Chapter 126

When Foxes Smoked (2)

Purple deer leap through the forest.

White snakes hang from the trees.

Crows with a reddish tint have four wings.

Fox Pass is a dreamlike and auspicious place.

“This way.”

Hyedam led Caleb deep into the village.

“It’s Hyedam!”

“Lady Hyedam!”

“It looks like you’ve driven off all the invaders.”

Little ones with single tails swarmed around them.

But they couldn’t approach Hyedam.

She was the most dignified being in that village.

Receiving admiring gazes from a distance, Hyedam said nothing.

The village vigilante group scattered and returned to their homes.

“You come this way.”

Hyedam led Caleb across the village to the outskirts.

They crossed a bridge over a large pond, then passed under lush weeping willows.

Then they arrived at a secluded place, a wide clearing.

A massive mansion surrounded by walls appeared.

Servants opened the gate for them.

“Do you know why I brought you here?”

Hyedam asked Caleb as she headed toward her house.

“No.”

“Fox Pass is a place I’ve hidden using 8th-grade magic. The houses and people here can’t be seen from the outside. It just looks like an ordinary forest.”

The name of that magic is ‘Fox Charm’.

The ultimate in illusion magic, like disguise magic or chameleon magic.

It induces a ‘charmed’ state in everyone across a set large-scale area. Those who are charmed see and hear exactly what the caster wants them to.

If she makes them see only an empty forest instead of Fox Pass, that’s what they see.

If she prevents the sounds of villagers laughing and chattering from being heard, they won’t be heard.

“That’s why invaders rarely manage to find Fox Pass.”

At least not until they enter inside.

Caleb knew why Hyedam was telling him this story.

“You showed them the way, didn’t you?”

“……”

“To those raiders. Right?”

Hyedam entered the room and lay down on the bed. She lifted her legs and rested her heels on the table.

As her skirt fell back, long, pure white legs were revealed beneath her undergarments.

“How did you know the location of this place?”

“I could just see it.”

“There are people like that sometimes. People who aren’t charmed. People with lots of suspicion, quick minds, and strong mental fortitude. Or……”

Hyedam took out a long pipe and put it in her mouth.

“People who are possessed.”

“That’s not me.”

“Then people who can be possessed.”

“……”

“I can guess why you brought those guys to find Fox Pass too. You were captured as a prisoner by those raiders, and while being dragged along, you deliberately guided them to the Yoho tribe village. So that I would annihilate those guys. Right?”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t escape by myself and wanted help.”

“I understand. Since I gave you that help, now it’s time for you to repay the debt, isn’t it?”

She pointed to the tip of her long pipe.

“Light this for me.”

Caleb stayed at Hyedam’s house and became a servant.

“Just for six months. It’s the price of your life.”

***

“What’s that man?”

The village elders who visited Hyedam’s house the next day frowned.

“He’s a tobacco boy.”

“He’s not a child though.”

“Are you worried about having a man in my room?”

“Of course… Don’t you know this brings impropriety?”

“A Yoho tribe boy of the same kind versus a human man. Which is better?”

“Hyedam!”

“He’s like a pet to me, so don’t worry about it.”

They conversed freely whether Caleb was listening beside them or not.

The elders sighed.

“Six months left until the ceremony. Conduct yourself properly.”

“……”

“If you don’t go overboard, we’ll forgive some moderate transgression. But don’t get too carried away.”

After the elders left, Hyedam took out her long pipe again.

“What’s the ceremony?”

Caleb asked while lighting it, but Hyedam didn’t answer.

Instead, she questioned Caleb.

“Tell me your story.”

“What story?”

“Anything. What you were doing before coming here.”

***

Hyedam liked listening to Caleb’s stories while smoking her long pipe.

“I was a wandering merchant. I was originally heading to Windham when I got captured by those raiders.”

“Where’s your hometown?”

“I’m from the west.”

“Windham?”

“Windham is south of here, Hyedam.”

“……”

Hyedam exhaled tobacco smoke with a puff.

“I know that too. Then…… Bimunaegol?”

“That’s east of here.”

“……Fr, Plandor……?”

Her voice lost confidence.

“You’re just naming random places you know. Usually when people say ‘the west‘, it doesn’t simply mean west from here, but west on a continental basis.”

“……”

“The land is barren, lots of Lizardmen live there, there’s no central government, and the lords constantly wage war. That’s how war orphans like me are created.”

“What’s a Lizard?”

“You don’t know?”

“……”

The fox with eight tails had power that was hard to believe for a human, but she strangely knew very little about the outside world.

“I’ve never been outside Fox Pass.”

The reason was that Hyedam had been the village’s guardian since birth.

She couldn’t leave the village.

“Lizards are reptilian subhumans that look like lizards.”

“Lizards-!?”

Shocked by the disgusting revelation, Hyedam startled in surprise.

“How can people look like lizards!”

“They lick their eyeballs with their tongues too.”

“Ewwww!”

Hyedam screamed and threw a pillow.

“Shall I tell you more about other subhuman races?”

Caleb told her stories about the world outside Fox Pass.

Every morning after breakfast, coming to her room and lighting her long pipe.

Puff puff.

Getting intoxicated together by the rising tobacco smoke.

There are lots of Orcs living in the west too. They’re a rough race with green skin, large builds and well-developed muscles like the Homin tribe.

The lords are divided into several factions, fighting bloody battles over who gets the Labyrinth stairs. Even if monsters pour out from the Labyrinth, they’d probably just watch them fight and go home, right?

What’s a Labyrinth eruption? You know what a Labyrinth is, right? ……At least it’s good that you know that much. Right. A Labyrinth is an underground world connected by stairs. Tremendous treasures come out, but tremendous monsters come out too.

That’s all for today.

Puff puff.

Some days, smoking with her as she exhales tobacco smoke with a puff, he tells stories about the north.

That place has land where snow and ice stretch endlessly.

Snow. Snow. You don’t know? No. Not eyeballs! What are you thinking! It’s not such a disgusting place!

It’s rainwater that froze into white flower-shaped crystals. Yes. It looks similar to chrysanthemum flowers. But it’s transparent, white, and sparkling. And cold.

Snow piles up on the ground. Yes, that’s right. Like flower petals. Some mountains in the north have snow piled up on their peaks all year round when you climb to the top. It’s called eternal snow. Does the ground melt? Yes, of course. It naturally melts when spring comes. Well, Fox Pass doesn’t have seasons.

Puff puff.

Barbarians are a belligerent savage race, and Frostians are people with blue skin who are resistant to cold.

On the contrary, if you go down south, it’s full of passionate and hot subhuman races. Especially, there are many beastmen there. Canines and felines make up the majority, but there are quite a few birdmen too.

Besides that, there are Halflings, Dwarfs, and other stubborn dwarfs who are short and work in mining or fishing.

Puff puff.

And in the middle of all that is the most developed Labyrinth city.

Soren.

If you travel east from there for a week, you reach Plandor, and if you travel further east from there, you reach Windham.

Windham is a city as big as Soren. There’s a pasta restaurant I know…… What’s pasta? Such a thing exists. I can’t make it for you because I don’t have the ingredients. Anyway, Goblins, beast people, and spirit people live in Windham. There are lots of Yoho tribe members too. Not affiliated with Fox Pass though. Oh, and there are Kappa tribe members too.

And north of Windham, there’s an enormously huge mountain range with fifteen valleys. If you go deep into one of them, a small village appears, and that’s exactly……

“This place, Fox Pass.”

“……”

Puff puff.

Hyedam’s tobacco smoke rose in fluffy clouds, floating out the window, beyond the mansion’s walls and fluttering away.

***

“Hyedam.”

Three months after Caleb had stayed there.

Caleb, who had gone to find her room, was hit by a pillow that flew from in front of the door.

“Get out!”

Hyedam was naked inside the room. Her white back, shoulders, and part of her chest were exposed.

And there was a large wound on her back.

The maids were tending to her wound.

“Close the door!”

Hyedam wasn’t screaming in anger because he had seen her naked body.

She hated showing that she was hurt.

Click!

Caleb closed the door and left.

And Hyedam finished treatment inside the room, slept, and came out half a day later.

Caleb had been sitting in front of the door waiting until then.

“You should have gone to your room. Were you waiting here? How foolish.”

“How did you get hurt?”

“……Come in.”

Hyedam returned to her place. She couldn’t lie down. Because her back was injured. Instead, she sat and held out the tip of her long pipe.

“I had a duel.”

“What duel?”

Caleb lit it for her.

“One of the raiders challenged me to a duel. Then I can’t refuse. I’m not…… I’m not simply some kind of power that protects this village. I’m also the pride of this village.”

“No, what the…… That’s just ridiculous.”

“What?”

“Those guys are raiders and invaders, aren’t they? What honor do they have that you’d accept their duel?”

“Because we have honor.”

“No, this is really a frustrating place……”

“That’s the village rule. But the guy I met today was cowardly and suddenly teleported behind me and stabbed me with a sword. So I got hurt.”

“That’s the Leap Ambush skill.”

“Nasty forest?”

“No, never mind.”

Caleb shook his head.

“More than that, that’s a really bad matchup for you as a shaman, Hyedam. Don’t accept duels next time.”

“I told you that’s the rule? And I won.”

“……”

Thud!

The elders visited again.

“Hyedam. I heard you got hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Our village guardian shouldn’t be so weak.”

“……I’m sorry.”

“Whether it’s duels or wars, you need to know how to perfectly sweep away everything that comes in.”

“I won’t make mistakes next time.”

“Three months from now, the red moon will rise. Take good care of your body.”

“……”

“Your body must be in perfect condition to perform the Nine-Tail ceremony.”

“Yes.”

“Get rid of that human too. Either chase him away or kill him.”

“I’ll send him back to his home within three months.”

The elders clicked their tongues, glared at Caleb once, and went outside.

And a few seconds later.

Crash!

Suddenly Hyedam threw her long pipe toward the door.

“……”

Startled Caleb froze like a stone, and Hyedam covered her face with both hands.

She didn’t cry.

Instead, she bit her lips tightly.

“Long pipe.”

“Yes.”

“Could you…… Pick it up for me? Sorry.”

She put the long pipe that Caleb brought back in her mouth.

“I only have this.”

Caleb lit it for her.

“Shall I tell you a story about the outside?”

“……”

“Once I was doing business with some Halfling friends in the south……”

“Caleb.”

Hyedam took a puff of tobacco smoke.

“Yes.”

“Don’t you ask about the Nine-Tail ceremony? I thought you’d be curious.”

“It didn’t seem like something I should interfere with.”

“……”

Hyedam put down her long pipe.

“Just go back today.”

“What kind of ceremony is it?”

“Never mind. Get lost!”

Hyedam roughly pushed Caleb and chased him away.