“No matter the difficulty, regardless of how hopeless the situation sometimes looks, life finds a way. That is one thing you can firmly believe in.
Mind you, it might not find its way within your lifetime, so keep that in mind as well.” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.
“What I find hard to believe is that people… a lot of people live around here, while those beasts…”
“And worse.”
“And worse, as you said, freely roam the forest. Why don’t they live… somewhere safer instead?” Celia finally articulated after some difficulty, shortly after their encounter with the local wildlife on the road.
“Because there isn’t much when it comes to safer places that also suits habitation around here, girl,” replied Aideen with a shake of her head. Compared to Alcidea, Ur-Teros had harsher terrain in general, what with the frozen wastelands to the east, the lush jungles – teeming with wildlife of all sorts – to the west, and the desert in the center. “People here have long learned to make do with what they got, and it’s not like there aren’t any benefits to living in the vicinity of the jungle either.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
“For one, all the beasts you saw along the way are each quite valuable for various reasons. Their pelts, antlers, fangs, bones, all have plenty of uses in life, some even served as medicinal ingredients. That’s not counting the obvious benefits like their meat, of course, which many found delectable,” said Aideen. “Also you got to consider that the majority of the population here in Elmaiya are therians, and they have a strong instinct to hunt such beasts, more often than not, so their presence adds in some elements of entertainment and excitement for the locals.”
“Hunt… those beasts? Those same ones that could eat them up in a couple bites?”
“Of course. I don’t get why you’re that surprised. You’ve seen how the orcs up north hunt tyrant lizards before, it’s kind of the same principle,” Aideen said with a chuckle. “Some people will always view hunting such things to be a feat worth boasting about, on top of helping secure the immediate vicinity from the harm those creatures might cause.”
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“Though if I were into such braggadocio, I would have trumped them all long ago and rendered them speechless, since technically the sea serpent skeleton we have guarding our southern central shores is my trophy,” she continued with a bout of laughter. “That said, while it might not serve much purpose in lands like your homeland, where the wildlife were generally either not dangerous or were sequestered in the deeper woods, here such hunts have far more practical purposes.”
“I can see that, yeah. I was just surprised how the people around here could even sleep at night knowing that beasts that large were living all around them,” noted Celia. “I sure would have had issues sleeping if I were them.”
“What can we say? We southerners are hardy folks because we live in a hard land. Those who could not tough it out won’t make it here down in the south,” countered Aideen. “Rather literally, actually. Due to the harsh nature of the land here, the locals don’t tolerate weakness much. They expect people to defeat and rise over their personal weaknesses here. There’s some elements of the survival of the fittest as well.”
“Yet from what you said, I don’t think the… Empress ruled by might? She is a healer if I remember your stories right.”
“One of the best Life affinity healers I’ve met, yeah, must have inherited that from her grandfather,” admitted Aideen. “Both Lucea and her Grandfather had made use of that skill of theirs to amass loyalists around them, though. People who owed them their lives in the literal sense. Besides, both of them had long learned their lessons that just because they’re healers doesn’t mean they should be weak and helpless. I mean, look at me, I’m a healer, am I weak and helpless?”
“Good point. Come to think of it, having to fight against a skilled healer, even if they’re mortal, must be rather frustrating if they know what they’re doing.”
“I’d say it’d be near impossible to assassinate Lucea in any manner that doesn’t give her plenty of time to wait for her guards to come, yeah. She could just sit there and let them stab her and heal the wounds like they never happened all day long, if she wanted to,” said Aideen with an amused chuckle. “She had actually done that rather literally in the past, you know?”
“For real? You’re shitting me aren’t you?”
“Nope. It was pretty early in her reign, my husband was still alive back then. We got the news straight from his brother, who’s the equivalent of an Archduke in Elmaiya and is the most powerful noble there. The assassin apparently caught the Empress while she was enjoying a bath on her own. He barged into her bathroom and must have stabbed her a couple hundred times.”
“And she just let him?”
“She healed the wounds so fast the bathwater wasn’t even stained. That’s not all, though, to add insult to the injury, she didn’t even punish the assassin for an attempted assassination after her guards came in and caught the exhausted wannabe killer, but instead punished them for damaging national property, trespassing, and voyeurism instead. That assassin broke down and admitted everything before begging to be at least put to death to salvage his stepped-on pride.”
“That’s… both hilarious and must have been horrible for the assassin’s pride, all right,” said Celia as she laughed as well. “How did that incident end up then?”
“Oh, just the usual, one noble family getting cast out into the jungle, another demoted to peasants with their riches confiscated, I guess the assassin did get what they wanted since they were sentenced to execution by beheading at their own behest. Heard they went out with a smile,” continued Aideen as she related the tale. “In case you didn’t get it, by casting into the jungle, I mean those nobles were thrown out naked and unarmed right in the center of the jungle. Nobody ever made it out when cast away like that.”