Several days earlier, after killing the Night Raid Species, Gelman hadn't come away empty-handed.
He had obtained something called "Grudge Memory of Stag Beetle"—a completely new kind of "Grudge bestowal."
So the true form of the Night Raid Species was a mutated version of an insect called a "Stag Beetle"?
Gelman thought it over carefully.
As he sat at the Moon Sacrifice's banquet table, wondering how much use "Grudge Memory of Stag Beetle" could be to him now, his thoughts suddenly drifted to the side.
At another long table beside him sat Shizuku, Biscuit, and Shubika.
Biscuit was talking at Shizuku and Shubika, all by herself, wearing an unnatural smile.
Perhaps it was because her hands were stained with mud. She wasn't her usual lively self at all, and just sat there quietly.
Shubika kept her head lowered, saying nothing out of shyness.
There were simply too many people around right now. She would have much rather stayed by herself and studied some of the herbs she had just obtained from the Moose Centaur Tribe, but Biscuit had dragged her over.
Shizuku sat up straight, her graceful upper body held upright as she watched the Moose Centaurs' battle dance. Her big eyes glimmered behind her glasses.
Ever since the Night Raid ended, Gelman had noticed that Shizuku was avoiding him, deliberately or otherwise.
She wouldn't meet his gaze, and whenever she did, she would quickly look away. She tried not to speak to him, and even when they did talk, she ended the conversation quickly.
Gelman could sense that something was off.
Was she embarrassed? Shizuku could actually get embarrassed?
Just then, Scylla, sitting in the half-reclining centaur pose, gurgled a cup of wine for Gelman and invited him and Ging to have a few drinks.
Gelman and Ging had