“Well, thanks to that, there’s one less competitor for the hunting competition’s victory.”
“What do you mean by that?”
At Abigail’s words, Leonard asked in a stiff voice. Strictly speaking, he had already grasped Abigail’s intent, but it was closer to asking out of displeasure.
“It won’t be easy to hunt while lugging around a cat, you know.”
It was a teasing tone, accompanied by a wink. At Abigail’s reply, Leonard narrowed his brows in annoyance. But soon, he tugged the reins to change direction and muttered under his breath.
“Think whatever you want.”
“Farewell…… Waaah!”
Yellian, who had been alone in observing proper etiquette despite Leonard’s lack of manners-not even greeting the Emperor-was caught off guard when Mikhail suddenly bolted, causing them to trail off mid-sentence.
Leonard began driving the horse at a terrifying speed. Roughly judging, it seemed his pride had been wounded by Abigail’s words, and he was eager to catch prey quickly.
Just then, a deer darted through the bushes. Though it happened in an instant, Leonard didn’t miss the moment and steered the horse toward where the deer had fled.
He drew his bow and arrow. Even while galloping, he managed to aim at the deer, causing Yellian to scream in shock.
“Wait! Hold on!”
Startled by Yellian’s shout, the deer ran deeper into the forest. Leonard, having lost his prey right before his eyes, spoke in a subdued voice.
“What is this nonsense?”
“What did that deer do wrong for you to hunt it? That’s too cruel!”
Truthfully, Yellian hadn’t given much thought to hunting even on the way to the competition. But seeing the deer with its large eyes, they began to question whether hunting an innocent deer just for the sake of a ‘competition’ was the right thing to do.
“Well……”
“See, even you can’t answer, Leonard. So why hunt the deer? This is unfair. To put it bluntly, I may not be an animal-well, I’m a feline humanoid-but I, too, could’ve been someone’s prey for sport. It was terrifying, I tell you.”
Yellian vented their frustration, recalling the memory of nearly being hunted to death. Leonard had no response.
“I’m sure that deer was just as scared as I was.”
“…….”
Leonard said nothing. Yellian, belatedly feeling fear at his silence, worried they had been too insolent toward the notoriously cruel mad duke. Swallowing dryly, they waited for his reaction.
“So what you’re saying is, even though we came to the hunting competition, we shouldn’t hunt. Is that it?”
“……W-well, that’s… how it sounds……? I guess……?”
At his question, Yellian reconsidered how absurd their own words sounded.
But they couldn’t shake the pity for animals hunted as mere entertainment despite being innocent. So Yellian had no intention of retracting their statement.
“Fine. I’ll stop hunting innocent animals.”
“Really?”
Expecting sharp retorts, Yellian was surprised when Leonard readily agreed. Overjoyed, they unconsciously tightened their grip around Leonard’s waist, clinging to him so as not to fall off the horse.
“Instead, I’ll hunt a guilty dragon.”
“Huh……?”
Stunned by the unexpected words, Yellian dumbly repeated them. What did he mean by a ‘guilty dragon’ all of a sudden……?
“The dragons inhabiting here have devoured countless livestock. Not only that, they’re vicious beasts that have eaten dozens of humans. The civilian damage is severe. The dragon subjugation team has been dispatched several times but failed each time.”
“T-that’s… unfortunate, but…… are we…… going to hunt such a dragon……?”
They understood how aggressive and dangerous dragons were. The problem was whether Leonard and they-a feline humanoid who knew nothing about hunting-could take down a dragon even the subjugation team couldn’t.
To be precise, since they were utterly incompetent, it meant Leonard would hunt the dragon alone. Yellian doubted the feasibility.
Of course, Elton was with them, but in Yellian’s eyes, one or two extra people didn’t make much difference.
“But my lord, hunting a dragon is dangerous no matter how you look at it.”
Even Elton, who had been silent, chimed in. Yellian vehemently agreed with him.
“True. But if we slay the dragon, we can win the hunting competition without harming innocent animals. It’s a win-win: no innocent animals hunted, and a menace to civilians eliminated.”
Rationally, Leonard’s logic was sound. But that was just an ideal. How could one person possibly hunt a dragon alone?
“That may be so, but……”
“Got a problem?”
“No.”
“I do……”
At Leonard’s question, Elton quickly backtracked, as if he had never opposed him.
Feeling betrayed by Elton’s cowardice, Yellian opened their mouth to argue. But before they could finish, Leonard spurred the horse into a gallop.
“W-waaah, ahhh! Too fast, waaah!”
As the horse raced even faster than before, Yellian clung tightly to Leonard’s waist to avoid falling.
The wind whipped past them as the horse’s speed sent shivers through their body. If they fell now, it’d be goodbye to this world. Instinctively, their arms tightened around Leonard.
“M-my lord, this isn’t right, it’s not right! Waaah, Leonard, you bastard……!”
Though ‘my lord’ had devolved into ‘Leonard, you bastard,’ Leonard didn’t stop.
Yellian blamed themselves for forgetting that the mad duke was someone who, once fixated, wouldn’t back down. Meanwhile, Leonard, Yellian, and Elton passed deep into the forest and arrived at a cave near the mountaintop.
“This cave is ominous. Way too ominous.”
Even from the outside, the cave radiated an aura of impending danger. Swallowing dryly in fear, Yellian clung to Leonard’s waist.
But without hesitation, Leonard dismounted and tied the reins to a rock outside the cave.
“Get down.”
“Are we really going in? This doesn’t feel right.”
Though they obediently dismounted with his help, Yellian kept shaking their head.
No matter how they looked at it, this was a bad idea. Of course, staying outside alone was scary too, so they had no choice but to follow Leonard-but this definitely wasn’t the best course of action.
“This dragon only devours maidens. If we don’t kill it, there’ll be more victims.”
“That’s truly awful, but… can’t we leave it to others?”
While it was true that more victims couldn’t be allowed, Yellian still questioned whether two people-barely a fighting force-should be hunting a dragon now.
But contrary to Yellian’s thoughts, Leonard seemed resolute. He nocked an arrow and stepped into the cave. Elton, too, prepared for battle and followed.
“Come in.”
“My leg hurts too much to walk.”
Yellian pouted, making one last protest. But of course, it fell on deaf ears. Leonard replied flatly.
“You said you could walk earlier.”
“That was then, now……”
“Get in before I cut off your ankles.”
“Yessir.”
In the end, Yellian gave up complaining and hurried into the cave after Leonard.
The cave was indeed cooler than the outside air. Already terrified, the dampness only amplified their fear. They gulped repeatedly.
The deeper they went, the darker and colder it became, beyond just chilly-it was freezing. Their body shivered uncontrollably.
Nervously glancing around in case the dragon appeared, Yellian followed closely behind Leonard-until their eyes caught sight of something and widened in shock.
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