In search of the cursed beast, Theodore and I continued to ramble through the woods.
A grotesque cry continued to echo through the forest, but I’d grown accustomed to those sounds that felt like background music.
This forest is growing on me, too.
After a while of walking through this desolate landscape, I began to feel at ease with it.
I had been following Theodore from behind, but now I was walking alongside him. After all, this place is also on our territory.
“I was unaware that a location like this existed in Conler territory.”
Theodore chuckled at my words.
“The Emperor gave it to us.”
“The Emperor?”
“It was a few generations ago. Anyway, we received it as a reward for subduing monsters. But actually it meant we had to manage the place since monsters continued to appear here.”
My vague affection for this forest suddenly dropped.
What happens to people’s minds when they ascend to the throne? What will happen to Cameron, who lost his mind long before reaching the top?
“Does the tree produce fruit?”
Theodore picked fruit from the tree without saying anything.
It was a dark gray color that made my appetite drop at first glance. Can you call this fruit?
Curious about the pulp of the fruit, I tried to break it in half, but it was as hard as a rock. It didn’t break easily.
I walked over to some nearby rocks and struck the fruit hard against them, but it only caused a minor scratch on the surface.
Theodore, who was watching me, took the fruit and smashed it against the rock, just as I had done.
Theodore’s blow caused the fruit, which was unbreakable no matter how hard I hit it, to split in half.
Wow, this is pretty embarrassing.
“Ah….”
The slimy flesh inside the hard shell gave me creeps just by looking at it. The light blue juice appeared to be something I shouldn’t consume. When I sniffed it, I detected a slight sweetness.
It smells nice.
The sweet smell reminded me of Demimore again.
Actually, since hearing that earlier scream, I haven’t been able to get Demimore out of my head. He couldn’t possibly be in trouble of any kind, could he?
I took a handkerchief out of my pocket with the intention of wiping the sticky juice from my hands.
“Huh?”
The black lump I had earlier seen rushed towards my feet as I was wiping my hands with the handkerchief and putting the fruit on the ground.
The fruit I had dropped on the ground was licked by the black lump’s bright red tongue.
I was reminded of its razor-sharp teeth from before, despite how cute it was. I cautiously took a step back.
Judging from its cute eyes looking at my pocket, it seemed like it was eyeing the biscuits I gave it earlier.
“Did you follow me over here?”
“It seems really hungry…”
As Theodore said, the black lump hovered around me. It then rolled to the ground.
The black lump performed an incomprehensible action and then hesitated before ingesting a poisonous mushroom beneath a large tree.
Is he a little stupid……. I noticed earlier that every other animal was avoiding that deadly mushroom.
“Is it okay to eat that?”
“Wait a minute.”
I was watching the black mass eat when Theodore stopped me and pushed me behind him.
I doubted my vision behind Theodore.
The body of the black lump, who had consumed the colorful poisonous mushroom, was now covered in black and red spots that resembled the pattern of a poisonous mushroom.
The cursed beast, which had appeared like a star species, was said to have no particular characteristics other than the strange patterns on its body.
Cursed beasts can curse the person who killed them, unlike other beasts that can be killed with a weapon.
“T-that, that!”
“It was the poisonous mushroom’s fault.”
“It’s the curse pattern, right?”
I mistakenly believed that the energy of the beast was causing the mushrooms to grow in this way, but it turned out that the mushrooms were actually creating the cursed beast.
“Ah! The dark lump has evolved into a cursed beast!”
“We need to tell them to get rid of all the mushrooms here when we return.”
Both Theodore and I were in awe.
What should we do? The cursed beast, the black lump, could no longer be called black as it made groaning sounds in pain while its body was transforming.
Fortunately, the beast was not looking at us.
It appeared to have forgotten that we were in front of it, perhaps due to the discomfort of the changing body.
“You must never show your back.”
Theodore spoke quietly.
To show your back and run away from a demon is like saying, “Please attack my back” I nodded and backtracked cautiously.
“Do you have a corpse to feed him on?”
“It’s behind me. Just sprinkle the poison and that’s it.”
“……It’ll eat it, right?”
“It appears to be hungry, judging by the fact that it keeps eating anything in sight.”
“Then we’ll have to catch its eye first.”
Theodore and I recalled the body we had left behind earlier. Since we haven’t put poison in it yet, we have to distract the beast first.
“How should we do it?”
I quickly looked around and saw fruit on a tree.
It might still be able to eat the fruit given how well it did so prior to evolving into the cursed beast.
I drew my bow up and fired at the fruit on the tree just in case.
Boom!
Fortunately, the arrow struck the fruit and fell next to the cursed lump.
The cursed lump was eating the fruit that had fallen off the tree quickly. Oh, I should have poisoned that fruit.
“Okay. Keep shooting!”
I raised my bow once more in response to Theodore’s compliment and pointed it at the fruit on the tree.
Bang! Bang!
The fruit fell to the floor as soon as I shot, and fortunately, the cursed lump chewed them up.
While the cursed lump was preoccupied with the fruit, Theodore was cautiously backing away.
Just one more.
There are now a limited number of arrows left. It’s over if we don’t catch him. I relaxedly pulled the bowstring back and pointed it at the fruit on the tree.
“…What?”
The sturdy fruit smashed onto the head of the cursed lump. The cursed lump was struck more forcefully than anticipated and dropped to the ground with a thud.
“What happened…?”
Theodore and I cautiously made our way toward the cursed lump, surprised by the sudden situation. We exchanged puzzled glances.
“Did I, did I kill it?”
“It appears to have passed out.”
“What should I do if I’m cursed?”
“It didn’t see your face when it died, so it’ll be okay.”
Theodore approached the fainted beast and cleaned up the mess.
“Is it okay to do this? Is it going to be okay?”
“You did a good job of tempting him with the biscuit.”
“Oh, really…. Is this okay?”
“Good work, you caught it.”
Theodore spoke in a friendly voice. We decided to put the cursed lump in the capture net and head back.
As we were about to leave, we heard rustling from the other side of the forest.
“Leave it to me this time.”
“Brother”
“I’m keeping my promise.”
Theodore pulled out his sword calmly. The blade’s cool silver sheen glistened. I watched intently, my mouth dry with anticipation.
Stomp, stomp, the sound of footsteps coming this way grew closer. I had thought of throwing the cursed lump I held in my hand if necessary.
However, I earlier spread poison here, so if they step on it, they’ll die.
Theodore sprinted in front of me as the hazy outline emerged from the trees.
I followed him in worry, and then heard a familiar scream.
“Argh!”
It was Cameron.
“Why are you here…”
“Are you here to cheat?”
Cameron was taken aback by Theodore’s sudden appearance and collapsed to the ground in surprise. Theodore and I surrounded him.
In response to our pointed questions, Cameron vigorously shook his head.
“No, I just got lost and ended up here!”
“What about Demimore?”
“I don’t know, he disappeared after being attacked by a beast.”
“Where did he disappear?”
As unexpected words came out of Cameron’s mouth, my hands began to tremble. As Cameron sat on the ground, I seized his collar.
Theodore only asked me to handle him gently but didn’t stop me.
“Hey, let go of this.”
“Where is Demimore?”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
“You should have followed him and saved him somehow!”
“I have to stay alive too.”
“Is this guy really insane? Running away and leaving his little brother behind?”
Without realizing it, my response to Cameron’s words was a little rough. I had a feeling that arguing with Cameron here wouldn’t lead to an easy confession of Demimore’s location.
So I let go of Cameron’s collar.
“Hey, what did you say?”
Cameron seemed to be saying something from behind, but I didn’t answer back and started running toward Demimore and Cameron’s camp.
I couldn’t even afford to pick up the capture net. Theodore followed me from behind since he knew the area better than me.
Tears started to fill my eyes.
Demimore has to be safe.
