novelraw Chapter 137
Chapter 137
Chapter 137
The Mouse Tribe were friends who knew a great deal.
Their groups were divided into about fifty teams.
Each consisted of roughly around a hundred members, and these Mouse Tribe groups roamed across the entire domain of the Beastmen.
Just as the Fox Tribe and their affiliates scattered across human territories were well-informed about events on that side, the ones who best understood the Beastmen’s domain were undoubtedly the Mouse Tribe.
Because they used rather primitive means of communication, their information delivery was slower than the Fox Tribe’s, yet they still managed to share the crucial details.
So, it was only right to assume that the Mouse Tribe were the ones who knew the most in the northern part of the Ribella Peninsula.
The Horse Tribe were nomads as well, but they didn’t explore every region as thoroughly as the Mouse Tribe did.
“There are quite a few Beastmen who live hidden away in small groups. Take the Dancing Tail Tribe, for instance. I heard there are about three small villages, each made up of roughly a hundred people.”
“Really?”
According to Verodos, the Beastmen tribes we knew of didn’t represent the entire Beastmen race.
Just as there are mainstream and non-mainstream groups, there were Beastmen who lived apart from the main tribes.
He mentioned the Cat Tribe as an example — saying that among the Dancing Tail Tribe (Cat Tribe) we had traded with, some had migrated elsewhere and built their own separate villages.
Their numbers weren’t large, just small village-sized groups, but the mere fact that some Beastmen lived independently was a refreshing surprise.
‘I thought they all lived together by tribe… seems there are exceptions even among them.’
—Indeed. Perhaps due to the Great Cataclysm, things have changed greatly from the past. I never imagined there would be Beastmen who broke away from their tribes.
‘Well, didn’t the Rabbit Tribe also separate once? One group worked as Workers in the Hawrun Territory, and another was down in Saint, remember?’
—That was because those pig bastards destroyed their tribe.
But there was one even more surprising fact.
In the northern lands of the Beastmen — the north of the Ribella Peninsula — there existed another Rabbit Tribe village we hadn’t known of.
“Really? There are more Rabbit Tribe settlements?”
“Yes. As I recall, I’m certain they were Rabbit Tribe. Let’s see… maybe five places? There weren’t many of them. Around one to two hundred, scattered near the entrance of the northern Ribella mountain range.”
“Huh, the Rabbit Tribe went that far north, huh.”
The northern Ribella mountain range wasn’t that far from here.
I thought they had all escaped from the Boar Tribe’s slavery around the Johnson Territory and fled entirely into the Forest of Illusions, but it seemed some had fled north instead.
So the Rabbit Tribe living here now were likely descendants of those who had fled back then.
—To think there were still surviving Rabbit Tribe… We must reclaim them.
‘Well, of course. They’re Rabbit Tribe, after all.’
Just learning that more Rabbit Tribe survivors existed made saving the Mouse Tribe feel worth it.
Once we resolved the Horse Tribe issue, it’d be great to take the Rabbit Tribe and return to our territory.
—Perhaps then, my power will grow even stronger. There may be a change that will surprise even my master.
‘I never really expected much from a rabbit whose only charm is being cute, though.’
—Only charm? You’re managing the Horned Rabbits quite well, aren’t you?
‘Fine, let’s call it a two-trick act, then.’
Honestly, the Rabbit Tribe had already done so much for us that I didn’t need them to “level up” or anything.
They had even manifested as the Black Rabbit itself—expecting more now would just be greedy.
Still, the Rabbit Spirit kept insisting I look forward to something, though I didn’t feel particularly expectant.
“Oh, so this is the famous Horned Rabbit.”
“That’s right. Eat plenty.”
“Thank you so much. We should be the ones treating our guests, yet we’re the ones being served. It’s quite embarrassing.”
“Come on, it’s fine. Those who have share with those who don’t. That’s how camping works, isn’t it?”
“We’re truly grateful.”
We filled our stomachs with the Horned Rabbit we brought and the Mouse Tribe’s canned fruit.
With full bellies, the mood was excellent.
Not only had we saved the Mouse Tribe in their time of crisis, but we’d also treated them to a hearty meal.
At this point, it felt about time to ask them about their situation.
“Ah, so that’s what you were curious about.”
“Of course. Anyone would find it strange that an entire tribe is wandering instead of settling down.”
“Indeed. Yes, it is strange.”
Why hadn’t the Mouse Tribe settled anywhere, and why were they wandering the northern Ribella Peninsula?
When I asked casually, Verodos’s expression darkened.
It clearly wasn’t a pleasant story.
“Haa…”
After a brief uncomfortable silence, Verodos sighed and finally began to speak.
His very first words left quite the impression.
“It’s because of the original sin of our Plentiful Tail Tribe.”
The heavy word “original sin” itself made me pause.
‘Original sin, huh… what kind of reason could lead him to say something like that?’
I knew that the Mouse Tribe and the Bear Tribe had once maintained a very close, symbiotic relationship.
But I didn’t know how it had ended.
Apparently, there was quite a story behind it.
“When the Boar Tribe attacked the Bear Tribe’s village, all of the Bear Tribe’s warriors were out hunting monsters. Only the weak children and the elderly were left in the village.”
It had been such a sudden assault that the Mouse Tribe, lacking strength, could only flee.
“And even when the remaining Bear Tribe warriors prepared for their final battle against the Boar Tribe, the Mouse Tribe could only pray from afar for their victory.”
It was a story I had already known, at least to some extent.
When the Bear Tribe’s warriors had gone hunting, the Boar Tribe launched a sudden raid on their village.
With the Boar Tribe’s ambush, the very foundation of the Bear Tribe was wiped out, and the enraged survivors swore blood vengeance. Together with the Lion Tribe and our ancestors from the Johnson Territory, they drove the Boar Tribe away.
I had heard that, at the time, the Bear Tribe refused help from the Mouse Tribe and sent them elsewhere.
Could there be something more to this that I didn’t know?
“The Mouse Tribe… were too weak. We still are, but back then, we were even weaker. We couldn’t help at all. The Bear Tribe knew that and didn’t blame us for it.”
They were too weak to be of any real help, so the Bear Tribe refused their assistance — just as I’d heard.
Evacuating non-combatants during battle was only common sense, after all.
But I couldn’t understand where this talk of ‘original sin’ came in.
“The Mouse Tribe should have fought. Instead of fleeing, we should have shared our final moments with our old friends.”
‘So, what—he means their “original sin” was that they didn’t perish together with the Bear Tribe?’
Thinking about it, the Mouse Tribe probably never imagined that the Bear Tribe would truly be annihilated like that.
A coalition of Lions, Humans, and Bears—defeating the Boar Tribe should have been no problem.
The real issue was that the Bear Tribe’s vengeance burned so fiercely that they perished together with the Boar Tribe in an explosion of rage.
When the battle ended, not a single Bear Tribe member remained alive — proof enough of how terrible their fury had been.
The Bear Tribe’s chieftain had even foreseen their demise, leaving their vision behind with my family’s ancestor.
“I see… I think I understand. The ancestors of the Mouse Tribe must’ve felt tremendous guilt.”
The two tribes had been extremely close.
The Bear Tribe had protected the Mouse Tribe.
To stand by helplessly and watch their protectors die must have been a traumatic event for them.
Still, I didn’t see how that tragedy in the past connected to why the Mouse Tribe now wandered across the northern Ribella Peninsula.
“The Mouse Tribe are searching for a Sacred Relic — the Bear Tribe’s relic that the Boar Tribe stole. We wish to recover it and soothe their spirits. That is our only form of atonement.”
“…A Sacred Relic?”
So, they were wandering the north of the Ribella Peninsula to find the Bear Tribe’s Sacred Relic?
‘But why search here?’
That relic was in our territory!
When we wiped out the Boar Tribe and cleaned up the battlefield, we had found the Bear Tribe’s Sacred Relic among their spoils, and it was now stored safely in the temple of our territory.
‘So, the Mouse Tribe are wandering the land to find a relic that’s already in our possession?’
—It would seem so.
‘Then there’s no reason for them to keep wandering, is there?’
—Indeed.
It felt only right to tell them, so I explained the whole situation.
That the Boar Tribe had attacked our territory, that we’d annihilated their warriors—everything.
Since our contact with Beastmen was fairly recent, the Mouse Tribe hadn’t even known we’d fought against the Boar Tribe.
“Oh, truly worthy descendants of the warriors who once fought beside the Bear Tribe! To think you have defeated the Boar Tribe so thoroughly…”
Verodos rejoiced when he heard we’d defeated the Boar Tribe, but the moment I mentioned finding the Bear Tribe’s Sacred Relic among the Boar chieftain’s belongings, he sprang to his feet in fury.
“Those cursed wretches!!! How dare they run away carrying the Bear Tribe’s Sacred Relic!”
Even when his own warriors were slain by the Stone Giant, Verodos had stayed calm—but not this time. He shouted furiously, unable to contain his rage.
I couldn’t quite understand his sudden outburst.
—Ah, so that’s how it is.
‘What do you mean?’
—Even I had been quite shocked. I never imagined those pig bastards had taken the Bear Tribe’s Sacred Relic.
‘Really? Is that so strange?’
—Of course it is. A Sacred Relic holds divine power. For a tribe that wiped out another to take their Sacred Relic? They’d never dare risk divine punishment.
‘Divine punishment, huh. Well, this is a world where gods exist. But didn’t the Boar Tribe already get punished? Lord Bestia withdrew His blessing from them.’
—Perhaps, but the existence of their “master” was divine punishment in itself. To be slain by a lord like a bear—that was the curse of the Bears upon them.
‘The curse of the Bears… maybe so…’
Still, taking the Sacred Relic of the very tribe they annihilated was an act of blasphemy even by Beastmen standards.
Typical Boar Tribe behavior.
Just like the Imperial bastards they once allied with — filthy to the end.
“Hah… then what have we been doing all this time…”
After their crushing defeat at the hands of the Lion Tribe, Humans, and the Bear Tribe alliance, the Boar Tribe fled north with the few survivors they had left.
The Mouse Tribe had assumed that, if the Boar Tribe held the Bear Tribe’s relic, they must have discarded it while fleeing — perhaps in a riverbed or at the bottom of a cliff, somewhere impossible to find.
Or maybe buried it where no one would ever discover it.
They never imagined the Boar Tribe would actually carry it with them to the very end.
And as the Black Rabbit had said, Sacred Relics held divine power — perhaps even channeling the Bear Tribe’s grudge into a curse through them.
‘Yet, the Boar Tribe actually did it.’
Their greed had gone far beyond what the Mouse Tribe could have imagined — and because of that, the relic ended up in our hands.
“So then, what happens to the Mouse Tribe now? You don’t have to keep searching anymore, right?”
“That’s… true. The Bear Tribe’s Sacred Relic has already returned home.”
Verodos, who had been mumbling like a man in a daze, immediately focused when I mentioned the relic.
The Bear Tribe’s destruction had occurred before the Great Cataclysm — even before the Johnson Territory existed.
Our ancestors had only settled here and built the castle after driving out the Boar Tribe.
It was natural that the Mouse Tribe would have many thoughts now that the relic they’d sought for so long had been found.
“In any case, your tribe needed the Bear Tribe’s Sacred Relic, didn’t you? It’s enshrined in our temple. You’re welcome to visit and pray before it if you wish.”
“R–Really? Would it be all right for us Mouse Tribe to visit the Johnson Territory?”
“Of course. You’re welcome. Our territory shares deep ties with the Bear Tribe. Their friends are our friends.”
“Then I’ll send word to the other village chiefs at once. Our settlement will make its way to the Johnson Territory.”
“Good. I’ll notify the territory’s communication office in advance. We’d escort you ourselves, but right now, we must meet with the Horse Tribe.”
“Your permission alone is more than enough. We’re deeply grateful.”
So, the Mouse Tribe would all be gathering in the Johnson Territory, then?
That was an unexpected yet tremendous gain.
‘I’ll have to tell Butler Harold to prepare a grand welcome.’
—Planning to keep them for good, are you?
Once they entered, it was only natural they wouldn’t want to leave again.
And of course, I wasn’t about to let valuable future Workers like the Mouse Tribe slip away.
With both the Rabbit Tribe and Mouse Tribe secured, I felt full even without eating.