Copy Skills with Affinity!

Chapter 180

Harvest Festival (2)

The tension lingering in the air was, in truth, almost like a hometown to me.

If I thought about the countless life-and-death situations I had passed through until now, this kind of tension was something I had been exposed to since I was very young.

Perhaps the reason I obsessively clung to an ordinary life was also largely because I had been continuously exposed to such an environment.

And, in other words.

This kind of environment was no different from water to a fish for me.

Meeting each and every one of the countless gazes pouring toward me, I walked straight into the venue without the slightest hesitation.

Compared to the time of the succession ceremony, our positions had been reversed.

Back then and now, it was the same that most of the gazes toward me were filled with dissatisfaction, but—

“…….”

“…….”

As they looked at my face, those who knew me all seemed to be thinking something similar.

This bastard, he definitely came prepared with something.

From the perspective of people like Dunadan or Rania, who knew what kind of things I usually got up to, my calm, expressionless face would naturally lead them to that conclusion.

Of course, to those who neither knew nor cared to know anything about me, I would look like a foolish man with nothing to his name, boldly walking straight into a lion’s jaws.

That much was obvious just from the way one of them stepped forward and spoke to me with a triumphant expression.

“It seems you didn’t prepare anything, Acting Great Chieftain.”

As I quietly looked at the face filled with blatant mockery, another sentence followed with a sneer.

“You must know what kind of meaning the Harvest Festival holds in the Great Plains. Anyone born and raised here couldn’t possibly not know, could they?”

“…….”

He was essentially saying that since I hadn’t grown up here, I wouldn’t know something so basic—but instead of responding, I simply scratched my head and scanned him up and down with clear eyes.

Even the Mountain God standing beside me was openly frowning in displeasure, yet my reaction was so transparent that it left the man who had started this confrontation visibly flustered…

“So, what is it.” 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The next thing I said would, without a doubt, be just as effective in flustering him.

“…What did you say?”

“You must have prepared something to screw me over. What is it?”

“…….”

At my blunt words, the tribal leader’s face twisted instantly, but as someone who had climbed to that position, he quickly erased the expression, maintaining a level of cunning and restraint.

Seeing me speak so openly, he must have realized that I had some confidence.

“…….”

However, after glancing once at the Mountain God, the smug expression returned to his face.

I didn’t know where they had picked up such a strange person, but the ‘gate’ they had prepared here was something that even the real Great Chieftain himself would hesitate at and shake his head over.

On the other hand, since I was only an ‘acting’ one, they could pile on all sorts of excuses and present something like this.

If it had been a Great Chieftain with a solid base of support, things might have been different—but this side had no means to resist such an outrageous act.

The conservative tribal leader standing before me glanced sideways at the Great Chieftain seated in the place of honor, watching this with his chin resting on his hand.

‘…Reap what you sow. Idiot.’

The fact that something had happened to the Great Chieftain himself was something anyone sharp-eyed and quick-footed could already notice.

Most people still didn’t know, but at least the tribal leader standing here already did.

‘…I don’t know who leaked that information, though.’

Who had done such a thing to the Great Chieftain, and how that information had spread, remained a mystery. But at the very least, even though the hardliners in the Great Plains had been committing provocations that could half-trigger a civil war day after day, it had been a long time since any proper response had come.

At this point, there was no real point in doubting whether it was true or not.

Which meant that the one sitting there was not the real Great Chieftain, but a substitute—and he had merely passed that burden onto someone else because he couldn’t handle it himself.

In other words, that man had no ability whatsoever to support me here.

As I faced this situation—

The only thing I could rely on…

Was my own ability.

“It’s nothing much. Go ahead and walk up there.”

As he said that, both I and the Mountain God turned our gaze to where he pointed.

A massive altar, the kind usually present in rituals like this, came into view.

I had seen something similar before when I visited the Holy Crown Kingdom, but the one before me now gave off a far more…

‘…brutal feeling.’

Even when the Tribal Alliance performed burnt offerings, the altar was designed to create a rather terrifying atmosphere, given that they burned sacrifices—but what I saw now was filled with objects that made it painfully clear that anything climbing up would be torn to pieces.

Even the stairs leading up to the altar were densely embedded with spikes, and on top of them were restraints and finely sharpened blades.

To anyone, it looked less like an altar and more like a torture device…

“If you go up there, that will suffice.”

“…….”

And at those words—telling me to climb it with no preparation whatsoever—my eyes narrowed slightly.

Even that reaction could be considered extremely mild. Noel, who was standing a little distance away and listening, already had veins starting to rise on her forehead.

“…That sounds no different from telling me to die.”

“There is no need to worry. Those are all relics that have undergone proper rites. They serve to prevent the unqualified from daring to stand before Urgan.”

“If one has the qualifications, those will never harm the one who passes before them.” The tribal leader added that explanation.

Even so.

“…Normally, you wouldn’t bring out ‘real’ relics to that extent.”

From some distance away, Cretin, who had been watching, let out a small laugh and muttered.

It was true that testing whether someone possessed the ability to stand at the very top of the Great Plains through such means was an ancient tradition.

However, it was rare to amplify those ‘functions’ to their limits using every possible method and then display them all like that.

After all, there was no person without flaws, and among those who had risen to the position of Great Chieftain, there would be no one capable of confidently walking into a mountain of relics ready to tear them apart the moment even the slightest defect was found.

‘…The only solution is.’

Someone acknowledged by Urgan could do it.

If it were Rania, someone clearly recognized by the God of Ascension, it might be possible.

“…….”

Cretin bit her lower lip and looked at Rania beside her.

It felt like this had been prepared with that very assumption in mind.

A feeling that if Rania herself were dragged into this, things would not end well.

To begin with, even while explaining to me what I had to do, the tribal leader kept glancing in her direction, which only reinforced that suspicion.

And on top of that, what I had said to her before coming here still lingered in her mind.

As if I had already assumed that something would happen to her.

So, before anything reached her, the best that could be hoped for was that I handled this properly.

‘…It doesn’t seem like he came completely unprepared, though.’

Thinking that, Cretin looked at the woman standing beside me.

The one who had been making an annoyed and irritated expression the entire time.

…With animal ears and a tail.

The Mountain God. The one she had met before.

“…….”

She didn’t know what kind of god that was.

She could only hope that since I had confidently brought her along, she would be enough to help overcome this situation.

And clearly.

The Mountain God had no intention whatsoever of betraying that expectation.

“Now then, go ahead and climb. If you are someone worthy of being acknowledged by Urgan, something like that should be no—”

Just from what happened next, directed at the man who was still speaking with a smile, that much became obvious.

The tribal leader’s mouth, which had been about to mock me again, snapped shut.

Seeing the Mountain God lift her leg straight up into the air, it was only natural.

“…?!”

Startled, the tribal leader stepped back, but the Mountain God hadn’t been trying to crush his head with that motion.

The cracks that began spreading from where her foot slammed into the ground were not heading toward the tribal leader, but toward the altar piled high with relics.

A massive tremor, as if the very ground itself had split apart, shook everything, and all the people around staggered at once. Amid confused shouts, small screams, and groans—

The crack reached the altar and collided with the relics stacked before it, triggering a massive explosion.

-!!!

A deafening roar tore through the air, accompanied by violent gusts of wind sweeping in all directions.

Considering that a single strike had blown away relics blessed in all kinds of ways, such a reaction was only natural—but the Mountain God, who had caused it, merely let out a snort and spoke without much interest.

“Being acknowledged, huh.”

After brushing her hair back once, she cracked her knuckles.

Even though her true form was that of a beast, wherever she had learned that gesture from, it was obvious she fully understood what it meant.

“I don’t care about that.”

“…What?”

The tribal leader, looking as if his soul had left his body, muttered blankly.

…After witnessing such an absurd act, it was only natural he couldn’t properly gather his thoughts—but the line that would truly shatter them hadn’t even come yet.

“I came here to fight that bastard.”

“…What did you say?”

“If it’s an altar, then it must be a place where one can communicate with Urgan. A place where I can face him.”

The Mountain God’s eyes gleamed as she stretched out her arm, grabbing me and tucking me under her side.

Like she was carrying a sack of rice, she hoisted me up and growled again.

“Call him out! I’m challenging him!”

As she said that and kicked off toward the altar in an instant, I let out a sigh and casually waved at the tribal leader, who was still standing there in a daze.

“Anyway, I’m going up.”

“…….”

“That’s what you wanted from me, right?”

No matter the method, as long as it got done, that was enough, wasn’t it?

‘Why do I need to be acknowledged by Urgan?’

I actually had something to question him about anyway.

What was wrong with picking a fight with a god?

…Yeah.