Chapter 126: When Foxes Smoked Tobacco (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 126: When Foxes Smoked Tobacco (2)
Purple deer ran through the forest.
White snakes hung from the trees.
Crows, tinged with red, had four wings.
Fox Pass was a dreamlike and auspicious place.
“This way.”
Hyedam led Caleb deep into the village.
“It’s Hyedam!”
“Lady Hyedam!”
“She must have defeated all the intruders.”
Little ones, each with a single tail, swarmed around them.
But they didn’t dare approach Hyedam.
She was the most revered being in the village.
Receiving their admiring gazes from a distance, Hyedam said nothing.
The village guards dispersed, each returning to their own homes.
“You, this way.”
Hyedam led Caleb across the village and out toward the edge.
They crossed a bridge over a large pond and passed under the lush, drooping branches of a willow tree.
There, in a secluded, wide-open space, they arrived.
A massive estate surrounded by a wall appeared.
Servants opened the main gate for them.
“Do you know why I brought you here?” Hyedam asked Caleb as they walked toward her home.
“No.”
“Fox Pass is a place I’ve hidden using Tier 8 magic. The houses and people here are invisible to the outside world. It just looks like an ordinary forest.”
The name of the spell was ‘Fox Bewitchment.’
It was the ultimate illusion spell, far surpassing simple disguise or chameleon magic.
It induced a state of ‘bewitchment’ in everyone within a large, designated area. Those affected would see and hear whatever the caster wished.
If she wanted them to see an empty forest instead of Fox Pass, that is what they would see.
If she wanted the sound of the villagers’ laughter to be inaudible, it would be so.
“That’s why invaders can rarely find Fox Pass.”
Unless, of course, they had already stumbled inside.
Caleb knew why Hyedam was telling him this.
“You’re the one who found it for them, aren’t you?”
“…”
“For those marauders. Right?”
Hyedam entered her room and sprawled out on the bed, propping her heels up on a small table.
As the hem of her skirt fell away, her long, pale legs were revealed beneath her shorts.
“How did you know? The location of this place?”
“I could just see it.”
“There are people like that sometimes. People who can’t be bewitched. People who are highly suspicious, quick-witted, and have a strong will. Or…”
Hyedam took out a long-stemmed pipe and placed it in her mouth.
“People who are possessed.”
“I’m not.”
“Then, people who can be possessed.”
“…”
“I can also guess why you led those men to Fox Pass. You were captured by the marauders and, while being dragged along, you deliberately guided them to the fox spirit village. So that I would annihilate them. Am I wrong?”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t escape on my own and wanted to ask for help.”
“I understand. And since I was the one who gave you that help, isn’t it your turn to repay the debt?”
She pointed to the tip of her pipe.
“Light it for me.”
Caleb stayed at Hyedam’s house and became her personal attendant.
“Just for six months. It’s the price for your life.”
“What is that man?”
The village elders who visited Hyedam’s house the next day frowned.
“He is my tobacco page.”
“He’s not a child.”
“Are you worried about me keeping a man in my room?”
“Of course, we are. Don’t you know this brings misfortune?”
“A young fox spirit boy, or a human man. Which of the two do you think is better?”
“Hyedam!”
“Think of him as a pet. Don’t mind him.”
They spoke freely, not caring whether Caleb was listening beside them.
The elders sighed.
“The ritual is in six months. Conduct yourself with dignity.”
“…”
“We will forgive a minor deviation, as long as you don’t go too far. Don’t get too attached.”
After the elders left, Hyedam once again took out her long-stemmed pipe.
“What is this ritual?” Caleb asked as he lit it, but Hyedam didn’t answer.
Instead, she asked him a question.
“Tell me your story.”
“What story?”
“Anything. What you did before you came here.”
Hyedam enjoyed listening to Caleb’s stories while she smoked her pipe.
“I was a wandering merchant. I was on my way to Wyndham when I was captured by those marauders.”
“Where is your hometown?”
“I’m from the West.”
“Wyndham?”
“Wyndham is south of here, Hyedam.”
“…”
Hyedam blew out a puff of smoke.
“I knew that. Then… Bimungol?”
“That’s to the east.”
“…Fla-Flandre…?”
The confidence in her voice faded.
“You’re just naming whatever places you know, aren’t you? Usually, when people say ‘the West,’ they don’t just mean west of here, but the western part of the continent.”
“…”
“The land is barren, many Lizardmen live there, there’s no central government, and the lords are constantly at war. That’s how war orphans like me come to be.”
“What’s a Lizardman?”
“You don’t know?”
“…”
The eight-tailed fox possessed power that was hard to believe a mortal could wield, yet she was strangely ignorant of the outside world.
“I’ve never been outside of Fox Pass.”
That was because Hyedam had been the village’s guardian since birth.
She could not leave the village.
“Lizardmen are a reptilian demi-human race that look like lizards.”
“Lizards—!?”
Hyedam jumped in shock, horrified by the grotesque image.
“H-how can a person look like a lizard!”
“They even lick their own eyeballs with their tongues.”
“Aaargh!”
Hyedam screamed and threw a pillow.
“Should I tell you about other demi-human races?”
Caleb told her stories of the world outside Fox Pass.
Every day after breakfast, he would come to her room and light her long-stemmed pipe.
Puff, puff.
They would get lost together in the rising smoke.
Besides Lizardmen, a lot of Orcs live in the West. They’re a brutish, green-skinned race, big and well-muscled like the tigerfolk.
The lords are divided into several factions, and they’re fighting to the death over who gets control of the Labyrinth’s Staircase. If monsters erupted from the Labyrinth, they’d probably take one look at the lords fighting and just go home.
What’s a Labyrinth Eruption? You know what a Labyrinth is, right? …Well, I’m glad you at least know that. That’s right. The Labyrinth is an underground world connected by staircases. You can find incredible treasures there, but there are also tons of monsters.
That’s all for today.
Puff, puff.
One day, as she exhaled a plume of smoke, he told her about the North.
It’s a land of endless snow and ice.
Snow. S-N-O-W. You don’t know? No, not eyeballs! What are you thinking! It’s not a disgusting place like that.
It’s rainwater that freezes into white, flower-shaped crystals. Yes. They look a bit like chrysanthemums. But they’re transparent, white, and sparkling. And cold.
The snow piles up on the ground. Yes, that’s right. Like flower petals. Some mountains in the North have snow on their peaks all year round. We call it perpetual snow. Does it melt on the ground? Yes, of course. It melts when spring comes. Then again, Fox Pass doesn’t really have seasons, does it?
Puff, puff.
Barbarians are a warlike, savage race, and Frostians are people with blue skin who are resistant to the cold.
On the other hand, if you go down south, it’s full of passionate, hot-blooded demi-humans. There are a lot of beastfolk there, in particular. Most are canines or felines, but there are quite a few avians as well.
Besides them, there are Halflings, and Dwarves—short, stubborn folk who live by mining or fishing.
Puff, puff.
And in the center of it all is the most developed Labyrinth City.
Sohen.
Travel east from there for a week and you’ll reach Flandre. Go further east from there, and you’ll get to Wyndham.
Wyndham is a city as large as Sohen. I know a great pasta place there… What’s pasta? It’s a type of food. I can’t make it for you since we don’t have the ingredients. Anyway, the Dokkebi, tigerfolk, and spirit races live in Wyndham. There are a lot of fox spirits, too. Though they’re not from Fox Pass. Oh, and there are Kappas.
And to the north of Wyndham, there’s a massive mountain range with fifteen valleys. If you go deep into one of them, you’ll find a small village, and that is…
“This place, Fox Pass.”
“…”
Puff, puff.
Hyedam’s smoke billowed, rising up and drifting out the window, flying far beyond the estate walls.
“Hyedam.”
Three months after Caleb began his stay.
When he went to her room, he was met with a pillow flying at him from the doorway.
“Get the hell out!”
Hyedam was undressed inside the room. Her white back, shoulders, and part of her chest were exposed.
And on her back was a large wound.
Maids were tending to her injury.
“Close the door!”
Hyedam’s furious shout wasn’t because he had seen her undressed.
She didn’t want him to see her hurt.
Click!
Caleb closed the door and left.
Hyedam finished her treatment inside, fell asleep, and came out half a day later.
Caleb had been sitting in front of the door, waiting the entire time.
“You should have gone to your room. Did you wait here all this time? You fool.”
“How did you get hurt?”
“…Come in.”
Hyedam returned to her usual spot. She couldn’t lie down because of her back. Instead, she sat and held out the tip of her pipe.
“I had a duel.”
“What kind of duel?”
Caleb lit it for her.
“One of the marauders challenged me to a duel. I can’t refuse something like that. I’m… I’m not just the power that protects this village. I’m its pride.”
“What the… That’s just ridiculous.”
“What?”
“Aren’t they marauders and invaders? What honor do they have that you’d accept a duel?”
“Because we have honor.”
“Man, this village is so frustrating…”
“Those are the rules of the village. But the guy I fought today was a coward. He suddenly teleported behind me and stabbed me with a knife. That’s how I got hurt.”
“It’s a skill called Leaping Ambush.”
“Leaping… what bush?”
“Uh, no… Never mind.”
Caleb shook his head.
“More importantly, that’s a terrible matchup for a shaman like you, Hyedam. Don’t accept a duel next time.”
“I told you, it’s the rules. And I won anyway.”
“…”
Thump!
The elders had come to visit again.
“Hyedam. We heard you were injured.”
“Yes.”
“The guardian of our village cannot be so weak.”
“…I apologize.”
“Whether it’s a duel or a war, you must be able to repel anything that comes your way, perfectly.”
“I will not make the same mistake again.”
“The red moon will rise in three months. Take good care of your body.”
“…”
“The Nine-Tails Ritual can only be performed if your body is in perfect condition.”
“Yes.”
“And get rid of that human. Chase him out or kill him.”
“I will send him back to his home within three months.”
The elders clicked their tongues, shot Caleb a glare, and left.
A few seconds later.
CRASH!
Hyedam suddenly hurled her long-stemmed pipe at the door.
“…”
Stunned, Caleb froze like a statue. Hyedam covered her face with both hands.
She didn’t cry.
Instead, she bit her lip, hard.
“My pipe.”
“Yes.”
“Could you… pick it up for me? Sorry.”
She took the pipe Caleb brought back and put it to her lips.
“It’s all I have, after all.”
Caleb lit it for her.
“Shall I tell you a story about the outside world?”
“…”
“One time, in the South, I was making a deal with some Halfling friends…”
“Caleb.”
Hyedam took a drag from her pipe.
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you going to ask about the Nine-Tails Ritual? I thought you’d be curious.”
“It didn’t seem like my place to interfere.”
“…”
Hyedam set down her pipe.
“Just go back for today.”
“What kind of ritual is it?”
“I said that’s enough. Get the hell out!”
Hyedam shoved Caleb forcefully out of the room.