Chapter 191

United by Faith

Once the Silver Wolf warriors finished absorbing their mana stones, they began preparing for the journey home.

Since the entire Silver Wolf Tribe had agreed to join the alliance, they needed time to gather whatever belongings they intended to bring with them.

Perhaps because they had lived like monks, or simply because life in the harsh depths of the Grimwood Mountains allowed little room for possessions, none of them had much to pack despite relocating their entire tribe.

That worked in Karath’s favour.

It meant there were more hands available to carry the spoils that would otherwise have fallen entirely upon the alliance warriors.

They had the materials harvested from five unusual specimens after the final battle, along with the magical records of the Sigmund School.

There were also the remains taken from the three unusual specimens that had attacked the cavern.

Considering the size of those monsters, the amount of material was enormous.

But divided among more than eighty people, the burden became manageable.

Once everyone had decided who would carry what, Karath looked over the group.

“Then let’s leave.”

At last, it was time to return home.

“Ah...”

Karath moved toward Buddy out of habit, intending to climb onto his back.

Then he stopped.

Come to think of it, Buddy was an object of worship to the Silver Wolf Tribe.

How would they react if Karath casually rode around on the back of their sacred beast?

It would be like climbing onto the back of their savior.

A holy war would probably break out on the spot.

Tch.

Karath clicked his tongue inwardly and resigned himself to walking.

At that moment, Chief Hargan approached.

After several days of recovery, the old wolffolk had regained much of his strength and wore his usual kindly smile.

“You may ride Buddy, Grand Chief.”

“Would your people not find that uncomfortable?”

“Heh heh. It is quite all right. I have already discussed the matter with Buddy.”

“Ah.”

Right.

These people could actually speak with Buddy.

“What did you discuss?”

Karath had lived with the wolf for three years.

Through gestures and body language, they could communicate well enough for simple matters.

But that was still only basic communication.

There were times when Karath genuinely wondered what went through Buddy’s head.

This seemed like a rare opportunity to find out.

“Heh heh. We had quite a profound discussion.”

Karath stared at him.

A profound discussion.

With a wolf?

The words rose all the way to the tip of his tongue.

Fortunately, he managed to stop himself before saying them aloud.

Hargan’s face was half wolf, after all.

“A-and what profound subject did you discuss?”

“Friendship.”

“Friend...ship?”

Whether or not he noticed Karath barely suppressing a laugh, Hargan smiled with the same wise expression he always wore.

Is that really wisdom?

At his age, maybe it is his final burst of clarity before death.

Karath pushed the ridiculous thought aside when Hargan continued.

“To tell the truth, some of our people were indeed unhappy about seeing you ride upon Buddy’s back.”

“I expected as much.”

“But Buddy told us this. True friends make up for what the other lacks.”

“Buddy said that?”

“Yes, Grand Chief. He told us that although you helped him greatly when he was young, he does not carry you merely to repay that debt.”

Hargan’s smile deepened.

“He said that when he was weak, you helped him. And now that he is faster than you, he carries you. That is how friends help one another.”

Karath blinked.

Buddy said all that?

“He also told us that you once said something similar. That when different peoples come together, it is not because one exists to protect the other, but because they compensate for each other’s weaknesses.”

“I... did say something like that.”

Karath remembered saying something similar when he first brought the goblins into the alliance.

It was strange enough that Buddy remembered it.

The fact that the wolf had apparently turned it into a philosophical sermon for his worshippers was even more absurd.

Something Karath had once said had become wolf wisdom.

“Heh heh. When I heard those words, I felt as though my eyes had finally opened. We tried only to protect Buddy because he is the savior spoken of in our legends.”

Hargan looked at Karath intently.

“But you and Buddy are friends, are you not?”

“Of course. Buddy and I are friends.”

The answer escaped Karath almost automatically.

Denying it felt as though it might somehow trigger a religious war.

“Exactly. Friends naturally help one another. When one of our tribesmen is injured, we support them as well. We had simply allowed our narrow understanding to distort the friendship between you.”

And just like that, thanks to the pressure of a zealot disguised as a kindly old chief, Karath and Buddy had been demoted from master and pet to equal friends.

Well, it has felt that way for a long time anyway.

Buddy had helped him countless times, beginning with the discovery of Renstein’s cave.

Calling them friends was hardly unpleasant.

More importantly, this meant Karath could ride him without worrying about the Silver Wolf Tribe starting a crusade.

That alone was enough.

“Let’s go, Buddy.”

This time, Karath climbed onto Buddy’s back without hesitation.

From his elevated position, he looked around.

The alliance warriors, Hargan, and the other Silver Wolf tribespeople were all watching the two of them with satisfied expressions.

“It’s time to return to the alliance!”

With Karath’s declaration, the march home finally began.

Chapter 192

United by Faith

The Silver Wolf Tribe had originally numbered a little over eighty.

More than ten had been killed during the black mages’ attack.

That left sixty-nine survivors.

Adding Karath’s original group of twelve and Buddy brought the travelling party to eighty-two.

It was a strange outcome.

They had come to wage war, yet somehow their numbers had increased instead of decreased.

Of course, a larger group was not necessarily safer.

This was the Grimwood Mountains, a paradise for monsters and a nightmare for everyone else.

They were also deep near the centre, where large monsters and unusual specimens were common.

Fewer than half of the newly joined Silver Wolf tribespeople were capable fighters.

Aside from their Aura Users, the tribe had only a little more than ten ordinary warriors.

Even so, the journey home was surprisingly manageable.

“Krahahaha! You’re weak, wolf!”

“You’re nothing but a slow brute with too much muscle, orc!”

“What did you say? You dare insult an orc?”

“I’m insulting you specifically, idiot.”

At the front of the group, Kaden and Chief Parker competed to smash monster skulls.

Wyg darted around them with agile movements, apparently unwilling to lose to either orc as he drove his claws into the bodies of their enemies.

Those three fought with especially ridiculous enthusiasm, but everyone else fulfilled their roles just as effectively.

The awakened orc warriors did what they always did.

They planted their feet and crushed monsters with their axes.

Karath watched the Silver Wolf warriors move.

“They really are fast.”

The awakened wolffolk slipped around the monsters with fluid, agile movements.

Ignoring momentary bursts and reaction speed, their average movement speed might actually be higher than mine.

If orcs were square blocks of muscle that had invested everything into raw strength, the Silver Wolf warriors had lean, athletic physiques.

Muscular without being bulky.

In Karath’s former world, people would probably have called them perfectly conditioned athletes.

They would make excellent assassins or mobile strike units.

Orcs could serve as durable close-range fighters.

Goblins and hobgoblins filled the ranged role.

The Silver Wolf warriors could act as scouts, assassins, and highly mobile specialists.

It was an impressively balanced force.

Give them a dedicated mage and healer, and they could form an almost perfect five-person party.

Apparently, habits from his former life still lingered.

Karath found himself classifying everyone into game-like roles without even thinking about it.

“Chief Hargan.”

He spoke to the old wolffolk walking nearby.

A question had occurred to him while watching the battle.

“Yes, Grand Chief?”

“There are quite a few mana users among the Silver Wolf Tribe. Is that normal among wolffolk?”

The tribe had originally numbered around eighty.

Including the elderly Hargan and one other member, there had been eight Aura Users.

Nearly ten percent of the entire population.

That was an absurdly high percentage.

Karath had wondered about it ever since first encountering them the previous autumn.

At the time, Karath had been the only orc capable of using aura.

Then he had encountered two Silver Wolf Aura Users travelling together as though it were nothing unusual.

Considering the voice he had heard before reincarnation promising him the strongest possible body, the sight had felt almost insulting.

At first glance, the wolffolk had seemed far stronger than orcs.

“Heh heh. I cannot say how other wolffolk live. I have never personally met another tribe.”

“I see.”

“And while many of our people can use mana now, very few are born able to sense it.”

“Then the others learned later?”

“That is correct. We have a cultivation method passed down through the generations. After repeating that training for many years, a few children with the proper senses eventually become capable of perceiving mana.”

So that was the difference.

The orcs had once possessed a mana cultivation method, but the tradition had disappeared because they lacked the patience to continue such tedious training.

The monk-like Silver Wolf Tribe, on the other hand, had preserved theirs.

That makes much more sense.

They trained from childhood in order to sense mana.

Naturally, such training probably included combat skills as well.

Meanwhile, the orcs had possessed neither a proper mana cultivation method nor even a structured training system.

They had simply spent their lives brawling with one another and fighting monsters.

The fact that orcs had still become this powerful proved just how extraordinary their natural physical abilities were.

And so, once again, Karath successfully found a way to restore his pride as an orc.

The journey from the Silver Wolf Tribe’s cavern to Lake Village, the alliance settlement closest to the central mountains, took three full days.

During that time, they fought monsters dozens of times.

But their group included seventeen Aura Users, plus Karath and Buddy.

They returned to Lake Village without suffering any serious losses.

Their fighting strength had improved even further now that their roles were becoming more specialised.

Compared to the viscount’s territory Karath had once visited in the human lands, the alliance was overwhelmingly stronger.

Maybe around the level of a count’s territory now.

Considering the warriors left behind throughout the alliance, along with the hobgoblins capable of using aura, they could probably fight evenly against a respectable count’s forces.

Of course, that was still far short of Karath’s ultimate goal.

A nation.

“We’ll rest here for one day, then return to Root Village.”

Immediately after reaching Lake Village, Karath ordered the warriors and Silver Wolf tribespeople to rest.

Spring had arrived, and the weather was ideal for expansion.

But Karath had spent the entire previous winter training warriors in Lake Village and had not returned to Root Village even once.

Normally, he used winter to reorganise the alliance from the capital.

This year, he had never received the opportunity.

There was another reason to return.

Karath wanted the newly joined Silver Wolf Tribe to see Root Village, the largest settlement in the alliance and the agricultural centre under development.

If they had joined the alliance anyway, he might as well show them a city rather than leave them with the impression that every settlement was some remote village.

After resting in Lake Village for a day, the march resumed the following morning.

This portion of the journey was entirely different from travelling through the central mountains.

Within alliance territory, waystations had been built roughly half a day apart.

After passing one or two of them, they would encounter another alliance village.

They could sleep comfortably beneath a roof every night.

Ten days after leaving Lake Village, they finally approached Root Village.

“Just a little farther and we’ll reach Root Village, the capital of our alliance.”

Karath turned toward the newcomers.

The country bumpkins who had only recently joined the alliance.

No.

The Silver Wolf tribespeople.

It was finally time to show people who had spent their lives living like monks in the mountains what civilisation looked like.

They might faint from shock once they saw Root Village.

After all, they had already been amazed by practically everything they encountered along the road.

“Heh heh. To think it is even larger than the other villages. I can hardly imagine it, Grand Chief.”

From Lake Village onward, the Silver Wolf Tribe had marvelled at the tall walls surrounding each settlement and the comfortable places available for sleeping.

And those stone walls were little more than fences compared to Root Village’s fortifications.

They continued onward with growing anticipation.

Soon, the vegetation blocking their view began thinning.

At last, the absurdly tall and imposing walls of Root Village appeared before them.

“Hoo...”

“It looks like a mountain built by hand.”

Countless Silver Wolf tribespeople stared with eyes widened in amazement.

Karath was among them.

Wh-what the hell is that?

It had been one year and two months since he last returned to Root Village.

During those fourteen months, the walls had changed in a way he had never imagined.

“Hm? Look more closely. There are paintings covering the walls.”

“Oh! That’s Grand Chief Karath!”

“There he is killing an ogre. And over there, he’s hunting a drake.”

“There’s another one with Buddy!”

That was right.

The walls of Root Village were covered in enormous murals depicting Karath.

There was such a thing as too much praise.

This had gone beyond putting gold on his face and straight into smearing it with something considerably less dignified.

Leo probably painted them.

And the mastermind...

Grandfather Jark.

The old man already struggled to move around.

Karath had no idea how he still managed to organise ridiculous projects like this.

I have no right to laugh at the Silver Wolf Tribe.

He had thought their worship of Buddy was excessive.

Apparently the alliance was no better.

Unfortunately, Karath’s surprise had only begun.

“The Grand Chief has returned!”

“Open the gate!”

Warriors upon the walls spotted him and began shouting.

The drawbridge descended almost immediately, opening the way into Root Village.

“Ahem. Let’s go inside.”

Karath hardened his expression as much as possible and entered at the head of the group.

Then he looked toward the centre of the village.

“Heh... heh heh.”

A hollow laugh escaped him.

A gigantic stone statue stood in the middle of Root Village.

It was at least five metres tall.

The grey-white stone appeared almost like polished marble, and someone had maintained it so obsessively that it gleamed even from a distance.

And naturally, the enormous statue looked remarkably similar to Karath.

There were only a few differences.

It was broader across the shoulders and torso than Karath actually was.

Its face had also been carved to look considerably fiercer.

In other words, someone had adjusted his appearance according to orc standards of male beauty.

Karath had never imagined that something like this could possibly exist.

For a long moment, he simply stood there, staring at the statue with a stunned and embarrassed smile.

And because his attention remained completely fixed upon it, he failed to notice something important.

Chief Hargan stood behind him.

The old wolffolk stared at Karath’s statue.

A strange gleam of fanaticism had begun burning in his eyes.

Chapter 193

United by Faith

“How are the connections between the villages progressing?”

“Expansion was suspended while we were fighting the black mages, so as you ordered, I instructed the warriors to focus on improving the villages and roads.”

“And the distribution of weapons?”

“We have finished supplying weapons and armour even to the most recently joined tribes and goblins. At the moment, Grandmother is mostly producing carts, farming tools, and similar equipment.”

Krog and several of the more capable advisers answered Karath’s questions in quick succession.

They were gathered inside the largest residence in Root Village.

The Grand Chief’s house.

In other words, Karath’s house.

As always, immediately after returning to Root Village, Karath had summoned his advisers to review the state of the alliance.

“Mother must have worked herself exhausted.”

The alliance now possessed nearly two thousand warriors.

Considering its total population was only a little over five thousand, the proportion devoted to combat was absurd.

In a strange way, the black mages had done them a favour by forcing expansion to pause for a while.

Once expansion resumed, the population would probably begin increasing even faster.

“We need more blacksmiths. We should also take some of the materials from this expedition to Blacksmith Village. It looks like we’ll need several more forges.”

Producing strong steel required tremendous heat.

Karath usually achieved those temperatures through magical formations and materials harvested from unusual specimens.

There were other projects to review as well.

Orga managed the alliance’s concrete and cement production.

Jean and Anna handled agriculture, food preparation, and related work.

One by one, Karath went through everything he had delegated while he was away.

Berners had delivered brief reports during the expedition, but detailed issues could only be dealt with properly when Karath had enough time to sit down and review them.

Like that ridiculous statue.

Karath had entrusted Orga with limestone so he could build walls and houses.

He had never imagined the bastard would use it to create something that insane.

Had Karath known, he would never have permitted it.

The limestone used for that statue could have built another house.

“Ah. Since I’m staying in Root Village anyway, I might as well spend some time training the warriors here.”

“Like you did in Lake Village?”

“Exactly. The orc warriors here should be no different. Most of them probably perform only the basic exercises without seriously training the mana cultivation method on their own.”

“Understood.”

Among the warriors who had travelled with Karath to Lake Village, new Aura Users had gradually begun appearing.

They had spent their childhoods fighting around their villages and their adult lives repeatedly risking death against monsters.

On top of that, they had performed physical conditioning exercises for nearly a year.

Then Karath had added the educational method of having actual Aura Users beat the lessons into them.

The results had been surprisingly effective.

It was almost as though twenty years of accumulated experience had suddenly converted into usable progress all at once.

Still, sensing mana required a certain degree of talent.

The Silver Wolf Tribe had confirmed that.

So had everything Karath had heard in human lands.

Someone could learn to sense mana later in life, but only if they possessed enough natural aptitude in the first place.

Perhaps around ten percent of a population, like the Silver Wolf Tribe, is close to the upper limit.

Even that would represent an astonishing force.

At present, the entire alliance had only eight orc Aura Users.

Two of those had awakened during the conflict with the black mages.

Orcs represented roughly eighty percent of the alliance’s population.

Nearly four thousand orcs.

And only eight could currently use aura.

They still had a long road ahead.

Karath intended to remain in Root Village for some time and drive the warriors through brutal training.

“Another thing. The ordinary orc warriors can be trained by me or the other Aura Users. But the especially large ones with exceptional strength should be assigned to Kaden and Chief Parker.”

“We’ll raise them properly, Grand Chief!”

“Leave them to us! Krahahaha!”

Karath now understood why Kaden and Parker had struggled to properly use Muhe Lionheart’s cultivation method.

That was precisely why he wanted them to teach orcs with similar physiques and constitutions.

Yet as he watched the two laugh confidently, Karath felt strangely uneasy.

“Don’t just beat them senseless. Both of you will develop a mana cultivation method and report it to me.”

Kaden and Parker quieted.

“Practice swinging your axes and determine which parts of the body receive the greatest stimulation. Then construct the cultivation method around that.”

Like humans, the alliance needed several different mana cultivation methods suited to different body types and constitutions.

Karath continued receiving reports and issuing orders for some time.

Once he had established the alliance’s immediate plans, he ended the meeting.

“You’ve all worked hard.”

“Thank you, Grand Chief.”

“We’ll take our leave.”

The advisers quickly departed to handle their assigned duties.

Karath remained behind with Doltz.

The Silver Wolf warrior had spent the entire meeting staring blankly and listening in silence.

“How was your first council meeting?”

“I never imagined a meeting would be conducted like this.”

Doltz had attended as the representative of the Silver Wolf Tribe.

Of course he had been overwhelmed.

A man who had spent his entire life living like a monk in an isolated mountain cavern had probably never heard discussions about village administration, warrior numbers, supply chains, roads, or production.

“You’ll get used to it after attending a few times. Everyone was awkward at first.”

“Is that so?”

“You might learn to follow the details. Or you might become like Kaden and listen without thinking until someone mentions fighting. Everyone adapts in their own way.”

Since the Silver Wolf Tribe had only recently joined the alliance, Karath offered what encouragement he could.

Then another question occurred to him.

“By the way, why did you attend instead of Chief Hargan? I assumed he would represent your tribe.”

“The chief said that you and most of the alliance’s leaders are relatively young, so it would be better for a younger member of our tribe to attend.”

“Hargan said that?”

“Yes. Wyg actually volunteered when he heard that, but...”

“Everyone stopped him, didn’t they?”

“Yes. His temper is unusually quick for one of our people. We were afraid he might create unnecessary trouble.”

That was probably wise.

“So is Hargan resting at home?”

“Probably not. When he told us younger members to attend the meeting, he said he had something else to do.”

“Something else?”

They had only just joined the alliance and arrived in Root Village.

What could Hargan possibly have to do here?

Karath could not imagine the answer.

Elsewhere in Root Village, Chief Hargan was walking along one of the settlement’s main roads.

Root Village was incomparably more prosperous than the mountain cavern where he had lived.

Large, sturdy houses had been built according to orderly plans.

Countless orcs and goblins moved along clean streets.

Hargan had spent some time asking those residents for directions.

Eventually, he found his destination.

“There it is.”

A sign hung prominently above the building.

It read:

GYM

The writing system Karath had introduced came from his former language, but the alliance otherwise spoke the language of this world.

Unfortunately, this world did not possess a proper term for the particular concept Karath called a gym.

So the name had simply been adopted as Karath pronounced it.

Hargan felt his heart beat with anticipation as he entered.

“Thirteen!”

“GAAAAH!”

“Two more! Just two more!”

The sounds of metal weights greeted him.

So did someone’s agonised groaning and another person shouting encouragement.

Hmm.

As a wolffolk whose sense of smell was naturally acute, Hargan found the dense scent of sweat nearly powerful enough to make his nose wrinkle.

The experienced old chief showed nothing on his face.

Instead, he calmly examined the interior.

Dozens of goblins were lifting and swinging various chunks of iron selected according to their individual strength.

Among all the green-skinned bodies, one figure stood out immediately.

There he is.

A young boy with brown skin rather than green.

A completely different race from everyone else inside.

“Child. Are you Leo?”

Chapter 194

United by Faith

The boy was indeed Leo.

Karath had first brought him into the alliance roughly twenty months earlier.

Recognising the child’s exceptional artistic ability, Karath had relied heavily upon him when producing educational materials for the writing system he introduced.

During the past year and two months, Leo had changed almost beyond recognition.

When he first arrived, years of poor nutrition as a serf had left him thin and frail.

Now his body had become compact and sturdy.

It was the result of following Karath’s advice and training consistently for nearly a year and four months.

“Yes. I’m Leo.”

Leo had been resting between exercises.

He tilted his head curiously at the elderly wolffolk who had suddenly approached him.

He had seen Karath return to Root Village with the Silver Wolf Tribe the previous day, so wolffolk themselves were no longer completely unfamiliar.

But he had no connection whatsoever to this old man.

There was no obvious reason for Hargan to seek him out.

“I heard that you created the Grand Chief’s statue in the centre of the village and the murals upon the walls.”

“Ah... I drew the pictures, but I didn’t make everything myself. The adults helped build them.”

Leo scratched his head awkwardly.

“Heh heh. Drawing them alone is impressive enough. What made you create such pictures?”

“Hehehe. Whenever I think about the Grand Chief, ideas for good pictures keep appearing.”

Leo smiled brightly.

“I draw different things about him on paper all the time. Grandfather Jark saw some of them and suggested making things like the murals and statue.”

His body had grown stronger through constant training, but he was still only fourteen.

There was a youthful freshness to his smile.

“Heh heh. So merely thinking about the Grand Chief fills your head with images?”

“Yes! The Grand Chief is amazing!”

Leo immediately launched into story after story about Karath.

He began with how Karath had rescued him, his father, and his sister.

Then came every tale about the Grand Chief that Leo had heard from the alliance’s orcs and goblins.

When Hargan first interrupted him, Leo had been somewhat annoyed at losing precious training time.

The moment the conversation turned to Karath, however, such trivial concerns ceased to matter.

“Heh heh. As expected, the Grand Chief truly is extraordinary.”

Hargan responded to Leo’s stories like a friendly grandfather listening to an excited child.

At the same time, he carefully concealed the strange fanaticism buried deep within his eyes.

“Yes! I want to become a great warrior like the Grand Chief too. That’s why I exercise so much and practise with an axe every morning and evening.”

Leo’s excitement faded slightly.

“But I’m still too weak. I’ve been training for more than a year, and I still haven’t beaten any of my orc friends one-on-one.”

No matter how diligently Leo trained, he was human.

His physical development was slower than an orc’s.

Leo had only just reached fourteen and was still going through adolescence.

Orcs his age had already finished that stage of development and grown into enormous masses of muscle.

Still, after more than a year of joining his friends in the various games Karath described as survival matches and battle royales, Leo had become strong enough that no one treated him as dead weight anymore.

That was not enough for someone who idolised Karath.

Hargan did not miss the frustration on the boy’s face.

“Heh heh. In that case, would you like this old man to teach you a way to become stronger than the orcs?”

“R-really?!”

Leo stared at him in shock.

“Of course. The warriors of our Silver Wolf Tribe are exceptionally strong. There are very few orc warriors in the alliance who can defeat them.”

Hargan smiled kindly.

“Other than the Grand Chief you admire, naturally.”

For some reason, despite his benevolent expression, the old chief suddenly gave off the unmistakable air of a suspicious merchant selling miracle medicine.

“You’re lying, aren’t you?”

Perhaps Leo instinctively sensed it.

His expression filled with suspicion.

“Heh heh. It is the truth. Just as the Grand Chief taught the orc warriors a mana cultivation method, the Silver Wolf Tribe also possesses one passed down through our ancestors.”

“Ah...”

Leo nodded.

Karath had explained mana to him before.

If someone became capable of sensing it, they could grow tremendously stronger.

Leo’s excitement lasted only a moment before another question occurred to him.

“But I’m already practising the method the Grand Chief taught us.”

“Heh heh. Yes, I know the Grand Chief shared it with everyone in the alliance.”

Hargan leaned forward slightly.

“But the method used by the Grand Chief was designed for orcs. You are human. It does not suit your body.”

“Th-then what should I do?”

“Do not worry. That is why I offered to teach you the cultivation method of our tribe.”

“But you’re wolffolk too. I’m human.”

“Heh heh. You need not concern yourself with that. This old man has already trained many students. I can adapt the method to suit you.”

That much was true.

Hargan himself could use aura.

The six Silver Wolf warriors currently active as the tribe’s elite could also be considered his disciples.

“So, Leo. Would you like to learn from this old man?”

“Yes!”

The innocent boy finally surrendered to Hargan’s continued temptation.

“However, Leo, our cultivation method is an important secret passed down through our tribe for generations.”

Hargan’s eyes narrowed pleasantly.

“It would be difficult to simply give it away for nothing. Perhaps you could make a gift for our tribe in return.”

Only after successfully luring the boy in did Hargan begin revealing his true intentions.

He had listened patiently to Leo from the beginning precisely so he could discover what the boy wanted most.

“A gift?”

“Yes. A gift.”

“But I don’t own anything valuable...”

“That is not true. You possess something extremely valuable.”

Hargan smiled.

“Your talent for drawing.”

“Mine?”

Leo stared at him in confusion.

“I am speaking of the enormous statue of the Grand Chief in the centre of the village. It is a magnificent piece that clearly expresses his greatness.”

Hargan’s expression turned slightly regretful.

“But something about it feels incomplete.”

“Incomplete?”

Leo’s lips immediately pushed forward.

Someone had just criticised one of his greatest works.

“The great Grand Chief should not stand there all alone. Should there not be others beside him?”

“Ah!”

“Think about it. There are always people accompanying the Grand Chief, are there not?”

Hargan thought of the savior from the Silver Wolf Tribe’s ancient prophecy.

Buddy.

That was his objective.

He wanted to persuade Leo to design a statue of Buddy and murals depicting him.

Keeping faith only within one’s heart was far too weak.

Sincerity could not reach others unless it was expressed.

That was why Hargan and his people demonstrated their faith in Buddy through their words and actions.

But the moment Hargan saw the murals and the enormous statue in Root Village, he had realised something.

Their devotion was insufficient.

Words and actions lasted only for a moment.

But murals?

Statues?

Those could endure for decades.

Centuries.

Faith spoken aloud existed only for an instant.

Faith carved into stone could survive for generations.

Therefore, if the Silver Wolf Tribe truly wished to demonstrate its devotion, it absolutely needed murals and statues of Buddy.

For the elderly Hargan, this could become the final great task to which he devoted the remainder of his life.

“That’s right! There’s Brother Krog, Brother Kaden, and Chief Parker. Lots of people are always with the Grand Chief!”

“Heh heh. They certainly are.”

Hargan emphasised his next words carefully.

“But is there not someone who is always, always beside the Grand Chief?”

“Isn’t Brother Krog with him the most? Oh, Brother Berners too.”

For the first time, Hargan nearly failed to maintain his kindly expression.

Somehow, Leo refused to mention Buddy.

But Hargan was an experienced zealot.

Years of discipline allowed him to maintain perfect control over his face.

“They are certainly close to him, but surely Buddy is the one who is always beside the Grand Chief.”

“Ah. Buddy?”

At last, Hargan abandoned subtlety and simply said the name.

“Yes, Buddy. You know him, of course.”

“Of course I do. Hehe.”

“Then could you design a statue of Buddy to stand beside the Grand Chief’s?”

“I can draw the design, but I don’t think I can make the statue myself.”

Leo looked uncertain.

“I only drew the Grand Chief’s statue too. The adults in the village actually carved it.”

Hargan’s smile broadened.

“Heh heh. You need not worry about that. Naturally, we will build Buddy’s statue ourselves.”

It would be a monument demonstrating the Silver Wolf Tribe’s faith in Buddy.

Of course it had to be created by their own hands.

They would build a majestic statue worthy of standing beside the Grand Chief’s.

Through it, they would prove the depth of their devotion.

“Th-then will you teach me the mana cultivation method after I draw it?”

“Heh heh. If you prepare the design, I will do everything in my power to help you sense mana.”

Hargan smiled warmly.

“No. I will help you become one of the finest warriors in the entire alliance.”

And so Leo, a human boy, became the disciple of the chief of the Silver Wolf Tribe.

Such was the power of faith.