VIII

Right, picking herbs in a forest was exactly as boring as it seemed. The forest surrounding San Petro was concerningly devoid of wild life. No wolves, no foxes, no deer, very, very rarely rabbits, no sentient plants nor spirits. The forest looked normal from the outside and there weren't even hunters in San Petro so why was it so empty? Just to spite him?

Kiyoshi had a very big list of ,,ingredients" for the Guild chef and his daughter, who was apparently an apothecary. So big was it that even after hours of searching, not even two thirds of it were crossed out.

Going farther away from the city appeared to offset it's strange aura, as wild life and even monsters, in the form of werewolves and evolved wolves started roaming around.

When it was about time for him to return, Kiyoshi came across a peculiar sight. Going by his primal senses(and what he remembered from his time in the market), he smelled a demi-human. Following the smell, he found a wolf-like girl that was locked in a cage.

Though the bandits guarding her didn't look threatening in the least, he didn't approach. After all, he had nothing to win. A slave? He didn't need one. In fact, she did look.... Tasty ...fuck... even though the tavern food tasted good, he found himself craving to eat a living being more and more.... BUT HE WAS A HUMAN... wasn't he...?

Still, Kiyoshi didn't have to observe her for long, as a young boy, aged no more than sixteen, ran from the surrounded trees and attacked the bandits. They fought valiantly, for some scoundrels, all the while yelling about "how valuable the slave was". With the last one alive running for his life, the teen was left only with the now scared girl. After looking for any remaining threat, he started picking the lock of her cage.

"N-n-no... please!"

"It's alright, I won't hurt you"

He then opened the steel door and offered her his hand, but she didn't take it.

"Hey, w-what's the problem?"

"I..."

"You, you saw that I was the one who fought them, ...right?"

"I..."

"I'm not a bad guy!"

"I..."

"Come with me-while grabbing her hand- I'll provide you with a better life"

"I...no....please...."

"I said...!"

Kiyoshi had enough. Seeing such a cliche distort before him in nothing more than horror, he couldn't bear looking anymore. The other boy didn't even realize making his way to them, nor thinking about his skill, 'consume', but he could relate very clearly what followed.

His whole hand opened up and started eating the boy from the back of his head. He didn't stop until his body movements came still. The frightened slave, now crying, looked in horror at her new captor.

"Please, please no..."

'It is fine... everything is fine... you won't suffer anymore...('consume')'

All went still. Only the uninvited rain dared to move in this frozen scene.

...

...

...

'What have I done?'

The rain continued.

The small number of falling drops hastenly multiplied until it became like a shower, intended to wash away all the bloodshed that occurred.

'Why do I not care?'-Kiyoshi felt very conflicted. While he understood that what he did was not good and he felt ashamed of the act, he couldn't seem to care that the girl died. How could he be so messed up?

...

...

No, what was more important, why did their lives flash before him when he consumed them? Was it an effect of some skill?

...

Trurly, she did the beast girl dirty. Though being a princess, after her clan was attacked, she lived most of her life in slavery. She was a living high-stake poker chip.

The other one... while he didn't live as something to envy, he couldn't be pitied. A true harem master, that was the only thing he could call the boy formerly named Olivieri Garcon.

This quirk he found out today....

Would surely be useful in the future.

Kiyoshi remained silent on the way back. No thought dared to challenge him in that state. He cashed in his reward for the request and went to sleep. He also remained silent when meeting with his party. Whether they went to "the Dark Skull dungeon" or not, it didn't matter anymore.

"Why so gloomy?"- Jarod seemed in good shape. You wouldn't think he drank until passing out just the day before.

"Huh, cringe name and now you act all edgy. Who do you think that you are?"- On the other hand, the strangely named teen, Andromitus, was visibly tired from walking.

"Hey, don't ya see he doesn't care. What happened? Fought with ya girl? At least yo not a pussy licker like Lil' Will!"

"Fuck you Maxwell!"

'Did..'

"Huh? Say it louder, man"

'Did any of you wonder what it means to be human?'

"Ohh, deep questions do we have at this evening campfire"

"Fuck, why does it matter? Whether I am a human or a vampire, I can still get bitches"

"What bitches do you get as a ghoul?"

"More than the human you!"

"Oh, yeah, say that to big Willy over here, even as a sis-con, he gets more bitches drooling over him than you ever slept with"

"To hell with Will!"

"To hell with you..."

('Wow... they are dumber than I thought...')

'So, why exactly do we raid this dungeon?'

"Didn't he, like explain that five times already?"

"Whatever, the dungeon we are going to is a very popular newby location, but in recent times it has over-expanded. We need to destroy it so that it doesn't affect local wild life or something like that."

'What animals? The forest near San Petro is empty'

"I neither know, nor care. Point is, we get paid. "- the party leader was a straightforward guy. Whether they were doing a good or bad thing, money came first.

...

"You see, even though it has been raided hundreds of times, the boss room has be left alone, to maintain it and stuff. There still might be loot there. The dungeon is supposed to be [A] grade after all."- from an outer look, Maxwell didn't seem at all knowledgeable, but he was surprisingly dependable when it came to dungeons.

'[A] grade? What is that?'

"Didn't they tell you at the guild? Dungeons are ranked from [F] to [S] depending on difficulty."

'But why grades?'

"Man you ask a lot, what are you, a bookworm?"- Whether Andromitus hated small talk, or he hated 'Kain', he couldn't tell.

"Something about stats and whatnot. Guess it's easier like this"

'Right...'

...

...

...

Silence commenced upon the improvised camp. Neither teen seemed to want to share anything else, so they went to sleep. After all, they had a big day ahead of them.