Chapter 44: Starting Today I’m The Evil Villainess Who Rules This Town! (6)

“What an interesting method you’ve used.”

The sage of the Lakota tribe, Sitting Hoof, laughs heartily.

A glimmer of vitality returns to the old man’s face as he hears Lin’s choice from Stands With Front Paws Up, who visited the tribe.

“Great Chief.”

“Yes, Sage.”

“I wish to meet her once more.”

Originally, it would have been his turn to visit, but his aged body was not in good enough health to make the journey.

Stands With Front Paws Up assures him that the other party would surely understand such circumstances, so he need not worry too much.

“I have business to attend to in the village where Young Lady Lin is staying soon, so I will convey the Sage’s words then.”

“Thank you.”

Stands With Front Paws Up departs with a respectful bow.

From outside the tent, the voices of Lakota tribe members who work for his railway company can be heard, asking after him.

“Yes, Master.”

Sitting Hoof, who had been quietly eavesdropping on the tribe members’ conversation from inside, calls his beloved disciple.

The old sage, intuiting that his death was approaching.

He held a sincere and deep respect for Stands With Front Paws Up, who sought to unite most of the wilderness tribes, including the Lakota, and walk a path of harmony with humans.

“…That young man was right.”

Though he respected him as a person,

The scars left on him rejected the path of harmony.

In fact, only a few members of the Lakota tribe had followed him.

He had even been jeered at by his own kinsmen, with whom he had lived since childhood, asking if he intended to become a s*ave to the human race.

And at that time, the old man had not stopped such taunts.

He respected the tribe members’ choices, but he didn’t entirely affirm them either.

Because the hatred for the human race, engraved since childhood, did not disappear easily.

Parents died, friends died, many kinsmen died.

“The petty hatred this old man harbored. Cannot block the future of the young tribe members, and the children…”

However, the times were gradually changing.

The old man, who should have learned the most from the passage of time,

Realized that he had been unknowingly passing down his hatred.

The young ones, unlike the old man, had not actually experienced such incidents or sorrow.

Even the everyday squabbles with other tribes, when the opponent was human, they were accustomed to pouring out enormous anger and hatred.

And now, it was even affecting the very young children.

He feared that after he returned to the earth, to the embrace of the spirits.

No one would know the reason, and they would only pour out endless anger and hatred.

If that happened, the tribe would inevitably be doomed.

From grandfather to father,

From father to son, continuously passed down,

All those many small whispers in front of the campfire would vanish like mere smoke.

“When I have returned to their embrace, all shall follow the young Great Chief.”

“Yes. I will also convey that you said so to the current Chief.”

“Furthermore… that girl who visited the other day. That girl, unlike other humans, knows the preciousness of nature and spirits. Therefore, from her next visit onwards, ensure that she is treated with the appropriate courtesy.”

“Yes. I will keep that in mind.”

Sitting Hoof, who acknowledged the girl named Lin Rosegarden as an individual.

However, despite that, he still by no means forgave the human race.

It was natural.

How on earth could one forget all those horrific sights?

It was just that, that deep anger had to be entirely his own.

The past that had already gone by should not have taken the present, and furthermore, the future, as its traveling companion.

***

A few weeks after that,

The chattering of children is bustling beyond the tent.

The girl’s voice I heard a while ago, and the whispers of the three spirits hovering around her.

And the cries of the divine beasts worshipped by the Inrang tribe are clearly audible.

“Master.”

“Yes. That is indeed a delightful sound to hear.”

Sitting Hoof chuckles and puts a long pipe to his lips.

The mana grass ignites, and soon, pale blue smoke is exhaled from between his lips.

Before long, the tent entrance opens.

“Hello.”

Lin greets Sitting Hoof.

He couldn’t help but be quite surprised by Lin’s greeting.

“…You speak our language.”

“It’s still just simple greetings, though.”

Lin smiles brightly.

Lin, thinking that their inability to communicate during the last visit might have contributed to the hostility, had learned simple greetings through Stands With Front Paws Up.

Sitting Hoof lets out a hearty laugh.

Unlike the last time, when he had maintained at least a stiff formality, the old man was now sitting much more comfortably.

“I heard the tale. That you yourself, prepared a very delicious special meal for the earth spirits.”

Sitting Hoof asks his disciple if it wasn’t a truly witty solution.

The disciple had not seen his master laugh so heartily in recent times.

Of course, the disciple, just like his master, thought Lin’s solution was witty,

But even if he hadn’t, he would have nodded his head for the sake of his master, who was pleased for a change.

“Are the seeds growing well?”

“Yes. Thanks to that, the villagers are all happy too.”

Sitting Hoof inquires about the village’s current situation.

After giving various minor pieces of advice, he soon gets to the main point.

“This old man has heard. It seems there is no one who knows how to help the spirits, is there?”

“Adventurers have been visiting more and more lately, so there are many spirit users.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

“…?”

Lin tilts her head.

Spirit users, who contract with spirits to use magic.

That was a path primarily chosen by commoners who, unlike other nobles, were not born with magic.

Since most adventurers were commoners, magicians among adventurers were largely synonymous with spirit users, occupying a significant proportion.

But Sitting Hoof says he’s not talking about spirit user adventurers.

To explain, he laboriously raises his aged body, and his disciple immediately supports him.

“They, are merely using the spirits as tools.”

“Dinavel is not a tool.”

Dinavel immediately refutes the statement that humans use spirits like tools.

She looks at her master, Lin, asking if it’s okay to shoot this old geezer with a little zap.

“Stop it, you idiot.”

Then Kiriel immediately gives Dinavel a noogie.

Cutting it off on her own accord, truly a display of eldest sisterly behavior.

Exia, seeing Dinavel get hit, makes an incredibly pathetic expression.

“By the way, what truly mysterious spirits they are.”

“Well…. These three became spirits through spiritualization.”

“…‘Spiritualization,’ you say.”

Sitting Hoof gazes intently at the Kiriel triplets.

Dinavel tilts her head as if to say, ‘what are you staring at so intently?’

Naturally, she got hit again.

“Master! Sister Kiriel keeps bullying Dinavel!”

“There, there.”

Dinavel, fleeing onto Lin’s shoulder, whines and complains with all sorts of theatrics.

While Lin strokes such a Dinavel,

They arrive at a certain land held sacred by the Lakota tribe.

“This place is….”

“Do you feel it?”

The abundant aura of mana, palpable even without actively sensing it.

Tiny micro-spirits float around as if dancing, tickling Lin’s skin.

At that mysterious sensation, Lin was momentarily reminded of a giant tree in Abel Forest where fairies and spirits lived together.

“Humans, only refer to some giant spirits as spirits.”

Sitting Hoof looks at a spirit perched on his fingertip like dust.

He carefully bends his knees and returns it to the embrace of other spirits.

“In fact, this world is full of such small and diverse spirits, invisible to the eye.”

Humans broadly classify spirits into three categories.

Lower spirits, middle spirits, and upper spirits.

Though there were words to distinguish even higher entities, these three were generally the entirety of the classification method.

“Originally not spirits, only other beings that devoured them and obtained their power are called ‘spirits’.”

The sage reveals that the spirits humans speak of are, in fact,

All beings born through ‘spiritualization.’

That’s right.

The reason why spirits contracted with humans all have appearances close to animals or monsters was precisely for this reason.

“Many beings that achieved spiritualization, and these little ones too, are all the same spirits…”

“…I see.”

Sitting Hoof straightens his body again.

And says.

That with the ‘spirit art’ humans speak of, it would still be difficult to handle these little ones.

“Could you grant this old man one shameless request?”

“…Well. I’ll at least hear it.”

“Allow our tribe members, to work alongside humans in your village.”

Lin, receiving an unexpected request.

Her pupils momentarily dilate, as if she hadn’t anticipated it at all.

“Well, for me, it means an increase in excellent labor, so it doesn’t matter much. But wouldn’t it be better to ask Mr. Stands With Front Paws Up rather than me?”

“Those remaining in the tribe now, are those who have already once refused the Great Chief’s proposal.”

At Sitting Hoof’s confession,

Lin finally realizes the absurd difficulty of the request.

It was obvious what kind of discord would arise if those who refused harmony were brought to a village teeming with humans.

“To a human race that has invaded and plundered this continent, a race you’ve only met twice at most. Are you entrusting the entire fate of your tribe members to them?”

Lin, though she had already made up her mind, grumbled unnecessarily.

However, as Lin said, the sage’s choice was certainly not an ordinary one.

“That’s right. You are the only human I myself have met twice.”

“…….”

“There may be some discord, but. They will by no means neglect the care of the spirits. You can trust this old man’s word on that much at least.”

“Haa….”

Lin lets out a faint sigh.

“Um, did you really interpret the Sage’s words correctly?”

“Yes. That is correct.”

Wondering if she heard correctly, she reconfirms with the interpreting disciple.

It was understandable.

She had to accept an entire indigenous tribe, with whom she barely communicated, as members of her village.

‘If Heine were here, she would have said it was absurd and that I should definitely refuse….’

‘It was a good thing I left her with a pile of documents,’ she thought.

Lin, crossing her arms, pressed her fingers to her brow.

“…Very well. You, the members of the Lakota tribe, I accept all of you as members of my village from this moment forth.”

“Thank you for indulging this old man’s stubbornness. In return, I shall teach you the spirit art passed down through our tribe for generations.”

“That’s… quite a good reward.”

And so.

Lin, who had accepted an even bigger headache into her already chaotic village.

She found it difficult to refuse the request, partly due to the favor of helping with the crops,

And partly because her inherently kind nature made it hard to ignore the indigenous people starving in the wilderness.

“But keep this in mind. In my village, you will have to follow my rules.”

“I understand.”

“Well, as long as you observe basic human courtesy, it’ll be fine.”

Lin departs for the village.

Leaving behind words that it would take some time to prepare housing for the indigenous people first.

Meanwhile, the sage conveyed the decision to his tribe members.

And then, under the campfire, he earnestly advised them for a long time not to be bound by the distant past but to move towards the future.

“Sage….”

“I was certain, that she could be trusted.”

Many tribe members understand the sage’s will.

Simultaneously, they recall the persuasion Stands With Front Paws Up had used when trying to take them.

Some belatedly wiped away tears.

However.

Not all tribe members accepted the sage’s advice.

To suddenly abandon the wilderness they had always lived in and go to a human village.

Wasn’t that effectively stealing their unique spirit art?

However, such impure thoughts did not last long.

“Huh? Aren’t your hands idle right now?”

“A human tribe member who doesn’t even properly know spirit art, what would they know…”

“If it’s spirit art, I’m learning it from the Sage too, you know?”

Time passed spring, and it was now blazing summer.

A demanding period where they had to take care of the spirits while exterminating all sorts of pests and miscellaneous animals trying to devour the rapidly growing crops.

Farming, by its nature, requires going out to the fields all week without weekends, so there was no room for hatred towards the human race or anything else to arise.

Of course, the hatred did grow rapidly due to the harsh labor, but that too was only for a short while.

“I don’t touch anything as long as you do your job properly, you know? I’ll make sure you get a definite rest in winter after the harvest is all done. So everyone, hurry up and work hard like oxen!”

Because….

“U-Um, excuse me. When will the next snack be out…?”

“…What does that mean, human. Didn’t we just have a snack?”

Even the humans they had hated so much,

Were being worked to the same intensity right beside them.