Chapter 57 - 57 – The Red Guardian Spirit
"When can I use my own bow, Dad?" The boy with braided hair asked while walking on the grass
The boy's father, a man with a gaunt face, snorted. He carried the corpse of a small boar on his shoulders. "How many times have you asked that, Sena?"
Sena scowled. "Today I only asked once!"
"I'll train you in archery when I think you're ready. For the time being, you just need to come with me and watch me so you can sharpen your hunting sense."
"But I'm tired of that, Dad!" Sena's tone began to rise. "I want to immediately use my own bow."
The father quickened his pace.
"Dad...." Sena tried to catch up with his father, but he stopped doing that and turned to me, who had been walking beside them. "Oh, good afternoon, sir."
Finally, after I used the fast forward feature for a while, the boy greeted me.
"Tsk." Sena's father sneered. "And my son started talking to himself again. Why did the old man forbid me to interrupt when my son was like this?"
"Good afternoon, Sena." I greeted the boy back. "I don't want to bother you. I just want to talk to the guardian spirits of this tribe."
"Ah, I'll call him in a second." The boy stopped walking, then closed his eyes.
The father who saw that snorted again and approached his son. "Hey, don't just stand there. I'm tired and want to rest."
Fortunately, when the father grabbed Sena's hand, a red transparent figure had appeared beside the boy.
"He wants to talk to you." As his father continued to pull him, the boy spoke to the guardian spirit while pointing at me.
The red figure looked at me. "What is it?"
"Please, ask your tribe leader to let Manu learn how to build a fireplace here. Make your tribe leader not want shoe anymore." I sighed. "My colony really needs that fireplace for the winter."
"Even though I wanted to do that, things weren't easy." She started talking and walked away from me.
"What do you mean?" I walked beside her.
"Suja has a unique trait. He has to get what he wants." The figure shrugged. "I made him a leader because he used to be a person who has high charisma, but now .... Well, he is very different now. His traits are getting worse. The older he gets, the more things he wants."
"You really don't need a leader for your tribe, do you? Beings like us will lead them, we are their true leaders."
The red figure chuckled. "I don't like giving orders to them one by one. Therefore, I chose a leader as my representative. Well, even though in the end I kept whisper to them when they did something bad. Even if it's only occasionally, I asked them not to repeat the bad thing, but some would not listen."
"One of those people is Leva?"
"She's the worst. I've worked so hard to build a tribe with all the rules so that everything is always peaceful. "The figure slightly looked up to look up at the sky. "However, she almost broke that order time and time again. That bitch often invites the others to destroy the 'tyrannical' leadership of Suja."
Now, I want to beat this figure. It turned out that she was the leading cause of Leva's suffering.
"That's not a reason for you to dump Leva as a slave, right?" I snorted.
"Seems like you care about her, huh? You defended her." The figure was silent for a moment. "Leva kept trying, but people ignored her invitation. So, she did a lot of mischief to attract the attention of the higher-ups."
"Come on. She wouldn't do something that would destroy your tribe, would she?" Even though I knew this was pointless, I couldn't contain my desire to debate. "Nothing she did deserves to be punished like that."
"You don't know what she can do." The red figure laughed bitterly. "Once, she burned the tail of the chickens and released all of it into the settlement. The people panicked because of that. Another day, she buried some children and let their heads show up... There are many other incidents. Too many. Not to mention she is easily offended, loves to prank people, and likes to yell. She is like a walking nightmare. My whisper to ask her to stop is entirely useless.
I stopped my steps. Was she really talking about Leva? Yes, Leva's nature is wild, but I didn't expect her to do such crazy things. She did pull Kat's pants down in front of the guys, but I thought that was the limit of Leva's behavior. She couldn't have done more than that.
"Like I said earlier, she did those mischiefs to get the higher-ups' attention." The guardian spirit of the Redtooth tribe also stopped, then looked at me. "A severe mischief is the only way she can meet the higher-ups. So, she can convey her aspirations to them."
"Do you hate her?"
"I'm fed up with her. I don't want my tribe to be destroyed because of that bitch. No punishment can deter her." The guardian spirit's voice began to sound like a growl. "Honestly, I felt relieved and happy when I made her a slave. She's not considered human anymore. It's a well-deserved reward for almost destroying my tribe so many times. And I don't care what Reha and Tosa does to her anymore."
I clenched my hands tightly. I wanted to scream at her, wanted to curse her as an evil one. However, just like when I met Tosa and Reha for the first time, I restrained myself. I have to focus on my current mission.
Even if doing so is very painful.
"Hey, can't you persuade the person in charge of brick making to teach Manu instead?" I said in a muffled voice.
The figure turned around and started walking again. "That will only create conflict. Suja will get angry because that means he won't get the shoe. You know that, right? If someone in our care is overly emotional, we can't stop them. Who knows what he'll do because of that. I'm not sure I can stop him."
I can feel my tears will flow again. Just because Manu can't make bricks for the fireplace, my colonists will freeze to death?
"Then you take care of all my colonists. Make them a member of your tribe" Finally, I came up with the idea. An idea that hurts me too. "I'm willing to hand them over to you, as long as they're safe."
Even though I really don't want to. They have become a part of my life.
The red figure stopped walking again. "If you let them go. Will they immediately want to join me? How about the tension from the members of my tribe? With them joining, it means more mouths that need to be fed, right?"
"Then let them stay here and join one of your houses." I said that out of desperation. "I will make them provide for their own needs."
"I've had enough of having them help your two members." The figure laughed again. "However, that doesn't mean I trust you or those people of yours. What if they do something that might damage my tribe? Maybe you told them to stay here for a long time to sabotage us."
"Damn it!" I'm getting more frustrated. "Can't you see, I'm begging you...."
I didn't continue my words because the guardian spirit had suddenly disappeared. It seems the duration of Sena's power is over.
And I can only squeeze my head in desperation.