Ch.10Chapter 10. Tribe (2)

Chapter 10. Tribe (2)

A concept that wasn’t excessively disgusting like “MeleeSpy” or “ITrustedTheMonkeyUncle.”

It seems like a friend has come to blow away my boredom—

“…Lord Malak, did something urgent come up? You don’t seem to be listening to me.”

Oh, that startled me.

Paya is watching me carefully. She was excitedly talking, but stopped when she noticed my lack of reaction.

– Of course I’m listening. Continue telling me about my specialness.

“I already finished that story…”

She finished? Really? I thought she’d be talking about that all day, but apparently not.

– I see. Let’s stop gathering information here.

This time, I’ll just brazenly move past it.

I shouldn’t use the “not fully recovered due to forced descent” template too often.

The moment I say “My memory hasn’t returned yet. so my concentration is weak I seem to have forgotten everything you said !” her faith in me would hit rock bottom.

She’d definitely think, “Is our Loa a forgetful dementia patient?!”

“Um, actually, I have something I need to ask you, Lord Malak.”

Paya, who had been looking at me with a slightly sulky expression, returned to her expressionless face. She’s still young, so she can’t hide her emotions well.

…I think Paya is in her mid to late teens. I feel a bit guilty for being harsh to a child.

– Speak.

“When should we begin tribal unification?”

– Tribal unification, you say.

Tribal unification. I’ve heard the same thing once from Kanto.

It means uniting various barbarian tribes living in mountains, seas, and plains to create a massive force.

“If you just give me instructions, all tribes will gather under your name, Lord Malak.”

This is quite a significant matter. Tribal unification is a double-edged sword.

While having a larger force would help earn more points, it could also attract the attention of demons.

I indirectly learned about the downfall of George’s conquest party through the community. If we become too noisy in the process of gathering barbarians, I might suffer the same fate.

The dragon-shaped totem that’s replacing my body would definitely be destroyed, and the Blue Moss tribe serving me would suffer devastating damage.

Of course, even if the totem is destroyed, there’s no guarantee I’d die. According to Paya’s explanation earlier, Loas are fundamentally immortal beings that cannot be killed.

She said the totem is basically a medium connecting the Loa to the earthly realm, not the Loa’s actual body.

I don’t necessarily believe everything Paya says, but still, it would be pathetic if a divine being died just because a piece of wood was destroyed. I’ve decided to believe in my immortality for now.

– Hmm.

Should I grow stronger slowly but steadily, or push a bit harder to grow stronger quickly… Normally, I would choose the stable method.

The problem is that if I play it safe, I can only earn points through Kanto and the warriors.

The infected creatures living around the mountains aren’t like monsters in games that respawn. They’re more like zombified animals.

Their numbers are limited, and after a week of continuous hunting, they’re probably running out.

To earn more points, we need to go to villages and hunt lesser demons. Can Kanto and the warriors continuously hunt lesser demons?

My strongest asset, Kanto, is not a paladin.

Since there are no concepts of “levels” or “skills,” it’s impossible to rapidly grow stronger by accumulating experience points and learning skills from killing infected creatures or demons.

Whether it’s a racial trait or just human strength, he has excellent physical abilities compared to ordinary humans, but that’s it.

He can’t single-handedly take down sixty cultists and a lesser demon like George did at level 5. I actually asked him about it once.

‘Lesser demon? I don’t know if it was lesser, but I’ve killed a demon that looked like a giant worm. We lost three of the tribe’s best warriors for it. I was also severely injured.’

One lesser demon cost the lives of three warriors and left Kanto covered in blood. Sustained hunting is obviously impossible.

In the end, it means JogiMitKan (George above Kanto).

This is frustrating.

If I unify the tribes, it will draw aggro, but staying with just the Blue Moss tribe limits how strong we can become.

An extreme binary choice.

I decided to find a compromise.

– Can the Blue Moss tribe communicate with all other tribes?

“Yes. All tribes are connected under the protection of the Loas.”

– How will you announce the tribal unification?

“We communicate with all tribes once a year using carrier birds. We’ll announce the tribal unification through them as well.”

– Carrier birds, you say.

I’ve seen in movies where they attach letters to pigeons’ legs and release them into the sky.

That must be what they call birds used for communication.

“We use spiritual creatures that have grown by eating various medicinal herbs as carrier birds, not ordinary pigeons. Would you like to see one?”

– Let’s do that.

A moment later, Paya brought a giant pigeon. It was almost as big as an eagle.

“His name is Toughie.”

He certainly looked tough. Excessively tough.

Kwak kwak-!

Even its cry sounds almost like a bird of prey.

“He’s also trained to quietly deal with those strange eyes… what you call the demon’s sight, Lord Malak. The demon’s sight are not born from nature, but life forms created by demons through foul magic. They’re imperfect beings, slow and sluggish. They’re no match for Toughie.”

Good. Toughie passes the test.

I was worried they might send people walking all the way to other tribes, but fortunately they’re not that primitive.

– How many tribes were you in contact with until last year?

The world in this game is experiencing a demon apocalypse, so the number of tribes must have decreased from before.

“We exchanged letters with thirteen tribes.”

Even the number is ominously 13.

Well, it doesn’t matter.

– Which tribe has the strongest warrior?

This is my compromise. Instead of unifying all tribes scattered across the world, I’ll only bring in those who can help now and develop them.

If we bring in too many and get discovered by a powerful demon, we’ll be destroyed immediately.

I don’t know how much stronger the strongest warrior would be compared to Kanto, but I think having two Kantos would make handling lesser demons easier.

“The Brown Rock tribe. The new chief of the Brown Rock tribe is the strongest… She’s not an ordinary human.”

– Not an ordinary human?

Paya carefully opened her mouth in a lowered voice. I don’t understand why she’s being so cautious when it’s just the two of us.

“According to rumors, she’s a half-blood between a Loa and a human.”

Wait, is that possible? Are there Loas who came in their original form rather than through totems like me?

Judging by how she calls it a rumor, it seems Paya herself isn’t certain yet.

– I’d like to hear more details.

“I haven’t seen her myself, I’ve only heard rumors. The Brown Rock chief’s mother became pregnant without a husband, and she claimed she had relations with a Loa in her dreams.”

This isn’t even virgin birth… Wasn’t she just having a secret relationship with a boyfriend and lied to avoid getting caught?

“Born that way, she wiped out a wolf pack at age 7 and killed a bear at age 9, I heard.”

Sure, and I bet she can teleport too. What is this, some kind of divine bloodline?

“Also, she’s young and strong, but extremely arrogant. She treats even people from her own tribe coldly and dislikes children.”

Paya said with a grin like a child gossiping about a friend she doesn’t like. Seeing her like this, she’s just an ordinary girl who enjoys rumors.

“My brother said she’s a very scary person.”

Suddenly she gasped and covered her mouth.

“N-not my brother, the chief. The chief said so. The Blue Moss tribe’s chief Kanto has met her before.”

– I see.

So she’s at an age where calling him “brother” would be embarrassing.

“…He says she really is strong. He fought her directly and felt like he couldn’t win.”

Good. So she’s stronger than Kanto. Maybe not George-level, but being stronger than Kanto is enough.

Let’s call her JogiMitKanWi.

…It feels a bit wrong to say this without having seen Kanto fight, but I’m just making a cold assessment.

– How large is the Brown Rock tribe?

If I just ask the chief to come alone, she probably won’t. That would mean abandoning the rest of her people.

We need to bring the entire tribe.

“They’re smaller than our tribe. According to last year’s letters, they had about forty people.”

Forty. Not a small number, but we should be fine if we act discreetly.

Somehow I made this decision without Kanto, the chief.

While Kanto may be a guy who memorizes scripts written by his teenage sister, he’s also a reliable pillar supporting this tribe.

It wouldn’t be bad to give him a heads-up before sending the message.

– When Kanto returns, relay our conversation to him and then send the carrier bird to the Brown Rock tribe.

“Understood.”

Paya, having regained her composure, left the altar.

One issue resolved.

I’m starting to see a guideline for how to proceed.

If I continue acting like this, I’ll eventually meet other paladins.

I might even meet those who were excitedly chatting in the community.

What should I do then?

Suddenly, a famous movie quote comes to mind.

I’m on the side of justice, but it seems justice isn’t on my side… or something like that.

I think I need to cooperate with the paladins because we have demons as a common enemy, but I don’t know how they’ll view me and the barbarians.

– …

I’m getting unnecessarily troubled.

What was the title of the movie with that quote?

Maybe I should write something…?

[UltraSansMadWithMoonlightMassacreMode: Found the movie

With the quote “I’m on the side of justice, but it seems justice isn’t on my side”]

Comments came very quickly.

[NotACatfish: Hentai Kamen]

What a crazy movie.