Wildness and Masks

"Ogre, do you find this hard to eat?"

Watching Ogre munch on the Elf Green Tree Fruit they had just picked on the road, Lange couldn't help but ask.

He suspected that Ogre's taste might be different from his own.

"Hard to eat? It's a bit hard to eat, I guess," Ogre replied nonchalantly.

"I thought your taste was different from mine," Lange muttered softly.

"Having eaten it since childhood, I've gotten used to it," Ogre said, finishing off the fruit he had just picked by the roadside. If it weren't unpleasant, it wouldn't have been left for him to eat.

Although Ogre's main diet had long since shifted to various meats, the habit of eating fruit from his childhood still lingered.

This fruit, which could quickly replenish energy, had no real drawbacks aside from its poor taste.

"Give me one too."

Foucault had just vomited earlier and his stomach was empty. He thought it might be good to fill it with something to suppress that feeling.

Even if it was this bitter stuff, the fruit did have benefits for clearing the sense of bloodiness.

Just smelling it earlier had made him feel much more awake.

"Hmm? Oh, okay." Ogre handed over one of the fruits he had just picked; after all, it didn't cost anything.

He was a bit surprised, though—this young master could actually tolerate the taste.

He had given Foucault one before, and Foucault had taken just one bite before tossing it away.

Uh... and that bite had been thrown up too.

Watching Foucault take the fruit, Lange was equally surprised. Even if he was slow to notice, he could sense that the young master he followed seemed to have changed.

He had become more reserved, more confident, and there was an indescribable change about him.

'This is the person I, Lange, should follow!' Lange suddenly felt that perhaps Foucault really had a chance to become the heir of the family.

To lead him in defeating those half-siblings who looked down on him.

'Perhaps this is the difference between a legitimate son and someone like me, a concubine's child...' Lange couldn't quite understand what the change was, ultimately attributing it to the difference in birth.

A noble's legitimate son was naturally superior to a child born of a concubine—that was a given, he had always thought so.

"We're almost there," Ogre reminded them.

As they walked, he seemed to be wandering aimlessly, but in reality, he was constantly observing the surroundings.

With his super sight, Ogre could easily see things a kilometer away.

Foucault furrowed his brow, concentrating on the fruit in his hand, when he heard Ogre's reminder. He looked up and saw the endlessly flowing river.

Where there's water, there's often a village—which meant they were close to their destination.

"Should I go clear the way?" Lange put on his helmet again and picked up his single-handed sword.

By clearing, he meant dealing with the demon wolves drinking by the river. He was itching for action after the few goblins earlier hadn't been enough for him.

The deeper they went into the forest, the more frequently demon beasts appeared.

"No need, these demon wolves won't attack us unless they're starving," Ogre said, raising his hand.

Demon wolves usually preyed on weaker creatures like magic rabbits and demon deer.

They wouldn't risk attacking humans, who looked like tall, white-skinned 'goblins,' especially when they were in groups.

The law of the jungle was survival of the fittest.

But humans who ventured into the Demon Beast Forest were never weaklings. On the contrary, they were terrifying beings at the top of the food chain—after all, those who came here were either Professionals or expert hunters.

"Better not to disturb them, don't waste energy unnecessarily."

Unless it was to obtain food, Ogre would always try to maintain his condition before a fight.

They said the arena was brutal, but the Demon Beast Forest at night was far more terrifying and cruel than those places where nobles fought crickets.

"Don't cause extra trouble—Lange, try to follow Ogre's advice here," Foucault emphasized.

"Understood... young master."

This time, Lange didn't feel any resentment towards Foucault's warning.

Firstly, Ogre's performance along the way had convinced him.

Secondly, Lange had just realized his own mistake—he wasn't alone now; he was part of a team.

In the environment of the Demon Beast Forest, he couldn't act as recklessly as he did in the city; he had to protect Foucault.

"Let's go, we shouldn't be far now," Ogre said, finishing off the remaining half of the fruit.

"Are we doing it like before?" Thrandic asked, noticing that Ogre hadn't made any plans this time.

"No..." Ogre shook his head, putting on the Patterned Mask before revealing his plan: "This time, we'll attack from the rear."

The village was too large, and the goblins occupying it would surely flee, so they couldn't handle it like they did with cave goblins.

The best plan was to quickly charge in and take out the goblin leaders.

Without their leaders, the goblins would be nothing but scattered sand.

However, the goblin marauders occupying the abandoned village were certainly stronger and more numerous than the cave goblins.

That's why Ogre hadn't rushed in when he first discovered the place.

Originally, Ogre planned to advance to Professional status before taking down the Goblin King and then come back to clear this place.

Because the abandoned village was quite far from humans, it generally wouldn't affect them much.

After all, charging into the village alone, Ogre wasn't confident he could wipe out all the goblins.

So it was better to leave it for later.

But now things were different.

With the help of Foucault and Thrandic, Ogre thought they could use this abandoned village for practice, maybe even take it down completely.

As for the danger...

It would certainly be less than going in alone—Ogre believed that a noble apprentice like Foucault definitely had some life-saving tricks up his sleeve.

At worst, he should be able to retreat safely.

"Then I'll handle the initial attack," Foucault said, gripping his staff.

"No, Foucault."

Ogre shook his head and explained, "You should save your mana for more important things—I suspect there might be a Goblin Knight in this village, so leave the regular goblins to us."

The strength of a mature Goblin Knight was very unstable, but most were at the level of a quasi-Professional. (Which was the standard of Ogre and his group's current unarmed strength)

Of course, the gap between a quasi-Professional and a quasi-Professional Apprentice was significant, and it didn't mean a Goblin Knight could single-handedly defeat an apprentice like Ogre.

Compared to well-equipped humans with skill inheritance, even elite goblins with awakened knight qualifications were far inferior.

After all, if they were truly powerful, goblins wouldn't be relegated to being peripheral demon beasts.

'But it's strange that a group of goblins would abandon their environmental advantage and gather far from humans...'

The more Ogre thought about it, the more he felt there might be something valuable in this broken village—the stronger the demon beast, the better the resources nearby.

"Alright." Foucault agreed to Ogre's plan without fuss.

Experts always took the stage last, after all.

After roughly confirming their charge strategy, Ogre and his group quickly reached the outskirts of the goblin-filled village.

...

Just after Ogre and the others had left, a demon wolf drinking by the river was suddenly bitten at its vulnerable waist by a massive blood-red mouth that emerged from the river.

With its vital point damaged, the demon wolf died instantly, becoming prey for that blood-red mouth.

The other demon wolves scattered in all directions, as if facing a great enemy, and retreated.

They watched the riverbank warily, waiting for the lead wolf's command.

They probably never imagined that a Demon Swamp Crocodile from the central swamp of the Demon Beast Forest would come here!

But fortunately, this peculiar Demon Swamp Crocodile didn't continue its attack; it simply carried the freshly killed demon wolf and slowly disappeared into the river.

Only a streak of blood red in the water hinted at the terrifying beast lurking in the river.

If a human Professional had been observing from the side, they would have immediately noticed something unusual about the Demon Swamp Crocodile.

Because this Demon Swamp Crocodile had blue eyes.

Such eerie blue eyes, not characteristic of its species, appearing on a demon beast could only mean one thing—

This demon beast had a Mage master!