The “failure” born in the process of creating a new human race by those who now call themselves Saints.
This species is different from humans in some way, with lingering symptoms of mutation. It has physical abilities that are not human-like, and the ability to search for enemies with its excellent hearing manifested in its long ears.
Although they were failures, they were valued for their power and were made to work as labor factors, as if they were slaves.
“We’ll get out of here. We’ll live on our own.”
One day, a man led a group of his kind to hide in the forest, where they began to use their physical abilities to live as hunters. This was the beginning of the Tiger Hunters.
Their culture, which has lived on its own for 500 years, is distinct from that of other new humans.
One of them is that the person who becomes the chief will inherit the name of the “Ogre,” the one who guides, and wears the robe of the White Tiger.
In accordance with tradition, the current chief also inherited the name of the Ogre.
The Ogre of today does not have an accurate account of the circumstances of 500 years ago. Over the years, the history of the past has faded into lore. Therefore, to them, the new humans living in the city were a forgotten and unknown existence.
This was also true for the newcomers living in the city. They had been erased from history, and their existence was unknown to the people of the city.
As the story goes, if genetically engineered mutated humans can be turned back into humans, then livestock can be turned back into livestock. However, in a world where civilization had died out, there was a limit to the number of animals that could be produced using culture and cloning techniques.
The saints, therefore, instructed the new mankind to raise livestock.
It takes land to raise them. A lot of land.
Under such circumstances, there was a city with a growing population problem due to the refugees caused by the collapse of the Foothandle territory, which was the first to expand its territory to the east. The name of the town is North Size.
In order to provide food for the growing population, Count Snow, the Lord of North Size, ordered the cultivation of the untouched forest.
And so, for the first time in 500 years, a chance encounter occurred between the new humans, who were expanding their domain, and the Tiger hunters, who had been living quietly in the forest. This led to a tragedy.
Count Snow sent an advance party to the forest to be cultivated. He was horrified by the report.
A forest inhabited by tiger monsters. A tribe that hunts it in small numbers. The tiger-hunting people were sadly too powerful for the new humans.
People who are trapped by fear try to solve the cause of it by running away or removing it.
It is clear from the history of mankind what the pioneers who worked for their own interests have done to the natives in the first place.
It didn’t take long before Count Snow ordered a raid on the village of the Tiger Hunters.
The war began.
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The North Size outnumber the Tiger Hunters in quantity. The battle was a back and forth affair.
However, even Tiger hunters are flesh and blood. If they are cut by a sword or shot by an arrow, they will not be safe.
In addition, their home was burned in the first attack, and they were unable to replenish their weapons and traps. The Tiger Hunters were in a bad mood.
“I know how you all feel. We can’t stay here like this. We must avenge our people! That’s what I want, too. But you must listen to me. As the Chieftain, I must not let this be the end of my people. We must not let the women, children, and loved ones who cannot fight die.”
The Ogre decided to retreat.
Count Snow then ordered the pursuit of the fleeing Tiger Hunters. He feared that the Tiger Hunters would build up their strength and come for revenge.
The battle of retreat began. In the midst of this, Ogre and the others were made aware that they had someone to protect at their backs.
“Take his son and daughter hostage! !”
The North Size Knights changed their strategy to deal with a strong and hard to kill opponent.
The mission was half successful. Eiga and Junee, who had been relentlessly targeted by the Knights, finally got separated from the pack.
All that was left to do was to take the two hostages and stop them from moving. There were two miscalculations in the Knights’ thinking.
For one thing, even as children, they live in the forest and are strong, so they couldn’t catch them.
The other was that the city they fled to was a city of iron and stone.
That miscalculation was fatal to the Knights.
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Ogre found out about the stray children when he attacked the knights in the retreat.
Unable to abandon his child, he formed a squad, and while searching, he found the Knights and attacked them to avenge and defend himself. This was one of the many such battles.
Though he has lost some men. Having won a great victory, The Ogre is drunk with victory, The captain of the knights who attacked him says just before he dies.
“Damn. …… If those kids hadn’t run off to that place, they’d be here now….”
“You! Do you know them? Where are my children? Where are Eiga and Junee?”
(Eiga, Junet, are they safe…..?)
The next day Ogre took the children back into his hands
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Following the signs, the Tiger Hunters arrived at the Foothandle and were shocked to see what they saw.
“This is…… what happened…”
A huge tower that has been completely destroyed.
The city seems to have disappeared overnight.
But for the Tiger Hunters, it was a good thing. They took advantage of the remaining supplies in the city and tried to rebuild.
Meanwhile, the city of Foothandle had become a place of fear for the new humans living in the other cities.
A city that was destroyed by a dragon.
Count Snow, who had accepted the refugees and had heard about them, was reluctant to send troops there.
You never know what will touch the dragon’s wrath.
It was also reported by Gum, a fugitive from the raiding war, that the children he was chasing had fled to the city of iron and stone where the Foothandle had been destroyed.
(Are you saying that the Tiger Hunters and the Evil Dragon have teamed up?)
It’s a completely premature decision.
The scouting party that was sent to investigate the truth was repelled by the Tiger Hunters who had supplies in their hands, and no information was received.
As a result, Count Snow was unable to attack the Foothandle.
This error in judgment turned the tide. The battle of the Tiger Hunters turned from a retreat to a counterattack.
The Tiger Hunters made their way to the city of North Size and made a surprise attack.
Finally, the Ogre rides into the Count’s mansion and succeeds in getting Count Snow’s head.
“I never thought they’d team up with the evil dragon…..”
The misunderstanding had turned into an assumption, which in Count Snow’s mind had turned into the truth.
And this battle was reported to the Holy City through several messages from the messenger, who succeeded in escaping.
The City of Iron and Stone has destroyed North Size, he said.
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“Hii…… only for life.….”
“Let me ask you something.. If you tell me, I’ll spare your life.”
“Ha, ah, yes….. anything”
After the battle, he found and captured a soldier who was hiding in fear of being attacked by the Tiger Hunters. The soldier’s name was Gum.
“What kind of evil dragon are you talking about?”
And the Ogre finally learned that it was the city of iron and stone that had destroyed the city of Foothandle.
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After returning to the city of Foothandle, Ogre and the others gathered all the people together to discuss what to do next.
“We live in the forest, we live as hunters, that is how we are. But our original home is gone, and there is no guarantee that it will ever be the same again.”
“But we are small in number. The people in the city are weak but clever. They’ll burn us and the forest and the city alike.”
“A place stronger than the forest, stronger than the city.”
“Where would such a thing be? Even if there were, it would be a place ruled by a stronger man. Would you follow him?”
And then he remembers. A city of iron and stone. Rumors of evil dragons. A city ruled by those who use magic. The debt of gratitude for protecting Eiga and Junee and telling him about Foothandle.
“Actually, that’s what the soldiers in the city we captured told me….”
He told them what Gum had told him, but they were all skeptical.
“Chieftain, I’m sure that’s just a rumor.”
“Can you destroy a city in a single night? If he’s here, he’s certainly more powerful than the forest or the city.”
“Ha, if that’s the case, we should probably follow him.”
“Maybe it’s true, that story.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
Eiga and Junee’s voices broke through the air.
The two of them had actually seen it. They saw the magic that drove away the soldiers. The magical beast that followed the signs and protected them, killing all the wild beasts instantly.
“I want everyone to understand this. We certainly won this war in the end. But when we lost our home, we already lost. We must learn from this defeat. We are strong. But we will lose. And think about it. Can we continue to survive the way we have?”
Silence fell over the place at the voice of Ogre.
“I will have to find out for sure. And if his people’s power is as good as rumored, then….”
The West Gate of that city, visited later in the day, and the power that was shown to him.
A mysterious power that seems to speak directly to the brain. You can’t see it, but you can hear it, and suddenly a leopard monster appears and turns it into a lump of meat.
The path of the Tiger Hunters has been decided.
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Ogre was full of life. Now the people of the Tiger Hunter are living happily ever after.
The Lord they served respected their way of life and provided them with hunting grounds and a comfortable place to live.
A new culture to be enjoyed while being protected by demons.
To hunt tigers, you need to go out of town to find them, but that’s not a big problem considering that you have earned this living.
“We have everything here. I’m glad we came……”
That day is a feast. A ceremony of childbirth is held to wish for the development of the Tiger Hunting People.
During the banquet, Ogre suggested that everyone impose one rule on the tiger-hunting people, and everyone readily agreed.
[We, the Tiger Hunters, pledge allegiance to Toki-sama to the last man!]