episode_0050

After everyone left, the only people left in the conference room were Elysia, the deer-headed Ramrat, me, and Juul.

“Humans sleep at night, so if I went now, I would only be suspicious, right?”

“Yes.”

Jules seemed to be already overflowing with motivation.

“Jyuyul, why are you taking that slave with you from the beginning?”

There are still people who blame me.

Jules and Elysia seemed to have a personal relationship.

“Why?”

“Didn’t you hear what your slave said earlier?”

“He’s not even an adult. Don’t dwell on mistakes in your words.”

The adult is like a dog, and the egg is one year older than Jule.

I’m at an age where I shouldn’t make mistakes like this. Elysia suddenly came up to me and looked at my face.

As a siren with new eyes, I think he couldn’t see my face clearly because I was in a closed room with only candles lit.

It was the same for me too.

Elysia was a beautiful woman. The blond white wings literally remind one of an angel.

“Should we finish talking about what we were talking about earlier?”

“I thought wrong. I knew how much horses behave like pigs, but I didn’t take that into consideration.”

“It’s a personal matter. You just have to be careful about that from next time.”

Jules reached out his hand, picked me up, sat me down on the table, stretched out his arm, and pulled up a map that was a bit far away.

“So what should we do now?”

He pointed towards Horus.

“The road to Horus must also be blocked.”

“Why?”

“The southern part is blocked by the Great Wall and currency circulation is blocked, so there is no large amount of money in human villages. The value of money has fallen, and there is no object worth talking about.”

Instead of having human slaves, you have human squires.

Elysia clicked her tongue and shook her head.

“There is no confirmation that thieves’ items can be purchased at the Great Wall. First of all, they slash the prices of local products. In that case, they have to go to Horus to dispose of the goods, but the moment they set foot in Horus, they won’t be able to catch them.”

“What are the other possibilities?”

This is still a prediction.

What I came up with is a hypothesis mixed together with the stories I picked up. But the ominous premonition that it fits doesn’t go away.

“There is a smuggling route through which Deberg imports iron. I don’t know where, but if you can import it, you can also export it.”

“Is there a possibility of selling paper and horses to Drekkar?”

“Yes.”

“Anything else?”

Aren’t you surprised?

no. You had already assumed it. The place where Deverg uses the iron he brought in is none other than Ogre’s nest.

“They hide quietly while slaughtering and eating horses in their hiding places, taking only paper and rat skins little by little.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Guards should be dispatched to the riverside.”

Because slaughter inevitably produces the smell of blood.

But, doesn’t that mean you know everything? It’s like a teacher teaching a child to develop his or her reasoning skills. No matter how childlike he was, it was enough to damage his pride.

“If you noticed, you would disappear, right?”

Elysia?

Jules glanced at Elysia. It must have been quite frustrating to listen to.

“That’s what I was going to say.”

“If you just act like this, it will happen like that. You just have to say it like this. Why are you talking so hard?”

Jules snorted and ignored Elysia’s gaze.

“Imagination is the basis of human beings. If you raise them by just giving them answers like that, they will end up like you, lacking imagination.”

“Who says someone lacks imagination?! What was the purpose of teaching such things to humans in the first place?”

The conversation suddenly broke down and I lost my temper.

Juul didn’t ask any more questions as he felt relieved.

And only then did Ramrat, who had been standing quietly, open his mouth.

“Juyul, thank you for coming.”

“The bitch of today and tomorrow is calling, so of course I have to come.”

The deer-headed Ramrat sat on a chair and massaged his knees.

“Ugh… My whole body hurts…”

“You’re the same age as me.”

“In your years, I am sixty. Now please treat me like an old man.”

Ramrat sank down on the back of the chair.

“He’s now 30 years old…”

Jules shook his head and laughed.

Ramrat’s eyes looking at Juul seem to be out of focus, like a prosthetic eye.

The hair is dull and thin, making it unsightly.

The color is faded and uneven.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“What?”

“I want to ask them directly why they had to skin those bloody pieces.”

“What they do is all the same.”

“No, no… Living things do not perform unnecessary actions for any reason.”

Ramrat is right.

Most people hate unnecessary work.

“I don’t understand. Isn’t the in kind you brought enough…? But why… was it necessary to skin those children…”

It’s a big eye.

Like the eyes of an old dog, the lens hardened and tears began to well up in the slightly blue eyes.

Soon Ramrat closed his eyes, and tears overflowed from his closed eyes.

“Please do me a favor…!”

Jules chuckled.

“Has the top hole become loose when it’s time to go?”

“Ha, hahaha…! I guess that’s the case.”

We lived at the same age, but for some it was twilight and for others it was broad daylight. He must be about the same age as me, but even that Ramrat is old at heart.

Do people change not just because they live long, but as they grow older? Can I cry when my neighbor dies?

no. not me.

Ramrat’s smiling face with his eyes closed and tears flowing is sad.

“Of course, I plan to catch every single one of them.”

The burning blue eyes radiate ghostly energy.

“You go in and sleep now. Don’t be cunning.”

“You and the slave will guide you to your room…”

“I like it here.”

what?

“···Hmm?”

“I’m going to sleep here.”

“This is an empty seat. You bear-like bitch.”

Elysia fidgeted and poked Jules’ forearm.

Jules ignores Elysia as if she doesn’t exist.

“Please show me a place to sleep. You must be tired from flying around all day.”

Ramrat hesitated and stood up from the chair.

It seemed like he understood Jules’ hippie-like personality.

“If someone else comes, you must move out of the way. Understand? Elysia, please follow me.”

“Yes.”

Elysia, who glanced at Juul, followed Ramrat and left the conference room. Only then did Jules roughly move the chair aside and extend his hand to me.

“Let’s sleep.”

···Why on earth do I have to come to a place like this and lie down on the street and sleep homeless? The view from the conference room was too beautiful to ask. Plus, the mushrooms that held my weight like the Matrix were soft. Although it was dark, this place had a real charm.

“Do you know that person?”

“My friend. He’s old and barely able to see out of one eye, and he’s also sick, so he’s just a day-to-day guy.”

Entering your twilight years at age 30?

I don’t even want to imagine it. I never imagined that Ramrat’s life would pass this quickly.

I just thought lifespan was about 50 years, but I never thought it would cut into the peak of life like this. The difference in personality is extreme, and the difference in lifespan is also extreme.

How did those two meet?

“How did you two meet?”

“I made a mistake on the way. I thought it was a deer just by looking at the horns. At that time, I took the alchemist’s medicine to ward off wild beasts, and the smell stuck to my body, so I had a hard time for a while.”

Jules smiled, as if he was remembering old times.

The low laughter that had been coming out soon subsided.

The silence that fell like that.

“Perhaps the day we see each other again will be that bitch’s funeral.”

I guess so.

“This is the last request from such a bitch, so I’m sorry, but I’ll be busy starting tomorrow.”

“Yes.”

“And. Try this once.”

Boo—!

Juul ended up tearing off the mushroom wall.

…Didn’t I tell you not to do that?

When I frown, he smiles slyly and lets it go.

Ugh···.

“Are you crazy?”

“You didn’t eat anything, right? It doesn’t matter because it will grow back anyway.”

No, you were warned not to.

Jules split the mushroom in half and held out half. If that’s the case, buy it and eat it. Or do you just need an accomplice?

Jules chews on mushrooms.

······I don’t think a sweet smell is a bad thing. Wouldn’t it be more delicious than anything you’ve ever eaten on earth?

The honey mushrooms I tried with high expectations were not much different from the ones I tried on earth.

*

As soon as I woke up, I left the village with Jules and headed to the river to the east. Whether you are human or non-human, water is essential. Therefore, the village has no choice but to be around water.

As if to prove it, in the eastern river, children my age were gathering in groups of twos and threes to catch fish. It’s not okay to ask if you’ve seen a carriage. If there are any accomplices in their family, it is obvious that they will all go into hiding.

Since children lack vigilance, they are also good people to ask questions in passing. Perhaps because the water level was low, they blocked the waterway with stones to create a dam and chased the fish by splashing around.

Before we knew it, Juul had hid out of sight.

From now on, I have to do it.

If those kids don’t know, I’d have to go to the village and ask them, but I can’t think of an appropriate repertoire.

Rather than approaching him first, it would be better to pretend to wash his face and put water in a bucket, but if he doesn’t talk to you after that, then approach him.

He wore Jool’s dagger on his waist, a bow on his chest, and a quiver on his thigh. Looking at his clothes, he looks like an experienced hunter.

After completing all preparations, we went down to the water.

Now, talk to me. He spoke─── As soon as he appeared, attention was drawn to him.

It even approaches.

“Are you an elf?”

ah.

It seems they were mistaken for an elf based on their appearance. In any case, if the other person has expressed curiosity, it is easy to talk to them.

“Elves have grass growing on their heads.”

A brown-haired boy approached me.

“What? No?”

“Yes. Elves also have long ears.”

He moved his hair away to show his ears.

However, rather than looking relieved, he seemed sad.

“Why aren’t otters and elves coming these days? Where are you from?”

You’re not coming?

First, you need to say something realistic that will make children relax. That way, I’ll spit out the information.

“I’m wandering the South with my father. But an otter and an elf? My father told me not to meet southern demi-humans.”

“Only bad people do that. Otters and elves aren’t bad. We always hung out together, but these days, strangely, he doesn’t come.”

Well, there’s some crazy guy skinning people.

If I told you, I would never come here again. The fact that they are playing together means they are of similar age, so they are probably a young ramrat and an elf.

A young child is full of curiosity.

Curiosity breaks all systems and stereotypes. It would be nice if someday these children could naturally assimilate into the southern Ain.

“Could something happen and you have no choice but to come out? uh? Are you catching fish?”

“Yes.”

“Camel! Come quickly!”

ah.

The child seems to be leaving.

If this continues, it will be difficult to talk to you again.

“Can you join me too? I ruined today’s hunting.”

“What fish does the hunter catch?”

“Beginner.”

“Well, it’s not like I can’t fit it in…”

The child’s eyes were nailed to my bow.

“Want to shoot it?”

“Is that okay?”

“If you insert it instead.”

The child looked at me and the group in turns.

Then, unable to resist the temptation, he nodded.

“Guys! He wants to share some fish?!”

“What?!”

“Tell him to catch it on his own!”

There was disbelief in the children’s eyes.

It’s because I’m a foreigner.

“I’m not asking you to share it, I’m asking you to hold it together.”

“How does a homeless beggar catch fish in the first place?”

“As the child of a hunter───!”

I grabbed the fish that tried to pass between my legs with my hand and threw it to the land. The children’s eyes grew as big as flower lanterns.

“I can’t ignore the fact that I can’t catch fish.”

I’ll show you how to catch fish that I learned from my father, Shir, and Mira.

“Just drive it this way.”

*

Although I couldn’t have a proper conversation with the kids, I caught fish better than anyone else. That alone brought smiles to the children’s faces. In addition, I let him shoot with a bow a few times, and he just died. Only then did I get to the point.

” I’m running out of daily necessities, so I have to go shopping with my father this time. Are there any big villages around here? ”

“I heard the big village is around the Great Wall? The biggest thing in this area is our village, right?”

“No. It’s our village.”

When the black-haired boy spoke, Kamel shook his head and argued. Again, something like this divides the group in an instant. After all, kids are kids.

“Your village is small.”

“Eating a ton of meat instead? You can’t even eat meat. How long has it been since you ate meat other than fish?”

“I ate it yesterday too.”

“You’re laughing. The only thing your village does is farming. There are goblins and horses in our village?”

I remembered the face of the child who said he had words.

By the way, you are farming. If they needed food, they probably would have gone there.

“There are goblins in our village too. We raise pigs and have chickens. There is a river right next to it, lots of fish, and lots of fruit.”

“Then what do you do? There is no meat. If you want to eat meat, why don’t you just kill a pig or a chicken on the spot?”

Aren’t you supposed to kill a pig if you want to eat meat?

Anyway, the face of the child being teased turns red, it seems like he’s on the mend.

” Make sausages and bread! Just yesterday, the hunter gave me some meat!”

“I saw it too. It’s meat brought by some dirt-covered beggar. When I first saw it, I thought it was a gnome. Isn’t the meat rotten too?”

“No! He was a person who rode horses!”

“Why does such a person go to your village?”

“······!”

My heart pounded.

I never imagined that I could find clues so easily. Are you saying that you are so wary of Ajin and let your guard down so easily when it comes to other humans?

you got it wrong

“I ate too much meat. Fish, venison, wild pork… Now I want to eat some fruit or bread…”

The children’s eyes looking at me were full of admiration and jealousy.

I didn’t mean to make you jealous. I looked at the child who was being subtly teased. I need to do some digging.

“But aren’t most people who ride horses rich?”

“That’s right! People like that come to our village, not theirs. That means our village is bigger!”

If I were to ask directly whether the horse’s owner bought grain, this might arouse suspicion.

“What kind of meat did you bring?”

“I don’t know. It was my first time eating meat.”

An ominous thought came over me.

But there is no point in mentioning it. I wish I didn’t have to do this at all.

“But you just gave me the meat and left?”

“Oh, I took grain and hay. I’m going to feed it to the horses. ”

“Don’t they usually make horse porridge?”

“They just asked for grains?”

It became clear.

Horses have a small and single stomach, so they cannot easily digest plants.

So, in order to save even a little bit on maintenance costs, you need to make horse porridge.

But they took grain? That’s because you can’t light a fire for prayer.

The south is a hot and humid region, so it produces a lot of soft wheat, which is perfect for horses to eat.

“Father and I need fruit and bread rather than meat. Can you tell me the way to your village?”

“Okay. I’m going home now. Follow me.”

Thank you so much for not having any doubts.

Moreover, I never imagined that I would be able to get all the information I needed from one place in just one day.

“Hey! I’m going!”

“Go! You son of a slum!”

Camel smiled and waved her hand.

You’re good at making fun of things like this world and the other world. If I were a soft-hearted child, I might have cried.

“What is your name?”

“I’m Gali. Ratton Galiya. What about you?”

“I am Sihyeon Lee.”

Gali’s eyes look strange.

“Why is your name like that?”

“Is this what your parents gave you? Are you saying my parents are strange?”

“Oh, no. Sorry.”

It’s strange, right?

Gali just turned her head and looked at me.

“······Can you tell me about hunting?”

Come to think of it, I lied about being a hunter, right?

But I must have gone on a proper hunt before.

“Hunting is not that urgent. Hide and shoot with a bow or pick-pick, and if you get hit, chase after them. They set traps with the vague intention of getting caught, and that’s just it. The urgent job of hunting wild animals is done by seawater exterminators.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Perhaps because he lost interest, Gilly walked in silence from then on.

Is Juul chasing you from afar? I glanced behind me, but I couldn’t even see where I was.

“Do all the other kids live in the upper village?”

“Yes. During the rainy season, the river floods. There were kids who used to live in our village, but their houses were washed away during the rainy season and they moved up there.”

···The rainy season here pours like crazy.

Now that you think about it, doesn’t all rain originally gather into rivers?

Most rivers are formed in low-lying areas.

Even small streams turn into rivers during the rainy season and gushingly flow, so it is not uncommon to see the ironic situation of fish being swept away by the water and dying after the rainy season.

In particular, the ogre’s nest is flooded with water at the level of a dam, so if you are swept away, you will die.

“It’s almost the rainy season. Is your house okay?”

“Yes. It would be a good idea for you and your father to find a place to rest for a few days.”

This child has a kind heart. So let’s dig a little deeper.

“What kind of farming are you doing?”

“Two trees of each type of fruit. And grow wheat.”

“Are there any other grains? Things like barley or oats.”

“That grows in the central region? You can’t grow it in the south.”

I had no choice but to buy wheat.

I thought the wild bastards must have a stomachache too.

“Really? Is there anything else?”

“Nothing. It’s so hot here that the only thing that comes out is wheat.”

“How did you know that?”

“My dad is a farmer. When I came here, I brought several grain seeds with me, but wheat was the only one that was successful. They say everything else grows moldy.”

Your father came here?

Are they not Drekkar but people from Horus?

“I thought I just planted it and it would grow.”

The conversation ended with my last joke.

What should I ask to get information without raising suspicion? I don’t know. In fact, there is nothing more to cry about.

“Because it’s dangerous in the south, why don’t we live in villages? Why aren’t you going to the upper village?”

“I don’t know. Your father will take care of that. And there will soon be a lot of people here too.”

Are there more people?

“I saw someone come here in a carriage. I think he’s probably trying to settle down.”

······Machara.

Traces of carriages and horses inevitably remain.

Gilly, who had been walking on the gravel, strode out onto the land.

“Over there. That’s our village.”

As I followed Gili up to the land, I saw a red orange tree that I had eaten before. All the trees around it had been cut down, leaving only stumps, and various crops were growing there.

“Thank you. My father has the money, so I can’t buy anything right now. I’ll hear from you in the near future.”

“Come anytime. Because I’ll be waiting.”

Gilly waves.

“Hello!”

I waved to Gilly and went back down to the river and walked upstream. After a while, Jules started approaching me with artificial signs of popularity, as if asking for permission.

“What happened?”

“I heard that the person riding the horse yesterday exchanged meat and grain? They say they have seen a carriage around here.”

“Really? Let’s go back first.”

already?

“Shouldn’t we look into it a little more?”

“If we destroy one side now, there is a possibility that the others will disappear.”

“There is a confession.”

“He might not know. We need to know at least two locations of the carriage before the attack. Thank you for your hard work today.”

Jules tapped my shoulder.

···I was lucky. We were able to persuade the kids well, and they knew the information we wanted.

Just saying “good job” made my fatigue melt away.

But maybe now isn’t the time to step down yet?

“If the carriage is around here, wouldn’t it be a good idea to look around and at least guess its location?”

“It’s too bright right now. I plan to look for it alone at night.”

That’s what Juul is like.

“Yes. That would be nice.”

I’ll probably have to bring meat to this village tomorrow to use for bartering.

There is probably nothing I can do on my own at this point.

So today’s work is finished.