Chapter 1001 – Savage

000

“For a moment! … Wait a minute…! “What?”

While Cleon was listening to what Seth was talking about, he couldn’t stand the name ‘Leona’ that came out of his mouth and he stopped talking.

What he talks about is the past, more than a thousand years ago.

So… Probably, he’s talking about one of his past lives.

Like Rakshasa, Kain, or the fairy king whose name I haven’t even heard of, who I met in the past.

So, it would not be impossible for a ‘woman’ to exist within it.

Even though a being named Lillim is prepared as his mate.

The problem is, her name.

The fact that she called herself ‘Leona’ undoubtedly means that her name is ‘Leona’.

That name was a name familiar to Cleon as well.

That’s because when Cleon had to hide his identity and change his appearance to a woman, that was the name she used.

Should we call it a coincidence, or did the subtle traces of Cleon’s past life manifest themselves in that way?

After taking a deep breath and saying, “Whoa,” Cleon looks at Seth as if he’s calmed down a little.

He or she? She herself said that her body had no gender, so it was questionable what she should be called, but Seth said that she dressed herself up as a woman, so it would be better to call her ‘she’ from now on.

In any case, Seth reacted as if there was something wrong with Cleon’s behavior, but then looked at him and said, ‘Ah,’ as if he understood.

“Are you surprised to hear that I became your bride in my past life?”

“No… Of course that’s surprising, too.”

Come to think of it, she was saying something like that.

… A terminal that received orders from Adam and was responsible for cleaning up the clan of black devils.

I had heard that this was the true identity of Seth in front of me, and that he had helped destroy his past life and the dark devil’s clan over and over again, but the story about Leona earlier had made all other emotions disappear in an instant. It was.

“Don’t worry. Because nothing happened like you thought.”

＂What was I thinking…?＂

When Cleon asked back at her words, which seemed to penetrate Cleon’s inner thoughts, Seth blinked his eyes two or three times, spread the index fingers of both hands, and made a double piece.

When Cleon watches her with a sullen expression, as if wondering what she’s doing, she just crosses the double piece and hits it.

It’s like hitting the joints of two scissors together.

＂…＂

＂…＂

For a moment, there was a heavy silence between the two.

Cleon couldn’t think for a moment what that gesture meant, but then she realized she was ‘hot’ and raised her voice.

“Who thought of that!?”

When Cleon sounded embarrassed, Seth tilted his head and asked back.

“Isn’t it? Hmm… That’s strange. Most of the dark demon clans with the past life factor are open and active when it comes to sexual matters…”

＂He’s an incredibly rude guy, after all…!＂

Seeing Cleon getting angry again, Seth interrupts the conversation by saying, ‘Whatever it is.’

“Can we start talking again now? The audience who interrupts the bard’s story during the story is not praised very much.”

“Please, please tell me something, so I don’t have to interrupt…!”

“That’s something I can’t do. “I’m just talking about what happened and what I experienced.”

To Seth, who only responded to what he said, Cleon could only sigh and shake his head.

001

After crossing the difficult forest and mountain path, Leona arrived at the halfway point of the rugged mountain, and Seth was carried by Leona on her shoulder.

As Seth looked around, he could only see the village of the Black Demon Clan that had appeared in front of him… No, it was a place that was at the level of a ‘village’, living in a society so primitive that it could hardly even be called a village.

Just like the one Leona is wearing, the houses made of wood and stone using clumsy technology were so old that it wouldn’t be surprising if they collapsed at any time.

Since it was located halfway up a high mountain, the environment was naturally barren, making it impossible to farm.

The temperature is low here, which makes you think that if you don’t wear thick clothes, your body will quickly deteriorate.

＇Are you struggling to survive in a place like this, a clan of dark horses? ＇

Seth thought so at first.

The terrain is so rough that the average person wouldn’t even think about setting foot there.

The mountains are full of monsters and beasts that are so threatening that you must sacrifice your life if you encounter them, and it is a place where communication with the outside world is completely cut off.

It was 100 years ago that we were brutally defeated and cornered to the point where we had no choice but to live in a place like this.

＇Nevertheless…＇

Nevertheless, it survived.

Why?

The fact that it is easier to die must have been destroyed so many times that it was engraved into the genes, generation after generation.

Seth shook his head as if he couldn’t understand their will, and then felt his head lowering and became alert.

“This is where I live.”

As Leona says that, she will finally put Seth down on the ground.

However, one of his arms was holding her waist through her back, effectively holding her in place to prevent her from escaping.

Seth looked up at Leona with a frown at the feeling of his arm, but Leona didn’t pay any attention to that and made a voice calling out to someone.

Then.

“Are you back, Leona?”

A man with a sickly voice appeared from inside an even more dilapidated and tattered house in that village.

You can think of him as being in his 50s, or maybe even his 60s.

However, his well-trained body looked as hard as a rock, and he was a man who was one head taller than his taller brother, Leona, with ‘grey’ hair and a ‘gray’ beard.

He was not armed and had a robe on his body, but no matter how you look at him, it would be better to think of him as a warrior or swordsman who once had outstanding skills.

He greeted Leona in a blunt tone, then glanced at her Seth next to him, then twitched his eyebrows and trembled.

＂Is he is an outsider?…＂

“Ah, that’s right. “I saved someone from almost being attacked by a hound bear.”

Leona was pounding her fists on her chest as she said this proudly.

And in order not to be caught off guard by such a man, Seth bowed his waist and expressed his gratitude.

“I never thought there would be a strong swordsman like Leona in these mountains. Thanks to you, I was able to save my life. Thank you so much.”

＂… I was grateful for my words.＂

In response to Seth’s gratitude, the man spoke in such a cold tone.

Although Seth may not have been embarrassed by the man’s attitude, which was more wary than expected, he would have clicked his tongue.

This man, although not as strange as Leona, seemed even more annoying.

That’s why, if he raises his head and makes eye contact with her,

＇…? This man…?’

Seth looked into the man’s eyes and must have felt ’embarrassed’ for a moment, something he hadn’t done before.

‘Brown eyes…’

In other words, it is not a clan of dark horses.

So, does this mean that this village is not a village where only the dark horse clan lives?

Just as Seth was thinking about what to say next, the man suddenly turned his head and spoke, looking at Leona instead of Seth.

＂Why did you bring me here?＂

It was a tone closer to an interrogation rather than a question.

I thought I was a close friend of hers because I came to meet her when she returned, but isn’t that true?

Then, Leona casually gave strength to the arm she was hugging and pulled her towards her and spoke.

“This girl will be my bride.”

＂…＂

At Leona’s words, Seth’s expression immediately became cold.

The man in front of me showed little change in his expression, but he still looked a little puzzled.

＂A bride…? “This outsider?”

Before Leona could say anything to the man who questioned her, Seth tried to express his opinion.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that… Look. Women can’t be a couple?”

The last words were directed at Leona, and at this rate, Leona would probably give up and let her go.

When Seth, who thought so, made eye contact with Leona, Leona and the man glanced at Seth and then talked.

＂Why not?＂

“… The idea of ​​how to take a stranger as a bride comes up… There must be many young and beautiful girls in the village.”

＂Haa!?＂

At the content of the conversation between the two, Seth would raise his voice as if he couldn’t believe it.

“For a moment…! Doesn’t anyone care about gender!?”

The order governed by Adam… No, from a biological perspective, it was unacceptable for a woman to be in a relationship with a woman.

When Seth, who thought it was normal, raised his voice like that, the man spoke to Seth.

“That kind of thing is okay in this town. When they become adults, they look for a mate. I’m just calling this guy ‘bride’ for convenience. It doesn’t matter whether you are the groom or the bride. So, outsiders, please keep quiet. This is because we just have to break this guy’s will.”

The man may have said that he was annoyed by Seth, but Seth did not give up and raised his voice again.

“Women can’t have children!?”

“It doesn’t really matter? Anyway, other people can have children. The lineage of my family ends with me.”

However, this time, when Leona came back with such an answer, he couldn’t help but feel keenly that their way of thinking was different from his own.

＂Barbarians…＂

Seth muttered this as he looked at them, who followed more twisted values ​​than any other dark demon clan he had ever seen.

Then, the man’s eyes widen, and he looks at Seth, and Seth covers his mouth, saying ‘Oops’.

＂Oh, no… What I just did…＂

He revealed his disgust without realizing it.

If things continued like this, it was clear that the statement just made would be caught.

Even if we wanted to lead people here and destroy them, we needed to get a little more information.

No matter how much one could escape death, it was a clear fact that dying now would make future actions more troublesome in many ways.

After a moment of silence between the man and Seth, it was the man who spoke first.

“… Yes, we are barbarians. If you look at the people living in hiding in these mountains by the standards of a properly civilized society, they would look that way.”

And this time, the man spoke while looking towards Leona.

“You heard it, Leona. All outsiders are like this. In their eyes, we are barbaric beings who do not even meet human standards. They are like oil and water that ‘cannot be together’. Even if he is given enough silver to save his life, he shows disgust at beings he cannot understand.”

Seth heard him and couldn’t reply.

Perhaps, since Seth was an ordinary human being, he might have expressed understanding to them if they had truly saved his one and only life from Leona.

Even if it was by mistake, I would not have used the expression ‘savage’.

However, for Seth, ‘his life being saved’ was such a trivial thing.

That’s why there was no ‘respect’ or ‘gratitude’ for them.

Leona must have felt something about these words.

… Is there a need to quietly transfer to the next body?

Seth thought that way and resigned himself to not saying anything.

“… Isn’t that inevitable because it’s different outside and here?”

As Leona responded to her man’s words, she blocked Seth’s path with one of her arms.

As if trying to protect Seth from a man.

“I know you hate outsiders, but stop pushing a guy who just arrived like that. Kaidolph.”

＂…＂

At Leona’s words, the man called ‘Kai Dolf’ was speechless for a moment and then shook his head.

“Do whatever you want. But it won’t be me who will have to persuade, but the old people. Because those old women are the ones who want you to give birth to a strong warrior more than anyone else.”

After Kai Dolph said that, he moved the body around and went back into the house from which he had come.

“Joy. Since I have nothing to say, I just leave.”

Leona, who spoke as if Kaidolph did not like her, looked back at Seth, who was quietly sitting next to her.

“What. Kaidolph, the gatekeeper, did something with this. I wonder if it will be the old folks next time. Then, let’s go.”

＂Now, wait a minute…!＂

As Seth says that, he stops Leona, who is trying to take her, and tells her.

＂… I was… Sorry just now. There is a grace that saved me, but I was called a barbarian.”

“Ah… Well, something like that. Even if you didn’t run away as soon as you saw him, you’re better off.”

Leona responded to Seth’s words by scratching her cheek.

＂There are some who enter this mountain without knowing, but most of them meet demon beasts and die or almost die. Since my job is to hunt down demonic beasts, I sometimes rescue them…”

As Leona says so, she looks outside from the entrance of the village.

“What. No matter how much I help, there are a lot of guys who run away as soon as they see me, shouting that I’m a monster or a savage. Really, they don’t even eat you.”

“… Don’t you resent people like that?”

An environment where even if you do something good to someone, it is not reciprocated.

Seth asked Leona with pure curiosity, and Leona answered by shaking her head.

＂Not at all.＂

Then she speaks in a light tone.

“It’s natural to save someone who wants to live. Are you specifically trying to be appreciated or become a friend? Because that’s not the purpose.”

＂…＂

At Leona’s answer, Seth felt something different compared to the dark demon clan she had seen in her previous life.

This woman did not have the intense, sticky, yet limitless darkness that her predecessors had.

Is she suppressing it, or is she not showing up because she is still young?

As Seth stares at her, unable to say anything for a moment, Leona speaks to him in her light tone.

“Anyway. If I introduce you to the elderly and get permission to get married, we will be husband and wife from now on.”

“Is it that story again? I’m sorry, but we can’t become a couple.”

＂What are you doing? Don’t do that, think about it carefully.”

As Leona says this, she covers Seth’s hair with her hand, ruffling it, and then grabs his hand and drags him away.

The calluses felt in her tightly held hands were the traces of someone who had learned the sword to survive.

＂…＂

Seth didn’t stop panicking at Leona’s hand, but for some reason he could feel her heart beating a little faster than before.