The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I'm a "Farmer", Not a Demon King! ~ - Chapter 520

The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I’m a “Farmer”, Not a Demon King! ~

Chapter 520   — I’ve had enough

“Oops, my bad… The words just now, they’re wrong. Totally wrong. You really don’t get it, Hero. Truly a puppet. Truly a fake. I’m even impressed at that level.”

Roroel quickly dismissed his anger and spoke in a playful tone, seemingly mocking the Hero.

“I said this is use on a woman’s genitalia, right? However, do you truly believe that human desires are limited to such an extent? This was only used once, and it was the last time. It was employed as a form of entertainment, breaking them after the elves had become useless and uninteresting.”

“Unusable…”

The hero, once again, seemed embarrassed, but he’s the only one feeling that way here. In Karakas, such matters are commonplace, and if you look into alleyways while walking down the street, you might even see it happening several streets away.

Lina, being of an age where she’d understand, and the two from the church, having received a basic education, likely weren’t raised to be surprised by such things.

Oh. Well, Lilia isn’t well-versed in those matters, but she doesn’t seem to have any reaction, probably not understanding the current conversation.

Flora seems to think that the union of men and women is a normal biological occurrence, as it appears she lacks any sense of concern or reaction. Well, considering her consciousness originates from a plant.

So, only the Hero is embarrassed by the topic of relations between men and women, but he seems to have reconsidered. He wore a serious expression, lifting his face upright.

Well, the fact that he has the luxury to think about such matters in this situation indicates that he’s not taking it seriously.

“I don’t have to say that much, right? You’re a man too, and as long as you’re alive, you should have desires. Using ‘heathen women’ as an outlet for that would be just right, wouldn’t it?”

Well, yeah. I expected that.

Heathen women… essentially the same as witch hunting. You can anticipate the fate of those captured in witch hunts. Naturally, they would have been tortured, but beyond that, they were likely used as ‘toys.’

“Capture heathens and play with them, showing your comrades while threatening to turn them into trees once they break. ‘Don’t you want to avoid any more suffering?’ Even so, some comrades endure and endure and endure without breaking. But if you keep it up for a long time, the impact inevitably shows. If you use your skills to push that a bit, it’s all over. And then, by incorporating new elves into the existing barrier that sealed the curse on the Sacred Tree, you strengthened the seal to prevent the curse from leaking out. With the enhanced power, you created a new barrier around the location of the Sacred Tree’s trunk.”

While the original barrier sealing the curse on the Sacred Tree was left intact, if they ventured into new endeavors, there was a possibility the barrier could break. So, they prepared a new energy source, reinforced the barrier here, and then extended a barrier to their main base.

…It’s a bit off from what we wanted to know, but various important details have come out.

If the Church people were to hear this… Wait, how are the Holy Maiden and the Hero doing?

Thinking about it, when I turned my attention to the Hero’s party, Canon seemed to be trying to say something, moving her lips, but her voice didn’t reach here. Similar to Darado, Roroel might have implemented some soundproofing measure.

Well, that’s fine as it is. So, what about the Hero? When I looked at him, he was just standing there with his mouth slightly open.

Well, more like he’s actually bewildered. Well, as a Hero, it’s probably hard to believe such a story.

“Th-that kind of thing… Are you saying the Church did that?”

The Hero hesitated, opening and closing his mouth a few times before finally uttering his words.

“Yeah, that’s right. Hard to believe, huh?”

However, to such a question, Roroel responded without a moment’s hesitation.

“Of course! Because such things go against humanity! And I was never taught about any history like that! Certainly, there was hostility with the elves in the past, but once humans overwhelmed them, the elves surrendered at an early stage, some autonomy was granted, and after that, there were no major issues—”

“Instead of blindly believing what you were taught, why don’t you try investigating a little yourself?”

The Hero, clenching his fist, continued to speak energetically, but his words were cut off by Roroel’s mocking tone.

“I don’t know about your world. But here, these things are somewhat normal. You won the war. So, of course, there would be looting, collecting even people under the guise of war spoils. It’s not just the church; it happens in every country. Didn’t you know such things occur?”

The Hero might be unaware, but even in contemporary wars or conflicts, such things happen. However, due to societal norms, the military doesn’t issue open instructions for these acts, and those who do it act covertly, making the damage seem less severe. But here, it’s different. When you win, you boldly take what you want.

It’s so commonplace that even ordinary citizens don’t question it. After all, skinning and eating the meat of a defeated beast is essentially the same act. Survival of the fittest. If you win, take what you can. It’s a matter of course.

“Of course, we didn’t just take it lying down. We crushed some of the humans who invaded, and we used the elves’ nature to involve enemies and turn them into ‘trees’ together. We even employed suicide tactics. Thanks to that, humans became hesitant, and eventually, they gave up on annihilating the elves. There were some who remained, but ultimately, everyone became trees. After that, no one dared to attack us. …Still, we lost in the end, and most of our comrades died, suffering miserable fates.”

Exploiting the elves’ nature for suicide tactics… If they thought they killed an enemy but ended up turning themselves into a tree along with them, it must have been terrifying for onlookers. No wonder they became hesitant.

However, they probably didn’t originally intend to completely destroy the enemy. That might be why they stopped fighting midway.

Because if they completely killed them, there would be no one left to manage this land, and the Sacred Tree would wither. Maintaining the barrier, the Church did not want the Sacred Tree to die.

Furthermore, if they annihilated the elves, there would be no ‘next.’ While its purpose couldn’t be determined exactly, elves, as a resource, were necessary. So, it was necessary to let them proliferate and increase in number.

For the Church, which did not wish for the Sacred Tree to wither or for the elves to be exterminated, it seemed best to thin them out moderately, making sure they didn’t feel like leaving the forest. Hence, they decided to withdraw moderately.

Perhaps, enslaving the current elves is part of that plan, or it might be a tradition. By moderately thinning out the elves, they manage the energy of the barrier while controlling their numbers so they can’t turn against them.

It’s not explicitly stated in writing against the elves, but the fact remains that they are being persecuted.

Why they didn’t establish doctrines like ‘Elves are evil’ is unclear, but probably, it’s because if they do, they can’t use elves as slaves. Perhaps to make it not a problem to be seen collecting elves for the barrier, or for similar reasons. However, such details don’t matter since the outcome doesn’t change.

“Well, even with torture and humiliation, there were those who didn’t give up on living. Even after receiving the Skill, there were heroes who endured it. If we were gone, the curse of the fallen god would spread, they thought. It’s amazing. Even after going through that, they still thought of protecting people. I genuinely respect them.”

…Well, whether the circumstances are exactly as I thought or not is unclear, and Roroel has probably thought about such things.

But even so, by not mentioning it, perhaps he wants to believe it. Not that they were saved by the enemy’s intentions, but that the enemies gave up because of the elves’ struggles.

“Crawling forward after losing limbs, surviving even after being made unable to bear children, keeping watch despite losing the use of eyes and ears. Friends and family to be proud of throughout their lives.”

As he spoke in such a proud manner, it seemed like he felt proud but at the same time, was in pain and anger, his face contorting with those emotions.

“Even after repelling the humans, the wounds they suffered never healed. Living without their bodies, wearing down their minds, surviving but with their hearts dead. And then, they decided to transform into trees on their own. They wanted to die. They didn’t want to live. It was painful. But they had to protect this land. They knew that. It was their duty. That’s why they were here. That’s why they survived. That’s why they abandoned their comrades.”

The voice carried a genuine sense of despair, pain, and conflict, as if Roroel had truly experienced and felt this way. In reality, Roroel himself probably hadn’t gone through such experiences, but he had witnessed and heard the feelings of the elves he had been with. The emotions from those times had been carried with him alone for seven hundred years.

“…But —————— I’ve had enough.”

Whose cry was that? Was it the emotions of the elves Roroel had heard and witnessed, or was it Roroel’s own heart?

“I gave up on living, but still, I thought if I could at least be useful in the end, everyone might not just commit suicide but instead protect this land by becoming trees. That way, alongside the Sacred Tree, we would seal and purify the curse. It sounds ridiculous, right? To fulfill the duty of the ‘Moribito’ who protected this land until the very end…”

Some changed their bodies during the battle, while others chose to discard their lives after the fight.

Well, it’s no wonder there are many ‘trees’ in this place.