Ch 37

The end of May 1557.

There was a massive chase in Olympus Forest.

"Miss! Won’t you stop there?!"

Hera Iceland, the twenty-year-old leader of the warrior force, was chasing a dark-haired girl.

"No! You're going to take me if I stop!”

“Of course I will! You are the small chief!"

"Who wants to be the small leader?! I don't like bothersome things like that!" the girl cried.

Hera couldn't contain her anger and roared, "Hey! Are you running away from home just because you don't like it?! I’ll beat you till you die when I catch you! Athena Blade!"

"Mom! Help me! Hera unni is trying to kill me!"

The small chief of the Crow tribe, Athena, ran away screaming. However, at a bend in the road during Athena’s escape, three men blocked her path.

The Crow tribe's chief, Galak Blade, was one of them. He looked at Athena, his only daughter, with a playful smile. "Ahahaha! This is the end of your escape, daughter!"

Athena turned the other direction, burning with the desire to escape. Standing on Galak’s right, Elder Sigurd Everden then moved to block the front again.

"Not giving up is a good virtue as a small chief, but it is a mistake to not be able to properly judge situations."

"My ability to judge situations is fine!"

At the same time, Athena held her breath, took out a small bomb from her bag, pulled the safety pin, and threw it.

Boom!

"Ueup! This is–!"

The bomb exploded with a puff of smoke, releasing a terrible stench. The Crows all had very developed senses, but the Everden family had a particularly developed sense of smell. Others were only in agony, holding their noses, but Sigurd was so overwhelmed that he could not control his body for a moment.

"A good nose can sometimes be a weakness!"

Athena passed Sigurd and attempted to escape, but was caught by a rope thrown by Elder Weger along with Galak and dragged back.

"Ahhhhh!”

Galak burst into laughter when he saw his daughter being dragged mercilessly. "Hahahaha! You've set up a good countermeasure for Sigurd, but it seems you haven't prepared one for Weger yet!"

"Ugh! Don't laugh! Even if I make countermeasures, it's meaningless because he always has a different technique!"

"Ahahaha! Weger is kind of like that. Put nicely, he’s like a jack of all trades, but put meanly, he’s weak since there’s nothing that he excels in."

Weger coughed quietly at Galak’s assessment. "Can’t you just say the nice part?”

"What? How dare our crybaby talk back to the divine chief?" Galak joked.

"What?! Just how long are you going to hold on to the past?!" Weger complained.

"Hehehe! I'm going to do it until I die~! Even if Prometheus gives you the great elder position, I'm going to keep at it~!"

Galak danced from side to side, taunting Weger playfully. Weger rubbed his face tiredly.

"… I will tell my godmother."

Galak flinched. "What? What are you going to tell her?"

"I’ll tell her that, as a chief, you would tease without dignity and bring down the face of the elders."

"H-hey! W-when did I do that? Is there anything you want to eat? Shall we go to the Empire and have a drink? Let's have a bowl of rice wine that's not easy to get here! I'll buy!"

Flustered, Galak tried to placate Weger. When Weger didn't even budge, Galak grabbed Weger's trouser leg.

"Don't tell Wayne! It's a once-in-a-lifetime request!"

"Let go! My pants are going to come off! And you said it’s a once-in-a-lifetime request, but you asked me the same thing last year!"

Last year, Galak had asked Weger to hide the fact that he broke a witch’s pot that Wayne loved.

"Hey you! That request lasts forever! Are you going to tell her? Are you going to tell her? I'll take off your pants right now if you’re going to tell her!"

"What! What’s a grown man doing, being so childish?!" When the pants really seemed to come off, Weger shouted urgently. "All right! All right! So stop it!"

At Weger's promise, Galak immediately let go. "You promise?"

"Ha... As expected, the gentle teacher-nim suits being chief more than Chief."

When Weger mentioned Galak Blade's younger brother, Caron Blade, Galak put his arms around Weger’s shoulder and poked him in the cheek.

"Ay~! Are you upset? You’re old now, but you’re still sulking?"

It could have sounded like treason, but Galak brushed it off casually. Not only was he close to Weger, all the Crows recognized Galak as the strongest ever, so anyone would have taken it as a joke. This was because the legitimacy of the Crows came from their strength. Therefore, when there was no strong person among the chief’s children who could be recognized by all, a brother, a nephew, or a child of a close relative, would become an adopted son of the chief and become the small chief.

Strength was a necessity, not an option, in order to lead the very free-spirited Crows. In that sense, the fact that Galak's lone daughter Athena was recognized as the small chief meant that her strength was recognized.

"Well, everyone, good work chasing my daughter! Let's go back to the village now!"

Galak carried his daughter tied to a rope on his shoulder and headed for the village.

"Father, don't you want to have another child? I want to have a younger sibling." Athena asked.

Galak burst into laughter. "Hahahaha! That’s not a request you should be making at eighteen years old! Unfortunately, that wish is unlikely to come true."

"Why?"

"I'm so sick of raising one of you, but you want me to have another child? Your mother will freak out."

Athena had nothing to say at Galak's reply. She herself knew she caused a lot of trouble.

"Then why did you give birth to me so late? If it weren't for your age, I wouldn't have been the small chief at such a young age."

Athena being appointed as the small chief so early was not only because her skills were recognized. It was largely due to Galak's age. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many people chasing after her.

Galak sensed his daughter's thoughts and chuckled, "Daughter, the reason why you have so many trackers is not because you are the small chief, but because you have tried to run away too much. Of course, the reason we are tracking you is because you are the small chief. And if you have children early, your newlywed time will become shorter.”

"Who has a newlywed time of more than forty years! How many years have you been married? It's almost your sixtieth anniversary!"

"Hey! Newlywed time can be long! Can't you understand that, even though you're my daughter?"

Galak and Athena continued to bicker on the way back to the village, when Wayne flew over on a broomstick.

"Oh my, you got caught. It went on for quite a while this time." said Wayne.

Athena was in awe. "Mother, you fly well in this environment."

"Nothing is impossible for me, because I'm the world's best great madosa."

At Wayne's words, Galak said teasingly, "You talk big for someone who was very flustered when you first entered Olympus Forest."

"Hmph! That ordeal was nothing. It was not difficult once I referred to the magic book written by Mirpa's ancestors."

Although she said so, for the first twenty years or so, she had a hard time due to not being able to use magic properly. Galak chuckled, recalling that time.

"That smile is very unpleasant," Wayne frowned.

"Ayy, not lovely? Oh, what was the name of the person who wrote that magic book? Abel? Harante?"

When Galak changed the topic, Wayne didn’t like it, but specially let it go, saying proudly, "Abel is his student, and Harante is his grandson. The author of the magic book is Hecate Ainsmall."

"Ahh, that was the name.”

"You’re too much. He is one of the two people who led to the development of the present Crows. It is bitter to think that I, who left great traces in magic history, will be forgotten.”

Galak grinned. "I’ll remember you and our daughter will remember you, so what are you worried about? By the way, you hardly leave the village, so what happened?”

Wayne remained silent for a moment and came down to the ground.

"I just got word of someone’s passing. They said Sir Fraham died a week ago."

"Oh… I see. So he ended up like that."

Galak, who had been energetic just now, became depressed.

"It can't be helped. No one can stop aging."

The two people still looked middle-aged, but they were also not free from aging.

"Well, considering he lived over ninety with that little mana, it could be said he lived a long time, right?”

Galak smiled bitterly and put Athena down, "Fraham was the worst. He was smug, vain, and would always flirt with the ladies. But…"

He untied the rope on Athena and began to tell an old story. "He was a knight who knew honor. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have defeated the Demon King."

The battle against the Demon King was the worst. The Butterfly tribe’s Arpen, who had the talent to be called a great madosa in the future, died after his heart was pierced, and the great reigning King Drachen lost his right arm and his dragon partner, who was more precious than his own life. Saintess Oryana left for God’s within a few years because she consumed most of her vitality in the final battle, and Great Khan Marsen, the guardian knight, who was more reliable than anyone else, lost his sight. And the valiant great warrior of the Hunter tribe, Jeffrey German Tri, had to return home with his beloved brother's body. Due to Arpen's mistake, Graham was left out in the final battle, but it was thanks to that, that they were able to defeat the Demon King.

Athena listened to her father's old story quietly. Galak always had a look full of longing and regret when he told old stories. He smiled at his daughter. "Weger, take the kids back to the village. I’m going to head outside with Wayne and Athena."

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

"Oh?! Really?"

Athena’s face brightened up at the thought of going outside.

"Hmm… It seems a little dangerous to take the small chief outside. She was running away from home just now." Weger said, concerned.

Athena pouted, but Galak ruffled her hair and said, "It's okay. Athena keeps running away because she’s just curious about things outside of the forest. After experiencing it and realizing that there's nothing special, she’ll want to come back soon. Just like you and me."

Athena had grown up hearing about Galak and Wayne's adventures from an early age. The two had traveled around the world and gone through all sorts of things, but they told Athena only the good memories as much as possible. Because of that, she yearned for the world outside of Olympus Forest and ran away from home whenever she had time, but the desire to go outside was a good driving force for growth.

"Even if you try to run away, if you are able to avoid Wayne’s and my detection, then it's time for you to become the chief, not the small chief." said Galak.

"… Chief, why are you saying logical things all of the sudden?" Weger said with a slight surprise.

Everyone except Galak nodded and sympathized with Weger's words.

"No! Isn't everyone being too mean? Even Wayne!" Galak complained.

"Put your hand on your own chest and think."

Galak proudly put his hand on his chest and shouted.

"No, this is still unfair!"

… And so one family left Olympus Forest and the world began to get darker and darker. When the world would become bright again, it would be after the world collapsed as usual.