CH 122

Chapter 122 – As Hakumen

“My appearance speaks far louder to my identity than any number of words would.” (Hakumen)

“N-No, indeed! This divine form and indomitable spirit that compels us to serve…! You must definitely be a silver fox!” (Seng)

As Seng kneeled down, the others also began to lower their heads in turn.

Eh… Their reaction is far more pronounced than I thought…

“Milord, that’s how outstanding the legends are to them. But in this situation, it’s convenient. To them, your words will almost be like a divine revelation.” (Shiki)

Shiki’s words made me feel a bit taken aback by the extent of their reverence. But regardless, I was relieved that there certainly wouldn’t be any need for useless arguing.

“There is no need to bow your heads. I am nothing more than yet another garbel. Besides, as Yofel stated earlier, I am here to negotiate.” (Hakumen)

“T-That’s right…! But what do you mean to negotiate?” (Seng)

“Hm, yes. Yofel, if you’d please…” (Hakumen)

“Yes. Please allow me to explain.” (Yofel)

Just like this, I aimed to put on airs and act all dignified. But is this really alright?

Suppose there was a real silver fox and that they were completely different. At that time, I could only apologize for trying to impersonate them. But as Seng said, those legendary garbels hadn’t been seen for several hundred years.

There was a good chance that they had become extinct, or were perhaps on the run or hiding, like I’d said. Either way, as long as they didn’t make an appearance in this world, there was a very high chance they wouldn’t ever appear in the future. In that case, I had to just take advantage of this existence to the fullest.

“―I see. It certainly is true that there are enemies all around, and of course it’s absolutely essential to secure food, clothing, and shelter. So you’re saying that you’re willing to provide us with that, is that right?” (Seng)

“Yes. But of course, this is no charity. We are running a business here, after all.” (Yofel)

Hearing Yofel’s words, a young man spoke up with a dissatisfied look on his face.

“B-But look at the situation we’re in! Shouldn’t we all be supporting each other, hand in hand?” (Young Garbel)

“Hey, stop it!” (Seng)

Seng tried to get his attention and stop him, but…

“But Chief! To us garbels, bonds are absolute! That’s something we’re proud of!” (Young Garbel)

“That’s…. Mmmm…” (Seng)

Seng had difficulty refuting when the issue of bonds was brought up, and he clammed up in the end.

“Quite the naïve little youngster we have here, don’t we?” (Hakumen)

“H-Hey, what do you mean by that?!” (Young Garbel)

That would piss him off, for sure. I mean, I was just a youngster in my original form too.

“When you’re young, it’s okay to get ahead of yourself. But that will eventually lead to failure. You are right that garbels should value the bonds between those of the same kind.” (Hakumen)

“T-Then…!” (Young Garbel)

“But use your head and think about it. Say I provide you food, clothing, and shelter free of charge. Then in what way is that ‘supporting each other’?” (Hakumen)

“Eh…?” (Young Garbel)

“Do you really understand the meaning of mutual support?” (Hakumen)

“Ummm…” (Young Garbel)

“It means helping each other out and building a relationship of equals. Your definition of mutual support is that I am the only one suffering losses.” (Hakumen)

“I-It’s not like we need your help! We can hunt and live on our own if we want to!” (Young Garbel)

Behind him, the other hot-blooded youngsters all began to nod their heads vigorously in agreement.

“That’s certainly an option as well. However, this land is already someone else’s territory. The forests, mountains, oceans, rivers, everything here belongs to others.” (Hakumen)

“T-That’s absurd…!” (Young Garbel)

“If you simply act as you please on their territory, you will naturally end up at odds with the owner of the lands. Are you sure you want to recklessly get into a fight with the landowners? In an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people?” (Hakumen)

“…….!” (Young Garbel)

Of course he would be surprised. In other worlds, the rights to land would only belong to the extremely privileged, and not on nearly as large of a scale.

But in Japan… and the rest of Earth for that matter, almost every piece of land was owned by someone, whether that landowner was an individual or the state.

“…T-Then, shouldn’t you just help us out even more…? Why do you need something in return…?” (Young Garbel)

This youngster didn’t seem to understand the spirit of a give-and-take relationship.

“Regi, that’s enough.” (Seng)

“Chief…” (Regi)

“This is not the kind of person who would give up on us, at least not one-sidedly. He is giving us means to survive. Besides, what he says is correct. ‘If man will not work, he shall not eat.’ Even if we are of the same kind, there is no food for the lazy.” (Seng)

The young man who had been reprimanded, and even the others who had been distrustful of me, seemed to be moved by Seng’s words, and no one spoke up in opposition.

“But Hakumen-sama, what compensation can we pay you now? We are now separated from the village we used to live in, and we don’t have any savings here.” (Seng)

“Let’s see.. We garbels often make a living based primarily on hunting, yes?” (Hakumen)

Of course, this information was from Izu. It wasn’t wrong, right…?

“Yes, that’s right.” (Seng)

Good. I was worried I might have been off the mark.

Garbels supposedly lived by trading the bounties they received from hunting, such as the meat, leather, and bones, while the hurons based their livelihood around agriculture and commerce.

Garbels tended to have a strong sense of aversion towards hurons, primarily due to the Empire’s way of doing things and those under their banner. Despite that, garbels still maintained contact with some hurons, with whom they often did business.

Thus, it was more accurate to say that they didn’t necessarily hate all hurons. Rather, they were wary of hurons who were under the banner of the Empire.

And even though they were hostile towards imperialist hurons, there were still many cases where they maintained a give-and-take relationship with them. That said, it was inevitable for garbels to be wary when meeting hurons for the first time.

“As Yofel explained earlier, this world, Earth, is currently in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. The environment of the world we live in is constantly seeing change.” (Hakumen)

“The dungeonization of buildings and other sites, the appearance of fields, and us being transported over here… right?” (Seng)

It helped that he seemed to be well-informed.

“Right. Thus, there exists a high demand for people like you who specialize in hunting.” (Hakumen)

“…! So what you want in return are the bounties we receive from hunting?” (Seng)

“…I would like a chance to talk to others for a moment, if you don’t mind.” (Seng)

I informed him that I had no objections and decided to wait for a while.

“Well then, I wonder what kind of answer they’ll give.” (Yofel)

“Are you unhappy with the way I’m doing things, Yofel?” (Hakumen)

“Hm? Why would I be picky about the way Master does things?” (Yofel)

“I thought you would say that it was natural to help those in need.” (Hakumen)

“It’s certainly a beautiful act to help those in need, but we elves have been bargaining and negotiating like this for a long time.” (Yofel)

It seemed to be a concept like paying in order to receive something in return. This was apparently how the elves had protected, cared for, and nurtured their land.

They paid a price to get information, techniques, and so on, sometimes trading their crafted items and gathered materials in exchange for food. Yofel went on to say that this was simply the way of the world and of the races in their world. There was nothing strange about my way of doing things.

“Besides, Master needs to earn his wealth by doing business, doesn’t he? Then all I can do is support Master with everything I have.” (Yofel)

Ah, what a great subordinate. With my heart set at ease, I could now pursue profits as a businessman without any worries.

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