Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint - Chapter 543



Sheep and Dogs

Environment shapes a person. And a person is a beast. Thus, one could say that the environment creates beasts.

In that sense, saying that wild animals are ferocious is not an hasty generalization but a logical deduction. The raw, unrefined wilderness is filled with pain, disease, insects, predators, competition, and hunger. In such a harsh wilderness, kindness is a weakness and a shortcut to death. The only emotion that maintains the species is the sense of kinship towards one’s own kind.

In that sense, the fact that a grazing buffalo carries us on its back is quite astonishing. A grazing beast inevitably becomes prey for a meat-eating beast. It’s the same even if it possesses a strong body and sharp horns. Its nature is more inclined towards caution than curiosity…

For some reason, the buffalo Aji brought along galloped calmly, mixing in with the herd while carrying a person on its back. The other buffaloes also passed by us without much wariness.

It wasn’t fast enough to satisfy the reincarnator, but it was certainly much better than my walking speed.

While I was being transported comfortably without lifting a finger, the reincarnator seemed displeased.

“Why do I have to ride with you?!”

“I’m low on energy! If I run out halfway, I’ll just fall to the ground and become a piece of meat!”

“But you, as a vampire, won’t die anyway!”

—

“Then, will Mr. Shay pick up my piece of meat that has been trampled thousands of times and put it back together?”

You can read a person’s thoughts and keep pace with them, but you can’t read the movements of a beast. It’s not like a horse or a donkey; if it’s a water buffalo, it’s even more so. The reincarnator with some kind of deceptive energy technique could maintain perfect balance even on a running water buffalo, but the moment my strength waned, I was swept away by the current of the buffalo, so I needed at least a safety mechanism.

“…Hold on tight. No, don’t hold on tight!”

“You mean to do it well on my own? Got it.”

That’s not something I decide. It’s the buffalo that decides.

Just then, the buffalo leaped over a rock and shook its body violently. The reincarnator was firmly attached with energy, but my body felt like it was about to float away and fall off at any moment.

“Where are you grabbing?!”

“It’s the belly! I’m holding onto the belly normally, so don’t drag me along!”

True to the wild, the ride was rough. It jumped over stones, and every time it turned its head suddenly, its large horns swayed threateningly. At first, I held on with a bit of playful intent, but later I had to grip tightly for my life.

‘Ugh! Even my master didn’t handle my body carelessly!’

Anyway, thanks to the reincarnator, I endured dozens of crises of falling off. The reincarnator didn’t seem satisfied with that fact, though.

“Just hold on to that and use your energy a bit!”

“Ah. Yes.”

“Ah! Are you crazy? Where are you using your energy?!”

“I was using it to hold on tighter because I felt like I was going to fall.”

“Are you an idiot?! Are you trying to use energy on another energy user’s body? Energy is a form of dominance. You shouldn’t use it carelessly on someone else’s body, even if it’s a master or family! It’s far ruder than breaking into someone’s house! If I hadn’t intentionally avoided using my energy, you would have been countered immediately!”

“It’s an unavoidable situation. Just hold on for a moment. You just have to endure a little longer, Mr. Shay.”

“Why should I endure?!”

‘Should I just grab him by the collar and carry him? He won’t die from a little choking, right? Or should I just tie him up and carry him around? That would be more convenient.’

Why am I being so serious? This won’t do. At this rate, the reincarnator might really carry me off like a skewered meat.

But I couldn’t let go of the reincarnator either. Instead, I threw him a mental chew toy to prevent his resolve from continuing.

“Right now, it’s about Aji. Doesn’t something come to mind?”

“What comes to mind?”

“Talking to other beasts is one thing. But not only are they not scared, but the water buffalo are running alongside us.”

Aji was running alongside the herd of water buffalo, enjoying freedom. He overtook a buffalo in the distance and came back, running several times the distance. The walks I had taken until now seemed like mere appetizers.

Even amidst all this, the water buffalo merely glanced at Aji and quickened their pace.

“Indeed, the water buffalo don’t seem to be particularly wary of Aji. But dogs tend to be friendly with other beasts, right? Maybe that’s why?”

“Aji can be kind, but it’s hard for even the water buffalo to be kind to Aji. Especially with so many water buffalo around, there should be at least one that gets scared and bolts away from Aji. Yet, none of the buffalo are showing any signs of charging at Aji or running away.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. To the water buffalo, Aji is just a strange beast with no connection.”

“Yes. If that’s the case, then there’s only one possibility. Aji has gained the ability to avoid hostility. Even from other beasts.”

The returner cannot hold two thoughts at once. Unaware that I was still clutching my stomach, I fell deep into my own musings.

“The Grandiomor royal family?”

“That’s right. Among the powers gained by the five lords who overthrew the human king, it resembles the ability to evade the animosity of the Grandiomor royal family. A king of beasts, transformed for some unknown reason. It wouldn’t be strange if such a power existed.”

“But why would such a power be necessary? At this point, the will of the beasts doesn’t seem that important.”

“We won’t know their thoughts until we hear them. They wouldn’t tell us anyway.”

“If I ask properly, they’ll tell me. The Holy Court would want to stop the King of Sin too.”

‘The Holy Court couldn’t have created the King of Sin. But it’s clear they were trying to do something. The reason for that… might be a clue.’

Good. Successfully diverted attention.

The returner’s worries and musings became a good topic for contemplation on the dull journey. Until the returner, having missed the timing to disembark, suddenly startled and threw me off to jump down.

“Woof woof! See you next time!”

Leaving the waving Azid behind, the herd of buffalo drifted away.

Even in this harsh wilderness, the journey was smooth. I asked a passing zebra for directions and sent back a leopard that was approaching low to the ground. Even threats to my life acted like docile lambs when I was with Azid.

Azid also utilized force when necessary. When a starving pride of lions kept following us, Azid dashed forward, biting the nape of a lion and dragging it away. The king of beasts, roaming the wilderness, merely faded away with gentle eyes in front of the king of beasts.

Without revealing our teeth or shedding blood, we peacefully crossed the land of savagery, devoid of any humans.

“Beasts aren’t particularly scary, but it’s nice not to have to kill them. The pride of lions is a bit of a nuisance for me too.”

“It feels like you’ve become a druid.”

“Much better than a druid. We can empathize, but being attacked is still the same.”

Riding the clouds of stairs, and when resting, asking the beasts for directions. We advanced across the Engor Plains, led by the returner.

There’s no sense of distance. No matter how fast I fly, I can’t even gauge how far we’ve come. They say the land has a face, but to me, an outsider, it all looked like the same hills and the same mounds. If life is an endlessly repeating journey, then the Engor Plains truly represented life. Always seeing similar faces, endlessly walking across a plain with no end in sight.

And I was always filled with dissatisfaction about life.

It’s hard enough to tread on clouds with my qi, and balancing to avoid falling is a task in itself. My back and legs ached terribly. I was excited at first about riding the clouds, but walking would be much more comfortable.

“Ugh, this is tough. Ugh, I’m dying.”

“Woof! Woof woof! So much fun!”

That dog, even while running on four legs, seemed to be having the time of its life, panting with its tongue out.

“Phew. I feel like I’ve done a year’s worth of walking. No more walks from now on.”

“Woof? This isn’t a walk! This is work; a walk is a right!”

“Since when did a walk become a right…? Haah. I want to rest quickly. How much longer, Shay?”

The returner glanced at the mountain range and replied.

“We should be almost there?”

“Almost there? You said that yesterday too. Are you guiding us without even knowing the way?”

—

“You know the way, right? It’s just that you can’t gauge the distance!”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. If you know the way, how can you not know the distance?”

“The reason it’s taking so long right now is because I’m carrying you on the stair-cloud! If I hadn’t taken breaks to replenish your energy, we would have already arrived!”

“Oh, I don’t need to replenish my energy, so please just carry me on your back. The world is on the brink of destruction; where’s the time to go so slowly?”

“I don’t want to.”

“If you carry me, you’ll just end up touching my body again. It’s annoying and uncomfortable. I feel like I’ll be found out for being a girl.”

I think you wouldn’t even notice if you touched me, right? The last time you grabbed me, your stomach felt pretty firm. I thought it was a stone pillar.

“Why don’t you take this opportunity to practice your energy cultivation! It’s the perfect chance to train, so why are you just being lazy? If you rely only on shortcuts, you’ll hit a limit soon enough!”

“Do you know why I hit a limit so quickly? It’s because I’ve mastered everything except what lies beyond that limit. If I didn’t have the limitation of energy, I would have meddled and boasted like Shea.”

“When did I ever boast?!”

“Just like now. You have plenty of elixirs and relics, acting as if you’re the best. If I had the same opportunities, I would have become much stronger.”

“You don’t even know!”

“Do you think I became strong for free without any effort? My strength has grown through experiencing regression!”

That ability to regress was given for free, you know. That’s why I’m saying this.

“If you put it that way, you’re fundamentally different from the start! You’re the king of humans!”

“I’m a deposed king. Chased by the royal court and rejected by the saint. I can’t even reveal my identity carelessly; I have to live in hiding. Ah, what a tragic fate. What sin have I committed?”

“Stop whining! Just do well!”

“I’ve always done well. I’ve treated every human sincerely. They just expected too much and were disappointed on their own.”

It was during this endless lamentation that the regressor’s eyes briefly turned indigo. Among the seven-colored eyes, the sixth color, the distant blue gaze. The regressor murmured as they looked toward a hill that was invisible to my eyes.

“It’s the Blood Monastery. We’ve arrived.”

“Wow, really? This time you’re not lying, right?”

“Yeah. I promise. This time we’ve really arrived. It’s right in front of us.”

“Great! Let’s not rest and hurry up!”

Of course, this time it was a lie as well.

The Blood Monastery seen through the seven-colored eyes was nearly a day’s journey away.

“Meh-e-e-. Meh-e-e-e-.”

There was a girl grazing among the flock of sheep.

Compared to other beasts, humans have very little fur. However, the girl before me seemed to have more fur than most animals. Her cloud-like, fluffy white hair looked like it could yield a whole cotton outfit with just one stroke of a comb. It was so thick and tangled that it cascaded down to her waist. Even if she rolled down a mountainside, her hair would probably keep her from tumbling too far.

Though she was among the sheep, neither the sheep nor she seemed to care much. It was a sight rarely seen in timid sheep.

However, looking at the round, curled horns atop the girl’s head, one could roughly guess the reason.

—

“Hmm?”

“It’s the Apostle of the Lamb! Sister! The Apostle of the Lamb has come again!”

The children who had come out to milk the goats rushed over and surrounded a girl with ram’s horns. Just as the curious gazes began to feel uncomfortable, a nun with her face covered in black cloth approached and whispered softly.

“Remm. You’ve come again. Do you need grooming?”

The Lamb King, Remm. The timid and lost king of the little lambs.

Lambs living in the low, grassy fields instinctively follow the herd. It doesn’t matter if they’re not the same kind of beast. Just a few times led by a human with a stick into the overgrown fields, the flock will follow that hairless, wise leader.

“Baa baa—. Hurry, groom me.”

“Just a moment.”

Thus, the lamb holds a religious significance, and especially in a monastery that raises lambs, the appearance of the Lamb King is a great source of pride. It means that the monastery is peaceful and happy enough for even the timid Lamb King to visit.

However, for the past few decades, other monasteries have not seen the Lamb King at all. The only reports have been consistently sent from the Blood Monastery.

Some say it’s because the number of beasts has greatly decreased in the civilized northern regions, but considering the millions of shepherds still raising lambs, that’s not a very plausible reason. After all, the place that raises the most lambs as livestock is civilization itself.

So why hasn’t the Lamb King appeared? For the sake of rationality, some humans who are willing to forsake religion have put forth a plausible hypothesis.

The reason the Lamb King does not appear in other monasteries is that the Blood Monastery is much more peaceful and happy.

Aside from the fact that the Blood Monastery is heretical, and those who defend it are questioned in their faith, it was a fairly reasonable explanation.

Someone may pay the price of truth with blood, but the Blood Monastery itself remained peaceful and did not live up to its name. The nun looked around at the children and said.

“Now then. Who will groom the Apostle of the Lamb?”

“Me! Me!”

“I want to do it!”

“You shaved the wool last time!”

The lively children shouted excitedly. Watching the children raise their hands, the nun smiled benevolently.

“Don’t quarrel, little lambs. Rushing and clumsy grooming will disturb the lamb’s spirit. Empathize with the lamb, be deeply aware of its soft wool, and calm your heart by recalling your grooming experiences.”

Like a lullaby, the children stopped their chatter.

“If you approach with a heart hastened by quarrels, the other will naturally keep their distance. Approach with a heart full of gratitude for what you have.”

The nun stepped forward first and gently stroked Remm’s wool.

“When you share and share again, it becomes countless, and when you give and give again, everyone becomes happy. All things in the world originally belong to the divine. We must live each life with joy and gratitude. Now, let’s express our thanks to the beautiful and soft Apostle of the Lamb.”

“Thank you, Apostle of the Lamb!”

“Thank you, fluffy one!”

Yet, the one comfortably lying down and receiving the grooming, Remm, did not feel grateful at all.

“Baa…? Hurry up and groom me. I’ll be sleeping, so finish it up.”

The Lamb King would not be harmed by the children’s grooming. Remm received their service with a warm smile.

Peaceful and idyllic days. A continuous moment that seems like it could last forever, as long as nothing changes.

“Woof!”

Remm perked up her ears and jumped to her feet. With a comb stuck in her hair, Remm trembled in fear and cried.

“Baa…! What is that sound!”

“Woof! Woof!”

“Little lamb! The wolf has appeared!”