Chapter 213

Chapter 213: Eating and Being Eaten

After spending one night here and looking around, one thing became certain.

Archie’s power was not as solid as I had thought.

It seemed no one revealed it openly because they all feared the bastard, but even so, several Werewolves could not perfectly hide their dissatisfaction.

The place their gazes and awareness always turned toward was Mona.

It was so obvious that it would be harder to fail to notice this power relationship.

I only noticed it faster because I knew the original work. Even if I had stayed here for just a few days, I would have noticed.

Even if his lifespan did not have much left, Archie should not be dull enough to miss this.

If the bastard dying in the original work was according to his own will, then what exactly does he want?

Is it really for the continuation of his race?

Even if he dies by Mona’s hand, how does that......

The thoughts that kept linking one after another did not reach a conclusion.

Thanks to some thug bastard who put his arm on my shoulder with a line that was cliché if one wanted to call it cliché.

“Hey, don’t make a loud noise and just keep walking.”

It was not an entirely unfamiliar face either.

It was the bastard who had been beside the loser who attacked Adol, making up for his lack of sense.

I had no idea where a Werewolf had learned such cheap thug lines.

“Right, you’re doing well. I knew you’d understand words.”

I had briefly lost my words because it was so absurd, but the bastard seemed to interpret my reaction in his own way and smiled in satisfaction as he put strength into the arm holding me.

At the grip strong enough to make my shoulder ache, my face crumpled on its own.

It seemed he wanted me to quietly follow along, but there was no reason to go along with the bastard’s wishes like this.

I had just opened my mouth with the single-minded intent to cause a commotion loud enough to shake the whole village.

Then I saw someone who seemed to be the thug bastard’s companion enter the tent the bastard was trying to drag me to.

The problem was that the bastard had a human who looked to be in a similar situation as me held under his arm.

The greater problem was that, of all things, it was the human cherished by the Werewolf who should be watching Adol outside right now.

In the end, I had no choice but to give up my will to show these bastards a struggle like nothing else in the world.

Because if something happened to that human, the bastard outside would no longer have a reason to keep her promise with me.

Enduring the discomfort pressing down on my shoulder, I entered the tent, and the two that seemed to be the thug bastard’s companions greeted him happily.

“What? He followed obediently? His temper looked like it wasn’t ordinary, but he’s quieter than I thought.”

“How pathetic. No matter how much he struggles, he’s just human. What can a bastard like him do besides bluff?”

I let the bastards babble however they pleased in one ear and examined the condition of the human kneeling near the campfire with my eyes.

He did not seem injured, but that did not mean he was in a good state.

His deathly pale face looked as if it would not be strange for him to faint at any moment.

“What are you standing there blankly for? Stop dawdling and go beside that bastard.”

The bastards who shoved me while I stood still examining the man took their places near the campfire.

The sun is perfectly up, so why did they light that thing like that?

A human would keep the fire from going out to avoid the cold, but these bastards should not need to.

This question was immediately resolved.

Thanks to the man who could not take his eyes off the small burning flame, and the words spat out by the three Werewolves who snickered while watching him.

“Why are you so scared? Ah, do you remember us eating something?”

“Well, you did vomit and make a fuss back then. I still remember it.”

So they captured us just because they wanted to scare and torment humans?

On top of that, that side had definitely witnessed a human who had been his companion getting eaten before his eyes.

I had gotten on the bastards’ nerves while bringing Adol out, but why did they bring this man?

While I was wondering, the bastards’ low-quality harassment continued without end.

Perhaps they found it funny that the man flinched at every word they spoke, because their laughter grew louder.

“Naria must really cherish you. After taking charge of you, she doesn’t even eat humans.”

“It isn’t bad for us, since more comes to our share thanks to that. Let’s enjoy it until Naria changes her mind again.”

The snickering laughter of the bastards soon died down.

Before long, one of the three, the one who had dragged me in, glared at the man with flashing eyes.

“Outside, we get hunted by you bastards because you have so many numbers, but here, it’s the opposite.”

The man now shook beyond trembling, swaying like a reed fluttering in the wind.

But perhaps that was still not enough to satisfy them, because the threats toward the man continued.

“So don’t forget. No matter how much Naria cherishes you, you’re nothing but food.”

When the name Naria came out, the man’s trembling stopped.

The problem was that, judging by his expression, even the organs inside his body seemed to have stopped moving.

If left alone like this, saying the man might die from a heart attack did not seem like an exaggeration.

Then I would be in trouble again.

The reason Naria was listening to me was purely because of this man.

Besides, if word reached Naria’s ears that I had just stood by and watched while this man suffered, that would become a headache in its own way.

“Is it really that great that you eat humans and that we become your food?”

I cut off the bastard, who still could not stop sneering.

Perhaps my interference grated on him, because he turned his body toward me with a fierce expression.

“This bastard really is insane. Hey, do you not understand what I’m saying? I’m saying humans like you are no different from our food. If it weren’t for Archie’s order, your throat would’ve already been torn out and you’d be dead......”

His words were far too long, but at any rate, it seemed that being able to eat the other side held quite a large meaning to him.

If his way of thinking was that simple, there was no reason to explain it in a complicated way.

I grabbed the monster, who was still giving a lengthy speech, by the collar.

Perhaps he had not expected me to counterattack this suddenly, and in the middle of him talking at that, because the bastard’s eyes widened.

Before the arm instinctively trying to counterattack could touch me, I tripped his leg and knocked him down, and a short groan burst from the bastard’s mouth.

It was an ugly sight, but I had no intention of watching for long.

No matter how much I strengthened my arms and legs, it was not enough to face a Werewolf.

With all my strength, I dragged the dazed-looking bastard by the hair and brought him near the campfire.

Then I stomped on the bastard’s hand, which was braced against the floor, and pushed his face close to the burning flames.

“Aaaaaagh!!!!”

Terrified by the heat on his face, the bastard screamed.

“If you open your mouth like that, it’ll hurt more. Wouldn’t it be better for your face to burn than your throat?”

“Y-you, you crazy bastard! Let go of me!”

The bastard, who even stammered, roughly grabbed my arm.

Fur slowly began sprouting from the bastard’s hand.

The other two bastards, who belatedly came to their senses, also closed the distance with me.

After finishing the calculation that I could not endure a monster’s strength any further, I obediently let go of the hand gripping his hair and stepped back.

As soon as the force pressing down on his head disappeared, the bastard scooted backward on his rear, away from the campfire.

The bastard, who panted roughly, and his companions stared at me in a daze as if they were finding it hard to understand what had just happened.

Their stupid faces were soon covered with rage and humiliation.

“How dare this bastard do something like......”

“What do you mean, do? I was just trying to grill some meat on the campfire. Isn’t this the kind of thing you like?”

My explanation had clearly poured oil on the bastards’ anger.

Slowly sweeping my eyes over their faces, which had grown even more vicious, I fixed my gaze on the bastard whose head had nearly been roasted whole and continued.

“You said it yourself. Eating people is such a great thing.”

“What is this insane bastard saying right now?”

Even after I said this much, they still did not understand.

“I’m saying I can eat you just fine too.”

The two bastards, excluding the one whose face had nearly been grilled whole, burst into hollow laughter.

“Haha, wow~, this bastard really lives up to his name in a huge way. They said he was a madman, and he really was completely insane, wasn’t he?”

The bastards, who had arbitrarily changed my name to madman, soon stopped laughing and grabbed me by the throat.

“Do you think this is a joke right now? You’re going to eat us? Since we call you a madman and an insane bastard, did you really think we’d let you get away with saying anything?”

“Do I look like I’m saying anything?”

I quickly strengthened my arm and shook off the bastard’s hand, then slowly swept my eyes over the three faces as if engraving them into my eyes, and continued.

“If you go into fire, you bastards also become nothing but stinking lumps of meat.”

I turned my gaze toward the bastard feeling his face, which was red from the rising heat.

“Hey, remember that sensation well. That you can become food too. If you call people here and there like this again and show them some boring fire play, then next time, I’ll really roast you with fire, chew you up myself, and throw what’s left to dogs as feed.”

“You...... Do you think you’ll be safe after doing this?”

“I will be safe.”

Even at the bastards’ venomous threat, I could be certain.

“If it didn’t matter if you killed me however you pleased, why would you drag me all the way here in secret? You would have ended it on the spot.”

What they had done after going through the effort of calling me over was quite crude too.

“So that means, at least today, even if I leave this place, there’s nothing you bastards can do.”

I pointed with my chin toward the tent entrance at the man who was still standing there blankly with a blue-white face.

When I moved first, the man hesitated for a moment, then obediently followed behind me.

Behind the man, the gazes of the three Werewolves, frantic to tear me apart and kill me, followed us.

***

The man opened his mouth first when we had put enough distance between ourselves and the bastards’ tent.

“Um......”

His cautious voice revealed the presence I had briefly forgotten.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Ah, no. Thanks to you...... Thank you very much.”

At my question, the pale-faced man bowed his head.

“No. I only stepped in because I made a promise.”

“A promise?”

There were too many truths to hide to explain it to him when he asked in confusion.

Of course, the fact that it was troublesome was also a major reason.

“A Werewolf told me to pay attention to you. For now, I answered that I understood.”

When I abbreviated the many processes into an explanation, the man’s face changed subtly.

“Naria asked you for that?”

He muttered with a complicated expression that seemed somehow pleased and also uncomfortable.

It did not seem like a question that particularly needed an answer, so I quietly kept walking.

“But...... is it true?”

“What is?”

When I asked back at the quiet man’s question without a subject, he rolled his eyes with a tense face again.

“......That, if you wanted, you could eat those bastards too.”

Ah, that.

“It was just a bluff.”

It was a bluff that would not work twice.

A one-time lie I could use because the bastards had been off guard.

So for the time being, I would have to run away well and avoid catching those bastards’ eyes.

Because if the other side tried to tear me apart and kill me while fully prepared, I had no way to withstand them.

“R-really?”

When Alec asked again as if he could not easily believe it, I nodded as if it was nothing much.

“Really. I don’t even eat fish much. It’s fishy.”

Well, if I felt like I would die of hunger, I would force myself to eat it.

Perhaps he felt sincerity in my answer, because the tension disappeared from his face.

“Haha, I see. So you were someone who can’t even eat fish well.”

Perhaps because he relaxed too much, a silly laugh burst from his mouth.

Seeing how he could hardly stop, he must have been quite frightened.