Chapter 24

“I’m unqualified as a shaman. Rather than living while causing such trouble, it would be better to lay down the grace Wendigo-nim bestowed and become a wild person…”

“Calm down. It’s not like a big problem has occurred yet. It’s just that the soil has turned a bit black.”

When Skadi muttered with a soul-drained look, the wendigo tried to cheer her up, flustered.

He hadn’t called her to scold her in the first place. He just called her to analyze the cause because it was interesting…

Above all, the wendigo felt no harm from the soil.

“Come on, suppress your confusion and focus on the soil. Do you sense any negative energy from it?”

Skadi carefully raised her head to check the soil. The soil had lost its previous fine brown color and turned black, but it was hard to see it as contamination.

Rather, the strangely permeating vitality was even soft.

Skadi carefully picked up some soil, fiddled with it, and smelled it.

Not the stickiness characteristic of pollutants or a vomit-like smell, but appropriate moisture and a faint grass scent.

Skadi rummaged through her knowledge and identified the soil’s identity.

“This seems to be… black soil.”

“Black soil?”

Skadi nodded carefully. Apparently, her confidence had dropped due to the unexpected occurrence.

Regardless of Skadi’s reaction, the wendigo was surprised at the mention of black soil. Black soil wasn’t something that appeared in fantasy. Such soil existed on Earth too.

Representative regions included the black soil belt of Eastern Europe, including Russia and Ukraine.

‘It sounds like cursed land just from the name, but if you look into it closely, it’s quite the opposite.’

The black soil belt, to put it more plainly, was fertile land.

Thanks to being composed of humus full of nutrients, it was perfect soil for plants to grow.

But…. Why on earth does such soil appear where the heart was planted, no, buried?

“Such soil wouldn’t appear without any reason. Do you have any guesses why?”

“Just a moment. Let me think…”

Skadi straightened her posture and fell into thought. This time too, a shaman’s honor was at stake.

‘I must get it right, in the name of my mother!’

Although it’s unclear what sin her departed mother had committed, anyway, Skadi racked her brains until they cramped.

And she deduced one appropriate possibility. She began explaining while drawing on the floor.

She drew a large heart and wrote “300 years” next to it.

“The heart Wendigo-nim brought isn’t an ordinary heart. Honestly… I find it hard to believe that a magical beast that lived for 300 years exists.”

“Is that such a difficult thing? I thought magical beasts transcended lifespan too.”

“Well… unlike spirits, magical beasts are often hunted. Probably because there’s a lot to gain.”

“……”

The wendigo was dumbfounded, but he could understand to some extent.

Even in modern times, weren’t there quite a few animals that went extinct or nearly so because they were said to be delicious or good for health?

Since the effects of magical beasts could be felt on the skin, it wouldn’t be strange for humans to risk their lives to hunt them.

It’s like a chance to become a hero if you catch just one!

For some people, it’s no different from a chance to change their life 180 degrees.

“Compared to elusive and useless-when-caught spirits, I guess it would make one’s mouth water. I understand that long-lived magical beasts are rare. But what does that have to do with this?”

“My mother said that byproducts of magical creatures that lived over a hundred years could create unparalleled treasures in the world.”

She drew the treasures she knew next to the heart.

A hammer that calls down lightning, a belt imbued with a giant’s strength, a dagger that turns opponents into a handful of blood…

The extraordinary treasures of heroes in old tales were sometimes divine instruments bestowed by gods, but often they were treasures made from magical beasts caught by heroes.

She wrote numbers next to the treasures.

From as little as fifty years to as much as a hundred years.

However, the time of three hundred years was allowed only to Gikas’s heart.

“This is the level of magical beasts my mother estimated. She thought at least this much was needed to create such items. But the heart Wendigo-nim brought is three hundred years old.”

“Are you saying it’s like burying about three treasures?”

Skadi shook her head. Is she saying it’s not that great?

“It’s worse than that. It might be different if it were three different treasures. This is one. Moreover, it’s the heart containing the strongest power.”

“……”

Skadi had learned that hunting a fifty-year-old magical beast was enough to create a treasure.

But the magical beast the wendigo caught was one that lived for three hundred years. The depth of mystery in Gikas’s heart was incomparable to other treasures.

Naturally, there was rarely a reason to bury such an item in the ground. If it were humans, they would have made a fuss to use it right away, even if it was a bit creepy.

‘No. I thought others were like that too since it just hid for three hundred years… It was more impressive than I thought.’

Seeing it this way, Gikas’s pride seemed natural.

While others all died young before reaching a hundred years, it lived for three hundred years. It would be strange if it didn’t have pride.

… It truly couldn’t help but be a pitiful worm, no, parasite.

Skadi, who had expressed the mystery rising from the ground gathering around the heart, continued her explanation.

“The method I learned from my mother was to make the flowing mystery of nature wash away the essence, but this heart is different in its depth. It’s not washing away, but completely colliding.”

“Then shouldn’t the land rot? Its mystery isn’t the kind that coexists with nature.”

“That’s a bit different. Even if it doesn’t coexist with nature, its root still starts from nature.”

Even the deadliest poison that kills elephants, epidemics that kill thousands of lives, pests that spread plagues, even herbicides made by humans.

In the end, their essence always starts from nature. It’s just that their properties are troublesome.

Before the greatness of nature, even Gikas’s mystery was just particularly troublesome.

“In the end, the mystery held by this heart will crumble before the power of nature… and this soil is the byproduct, that’s what I think.”

“I see.”

Regardless of whether her inference was right or wrong, the wendigo just went along with it.

After all, he had somehow become a monster similar to a spirit, not a being closely related to shamanism.

For such complex matters, it was right to follow the judgment of someone with deep understanding, experience, and knowledge.

If an outsider makes a judgment unnecessarily, it leads to problems without achieving anything.

Above all…

‘Given that it resembles the worm monster from that movie, it’s not strange that it makes the land fertile.’

Honestly, regardless of Gikas’s origin, perhaps because its appearance was so worm-like, it didn’t feel out of place that the land became fertile thanks to its heart.

If problems arose later, he could deal with the heart then.

The wendigo encouraged Skadi, who was looking up at him anxiously.

“As expected, Skadi is the only shaman I can trust. I hope you continue to help me in my inadequacies in the future.”

“If I can be of even slight help, I’d be delighted!”

She regained her confidence and answered brightly.

In conclusion, although it’s unknown what will happen to the heart, isn’t it a good thing that Skadi is happy and the wendigo is satisfied?

Sometimes, it’s good to just go with the flow.

---

Time continued to flow even as the heart spewed out something that might be poison or nutrients.

Leaves fell, trees became bald, and animals began their winter preparations in their own ways.

Of course, people also started preparing to endure the winter.

Preparing food, replenishing firewood, repairing houses to prevent cold winds from entering…

Thankfully, this winter was less cold thanks to the totem Skadi had set up, otherwise they might have had to prepare for death.

‘The village benefits a lot from Skadi.’

“Kueeeeek!?”

The wendigo thought as he returned to the village after hunting an elk with a spear (this time there was no screaming sound).

Honestly, in matters related to the village, Skadi’s efforts shone more than the wendigo’s. After all, unlike the wendigo, Skadi was human.

It’s difficult for a modern human to form a rapport with medieval humans to begin with.

Unlike such a wendigo, Skadi understood people’s hardships so well, and she helped people as much as she could within her abilities.

‘That’s why people gather to listen whenever she gives a speech like that.’

The wendigo returned to the village and watched Skadi speaking to people in the square.

With a bright smile, moving her staff this way and that, drawing responses from people, she looked like a decent politician…

‘But not to that extent.’

The wendigo shook his head and shook off the thought. What would Skadi lack to draw people’s support?

She had already completely captivated people with both her ability and personality.

This was truly something she did because she liked it.

“When Wendigo-nim extracted the mystery of the evil earth dragon, it lost its power and breathed its last. However, even though it died, its mystery still remained!”

‘She’s really excited.’

The wendigo smiled seeing Skadi telling the story with a flushed face.

But what’s this talk about an earth dragon? He had never caught such a thing.

The wendigo slowly approached Skadi. Not sensing his presence, Skadi continued her story in high spirits.

“When we planted the mystery he extracted in the ground, the mystery that it had wielded greedily followed its original course and made the land fertile! This black soil is the evidence!”

‘In an instant, the parasite became an earth dragon.’

The wendigo was dumbfounded. Not only had Gikas the parasite become an earth dragon, but its mystery had nothing to do with the land at all…

Somehow Gikas had become a great evil dragon that had stolen this land’s mystery.

Not only Skadi’s exaggerated story, but the warriors were also problematic. Drunk on honor, they boasted with shrugging shoulders.

“Ha, it was really amazing. The minions of the evil earth dragon charged at us with terrible screams, but we who serve Spirit-nim raised our swords without a shred of fear!”

“When Spirit-nim threw a huge ice spear, screams erupted as if the world was collapsing!”

‘These guys, have they forgotten that what they faced were parasites?’

Even the warriors, who could have refuted without it being strange, started to believe ‘Ah, what we faced wasn’t parasites but an earth dragon!’, and so Skadi’s exaggerated story soon became the truth.

Someone among the people talking spotted the wendigo and pointed at him. The wendigo trudged towards them.

“Spirit-nim! Is it true that what you defeated was an earth dragon?”

“Can we live on fertile land from now on?”

‘If I say no, they’ll be terribly disappointed.’

When people looked at him with sparkling eyes, the wendigo looked at Skadi. Skadi was looking at him with even more intensely shining eyes than the people.

If another spirit saw this scene, they would have praised, “Not bad for a human!”

A mere inadequate shaman cannot make people truly worship a spirit. People’s distrust towards spirits was as hard as steel.

But look at these people.

Aren’t they all looking as if a fairy or mountain god from old tales had directly revealed themselves?

The wendigo felt something beyond respect from them.

In the past, he would have recoiled and waved his hands at the emotions they were sending. It was natural since he had never received such treatment.

But now?

“Yes. After a fierce battle with it, I tore out its heart. And as I returned its mystery to nature, this land will soon become fertile soil.”

“Ooooooh!!!”

The wendigo threw the elk far away and solemnly acknowledged the fact. He received the admiration bursting from around without wavering.

The current wendigo felt no aversion to receiving worship. Living long enough had made him thick-skinned.

Still, it was thick-skinned with its own reasons.

‘If I can’t live quietly anyway, I should become the best.’

Spirits, shamans, and then magical beasts. Things unimaginable on Earth kept appearing.

It was a world where it wouldn’t be strange for any outlandish things to bare their teeth in the future.

There was only one way to survive in such a world.

Become so strong that others can’t touch you!

He was already strong enough, but it was foolish to be content with current strength. Shouldn’t one grab opportunities when they present themselves?

So whether it was lies or embellishments, there was no shame in receiving people’s worship…

“O Spirit, please look upon us!”

“Look upon us!!!”

‘… It’s still a bit embarrassing.’

Perhaps because some conscience still remained.

The wendigo tried hard to overcome the embarrassment.