A Thorough Beating for the Little Iron Dragon~

"Dragon Slayer Mage?!" Achill was startled upon hearing that. He stared uncertainly at the wild-looking brat before him, looking him up and down, left and right, front and back, yet he simply could not see anything different about him from a normal person. Well, aside from eating iron...

"Hmph, scared now, are you? If you're scared, then get out of my way!" Gajeel swept Achill with an arrogant glance, then impatiently waved his hand as though shooing away flies. "I, Lord Gajeel, am in a good mood today, so I won't bother arguing with you. Get lost before I change my mind." With that, he smugly turned around, intending to go back and continue eating his iron feast.

However—

Thud—

Achill casually tossed the broken wooden stick to the ground and looked at Gajeel, who lay there foaming at the mouth and twitching occasionally, already unconscious. Achill curled his lip disdainfully. "A Dragon Slayer Mage? Dragon Slayer my ass! Hmph, you dared act tough in front of me? I'll beat the stuffing out of you! For people who love showing off, knocking them out with a club is the only way! Mm, looks like I really am kind after all. Gahahahaha—"

After saying that, Achill shook his head and sighed a few times before breaking into strange cackling laughter. Then he found a sturdy rope, tied the unconscious Gajeel up tightly like a Spanish dumpling, and dragged him away...

"Put me down, you bastard!!!" On a towering tree, poor Gajeel was tied upside down from a branch. His face and neck were bright red as he furiously roared at Achill below, who was leisurely grilling meat. "If you've got the guts, fight me head-on! What kind of man sneaks up on someone from behind?! Only the most shameless cowards do that!! Let me down already! I want a fair and honorable duel with you!!!"

"Damn it, what are you yelling for?! Can't you see I'm engaged in a great undertaking?" Leaning against the base of the tree, Achill turned a plump chunk of meat in his hand and carefully watched the fire. Hearing Gajeel's roar from above, he impatiently flicked a pebble upward. Then, ignoring him, he closed his eyes and inhaled the fragrance drifting from the meat with a blissful expression. "Smells so good~"

"Ow—" Gajeel cried out when the pebble struck his head. He glared hatefully at Achill below, who was grilling his meat, but he did not dare shout again.

As for Achill, he remained wholly focused on grilling his meat.

Ever since he had caught Gajeel, the thief who called himself a Dragon Slayer Mage, last night, Achill had not stopped for even a moment as he hurried back. He was practically going broke! If he did not turn in the job and receive the reward soon, he did not know whether he could even make it through the week.

Originally, Cabus Village was not far from the town where Achill lived, only a little over a hundred li away. Logically, he should have arrived after a single night, right? But judging from the current situation, that did not seem to be the case. If they absolutely had to calculate the distance, then rather than getting any closer to town, Achill had actually moved another hundred li farther away...

The reason was that Achill had—once again, decisively gotten lost!!!

Of course, he himself did not know that. He still believed he was about to reach the town where he lived, except—

Why do I always feel like I messed something up somewhere? Achill scratched his head in confusion, as though trying to think of something, but he could not think of anything at all. Forget it. After eating, I'll just pick up the pace a little more and try to reach my destination as soon as possible!

Throwing all those messy thoughts out of his mind, Achill lowered his head and continued grilling his meat. Naturally, he had no idea that he had gone the wrong way and was heading in the complete opposite direction from where he truly wanted to go!

In fact, even though he had not arrived after traveling all night, Achill merely assumed that he had been moving too slowly. He only thought about speeding up later, not realizing that if he kept following this completely opposite route, then unless a miracle happened, he would probably never reach that town for the rest of his life... How tragic~

After a while, the meat in his hands was finally done. The tender, glistening chunk of meat shimmered with enticing golden juices, releasing wave after wave of mouthwatering fragrance.

"Gulp—" Gajeel unconsciously swallowed. He no longer cared that he was hanging upside down, merely staring wide-eyed at the huge slab of meat in Achill's hands, unwilling to look away for a long time.

That looks delicious! Gajeel thought.

"Wow! It's really delicious!!!" Seeing that the meat was done, Achill immediately tore off a piece and stuffed it into his mouth. He chewed with a blissful expression. "Looks like I really am a genius! Even my grilled meat is this delicious..."

Gajeel: "..."

At that moment, Gajeel wanted to strangle the other man. Looking at that hateful, intoxicated expression, he wanted nothing more than to pounce on him and kick him a few times! Can't you see I'm starving over here?! This bastard is eating by himself without even sparing a glance for Lord Iron Dragon?! This is absolutely unforgivable!!!

Gajeel bitterly lamented in his heart, his resentment toward Achill reaching its peak.

"Burp—" Achill rubbed his round, bloated stomach and let out a satisfied belch. That meal had truly been refreshing! He had devoured two-thirds of a massive chunk of meat weighing forty or fifty kilograms! It had to be said, this guy was quite the foodie too—

Looking at the remaining third of the meat, Achill seemed reluctant to stop. He wanted to keep eating, but his stomach appeared to be protesting. If he kept going and accidentally burst his stomach, that would definitely not be worth it!

With that thought, Achill could only helplessly put down the remaining meat. But after thinking about it, he picked it back up and raised his hand, preparing to toss it away. It would be a waste to leave it here, and I can't eat it anyway. I might as well throw it out.

"Growl—" Just then, a strange sound suddenly came from above his head.

Achill froze, then looked up. He met the sight of a miserable-looking face. Who else could it be but Gajeel?

"Uh—" Achill slapped his forehead. I forgot about you, kid! Man, you really have no presence at all, do you?!

Thinking that, Achill saw the intensely yearning look Gajeel gave the meat in his hand. How could he not understand what Gajeel was thinking? At once, Achill smiled at the upside-down Gajeel. "Hey, you, the kid who can supposedly slay dragons. What do you think? Hungry? Want some?" As he spoke, he lightly shook the remaining meat in his hand, wearing a thoroughly tempting expression like a creepy old man with bad intentions.

"What are you plotting?!" Gajeel immediately eyed Achill warily. He would never believe that this guy was doing something out of kindness! Looking at that lecherous grin, he definitely had some unspeakable scheme in mind!! Yes, that had to be it!!!

That was what Gajeel thought, becoming even more convinced that Achill had ill intentions!

"The hell? You think I'm plotting something?!" Achill grew angry and immediately grabbed several pebbles, smacking Gajeel's head with them twice.

"What? You still dare glare at me?!" He continued, tossing several dozen more pebbles over.

"Damn it! Tired of living, are you?! You still dare glare at me?" He continued again, sending several dozen more pebbles flying.

"What, still glaring? Silent? Fine! I'll show you what silence gets you!" At once, several dozen more pebbles flew...

"Oh? Not convinced yet? Not talking means you're not convinced~" Several dozen more pebbles...

"Heh—" Several dozen more pebbles...

Ten minutes later...

"Mercy, hero..." Gajeel pleaded with a tearful face, his forehead covered in swollen lumps. "I surrender, okay? Please spare me, hero..."

He was on the verge of breaking down. What kind of person is this?! Too cruel! Too inhuman! Although I've always been wild and unruly, and never bowed to anyone, facing this inhuman demon... I cried. I really cried—what the hell kind of torture is this?! He's trying to kill me! People can actually die from this!!

Damn it, no one could take this! Dozens of pebbles at a time—hell, even if I'm the Iron Dragon, I can't withstand that!!!

Thus, after being pelted until his entire body was covered in abnormally red, swollen bumps, Gajeel decisively surrendered.

"Hmph, you should've done that earlier! You had to make me patiently reason with you..." After tormenting the Iron Dragon for a full ten minutes, Achill felt utterly refreshed, like a long-standing bout of constipation had suddenly cleared up. The sheer relief was indescribable; saying he felt refreshed from head to toe would not be an exaggeration.

With a smile, Achill lowered Gajeel from the tree, though he did not untie the ropes binding him. He stuffed the nearly cold chunk of meat straight into Gajeel's mouth and said with satisfied cheerfulness, "You have to finish it! Wasting food is extremely shameful!! Mm, I really am kind..." At the end, he did not forget to praise himself once more, making Gajeel roll his eyes fiercely.

"Mmph—" With a huge chunk of meat stuffed in his mouth and his hands completely unable to move, Gajeel was on the verge of tears. He felt unbearably wronged. I only stole a little iron to fill my stomach! Was it necessary to send such a terrifying demon to catch me?!!

At that moment, in Gajeel's young heart, Achill was directly classified as a terrifying demon who ate people without spitting out the bones—or perhaps, in Gajeel's mind, Achill was even more demonic than a demon!

Where are you, Metalicana?! Gajeel cried silently in his heart. Come save me already! Take me away from this terrifying demon...