15-Intermission 2. At the Eastern End of the Continent (1)
※ This isn't from Satou's POV
"....Furry mountain?"
I muttered as I saw a small mountain of fur in my dim view.
--Thud.
A warm lump touched my body.
When I look down, I see a creature resembling a newborn rat.
It might be cute if it were small, but it's as frighteningly big as an adult man.
I almost reflexively jumped out, but I couldn't put any power in my limbs, I was only able to bend backward.
"●●●"
I heard gibberish words from the small mountain.
Apparently the owner of that fur is alive.
I wonder if I've been carried here to be his food--.
Right when I thought of that, I noticed.
"So this is reincarnation..."
I had never thought that I would be thrust down in the animal realm.
I couldn't fight again the rapid drowsiness of my body as I fell asleep just like that.
And then I recall my shitty past in my dream--.
◇◇◇◆◇◆◆◆
"Mom, I'm hungry."
"I'm sorry, we have no money, so get some meal from our neighbor okay."
"Eeh, again?"
Hearing my mom's and elder sister's conversation in the corridor, I realized that mom had offered all the food to [God].
Since dad disappeared with a young girl, mom was always absorbed into [God].
"Tarou, let's go."
"Un."
Together with my elder sister, we went to the neighboring diner.
Of course nowadays there's no one kind enough to feed us free of charge.
We were finally able to eat after I washed plates while enduring the cold water while my sister acted like a waitress.
It was not that good, but I didn't care as long as it made me full.
One day my sister ran away from home after she graduated middle school.
I was always a baggage of my sister....
I survived somehow while enduring hunger.
I'm sure I would've long been dead if there was no lunch service in my middle school.
After graduating middle school, I was picked up by a small factory in the town, I left my mother who offered everything to god as I began to live alone.
The wage is low, but I was satisfied with living a life where I could have meals three times a day.
Cause I wanted to be apart from my mother who raised queer cry at night and endlessly repeated her god's teaching, no matter what.
After living alone, I noticed that my heart had also started to fall ill.
After some time, when I (boku) started to call myself with ore (I), I met an unexpected person.
"Is that you Tarou?"
"Dad?"
The dad that I hadn't met for more 10 years was wearing priest-like clothes.
"What are you doing now?"
"I'm an instructor of the Eastern Joy School."
--Ha?
Don't tell me that even dad had been influenced by some good-for-nothing cult?
"Tarou, won't you go with me?"
"I'm not interested in cult."
I shook off the arm of my father who started to be delirious and spat out.
--I don't wanna have anything to do with cult and god!
"This is different! Don't group up the Eastern Joy School with the average cult! This is a school dedicated to finding happiness for people!"
That's the same thing, dad.
"You have a job right? Would you like to join the Eastern Joy School?"
My dad said that after seeing my factory uniform.
His eyes, mixed with flattery and contempt, were unpleasant.
"I've no interest."
"Then why don't you try investing in the school's benefit society? 100,000 no, just 10,000 yen is fine! This month's quota is tight you see. Please."
I felt sick looking at my father acting like the model of shamelessness.
I lightly pushed him aside and ran away.
Even though I noticed that the pay envelope in my pocket fell, I ran through the alley without stopping.
I almost vomited hearing my father saying, "Thanks, Tarou" behind.
"God can go die!"
I frantically shouted out the sordid feeling overflowing in my heart.
I felt like I'd get swallowed by that sordid feeling if I didn't do that.
I kept running while staring at the sky.
"Oy! Look out!"
Before I could see who said that, I heard a high-pitched noise of a brake, and got hit by an impact, my sight was wrapped in darkness.
Truck guy, sorry for jumping in front of ya....
◆
"....God?"
I faced a self-proclaimed god in a purple space.
The self-proclaimed god told me that they'd reincarnate me to another world.
Moreover, they'd give me a special power that only I could use called Unique Skills.
--Too suspicious.
"I don't have money."
The self-proclaimed god replied with something with 'denial' and 'unnecessary' as the points.
Apparently, it's hard to communicate with this guy.
It feels like having a conversation between extreme ends in the factory.
"Like I said, I don't need no power! More importantly, let me hit you."
I don't mind if my soul is erased here if I could hit god who had wrecked my life.
And then a purple sphere emerged in front of me.
I didn't know if that was a god or not, but I hit it with all my might while thinking of my shitty father and cult mother.
It felt like hitting a water surface and then my right arm got sunk into the sphere until my shoulder.
"Uwaa"
I pulled my arm in panic, but two lights were coiling about around it.
"Chose? Chose what?"
I asked the self-proclaimed god, but the other party didn't reply, instead an image got unilaterally transmitted to me.
"Gods? There's other gods? Hit them all I want if I meet them?"
I tried to grasp the purple lights and then I felt my body got filled with power.
It seems I acquired two power, [Lucky Star] and [<>].
"If this power allow me to hit gods, then I'll accept it."
I grinned at the image transmitted by the self-proclaimed god.
"I'll beat you the last as a thank."
The self-proclaimed god replied like it was nothing, annoying me.
"You're looking forward to it? I'll make you eat those words someday."
I was melting inside the purple darkness as I heard the laughter of the self-proclaimed god who heard my declaration of war.
◆◆◆◇◆◇◇◇
"Sheesh, is this primitive age...."
I muttered while looking at the people living in pit-dwellings.
I thought I was dropped into the animal realm when I just got reincarnated, but it turned out that I'd just been reincarnated as one of beastkin races, the weaselkin.
My father in this life seems to be the patriarch of this poor hunting community at the eastern end.
After losing to the powerful tigerkin and lizardkin, we were driven away to the barren land near the coast which had few prey, a lot of people died of starvation during winter.
I wanted to discard this unstable hunting lifestyle and pressed forward with agriculture, but the land here is really bad it's impossible.
It seemed my father tried to procure sea products, but he gave up after 30% of our tribe were eaten by the monsters living in the sea.
I spent many days without food, but strangely enough, there were many times where I got food myself before I died of starvation.
Gods and cults are still my enemy even now, but I don't mind thanking that self-proclaimed god for the [Lucky Star] I got.
"Ani-cha"
"Ou, are you alright going out today?"
"Aye!"
I support my youngest weak little sister walking.
I dunno if it's because my father is fertile or if it's just the tribe thing, but I have a lot of siblings in this life.
"You look like a princess today."
She usually wore some dirty crude clothing, but today she's wearing something that looks like a traditional costume.
"Ehehee, it's a ritual."
"Ritual? Ritual huh--"
I felt a foreboding at the [Ritual] my little sister told me.
And that foreboding became real immediately.
"S-STOOOOOOOOP!"
"Tarou, don't obstruct the ritual!"
"Yes! That good-for-nothing sick is finally good for something."
My father and my eldest brother sneered at me for trying to stop them.
Even though I tried to forcibly shake them off, this child's body couldn't make it happen.
I could hear shrill laughter of my little sister.
"Look, she's having fun right."
"That happy medicine is exclusive for the offering after all."
"That's just a drug!"
The moment I snapped, my little sister's laughter stopped, and I heard shouts of joy from the tribe people overlooking the ritual.
My heart froze looking at the lump of flesh that was my little sister.
"You should thank her. If he didn't become the god's sacrifice, the corpse over there would have been you, the 『Taboo Child』, instead--"
My eldest brother told me that while laughing repulsively.
"--You sure are lucky."
Hearing that, I lost control of myself and hit my eldest brother while screaming.
Of course, a seven year old like me couldn't possibly win against my eldest brother, I laid on the ground after getting beat up.
--I want power.
Not the vague lucky power I got from the self-proclaimed god, but a power to have my way with....
◇◇◇◇
"Nii-san, I should go with you after all."
"Al, there's no need for you to pull the short end of the stick too y'know?"
The brightest one among my siblings, Alrusuri came before me in traveling clothes.
My eldest brother drove me out of the tribe once he took over as the patriarch, perhaps it was because he didn't like me kept pressing the agriculture.
"They say you're going abroad to study about agriculture but--"
"I know."
--In reality, it's an exile.
"Besides, my dream is the same as Nii-san's, that is having agriculture as our tribe's mean of survival."
"I see."
I left the familiar pit dwelling village with Al and two guards.
A tinge of loneliness recurred in my chest when I could not see the village anymore.
Looks like I'm attached to it even though it's a poor village.
"Where are we going?"
"I heard from father who went traveling in the past--"
We know little about outside world as there's no peddler who comes to our village.
According to father, our race is a nomadic people who peddle around the world.
It seems there's extremely few who settle down like this village.
"If tigerkin or lizardkin people found us, we'd probably be killed or become slaves. So we need to head toward the humankin country while avoiding their regions."
According to father who was once a traveler, we should be able to reach either Rumooku Kingdom or Doraoku Kingdom.
We hid ourselves from huge monsters and tigerkin's assaults, ran away with all our might from the slow lizardkin, and finally arrived at a human settlement with our emaciated bodies.
While feeling nostalgic at humans living at the village, I was thrust before the reality; beastfolks like us are persecuted.
We helped the farmwork in that village while getting treated like slaves as we learned their language.
It was the long-awaited agriculture, but the things the village was doing was just a primitive farmwork where they plowed, randomly sowed seeds, and scattered fertilizers without even ridging the field.
We ran away from the village once we learned how to talk imperfectly, heading toward the western big kingdom, Shiga Kingdom.
◇
"Nii-san, there's a village."
"Yeah, the field looks splendid."
Going out of our way to Shiga Kingdom looks to be the correct choice.
We rode our horses to Puta Town along the highway since the field belonged exclusively to villages.
"Young master, the town seems strange."
"Yea, it seems you're right."
The guards didn't need to stop us.
We could hear tumult from the people inside the town.
There must be trouble.
"Let's avoid this town and go to the next one."
I turned the horse around as I said that.
"Nii-san, that!"
Hearing my little brother, I turned back and saw a foxkin girl with purple fur who tumbled out of the town gate.
And she's bloody all over....
"Nii-san!"
I heard my little brother's worried voice far in the back.
Apparently, I'd run the horse without thinking of the consequences.
"Gimme your hand!"
『Ui? Mofumofu?』
--Japanese language?
I pick up the young foxkin girl, passing through the townspeople who carry crude weapons such as farm tools.
"There's more of those cursed beasts!"
"Kill the No Life King's kin!"
Ignoring the mob-like townspeople's shouts, I run the horse.
"Nii-san, they're chasing us."
Three armed men are pursuing us.
"Young master, please leave this to us."
"No you can't. I'd rather dump this girl than you guys."
The body of the young foxkin girl on the back seat stiffened hearing me rejecting the guards' reckless suggestion.
"Nii-san!"
I turned my line of sight back to the front at my little brother's shout, a ratkin riding a six-legged boar jumped out of the forest.
"I ask! Are you criminals?!"
"We're not, we just saved a girl who was about to be killed by adventurers."
"Understood. With justice in hands, Warrior Mize of Ash Ratkin will assist you!"
That ratkin was strong.
To think a level 30 warrior was this strong!
Warrior Mize defeated the pursuers in no time at all and we got out of the trouble.
◇
"Thank you. I'm Tarou of weaselkin. I came to Shiga Kingdom to learn about agriculture."
"Hou? That's unusual for a beastkin."
Warrior Mize was surprised after my introduction, and then he folded his arms while looking a bit troubled.
"Is it that unusual?"
"Sorry, it's not about that."
I urge the hesitant Warrior Mize to continue.
"Presently, Shiga Kingdom is in a dangerous state due to the murder of a noble by the 『No Life King』."
The town earlier certainly looked strange.
"Umu, and?"
"That 『No Life King』 is a Cursed Child--In other world, he has the same purple fur as you and that girl over there."
"In other words, we cannot enter Shiga Kingdom?"
I exchanged looks of loss with my little brothers and the guards at the outrageous situation.
We must have looked really pitiful.
"This must be fate. If it's fine with you, would you like to go with me?"
Warrior Mize told us that.
We don't really mind as long as we can learn about agriculture--.
"To where?"
"Elf Village, Boruenan Forest."
Thus, our destination changed from Shiga Kingdom to Boruenan Forest.
※ Next update is planned for 3/5
New chapters will come rushing in from 3/12!