Chapter 33: The Noisy Neighbor (2)

A face covered in soft, fluffy brown fur.

Above the head, two round, male ears.

On the chest, male white fur shaped like a full moon.

Ondal Bear Tribe’s shaman, Ondal Sora’s face was twisted in pain.

Ugh.

Blood finally trickled down from her mouth.

“Sh-Shaman! Are you okay?”

Ondal Soso, the attendant, anxiously asked.

“I’m fine. Just rest for a moment.”

The shaman of the Ondal Bear Tribe possessed the ability to summon the spirits of their ancestors.

The spirits appeared in the world by borrowing the shaman’s energy, aiding the life of the Ondal Bear Tribe.

But just moments ago, that connection with the spirit was forcibly severed.

‘What on earth was that? Something huge cut off the connection with the spirit in one fell swoop.’

Ondal Sora gritted her teeth and thought hard.

Before starting the task, and even now after the failure.

Her heart remained the same.

‘This can’t go on. There will be a great disaster for the village… for the Ondal Bear Tribe. Grandma, what should we do?’

Ondal Sora recalled the former shaman, Grandma.

Bang.

At that moment, the main courtyard door opened and a burly Ondal Bear Tribe man entered.

He was the chieftain, Bu Cha.

“What happened?”

Bu Cha asked without even glancing at Ondal Sora’s condition, firing questions one after another.

“It was a failure. I told you, we can’t go on like this. A great disaster will befall the village…”

“Shut up. You useless woman. Can’t you even deal with a few Vivani? You’re an idiot.”

Ondal Sora glared at Bu Cha with eyes burning in anger.

It was understandable—Bu Cha was both a robber and a bully to her.

‘It wasn’t like this when Grandma was still alive.’

The Ondal Bear Tribe’s village had been living quietly, farming their land.

Bu Cha and his gang suddenly appeared in the village a year ago.

When Grandma was still alive—capable of summoning five spirits at once—Bu Cha had been an energetic and active youth in the village.

But everything changed after Grandma passed away.

Bu Cha, as if waiting for this moment, mobilized his gang to seize the villagers.

He even fabricated the title of ‘Chieftain’—a position that hadn’t existed—and appointed himself.

‘Ah… what should I do now.’

Ondal Sora trembled with despair.

She knew that under no circumstances should the Vivani be attacked.

Even now, the shaman’s intuition gnawed at her.

“You don’t have to attack the Vivani! We’ve been living fine without it!”

“What nonsense are you spouting! Because of those pests, the village farmland never expands due to constant floods. Are you telling me to just watch? As the chieftain, I won’t stand for that!”

“We can produce more than enough crops regardless of the floods. We have enough food now, so why do you insist on killing someone?”

Bu Cha’s eyes flashed coldly.

He had his reasons for being dissatisfied with the current production levels.

“From how you talk, it looks like you haven’t even done it properly. Just half-heartedly pretending and failing, right?”

Bu Cha scolded Ondal Sora.

“That’s nonsense! Can’t you see the shaman is bleeding?”

The attendant, unable to bear it any longer, tried to intervene.

“How dare a mere attendant speak!”

Smack—

She was slapped and sent flying into the wall.

“Stop it! Enough, Bu Cha! This isn’t an act. The connection with the spirit really was cut off. We were attacked by something huge.”

“Hmph, why should I believe what you say? It’s clear you can’t do anything right, so there’s no choice. Gather all the villagers. This is the final attack.”

“No! The villagers will get hurt. It absolutely can’t happen.”

“Then are you saying it’s okay if your little brother gets hurt?”

Ondal Sora gritted her teeth.

The day Grandma passed away.

The first thing Bu Cha did was kidnap Ondal Sora’s younger sibling.

Did he know Grandma was going to die?

Did he wait for this moment to ambush the village and abduct the younger sibling?

Questions welled up in Ondal Sora’s throat, but she endured.

Her sibling’s life depended on it.

‘If I can summon just one more spirit, there’s a chance of victory. Until then, I have no choice but to obey him.’

Her spiritual power was slowly increasing.

Soon, she would be able to summon two spirits at once.

Then, she would save her sibling and drive Bu Cha and his gang out of the village.

‘Please, may no disaster befall the village before then.’

Ondal Sora prayed desperately.

Whether Bu Cha knew her thoughts or not, he barked with a proudly arrogant voice.

“You, go gather the villagers. Prepare them for battle. We leave immediately. Understand?”

Bang!

Bu Cha left the room, and Ondal Sora let her ears droop, sighing.

***

Unique Skill? Linked Mission?

Suho muttered under his breath.

The sudden message was that astonishing.

“Did I just get a new skill? Hurry! Hurry up and check it! Maybe I can get back to farming as before. Come on!”

Balryong, who was watching beside him, shouted in surprise.

“Uh… yeah. Wait a moment.”

Suho opened the explanation for the new Unique Skill.

[Dimensional Sight (Lower)]

• Move the sight to observe other dimensions.
• The higher the rank, the wider the range you can observe.

“Ahh”

Suho burst out laughing.

“What? What’s that? Can I use it to go back?”

“No. It looks like you can move the point of view when observing the other world. Step aside, let me try an experiment.”

Suho shook off the clinging Balryong and opened the suitcase.

The dam, Bobby’s house, and the Ironwood Forest along the riverside appeared in the sight.

“So using the skill changes the sight, huh?”

Suho immediately used the [Dimensional Sight] skill.

He felt a tickling sensation.

‘To the side!’

Suho made up his mind firmly.

Then the scenery inside the suitcase began to move.

“Oh, it really moves sideways. I can see past the Steelwood Forest.”

“But it doesn’t help me at all, huh, Balryong!”

Balryong grumbled and collapsed onto the bed.

Suho concentrated on the new skill.

‘This time upstream.’

The sight followed the river up the stream.

Waterfalls appeared, then the water flowed up the mountain through a valley.

At some point.

“Ah! This is the limit.”

After moving about fourteen meters, the sight couldn’t go further.

Considering the original sight was only a few hundred meters, it meant he could see a much wider area now.

“Amazing. But what’s this skill good for?”

He could observe other dimensions more smoothly.

He could exert influence over a wider range.

But was there any immediate use?

“Should I place another mine near the Dwarves?”

There was a mineral mine he couldn’t place before due to distance.

If he placed a drill there, he could make even better equipment.

Suho thought of several ideas on how to use Dimensional Sight.

“I’ve checked out all the skills for now.”

Suho recalled the remaining item that piqued his curiosity.

“Linked mission. I have to check that too.”

[Noisy Neighbors]

• The Ondal Bear Tribe attacked the Vivani. They have serious internal problems. Investigate the circumstances of Noisy Neighbors and resolve their issues for local peace.
• Reward: New trade partner (optional). Satisfaction of the new trade partner (optional).

The strange contents indicated a dimensional mission.

Among them, one phrase stood out.

“So the one who just attacked Bobby was the Ondal Bear Tribe.”

The huge bear that attacked Bobby.

It seemed the Ondal Bear Tribe had sent that creature.

‘The way it vanished like smoke, too. Surely there’s a secret.’

After pondering briefly, Suho examined the mission further.

It said there were internal problems within the Ondal Bear Tribe.

“This is about solving problems. First, I’ll investigate, then decide how to deal with it.”

The solution would be something to consider after proper contact with the Ondal Bear Tribe.

But the reward section was totally unclear.

“What’s this optional reward?”

Does it mean I’ll be trading with those Ondal Bear guys?

Or does it mean there’s someone else?

“Sitting around thinking won’t get me anywhere.”

Until contact, it was all just speculation.

He had to meet them.

“I just got Dimensional Sight anyway, so I should try it out.”

He had a way to observe the other party.

There was no reason to hesitate.

But Suho had to postpone observing the Ondal Bear Tribe.

It was because of the voices he heard.

“They survived! Uncle drove off the villainous bear!”

“Uncle! Suho Uncle! Thank you!”

The baby Vivani circled around, shouting happily.

“Suho, thanks to you, our babies survived. I’m so grateful I don’t know what to do.”

Bobby rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands.

“Friends have to help each other. I’ve gotten a lot of help from the carp you bring me every morning.”

“… Even so, I’m not at ease. What to do? I need to find the Golden Carp too.”

“There’s only one. Forget it for now. Just take care of the kids. I’ll tell you if I need anything.”

“Sniff—No matter what, just say the word. This Bobby isn’t an ungrateful Vivani!”

After calming him down for a while, Bobby gathered the kids and headed home.

“Now, shall we go meet the Noisy Neighbors?”

Suho began moving his sight.

***

Far from the Ondal Bear Tribe village, hidden in a mountain recess, was a cleverly concealed cave.

Two Ondal Bear Tribe youths stood in front of it.

“Heh heh, the Ondal Bear Tribe guys we caught this time are easy. Just holding the shaman means the village is ours for free.”

One of them muttered in a sinister voice.

“Right. When that old shaman was alive, I wondered what to do. But after the chieftain poisoned her, everything’s going smoothly. That Ondal Sora woman is soft-hearted, hehe.”

“All good, but the flood is the problem. If we fix the flood, we can produce food explosively.”

“Right. We live here producing only enough food to eat. We’re fools, honestly.”

“But why can’t we catch those Vivani or whatever? I feel like just the two of us could beat them. They’re small and weak, right?”

“Their homes are underwater. To catch them, you’d have to dive. But underwater, they’re too fast to catch.”

“Really? Didn’t the chieftain say something about solving that with the tree?”

One of them asked, recalling.

The other shook his head.

“That failed. The plan was to sprinkle Steel Hippopotamus Blood on the ground to turn Ironwood into Steel Ironwood, so the Vivani couldn’t cut it. Then they wouldn’t be able to build their homes, and we could invade anytime.”

“But why did it fail?”

“Strangely, they kept cutting the trees. That’s why the plan failed.”

“The chieftain seemed uncomfortable for a while because of that. What now? They say you can’t catch them underwater anyway.”

“We had the shaman try to kill them as spirits. But it looks like that failed too.”

Clicking his tongue, the one listening asked again.

“What now?”

“Can’t help it. Even if a few village idiots get thrown to the fish as food, we have to push through with numbers and spirits. Then we can kill a few Vivani.”

“Seeing the villagers die will make the shaman wake up and work hard. Plus, since her little sibling is caught here, she won’t be able to resist.”

“Heh heh heh, our chieftain’s really clever when it comes to dirty tricks.”

“Hey, hey, what if the chieftains get caught?”

“Heh, they’d probably like it.”

In the quiet mountain recess where no one else was around, they talked endlessly.

But they never imagined this.

‘The problem isn’t the Ondal Bear Tribe, it’s that gang that’s the real villain.’

High above in the sky, someone was listening to their conversation.