Chapter 49: CH 48

It was because a little guy was crouching down behind the monster Mikael had attacked. With his claws raised, he charged at a terrifying speed, swinging his forepaws. It happened before Mikael even drew the bowstring.

“Mikael… !”

The frightened Yul called out to Mikael in a trembling voice.

However, he did not blink an eye and drew the sword from the scabbard in an instant. He calmed down, as if he already knew that one more monster was lurking.

The slender and flexible epee curved gracefully and drew a diagonal line across the monster’s chest. At first, the cut was shallow, like incontinence, and the wound gradually opened, and red blood began to drip.

[Keeeeeek!]

It screamed and twisted its body. Mikael did not miss the time and drew the bowstring again. Three or four arrows shot through the air and pierced the thick skin of the monster.

As the little one collapsed helplessly, the one that appeared first approached, revealing sharp fangs.

Mikael quickly fired an arrow as if he had expected the attack. The hard arrowhead of an arrow that left the bowstring was lodged in the guy’s left eye.

[Keeek!!!]

The monster twisted its body from side to side as if it was in pain, and eventually collapsed. As the heavy body fell, there was a loud ‘thud’. It writhed for a while even after falling down, and soon drooped.

“Oh…”

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Even after the incident was over, Yul remained in a daze with his mouth wide open.

It was only because he had only seen fights with monsters in fantasy novels, but it was the first time he had seen them in real life. It was such a cool battle that he wondered if Mikael might have mistaken the genre for an authentic fantasy rather than a Beautiful Life for a moment.

“Wow, Mikael. Awesome. So cool!”

Yul, forgetting that he had no fingers, held out both of his hands to give him a thumbs up. Two round apricot-colored hands were pushed up to Mikael’s nose. As a result, Yul suddenly punched Mikael with both hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh… I never imagined it like this, that was not my intention. It’s because I don’t have fingers, but anyway, it’s a compliment.”

Against Mikael, who burst out laughing as if he was dumbfounded, Yul tried to cover up his mistake with a bright smile.

Well, it was in fact not a mistake. The hand with two insignificant fists was the doll maker’s fault, not Yul’s fault.

Anyway, Mikael didn’t say anything about it, as if he noticed Yul’s intentions. Instead, he took out his handkerchief and wiped the monster’s blood off the epee.

The scene of wiping the blood off the sword might seem eerie, but Yul, who was already enamored with Mikael’s fighting ability worthy of the hero of a fantasy novel, even felt like a scene from a novel.

Of course, it was actually a scene in the novel, if he had to be technical. It’s just a problem because the genre was slightly different.

“It was like the main character of the fanso.”

“A fanso?”

“It means fantasy novel.”

“Ah, a novel. Is it something similar to this world?”

“Oh, that’s not it. This is a hardcore Beautiful Life.”

At Yul’s words, Mikael narrowed his brows. Again, it was because he had reached the point of incomprehensibility that Yuri often spoke of.

In the meantime, Yuri stared at the fallen monster with his eyes twinkling as if it was really exciting.

“What kind of monster is this?”

“Wendigo. They go in pairs.”

“Oh, so this is a wendigo. It looks less gross than I thought.”

“By the way, Yuri, do you remember what I said earlier?”

“Well… Oh, you told me not to speak. Sorry.”

Mikael was stunned by Yuri who had already said as much as he could and belatedly covered his mouth with both hands. He was a guy who didn’t even listen to people’s words.

It’s lucky that there was no one else, and if there was, it must have been a problem.

He was about to be relieved that he had avoided the worst of revealing Yul’s existence to others, but Mikael felt a gaze come from among the grass.

A monster? Person? He didn’t know as of now.

It would have been better if it was a monster. But he would be in trouble as a person. They might have heard what Yul said.

In a panic, Mikael aimed his bow at the place where he could feel the gaze. Then he dismounted and approached the grass, keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible.

In the immediate situation, Yul couldn’t even breathe properly and looked around. He couldn’t tell if the opponent was a monster or a person, but judging from Mikael’s reaction now, it didn’t seem safe.

Before he knew it, Mikael approached the corner of the grass where the sound came from. No matter who the opponent was, if he was hit by an arrow at this distance, it would be difficult to be safe.

“If you are a person, answer me. If you do not answer, I will shoot an arrow.”

“I- It’s me, Archduke!”

A shrill voice returned at the cold warning. By the time Yul tilted his small head indistinctly at the familiar voice, a woman walked through the grass.

It was Marina.

“I was hiding from being chased by monsters… I’m sorry if I surprised you.”

“… How long have you been there?”

“It wasn’t that long ago.”

Earlier, when he met Marina, Yul did not see her because he was quietly snuggling in his front pocket of Mikael. Still, as he continued to listen to her voice, he quickly recognized that she was the woman who had greeted Mikael earlier.

Meanwhile, Mikael looked straight at Marina to discern whether she was telling the truth or not. If she saw everything when Yul was speaking and acted like she had just arrived, she would have to find a way to respond to it herself.

The problem was that there was no way to confirm whether she saw what Yul was saying or not.

Mikael looked at her fretfully, trying to notice even the slightest oddity.

“I’m telling the truth. I just came.”

Marina raised her voice, trying to make him believe in her. However, Mikael, knowing that aristocrats lie easier than eating a meal, could not believe her straight away.

“How can I believe that?”

“…”

“Tell me. How can I trust you?”

At Mikael’s words, Marina bit her red lips in anger. Her lips soon became bloodshot, making it redder.

“You don’t believe me.”

“I don’t trust anyone.”

“I see.”

At his sharp words, Marina also became sharper. She knew that she had to maintain a good relationship with Archduke Orlov, but it was not easy to keep her composure when faced with a confrontation with someone she did not like.

“What would you do to me if I had been here all along?”

“Now we are in the midst of a hunting competition. There are many monsters, and the weapons are appropriately equipped. It’s not difficult to kill one of you and accuse the monster of doing it.”

“…”

At Mikael’s words, Marina was speechless. Instead, she only chewed her lips.

She knew that Archduke Orlov wasn’t normally sensitive, but she didn’t think that he would even threaten to kill someone out of the blue.

It wasn’t even a great reason. It was just for such an insignificant reason as whether she had been here for a long time or not.

“Really, I just came here. It’s true. I can’t help it if the Archduke doesn’t believe it, but I can swear by my everything.”

Marina decided to tell the truth. It would be nice if the Archduke would believe her once and for all, but even if he didn’t, there was nothing she could do about it.

“It’s true.”

She added forcefully. Silence passed between the two for a moment.

But it wasn’t long before Mikael discovered something and began to snort.

“You’ve got quite the guts to dare to lie in front of me.”

“What lie, what do you mean…”

“The grass where you were on was not stepped on for just a while. You should have been stepping on it for a long time for it to be trampled like that.”