Codename Vestia - Chapter 18

Doyeong realized that Tora was going to knock him out.

 

“Tora! Stop!”

 

Pararakk.

 

Birds flew away at her voice.

 

Tora’s foot, which was just about to reach Doyeong, stopped. The air was pushed and a gust of wind blew in his face. When Doyeong saw his foot stopped just 1 cm from his face, his spine was cold.

 

Standing upright among the reeds, Camar exuded an unknown dignity for the first time.

 

Tora turned and said.

 

“Mati.”

 

Camar moved his gaze away from Tora and looked at Doyeong.

 

“Doyeong doesn’t give up. He will find it eventually.”

 

Before Doyeong could ask what she was talking about, Camar muttered to herself.

 

“But it’s okay because it’s Doyeong.”

 

Tora glanced at Doyeong and lowered his feet.

 

“I agree.”

 

Doyeong looked at the Tora in shock.

 

“If that’s the case, why did you block me from going there so hard?”

 

Tora laughed.

 

“Because it’s fun to play with Lieutenant.”

 

“Doyeong, come here.”

 

Camar spoke and went ahead. Doyeong looked at Tora, and saw that he motioned forward as if telling him to go. Doyeong followed Camar.

 

They went through the woods for quite some time. Doyeong glanced at the Tora following him and said.

 

“If you are trying to bury a mouse or a bird alive at this secret place, at least let it go without pain.”

 

Tora looked at him as if it was funny.

 

“We’re going to a place where foreigners cannot find.”

 

What?

 

He wanted to ask, but he didn’t because he didn’t think they would tell him. It seemed like he would know soon in any case.

 

Camar was walking in front of him without saying a word. Doyeong looked back at Tora and asked.

 

“What about you?”

 

“What about me?”

 

“What is your relationship?”

 

Tora did not answer the question, but rather asked.

 

“Isn’t that obvious?”

 

If it was clear, Doyeong thought, he wouldn’t have asked the question.

 

Camar then turned around and said.

 

“Tora is my son.”

 

“Son…?”

 

Doyeong looked at Tora up and down. He appeared to be several years older than Camar. Of course, as a vampire, it’s hard to judge by appearance, but…

 

“I gave him blood.”

 

Camar’s next words cleared his doubt.

 

“Ah, that kind of son.”

 

It meant the beneficiary of someone who became a vampire by receiving blood, that is, the term now called ‘Clientes’. Well, there was no way he was a real son because of the racial differences. Tora looked like a mixture of Native American and Caucasian.

 

“So you’re a clientes.”

 

Doyeong murmured, and Tora asked with a funny expression.

 

“Did you think that I’m her husband?”

 

“We’ve arrived. Here.”

 

Then Camar spoke and went ahead. Doyeong answered Tora and followed Camar.

 

“It was the third time I thought that way.”

 

“Why the third time?”

 

Tora murmured and followed from behind. But Doyeong couldn’t hear Tora anymore. It was because of the countless people who appeared in front of him.

 

So this is how it felt when John Smith was introduced to the Pocahontas tribe or Jake Sully was introduced to the Na’vi.

[John Smith and Pocahontas from the story of Pocahontas. Jake Sully and Na’vi from the movie Avatar. Y’know, those blue, tall, guys]

 

All the people who seemed to be the indigenous people of the island were looking at Doyeong. Most of them were curious rather than afraid.

 

Doyeong looked around the tribe from end to end. He seemed to realize that Camar was not only hiding Tora. She was hiding these people.

 

Doyeong looked back at Camar.

 

“Are you hiding these people? Why?”

 

“Because we couldn’t trust you.”

 

Tora said.

 

“Lieutenant is a little different from the other guests. Rather, that’s why we couldn’t introduce our tribe to you. Because we couldn’t predict how you would react.”

 

“‘To me’, you mean…”

 

Suddenly Camar walked towards the tribe. Occasionally, among the tribes, people of mixed race like the Tora were noticed.

 

Camar reached out to a grandmother and helped her step forward. Blue eyes framed by the old bark-like skin looked at Doyeong. She was also of mixed indigenous and Caucasian ancestry.

 

Camar said.

 

“Angela. Johannes’ granddaughter.”

 

Johannes’ granddaughter. He was pondering over what she meant, still not understanding, but then Doyeong suddenly realized.

 

“He had a wife and children outside…”

 

Camar shook her head.

 

“Johannes was in love with Angela’s grandmother. He said he didn’t want to go back.”

 

“Then what is that letter?”

 

“I asked him to write something like that.”

 

Tora answered and smiled.

 

“Johannes was a writer.”

 

While Doyeong was stunned, Tora walked towards the people. He turned around and spoke among the people.

 

“Welcome. We are the Satadi tribe.”

 

***

 

Everyone seemed happy. Over the bonfire burning in the middle of the village, a man laughed out loud as something that resembled some peanuts getting burnt in the fire.

 

Doyeong was curious, but none of the villagers spoke the same language with him, so he couldn’t ask.

 

Although it had no connection with the old Satadi tribe that Camar was born into, this tribe called themselves ‘Satadi’. All of them had the same surname, and they were equally ‘Satadi’.

 

So was the language. Although linguistically unrelated to Camar’s old Satadi language, they called their own language “Satadi”.

 

Doyeong looked at Camar, who was sitting next to him, also eating peanuts. Then, as she felt Doyeong’s gaze, she held out what she had opened.

 

“Want to eat?”

 

Doyeong took it and ate it. It was larger in size and had a softer texture, but tasted similar to peanuts.

 

Then, Doyeong looked around at the people and muttered.

 

“I thought you were living alone, but that wasn’t the case.”

 

Camar replied skillfully, cracking the peanut-like thing open.

 

“When I first came, no one was here. When I woke up, there were people. At first it was small, but it gradually increased.”

 

It is likely that Camar migrated from another island while sleeping. If that was the case, she wouldn’t have kicked out people who already settled down, and they would’ve been living together.

 

“But there was no trace of humans on the side we were on.”

 

Even if it was meant to be hidden deliberately, it would be very difficult to hide such traces. Even Doyeong, whose job is to find traces, couldn’t find them at all.

 

“The people of the tribe don’t go there.”

 

Camar said.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because that’s my land.”

 

“Is there any land manager?”

 

Doyeong could not hide his sarcasm. But Camar didn’t even ask anymore, as if she had given up on understanding the modern words.

 

Doyeong ate the pseudo peanut without a word for a while, before asking as it suddenly came to his mind.

 

“Why did you live alone? There must be many men in the tribe.”

 

“The people of the tribe think of me differently.”

 

Camar answered the question as if she had expected it.

 

“Differently?”

 

When Doyeong turned around and asked, Camar shrugged her shoulders and said.

 

“God.”

 

Come to think of it, the people of the tribe did not sit here at all. It wasn’t a feeling of rejection, it was a feeling of treating Camar as an elder.

 

After all, there was no reason why a being who had transcendent physical powers and lived forever was not a god. The only difference from the gods worshiped elsewhere was that vampires were living beings of blood and flesh.

 

They can be trusted to protect more reliably because they are alive.

 

In fact, it was said that the tribe had a name other than the original Satadi.

 

This is because in the old days there were dozens of tribes even within this small island. However, as the tribes merged into one, it seemed that they borrowed their name from their god.

 

Doyeong nodded and pointed to Tora.

 

“Then what about him?”

 

They’re both vampires, so he wouldn’t think of Camar as a god. However, Doyeong didn’t understand the reference in Tora’s face whenever he looked at Camar.

 

“Tora is my son. I saw him born and growing up.”

 

Needless to say, Tora, who was sitting over there on a large sack, was almost entangled with a young woman from the tribe, arguing with each other.

 

When Tora whispered something into the woman’s ear, it didn’t seem like he was saying anything great, but the woman was overjoyed, and gradually their expressions of affection deepened, and if Doyeong had been a more naive person, his face would be hot.

 

But none of the people of the tribe seemed to find it strange.

 

Even though Doyeong came from a world where vampires and humans weren’t  unfamiliar with each other, the Satadi tribe seemed to accept it almost as if it were a natural law.

 

“Does he go outside?”

 

Doyeong asked confidently. The tribe looked like the Aboriginal version of Mars, but Tora smelled of civilization. Camar also nodded.

 

“Tora and Lato tell us the news about the world. Get Floss too.”

 

When he heard that Camar eats Floss from her own mouth, he felt a sense of disparity. He felt a little betrayed.

 

“But don’t you eat flowers raw?”

 

“Because we’re out of Floss these days.”

 

“But who is Lato?”

 

“Twin of Tora.”

 

Doyeong paused.

 

“Is he also a luas?”

 

Camar nodded her head.

 

“Mm-hmm. Both Tora and Lato are my sons.”

 

“There’s another guy who looks just like him?”

 

Doyeong didn’t know if this was good news or bad news for the womankind. However…

 

‘Twins…’

 

He thought he’d remember something else, but he couldn’t. So, Doyeong ate one more peanut and asked.

 

“Where is the other twin?”

 

“Outside. Tora and Lato take turns going outside. This time it’s Lato’s turn. Bring news and stuff.”

 

Among the objects used by the people of the tribe, he could see some objects that could be found outside.

 

“Have you ever heard of Lato?”

 

Then suddenly, Tora sat down next to Doyeong and asked.

 

Doyeong looked strangely at Tora, who stretched out his arm in front of him and took a handful of peanut-like things from Camar’s lap.

 

“Why are you looking for your brother?”

 

The woman who had been entangled with Tora remained in her seat, but she had a dissatisfied face when the Tora suddenly disappeared.

 

Tora said while eating the peanuts.

 

“I haven’t been in touch with Lato for a while. Normally, we contact each other at least once every two weeks, but this time it has been over a month.”

 

“I’m sorry, but I’ve been stuck on this island for a month and a half. But how do you usually communicate?”

 

Tora laughed.

 

“You can’t answer, can you?”

 

Doyeong sighed.

 

“Because we don’t talk about the tribe.”