"I'll die? What do you mean?"

"Hmm? You don't know what I'm talking about?"

Jarina was about to drink a cup of tea but stopped when she heard Desire's answer. She then looked straight at Desire and asked.

"Weren't you able to read? I thought you would get it since you are so smart..."

"How does my being able to read connect to me being smart? You are weird, aren't you, Jarina?"

"I'm not; you are the weird one here."

'How could I be weird?' Desire thought as he tilted his head.

Desire doesn't see that him being able to read weird. He was only able to read because he could do it—nothing more, nothing less.

For Desire, who wasn't aware of how things worked in the world, he thought it was natural for all.

After all, nobody would think that they themselves are weird. They only see their self on their perspective and think that they are normal.

Of course, this is true for the individual called Desire.

"Hmm. Well, let's just go back to the topic. What do you want to know first about what I said?"

Asked Jarina as she finally brought the cup of tea to her lips and elegantly drank from it.

"Then, why do you say that I'll die?"

"It's because you don't know how to conceal your feelings. You show excitement at the mention of a monster, and you show disgust on your face when a human is the topic. Why do you think you'll live a long life that way?

Jarina's harsh words brought confusion to Desire. However, it wasn't as if she was rebuking him for something he did wrong.

If anything, this was Jarina's way of telling him to change his way, and Desire knows that Jarina holds no ill intentions.

What Desire couldn't understand is why he must die just because of showing emotions.

Emotions are natural for any creature; even animals have their own emotions.

It's not like Desire could control those emotions.

"You look like you do not understand what the point of all this is."

Desire readily nodded his head. He knew how he knows nothing of the world.

Sure, he was able to read a book, but he didn't even finish it all. What he wanted to know the most was how, Jarina, the young lady of the Suckus, was acquainted with a human.

A human and a monster were able to have a friendly relationship? Seeing how his first interaction with humans was with a battle, Desire couldn't and doesn't even want to believe it.

Well, his hate for humans plays a part in why he doesn't want to believe.

Anyways, what Desire was thinking was that this was a chance to know of the things in the Skinjur and the wide world outside.

After all, in his heart, what he wanted to do was already decided. If a monster like Jarina tells him that he'll die, he could only believe it.

"You openly favor the monster race, and you openly hate the human race. You're fine because you're in Skinjur and because we also know you personally, but what do you think would happen if a human could hear and see your thoughts unmasked?"

"They'll get mad and perhaps take action against me?"

"That's right. Well, to make you better understand these things, let's have an example, shall we?"

Jarina put her finger on her chin to indicate that she was thinking. She was swaying side to side, and Desire was watching her silently.

Well, Desire was having a battle with his body after the meal was finished.

As some time passed, Jarina was finally able to sort out her thoughts, and with a serious expression, she spoke.

"Let's take Suckus for the example. What do you think would happen if you say you favor the human race and despite the Suckus in front of me?"

Jarina spoke those words without missing a single beat. Her face was showing a hostile look, and her innocent eyes sharpened as if she was looking at her prey.

"To make it more realistic, what do you think I would do to you if you hurt one of mine in front of me?"

She then raised her magic to increase the room's temperature, and her aura that was kept under wraps was being released all at once.

'Kuh...!'

Jarina is a rank 6 monster; her strength was second only to her mother, Varyce, while Desire was a rank 1 human.

Right now, all of Jarina's power was being transmitted to emit aura. There's no way Desire could resist that. He couldn't even whisper a moan of weakness.

His bones were being pressured to dust, and his muscles were screaming at him. A crack has formed on his chair because of the pressure coming off of Jarina.

And then, when Desire was about to lose consciousness, Jarina spoke.

"I'll kill you."

"..."

"Now, do you understand why you can't do something like showing your emotions openly?"

Only when Jarina withdrew her aura could Desire nod his head dazedly.

Loving his reaction, Jarina put on a grin on her face. It seems she wanted to play with Desire.

'You think you can make me wait and escape unscathed?' Jarina thought as she laughed inside.

When she was about to pick up her cup of tea once more, a loud thump resounded out in the room.

When she looked at the source of the noise, she found Desire on the floor.

"Desire?!"

Quickly making her way towards the fallen Desire, Jarina made the tableware fly in the air with her magic.

"Desire!"

Bending her knees, she checked Desire's condition, and she found out that he was only unconscious due to her having 'fun.'

"Whew."

She breathed a sigh of relief as she put her hands on her chest with her eyes closed.

"Hmm? What's that?"

When she opened them again, Jarina could see a small sword protruding from Desire's lower body.

Confused by the sudden entrance of this sword, Jarina touched it with her delicate hands.

"It's soft...and it's hard?! And I feel good, too?"

Due to Jarina being a bona fide pampered young lady of the Suckus and to some circumstances, she wasn't allowed to go out.

She didn't even have an experience in bed yet, quite unlike for her race.

That was why she didn't know anything about the thing in front of her right now or what uses it has.

Deciding to play with the sword, she moved her hands in the way her instincts told her to.

"It's hot! Do all men have something like this?"

After some time passed, some kind of a liquid came out of it.

"It's sticky too...Uhm! It tastes good!"

Greatly intrigued by the liquid, she tasted it only to find that it was a food much better than any dishes.

"Gimme more!"

Pouncing on the small sword, Jarina gave her undivided attention as she put effort into producing that liquid again.

That was why she couldn't see, see the blissful expression Desire had on his sleeping face.

"Hmm!"

A moan of unknown cause leaked out of Desire's small lips. It seems Desire is in the process of having a good dream.

****

The moon was out in the chilly night to light and guide the people who were crossing the forest.

The group's numbers weren't many, but they looked like veterans in these kinds of jobs.

They were walking towards a certain destination that they have already gone to before.

As they already know the paths to take, their journey wouldn't last long.

"Hey, you're new to this, right?"

A middle-aged man asked the person who was walking beside him. Judging from his looks, he seems to be an easygoing person.

"Eh?! A-ah, y-yes! I just started recently!"

The one who replied is the youth next to him. The youth had the word 'Innocent!' written all over his face.

"I see. Well, this forest is famous for having weak monsters. You'll only have up and up in here."

"I-is that so? I-it's rumored that there is a monster here that could fight a thousand men? Is that true...?"

"Hahahaha, those are just rumors. Don't believe them; besides, all we have to do is to escort that lady over there."

The middle-aged man pointed at the front, where four more people were walking ahead of them.

At the center of those four was a lady who was draped in a magician's outfit.

She wore a black coat while the hood was over her head. At the hand of the magician is a crystal ball waiting to be used.

"Y-yes. I thought that it was best to experience the forest before going to hunt. So this job actually helps me quite a lot."

"Hahaha, good for ya, young fella. Anyway, what's your name?"

The youth stopped walking for a moment when he heard the middle-aged man's question. After a while, he moved forward, and he said as he approached the man.

"I-i'm Raygar! How about you, senior?"

"Kuh. Senior, huh? Well, they call me Rip."

At that moment, a man walking in front of them suddenly stopped and said in a quiet but powerful voice.

"The scout found it. We'll walk faster here as planned."

The other members found his words easy to accept as they talked about this beforehand. They all nodded their heads and walked faster.

To be exact, they ran to catch up to the scout who sent the signal to the man who seems to be the leader.

Soon, they were able to reach the scout and the one who was guarding him.

The area was full of trees, but there was a particular spot where no grass, no trees, no anything was on it.

That spot wasn't large or wide. It was just enough to house a single person to step on it.

"It's here."

"Okay, Grizelle, use the Limiter to ascertain this forest's danger level!"

The leader shouted their purpose out loud within the eerie silence of the night.