Kaori looked at Yaju in curiosity for a second as his response sunk in before replying. She decided to get closer and just speak to him normally. “My name is Fujiwara Kaori. For now you should address me as Fujiwara-sama since I was sent here because you haven’t managed this world well. I will tell you from the start that I don’t hold those who don’t do their jobs in high regard. That being said, I don’t really understand how I should go about running this world yet but I intend to get results as soon as possible and will expect you to do the same if you are working under me.”
Yaju looked on at the new high goddess and after her first few words he steeled his resolve, expecting to be destroyed any moment but she continued speaking. The next line she spoke took him completely by surprise. How could a supreme goddess be unsure of how to do anything? More than that, was she saying that she wouldn’t dispose of him? “I… You have my word and my loyalty great Fujiwara-sama. What would you have me do milady?”
The ridiculousness of his last word almost made Kaori laugh but she managed to keep a strait face through sheer force of will. Still, what should she have him do? What was she going to do? While she was pondering, she noticed movement and saw the elf boy turn and look around. A moment later, he looked past her then quickly turned back and stared directly at her with eyes growing ever wider.
Realizing that she hadn’t tried to conceal her presence from him she decided to wave at him before fading from his sight. Yaju watched the whole interplay with trepidation. How was it that the boy could see her but not him? He could tell by the way that the boy started looking around the moment that she turned back to look at him that she had concealed herself from him as easily as breathing. For him, the hardest part was being seen at all but she didn’t seem to have any problems either way. Suddenly he found his respect for her was that much higher! Not only was she a goddess with immense power that could stand on air and talk without speaking, she could also choose whether to be seen at will and was even willing to admit that there were things that she didn’t know! Amazing.
Kaori considered how she wanted to proceed from here but was utterly at a loss. She was supposed to advance the civilization of the world to make it better but how? She couldn’t just walk into the village and tell them how they should live right? Then how? As she looked at the expectant Yaju she made up her mind to take it slow at first and just see how he did things if for no other reason that to see how not to do things. It was always good to have a reference of what doesn’t work.
“Yaju, I’ve decided that I want to see what it is that you do normally. I want to see how you normally interact with the elves and see how they live their lives. I need to know what I have to work with before I decide how to proceed. That brings us back to my previous question. What are you watching so intently? The elf boy I assume but why?”
Yaju pondered for a moment about the best way to explain. For him to put things into words was a challenge because he had been without anyone to talk to or any need to explain anything for many, many years. “You see… the people of the forest… I… hmm. Forgive me, I need a moment to gather my thoughts, milady Fujiwara-sama.”
She was prepared to keep waiting for his response but then she noticed that the elf boy was moving. He had been looking about in her general direction for a bit but now he was climbing the tree he was in. Yaju turned and watched his progress as well. He was very athletic and dexterous as he jumped from one branch to the next, one tree to the next. He got to a tree not far from where they were and began climbing to the top. Once he was there he was above where they were watching him as he began looking all around in the sky and the tops of the trees.
Yaju once again turned to her and started over. “The people of the forest have keen eyes and ears. For one of them to see something and then loose sight of it is very unusual. I am assuming that you hid your presence from him entirely and now he is trying to see what it was that he got a glimpse of. It seems that he can’t tell where we are by presence alone.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Yaju looked at the boy, shook his head sadly and looked back. “The hunters, especially the young ones, often have a sense of where I am, even without being able to see me. I test their instincts by masking my presence and then seeing if they can sense me near them. Some can only sense when I get the urge to hunt them and those are at least able to dodge the worst of the beasts of the forest but others are able to tell where I am at all times and those are the ones who make the best hunters. They are the ones that can feel when prey is near them.”
“If I find one of the new hunters is unable to sense me at all then I whisper an omen to the shaman who seems to be able to hear me. I tell him that the one that can’t sense me isn’t fit to be a hunter and the tribe listens to the shaman. Not all of the tribes do though. The largest tribe of the five is near the big sea that way. *points* They have more tribesman than the others and they produce more children than the others. They have a lot more fruits and berries that grow around them and with more food they are able to have more children. That tribe doesn’t miss the occasional hunter that dies to the beasts of the forest and their shaman has less say in the tribe because of it.”
“The last shaman they chose was a young girl who sensed me and ran from me. What kind of sense does that make? Why choose a shaman that is afraid of the god of the hunt? I still don’t get why she ran from me. I was just thinking that her breasts were filling out nicely and her hips were getting a decent curve to them when she turned in my direction with a horrified look on her face and ran screaming. I didn’t even try to touch them! I wish I had, hehe.”
Kaori looked at him in disgust. He had an introspective look with a pervy predatory grin made all the worse by the canine snout. She made a mental note to go see the shaman of that village and apologize to her about her underling and another to have a talk with Yaju about sexual harassment. For now she had gotten a very big piece of information, there were five tribes. Then a thought occurred to her. “Yaju, are the different tribes made up of different species?”
“What, no, no other tribes besides the people of the forest, elves that is. I had hoped when I got here that there would be other undermen but there were only the people of the forest. Besides, if there were other undermen, they would have feared me like my own clan did. Not that I blame them. What I did I can never be forgiven for.” After all his proud talk of the elves he had suddenly grown quiet and sullen. Kaori was about to ask about that when an intruder suddenly caught their attention.
The elf boy who had been a couple trees over had gotten into the top of the tree they were in while they weren’t watching. Suddenly he was climbing down the trunk behind Yaju and they both turned to watch his progress. When he got a little lower than the huge branch they were using he stopped. He looked about for a couple seconds then looked almost directly at her. He then climbed back up the tree to the same branch and started walking down it.
When he got close to them, Yaju moved aside and the boy walked by without a glance in his direction. He was intently looking in Kaori’s direction. He passed by where she was but then stopped and looked back. He then walked back and forth while keeping a steady gaze locked on her location. Kaori figured out from his motions that he was trying to triangulate her position from feel alone. Certainly he couldn’t see her right?
She decided to try an experiment, she leaned towards the boy and began making a teasing face, sticking her tongue out and pulling an eyelid down. The boy didn’t respond in the least and she had her answer, he couldn’t actually see her. She then circled around him until she was standing on the branch. At first when she moved he began frantically looking around but then he locked onto her and followed her with his eyes even though he couldn’t seem to see her. He then tentatively reached out his hand in her direction but she had no intention of letting him grab her.
She backed up a step and circled around to the other side of him and got closer to Yaju. “Come, I’ve made the air behind me harden. Try stepping on it.”
Yaju might have had his faults but he seemed not to lack any faith in her as he simply walked right out onto the air beside her. “Lead the way to the villages. I want to see them for myself.”
Kaori then thought about the air around her being solid for Yaju to walk on as she floated along after him and they departed the somewhat bewildered looking elven youth. They chatted amicably while Yaju walked at a fast trot ahead of her weaving through trees as though he had been floating along this path like this his whole life. She revised her opinion of him slightly, he seemed loyal and trusting if nothing else. She figured that she could work with that. Loyalty to the boss would go a long way in the workplace.