1058. I will give you my head.
“No, it would be troublesome if you broke it.”
The male elder spoke. The female elder looked back at the group with a very anxious gaze but said nothing.
Then, the two went inside. Two beastmen, whose name was either Til or Lil, followed silently behind them.
Encred shrugged his shoulders and walked behind the elder. It was pitch black inside, but no one would get lost here just because it was dark.
Above all, it wasn’t just pitch-black darkness; glowstones were embedded here and there.
Those must be quite expensive stones. Stones treated as gems in some places served as torches here.
Using torches that continuously burned resin in such a deep cave would be a chore.
Otherwise, they would have to make a living crafting all kinds of candles like all the beastmen were born beeswax artisans; however, instead of becoming torch and candle artisans, they embedded glowstones into the walls. That was the reason a faint white light was flowing around them.
Except for Esther briefly scanning the surroundings, none of the group was surprised by the glowstones.
So you’re saying the entire Presbyterian Church is alive?
As Dunbakel spoke while following behind, the male elder answered once again.
“That’s right. Well, if you had arrived a little later, everyone might have died.”
“They’re all going to die? Why? For what reason?” Dunbakel swallowed the question that had suddenly crossed his mind. The Council of Elders hadn’t fully assembled yet.
When they all gathered, he would unleash the pent-up resentment inside him all at once.
Have you determined the scope of revenge?
Sinar asked. Dunbakel looked at the elf standing beside him and answered.
“Range?”
“Are you going to kill all the beastmen living here?”
Was that the plan? I don’t know. For now, I was only thinking about meeting the Elders. No, if Encred hadn’t asked me to come, I wouldn’t have even thought of this.
Then what was I hoping to have come all the way here?
Dunbakel asked his inner self, but no answer returned. In the meantime, Sinar finished speaking.
“If we don’t set a boundary, we will simply be born with a knight obsessed with slaughter, and I doubt my fiancé would just let such a person get away with it.”
Dunbakel thought and answered as he smelled the faint scent coming from the dark cave.
“I don’t know.”
It was sincere. He recalled the moment he had overcome his fear in the East. Back then, he hadn’t decided anything.
Have I decided on a way to live now?
I don’t know. It was an answer born of genuine not knowing.
Fortunately, Sinar did not argue or scold me. It seemed his sole purpose was simply to convey what I was saying.
As we walked along the inside of the cave, the path repeatedly went down and then back up. Enkrid was a knight, and one whose senses had been honed through Saxony. He sensed the changes in the terrain, and they were quite intricate.
The elevation kept shifting, yet the result was an ascent from bottom to top.
Initially, when I gauged the entrance upon entering, it looked like a cave dug abruptly in the middle of a mountain ridge.
Inside, however, it was an ant colony with paths connecting in all directions. And a very wide, large one at that.
The width of the cave we were walking through had expanded enough for a squad to line up side by side, and several forks in the path appeared one after another along the way.
Some paths branched into three, while others split into four or even five.
In the meantime, about a dozen beastmen passed by. The guy with thick arms gripping a club had a fierce gaze, and the female beastwoman with drooping eyes and ears possessed a physique that heightened Sinar’s wariness.
Well, most female beastwomen had bodies like that.
I’m glad I followed you. You really did well.
While Sinar was muttering such nonsense, the path of the cave continued to ascend.
As he climbed, light began to seep in from the front. Luminous stones had been embedded here and there inside the cave so that the view was not completely blocked, but as expected, it was no match for the light emanating from the sunlight. It was light that appeared as if sunlight from outside was seeping inside.
We call the city a cave.
The female elder had spoken, and the reason for saying it here was clear. Calling the city “The Cave” was nothing but a deceptive tactic.
“The Cave” meant a cave, and the entrance to their city was simply a cave.
Neighbors of fairies and neighbors of dwarves.
I had heard that the City of Beastmen is called that, and that means half of them live underground and half above ground.
After passing through the cave, I arrived at a forest filled with fruit trees. It was filled with the scent of grass being cut. Through it lay the scent of damp earth, and above that, the fragrance of wood heated by the sun spread.
And above all, a fragrant scent, a fresh green smell, and a sweet aroma stung my nose, intensely stimulating my sense of smell.
The fruit we grow is the best on the continent.
The male elder spoke. Beastmen are masters of fruit cultivation. If hunting is a survival tool based on instinct, fruit cultivation is proof of a civilization honed over a long period of time.
As a little beastman carrying a basket passed nearby, the female elder gestured. The little beastman trotted over. His ears were perked up, and his skin had a light pink hue. They
say that among all races, beastmen are the prettiest when it comes to childhood.
He was a cute and adorable child, as if proving those words to be true.
“Huh?”
“Give me one.”
The child reached into the basket and took out an apple. The female elder caught it and tossed it behind her.
Encred floated up and caught the flying apple.
“Just have a taste. It will definitely be different from what you’ve been eating so far.”
It was an apple grown with all its might by the race of Kriemhart, the goddess symbolizing the harvest.
Enkrid roughly wiped the surface with his palm and put it in his mouth. Crunch, the bright red flesh of the apple entered his mouth and burst with a sweet scent. As a refreshing taste was added in the midst of it, his expression softened, just as is usually the case when eating something delicious.
“How is it?”
Confidence was on the female elder’s face.
“good night.”
Encreed answered simply and chewed up the entire apple. It was a shame that he couldn’t eat the seeds. The soft, white flesh quickly disappeared into his stomach.
Today, I’m going to eat something for the first time in my life.
The female elder nodded as she spoke. As the atmosphere warmed up with just one apple, Dunbakel naturally opened his mouth.
Yeah, I wish it were something I’d never eaten before, either.
Since he spent his childhood here, Dunbakel probably has a rough idea of what the Beastmen’s Fruit is like. Or perhaps his memory is hazy because he was kicked out when he was too young.
I think it would be better if it tasted like blood.
The beastman’s tone was fierce, as if he had sharpened the blade of revenge.
The two elders fell silent. It was enough to make one speechless. They walked forward in silence.
Groups of beastmen carrying baskets woven from willow branches were picking fruit here and there.
It was a space where the scents of sunlight, trees, earth, and fruit mingled, delighting the nose.
As they moved a little further, another cave came into view.
“Till, go inside and summon all the elders.”
“Now?”
“Yes, and summon the old fortune teller as well.”
“If I summon them immediately, the warrior elder guarding the front lines must also join.”
“I know.”
“Taffy.”
Till looked perplexed. The corners of his eyes drooped, and so did the corners of his mouth. Taffy, the female elder whose name he hadn’t even known until now, nodded.
“Bring them in. At this rate, we will lose anyway.”
At those words, the pupils of the beastman named Til wavered, but he quickly gritted his teeth and entered the cave.
A quick survey of the surroundings revealed that there were more than just one or two such caves.
The place where Encred and his party had actually stopped was a basin-shaped space. In some of the caves, water gushed out, forming small waterfalls and creating lakes. As the water rushed in, the lakes continuously stirred up ripples.
From those lakes, several waterways flowed toward the center of the basin, where fruit trees were lined up.
In other caves, the wind seemed to flow, and on one side, people could be seen mixing clay that emitted a musty smell.
A female beastman mixing clay, her hands covered in dirt, widened her eyes at the sight of Encred.
Several other beastmen had been reacting similarly for some time. Encred wondered why they were treating him this way while leaving the dragonmen alone; however, beastmen instinctively did not treat dragonmen, who do not sow seeds, as men.
“joy.”
Dunbakel snorted. It was because he had seen a familiar face among them immediately avoid his gaze.
“If I say I’m going to kill them all, will you stop me?”
Dunbakel asked. Encreed silently gazed into Dunbakel’s eyes. Golden demon eyes—one of the reasons he was abandoned here was looking straight at him.
“Only say what you are serious about.”
“What?”
“Don’t say things you don’t mean.”
A child is running in front of me, and on one side, Su-in, who is taking care of the child, is running along with the child.
“Liro! Stop!”
The sight of someone restraining a mischievous child was truly heartwarming.
But to say you’re going to kill everyone here?
Of course I’d try to stop you. But before that, don’t you not even have the intention to do so
? Did that child commit a crime against you? Really? What crime could a child who simply loves to run around commit? Is laughing cheerfully a crime? Is knowing happiness and being content with life a crime?
Why? Are you going to insist it’s because you couldn’t obtain it yourself? He knows that isn’t the case, and the stinking beastman before him knows it too.
If you desire revenge, you must define the boundaries.
I agree with what Sinar said. Encred did not dare to gauge the wounds Dunbakel had sustained. Instead, he had no intention of letting the beastman before him regret merely watching him do something so absurdly stupid.
“Tch.”
Dunbakel clicked his tongue.
“Fine, either do it right or straighten your mind.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Do it when you find out.”
This bastard is really something; just a moment ago he was giving me a really harsh scolding, but now he’s acting like he doesn’t care at all.
If I really say I’ll kill all the prisoners here, will they kill me?
At the very least, they would beat him up and take him away.
But Encred was right. I didn’t know it before, but now I know myself a little.
I’m not that ruthless.
Being a coward, he didn’t want to do anything pointless. Kill them all? Sometime later, he would have nightmares and wake up to the sound of a child’s scream.
Ah, why not just give up on all this and lie down next to a sunny fruit tree to fall asleep peacefully? That would be nice. Dunbakel snatched back his escaping consciousness.
Let’s not run away.
Isn’t that one of the core values you learned in the East that has shaped who you are today?
Escape comes later.
Fear is not something to be overcome, but a companion. So, there is no need to run away just because you are afraid of the future.
Eat this while you wait.
In the meantime, a male elder went into the orchard and picked a fruit that was smaller than Audin’s fist but about the size of an average adult man’s fist.
There were two types, one with pure white skin and the other with bright yellow skin, and both emitted a strong sweet scent.
“ruler.”
I held the fruit he handed me in my hand, and it had a texture that felt like it would crumble immediately.
Try chewing and eating it with the skin on.
I did as the male elder advised. Apples at least made a crunching sound, but this one was only slightly tough on the skin and melted away as soon as I put it in my mouth. Juice flowing from the flesh trickled down the corners of my mouth and dripped onto the floor.
“How is it?”
Suin took great pride in the fruit he had cultivated.
The male elder asked with anticipation, and Encred quietly gave a thumbs up.
Regardless of whether Dunbakel became the embodiment of vengeance beside him, the male elder chuckled at Encred’s gesture.
That is a peach.
Sinar nodded at those words.
That’s surprising.
Usually, peaches from the mainland are small, sour, astringent, and hard, but this one was different. It was beyond soft; it melts the moment you put it in your mouth.
Even here, they only come out in late summer. The yellow ones are a bit fresher.
Dunbakel added, “It’s not that I know this from actually tasting it. It’s a fact I discovered while struggling to return to the City of Beastmen.”
“right.”
The male elder smiled and nodded. Now that I looked at him, he was older than the female elder Tepiran.
He had deep wrinkles not only around his eyes but also on his forehead, and furthermore, his skin lacked elasticity compared to other beastmen.
It meant he was an aging beastman. No matter how blessed a body is, this is how it changes with aging.
“Dunbakel, calm down. At least we survived.”
Dunbakel showed intimidation at the casual remark the male elder tossed out. An atmosphere weighed down by murderous intent pressured the two elders.
“Isn’t it important how I lived?”
Dunbakel placed his hand on the scimitar but ultimately did not draw it.
A little later, a man named Til brought in all the remaining elders. Among them was a beastman limping with an injured leg, and another with his head completely wrapped in bandages.
The total number assembled was eight.
The Council of Elders, which leads the City of Beastmen, stands in place of the King of the Continent. This means
they represent all the beastmen.
On top of that was a female beastman with a sturdy spine and thighs, wearing a white cloth over her forehead—a figure who did not quite fit the title of “old fortune teller.”
Well, everyone’s here.
Among these eight, there is a shapeshifter who represents the Council of Elders. That was Taffy.
She is a rabbit shapeshifter. With her faded white ears perked up, Taffy quietly knelt and opened her mouth. Her voice was composed and calm, a tone that followed a firm resolve.
“I will give you my head if you spare our lives.”
Dunbakel’s expression did not change. It was blank, as if Sinar had possessed him.
