“This is disgusting…”
“You made it yourself.”
“Like I’ve ever cooked before.”
Luke grimaced as he chewed on the burnt and undercooked boar meat.
The blood hadn’t been drained properly, and every bite filled his nose with a revolting stench.
The only redeeming quality was the generous amount of salt he’d sprinkled over it, which masked some of the flavor.
The heavy use of salt made the dish barely tolerable, but it still wasn’t something a gourmet like Herace would touch.
That left Luke to devour the entire boar on his own.
“You’re eating it just fine, though.”
“I’m eating because if I don’t, I’ll die.”
After gnawing every last scrap of meat off the bones, Luke gagged, struggling to keep it all down.
Once a noble, such crude meals would have been unthinkable for him.
If not for his time spent as a slave, he probably would have starved before letting food like this pass his lips.
“Just imagine if you didn’t have salt. You should be grateful.”
“Grateful? You think I’d thank you after you dumped this task on me? Do you even have a conscience?”
“Monsters don’t have consciences.”
Herace smiled smugly, pleased with his villainous role.
The more disgusted Luke looked, the better Herace felt. It was strangely motivating.
“You’re not even a real companion.”
“Excuse me? Don’t say something so creepy. Why would I ever be your companion?”
“Screw you. Starve, you bastard.”
Cursing under his breath, Luke continued wolfing down the remaining meat.
Without any experience in preserving food, he had no choice but to finish it all before it spoiled.
After devouring an entire boar, Luke wandered the pitch-black forest, too full to sit still.
At one point, he nearly fell off a cliff and truly died, only to realize the importance of daylight and return to the campfire.
“I’m so damn exhausted…”
Before he could even finish his sentence, he collapsed and fell into a deep sleep.
Watching from nearby, Herace suppressed a laugh, wondering if he should wake Luke, only to decide against it.
‘However, despite Luke scouring the northern forest for days, he didn’t encounter a single monster that carried an essence.’
That’s how the novel described it.
In reality, Luke’s days of hardship had been reduced to a single sentence.
After all, no one wanted to read about the protagonist’s fruitless efforts in tedious detail.
Let the protagonist suffer alone.
The readers didn’t need to share in that sense of futility.
“Sleep well. You’ll be working hard for the next few days.”
Luke lay silent, so still it was unclear whether he was sleeping or unconscious.
Herace reached out, his fingers brushing lightly against Luke’s tousled hair.
Such a fleeting touch, of course, elicited no response.
Luke searched the entire forest but couldn’t find a suitable opponent.
This, of course, was due to the world’s setting.
First of all, monsters are territorial creatures.
However, when they were roused by the roar of the light dragon, they instinctively gathered in one place to attack humans.
Imagine how they must have felt when they came to their senses.
Suddenly, their territory was swarming with unfamiliar monsters.
After slaughtering the humans, the monsters turned on one another in fierce battles.
Only the strongest survived.
Even those strong monsters weren’t in great condition.
They had been fighting nonstop, so it was only natural they’d be injured.
Most retreated to their own territories to recover.
Given these circumstances, it was inevitable that no monster capable of putting up a decent fight against Luke would appear.
Incidentally, this situation also led the central nobles to take the whole ordeal less seriously.
But Luke didn’t care about any of that.
He was on the verge of losing his mind, annoyed at the absence of the powerful monsters that had once attacked him.
“You’re messing with me, aren’t you? Be honest. There’s no way those disgusting things that swarmed everywhere just disappeared overnight!”
“Perhaps you should break the habit of blaming me whenever something bad happens. Try thinking a little more logically.”
“You’re the one acting suspicious!”
Luke pouted but soon began to think.
“That mana stone or whatever I ate… That came from a really powerful monster, right?”
“Correct.”
“And the monsters that attacked the monster-slaying expedition didn’t have it either. So, to get one of those essence things, you’ve got to fight ridiculously strong monsters, huh?”
Seeing the usually action-driven protagonist thinking for once was oddly unfamiliar.
In the novel, the protagonist’s thoughts were often narrated in the third person, but experiencing it in real life was entirely different.
“And so?”
“I should… act more logically, like you said.”
Herace looked genuinely surprised for a moment.
“Logically? You?”
“Shut up.”
For once, Herace obliged. Luke kicked a rock across the ground in frustration.
“Damn it, now I have to gather information myself. My attendants used to handle all of this for me.”
But then Luke remembered how useless that information had been.
Loyal attendants who remained by his side were ostracized by the family’s head.
Ambitious ones seeking power under the eldest son quickly abandoned him due to his reckless behavior.
In the end, the only attendants left by his side were those without backing or skill, who had lost in the family’s internal competition.
And Luke didn’t like incompetent people.
The family head had to step in to stop him from driving them all away.
This time, the warning came with a threat: if he drove off any more attendants, no new ones would be assigned.
It wasn’t the warning that scared him, but the thought of his father being even more disappointed in him.
But all of that was in the past now.
“Let’s go.”
A determined glint appeared in Luke’s eyes.
“Where are we going?”
“Where else? To gather information. What’s the nearest village?”
“You’re using me as a map now?”
“You’re not a person. You’re a monster.”
‘I’m human,’ Herace thought silently.
At this point, letting the protagonist have his way didn’t seem like a bad idea.
After days of mocking Luke for his missteps as an antagonist, it felt like balance to give in just once.
“Fine. I’ll help.”
Luke’s face lit up with triumphant glee.
Winning an argument against Herace was a rare occasion, so he had every reason to be smug.
Unbeknownst to Luke, Herace found his confident grin somewhat endearing.
“Let’s fly.”
Herace snapped his fingers, and Luke’s body floated into the air.
“Argh!”
Luke flailed instinctively before finding his balance.
Knowing the magic kept him safely suspended didn’t stop his reflexes from embarrassing him.
He shot a glare at Herace, expecting a mocking comment, but the monster remained surprisingly quiet.
“Over there. I see lights.”
After flying over the snowy northern wilderness for what felt like an eternity, they finally spotted a village.
“Finally!”
“It seems large enough to have an inn.”
“Thank god. I’m done sleeping outside.”
“You’d better get used to it.”
“And I’m so sick of half-cooked animal meat! I just want a bowl of pork stew. My mouth feels like it’s been tainted by the stench of wild game…”
Herace, who had refused to share even a single meal with Luke because of his own discerning palate, felt a twinge of guilt.
“Fine. Let’s start at the tavern.”
“Right! Everyone knows you get the best information from drunk people!”
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