There Was a Porter Who Would One Day Be Called a Prophet

98 – The Old Man and the Scarecrow

A mountain road full of fresh green.

Some of them were dyed yellow and were preparing to change into new clothes.

– Jerking around.

As the porter climbed the mountain where the seasons changed, his ears were burning red.

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“It could all be a misunderstanding.”

Talia muttered as she walked in front of him, and he flinched.

“Porter. Do you know how cool it was just now? It was a worthy warrior party.”

Her porter’s face contorted slightly when she saw her giggling at what was so good.

‘What a warrior party. How can you say such a terrible thing?’

After he said that to the village chief. The village chief evaded an answer, saying that he would let us know when the cause was resolved.

While the porter was disgusted inwardly. The voice of the saintess came from behind.

“I don’t have any problems with my mind, so why…”

Her face was worried, probably because she had made a statement defending the scarecrow in front of the village chief.

Seeing me, she said that she was brainwashed by the scarecrow and poured out her healing.

“It’s not like that, don’t worry.”

“Then why did you say that, honey?”

Reina also asked with a puzzled expression if she didn’t understand my behavior.

“No matter how much it is, the fact that the scarecrow is a monster does not change. We are in a position to defeat such a monster.”

“What are you so worried about, a dwarf? The porter must have an idea.”

The hero interrupted Talia’s words defending me.

“I agree with Reina. I hope the porter is wrong this time.”

“Hero. What do you mean by that again? Do you wish the porter was wrong?”

“Because monsters have to be enemies that need to be defeated.”

“…That’s not true.”

Talia answered with a crawling sound as if she couldn’t refute her words.

“Coexistence with monsters. That can never happen, and it shouldn’t be.

As the silence came at the end of the warrior’s words, someone poked me in the side next to me.

“Master. Why are they doing that?”

Chloe asks with an innocent face as if she doesn’t know why.

“Monsters threaten people, and the warrior party is in a position to protect people from those monsters. But I’m going to cover the monsters and turn around and do that.”

It is understandable that the warrior party reacted like that. In fact, isn’t it a group gathered to oppose the demons? As long as the scarecrow is a monster, you won’t be able to get over it.

“Then why did Master do that?”

A simple but bony question flew in.

After coming here, there were many things that I couldn’t just ignore because it was simply a game story.

Chloe, who has been asking me questions, was also like that.

Didn’t the scarecrow also have stories about her birth that I didn’t know about and the stories of the people around her?

I had a feeling that there was still more to him.

“I thought I should at least know why.”

After walking silently for a while, we arrived at the place where the monsters were gathering.

“Polaris. Can you feel anything?”

A saintess pointing in one direction with her finger at the hero’s question.

“I feel strong demonic energy over there.”

Pointing beyond the dense forest, she took the lead, and as she went deeper under the guidance of her saintess, the scenery around her gradually changed.

Faced with withered trees and faded plants, she knew that even I, who couldn’t feel demonic energy, was something unusual.

The party leaves the withering nature behind and moves on.

Everyone gasped when they reached a place full of dead old trees where no life could be found anymore.

“What the heck…”

A tree with an unpleasant appearance that reminds me of a baobab tree.

“Kieek!”

From the hole in the center of the hole, the demonic beast resembling the root I saw yesterday was sticking out her head and spitting out the first word full of hatred towards the world.

“That was it. All the demonic energy was flowing from that terrible tree. The tree that gave birth to monsters…”

As the saintess said, that tree must have been the cause of the monster that threatened the village.

A beast tree.

At the same time as the world tree that purifies demonic energy fell, the continent was swept away by demonic energy, greatly reducing the area where humans could live.

A monster tree, a plant-type monster, usually gives birth to a single monster and dies soon after.

The monsters that were born searched for something that could be nourished, and eventually became parasitic on healthy trees, becoming demon trees and remembering them as monsters that gradually expanded the area suitable for living.

‘Why are there enemies that only appear after the World Tree disappears?’

Because Reina, the elf, didn’t mention it. The world tree will still stand.

The story also hasn’t changed, so it wasn’t strange in terms of flow that there was actually a monster tree in a place that users couldn’t enter.

Just.

‘It’s hard to see the current situation as natural.’

This village is not even close to the World Tree, but it is located not too far away. How likely was it that demon trees would grow wild in such a place?

‘Anyway, this must have been the intervention of demons.’

The scarecrow’s treatment alone was complicated, but when I discovered the traces of the demons, my head was on the verge of exploding.

While the porter clutched his head and thought about it.

Serung.

The warrior who took out the holy sword slipped out and cut off the leg of the nearest monster.

“Kieek!”

Hearing the dying words of his colleague as he fell, all the monsters there rushed towards the hero.

“Forward slash.”

Demonic spirits that have been dismembered as they are running towards the swordsmanship swung horizontally. Among those monsters, there were a few individuals who got out of the skill range and survived by luck.

“The chase.”

“Ignition.”

Reyna’s arrows and Talia’s flames exploded or burned her whole body and reduced it to ashes.

I honestly marveled at how easily they got rid of it.

‘Certainly, it has become stronger than before.’

The saintess’ turn did not even come, and only the demon tree remained.

When I said that it would be certain to burn the hero who was trying to finish off using the skill, he yielded the last blow to Talia.

“Ignition.”

In the end, in her hands, the cause that threatened the village was engulfed in flames and disappeared.

“Saint, is this the end?”

“Yes. The demonic energy that I can feel has decreased to the point of fainting.”

“With this, the village will be safe.”

“I guess so.”

And the meaning was also to ask about the treatment of the last remaining monsters.

“Mr. Porter.”

When the warrior called me, I felt intuition that the time had come.

“As you know, there’s no reason to keep the scarecrow alive anymore.”

“…”

“Come slowly. I’ll go ahead and take care of it.”

After those words, the hero went down to the village.

Does it have to disappear without knowing why?

It was just a scarecrow, but it was embarrassing. Could it be that he, like me, was abandoned by her parents?

I thought about it for a long time, but I thought that this would not change anything, so I decided to go back.

– Jiik.

As he moved his steps, he heard a strange sound as if he had stepped on something.

“This is…”

When I took my foot off, I saw something like paper protruding from the soil.

Let’s dig up the soil and dig it up. It was hard to see because the middle was torn because I stepped on it, but the contents were somehow familiar.

O Month X Day.

I’m writing this here because I tore up my diary in a fit of anger.

Zakaran appeared in my dream. She said she wanted to let go of herself and she said she didn’t want to see me suffer because of her. She wanted to talk more, but she woke up from a dream and couldn’t.

The scarecrow caught my eye as I stood up. The scarecrow who vented his anger by saying that someone like you was not my son.

I was staring blankly at the sight, and suddenly I had an idea.

Maybe I can go see you?

Then my body moved of its own accord and I approached the scarecrow. The moment I tried to slit my neck with the scythe that replaced his arm. Reluctant to do so, I thought he would kill me, so I tried to disassemble the scythe, but it just wouldn’t work.

After clinging to the scythe for a long time, I turned my attention to the pitchfork on the other side, but likewise it did not work.

After spending half a day trying to die, I was so exhausted that I lay down next to the scarecrow.

It was only then that I remembered that there were knives in the kitchen, but I didn’t think so anymore.

You saved me.

Maybe I’m overreacting, but that’s what I thought. Maybe this scarecrow resisted to save me.

I cried at the thought of never seeing my son. I put them down one by one like that.

With the vacancy of his wife, whom he has missed for a long time. Resentment toward his son.

After that, all that was left was the scarecrow.

Only you will never leave me.

The scarecrow in front of me is not a jacaran. However, it is clear that he is also my son.

I’m sorry. For being a good son as the old man wanted.

Anyway, I thought I was too harsh yesterday, so I decided to give you a present.

I gave up because it was difficult, but I need to give him a proper arm. Tomorrow I will go to the mountain to cut wood. I’ve been hearing strange noises lately, but it’s nothing.

The diary ended there.

This time, the old man’s diary was neatly handwritten without any sense of madness.

In context, it seems that after deciding to commit suicide, he changed her mind and climbed a mountain to make an arm for the scarecrow who created the opportunity.

While expressing my condolences for the elderly, I became curious.

“But why is it here…”

As I was looking around, I couldn’t help but be astonished when I inadvertently looked at the tree next to me.

The figure that I thought was a tree had eyes, nose and mouth, and the figure was in the shape of a withered old man.

“Porter!”

As I sat down, the party members rushed towards me.

“Did you even trip your foot?! Why the hell…”

Everyone, including Talia, who was worried about me, was speechless when they saw the old man’s corpse.

Sure.

I finally came to my senses and realized that there was something in the old man’s hand, and I carefully took it and succeeded in pulling it out.

“Brother, that’s…”

A piece of old newspaper stained red.

Stained with blood, it was the last diary left by the old man.