Delicious Sacrifice - Chapter 10

Delicious Sacrifice - Chapter 10

The monster was anxious. 

Miela hadn’t eaten much lately. Maybe because she kept eating the same animal, she got indigestion and couldn’t get out of bed. If he tried to force her to eat something, she would throw up by just smelling it. 

The only things she could eat were honey tea and herb porridge. But that wasn’t enough to make a proper meal. She was visibly withering away day by day. He felt like she would dry up and die before he could eat her. 

No, the thought of eating her had long since left his mind. In fact, he was afraid that Miela would die. 

At first, he had only thought about tasting her and eat her little by little, but now it was the exact opposite. He couldn’t imagine his daily life without Miela. When he thought about her disappearing, a dreary feeling pierced through his body, as if a hole had been ripped open in the middle of his chest. 

Humans never entered the forest of monsters. In order to get food made by humans, he had to first go to where humans were. 

The monster had only left the forest twice in his entire life. The first time was when he was hungry and looking for something to eat, and he ended up in a place where humans lived. He ate his fill of livestock that were within the fence and ran away. He still didn’t know how to catch animals then. 

The second time was when humans came into the forest. He followed the noise and met humans at the entrance to the forest. The humans he met then attacked the monster, shouting “Monster!” They were all killed. 

He never left the forest after that day. 

It was because he had learned how to live in the forest, and he also wanted to avoid humans attacking him for no reason. Hs could kill them, but he didn’t want to attack them first. Unlike the beasts, their fearful hostility made his skin tingle. 

This time, his purpose was clear. So there had to be a way to achieve his purpose without having to face them directly.

The monster looked back at the squirrels and raccoons that were right behind him. They were animals that used their forelegs like hands and were good at stealing. 

“I said it’s okay! The villagers are just hiding something and telling you not to go. Are you only doing peddling for a day or two?” 

“B-But still, there aren’t many people around……” 

“Hey. This guy is so scared. How can he do business in this country and that country?” 

Of course, those who invaded the forest were not villagers. Villagers strictly avoided the forest. However, he didn’t necessarily need the villagers’ food. 

The monster signaled to the squirrels and raccoons. The animals hiding everywhere rushed toward the peddler merchants who were resting their legs against a tree trunk. Of course, they didn’t notice. 

The two became quiet, as if they were planning to take a nap while they were sitting down. Stealing the bag was ridiculously easy. 

* * * (read on pink-grapes.blogspot.com) 

“Wow, what is all this?!” 

“I found it while walking back.” 

“What is this, bread and cheese!” 

The monster smiled happily as he watched Miela stuffing her mouth without even finishing her sentence. It was a bit dangerous, but seeing her made him forget the moment when he was so anxious. 

“Ah, how long has it been since I had bread! It’s so delicious! Oh my, there’s jam in it too?” 

It was the first time he’d seen Miela eat so well in recent times. The monster smiled happily and cut the bread into small pieces so that Miela could easily put in her mouth. How did they make such a chewy and stretchy texture? Curiosity welled up in his head. It would be nice if he could make it himself. 

Books came to mind. He could find the regularity of the letters in Miela’s name. He figured out that it was written by pronunciation, not meaning. He thought that if he put in a little more effort, he could figure out how to cook it. 

However, Miela couldn’t just wait that long. 

Duke Village was a very small village, and there were very few visitors from the outside. Since the last time he stole from the peddlers, there was a rumor that if you go to the Monster Forest, you would be robbed, so they didn’t go this way. 

In order to feed Miela, he had no choice but to head toward the village. 

“Oh, it’s so delicious!” 

As Miela hurriedly stuffed the bread into her mouth, the fear that had been deep in his heart disappeared. 

There was no big deal about meeting humans anyway. He just avoided them because of the commotion and noise.  

Now, he could bear it even if it was a little noisy, as long as he could feed Miela. 

The forest connected the village to the mountain on both sides. Peddlers crossed the mountains, but there were only a few of them. This time, he had to head toward the village. Except when sacrifices were being made, he had deliberately avoided going this way. 

As the monster slowly approached the unfamiliar village, he discovered a human figure wandering around the edge of the forest. The villagers usually didn’t even approach here, so it was strange. The monster hid between the trees and observed with narrowed eyes. 

It was a young man. 

He looked around as if he was looking for something, and he came toward the forest through the bushes. That was where the sacrifices were sometimes made. 

The monster frowned. He had a rough idea. 

He wasn’t a stranger, but a villager. He was searching the place where sacrifices were made. He was looking for Miela. 

“Looking for Miela?” 

The monster couldn’t hold it in any longer and suddenly appeared in front of the young man. 

The man showed the same normal reaction that the other sacrifices had shown up until then. 

“Euaaaaaaah!” 

He let out a shriek and fainted. 

* * * (read on pink-grapes.blogspot.com)

“Ugh…….” 

The monster opened its eyes wide at the groan the man let out as he came to his senses. It wasn’t that long, but he was bored of waiting. He was throwing rocks at random because he was bored, and a tree was on the verge of falling. It was one of the games the monster played when he was bored. 

Throwing a rock at a tree or a stone and hitting the same spot over and over again. Then, at some point, a hole will be dug, the rock will split, or the tree will fall. Not only was it fun, but it was also quite loud, making it a perfect game for the quiet forest. 

The young man who had fainted came to his senses quite quickly perhaps due to the loud rock sounds. 

When he opened his eyes, the man staggered and got up, but he froze when he saw the monster sitting at his feet. 

“Don’t scream again……,” 

“Oh, excuse me. I was really nervous because it was a forest where monsters live, and then I suddenly heard a voice and…….” 

“?” 

It wasn’t the reaction he had expected. 

The monster’s mind froze at the young man’s actions, bowing his head politely and speaking so politely. 

Instead of yelling at the monster, he even started talking to him as if it were a given. 

“Just now…… Are you talking to me?” 

“Huh? Ahaha, of course. Over here……, uh……. Who else is there besides you, my lord?” 

The young man even laughed. 

The human was smiling and talking to him. How could this happen? 

The monster looked around in disbelief at what was happening before his eyes and looked down at himself. He saw his body wearing the clothes Miela had dressed him up in. 

At first, it was uncomfortable, but now he was used to it. It was nice to see Miela smiling broadly whenever she saw him wearing clothes. So even though it was uncomfortable, he started to feel more comfortable wearing them. 

Miela liked wearing clothes, so did other humans also like it? Just by wearing clothes, their attitudes changed completely. Humans were easily changed by such simple things. A slight shock passed through the monster’s head. 

“I’m Jack, living in Duke Village up ahead. The village elder, Son, is my father.” 

“Yes. Do you know how to cook?”

It didn’t matter what the young man’s name was. The monster got to the point indifferently. 

“Huh? Fo, food? Uh……, I can just eat. Why? Oh, are you a gentleman from the city? Are you in trouble because you ran out of food?” 

Just by looking at the monster’s clothes, Jack let his imagination run wild. How far could he go with just one set of clothes? The monster was amazed. The human imagination was incredible. Just by approaching the monster, he fainted, and then just by looking at his clothes, he bowed and even called him lord.

He was so annoyed that he wanted to say something, but he didn’t show it because he had something he wanted. 

“Then make it.” 

“Huh? Oh, first, I need the ingredients……, tools. But here?” 

“No, over there.” 

The monster pointed with his hand toward the castle he had come from. The castle was cleverly hidden among the trees, so it couldn’t be seen unless you got close. 

Jack’s expression became more complicated as he looked back and forth between the monster’s finger pointing at the deep green forest and his face. 

“…… is there something wrong with your head?” 

Instead of answering, the monster simply made Jack unconscious. 

Unable to mind control an unconscious animal, he carried it on his shoulders and headed to the castle. It was heavier than usual, and he felt proud as if he was carrying a solid prey. 

Arriving at the castle, the monster went straight to the kitchen after thinking about where to put Jack. 

Miela gave up completely after trying to cook the first few times. After that, the kitchen became the place where the monster went to imitate cooking or to grilling meat, and Miela never went. The kitchen was one place Miela would never go. 

He put Jack down on the kitchen floor and woke him up again. He could make him unconscious by mind controlling him, but he couldn’t wake him up, so he physically hit him to wake him up. 

“Ugh……?” 

Jack flinched his eyelids open with difficulty, perhaps because he fainted twice in a row. The monster lightly slapped him once again, so that he wouldn’t faint again.

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