“What a pleasure to see you both!”
At the greeting from Rami, chief of the fox folk, Gargal, chief of the wolf folk, wrinkled his muzzle.
“Why are you still in human form?”
“To please our evil god, of course. We fox folk are always ready to cling to the powerful, you know? Staying transformed is hardly a problem if it can guarantee us even a little mercy!”
“Calculating bastard...”
“Or perhaps wolves are simply stupid.”
Valf, chief of the crow folk, sighed at the two young chiefs baring their teeth and growling at each other.
“Enough, both of you. We did not gather here to exchange nonsense. Is this any way for chiefs responsible for their entire peoples to behave?”
“... My apologies, Elder.”
“I’m sorry...”
Valf nodded as the two bowed their heads.
“Then let us share our views.”
They had gathered to discuss how to deal with the “evil god.” With each of them so busy tending and protecting their own people that no such meeting had taken place in nearly thirty years, their gathering showed just how much his presence meant to them.
Valf was the first to speak.
“I have decided to honor him as our parent god. This was a decision reached in discussion with the other crows. He is certainly dangerous, and he will bring calamity... but the eye of a typhoon is always calm. We judged that pledging our loyalty would be no hardship if we could remain within it.”
Once the crows’ position had been made clear, the wolf, who had been watching cautiously alongside the fox, spoke up as well.
“We wolves have decided to put our trust in him.”
“You mean ‘trust’ in the wolves’ sense of the word, I take it? You intend to treat him as a friend and family?”
“I am aware of the danger he poses.”
Gargal had been terrified when he first saw him. A human, a species that should have been extinct, stood in the heart of the Black Forest like a taxidermied figure. And he gave off a complex, uncanny scent.
It had not taken long to suspect that he was the evil god, but the evil god of the history Gargal knew and the “Jio” standing before him differed in far too many ways. Jio had shown him gentle kindness.
“At the very least, I judged that the mercy he showed us was not false. The other wolves were wary and afraid at first, but that trust is now engraved in them. Jio treats us wolves as friends and has given us gifts beyond even that... We will respond as he deserves.”
“How foolish.”
Rami narrowed her eyes, plainly displeased with the wolf’s position.
“An evil god is still an evil god. To think of such an immense being as a friend almost strikes me as blasphemous. You know, the steadfastness of wolves can be a weakness as well as a strength.”
“Grrr...!! And what makes your choice so much better?! All you do is imitate humans and wag your tails...!!”
“Such a temper you have. How uncouth.”
The fox chief gave him a look of affected reproach.
“He is a god. A god who will take up the rule of this world now that its Creator is gone, and of us who live in it. Don’t you agree, Valf?”
“I do not think we need to bow excessively low... but I agree with that view. A measure of awe and distance toward a god will be essential for insignificant creatures such as ourselves.”
“You hear what Valf says, Gargal. Of course, to wolves who cherish friendship and trust, our approach may seem excessively servile.”
But the foxes prided themselves on having chosen wisely.
“Do you even understand what you’re saying? The god who has come to us has little reason to feel affection for this world. Not with its history.”
They, too, did not know exactly how the “evil god” had come into being. Some chroniclers called him a demon who had existed since the beginning; others called him a calamity born of human selfishness.
What mattered, however, was that he had been rejected by every living thing in this dimension and even sealed away. They did not know why or how that seal had broken, or what feelings had brought him to them, but it would have been stranger if he were in a good mood.
Though he was something of a parent god to their peoples, they had merely been born in the course of his venting his wrath upon the world. They had never been his purpose.
“When I first learned he had appeared, I was certain he would unleash his wrath. Failing that, I thought he would make some wicked proposal or turn this already ruined world into something even more horrific.”
“But he did none of those things, did he?”
“That is precisely what frightens me. I cannot understand it.”
Why had he shown them mercy and affection?
“It makes no sense.”
Kindness they could not account for only made them more anxious.
“I thought his favor was most likely a passing whim. Didn’t you sense it? His actions and attention revolved around whatever interested him. Which means he may soon discard us if we fail to keep him interested.”
“Ha! So that’s why you wag your tails and rub your forepaws together? Have you no pride?”
“We aren’t foolish wolves who live and die for pride, you know? I’m certain it’s better than wagging our tails over our wonderful new friend without considering what might go wrong, only to end up slaughtered like hunting dogs.”
“You honorless fox... The trust we wolves place in someone has enough worth and weight for us to stake our lives on it. Even if Jio treats us horribly because he has lost interest, that will simply mean bearing responsibility for our own decision.”
“And I’m asking whether honor guarantees your people’s safety.”
That was why the fox folk lay flat and wagged their tails.
“I will bare my belly as often as it takes to protect my family and our young. Fortunately, for now, he has refused to eat intelligent creatures with whom he can speak. If we rely on that mercy and rub our forepaws together diligently enough, we should receive a reward.”
“A reward? What reward? Becoming pet foxes?”
“Becoming pet foxes would be a wonderful outcome. That is my very goal at the moment, Gargal!”
The foxes had been driven to the edge of a cliff.
“If we can be promised our lives and a little mercy, is becoming a pet fox such a terrible problem? No. No, it isn’t. Keeping us as pets means giving us at least a basic level of affection. I intend to secure even that much.”
“You revolting creatures...”
As the wolf grimaced in utter disgust, Valf intervened to rein them both in.
“You would both do well to calm down.”
“...”
“...”
“Yes. Like that.”
He understood why they were all so deeply shaken by the hope—or calamity—that had suddenly arrived while they were simply waiting for death. But letting emotion carry them away now would prevent them from reaching a sound conclusion.
“I believe all our views have merit.”
Each of them was doing the best they could.
“But we have one thing in common.”
“What is that, Elder?”
“We must serve him.”
Valf looked at the wolf.
“I believe your people acknowledge that as well.”
“... We do.”
The fox snorted at his assent.
“Hmph. See? You wolves will tuck your tails in the end, too, after all that bluster about friendship.”
“Jio was the one who first used the word ‘friend’ to describe our relationship. Ultimately, what we want is a trustworthy ruler and subjects who follow him. Just as wolves have had since the beginning.”
“Wolves really are such rigid creatures.”
“You know that is how they have always been.”
Unlike the fox folk, who had only banded together later out of the need to survive, the wolf folk had loved pack life from their very beginnings. Following a strong leader while protecting and guiding weaker family members was a tradition engraved upon their souls.
That was why the wolves were ready to serve a new leader now. It was wholly unlike what humans called vassalage: they were both a family and an army. That was why they spoke of trust.
“Someone we honor and serve can still be family. And if he can be family, he can be a friend.”
Gargal did not know it, but his words resembled something Jio had once said. With a resolute expression, he continued.
“Of course, it’s different for foxes who would sell out even their own family when danger comes.”
“It’s strategy, not selling them out. The fox folk have never actually perpetrated some enormous fraud against our own kind. Most of those schemes were meant to deceive humans.”
“Ugh. Revolting.”
“What?”
As another quarrel threatened to erupt, Valf addressed Rami.
“Even so, I do not believe there is any need to abase yourselves excessively, Rami. If he truly becomes this world’s new chief god, gifts and mercy will naturally follow.”
“But how can you guarantee that? He is a cruel beast. Insignificant creatures like us could be swept away at any moment by a single whim of his. We foxes are desperate—we cannot even protect our cubs.”
They had no choice but to be desperate.
“It is rare now even to see a fox who has successfully reproduced. And even when cubs are born, they die so easily. Do you have any idea... any idea how it feels for foxes to dig deeper into dens still steeped in poison and bury their cubs’ bodies?”
Of the three peoples, the fox folk were closest to extinction. The wolves and crows were preparing for the death that lay ahead, but the foxes were already awaiting death at their door.
“We are not as strong as wolves, so we cannot stomach poison as well. Nor do we have the crows’ techniques to neutralize it ourselves. Foxes whose only magic is transformation are all too common.”
“... Rami...”
“I am asking whether you know how it feels to feed poison to our fragile cubs and watch them suffer so they can build resistance. I have to do my best. And I truly will do anything to that end.”
“...”
Valf and Gargal fell silent. Valf, as the elder who had once cared for the two young chiefs, and Gargal, as the quarrelsome friend who was forever baring his teeth at her, could only hold their tongues.
The end of the world was this wretched, this miserable, for the lives that remained.
“... What we do best is please the powerful. Wolves can become our evil god’s fangs, and crows might become his eyes, but foxes...”
“... I understand what you mean.”
In the end, her decision could not be called wrong either.
“I spoke only out of concern. If all you do is bend over backward to please the evil god, you will be discarded just as easily. But if you reached your decision with all that in mind, I shall respect it as well.”
“... Thank you.”
“Let us hope the new age to come will allow us to become good subjects.”
The wolf gave a brief chuckle.
“It will be better than things are now.”
“Yes. Indeed.”
And so the animals came to an agreement.
* * *
“By the look of things...”
Jio blinked a couple of times as he surveyed his home.
“Someone’s been using my house without permission.”
GRRRRR...
“Don’t be angry.”
In a world this dangerous, it was only natural for thieves to break into an empty house.
“I just don’t know who did this.”
His home had never been particularly peaceful, but hadn’t this become a little too gruesome?
In his memories of his mortal life, the ruins had been a place where beasts lived in harmony with nature, inconvenient though it could be. After he became an evil god, they had become a haunted house, poison and ominous energy seeping into every corner.
‘But this isn’t what I remember.’
Blood and scraps of flesh everywhere. Research materials abandoned here and there. And a horrific scene that looked as though something had been reduced to pulp. It suddenly struck Jio as the aftermath of the most horrific band of fanatics he could imagine.
‘There are signs that they fought and destroyed one another, too.’
Only then could he put a name to what he was seeing.
“... This must have been humanity’s final, desperate struggle.”
GRRR...
“It leaves a bitter feeling.”
You always choose paths that only bring each other pain.
* * *
The man suddenly thought he heard a human voice.
“...”
... A human?
Was someone else still here?
(To be continued)
