Style

He walked straight out of the woods and calmly faced Moro's gun.

That was the attitude Benjamin displayed, without the slightest hint of hostility.

Moro did not lower his pistol. The aura in his left hand remained poised to strike, but he did not ignore Benjamin's gesture of goodwill.

"Moro, Treasure Hunter."

Since the other party had introduced himself so thoroughly, Moro temporarily gave himself the title of Treasure Hunter.

Benjamin nodded and raised a hand to point at the three corpses on the ground.

"I'm not here to hold anyone accountable. It may be a pointless question, but I still need to confirm it. Moro, did you kill these people?"

"..."

Moro fell silent for a moment, casting an inconspicuous glance at Benjamin's shadow before readily admitting, "I killed them."

Given the state of the scene, concealing it would have been nothing more than pointless effort.

Benjamin nodded again and said flatly, "Just a few poachers. Killing them was a good thing."

After simply identifying the three corpses, he shifted his gaze to the white deer nearby. "Horned Giant Deer, a B-class forbidden creature. They've been appearing frequently on the black market lately. That's why I'm here."

"Oh?"

Moro caught the implication in Benjamin's words and asked without betraying anything, "Shouldn't that be the work of poacher hunters?"

"That's true."

A faint smile appeared on Benjamin's face as he explained, "But Gourmet Hunters like us, who deal with ingredients all the time, have a duty to protect the environment. If we encounter poachers out in the wild, naturally we can't simply turn a blind eye."

"So... you came specifically for them?"

Moro glanced at the corpses on the ground from the corner of his eye.

For Gourmet Hunters, all ingredients came from nature, so they also bore the responsibility of protecting nature.

Thus, it was not entirely unreasonable for a team of poachers to attract the attention of a Gourmet Hunter who roamed deep mountains and ancient forests.

Yet Benjamin shook his head. "Not entirely."

"Hm?"

Moro looked at Benjamin.

Benjamin paid no attention to Moro's still-raised pistol and walked directly toward the white antlers the poachers had cut off.

"Look. These are good stuff."

Holding the coral-like branching antlers in his hands, Benjamin's eyes lit up.

Moro raised an eyebrow slightly.

Benjamin weighed the antlers in his hands before looking at Moro.

"If it hadn't been for you, I would have killed these poachers after tracking them here. Of course... I would truthfully hand over these already-dead poached animals to the local forestry bureau, but these Horned Giant Deer..."

At that point, Benjamin paused, his expression turning utterly serious. "They absolutely cannot go to waste."

"..."

Surprise showed in Moro's eyes, and he could not help wondering whether Benjamin had been hiding in the dark and observing from the very beginning.

After all, Gourmet Hunters often went into deep mountains and old forests to hunt all kinds of rare ingredients. Leaving everything else aside, he had to be exceptionally skilled at using "Zetsu."

And Benjamin's motive for doing this was to give himself an excuse to taste Horned Giant Deer.

Benjamin took in Moro's reaction and drew a boning knife carved from blood-red ore from the sheath at his waist. As he trimmed the antlers, he asked:

"Moro, don't tell me you're thinking... that I deliberately hid and waited until the poachers had finished hunting the Horned Giant Deer before showing myself, all because of these antlers?"

"I never said that."

Moro denied it immediately, but his gaze fell on the blood-red boning knife in Benjamin's hand.

Under the silvery moonlight, he could clearly see the smoke-like aura around the boning knife.

That aura did not come from Benjamin. It was attached to the boning knife itself.

There was no doubt that this unusually shaped boning knife was a Nen object, and the aura attached to it was not weak in intensity.

Upon hearing Moro's words, Benjamin trimmed the antlers faster and faster. Instead, he openly admitted, "But I was indeed deliberately waiting."

Moro looked up at Benjamin in some surprise.

He talked about having a responsibility to protect the environment, but just as Moro had expected, it was all so he could eat a B-class forbidden creature...

With that thought, Moro silently stepped back, widening the distance between himself and Benjamin.

Noticing Moro's movement, Benjamin stopped trimming the antlers and said leisurely:

"No need to be so surprised. I'm a Professional Hunter... Whether it means being unscrupulous or rationalizing my actions, as long as it gets me what I want, I won't hesitate to do it."

As he spoke, he held up an antler toward Moro. One of its branches had been stripped of its hard outer layer, revealing a jelly-like substance inside.

"Even if this appeared on the black market, it would never be something easily bought. Believe me, this is a top-tier ingredient that would drive every Gourmet Hunter mad. If you miss it, I guarantee you'll regret it for the rest of your life. So... want to eat it together?"

"No."

Without a second thought, Moro refused. Regardless of Benjamin's reaction, he finally put away his pistol and picked up the backpack containing food and tools.

He was not sure whether Benjamin was truly a licensed Professional Gourmet Hunter, but in any case, he had already classified him as an oddity.

All he wanted now was to get as far away from such an oddity as possible.

How could he possibly stay here and eat Horned Giant Deer antlers with him?

"You really won't eat any?"

Benjamin's gaze was calm as he asked again in an even tone.

Moro shook his head, then pointed at the poached animals scattered across the ground.

"You can keep these things to settle your business, including the three poachers. You can take all the credit if you want and use their corpses to cover up your consumption of a B-class forbidden creature. Whatever you intend to do, it has nothing to do with me."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Benjamin smiled and resumed trimming the antlers.

Moro nodded, slung his backpack over his shoulder, then faced Benjamin as he slowly backed toward the forest.

Benjamin understood Moro's extreme vigilance from beginning to end and calmly watched him retreat.

Before long.

Moro backed into an open space beside several large trees and gave Benjamin a long look.

An unscrupulous... Professional Hunter?

Slowly withdrawing his gaze, Moro turned and walked into the woods, disappearing from sight moments later.

Benjamin stared through the gaps in the trees where Moro had vanished. His original intention had been to make Moro an accomplice in eating B-class forbidden ingredients.

Unfortunately, he had failed to persuade him.

For a brief moment, Benjamin had seriously considered keeping Moro here.

But the thought appeared quickly and vanished even faster.

He could tell that Moro was the type who severely lacked trust in outsiders, most likely because he often dealt with people whose outward appearances differed from their true selves.

That was why, despite not knowing enough about someone, Moro could still maintain just the right sense of boundaries.

"What a waste. He doesn't know good food when he sees it."

Benjamin narrowed his eyes, seized by an inexplicable premonition.

Perhaps they would meet again...

The Third Princess has been renamed Eve. Please take note.

However, I believe that in a few days, all of you will definitely forget the Third Princess's name anyway. Haha!

By the way, I got sleepy again today and slept from the afternoon until night. In the end, my alarm forcibly dragged me awake. I'm completely out of it, and I'm still overwhelmingly sleepy even now.