9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 198 - Emergency (3)

“Mom, this is our house!”

“Mom, this is the laundry!”

“Mom, this is the day? daycare!”

“Mom, this is the playground!”

“Lucy, don’t run so fast, take it slow.”

Alina Himmel was dragged around the pioneer village by Lucy’s tiny hand.

Lucy had perked up and insisted on showing her around the village, so she’d come out to spend some time with her after so long. The impression was that it was quite well-organized, better than she’d expected.

Neatly built houses, spacious streets, comfortably designed public facilities.

Even the playground was filled with tall trees and shrubs that could withstand the desert wind and sand. The shade overhead helped make the sweltering air a bit more bearable.

“Do you play with friends at the playground?”

“Yeah! Every day!”

“What do you play?”

“Puppy game!”

Lucy shouted with a bright grin.

“Now Mom is the puppy! Bark, woof woof!”

“Woof, woof.”

“Louder!”

Alina crouched in the shade of a tree and barked like a dog.

“Woof woof!”

“Good girl, good girl!”

Lucy picked up a ball from among the toys scattered around the playground and threw it.

“Fetch!”

“Woof! Woof woof woof!”

“Wooooow!”

Alina stood up and leaped. When she jumped a great distance and caught the ball in one swift motion, Lucy’s exclamation rang out.

“Hahahaha!”

And cheerful laughter too. When she landed and turned around, Thomas was standing at the playground entrance.

“Daddy!”

“I was wondering where you’d gone, turns out you were playing with Lucy.”

He approached with a gentle smile on his warm face and handed her a water bottle.

“You must be sweating a lot.”

“Thanks, honey.”

Alina drank the lukewarm water. The taste of water here was definitely different from the outside world.

“Now we’re going to the well, Mom!”

Lucy clung to her legs like a cicada and shook her.

“There’s a well?”

“There are wells scattered throughout the village. But don’t drink from them carelessly. I heard some people who didn’t know better drank from them and got seriously ill.”

“Because of the different water?”

“It’s not that simple. I heard even if outsiders are elves, they’re fine when they drink it, but humans get sick.”

“What kind of illness?”

“I’m not sure. Lucy also drank well water at first and suffered from high fever, babbling nonsense and running around. I was so scared. You be careful too.”

“But that felt good.”

Lucy chattered innocently.

“It’s okay if you boil it, so we fetch it home and boil it. The president got caught by it at first too.”

“The president? Daniel Hartmann?”

“Right, him.”

Yesterday, Daniel had revealed to Alina about the White Raven Order. Why Redan Company had joined hands with elves, and the contract between Lucas and Fael.

Alina wasn’t surprised.

She wasn’t particularly fearful by nature anyway, and she thought it wouldn’t be surprising if the commander pulled something like that.

Rather, Daniel and Fael were surprised by Alina’s calm acceptance of it all.

Right now the two of them had urgent business and left for the southern port, so she could only hope things would work out well.

***

Of course, things didn’t work out well at all.

Refugees who had flocked from Schufaben continued streaming into the port in waves.

This was natural since Bletter had used their remaining connections to bring all the elves who had nowhere to go, along with their families.

The tent city built on the outskirts of the Shan tribe village kept growing larger, and by the end of summer it had grown enough to exceed even the existing pioneer village population.

With the entire Great Desert tense and watching the refugees’ movements in this unprecedented situation, Fael was busy exchanging letters with various tribes.

By the time a forum for dialogue was finally arranged through his tearful efforts, Namir’s body and mind were worn ragged from managing life in the refugee camp.

August 1904.

Exactly fourteen months after last year’s Elrahatan, a gathering of tribal chieftains was held once again. As before, in Asma, the capital of the ancient elf kingdom.

“Uuughhhh…”

“Namir?”

Fael was shocked to see his younger brother staggering over while holding Lea’s hand.

“Why are you so skinny? You’re nothing but skin and bones!”

“You don’t know what I’ve been through. Feeding, housing, and resolving disputes among over ten thousand refugees, teaching them Elvish, the magic stones needed to run essential facilities… All sorts of incidents keep happening! It would be better to manage the pioneer village like you or Daniel do. I heard work has started up again there, and it’s actually more stable than before? All the hardcore elf-haters and troublemakers disappeared back to their homeland!”

His appearance, half out of his mind and mumbling. Unable to watch any longer, Fael gave Lea a look.

“It looks like he needs some rest.”

After several days of recuperation, Namir finally returned to something resembling human form.

“I’m sorry. For acting childishly.”

“No, Namir. You can be spoiled with me anytime. I’ll be your strength.”

In the cool tent, Namir mumbled while lying with his head on Lea’s lap, and Lea gently stroked his cheek.

“But Lea, you must be tired too.”

“Namir. I always tell you, but I’m someone who finds joy in pushing myself hard. The more work I have and the heavier my responsibilities, the happier I feel. I want to burn through this life and run to the very end. Even if I can’t run anymore and collapse from exhaustion, I swear by Ela I’ll have no regrets.”

“…Why are there only people like Lea around me? Whether elves or humans, they’re all the same.”

At Namir’s question, Lea smiled and whispered.

“Because you admire such people.”

“M-me?”

“Of course.”

Was that so? Namir stared blankly at the ceiling and rolled his eyes. Outside, Ashtard’s voice could be heard.

“Namir, it’s almost time for the meeting.”

***

“This is too much! What on earth were you thinking to pull something like this on your own!”

“Over ten thousand refugees! And you’re saying more will keep coming!”

“You want to settle the pioneer village humans without sending them back? Making such a decision without consultation—what kind of rudeness is this!”

The meeting was rocky from the start.

Fa tribe chieftain Fa-Shahin had declared after last year’s Elrahatan that he would transfer diplomatic authority to his two sons, so he didn’t attend today either.

However, Ban tribe’s Ban-Diyab, Khal tribe’s Khal-Aisha, and Teno tribe’s Teno-Kenan.

The chieftains who had rushed here despite their busy schedules were each raising their voices in anger.

“I apologize for acting somewhat unilaterally due to the urgent situation. However, didn’t we already make a contract? The goal of the Elven Federation was to create a homeland where our scattered kinfolk across the continent could safely return. So turning away these poor refugees would violate our contract.”

Though Fael replied calmly, the chieftains’ distrustful gazes didn’t change.

“But there was no discussion about humans!”

“They’re refugees too. They fled to escape war. And their strength is absolutely necessary to develop resources.”

“Even if we can easily control the small number of humans in the pioneer village, what about our kinfolk who will keep coming? Do you think those who share only blood but have lived in human countries for hundreds of years can follow the Great Desert’s rules? They can’t even speak proper Elvish! There might even be apostates who have abandoned Ela for simple intermarriage with humans or their families, since Schufaben’s elf expulsion order was so strict!!”

“That’s a closed matter. We already resolved it when we decided to establish a unified nation and accept our kinfolk. The total number of elves living in the Great Desert doesn’t even reach a million. To expand our influence against humans in the future, we need more population.”

“But the longer the war drags on, the more refugees will pour in, and we’ll lack both land to accommodate them and food to feed them. You say you’re developing resources, but it’s still not enough for even five tribes to share. If we divide the refugees among the five tribes, they’ll naturally clash with the natives.”

“That’s right, the problem is money and food. I heard Shan tribe’s backbone is already being bent to the breaking point!”

“No, it’s not that bad.”

Shan-Lea denied it, but the other chieftains looked unconvinced.

“The cause is good, I agree with that. We all do. Building our own strong nation. That’s been everyone’s long-held dream. But that path will be a thorny road of hardship and adversity, and we can’t force our already storm-battered tribal people to endure that suffering.”

Teno-Kenan’s words were closest to the chieftains’ true feelings.

They had tolerated humans coming in to exploit resources, and building a unified elf nation.

During that process, it would be Fa tribe and Shan tribe taking the lead, while the other three tribes would bear less responsibility and simply enjoy the fruits under the promise of regional autonomy.

The noise from nation-building was manageable enough for them to handle on their own.

However, settling masses of refugees with different languages and thoughts was absolutely impossible.

There was no benefit in it, only major losses. There was no way to overcome tribal opposition.

Unless Fa tribe and Shan tribe promised enormous benefits as compensation, they could never accept it.

Namir read that intention from the chieftains’ eyes, gestures, and tone, and felt breathless.

Realizing that they still felt no empathy whatsoever for the ’cause.’

They’d only reluctantly accepted it because of the carrots and sticks Fael offered, focused solely on their own interests and their tribes’ interests.

He could understand such selfish thinking, such defensive attitudes.

The sensible ones were on that side. Anyone could see that Fael was being unreasonable, intoxicated by impossible fantasies.

‘But we’ve succeeded. We’ve almost made it. If everyone joins forces, we can overcome this, so why…’

Feeling queasy, Namir closed his eyes tightly and released Lea’s hand. Then he stepped forward and opened his eyes.

“We’ll handle it ourselves.”

Namir, who had been just watching without speaking, spoke in a firm voice. Everyone’s attention focused on him.

“Fa tribe will take full responsibility for accommodating the refugees. You chieftains only need to provide minimal support. Instead, we’ll take the abandoned wastelands. We need to build cities for the growing population.”

“Wh-what?”

“Namir!”

“Lord Elhar, is this real?”

“Who are you asking?”

Namir walked in front of the chieftains who were looking at Fael and waved his hand.

“I’m the Fa tribe’s heir.”

“That’s…”

“I’ll give you enough time to think it over. Please make your decision carefully.”

***

“Why did you do that?”

When the meeting ended, stars were already rising in the night sky. In the ruins of Asma scattered with ancient remains, Fael asked quietly.

“Sorry, brother. For speaking out on my own.”

Namir mumbled, but Fael shook his head.

“I’m not asking for an apology. I was just curious.”

“Brother, I’ve been thinking.”

Namir spoke slowly. Beside them, red dragon Tan was curled up on the ruins, sleeping contentedly.

“Those people, the refugees, will definitely cause trouble. They speak and think differently from us. But that’s what makes them meaningful people. They grew up seeing a wider world. Even if they lived as lower-class citizens in Schufaben, that doesn’t change. Among them, who knows what kind of wisdom and skills someone might have that could help us?

This past summer, while managing the refugee camp, I identified and categorized things like their names, family relationships, and occupations. There were many factory workers. Like Oscar. There were quite a few bankers and merchants too. If we split up people with those specialties and scatter them among the five tribes’ lands, they won’t be any help at all. They need to stay together.

And brother, if our own nation is established in the future.”

Namir’s eyes, filled with passion, sparkled like stars.

“Population equals power. We need to claim first rights to the refugees who’ll keep coming. Same with those wastelands. They say there are no resources, but as technology develops, new uses for resources are often discovered. Even those rocks and sand might play some role in the future. Anyway, land is always worth having. Now while no one covets it is our chance. We need to expand our territory as much as possible.”

“……”

Fael, who had been listening silently, gently stroked his head.

“You’ve grown up, Namir.”

“I was already grown up, I’ll be twenty next year!”

“Has it already been that long?”

“Yeah!”

“I’m proud of you.”

Namir was speechless.

“Y-you think saying something like that will make me emotional? I’m…”

“I mean it.”

“……”

Namir felt his face burning. He also felt something boiling up inside his chest and overflowing to his throat.