#889. I’m sorry
* * *
It was a long trip.
Over a wide, deep river over a sandy windswept wasteland, over towering rocky hills.
Their destination was too far away for them to reach with three horses and no meager means of transport.
It was a short trip.
Eating a warm supper in the wasteland, crossing a river with a telekinetic bridge, climbing a rocky hill like a plain.
Originally, they passed by so easily where they would risk their lives several times just by fighting the fallen spirits.
After such a long and short trip.
at the final destination.
Yuna-kyung was amazed.
[Wow, it really is something to live a long life and see. I didn’t know that even the Fairy Kingdom was not enough and I would come to the Indian Autonomous District to see it.] ”
…The Fairy Kingdom is a place that few people have ever been to, even in our Continental Guardians.”
[Well, I know that, but I didn’t get to see it properly in the Fairy Kingdom.]
“…”
Next time, I’ll ask the Fairy Queen to stay for about a month and go sightseeing comfortably.
The stalwart bison made a subtle expression as he watched the blue bird talking about the fairy kingdom, which had been untouched for hundreds of years, as if it were a grandmother’s country house.
But Yuna didn’t care.
I just looked at the scenery in front of me with curious eyes.
It was because the scenery here was just as interesting to her as she had followed Limon around the country.
Anak looking at the fruit picked in the orchard.
A herder feeding grass to a buffalo in a pasture.
An old man making crafts while hanging a fishing rod by the stream.
Its appearance is truly idyllic.
It’s something you’d only find in remote rural villages.
It was a very peaceful and ordinary landscape.
…if it weren’t for the chunks of metal in between.
A mechanical cane held by a shepherd and a mechanical steel shepherd dog instead of cloth.
A drone flying in the sky picking fruit and spraying fertilizer.
Even a metal barrel that neatly trims a wooden block and provides craft materials in real time.
The sight of spirits that are more complex than any other high-tech machines roaming around in a traditional yet idyllic landscape is both strange and tranquil.
It’s not as bustling as a big city.
Not as modern as Rushmore.
However, it was a scene where nature and machinery were exquisitely harmonized, creating a tranquil beauty.
That’s why Na-kyung Yun knew.
this is the distant past.
That it is in harmony with the spirits in a form different from the fairy kingdom completed by mankind living in the golden age.
[Oh… that’s amazing. Living while preserving tradition and history for thousands of years.]
“It’s not exactly the same as the Golden Age.”
To the admiring Yuna-kyung.
The mighty bison said calmly.
In the Silver Age, they faced the forces of the gods centered on Europe.
Also in the Age of Bronze, he intervened in the fight between the Golden Dragon Lord and the Fairy Kingdom.
In the Age of Heroes, they made white people into slaves and went to war with white people, including the Golden Dragon clan.
It is an undeniable fact that many changes have occurred in the culture and life of the Indians during their long history.
It was ironic that the Continental Guardians, who pursued the glory of the past, accelerated the change.
In any case, even taking such changes into account, it was clear that the Indian Territory was one of the longest-held traditions and histories of humankind.
Including the fact that it is home to more elemental spirits and shamans than anywhere else in the world.
“Hey, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“What is that?”
“…?”
So it was.
The reason why the strong bison, who followed Black Dog’s sudden question, turned his gaze, hardened his face.
An autonomous district that looks only peaceful.
The fragments and debris of all kinds of robots piled up on one side of the road didn’t match the peaceful scenery around them.
“It’s the sentinel spirit. They are the guardian deities that protect this borough.”
[…why are those guardian gods like that?]
“I’m more curious about that.”
The stalwart bison hardened its face.
Indian Territory has been a place where countless elementals and shamans have touched over the past hundreds of years.
The power of the Sentinel Spirit, which can be said to be the essence, is at a level that is in no way inferior to that of the Spirit Sentai.
If the power of other defense systems were added to it, it was a place where a fair amount of corrupted spirits could easily be stopped even if they rushed in droves.
But that sentinel spirit had turned into garbage.
As a member of the Continental Guardian, it was something he could never underestimate.
He didn’t even know what had happened recently due to the nature of the Indian Territory, where communication with the outside was difficult as it was in the middle of the wilderness.
“I think I can give you that answer.”
“What do you mean?”
“That means you can see the familiar knife marks in the wreckage.”
“I can’t believe that…”
That was the reason he had a serious expression at Limon’s words.
But is it good or bad?
what happened here
He didn’t need to find out.
It was because there was someone who came first without the strong bison walking around selling their own feet.
“Are you here now?”
doing shit
For a moment to harden.
The stalwart bison turned its head forward like a cyborg with rust at its joints.
“I want to welcome you for the first time in a while, but I can’t.”
And saw.
A skinny leather suit.
Blonde hair decorated with feathers and bones.
Even mysterious tattoos all over the body.
A figure riding on a spirit resembling a crocodile with a particularly splendid appearance even at first glance.
“To bring the swordsmith and even the spirit beast here. He must have gone crazy after only dealing with criminals outside on a fictional day.”
[Uh…. Who is that?]
In response to Yuna-Kyung’s question, she was trembling as she saw her opponent spouting vicious words as soon as she saw her. The mighty bison opened its mouth after a brief silence.
“You are the shaman of our tribe.”
[A shaman means a shaman?]
“Shaman doesn’t originally refer to a shaman. It’s a word to call the best elementalist in the tribe.”
[Aha, in short, you are a high-ranking person in the Indian Territory?]
“That’s right.”
For Indians who live with spirits, spirits and shamans are spiritual leaders.
In that sense, the shaman was second only to the chief in each tribe… no, in a sense, he was a man of power who even surpassed the chief.
But that wasn’t the only reason the stalwart bison hardened at the sight of her.
“…At the same time,
he’s also my cousin.”
[…?]
“Otherwise, as a fiancée, I’m sorry.”
That moment.
Yuna-kyung blinked her eyes.
And now I’m looking back and forth between an Indian girl who looks only in her mid-teens and a stout bison who looks to be in her 30s or older.
After reviewing the conversation between the two.
Limon with a subtle expression and Black Dog with an interesting face.
And while tied up with a rope and being dragged along, he unconsciously asked on behalf of the gunman, Injo Oh, who looked like he was looking at a criminal.
[…Sheriff oppa, was he really a bitch?]
* * *
After biting down on one fruit and passing it down his throat whole along with the juice.
Yuna-kyung shook her head.
[Hmm, in short, it’s a marriage of convenience?]
“A marriage of convenience?”
[Don’t you know? It’s a marriage that adults make as needed.]
“You’re saying strange things. Marriage is originally done because it is necessary, but I don’t know why they put the word political strategy on it.”
[Ah yes.]
Like I really don’t know.
Shaman girl tilting her head.
The little squirrel took her eyes off Yuna-gyeong, who looked at her and looked around.
“In that sense, my husband, who didn’t make children, left to work outside, and made his fiancée go toe-to-toe, is really heartless.”
[I’m asking just in case. When the two of you got engaged…?]
“It must have been four years ago.”
How old was this girl at the time?
After calculating, Yuna-gyeong was no longer a criminal, but looked at the strong buffalo with eyes like looking at a trash bag with contents bursting.
Still, as a minimum of loyalty to her colleagues who had accompanied her this far, Yuna-kyung scratched her head with her wings and opened her beak.
[…Um what. Because you were still young. Wasn’t he trying to wait until he matured a little more?]
“A woman over her twenties is an old virgin, so there’s no reason to waste half of my youth.”
[See this?! You’re a lively youth in your twenties, right?]
In the middle of Na-gyeong Yun, who was treated as a virgin ghost after encouraging her all of a sudden.
The mighty bison sighed.
“Please understand. Little squirrel lives only in the Indian Territory, so he doesn’t know much about the common sense of the world these days.”
Yuna-kyung protested to him, who said bitterly that it was because of him that he was talking to himself.
[Even if you don’t know common sense, there is a degree!]
“You didn’t tell me. The Indian Territory is a place where traditions have been preserved for thousands of years.”
In the Golden Age, it was natural to meet a partner in one’s teens, have grandchildren in one’s thirties, and be respected as having lived a long life even in one’s fifties.
Besides, it was an era when there was no objection to marriage between cousins as long as they had outstanding qualities.
In the Indian Territory, which preserves the tradition of the time, small squirrels are common sense.
Listen to what the mighty bison said.
she was dumbfounded
[…No, no matter how much tradition is changed, we have to change it.]
“If that was possible, the Indian Territory would not have remained as it is.”
[That’s right…]
Yuna-kyung was at a loss for words.
Until I first saw this place, I admired the adherence to tradition.
It was because I did not know how to accept the tradition, common sense and culture as they were in the past.
What saved Yuna-kyung was a calm voice from the side.
“Let’s stop chatting and get to the point.”
Limon, who was tasting whiskey with cheese, put down his empty glass.
And look at the little squirrel.
I asked casually.
“Shaman, what happened here?”
“…I don’t know what you mean.”
“Because I can guess what happened just by looking at the remains of the sentinel spirits piled up on the way here to not pretend.”
“….”
I even tried to shoot Limon terrifyingly for a while.
The little squirrel reluctantly opened his mouth, as if he felt that he could not take it anymore.
“There was an attack not too long ago.”
“You mean the attack of the fallen spirits who use swords like ghosts?”
“Right, but wrong.”
“What is wrong?”
Black Dog, who received the horse, of course.
While everyone was watching with a puzzled expression, the little squirrel calmly opened his mouth.
“It’s an attack by ‘corrupt spirits’.”
“…!”
“I can’t believe that…”
“I can’t believe it. It’s the fourth time that strange spirit has attacked us in the past month.”
beat it a few times
Even if it breaks into pieces again.
Hearing of the spirit reappearing and raiding the Indian Territory, Limon hardened his face.
No, the others were the same.
The spirit that reproduced the Sword Master’s swordsmanship was an existence that even Limon could defeat with a swordsman.
Not to mention, the number of such spirits was unexpected in many ways.
to them like that.
said the little squirrel.
“And with all the wisdom and history of our ancestors, I assure you, it was absolutely not a spirit.”
