Akran Village

“…Welcome to our Akran village, White Sovereign.”

The woman who identified herself as the great warrior of the Black Scorpion Assassination Corps Samara.

Nadia Lint Hakan Hal Amutar introduced the village to me.

“……”

Solemn silence settling in.

Worms surrounding just the outer perimeter without rising inside the village, and tribal members gathered at the entrance.

The current situation itself created no small amount of discomfort.

…It’s clearly a confrontation structure of monsters outside the village and humans inside the village.

How did it come to this?

“Great desert god Karayan…”

A man with a serious expression, mouth agape looking up at me.

The village chief and tribal leader of Akran village, Hakan Niven Kabas Hal Amutar, whom Nadia introduced as her father.

A middle-aged man with a sturdy build over 2 meters tall, with abundant beard extending from his temples under his turban.

Seeing that his body hair is wine-like purple, Nadia’s hair must take after her mother’s side.

“…Daughter, what exactly have you brought?”

“…I’ve already explained several times. It’s the White Sovereign, the benefactor of our combat unit and the Rabat villagers.”

“…Huuu. No, what triggered you to make such a decision? What drugs did you take?”

Hakan sighed heavily, grabbing the back of his neck.

He grabbed his head and asked his daughter again.

“You didn’t happen to indulge in deviant behavior by getting intoxicated with your subordinate combat unit, drinking hallucinatory scent secreted from hallucinatory cacti…? Other things like anesthetic grass, dream flowers, or things that make you feel good and tipsy…”

“Absolutely not!”

Nadia immediately flared up and shouted.

“…Yes, a message of gratitude has arrived from Rabat as well. There’s absolutely no way you would do such a thing. And these things in front of us seem real enough.”

Hakan just shook his head.

Then he swiftly turned around and went somewhere inside the village.

Several elders followed him as if accompanying him.

“…Dad sometimes grew up engaging in such deviant behaviors. While getting beaten to death by the elder gentlemen. I’m truly glad that you, my daughter, haven’t fallen into that. I’m proud of you, daughter…”

Adding such a strangely unique refrain.

What’s this, what is he trying to do?

[What a rude human.]

[Is this how they treat their saviors!?]

Tarkhan immediately cynically criticized, and Kacha snapped sharply.

[Even though it’s good to do good things, this is a bit…]

[Hmm, did we really help them for nothing~?]

Even Sharan and Zand whispered to each other.

The worms already seemed to have many complaints.

Everyone indeed didn’t feel like this was an atmosphere to enter.

But it was a situation where entering the village itself was impossible.

The size itself just doesn’t match.

In my case, with a 50-meter body volume, exaggerating a bit, just entering would more than destroy the village.

Inside, just swinging my body 360 degrees would render the village with irreparable damage.

A size advantageous in battle works disadvantageously in this situation.

[Sigh, what sin did I commit in my previous life to face such trials…]

[…Cheer up, my Sovereign.]

Tarkhan conveyed casual comfort to me.

Now I can understand Hakan who left first.

Honestly, even if I were him, I would probably feel the same.

To think that the benefactor brought is the legendary magical beast, the reaper of the desert?

I had a separate reason for accepting Nadia’s invitation.

Because I was so happy with her invitation, once a human like myself.

It was because I simply welcomed the goodwill of the first otherworlder to show kindness to me.

…In fact, I was mentally exhausted at the end.

The sights of humans from Earth and the otherworld fighting each other, the filthy malice…

As a monster, I had to intervene and eat them.

It was terrible enough to leave trauma even looking back.

After all, I cannot forget that my roots were human.

Perhaps I was originally a monster, and just dreamed of being human for a while?

There’s no way to describe that murky and filthy feeling.

Therefore, a brief gestalt collapse occurred.

I never wanted to forget that I was originally human.

I wanted to clearly realize that I was human.

My goal is to return to being human again.

That’s why I was glad for Nadia’s invitation.

But when I actually came to the village.

She first ran to report to the village chief, and gathered all the villagers like we were zoo monkeys.

But due to our size, entry into the village could not be achieved.

If this isn’t a dilemma, what is…

“…It seems your size is the problem.”

Nadia, with a regretful expression, waved her hand at the villagers gathered around the entrance.

“Disperse, disperse…”

“What…? Is it already over?”

“Hmm, it will be safe…? Maybe?”

The Akran residents began to scatter.

They varied only in appearance as men, women, old and young, but in essence, they were all killers.

Befitting assassins who live by killing people.

They are all super-ace mind controllers.

Nadia’s lowered eyelids trembled finely.

“…I’m sorry to disappoint you. I didn’t expect this. Food for the feast, dance and song for the atmosphere. I’m not even sure if they would suit the White Sovereign and warriors.”

[…It’s fine. It can’t be helped.]

I used a solemn and weighty tone.

Because I wanted to give the impression of an ancient spiritual being.

I refused to be seen as ordinary, like humans, and thus taken lightly.

“…Would you like to look around our village from here for now?”

[That would be better. Our worms can sufficiently detect various senses from a distance.]

“That’s good then. Please look around slowly, and ask questions if you don’t understand something. I’ll answer.”

Nadia stood politely by my side.

Her subordinate assassins had already left.

Her loyal followers were also confused by the current situation.

I slowly examined the village.

[Akran village…]

The second human village I’m witnessing.

It was the home of the assassin tribe known as a legend in the Arubian West Continent.

At the four entrances to the village, open in the four directions, banners depicting black scorpions were erected.

It’s impressive to see symbolic hourglasses, completely filled and unable to flow, tied to the banner poles with ropes.

It’s a sign of worshiping Karayan, the god who presides over sand and represents the desert.

It was a moderate size with about 100 households and 500 people.

Unlike Rabat village, there is no oasis nearby.

It’s just literally built alone in a desolate desert.

It’s not like oases are that common in the desert, and it seemed to boast about persevering even in harsh environments.

Though it’s called a village, it’s impressive that beyond a simple fence, a 6-meter high hardened soil rampart has been erected.

It’s like fortress-level defense with guards sparsely positioned between sturdy gates and on the ramparts.

But considering what kind of environment this is, it’s extremely natural.

It’s to prepare for dangers like magical beasts, magical creatures, or bands of thieves.

First, there’s a need to understand the ecology of the Shahar Great Desert.

Shahar becomes a barren environment toward the center, and a more stable environment forms as you go outward.

This is because powerful magical beasts appear more as you go toward the center.

That’s why the residences of humans and heterogeneous races in this continent’s civilization naturally form a structure surrounding the outskirts of the great desert.

It’s to get as far away as possible from the non-human magical realms of the great desert.

But there is a different true blessing for residents.

The ecology is such that magical creatures and magical beasts are drawn to gather toward the center by the vast natural mana emitted by the great desert.

There is intense primal source mana as you go toward the center, weak beings are first drawn to it, and strong beings gather to prey on the weak ones, naturally creating a food chain.

It was a slight natural grace, like stars falling, for souls living in this harsh environment.

The ecosystem of the Shahar Great Desert continuously circulates, and intoxicated by the vast life energy it self-emits, monsters naturally don’t come much to the outskirts of the desert.

Like drug addicts gathering at clubs, or bees being lured to flowers with sweet fragrance.

It’s a principle that never changes unless some artificial phenomenon is created.

Magical beasts like me that inhabit the desert center rarely come this far.

At most, there would only be small and weak wandering magical creatures, or bandit groups of the same humans or heterogeneous races.

And considering what kind of group lives here, it’s obvious what fate they would meet.

Therefore, the village of the Black Scorpion Assassination Corps Samara tribe is roughly safe with just such defenses.

“…Since you can’t enter the village, you must be bored.”

[It can’t be helped.]

“Would you like me to sing for you?”

[…No thanks.]

I rejected Nadia’s unexpected offer.

Instead, at this point, primitive curiosity slightly arises.

How do assassins spend their time in normal days?

My massive body of 50 meters far exceeded the village’s ramparts, so there was no problem at all in voyeuristically observing internal affairs.

[Instead, I’ll ask questions if there are things I don’t know about this world.]

“Ah, questions? By all means.”

Nadia readily agreed to my suggestion.

I activated the senses throughout my body.

…As I focused my attention that way.

“…Raise your posture higher! Above all, aim for vital points first!”

“Visualize sand! The storm whirling inside!”

“Air assassination from high ground is…”

Eventually, all kinds of noisy sounds came through.

All the activities in the village were caught by my full-body pore hearing.

The advantage of developed hearing is demonstrated here.

I listened closely to the nearest activity.

“…First, we need to define the concept of assassination. Secretly conducted killing, is assassination truly a vile act? The answer to the question can definitely be absolutely not.”

The first scene that caught my eye was a group fully engaged in a lesson.

The explanation of an experienced instructor resonated among boys and girls.

“We are not cowardly weaklings hiding from light. We are judges who spread justice that couldn’t bloom from the curtain of darkness. The effect of fear that any ruler, regardless of high or low status, can be assassinated if they don’t govern properly is truly intense.”

The old instructor was filled with intense will and conviction.

It was clearly based on experience and observation.

“Rather than a thousand words from a weak politician, the determined action of an assassin can completely overturn the history of the entire world. Remember. Assassination is the most powerful and great undertaking that can shake the world’s conventions and trends while requiring the least cost-effectiveness.”

The aged instructor’s voice resonated powerfully.

Passion burned in the eyes of the boys and girls listening to the instructor’s explanation.

“In the end, everyone dies. There’s no need to fear death. When understood and familiarized, there’s no friend more familiar and cozy than death. Because we are closer to death than anyone else and are reapers who deliver death, we must always try to understand death. Minimize unnecessary deaths, and maximize the effect of minimal deaths. That is the creed of the assassination corps. An assassin must abide by the precepts.”

I turned my gaze nearby.

“Sand has 48 different flows and up to 24 different smells! Read the desert! Understand the battlefield! That will be the key to dividing the tide of life and death!”

Passss-

“Ha!”

“Hup!”

Boys and girls formed hand seals.

Their forms scatter into sand, repeatedly combining and dispersing.

Children turned into sand appeared and disappeared repeatedly everywhere.

…Why am I reminded of the legendary Japanese ninja manga that I dare not mention?

It’s clearly the one I watched in the village of leaves.

Well, assassins and ninjas are similar to each other.

Tak! Tatak-!

Another place further away.

“Faster! Like a viper burying its venomous fangs in the prey’s vital point!”

“An assassin doesn’t need bear-like movements! Be a wolf!”

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!”

Several male and female instructors shouted loudly.

A modest training ground had been set up, and adult men and women were busy turning their forms into sand and striking dummies.

Unlike the serious atmosphere of the theory class, it was full of boisterous shouts and cheers.

Group training is also conducted.

Taking charge of offense and defense with assigned roles, they beat with various wooden assassination weapons.

Unlike children training to activate arcane arts, they definitely proceed with combat incorporating arcane arts.

It is observed that men, women, old, and young all handle magic power very naturally.

I continued to look around at various aspects of the village as they were quite fascinating.

Next to the weapon technique class, a similar class was in progress.

“An assassin’s entire body is a weapon! You must be able to kill without weapons!”

“Use eye stabbing, ball kicking, biting, dirt throwing! If you can use dog shit, use it too!”

“There are healing mages, so you can get hurt as much as you want as long as you don’t die! In real situations, such things don’t matter!”

Puk! Tatak-!

Body techniques involving jumping or digging in with bare body, boxing techniques of hitting and exchanging with bare fists and feet are taught.

Despite not using weapons, there was blood everywhere, reminiscent of real combat.

Several who had already fainted were being recovered by healing mages.

I continued to look around as various sights were fascinating.

The last thing that caught my attention was a group of elderly people.

Chang! Kakang-!

“Hoho! You’ve definitely gotten slower compared to a year ago! Old woman!”

“Ah! If I were just 10 years younger! Old man would just be boneless meat!”

White-haired elderly people were conducting combat training using bizarre tool techniques.

An elderly woman slices a flashy high kick.

Chikeong!

An assassination blade inevitably springs out from under her shoe sole and aims.

Kang!

The opposing elderly man greatly bends his waist, rotates, and counters with an assassination blade emitted from under his wrist.

A blade also springs out from the base of the staff swung as a follow-up attack.

Kakakang-!

The elderly woman blocked it by interlocking her wrists, scattering sparks with double blades.

The elderly people swing assassination blades while throwing their hands and feet.

Other extraordinary assassination weapon techniques were being demonstrated.

[Assassination blade from under the wrist, assassination blade from the shoe sole, assassination needle shot by blowing through a tube disguised as a staff, assassination bow shot like a miniature crossbow from inside a thick book opened wide while pretending to read… It’s truly dizzying.]

“Ah, are you watching the elderly class’s training? That’s right. Assassins perceive all tools as weapons and weaponize them! Because it’s useful!”

Even elderly people in wheelchairs on their deathbeds can kill a person.

As long as they are within range.

An old assassin is still an assassin.

It was a terrifying counter-evidence to the fact.

[White Sovereign! I have brought more Death Worms and Sand Worms here!]

[…Good work. And to you newly arrived ones, would you like to join us?]

While I was touring the village, the worms also rested in the cool underground.

They buried their elongated bodies in concentric circles, surrounding the village’s perimeter.

They somewhat learn to understand humans based on auditory information heard from nearby.

The worms aren’t just playing around.

Only half wait around the village.

The other half scatter vastly around to conduct area exploration.

Because understanding the terrain and securing information about vegetation and ecosystems are essential, just as workers in strategic simulation games must lift the fog of war.

Through the echo-positioning principle that occurs as worms dig the ground in all directions, they search for the remaining wild Death Worms and Sand Worms.

The purpose is, of course, to tame them.

Very regrettably, only I can carry out taming.

Like a pseudo-religion luring followers with a sweet voice, I release friendly pheromones to bring worms to me.

Then I grant intelligence, reason, and power through the principle of subjugation order by voice.

The group that had 105 members had already grown to 132.

Until it becomes 1,000, and up to 10,000.

Let’s keep going at this pace.

[Truly interesting. A village entirely of assassins…]

Seeing the village with a strange vitality, even my uneasy feeling improved considerably.

Nadia smiled faintly, folded her arms, and said.

“Fufu, when foreigners come, they’re quite surprised. Originally, we control the entry of unauthorized external personnel for this reason. The training conducted inside is a secret of the tribe.”

Clearly, the sand tribe Rashka is a tribe of combat.

So everyone in the village is either a former assassin, or a current assassin, or a budding assassin dreaming of becoming a future assassin.

There was something fierce yet indescribably pleasant about it.

It was when I was absorbed in touring the assassin village.

“Hmm, hmhmm… Huh?”

A girl who appeared to be about 12 years old, coming out through the south front entrance of the village, froze.

She had spotted me standing like a building overlooking the village.

She was hugging a pottery water jar filled with water in her arms.

“Hello, Mersha?”

Nadia greeted cheerfully, but there was no answer.

Of course she would freeze seeing me standing like a guardian statue…

Even for the assassin tribe skilled in poker faces, a kid is still a kid.

“Na, nana…”

An awkwardly hummed tune.

The girl who was side-eyeing began to walk again.

It’s not like I’m deliberately trying to scare her.

Really, I’m having a hard time after reincarnating as a monster body…

“Ah?”

Suddenly, the girl hugging the jar staggered.

It was because the south entrance of the village was a gravel field with scattered stones.

She couldn’t see ahead because she was staring intently at me with side glances.

“Kyaak!”

The girl fell straight forward with a scream.

She also lost grip of the pottery water jar.

Pachang! Shwaaa-

The water jar that hit the gravel field broke, and the water inside flowed out, wetting the sand.

“Ah? Aaa…!”

The fallen girl looked at it vacantly, as if in shock.

Slowly raising her small body, she pitifully kneels down.

“Ah! Oh my!”

Nadia, who was waiting by my side with folded arms, burst into exclamation.

Moisture explosively fills the girl’s eyes.

Tears bursting out was instantaneous.

“Hu, aang-! Hukhukhukhukhuk!”

The girl who brought both hands to her eyes tilted her head back and cried sorrowfully.

It was crying comparable to losing a country.

“Water! I wasted water that’s as precious as life! What do I do~!”

…Is this situation my responsibility?

Since the girl fell after staring intently at me.

But while the broken water jar is a pity, something doesn’t make sense.

[…Is this something to cry about? Just because of water?]

“Because she wasted water that’s as precious as life like that. It’s a pity.”

[Is water that precious?]

Nadia clicked her tongue with a deplorable expression at my question.

“…Yes, water is really precious in the Shahar Great Desert. As you can see, our Akran village, unlike Rabat, emphasizes toughness and survival, so there’s no oasis nearby. The village’s drinking water depends entirely on external supply.”

[Can people live properly as people with insufficient water?]

“Instead, we supplement the lack of moisture with animals hunted by the hunting group, or various natural fruits or plants. It’s just that we pursue more harshness, but the rest of the residential areas aren’t particularly different.”

[I don’t quite understand.]

“Because survival and fighting spirit bloom in harsh environments. In the Shahar Great Desert, clean water for drinking is used as currency. …I heard that in the central continent of Allos, the land of white-skinned humans, greenery spreads everywhere with forests, clean rivers, and clear lakes… I want to visit.”

The girl slowly picked up the broken pottery pieces.

Then sobbing, she tilted her head and began to drink the water inside, licking with her tongue.

“Hmm…! Huhuk…! Life water…! Precious, wateer…!”

…Is there a need to go that far?

Nadia added a refrain as if sighing.

“In the end, it’s an environmental issue. If there were only a hydrokinetist, which is too rare in the western continent…”

…S-class hydrokinetist is the second trait I acquired?