Hermit Wizard

Chapter 21

Silver Forest under the Purple Sky (2)

The Dell Giants were nocturnal, and as dawn began, they were about to settle down and rest until night returned. While looking for a place to camp, it seemed that they felt my presence and walked all the way here. They showed even greater curiosity when they learned that I came from a different dimension. After a short conversation, I decided to wait the night together with them, following the advice that it was dangerous to walk around the forest alone.

I wasn’t sure they were safe yet, but I was confident enough to subdue them anyway. If they had bad intentions, they would likely try to use magic, so it would be easier to grasp. I was tired of walking for so long after crossing dimensions. Besides, I wanted to dig up some information from the Dell Giants.

As we moved together, we quickly found a place to spend the night. No, I meant to spend the day. The giants sat together under the shade of a large tree that could cover all of their bodies, and I sat next to them and leaned against the tree. The two giants with Ghur were named Hickham and Palo. Both said they were disciples of magic, learning from Ghur. Hickham was constantly asking questions; he was excited that I was human and came from another dimension.

“Hey, hey, is it true that humans mate more than three times a day? Is that the same in your dimension?”

Most of them were questions filled with these unfamiliar prejudices. Hickham’s eyes were shining brightly as he asked his questions. In this world, human beings seem to be regarded as a symbol of energy, overflowing enough to somehow replace the status of seals on Earth.

“Ah…well. I don’t know what these humans are like, but it isn’t common in our world. I could do it if I wanted to. I don’t think many people are doing it that hard…”

Hickham’s question didn’t end even though he was confused with the makeshift answers I gave.

“And you? How about you, Yoong?”

“It’s not Yoong. It’s Yoon. And what are you asking me?”

“Are you mating three times a day? You’re also a male, right? That’s amazing.”

“No, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? You’d know if you’d done it.”

At that moment, I felt a deep murderous intention spring up inside me.

“Well, I mean, it is physiologically possible, regardless of whether I do it or not.”

“It’s awesome!”

And Hickham started talking about information that I didn’t want to know much about, which Parvache hadn’t even read in Akashic Records. Hearing the long story of Dell Giant’s male body’s fertility and recovery time led to an unpleasant mood. I had no choice but to understand why humans became famous for their energies in this land. Simply summed up, it would take at least a week for a single ejaculation to be reloaded. Regardless of the will, the physiological structure itself was like that. Hickham gave me an intense glance like shooting a laser while explaining. I pulled my shoulders back unknowingly because it was burdensome. Palo noticed it and quickly intervened.

“Don’t worry, Yoong. Hickham looks at you like that because he envies you. Not because he wants to eat you.”

Wasn’t he so envious that he wants to eat me? Somehow, they’ve already promised that it wouldn’t happen.

***

I recalled the previous conversation. As soon as Ghur said that the humans in the vicinity had dried up after suffering from rumors that they were good for stamina, the first thought that came to mind was, ‘Ah, so that was the reason those rotten beings rushed to me?’ It was unpleasant to imagine them thinking of me as a stamina booster.

And the next thought was, will these Dell giants want my medicinal effects and attack me? I would never know. But when I look closely at the giant Ghur who explains this to me, he seemed a little weak. Ghur shook his head with a smile as if he could see my guard clearly. He said that the Dell Giants living here no longer ate intelligent life. Ghur explained.

“I can’t say that there aren’t any Dells that feed on human-like intellectual races…but all of those tribes have now been driven to a very remote land. The elders in our village were furious because the number of humans kept dropping. And I chased all those tribes out of the forest. In fact, in number and strength, we were overwhelming, so there was nothing to call it war.”

“Why were the elders angry?”

Palo asked as if he had never heard this story. He replied with a rolling shrug.

“Human hands are small and fast. The underpants made by weaving animal hair by humans living in this forest were so soft that they were very popular with the old Dells.”

“Ah…”

“Palo, you don’t know yet, but as we get older, our skin gets more sensitive. The elders get obsessed with that. Dells can’t make things like that because our fingers are too thick. So, as humans’ numbers decreased, the older people were forced to wear underpants from rough leather or woven grass. After seeing blood a few times in the bathroom, the elders eventually exploded.”

What, in the end, were they thinking about saving human beings because of their underwear? Just because of panties, they were driving the other tribe out of the woods? But Ghur continued as if that wasn’t all.

“And the elders thought the habit of hunting intelligent life was very dangerous because of unproven, superstitious rumors. Isn’t that a bad thing? They thought that those guys might try to eat our village, Dell, too, for such a reason. That’s why we kicked them out. Before it was too late.”

Palo nodded, convinced.

“Oh, I see.”

“Of course, I think the reason why those old men opened the lids was that their underpants were bigger.”

As he said so, Ghur laughed loudly.

“But the elders’ decision was a little late. We kicked out all those guys, but the humans were already few by then. When the numbers were reduced below the level of maintaining the herd, they began to be preyed on by predators like wild beasts in the forest, and eventually, the humans dried up.”

This was the end of human history in this area.

***

Unlike Hickham, who was only interested in human fertility, Ghur and Palo showed curiosity about the dimension I came from. They were amazed that there were only humans on Earth and 7 billion in number. As I sat in the shade of the tree and continued talking, a question came up about which Channel I came from, and I gave a brief explanation.

It had been less than a month since the Channel that connected this dimension was created. When we talked about the story that the Ashpim Giant had already crossed our way several times and that the first giant killed humans, Ghur seemed to understand.

“They treat any intelligent creature but their own kind as worms.”

It was consistent with what I knew. Even in this dimension, their ethnic characteristics weren’t significantly different.

“Their relationship with the Dell people is also not good.”

“It’s not just bad. We’ve been fighting those savage guys for a long time.”

Ghur frowned as he clicked his tongue.

“It’s been quite a while since the war stopped, but if we’re caught invading each other’s territory, we’ll try to kill each other.”

“Is there any reason for conflict?”

“Perhaps if we look at the records in the elders’ houses, we will find a reason. But I don’t know because I’m not interested in that.”

Ghur spoke, scratching his chin.

“But one thing’s obvious, even if we don’t see it. We must have become enemies of each other because they have done some Ashpim-like things.”

What else was an Ashpim-like thing?

“Ah, as soon as they saw me today, they rushed like crazy. Did the rumors that humans are good for energy spread to those Ashpim?”

I explained to them that I came across this dimension today and what I had experienced. Then Ghur shook his head.

“No, it won’t be. Humans have become so rare that their value had risen among them. As the number of humans in this land decreased, there were many hit by the wild beasts. But as the number decreased further and the value increased, there were quite a few Ashpims who took humans hiding in our area. They fanned the human to death.”

“The value has risen?”

“Yeah, because they enslave intelligent life. The rarer it is, the more expensive it is. Humans were believed to be almost extinct. The Ashpims traded humans at a costly price among their society.”

I didn’t understand it well.

“No, what benefit is it for those giants to enslave humans? They’re so different in size that they can’t even make us work.”

For example, the house they live in would be a huge space for humans. Even if I tried to clean once, it would take a few days, right? Even if I cook, I would have to trim ingredients that were much larger than the human body.

“There’s a way for small creatures to play small, big creatures to play big.”

Ghur frowned as if it was unpleasant to think about it.

“A race of some size makes manual labor. However, small, human-like races are just toys. They play with them and kill them. Be glad you are a strong wizard. If you were a weak human, you would have been caught by them, and you would have died after being harassed for a long time. Or you would have been tortured, only enough never to die.”

[The Asphim Giants of this dimension seem to have evolved with a vicious and brutal nature.]

Parvache, who was hiding in my backpack, said something that only I could understand. When I heard this story, I was firmly convinced that the purpose of the giants who came through the Mapo Bridge Channel wasn’t just exploration. I remembered one of the second groups was injured and ran back into the Channel. It probably informed its colleagues that this dimension was full of humans. A human being was treated dearly among them.

Wouldn’t the third group come across the Channel to abduct humans like the Munich Channel reptiles? The purpose of the reptiles kidnapping humans was unknown, but now I knew why they might want humans. The guy who was injured in the second group wasn’t among the third group. In a little while, rumors may spread, and more may come to Mapo Bridge.

Initially, no matter how many times they crossed, I was just going to leave it to the Korean Army. But, now that the plan was revised to put the Mapo Bridge Channel within my barrier, it seemed that I couldn’t leave them as they were.

It was also one of the things directly connected to one of the three things that led me to this exploration.