Green Skin

Again, I began to slowly look down on Mev. Certainly, a child was needed to ensure the tribe’s stability. A successor was certainly a very important piece for those who create a tribal society centering around the tribal chief.

The question was whether I was happy or not.

It was certainly not a planned event, yet from deep inside, some sense of fulfillment has begun to bubble up. The sense of being surprised or being dumbfounded was also short lived. There truly came an unidentifiable sense of fulfillment.

‘I’m happy.’

I’m truly happy. Truly some unknown sense of happiness was filling my heart. I held Mev tightly with a puzzled expression on my face.

Everyone who was around began to congratulate Mev as if they were happy as well. As Mev and I separated from the hug, the mommy goblins approached Mev again and examined her.

“You have to be careful from now on.”

“You shouldn’t fly around wildly either.”

“Uh… OK!”

Protecting those women who were pregnant must be the same way in both human and Green Skin societies. Mev was nodding her head as fast as she could in approval to every piece of advice the mommy goblins were giving her.

According to the Green Skin’s characteristics, if a child is successfully born out of different races, the child would follow the mother’s side. Perhaps, it was quite certain that the child to be born would become a Fairy Queen. As it could be seen from Nicole’s case, what could be inherited from the father’s side were the race’s talents, character, or powers. As I thought that I wasn’t all that great, I did not know what my child would inherit from me, but it would be a lie if I said that I wasn’t anticipating it at all. As it would be the first child that I would ever have in both this life and my former life, I was somewhat surprised.

“We have to pitch a separate tent for Mev!”

“We can’t let anything happen to the child! We have to immediately protect Mev from now on.”

In the midst of all this confusion, the meal time was coming to an end. Of course, the children who needed to eat well still had meat in their hands, but most of the Orcs have already gotten up from their seats.

“Must build it safe and strong. This is the land on which the successor will grow up.”

“We’ll now cut up the beast’s bones at once!”

They did not have the direct authority to issue orders, but the power of the Green Skins that were pregnant with the tribal chief’s child would naturally increase. Just based on looking at how they acted, Mev’s position was higher than that of Ragia. I thought that Ragia would have some sense of bitterness as she worked very hard as the deputy tribal chief.

All that she has worked for until now has crumbled down with a single shot from the pregnancy. Perhaps, most of the Green Skins respected and comforted her, yet that and this event were completely different things. Furthermore, before even my tent could be pitched, they were already pitching a tent for Mev and the child in the womb.

“We’ll be bringing the bones here. It will be a warm and restful tent.”

Hakajin was overseeing everything. Gark and Hark were responsible for cleanly cutting up the bones. Orbo was to move the columns. Every tribal member was engaged in doing something in this glorious project, lest they would feel left out.

Even Mev was smiling while looking at everyone working. All the while, looking at her touching her stomach made me think that she must truly think of the child in her womb as significantly important.

In fact, pitching a tent did not take much time, but the new tent that was being pitched more closely resembled the tents of the nomadic tribes of the earth, rather than the ones pitched by us up until now.

Although they were simple tasks like making columns out of the bones of the beast of the east, building base and raising roofs from wood then covering it up with the hide and scales, it took a long time to build, either because they weren’t skilled in such craft or paid extra attention to details as they built it.

Hakajin looked outstanding as he took complete charge. As the columns were raised with the ribs of the beast, the view of the bones spiking up through the roof looked grand.

The new house has been completed. Soon they all began to shout again.

“The chief… The chief’s must be built too.”

“The chief… The chief’s should have been built first.”

They began to get busy again. The turf was chosen personally by Hakajin, and the bones were raised again. As there had never been a plan to build a big tent for Mev yet it was made big, my tent has also become much bigger than originally planned.

Their reaction was unified even after my tent was built. That was, they were shouting that they had to build a space in which the tribe’s children and the tribal chief’s successor could run around and play.

For the children that have not witnessed the legendary scene of slicing off the heads of the beast of the east, the foundation work in the center for the purpose of displaying the heads was taking place.

As the Blood Dagger Clan was this busy, the other clans couldn’t remain still either. Hence, the Ogres of the Goff Clan and the trolls of the Black Spear Clan rose up and began to work as well.

Goff and Black Spear, who came over to find out what the commotion was all about, congratulated me upon learning about Mev’s pregnancy, and as if it was a lie, the village that only existed in my head began to quickly take shape. As the laborers whose labor skills were on different plains moved about, the village was being built quickly as if we were seeing the construction process in fast forward mode.

“We must build a wooden fence that cannot be overcome by the humans!”

“We need huge trees! Huge trees with spells on them!”

“Kooaang!”

“Kooaang!”

Certainly, those huge ‘kooaang’ sounds were heard. The Ogres were building fences with huge pieces of wood. I was dumbfounded and lost for words. I wasn’t sure whether to call it the miracle of Han River*, the memory of the land of the brothers, or the miracle of the pregnancy if not all the others.

However, I extended my arm out towards Mev’s stomach. There was one more thing to protect, but it wasn’t such a bad feeling. It was a fact that I certainly had to keep being busier in the future. I, alone, nodded my head as I organized what I needed to do from now on in my head.

Editor’s Note: “The Miracle on the Han River refers to the period of rapid economic growth in South Korea following the Korean War (1950–1953), during which South Korea transformed from a developing country to a developed country.”