Chapter 238: Even in a Life Like This (1)
The Mountain Lord let out a deep sigh at the gazes that gathered as soon as day broke.
Just because they had spent the last several days exerting themself to offer a little charity, the humans automatically stared at the Mountain Lord whenever mealtime came around.
They looked exactly like baby birds waiting to be fed.
The problem was this.
At least baby birds had the excuse of being newly born and knowing nothing of the world.
Those things were fully grown humans.
The situation being what it was, the Mountain Lord was willing to give them some consideration, but it still was not particularly rewarding.
All the more so when considering the effort every single one of these acts required, and what those people had done in the beginning.
[How in the world did I end up like this….]
[I didn’t tell you to do it.]
[Yes, yes… That’s true. Ancestor didn’t ask me to do anythin’….]
And beside the Mountain Lord was a being that, while not directly giving them more work, had undeniably influenced the decision in a subtle way.
The Mountain Lord glanced at the young turtle and let out another deep sigh.
Their mind replayed what had happened when they had first arrived here.
.
.
.
[I’m hungry.]
The Mountain Lord had traveled all the way up to the border between the eastern and northern lands in order to undo what the tiger had done.
Then that journey had been interrupted by a sudden voice, forcing them to turn around again.
It was for the same reason that the Mountain Lord’s body was now positioned in the central region of the east.
[If you keep this up, I really am gonna leave.]
[…You’re mean.]
The Mountain Lord continued moving their body toward the voice endlessly echoing inside their mind.
“All those who were keeping watch at the time testified that they were struck by an unnatural drowsiness! Even now, are you truly claiming you had nothing to do with the demon’s escape?!”
As the Mountain Lord drew closer to the human settlement, human voices repeatedly reached their inner ears.
[But why’re you only comin’ now? I’m not saying this because I resent you or anythin’. I’m honestly just curious….]
But given the structure of the Mountain Lord’s body, ignoring spoken sound was extremely easy.
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
If anything was difficult, it was accurately recognizing human voices when they actually wanted to hear them.
“Maybe I was trying to put the Demon Knight to sleep and targeted the wrong people, so I put them to sleep instead.”
In any case, listening only to the sounds they wished to hear had been one of the Mountain Lord’s habits for a very long time.
“Great Sage!”
The Mountain Lord continued winding their body forward.
[I was asleep.]
[Ah, I see.]
[I slept for a very long time. Long enough to forget even the cycle.]
[…What?]
Only a few more movements and the Mountain Lord would reach the owner of the voice.
Yet the shocking statement from the other party made them stop for a moment.
“What kind of answer is that supposed to be?!”
A human directly beneath the Mountain Lord shouted.
[Ah, let me correct that. It wasn’t that I forgot. It would be more accurate to say I was forced into a state where I couldn’t attend to the cycle.]
Meanwhile, the one who had called the Mountain Lord continued speaking.
Considering that this being was the Mountain Lord’s ancestor, foundation, and origin, the situation was somewhat absurd.
“What an odd question. I conveyed my thoughts in audible symbols. If that cannot be called speech, then what exactly should it be called?”
Regardless, that was how it was.
[My other half kept putting me to sleep. When the time of the cycle came and I tried to awaken, and every time I tried to open my eyes after that, again and again and again….]
So this was why the being had vanished after giving birth to the Mountain Lord’s ancestors.
At Yukgwi’s confession—the being humans called Yukgwi—the Mountain Lord opened and closed their mouth several times.
“Great Sage, I’m not trying to play word games with you….”
They had no idea what to say.
[Eventually, I didn’t even have enough strength left to open my eyes. So I just kept sleeping.]
[Then you don’t know why you woke this time…?]
[No. I do know that. Even while asleep, I was aware of my surroundings.]
[Ah, I see.]
[Yes…. I watched my other half drain away the life I had accumulated in an attempt to enjoy immortality. I watched all of it. Every last bit.]
Right.
There truly was nothing to say.
[Well… hah. What am I even supposed to say to that?]
Like the human directly beneath them, the Mountain Lord smacked their own forehead repeatedly with their tail, then slowly began moving again.
“How unpleasant. Reducing my words to mere wordplay. If you intend to continue in this manner, I would rather end the conversation and return to my own work.”
The half-destroyed city and the clusters of humans passed between the Mountain Lord’s coils.
[Hold on. I didn’t hear wrong, did I? You really mean… actual immortality?]
[You didn’t mishear. I mean immortality. My other half absolutely loathed the fact that life had to be passed on to their child.]
[Good heavens….]
Meanwhile, every sentence Yukgwi delivered was like a bolt from the blue.
Immortality defied the laws of the world.
Put another way, it was another name for corruption.
“Great Sage, if you continue behaving this way, you will regret it later.”
The voice of an exasperated human scattered into the air.
“What? Are you planning to put me on trial for heresy? Do as you please. At the very least, there is nothing here I will regret.”
A sigh belonging to someone who seemed to know something followed.
[But acts that defy the proper order inevitably invite corruption… and that is what happened to my other half. Predictable, really.]
As expected.
Yukgwi continued with something that differed not one bit from what the Mountain Lord had anticipated.
Yukgwi’s other half—the being humans likely called the Black Serpent—had truly become corrupted.
“Separately, I am somewhat curious. If the standard for heresy is cooperating with a demon, how many people in this city would actually qualify as non-heretics…?”
The Mountain Lord’s gaze lowered clumsily.
[Goodness gracious. So that’s why the city ended up in this state….]
[My other half contributed somewhat. It wasn’t all their doing.]
No wonder half the settlement had been destroyed and the humans had gathered separately outside it.
Clicking their tongue, the Mountain Lord pushed their head inside the tent where the voice’s owner should be.
“How can you say something so outrageous…!”
The nearby humans began shouting and screaming, making the Mountain Lord’s head ring slightly.
Drawing on long experience, they simply shut their hearing off entirely.
Instead, their eyes passed through the tent and looked inside.
[So you were here… huh….]
Yet the Yukgwi they saw was such a pitiful sight.
Apparently, the claim that accumulated life had been stolen away had been no exaggeration.
Yukgwi was tiny.
Gone was the mountain-sized body described in legends.
Gone was the steel-like shell.
Gone were the great limbs said to churn the sea.
All that remained was the form of a mere baby turtle.
Just how much power had been exploited to reduce Yukgwi to this?
The Mountain Lord held their tongue for a moment.
Indeed, the sight was pitiful enough to warrant that much silence.
Even though Yukgwi bore some responsibility for having failed to stop the other half after falling for their schemes, and had suffered personally because of it.
[You don’t need to look at me like that. Losing all my strength may be miserable, but that was precisely why I escaped corruption.]
Fortunately or unfortunately, Yukgwi spoke first before the Mountain Lord could rashly say anything.
Unlike the whining about hunger from earlier, Yukgwi’s attitude was remarkably calm.
[Of course, if I had been rescued a little later, even the power sustaining my life would have been taken and I would have died right there… but, well. Black Serpent did at least make an effort to keep me alive.]
[Goodness… you really went through a lot.]
[What hardship? More importantly, I’m hungry.]
[Yes, yes.]
Apparently there truly was a limit to how long Yukgwi could endure hunger.
The Mountain Lord hurriedly moved their tail.
When the tail, which had passed through the tent, reached the turtle, only the very tip became solid.
Yukgwi clung to it.
[Let’s get going.]
[Are we going far?]
[Not all that far. Just somewhere the humans can’t see us.]
The Mountain Lord’s body existed on the boundary between material and immaterial, allowing everything to pass through it.
But that did not mean the sight of humans constantly walking in and out through their body was particularly pleasant.
So the Mountain Lord intended to leave the area.
The snake with a turtle hanging from the tip of its tail slipped away from the crowd.
[Why’d you stop? You said we needed to go somewhere the humans couldn’t see.]
[That is true, but….]
There was, however, something else just as uncomfortable as watching humans pass in and out of their body.
Before leaving human territory entirely, the Mountain Lord glanced back at their settlement.
Crude tents.
Worn, filthy skin.
Emaciated limbs.
Dying expressions.
It was a sight never seen within the Great Forest under the Mountain Lord’s care.
Even when the tribes of the Great Forest fought one another over who would become the Great Chieftain, they could at least obtain the minimum amount of food they needed—thanks to the abundance of nature nurtured under the Mountain Lord’s care.
That was why the humans’ miserable appearance came as a considerable shock.
And once the Mountain Lord remembered the cause behind their condition—not something the Mountain Lord personally had done, but something for which their ancestor bore some responsibility—the discomfort only deepened.
The Mountain Lord’s eyes narrowed.
[Come to think of it, I reckon I oughta do at least a little somethin’ as a descendant. Might make me feel better.]
[……?]
And there was a certain knight the Mountain Lord liked very much.
That knight would never have abandoned humans like these.
Remembering him made remaining idle even more difficult.
The Mountain Lord raised their head as they recalled the grace they had received.
[Hold on tight. The ground’s gonna shake.]
Then the raised head slammed back down into the earth.
All sorts of fruit and a modest amount of grain that could share life with the starving humans burst from the ground in droves.
“W-what in the…?!”
“…Incredible. Who could possibly have done this?”
[Was that really necessary…?]
[Hehe.]
The humans stared in shock at the suddenly sprouting food, while Yukgwi seemed puzzled, unable to understand the situation.
But since the Mountain Lord had not made the choice for their sake, they merely laughed.
If the knight who had given up even his precious heart for the eastern lands could see this sight, surely he would tell the Mountain Lord they had done well.
That alone was enough reason for the Mountain Lord to act.
“Th-this—ah!”
[The humans saw us.]
[Oops.]
There was one minor problem.
Immediately after using their power, the Mountain Lord’s body became visible.
And this place was not a forest but a flat, empty plain.
If an enormous white snake suddenly appeared in the open, no amount of heavenly fortune could possibly keep it hidden.
“A m-monster!”
“Another monster came to kill us!”
“It… doesn’t look like a demon.”
“Great Sage, that enormous snake…?”
“Do you think I know every single thing in the world? Still, it does remind me of an Ancient Beast said to dwell in the Great Forest.”
“…I believe you are correct.”
“Oh. So it really was?”
And just like that, the Mountain Lord was suddenly being called a monster.
Considering Yukgwi’s other half, the Black Serpent, had apparently just devastated the city, the misunderstanding was understandable….
But it was equally natural for the Mountain Lord’s feelings to be hurt.
The small number of humans who recognized what they were provided at least some consolation.
“Could we possibly ask you to use just a little more of your power? It would help if the quantity of fruit could be increased slightly….”
But once the Mountain Lord’s identity and harmlessness had been established, the humans immediately trying to covet their power was uncomfortable in an entirely different way.
[Never thought I’d miss those idiot priests….]
For a moment, the Mountain Lord found themself missing their lackeys.
.
.
.
[Hah… reckon the idiot priests really oughta be here after all….]
The not particularly long recollection ended.
Watching the humans of Bemurchen, the Mountain Lord once again missed the people of the Great Forest.
Back when they had lived in the Great Forest, the priests had seemed like a bunch of nagging nuisances.
Looking back now, however, everything they had said had been for the Mountain Lord’s sake.
The same went for their attitude of saying there was nothing the Mountain Lord needed to do and that they could simply remain in their nest.
They had not been trying to bore the Mountain Lord.
They had been trying not to depend on them or burden them.
Unlike the humans here.
[Sigh.]
But they said that regret, however quickly it came, always came too late.
Missing the inhabitants of the Great Forest, the Mountain Lord raised their tail.
White scales struck by the light gleamed like clouds in the sky.
“They’re moving!”
With only a little more strength, the tip of the tail stiffened like an awl.
The Mountain Lord drove the straight, sharply pointed tail directly into the ground.
“It’s growing!”
Yet when the tail touched the earth, neither the sound nor vibration that should have followed occurred.
The tail merely merged naturally into the soil and poured the Mountain Lord’s power into it.
Ssssssssh!
All kinds of grain and fruit trees began shooting upward from the green grass.
“Stop! Stop! Don’t pick them without permission!”
“Just until we can count how many there are… I said don’t eat them yet!”
The trees that spread roots and branches soon began bearing fruit.
Even the fruit ripened in an instant.
Hands stretched out competitively and seized them.
Every owner of those hands was a resident living under control in the name of protection.
“We’ll distribute them, so just endure for the moment…!”
“Do not hide anything! Anyone caught hiding food will be punished!”
The soldiers began restraining those residents.
They were trying to stop certain people—those healthy enough to win the competition—from monopolizing the food, but more than ten disturbances had already broken out because of it.
Including this one, they could count to ten on both hands, fold their fingers back down, and then count another ten.
[Good grief… the idiots are fightin’ again. Fightin’ again.]
The Mountain Lord had not given them food to watch this happen.
Humans truly were greedy creatures.
If the supplies brought in by the arriving relief forces, the resources obtained through hunting, and the fruit the Mountain Lord provided were all added together, things were not exactly abundant, but there was enough for everyone to make it through each day without starving.
[Why not just stop giving them anything?]
[I feel like doing that too, but… goodness.]
How would they react if the Mountain Lord suddenly stopped now?
Given the difference in strength, they probably would not dare attack….
Read only on MUGEX
[…I just can’t stand watchin’ these idiots start worshipping that tiger.]
The Mountain Lord rested their face wearily between the coils of their body.
Simply reviving a forest would have been one thing.
Repeatedly fast-forwarding the years merely to bring forth harvest after harvest was a considerable burden even for them.
[Those’re lives the knight suffered so much to save. Feels wrong to just let ’em die….]
[You’re making trouble for yourself.]
[But y’know. Unlike beasts that follow nothing but the law of the strong devouring the weak, isn’t it lovable when humans use their strength for the weak?]
For now, this degree of exhaustion remained bearable.
The Mountain Lord liked humans who possessed great strength yet knew how to lower themselves for others.
They liked the things such humans accomplished.
[So you’re going to keep staying here?]
[Ah, I’m not going that far. I might like humans a fair bit, but even that has limits.]
But when the human in question was no longer here, and the results that human had achieved were proving so disappointing, even the Mountain Lord’s long patience was bound to run thin.
Besides, they had already fulfilled their obligation toward that knight.
[Then?]
[From what I hear, the fourth relief force’ll be here soon, right? Once that one arrives, I’m gonna pull my tail out and leave.]
With that reminder, the Mountain Lord drew the final line.
Had there been even one human here capable of understanding the Mountain Lord’s spoken language, they would have been horrified.
But since there was no such person, the declaration ultimately went unheard.