Chapter 44

A week had already passed since Isaac was kidnapped, no, remained in the village.

Wendigo thought that by now, Skadi and Isaac would have become quite friendly.

Skadi was basically kind, and while Isaac tended to be overly flattering, he wasn’t completely lacking in eloquence.

Savoring an apple well-baked and preserved in honey, Wendigo asked Geron.

“Geron. Are Skadi and Isaac getting along well?”

“Actually, I wanted to speak to you about that matter.”

“Hm?”

Wendigo gave Geron a puzzled look. Usually, Geron would have answered that Skadi must be doing well…

Unlike usual, Geron was looking at Wendigo with quite a serious expression.

“Surely you’re not worried that Isaac might do something bad to Skadi? If he had, he would have been beaten to death already?”

“Ahem. Of course, I was worried about that at first.”

Geron cleared his throat, having been hit right on the mark. Wendigo looked at Geron with cold eyes.

Even so, to doubt after he had personally verified.

Geron noticed the meaning in Wendigo’s gaze but skillfully brushed it off. Serving a unique master had naturally thickened his skin.

“Rather, I’m concerned about what the workers in Skadi-nim’s hut have been saying.”

“… Can that place be called a hut? I think it’s closer to a mansion.”

A two-story building with a slaughterhouse, kitchen, tannery and carpentry workshop, a garden for growing herbs, and rooms for guests and workers was by no means a hut, no matter how you looked at it.

Geron couldn’t deny this fact, but he tried to speak on Skadi’s behalf.

“I suppose it’s called a hut because it’s where a shaman lives. Like how a blacksmith’s workplace is called a forge.”

“Hmm, the analogy doesn’t seem quite appropriate… but if Skadi wants to call it that, we should respect it.”

Wendigo didn’t have any particular complaints either. If she thinks it’s a hut, isn’t it a hut?

‘In fantasy novels I read in my past life, there were wizards who insisted on calling hotels magic towers.’

There were also comics where they built luxurious hotels and insisted on calling them magic towers, and novels that called places lurking with monsters, beasts, and ancient beings academies.

Compared to such grand scales, Skadi’s claim was merely childish.

“Oh dear, the conversation has strayed because of me. So, what did the workers say?”

“It’s hard to believe, but… it seems Skadi-nim is bullying that wandering shaman.”

“… That Skadi?”

Wendigo tried to imagine Skadi bullying someone.

The image of Skadi wielding a whip with an expressionless or contemptuous gaze was quite plausible, but recalling her usual self made it strange.

It would be more fitting for her to apply herbs to a weak person who had been whipped and kindly explain precautions.

Skadi, who was basically kind to everyone, couldn’t possibly…

‘Did he really sexually harass her?’

At this point, even Wendigo had to admit something was odd.

“Bring Isaac here. I suppose I need to interrogate him a bit.”

“Yes! I’ll bring him in, thoroughly restrained so he can’t escape.”

“… No. Don’t go that far when we don’t even know if he’s guilty yet.”

---

“You look… very tired.”

“Not at all.”

As soon as Wendigo faced Isaac, he immediately realized it wasn’t Isaac’s fault.

What Wendigo sensed from Isaac wasn’t guilt, but fear and a bit of resignation.

He even looked pitiable, having lost some weight in his cheeks, probably due to considerable mental stress.

“Answer honestly. Is Skadi bullying you?”

“That…”

Isaac couldn’t easily answer Wendigo’s question.

Setting aside the life-threatening first encounter, if asked honestly whether it was hard, it was indeed hard.

It wasn’t easy to dig through even the realm of the unconscious every day to answer her questions.

However… as time passed, Isaac realized something was strange.

“She’s not bullying me. It’s just that Skadi-nim seems to be trying to acquire knowledge and experience as if she’s being chased by something…”

“As if being chased by something…”

Wendigo could tell by the smell that there was no lie in Isaac’s words, but it wasn’t easy to accept what Isaac was saying.

Although Wendigo had only met three shamans so far – Skadi, Ryurik, and Isaac – he knew that Skadi was quite high-level.

Why would someone like her show impatience while learning something from Isaac?

Isaac carefully spoke while watching Wendigo’s reaction.

“Spirit-nim. If it’s alright, could you listen to my conjecture?”

“Speak.”

“It’s just my personal opinion, but… I think Skadi-nim feels burdened for various reasons.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Wendigo asked Isaac back, not having expected such a story. Isaac lowered his posture even more, afraid that Wendigo might get angry.

“At first, I thought she was being especially harsh because of the rudeness I committed… but the more I lived here, the more I felt something was strange.”

“What kind of strangeness are you talking about?”

“While she showed the appearance of the scariest shaman when dealing with me, when dealing with the forest people, she showed the appearance of the most benevolent shaman.”

Isaac analyzed which of the two – the vicious appearance shown to him and the kind appearance shown to the forest people – was her true nature.

And after about three days, he realized that her original personality belonged to the latter.

There was no one who spoke ill of her, and… come to think of it, the herbs she used to treat him were quite precious.

“… Couldn’t it just be because the wound was severe?”

“No. My arms and legs were merely scraped, and though my head was slightly torn, it wasn’t at a very dangerous level.”

Someone else might not know, but a shaman of Skadi’s level would have noticed that the wounds weren’t severe.

If her original personality was that of a vicious, evil shaman, she wouldn’t have used precious herbs on him.

Then why did she use precious herbs to treat him?

Isaac traced his memories and guessed the reason was guilt. Although her eyes were cold when treating him, there was care in her fingertips.

“What could be the reason such a person can’t control her emotions to the point of showing a harsh appearance… It might be an excessive leap, but I think she might be feeling fear due to the appearance of a shaman like me.”

“Fear, you say?”

“It seemed that Skadi-nim was afraid of another shaman appearing, more precisely, a shaman more capable than herself. She is talented, but… isn’t she still young?”

“… If she thinks I agreed to the contract because she had talent, she might think that a more capable shaman might appear and replace her.”

Surely, she must know intellectually that there are no shamans her age more capable than her.

Also, that even among those older than her, few are more excellent shamans than her.

However, humans couldn’t control emotions solely based on objective indicators. Emotions weren’t so convenient as to be easily controlled just because something was fulfilled.

‘If she were more mature… or at least if she had faced the wider world, such anxiety might have been less.’

However, most of her childhood was spent in her mother’s hut, and after becoming an adult, hadn’t she always been with Wendigo?

The fear of possibly being separated from Wendigo might have been quite significant for Skadi.

… No. It must have been significant.

‘… I suppose I need to have a conversation with her.’

Wendigo organized his thoughts and looked at Isaac. Initially, he had brought him to help Skadi learn more, but Isaac was accomplishing more than that.

Wendigo expressed his gratitude with goodwill.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I’m reflecting on whether I might have been indifferent to Skadi.”

“Ah, no. Please just think of it as the delusions of a wandering shaman.”

“Even if it’s a delusion, if I received help, I should express gratitude. I’ll make sure to properly compensate you when you leave the forest later. You can go back now… and would you convey my words to Skadi?”

“What message should I deliver?”

“Hmm… Yes. Tell her I’d like to stroll through the forest together at night, so I hope she can make time. Please.”

“Oh my. There’s no need for ‘please’. I’m just following orders.”

As Isaac showed a humble attitude in bewilderment, Wendigo chuckled and gestured for him to leave.

Isaac retreated with his head bowed. He was certain that his own face must look a mess.

‘Even excluding the fact that he’s a spirit, he’s no ordinary benevolent being. To care so much about a subordinate’s problem…’

Isaac could understand why the forest people worshipped Wendigo.

While the world was full of spirits, nobles, and others who wanted to rule over people, those who tried to care for their subordinates were rare.

Isaac hoped that Skadi would find peace through conversation with Wendigo.

… After all, that would allow him to rest easy.

He no longer wanted to endure the question hell.

---

Late at night.

Skadi walked the night path, sighing. The chilly night air made her heart even more complicated.

‘I need to apologize to Isaac-ssi… but I just can’t find the courage.’

From their first meeting, she felt an inexplicable hostility, and when placed in a situation where she could justify that reason, her actions unconsciously became rough.

Moreover, hadn’t she even threatened him for touching an unwritten rule that an outsider naturally wouldn’t know?

‘… Isaac-ssi was also called by Wendigo-nim. Maybe he told Wendigo-nim about my unsightly behavior. No… he must have.’

Skadi sighed again.

She knew well that her inner self had been a mess recently. How could she not know when behaviors different from her usual self kept popping up?

However, she couldn’t understand why it was happening or how to fix it.

She felt a sense of self-loathing and depression as if struggling in an endless swamp.

Perhaps because of that?

Skadi belatedly realized that she had passed the temple. She was about to sigh again…

“Your sighs have increased a lot. That’s not a very good habit, you know.”

“We-Wendigo-nim?!”

Waiting for Skadi as she turned around was Wendigo.

Skadi was surprised that Wendigo had been following her, and felt embarrassed that he had been watching her.

She had made mistakes before, but… recently, she didn’t want to show her inadequate self to Wendigo of all people.

“Skadi. You remember why I called you, right?”

“Yes. Isaac-ssi said that Wendigo-nim wanted to take me to the forest…!?”

As Skadi showed a hesitant appearance, Wendigo picked her up in one motion and placed her on his shoulder.

Skadi blushed and flustered at Wendigo’s sudden action. Wendigo burst into laughter watching her reaction.

“We-Wendigo-nim. Put me down!”

“Oh my. I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that as you’ll have to go around with me in this state from now on.”

“What!?”

At Wendigo’s tyranny(?), Skadi shrieked in astonishment.

Wendigo, satisfied with her reaction, headed towards the forest with her.

Their destination was the forest mansion where the two used to stay in the past.