When Things Come to This, Eat First

When Hedley arrived with the mercenaries, following the sound of the explosion, they saw Vera and W returning one after the other.

Hedley's gaze swept over Vera. Once he confirmed that their employer was unharmed, he turned his suspicious eyes toward W.

That single look left him utterly stunned.

W, who usually seemed desperate to write "I'm dangerous" all over her face, was now hanging her head and silently following behind Vera.

Her posture could even be described as "docile"—if that word could possibly have anything to do with W.

Hedley could not help looking at Vera again and cautiously asked,

"Are you... all right?"

"I'm fine." Vera waved a hand. "W and I just had a brief spar. Loosened up a little."

A spar?

Everyone's gazes shifted back and forth between Vera and W, eventually taking on a look of understanding... and sympathy for W.

You just had to provoke her. Now you know how to behave, huh?

Sensing everyone's stares, W raised her head and viciously glared back at them.

Her lips moved, and a classic [Sarkaz curse] was about to burst from her mouth—

Yet just as the first syllable was about to emerge, her voice suddenly caught in her throat, and she forcibly swallowed it back down.

As if she had remembered something, W darted a glance at Vera and lowered her head again.

Everyone: "???"

They all stared at Vera in disbelief.

The boss lady had... actually tamed W!

And even fixed that notoriously foul mouth of hers!?

Watching this scene, Hedley's doubts only deepened.

He absolutely did not believe that an ordinary spar could bring about such a profound change in W.

Something must have happened between those two that no one else knew about.

"Do you still have something to do?"

Vera stopped walking and frowned as she looked back at the mercenaries still standing there dumbfounded.

Everyone jolted and hurriedly shook their heads.

"...Then return to camp and rest. Set out immediately when the time comes."

"Yes, boss lady!" the mercenaries answered in unison, not daring to waste another moment.

Vera said nothing more and turned toward the camp.

W, meanwhile, maintained that bizarre silence as she followed closely behind like a shadow.

The moment the two of them disappeared from sight, the mercenaries erupted.

"Hey! Did you see that? W... she actually followed behind the boss lady without daring to say a damn thing!"

"More than that! She even swallowed her catchphrase! My god, this is the first time I've ever seen her like that!"

"What do you think the boss lady did to W?" one mercenary lowered his voice.

"Did she really just... beat her up?"

"Doesn't look like it. W doesn't have a single injury, and her clothes aren't even messed up."

"Could the boss lady have used Originium Arts to control people's minds?"

"Mind control? Honestly, I kind of want the boss lady to control m—"

"Cough, cough!"

Hedley coughed, shooting the loose-lipped man a stern glare and putting an end to the increasingly absurd discussion.

"Go back and rest! Whoever keeps talking will stand watch all night!"

The mercenaries fell silent unwillingly and dispersed in twos and threes.

After everyone had left, Hedley turned his gaze toward the shadowy corner that had remained silent all along.

"What exactly happened, Ines?"

The shadows twisted, and Ines slowly emerged.

Unlike Hedley's solemn expression, the corners of her mouth curved slightly, and she seemed to be in quite a good mood.

"Nothing..."

Ines looked toward the direction where Vera and W had vanished.

"I merely watched a rather wonderful show."

"You can't say?" Hedley caught the implication in her words.

Ines turned toward him, looking at him with a faintly amused smile.

"Are you sure you want to know the secret that employer is hiding?"

Hedley fell silent for a moment before ultimately shaking his head.

"Forget it. Only the dead can keep secrets forever."

"You're still as timid as ever."

"I prefer to call it prudence..."

"Whatever."

Ines walked past Hedley toward the camp.

"Hurry back. There isn't much time left to rest."

Watching Ines's retreating figure disappear, Hedley let out a helpless sigh.

"...This team is getting harder and harder to manage."

Meanwhile, inside the Vitality Hall.

Extremely faint footsteps echoed through the dark hall.

A shadow sneaked toward the table, stretching out a hand to quietly reach for Ten Percent Off, who was sleeping on top of it...

[What are you doing?]

"Eek—!!!"

Vane abruptly covered his chest with both hands. He trembled as he turned around, then wailed in the group chat after seeing who it was.

[Vane: Boss, why didn't you make any sound?! You scared me to death!]

[Gregor: I never left.]

Gregor's body slowly lit up completely, dispersing the darkness around him.

He shook his skull, his tone carrying the irritation of someone who had been woken up.

[Gregor: Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? What are you doing here?]

[Vane: Hehe... I didn't get to watch it during the day, so I thought I'd secretly catch up at night...]

[Gregor: ...Go sleep.]

[Vane: I can't sleep...]

[Gregor: Then go outside and gather intelligence... When you went out before, did you figure out where you are?]

Vane's face instantly fell, like an eggplant struck by frost.

[Vane: Oh...]

He resentfully pulled back his hand, unable to stop himself from muttering under his breath.

"Making people work overtime in the middle of the night... Capitalists like this ought to be hung from the street—"

[Get out.]

"Right away!"

Watching Vane disappear, Gregor sighed and closed his eyes again.

His drowsiness had vanished. Feeling irritated, Gregor instinctively opened the group chat interface and took a look. There were still no messages.

Just as he was about to close it—

[Vera: I'm going to the Dungeon in seven days too.]

"..."

Gregor's dim body lit up once more. His figure flashed, and he left the hall to continue traveling.

[Gregor: All right.]

"Iberia! Your king has returned—!"

With a declaration that would make any Iberian shudder, Vane once again appeared on Iberia's shore.

He spread his arms high-spiritedly, ready to receive... huh?

Looking down, he saw countless Seaborn of all different shapes staring at this uninvited guest. The scene was quiet and eerie.

"Huh? You guys still haven't left?"

Vane scratched his head in surprise, then curiously descended onto a somewhat open reef and swept his gaze around the area.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he spotted a familiar figure among the monsters—

The Seaborn he had repeatedly harassed before was slowly drifting nearby.

"Scribbled War God! You're still here?"

Vane immediately moved over, crouching at the edge of the reef with a grin.

"Did you miss me?"

Seaborn: "..."

Its tentacles swayed unconsciously, and its light-sensitive organs focused on him, but it gave no response.

"Playing it cool because you won't talk, huh?"

Vane curled his lips, a smile appearing on his face.

"Then what if... I bring this out!?"

A crimson bead of blood seeped out and dripped into the shallow water.

The Seaborn, which had been slowly drifting away, paused and wobbled back.

Several thick tentacles emerged from the water, accurately locating where the blood had fallen and beginning to feed.

Vane watched with great interest, reaching out to poke the creature's slimy armored body.

The Seaborn's body shrank slightly. One tentacle separated from the others and pushed Vane's finger away.

Eating. Do not disturb.jpg

Vane narrowed his eyes slightly as a wicked impulse rose within him.

He secretly circulated his energy and extracted the Seaborn's own life energy from the tentacles currently feeding on his blood.

Scribbled War God's body froze. Its feeding stopped, and several tentacles swayed uncertainly in the air.

Its simple mind could not process this contradiction—

It was clearly taking in energy, so why was its own energy decreasing instead?

After hesitating for several seconds, it resumed feeding.

A while later, Vane used the same trick again.

Scribbled War God paused once more. Its tentacles stopped feeding and repeatedly touched the bloodstained reef.

What the hell? Why am I getting hungrier the more I eat?

Seeing that it seemed inclined to leave, Vane immediately stopped extracting its energy.

Scribbled War God scratched its shell with an extended tentacle, seemingly reassessing the situation.

After hesitating for a moment, its simple mind reached the conclusion that the danger had temporarily passed and the food was still enticing.

It drifted back wobblingly, its tentacles reaching once again toward the enticing-smelling blood.

When things came to this, it might as well eat first.

Vane watched the giant creature act as if nothing mattered more than food and could not help feeling incredulous.

"Good lord, what exactly did the Aegir do to you? They managed to trigger even a species this docile... At this rate, you could practically be kept as a pet, couldn't you?"

The word "pet" flashed through Vane's mind, and he suddenly froze.

Keep a Seaborn... as a pet?

He slapped his hands together as an excellent idea sprang into his mind.

"Brother War God!"

Vane leaned toward the Seaborn, which was intently drinking his blood, a smile piled onto his face.

"I have a small request... I wonder whether you'd agree?"

Seaborn: "?"

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes!"

Vane directly declared that they had reached an agreement. The next moment, he actively slit his wrist.

A large amount of blood poured out as though alive, forming a thick sphere of blood that enveloped the entire Seaborn.

Scribbled War God's tentacles instantly began flailing, but it quickly realized this was not an attack.

Its struggle swiftly subsided. It became quiet again and began focusing on this unprecedented feast.

Vane nodded in satisfaction. While it greedily drank his blood, he began a precise operation—

He was not merely letting it drink his blood. Throughout the process, he used his own blood to assimilate and replace the Seaborn blood within its body.

As the blood circulated, Vane activated [Immortal Body] and absorbed the other creature's blood at the same time.

Time passed bit by bit. The blood sphere surrounding the Seaborn gradually thinned, revealing its new appearance.

The shell that had originally been covered in slimy fluid had now turned a vivid red like blood.

Its overall form had not changed much, except that it was a size larger than the other Seaborn.

Scribbled War God also seemed somewhat confused as it turned its gaze toward Vane, the culprit behind all this.

What it felt from Vane was no longer merely the attraction of a "high-energy food source." There was now something more... a closeness that came from the level of life itself.

That feeling was vague yet real, like...

[Kin...?]