Raon lifted Bellga onto his shoulder and narrowed his eyes.
‘The Qinglu tribe is speaking…’ .’
The Cheonglu people communicate by howling like animals. It was hard to believe that he could speak human language, even if he was a little inarticulate.
“Who are you?”
He asked, creating a wall with Glacia to prevent the young Cheonglu tribe from escaping.
“I-I shouldn’t be caught.”
He looked around and put his head under the water. There was extreme anxiety in the shaking pupils.
Raon scanned the entire body of the young Cheonglu tribe. The flesh on his arms, legs, and waist had been roughly torn off and green blood was flowing.
‘That wound… .’
It is not a wound inflicted by a person. It was a scar that looked like it had been hit by a wild beast’s claws or teeth.
‘Did this guy save the Bel family?’
Belga was floating on the water in a stunned state, with the Cheonglu tribe chasing after him. Considering the situation, it seemed that this young Cheonglu tribe had saved Belga from another Cheonglu tribe.
“Did you save this person?”
“Yes.”
The Qinglu tribe dipped their heads into the water and nodded. I was familiar with the clear eyes that looked closely in this direction and the small, human-like ears.
“ah!”
Raon widened his eyes as he looked at the young Cheonglu tribe. Yesterday, when the North and South Alliance drove out the Cheonglu tribe, it was the small Cheonglu tribe that was looking at us from the water.
“You’ve seen me, right?”
“Uh, I don’t have any.”
“You looked in my direction in the river yesterday.”
“Oh, no. “It’s my first time.”
The young Qingru shook his head as if he was saying no.
‘He definitely looked my way… no way.’
Besides Gwangpungdan and Tiller, there was something else on the riverside. The corpse of the Cheonglu tribe. The body of the Cheonglu tribe that Tiller had cut down was sinking in the water, and this guy seemed to be looking at the body.
‘Is that why he looked sad?’
At the time, the reason I thought the eyes of the Cheonglu people were clear and sad was because of their own people.
“Ooh, let us go.”
The young Cheonglu tribe pointed to the screaming Cheonglu tribe with their arms and legs caught in underwater shoes.
“It’s not something everyone does because they want to.”
He clearly conveyed his intentions in slurred speech. The sincerity was evident in the clean eyes.
“Isn’t this what you want to do?”
From what I just said, I became convinced that there was an external factor behind the Cheonglu tribe’s rampage.
“What is your name?”
“… doesn’t exist.”
The young Qinglu paused for a moment and then shook his head.
“Sigh, I don’t have time. “I must not be caught.”
He said something similar to what he said a moment ago and covered his face.
“If it doesn’t work out now, can it come out later?”
“eww… .”
At those words, the Qingru tribe raised their heads in a daze. After looking at him for a while with anxious blue eyes, he slowly nodded.
‘You can trust me.’
He saved the Belga even though he was injured, and he is the only one with the same eyes as the Blueru people he saw in his previous life. He decided to give it a try.
Hwaaaaa!
Raon nodded and raised the cartoon ball. The ice on the water melted and white water vapor covered the surroundings.
“Come back here when the moon is in the center of the sky.”
“Oh, yes.”
The Cheonglu tribe looked around with curious eyes and disappeared into the water. Now I see that there are big wounds on my back and neck. Although the wound had healed a long time ago, it was a scar so large that it was scary.
“Kiiik!”
“Kyaaaak!”
As the ice on the water shoes that were binding their arms and legs melted, other members of the Cheonglu tribe also escaped.
Raon clenched his fists as he watched the young Cheonglu tribe disappear in the opposite direction.
“I finally got a clue.”
* * *
The chief of Doran Village looked at Raon with a mesmerized face.
‘This isn’t a dream, is it?’
Since I was born in Doran Village, I have seen the Gazelle River every day. She said that there were times when the rainy season came and the village was flooded with water, there were times when waterways were split due to earthquakes, and there were times when huge tsunamis rose up.
I had seen so much that I didn’t think I would be surprised by anything that happened on the Gazelle River, but my heart was pounding hard at the majesty shown by Raon.
“Uh, ice… .”
Raon created a huge crown made of ice by simply treading water. Even though the ice surged in a split second, it was so hard that it could not be broken, so the Cheonglu tribe could not escape.
‘More than Tiller.’
Tillers only walk on water and attack with a long spear carried on their backs. But Raon cleared up the whole situation just by stamping his foot.
‘He looks like an ice god…’ .’
Raon, who plays on the water as if riding a river and rolls his feet to create a prison of ice, looked like the god of water or ice.
“Wow, you can’t believe they make ice like that!”
“Huh… ”
“Oh my god!”
“Is it possible for a person to do something like that?”
The other villagers were also surprised and could not close their mouths. Everyone who had been shouting for an alliance between North and South Korea just a moment ago was only following Raon with their soulless eyes.
“Hmm.”
The village chief swallowed dryly as he watched Raon return with everyone on ice.
‘How is something like that possible at such a young age?’
Tiller is in his 30s, and Raon is not yet 20. I couldn’t believe that this young guy showed greater ability than Tiller, who had studied directly from the leader of North and South Korea.
“That’s Sieghart… .”
“How did you see it?”
“Huh!”
The village chief mumbled Sieghart’s name and looked to the side in horror.
“Our Raon is amazing, right?”
When I arrived, Rimmer was smiling and waving his hand.
“I had no idea that someone so young would show such inaction. “It seems like my eyes have improved.”
“That guy is special. And Sieghardt is also special.”
“yes?”
“There were a lot of people who looked at us funny just because we stopped walking for a moment.”
Rimmer looked at the village chief with a soft smile.
“Oh, well, I…” .”
“I understand. The closest thing to this village is the North and South Alliance, and as long as you live by the river, you can’t help but be influenced by them. but… .”
He tapped the sheath of his sword without erasing the smile from his mouth.
“There is nothing that can put Sieghardt’s name before us when he raises his sword.”
“ah… .”
The village chief’s chin trembled. He had no life, no strength. It was just a low voice, but it sent shivers down my back. He was subjugating himself not with threats, but with words that sounded like declarations.
‘Everything is different.’
When we were drinking together earlier, it felt like we were seeing a drink that was everywhere, but now it felt like we were facing a huge storm that we couldn’t resist.
“You’d better think carefully.”
Rimmer waved his hand as he went out to meet Raon as he approached the river.
“Because if you make a wrong choice, there is no turning back.”
* * *
Raon went out to the riverside again at the appointed time with the unnamed Cheonglu tribe.
As I was listening to the calm sound of the river, a round head emerged from the river right in front of me.
“hi.”
The Qinglu people slightly nodded.
“You really came.”
I was worried about what would happen if he didn’t show up, but he showed up on time.
“Hey, because I promised.”
The Qinglu clan slowly raised their heads.
“is it.”
Raon nodded and sat down on the rock. The Qinglu tribe came out of the water, sat down on the ground some distance away.
‘It’s definitely small.’
Perhaps because he was still young, he was smaller than the other Cheonglu tribe. However, it seemed to be a unique feature of this animal, with its fins and webbed feet being small and its appearance similar to that of a human.
“Do you know that you are called the Cheonglu tribe?”
“Yes.”
The Qinglu clan nodded thoughtfully.
“As far as I know, you, the Qinglu people, live independently and do not come and go with other races. “Instead of attacking, they ran away or avoided humans as soon as they saw them.”
Raon continued, recalling the pure appearance of the Cheonglu people he had seen before.
“Why did they change like that?”
From the beginning, I asked what I was most curious about.
“It’s because of me.”
The Qinglu clan held his knees tightly with his hands and his lips trembled.
“It’s because of you?”
“I-I ruined everything.”
Transparent water filled the boy’s eyes, as if he was about to burst into tears.
-Geez, what a frustrating guy.
Lars clicked his tongue as if he didn’t like it.
‘Just wait a moment.’
Raon pushed Ras away and looked into the Cheonglu tribe’s eyes again.
“What does that mean? Does it have something to do with what you’re saying?”
“Whoa!”
The Qinglu tribe let out a deep sigh.
“I am… .”
* * *
From the moment I was born, I felt different from my brothers.
Although they looked the same, the tribal language, which expressed emotions through fewer than 30 cries, could not satisfy my needs.
So, he disobeyed his parents and secretly approached a human.
Of course, I didn’t have the courage to come out openly. In a place where no human gaze could be seen, I quietly listened to their words.
I was thrilled to learn that I could express countless things through language, expressions, gestures, and the pitch of my voice.
As I stayed under the boat and constantly listened to human language, I was able to understand what they were saying. After a while, although it was awkward, I was able to speak.
I wanted to talk to humans directly, but I was too scared to approach them.
He appeared when I was living as a loner, unable to fit in with my species or approach humans.
“Can you speak human language?”
Tiller. He was the first human I found and spoke to on a day when I was practicing speaking under a boat.
I don’t remember exactly what my first words were, but I clearly remember feeling more excited than afraid.
“That’s amazing. “This is my first time seeing the Qinglu tribe speak.”
He didn’t think it was strange, but was intrigued and directly taught me human language. Thanks to this, he was able to speak and even read books.
“Shall we be friends?”
Tiller once brought up the word friend.
“friend?”
It was a word I had heard of, but did not know exactly what it meant.
“okay. “People who are close and like-minded are called friends.”
He quickly nodded.
I was happy. I was so happy that someone called me human and that I had someone who understood me that I felt like I could die.
Tiller knew about my thirst for knowledge and taught me more about the world. He accumulated a lot of knowledge, and he even learned the Dokdo method to view maps.
“Can I ask you a favor?”
After learning a lot of knowledge about rivers and the sea, Tiller smiled and held out his hand.
“ask?”
“okay. “Friends tend to ask for favors.”
When I heard that it was a friend’s request, I immediately nodded without even thinking.
“There are a lot of reefs around here, so it’s dangerous to take a boat. “I want you to make a chart.”
It wasn’t that difficult because I already knew how to read maps and had accumulated a lot of knowledge.
I traveled to various rivers every day from morning to night and made charts for Tiller.
Every time a chart was completed, a human village burned down and many people died, but Tiller smiled softly, saying it was just culture.
I believed it because it was what my friend said. I was so foolish that I just accepted it.
“Can you tell me about yourself?”
When I was halfway through completing my chart of the Gazelle River, Tiller asked me to tell him about the Cheonglu people.
I was happy. I was happy that my friend seemed to be interested in me just as I was interested in other people.
I told Tiller about the Cheonglu people. He told me how to communicate, how to live, what I like and what I don’t like.
But he wanted more.
He asked a series of questions that seemed like they shouldn’t be asked, such as how the Qinglu tribe uses water magic, what the Qinglu tribe’s weaknesses are, and why the Gazelle River is clearer than other rivers.
After thinking about it, I shook my head. I don’t know the exact reason, but I didn’t think I should tell you.
“It’s disappointing that you can’t even grant my only friend’s request.”
Tiller left with just those words.
I was anxious. My hands were shaking and I couldn’t breathe because the only person who understood me was gone. I was so anxious that I couldn’t even eat and stayed up all night with my eyes wide open.
Tiller returned after a week and instead of being angry, he gave her a gift. He apologized and gave him human food and new books.
“Sorry. “I just wanted to know a little more about my friend’s race.”
With those words, my anxiety and nervousness disappeared. He was so happy that he told him all about the secrets of the Qinglu people.
He told me about the clan’s treasure, the receiving stone, which can purify water and give commands to the Cheonglu people. He also told me that the emotions of the Cheonglu people become more intense in turbid water, and also explained the Cheonglu customs of valuing children. .
When I think about it now, it was not a response of joy, but of anxiety. I sacrificed the hostage because I was afraid that Tiller might leave me.
Tiller smiled brightly and said thank you. When he saw that smile, his ominousness disappeared.
He returned two days later, said he had prepared a gift, and asked me to go to the Siren River.
With a happy heart, I swam all the way to the Siren River, but even after searching for a while, I couldn’t find anything like a gift.
They waited until night, but found nothing and returned, thinking Tiller had made a mistake.
And saw.
The screaming bloodshed of green blood flowing down the clear Gazelle River.
The corpses of their compatriots were strewn on the floor, and the surviving compatriots were wearing iron leashes around their necks.
“Oh, are you here?”
Tiller waved his hand with his usual smile. His brothers’ blood was sprinkled on his hands and face.
“Thanks to you, I was able to catch it without difficulty.”
He stepped on the chief’s head and lifted the receiver.
“Everyone fell to their knees because they took the child hostage. thanks. friend.”
The first time I screamed and rushed at him, and I don’t remember anything after that.
When I came to my senses, I found myself alone in the depths of the Gazelle River, with the corpses of my parents and siblings on top of me.
There were scars on his back that would not be strange even if he was dead. Thanks to my family, it seemed like they thought I was dead and left me behind.
I cried.
I cried and fainted repeatedly all week.
I piled up everything that was in my heart and chased after my people.
He tried to prevent his compatriots from killing people at depths and distances that would not be detected by Tiller.
But there was nothing that could be done.
All I could do was save a few people, and with Tiller in mind, I didn’t even have the courage to ask anyone else for help.
Every time I saw Tiller becoming a hero by killing the Cheongru people he controlled, my heart turned black.
When I was in despair because I couldn’t save the humans again today, the human appeared in front of me.
The eyes of this man, who gave off a much scarier vibe than Tiller, were strangely warm.
So, without realizing it, I was speaking humanly for the first time in a long time.
* * *
“that… “I said so.”
Raon closed his eyes.
‘deep sea.’
Even saying I feel pity is not enough. The life of this Cheonglu tribe was so strange that it was comparable to their previous life.
‘however… .’
Why am I angry?
Even though I have nothing to do with this guy, I can’t hold back my anger. In addition to the emotions she received from Lars, it seemed like her original anger arose as well.
I opened my eyes and looked at the flowing river. The eyes of the young Cheongru tribe sitting a little closer are reflected.
‘Is it because they are similar?’
The sight of the Cheonglu tribe attacking a person while being held by a leash by Tiller looked exactly like their past life, when they committed unwanted murders while being brainwashed.
The emotions became so strong because he was reminded of himself in his previous life, when he was grabbed by the neck by Derus from the Blue House.
“I-I don’t even know why I said this.”
The Qingru tribe tilted their heads as if it was strange.
“I have a few questions.”
“Yes.”
When Raon looked away, the Cheonglu tribe nodded.
“I heard that the Cheonglu tribe became aggressive long after the Gazelle River became turbid. What happened to that?”
“I deliberately took the time to ensure that there was no connection between the change in the river and the aggression of the Cheonglu tribe. “During the free time, we asked our people to find out the depth of the reef and the river in order to create a chart of this river.”
“So that’s why.”
Sailors said that after the water became cloudy, the Cheonglu tribe wandered around the river. It was clearly a task to find out the reef and depth in the river, as instructed by Tiller.
“Right now, Tiller is manipulating the Cheonglu tribe to attack people with that receiving stone, right?”
“Yes.”
“The reason is to eat up this place, right?”
“that’s right. “Well, I said I would have the entire Gazelle River.”
“also.”
Raon chuckled. Considering that Tiller attempted to create a chart of the entire Gazelle River, it seems likely that Tiller intended to place not only Doran Village, but all areas touching this river, under the North and South alliance.
‘Sieghardt looks funny.’
Looking at the fact that they even targeted Sieghardt’s well-established territory, it was clear that Sieghardt was not in Tiller’s eyes.
‘I need to teach you.’
Since he was the one who started the argument first, I decided to make it clear what would happen if I touched Sieghart.
“Well, then… .”
The Qinglu tribe stood up as if they had said everything they wanted to say.
-Ugh!
Lars, who had listened to the Cheonglu tribe’s story without saying a word until now, bit his lip.
-Raon! Are you going to let that guy go like this?! What I’m saying is, you should act like you’re good at!
The boy sniffled as if he was about to cry.
Raon chuckled.
‘He’s the devil… .’
I don’t know who is the real devil between Lass, who is depressed over the story of the Cheonglu tribe, and Tiller, who took advantage of the psychology of that little guy who is no different from a newborn and enslaved the Cheonglu tribe.
-Hey you bastard!
‘wait.’
I was about to call the young Cheonglu tribe but stopped.
Unlike his previous life, that guy lived without even a name. The lonely mountain, unable to fit in either here or there, looked so small and shabby.
“I said I had no name.”
The Cheonglu tribe’s steps stopped at Raon’s low words.
“What did Tiller call you?”
“You or a friend… .”
The Qinglu people trembled their shoulders without turning around.
“You didn’t give me a name?”
“huh.”
It was clear that Tiller only wanted to use this child, as he would not give him a name. A feeling of disgust came over me.
“What about yourself?”
“Because a name that is not called has no meaning.”
My heart swelled at those words.
Raon stood up. As he approached the side of the Cheonglu people, he saw a river.
“Do you know the word garam?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s an old word meaning a clear river.”
“Clear river… .”
“Your name will be Garam.”
“uh?”
The Qinglu people looked back with their mouths wide open.
“Tiller tried to invade Sieghardt’s territory without knowing the subject, so I plan to deal with it.”
Raon held out his hand. He decided to be the first to extend a helping hand, which he had not received from anyone in his previous life.
“You help. Garam.”
“I am… .”
Garam did not answer. I stared blankly and gritted my teeth.
“I don’t trust humans!”
“Then why did you tell me your story? “Why did you save humans?”
“that… .”
He hesitated for a while and then slowly opened his mouth.
“I didn’t want to make my own people kill people… .”
“Is that so?”
Raon smiled slightly. Those words definitely made up my mind.
“I’ll handle the tiller. “You must save your people.”
“no. Tiller is strong. “I can see.”
Garam’s eyes trembled.
“Tiller has more mana than you have.”
“I guess so.”
Tiller is a monster that is on the verge of reaching master intermediate level. It goes without saying that he is stronger than his lower-ranking self. But there’s nothing he can’t kill.
“don’t worry.”
Raon smiled and held the sword. Bright red lightning flashed in the dark eyes reflected in the river water.
“I’m an expert at cleaning up trash.”
