It was a sign of respect, although he didn’t know if his intentions were understood by these inhuman beings. Fortunately, Gia’s subordinates followed his lead.
Gia waited to be spoken to. His instincts compelled him to show the utmost respect and gratitude.
“…Hmm. You seem to fully understand what it means to enter this land, don’t you, dark fae? Well then, what reason brought you to break the taboo?”
The girl spoke after a multi-second pause. Gia and his people were on pins and needles awaiting their fate, but her response brought some relief. At least they could communicate.
Of course, they didn’t think for a moment that they were out of hot water. They were merely granted temporary pardon on a passing whim. That was the only thing Gia knew for certain.
“Our Dark Elf clan, Mazaram, once resided in a land at the center of the Idoragya Continent. However, our former masters, the supreme elven decision-making body known as the Tetrarchy Council—”
“Be quick about it.”
“W-We were persecuted and chased out of our land. With nowhere else to go, we came to this forest…”
Gia hastily summarized after provoking the girl’s irritation. Trying to carefully and elaborately explain their dire circumstances was a mistake.
Our lives are in their hands, he reminded himself. What should I do? Should I say something? Or do I wait for them to speak first?
His thoughts spun in dizzying circles, and his heart thudded so hard it hurt. Between his shallow breaths, the cold sweat coating his body, the deep forest darkness, and the being embodying an evil so great, it could consume the blackness of night—Gia was at his limit. Just as he was about to beg for mercy—
“You’re just skin and bones, aren’t you?”
The thing sitting on top of the dais spoke.
Gia shuddered as if something had just crawled down his spine. He was trembling so hard he could see himself shaking. Sweat poured from his pores, accompanied by utter disgust.
Its voice sounded like a young man. Yet there wasn’t a modicum of emotion in it—he couldn’t even sense a will or soul from it. Even the dead writhing in hell would have a little more life and feeling to their voice. The thing’s voice was uncanny and ghastly enough to make Gia think those things, slowing down his brain from reacting in a timely manner.
“My king asked you a question.”
The girl’s voice was filled with palpable anger.
“Our persecution was so severe that we came to this land to escape! We ran out of food along the way and couldn’t secure more while trying to lose our pursuers… We haven’t eaten for days.”
Shocked to discover he’d unknowingly committed the grave transgression of ignoring the thing’s question, Gia hastily explained himself in a pathetic voice. The words that came out hoarse toward the end represented his immeasurable regret.
“Hmm.”
The evil being seemed satisfied with Gia’s explanation. With it satisfied, the girl also seemed appeased enough to give a slight nod. He’d just successfully crossed a very thin piece of ice again. Of course, there was no visible end to the danger.
Why? Why must we be punished like this?! What did we do wrong to deserve this?! All we wanted was a safe place to live!
They were forced to bow their heads and beg for mercy simply for entering the forest. They did nothing else wrong!
What’s going to happen to me? I don’t care about myself. But what about my subordinates and clansmen? What tragic end is in store for them after this evil being has its way with them?
Shivering from imagining a chilling future, Gia was consumed by a vortex of irrepressible rage and sorrow.
Is wanting to survive really that sinful?!
Something plopped onto the ground and rolled in front of him.
Gia swayed like a tree in the middle of a storm, his mind filled with the ridiculous thought that he’d just heard the sound of his own head falling off. Could anyone really blame him for squeezing his eyes shut in utter terror? Long gone was the Mazaram clan’s warrior captain once feared for his dauntless courage—in his place was a mere mortal, miserably shaking in his boots.
But then he opened his eyes, lured more by the sweet, herbaceous smell tickling his nose than the whereabouts of his own head. A single, juicy red fruit had rolled onto the ground in front of him.
“Wh-What is this?”
“For you,” the thing replied simply.
Gia gulped without even realizing his mouth was watering. The fruit bore a shape he’d never seen before.
As far as they knew, fruits were small and hard. Although most fruit could be somewhat sweet, they were more bitter and sour, and while they tended to be edible raw, they were a food that could only be eaten after taking several steps to make it palpable.
But the round thing before him was different. The juicy aroma conveyed its sweetness, and its shiny, deep red skin appealed to his eyes, like it was begging him to just eat it already.
When Gia picked it up, the fruit weighed heavily in his hand, telling him it was packed full of nutrients. This gemlike fruit was probably the type only nobility could eat—nay, not even they had likely tried it.
There, in his hand, was the food he—and all his people—desired.
“It’s an apple—ever heard of it? Tastes good if you turn it into a rabbit.”
Gia understood less than half of the words the being uttered. At the very least, he managed to learn the round fruit was called an apuhl and that it was edible.
“An…apuhl? I’m afraid it looks different from every fruit I know of…”
The being had said, “For you.”
In that case, he should cause no offense by accepting it. But Gia’s confounded thoughts made him wonder whether it was really okay. He worried whether it was rude to eat in this sacred clearing. Plus, he had reservations about consuming food while his clansmen starved at their encampment.
“It’s good!!”
“So sweet! And juicy too!”
From those remarks, Gia realized his subordinates had tried the fruit before he made his decision. But whatever decision he would’ve come to, he likely couldn’t have stopped his starving warriors.