in the morning. I fall asleep at school too, so sometimes I can't even take morning classes...."
"It's all right. As long as my daughter can graduate. They didn't find out about your ears or tail at the academy, did they?"
"Nope! They didn't find...!"
Frey stopped mid-sentence and stared blankly in my direction.
"Huh?"
It was written all over her face: They found out?
So as not to alarm her mother, I quickly lowered my head and took a moment to introduce myself.
"I'm Aether, of the Gold-Eye Tribe. I'm Frey's friend."
I explained the earlier situation in detail.
On top of that, I added, on the honor of a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe, that I would not reveal Frey was a beastman. Frey's mother believed my words sooner than I had expected.
"If a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe says so...."
No, it was just a racial buff.
[At this point, don't you get confused about your identity? Are you human or Gold-Eye Tribe?]
What was the big deal? Even if my body belonged to a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe, my mind was still human.
Frey's mother was a calm person, unlike Frey. Maybe it was because of her illness.
"Oh dear, look at me. To come out looking like this when a friend has arrived...."
The mother retied her disheveled hair. She tied it at the shoulder, then braided it into a single strand below.
It was what people commonly called 'Short-lived Hair.'
Vermel had said it was a cliché hairstyle that foreshadowed a death flag.
That was it.
The period when Frey became devastated began from the moment this mother passed away.