Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint-Chapter 557: Civilization vs Savagery

Mugul had taken control of an entire tribe and enslaved its people. Some of them didn’t even realize they were sacrifices and acted as his minions. Counting even those locked up in the underground prison, the number came to around six hundred.

Of them, we sent back those who could manage on their own or still had homes to return to—three hundred remained. Three hundred refugees with nowhere to go, no ties left, and no one to turn to.

In the jungle, where people lived in tightly-knit tribes, three hundred was an enormous number. You could count on one hand the number of people who could even count that high. In this harsh, unforgiving land, there was only one place capable of housing that many people right now.

Fiou Village.

"Ooooooh! You really did it!"

After a two-day journey, the regressor and I arrived at Fiou Village with the three hundred refugees in tow. Rash, having received word in advance, came out with a few of the Undying to greet them.

"Two hundred sacrifices, you say? What kind of horrifying ritual were they trying to perform?! Teacher, young man! Even as outsiders, you’ve helped us as if this were your own land—thank you!"

Rash expressed his gratitude with sincerity, solely because we’d saved the Fiou. However, some of the Undying who came with him looked troubled upon seeing the refugees we’d brought.

"Three hundred? One, two... ten—wait, I’m out of fingers. Hey, how much is three hundred again?"

"How should I know?! It's just a whole damn lot! What are we supposed to do now? Fiou Village is going to burst at the seams!"

"They all look like they’re barely hanging on. Do we even have enough food? Are you saying we have to feed them?"

Fiou Village had been established through the goodwill of the Undying, to help the displaced Fiou who’d lost their home. But even if the Undying couldn’t die, that didn’t mean they could endure starvation. The undying still needed to eat to move.

The arrival of three hundred people brought with it a very real food crisis, and the Undying began discussing it seriously. Representing their concern, Left Leg stepped forward.

"Right Arm. Your guests have done a great deed. That cruel sorcerer would have surely extended his reach to our village eventually. Your guests have helped us just the same."

Rash replied enthusiastically.

"Look at that! Even a man from beyond the plains understands honor! Then isn’t it our duty to repay such honorable deeds with no shame?"

"Yes, of course, Right Arm. We fully intend to recognize and honor the man from beyond the plains as a warrior. However..."

Left Leg shook his head again as he glanced at the three hundred refugees.

"I'm sorry, but we cannot take them in."

"Are you serious, Left Leg?"

"Fiou Village is a sanctuary we carved out on the edge of our land. The moment someone enters this village, they become one of the Fiou—and that means it’s our duty to protect and care for them. That’s how we’ve lived since the time of Muhu, how the Undying coexist with those who die easily."

"Then why abandon that tradition now?"

"That’s why, Right Arm. We have to survive too."

Left Leg made his refusal clear with a dose of realism.

"We’ve managed so far, even as our numbers grew. We just had to hunt a little harder, gather a few more berries. But if we add another three hundred... we’ll have to hunt every single day without rest."

"So what? We don’t tire. We can go all the way to the plains and bring back three buffalo if we want! If not us, then who?"

"Right Arm. Not everyone in the tribe is like you."

"What do you mean?"

"Not everyone can spend days on end hunting to feed the Fiou. Someone has to watch the homes, make offerings, raise the children."

Surviving in this rugged jungle was hard enough as it was. The Undying might not die, but that didn’t erase the other burdens they carried.

The most pressing of those burdens: food. Hunting wasn’t easy. Beasts here were powerful and dangerous, and even for the Undying, securing meat was a grueling task.

"If we try to feed all of them, the beasts will be hunted to extinction. The Fiou are people who will eventually move on. We can’t disrupt the balance of this land for their sake."

"Hmm..."

Rash, now caught between the two, looked visibly troubled. It was the regressor and I who defeated the black magician and saved all these people. Turning them away in front of us would be disgraceful.

But as someone who lived in this village, Rash also couldn’t ignore the reality Left Leg had pointed out.

Silence settled. The regressor, having waited patiently for long enough, finally spoke up, unable to hold back.

"So? You’re kicking them out?"

"Just wait a moment. I’m sure we can find a way."

"No, it's your call. It’s your village—if you don’t want them, I can’t force you. I’ve done my part. You only have to do what you can."

Was that really it? Killing the black magician was the end? Mission complete and all that’s left is this annoying cleanup? No divine message or anything?

Despite his curt tone, the regressor looked visibly annoyed. Even the boisterous Rash was trying to read the room.

But there was no clever solution to be found in the face of reality. Reality is cold. Left Leg spoke again.

"Then it’s settled. We’ll share a bit of food, but they’ll have to return to where they came from—"

"Hold on. This isn’t over."

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

That was when she arrived. From the far end of Fiou Village came Callis, leading the village watch. After ordering the Fiou to care for the refugees, she strode forward and inserted herself squarely between Rash and Left Leg.

"Left Leg. If I can solve the food problem, may I take them in?"

Chin raised, arms crossed, Callis addressed Left Leg directly. He looked at her with a mix of resistance and discomfort as he replied.

"...Right Arm’s partner."

Huh. That was an odd reaction. For someone usually as relaxed and clear-cut as the Undying, Left Leg seemed... uneasy around her.

"Are you referring to the method you mentioned before?"

"That explanation was vague. It’s slash-and-burn. We burn the forest to make farmland."

"You’d light the devil’s fire in this land governed by the Offering Spirit?"

"It’s not the devil’s fire, and this isn’t the Offering Spirit’s land. I—no, we—would only burn controllable areas under strict supervision."

Ah. There it was again—that distinctly militaristic way of thinking. If you don’t have the capacity to support the population, expand farmland. Cold and focused on results, the kind of thinking common in the Military State, but often hard to accept.

Is this how civilization handles savagery? Callis explained clearly:

"We divide the forest into zones and set fire to them. Till the soil mixed with ash and dead branches. Plant seeds and grow crops. It takes time, but with regimented magic, the entire process can be accelerated."

"The Offering Spirit’s land is soaked daily. Fire doesn’t catch so easily here."

"Then I’ll transmute the fuel with alchemy." freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"Trans... what?"

"Let’s call it a witch’s secret. Not quite as mystical—more methodical."

"Utter nonsense..."

"No, Left Leg. It’s possible!"

Now things were finally getting interesting, so I jumped in and backed up Callis.

"As long as the wood is chopped, we can perform quick transmutations. Look—I can separate moisture from wood to make both fuel and drinking water. It’s simple!"

To demonstrate, I snapped a branch and used quick alchemy to pull the water out. Droplets formed and fell from the wood, and Left Leg grimaced at the sight.

"Ugh... and how exactly do you plan to change this entire forest that way?"

"Oh, don’t worry about «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» that. Callis here is a former military magic officer. She’s got plenty of magical power. And if it comes to it, I’ll help too."

When I backed her up, Left Leg looked twice as troubled. I met his irritated glare with a bright smile.

Not that I had any intention of helping Callis specifically. But it would’ve been a waste to let the Military State’s blunt yet rational civilization-building methods be dismissed just because people “didn’t trust them.” All they needed was some faith. Just a little.

"Beans grow where beans are sown, and red beans grow where red beans are sown. Even if you make farmland, what do you plan to plant in those empty fields?"

"The Military State provides chimera soybean seeds to officers of field rank or higher during operations, so they can be self-sufficient during independent missions. I still have some on me."

"You carry seeds around with you? Hmph..."

"Wow, you really do carry them around, just like they say! These are definitely chimera soybean seeds!"

Looks fake, doesn’t it? But the Military State doesn’t play around. Just in case they doubted her, I stepped forward and vouched for them. The other Undying, including Left Leg, hesitated as they looked at the seeds Callis held out.

"That’s not a lot. How long will it take to grow enough to eat?"

"Don’t worry. Chimera soybeans leech energy from nearby plants. Once they reach a certain size, they can be grafted and multiplied. It’ll take some time, but it’s doable."

"You can multiply them? If it were that easy—"

"Oh, and I have druidic powers. If we’ve got fields, I can help them grow faster."

Since we were on a roll, I made some leaves sprout from a dry twig. That got a much bigger reaction from the Undying.

The people of the Ten Nations might not know much about magic or alchemy, but they all know about druids. When it comes to plants and trees, no one questions a druid.

The opposition was running out of logical ground. Now Left Leg was starting to sound like a cranky old man picking at details.

"What if the fire spreads?"

"Oh, I’ll handle that. I can isolate the air with Tianying and sever the ground with Jizan. No matter what happens, the fire won’t spread."

Worried the Undying still wouldn’t believe him, the regressor demonstrated it himself. He swung Tianying toward a campfire a bit farther away, and the flames flickered unnaturally—as if hitting an invisible wall.

There was no concern left for the Undying to cling to. No argument to make. And with both me and the regressor clearly taking this side, they couldn’t just ignore us either.

All that was left was a choice. Drive the refugees away, or accept them.

What would it be?

After a long silence, Left Leg finally gave an answer—squeezing it out at the very end.

"This isn’t a decision we can make lightly. We must speak with the priestesses of the Offering Spirit—the Eyes, the Nose, the Mouth, and the Ears."

So he wanted to postpone the answer. The most common, most productive choice in history. Cliché, but effective.

Still, time wasn’t on the Undying’s side. Postponing the decision meant keeping things as they were, for now. They couldn’t turn away three hundred refugees while the matter was unresolved.

Callis smiled like a victor.

"Then in the meantime, we’ll take responsibility for them—until the discussion with the priestesses is over."

Left Leg clicked his tongue loudly. It was clear who had won and who had lost.

And that made it all the more entertaining.

In the past, when I’d seen Callis in the Military State, she’d been a cold-blooded woman who’d do anything for power. Rash, by contrast, had always been kind and generous.

And yet now it was Callis protecting the refugees—while the generous Undying recoiled from them.

I grinned as I listened to her thoughts.

“If the population of Fiou Village grows, my influence grows with it. I followed Rash here, but I can’t live doing nothing. The standard of living here is too low, too primitive. I need to raise Fiou Village to at least the level of a frontier town in the Military State.”

Callis hadn’t abandoned her ambition—she’d just changed its direction.

“The drills are in place. Education is going well. The savages who settled here are starting to admire the way I move and dress, and they’re eager to learn. Now what Fiou Village needs is power—and self-sufficiency. That’s all.”

A change in environment doesn’t erase your past life. With a clear blueprint and a mission-like mindset, Callis was still very much a product of the Military State.

“And that way, the child I’ll one day have... won’t live the life of a savage.”

Not entirely out of ambition, but not free from it, either.

And though none of the Undying could read her mind like I could, they sensed her intent—vaguely, instinctively. That ambition was not the sole reason they hesitated, but it was certainly part of it.

"Right Arm’s partner."

Left Leg, who was reading the undercurrents better than anyone else, called out to Callis softly. Not by her name, not by her title—but simply as “Rash’s partner.” No more than that.

"Don’t overstep. Even if you’re Right Arm’s partner, you’re still a Fiou. One of the fragile ones we protect."

Regardless of whether she was Rash’s mate or the head of the village, Callis was still just a Fiou. Left Leg pointed to the red armband on her arm and warned her.

Rash shouted, "Left Leg!"

"Right Arm. If you’re truly our kin, take better care of your partner. What we gave the Fiou was a safe haven—a place where they can protect their lives. We didn’t give them the right to command us. Not everyone who comes from beyond the plains can become another Muhu."

Oho. So that’s how they want to play it? Well, a little territorial pride is still a kind of right. It felt a bit petty, especially coming from an Undying, but hey—whatever works.

I was still playing the observer when Left Leg turned and looked at my armband.

"And you. The one from beyond the plains."

"Eh? Me?"

"Yes. If you’re also a Fiou, remember my words."

Wait, what? Why me now? I wasn’t even planning to live here. I’m a traveler—I’ll be gone someday.

"Left Leg. That’s enough."

"Right Arm. We also—"

"No. I’m saying it for your sake. Challenge what you want, but don’t disregard him. The teacher..."

Rash’s heart was in the right place, but I understood where Left Leg was coming from, too. I cut him off with a small wave.

"It’s okay, Rash. I overstepped a little too."

"Teacher. I’m sorry. After all you’ve done..."

"No, no, no. It’s fine. I wasn’t offended. Really. I meant it literally. I’m an outsider who’ll leave eventually—this isn’t my place to speak up. I just offered help where I could, but the decision is yours alone."

Yeah. I’m just the one who shoves the choice in front of people so they can’t look away.

If they shut their eyes, I pry them open. If they close their ears, I shout it in. If they reject the thought, I dig deep into their heart and force them to confront it.

And if they make a choice after all that, I respect it.

"Alright, let’s call it here, shall we? We need rest, and you have a ‘discussion’ to attend."

I clapped my hands, and as if they’d been waiting for the cue, the meeting came to an end. Left Leg left with the other Undying to speak with the priestesses, while Callis returned to the refugees with the village watch in tow.