I had to leave for the Dragon’s Boundary, and since Beastmen tend to show their teeth when they see Dragonkin, we decided to go without Diana.
In the end, our party consisted of me, Rin, Sen, Adriana, and the unusual combination of Kurika.
“Hmm, eating late-night snacks will make you gain weight.”
Saying that, Adriana continued to stuff her mouth with meat. I wanted to ask why she kept eating, but she was enjoying it so much that I didn’t say anything.
In the Forest of the Demon Realm, the diet is basically limited. There are more things you can’t eat than things you can.
You can’t raise livestock in the Forest of the Demon Realm, and to eat meat, you either have to buy it from outside or catch Magical Beasts, which is obviously a tough job for Witches.
Even going outside is minimized among Witches unless absolutely necessary, and they can’t risk their lives just to hunt a Magical Beast for a piece of meat.
Of course, that’s from a human perspective, and for someone like Kurika, it’s a different story.
He can chew through steel, so I guess he can eat just about anything.
Anyway, Adriana was gobbling down the meat that Rin’s parents packed. Back when we were at the Academy, she had a pretty intellectual image, but now, how should I put it?
She seemed kind of wild.
“She’s changed a lot.”
Sen said the exact same thing I was thinking. Adriana paused for a moment in her eating, but it was just a moment before she resumed.
“Try eating grass every day. When you see meat in front of you, your eyes go wild. Everything from grass jelly to pickles and salads is just the worst.”
“If you can only get it in the Forest of the Demon Realm, your tongue is going to suffer, huh?”
Adriana replied fiercely as if she had been waiting for me to say that.
“Exactly! That’s why my tongue is sore! When I went back to the village and had my first meal, the feeling of despair was overwhelming. I contemplated going back to the village.”
Aren’t good herbs supposed to taste bad?
The Forest of the Demon Realm is full of beneficial herbs, but it’s hard to find ones that are tasty to the tongue.
“Grrr, it really is a tough place for humans to eat.”
Kurika agreed quietly. Though Adriana still found him a bit intimidating, she smiled gratefully for having him on her side.
“That’s right. So when we come out like this, we should eat as much as we can. It’s a survival instinct.”
Even though I wanted to say that the Witch’s village wouldn’t just disappear, I swallowed my words. For her, the villagers were family and friends who had died.
Adriana was devouring the meat so passionately. I was about to tell her that she might eat more than her share when Kurika reached down to the ground.
Then the ground started to whirl and a bag popped out.
“Ooh?”
“Wow, what’s that?”
We curiously looked around the ground, but it was just ordinary dirt. Kurika calmly took something out of his bag and handed it to Adriana.
“Try this.”
“Uh… yes?”
“It should suit your taste.”
Adriana, a bit flustered as she didn’t expect to receive something from Kurika, accepted it cautiously with her fingers.
It was reddish and looked soft, so at first, she wasn’t sure what it was. It was also because of the darkness, but the savory smell of meat wafted up.
“Grilled meat?”
Adriana cautiously put it in her mouth, glancing at Kurika, and the frown on her face slowly melted away with joy. The speed of her chewing picked up as well.
“It’s delicious! So good!”
Adriana exclaimed, bouncing at Kurika. He answered with a satisfied smile.
“It’s meat from the Belaros in the Forest of the Demon Realm. I’ve tried a lot of meats, but that one was the best.”
Kurika’s words made sense, considering he had eaten most of the meats (Magical Beasts) in the Forest of the Demon Realm.
“Wow, it’s really the best. With a taste this good, it’s worth risking their lives to hunt it, right? Belaros? I’ve never heard of that Magical Beast, but it’s really delicious.”
Adriana’s comments about it being worth risking their lives caught Rin and Sen’s attention as they looked at Kurika.
He kindly offered the meat to the other two.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll enjoy it.”
“Will you eat, too?”
Kurika offered me some. I awkwardly shook my head while the three of them continued to eat as if it were the best thing ever.
Feeling satisfied as the meat kept coming from Kurika, I decided it was time to gather their attention with a cough.
“The Belaros is a huge Magical Beast, so what you ate was just a tiny part of it. It’s not only tasty but also has a lot of quantities, a very kind friend.”
The three of them nodded in understanding. Adriana seemed completely clueless, so the other two probably didn’t know either.
“However, there’s just one problem with the Belaros.”
“A problem?”
Rin asked, tilting her head. I took a cautious step back and replied.
“… It’s a bug that eats the waste of Magical Beasts.”
Silence fell.
I didn’t mention it earlier because I expected this reaction. Saying it out loud would likely make them vomit right on the spot.
Even in the dark night, their faces paled as they became lost in thought.
As the three of them began searching for a spot to retch, I casually drifted toward Kurika.
Kurika scratched his head with a claw and asked, “Did I just feed you something I shouldn’t have eaten?”
“It’s not that it’s inedible… it’s just a bit… questionable?”
When he suggested the Belaros meat to me before, the look he had was like he was looking at some local stray dog, so it made sense Kurika was a bit displeased.
However, since Beastmen eat everything without discrimination, I couldn’t exactly blame Kurika for being grossed out.
If I had to break it down, it was about humans pretending to be refined.
“Well, if it tastes good, that’s all that matters.”
Of course, I wouldn’t touch it.
I’m a refined human.
More than that, I was curious about the bag that had just come out of the ground.
“By the way, the way that bag came out is similar to when I pulled out my sword to fight Sharcarl, isn’t it?”
I thought the whirl from the ground was a unique ability of the Sword of Rest, but this bag came out the same way.
It wasn’t the sword’s power; it was Kurika’s inherent ability.
“Right, it’s the power of the Goddess of Earth. It’s the power I received as a price for protecting the treasures of the gods from the world.”
I see, I had no idea about that.
Since my relationship with Kurika was purely that of drinking buddies, I never really knew the details about his powers.
I started to think about something else.
“Kurika, how many Doom Bringers are there?”
“Huh.”
Kurika seemed to ponder for a moment, stroking his chin.
“I’m not sure. However, what’s certain is that no matter how many gods desire the Doom, only a very few can actually realize it.”
“Really?”
“When it comes to completely restarting the world, a powerless god can’t dare to intervene. Plus, there are gods like the Goddess of Time and the Goddess of Earth who want to protect the world.”
“Really? The Earth Goddess wants to protect the world?”
I looked at Kurika in surprise at this unexpected information. His reaction seemed impressive to him, and he smoothed out the folds of his massive robe with a faint smile.
“That’s right. Though she hasn’t given anyone an imprint, she wants to protect this world. And she’s not the only one. Among the other gods, there are a few that give their imprints to protect the continent.”
“So the Priestess wasn’t completely lying, huh?”
Looking back, the way she ranted about him being the savior made me think. Perhaps the Sun God is on the side of saving the world or something.
However, Kurika couldn’t give me a definitive answer on that.
“I can’t say for sure since I don’t know all the gods. Whether it’s Doom or Salvation, they receive imprints equally. What they actually are, nobody knows.”
“…”
Those with imprints could either be Doom Bringers or saviors.
Not only Rin but also Ares could potentially become threats.
I felt my head spinning with complicated thoughts.
“Don’t worry too much. There can’t be that many Dooms.”
“Just one Doom is enough to destroy the continent. The fact that there’s not just one threat is overwhelming enough.”
I could say this because I had seen the continent perish firsthand. Kurika also seemed to sense the heaviness of those words and didn’t attempt to comfort me any further.
I glanced at Kurika’s ears, which were slightly drooping, and smacked him on the shoulder.
“I’m just glad you’re here.”
“Hmm.”
Kurika didn’t respond with anything in particular.
I thought it felt nice to relive moments from the past, but the heavy weight pressing down on my shoulder interrupted that.
Rin grabbed my shoulder and Sen grabbed my hands on both sides, leaving me in a naturally confined situation.
“Are you keeping quiet while feeding me that meat?”
“Hey, wait a second.”
I tried to pull away, but hands kept stretching out from the darkness to restrain me. Even if I paused time, I wouldn’t be able to escape.
“Kurika, take out some more meat.”
“Don’t take it out!”
Kurika hesitated as he looked at me when Sen made her request, but since she was so adamant, he took a few more pieces out of the bag.
“Okay, ahh.”
Sen, now with the look of an assassin, began shoving the meat into my mouth.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
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