NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43: (1)
There Are Sins In This World That Can Never Be Forgiven
It had been a month since Team Tanaka had settled down in the horned tribe village. Tanaka had occupied a part of Murgai’s house.
「Kufu. Kufufufu… You’re pretty good, aren’t you? But yours truly wish to experience something more adventurous….」
「… What the hell is this guy talking about?」
Witnessing Tanaka, who was sleep-talking in seemingly great pleasure, Murgai was exasperated. As he had already finished his preparation to head out, Murgai promptly left Tanaka alone and departed the house. Today was an important day for the village, for they were going to replace the barrier.
As he stepped out of the house, the first one he encountered was Kaku-san. He was floating buoyantly in front of him. As a spirit, Kaku-san had no need to sleep. He was basically free while Tanaka was asleep.
「Sup. Early as usual, aren’t we?」
「No, it’s him that’s just too late.」
These words had become their usual morning greeting these days. Suke-san, who was also floating in the air like Kaku-san, approached the two. As a magical creature, Suke-san also barely had any need to sleep at all. So he also had a lot of free time on his hands.
「Morning is the time for image training, so it’s a rule not to wake him up.」
「…..」
As they severely lacked common sense, saying anything to them would be a fool’s errand. Aware of that, Murgai left without saying a word.
The place he was headed to was the plaza in the center of the village. As he made his way there, Murgai was lost in thought. For some reason, his mind refused to calm down. His steps naturally slowed down.
Eventually, Murgai stopped walking altogether. He let out a deep sigh and sat down.
What came to mind was the occurrence that took place a few days ago at the conference hall as they were discussing the plan pertaining to the barrier replacement.
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「Don’t give me that shit!」
Murgai shouted at the people who assembled there. On the other hand, the eyes of those who were shouted at were somewhat cold. One of them. The patriarch, who was also Murgai’s father, rebuked him.
「Calm down. I’m sure you’re already aware of it as well. If we continue to seclude ourselves, there’s no future for our clan.」
The patriarch could not hide his disappointment. He hoped that his son, Murgai, would be able to eventually take the leadership of the clan. He harbored such a wish. As a matter of paternal love, that might be a natural wish.
However, whether he knew about this expectation or not. That son of his was exploding with emotion. Seeing this, the Patriarch thought. He wondered if the task might really be impossible for his son.
Judging from his son’s recent behavior, the patriarch had high expectations of him. Before he knew it, a human had started to stay at his son’s house. When the Patriarch heard about it, he could not believe his ears. In fact, when he first saw those people together with his son, he wondered if they were using some kind of illusion magic on him. His son, who hated humans to the bone, was standing shoulder to shoulder with humans. As the days went by, the awkwardness between them disappeared. And the change didn’t stop there. His son, who had been inflexible and selfish, began to lose his horns.
The patriarch was pleased with the change in his son. He thought that his current son was worthy of becoming his successor.
From that point on, the patriarch acted quickly. The event that was held once every few years. The ritual of replacing the barrier that protected the village. He planned to have his son take charge of it.
The horned tribe moved the village every time they replaced the barrier. The reason for this was that they were targeted by some people. The horns protruded from their foreheads. These horns stored a large amount of magical energy. In a way, they were akin to living magic crystals. Obtaining magic crystals was easier said than done. It went without saying that the horned tribe was very attractive to those who sought magic crystals. In order to protect themselves from such people, they had avoided settling down in a place for too long.
This time, however, things were different. They now had a reliable ally. It was Baron Almond, the lord of the area near the forest where the village was currently located.
The horned tribe had been migrating repeatedly up until now, so their livelihood could not be called affluent. Baron Almond reached out to such them. As goods from the outside came into circulation, the village became more affluent than ever. The mental barrier that had existed between them and the humans. It didn’t take long for that to crumble down. It could be said to be a natural flow for them to start considering the option of settling down.
They had easily obtained Baron Almond’s approval. The only remaining problem was the people who still distrusted humans. The most prominent person among them was the son of the patriarch himself.
The patriarch thought that if he could convince his son to settle down here, everything would go smoothly. The patriarch thought so, but things didn’t seem to work out that smoothly.
「I’m fully aware of that! But this and that are separate matters!」
Murgai had already ceased blindly hating humans. Through his contact with Team Tanaka, he learned that there were also lovable idiotic humans.
And he had heard many things from them. The western region that was suffering from poverty due to the long civil war. The Middle region where the storm of demon oppression was raging wildly. And then, the relatively safe eastern region, where to the north, the city of demons had been born.
The various knowledge had changed Murgai more than the Patriarch thought.
Although it was vexing, he did acknowledge his romantic rival, Baron Almond. The village becoming more affluent was undoubtedly the Baron’s achievement.
「Barrier replacement is something that has to be done solely by the clan! It’s fine to establish friendly relations with humans. I also understand that we owe the Baron. I have no problem cooperating with humans from now on. However, the barrier is the foundation of the safety of the clan. No one who isn’t part of the clan should be allowed to be involved in it!」
Murgai truly thought that getting along with humans was not a bad idea. However, he still couldn’t accept it. There were certain things that couldn’t be compromised. However, these feelings couldn’t reach the patriarch, who was also his father.
「It goes without saying that the barrier is the foundation of our safety. Exactly because it’s important that by doing it together, don’t you think we’d be able to strengthen our bonds? This could be said to be an expression of our determination to live alongside the human race, to the Baron whom we owe.」
「What will you do if he betrays us?」
「You know how much the Baron has helped us. Do you think he will betray us?」
「You think nothing about this possibility at all, don’t you?!」
The discussion remained at a standstill. In the end, it turned into nothing more than a bickering showdown between the father son pair.
In the end, as no consensus was reached, it was decided by majority vote that the work would be carried out with the Baron’s cooperation. However, the patriarch was in charge of the work. The patriarch’s plan to make Murgai his successor and make it official had failed.
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