Chapter 199: Magical Beasts and Pyramids #1
━ Alright, don’t change your mind later. And for this fight, I’ll only use my right front paw.
━ What?
Garm, the shovel-wielder, was taken aback by the arrogance of the White Beast in front of him.
He had faced all sorts of challengers before, but this was the first time someone had put themselves at a disadvantage.
‘This guy seems stronger than I thought. He even smells like he’s from the Eastern Ancient Nest, just like me…’
Beasts that managed to escape from the World Tree’s Ancient Nest were known to be incredibly strong and ferocious.
Garm, well aware of that, was on high alert, feeling that the White Beast in front of him could very well be the strongest he had encountered recently.
‘The smell… It reminds me of Kublai, that wolf who ruled the Eastern part of my former world.’
Though the size difference between Kublai and this small, white beast was like comparing a wolf to a rabbit, there was an intimidating aura emanating from this creature that could rival the forest’s guardians.
“Using only my right front paw!”
━ Garm! You’re being openly provoked! You should only use your left arm too!
“Can that cute little white guy actually beat Garm? I want to take him home and raise him!”
━ Whatever, bring me popcorn! This is a bet involving my entire fortune!
The crowd cheered, their excitement peaking, yet an ominous feeling hung in the air.
‘A powerful being like the forest’s guardian. Will my strength even work against this? The effort I’ve spent the last 30 years training…!’
Garm sharpened his claws. It was the first time he had drawn his claws since his fight with Jupiter.
━ Hey, he pulled out his claws. Looks like he’s serious.
━ For Garm, his expression is unusually serious. Has he fallen for the provocation?
The clueless crowd and beasts began chattering, giving unsolicited advice.
Usually, Garm would crack some witty jokes in response and encourage betting, but right now, all he could focus on was the White Beast’s every movement.
━ So when will you make your move? Should I go first? I kinda have other things to do.
The White Beast stood on two legs, swaying its right front paw.
‘That j*rk is ignoring me, just like that Kublai punk… He thinks he can beat me using only one front paw? How ridiculous….’
Gritting his teeth, Garm sharpened his claws and lunged at the creature.
━ I’m not the same as I was back then!
His razor-sharp claws sliced through the air toward the White Fur beast. Five claws acting as potent weapons.
Years of grinding effort had allowed Garm to create a slicing wind with his claws.
━ Tear, tear, and tear again! Mountain Soul Claw!
━ Impressive.
Yet even before the vicious wind, the White Beast remained relaxed. Just as Garm intended to color that white fur with red bl**d…
Bang!
With a sharp metallic sound, Garm’s view flipped upside down.
‘What? Wh-What just happened?’
His mind stuttered along with his thoughts. He had given it his all, but why was his body suddenly floating in the air?
Whoosh.
In mid-air, Garm twisted his body to regain his balance and landed gracefully on the ground while the White Beast flashed its teeth in amusement.
━ Quite the acrobatics.
━ What just happened?
━ I just deflected your claw attack.
━ Don’t lie. You deflected my perfected talent, “Honed Claw,” with just a front claw? My claws can tear through steel!
━ If you don’t believe me, try again.
━ That’s ridiculous!
Garm kicked off the ground and leapt into the air, using both hands to unleash a relentless barrage of strikes. With that in mind, he brought his limbs down on the beast’s head.
Thump!
Once again, Garm’s right arm was violently deflected. He nearly lost his footing but managed to right himself and swung his left arm.
‘Got it! That beast won’t have time to block my left arm!’
His desperate clawing attack left the beast’s right front paw stuck overhead, meaning it wouldn’t be able to defend against his left.
Saying it could only use the right front paw would become its major downfall.
━ You’re strong. I can’t fully block with just my right front paw. I take back what I said.
━ What!?
Whack!
Something popped up from behind the White Beast and smacked Garm in the chest, sending a huge shockwave and forcing all the air from his lungs.
━ Guh!
*
I wagged my tail and looked down at the collapsed Garm.
━ You’re not going to call that cowardly, are you? No one will know what I actually did. It’s all about not getting caught, right?
━ Y-You b*stard…! I’m gonna k*ll you! Grrr!
Garm clutched his chest and rolled on the ground, while the shocked gazes of the other beasts and people twisted into expressions of disbelief.
━ What just happened…?
“Uh, I don’t know… It was too fast to see anything.”
━ The one who swung their claws was that j*rk; why is he the one rolling on the ground…?
“Did Garm really lose to that beast that said it would only use its right front paw?”
I turned away from the buzzing crowd and locked eyes with Jack, the fast-talker, and Totuga, the blacksmith.
━ Is that enough? It felt like that lasted more than 10 seconds.
━ No… 10 seconds isn’t the issue…
“What was that? What the heck was that just now?”
Jack could no longer maintain his smug expression and fell silent. Totuga beside him looked equally stunned.
‘Did I go a bit overboard? They look like they might wet themselves.’
I gazed at the now-silent crowd, their excitement cooled, and raised my front paws high.
━ Well, as you’ve all seen, I won. This place is now mine. You little dwarfs or whatever, come and collect your payment. I’m your boss now.
With my succinct summary and victory declaration, the dwarfs that appeared to be Garm’s subordinates exchanged awkward glances and scratched their heads.
“W-What do we do…?”
“What do you mean what? The betting rules are absolute!”
“What about the prize money? The payouts from betting on that White Beast are enormous… That’s ten times the payout. If we give that all away, we’ll have nothing left for the shop.”
“Wait, did someone even bet money on that White Beast?”
“Over there, that white cat…”
In the direction the dwarfs were pointing was a familiar face—a girl raising her arms and cheering.
━ I just won 200 gold coins! I’m rich! Hehe! I can finally pay off my debts! Now, with this money, I can… No, I can build something here instead of going back home… Hehehehe.
‘Nebah, is that you? I didn’t know you were here.’
With a tenfold payout and that sum of 200 gold coins, it looked like she had sold the spines I gave her for gambling.
━ Garm! You bet money on me, and if you lose, what are you going to do?!
━ Get lost! You’ve been acting so smug!
“Ugh, that was supposed to be the prize money for the livestock; if I don’t get compensation, my wife will k*ll me! Why today of all days did I lose the bet?! Was it rigged?!”
The crowd, now turned into a mob after losing money, converged on Garm.
━ Ahh, you idiots!
Crouched with his chest hit by a tail-whip, Garm was caught by the enraged crowd, having his fur pulled and being trampled, only adding to his wounds.
━ Gah, you morons, you all placed the bets yourself, so why are you blaming me?!
━ Shut up! Give us our money back!
“Let’s skin this beast and sell its hide!”
Garm was hoisted high like a hunted witch. Even as he became a target for the frenzy, he still shouted defiantly while coughing up bl**d.
━ All of you didn’t say a word when I made you money, but now that I’m down…
“Shut up!”
Fruit and popcorn debris, along with rocks, were thrown at him. Jack, feeling the escalating tension, frowned deeply.
━ The atmosphere is getting dangerous. If this keeps up, the Gryphon Guards will show up, and that would be a real headache…
Looking upwards, Jack spotted a giant Gryphon perched atop a spire, watching the chaos unfold.
Fwoosh.
It flapped its wings as if ready to swoop down at any moment.
‘Those thieves are all criminals. If the guards get involved, it won’t end well.’
Both Azidahaka and I knew that getting caught by the guards would lead to a troublesome situation. As such, I felt a strong urge to resolve this mess somehow.
━ Alright, alright. Enough with the beatdown, let’s just put him down.
I clapped my front paws like a teacher trying to gather the attention of kindergarteners. The crowd, previously attacking Garm, halted, turning their gazes toward me.
━ Okay, stop hitting him, bring him over here.
Thud.
Garm, battered and bruised, was thrown before me. He looked up at me, barely clinging to life, gasping for each breath.
━ You’ve really had a blast getting beaten up. You could’ve kept your head down.
━ Ugh, the stupid crowd can only see my flaws. They just love watching me fall!…!
Garm’s tragic words made the surrounding crowd shift uncomfortably.
━ Does he still need to be punished?!
“Let’s hang him in the square and pelt him with stones!”
━ Exactly! I’ve never liked the idea of someone making money from fighting!
The growing insanity in the crowd made Garm give a strange sound that was a mix of laughter and crying.
━ You idiots, now that I’m weak, you think it’s an opportunity to tear me apart. Truly, this is also the Ancient Nest…
━ Your pride is surprisingly strong. I like that. You’re from the Eastern world of the World Tree, aren’t you? You smell like a wolf I know.
I nodded and shifted my gaze back to the crowd, specifically to Nebah, who was blushing with excitement.
━ Hey Nebah, is that you? Come here.
As I waved my front paw, the crowd parted like the Red Sea, revealing Nebah stepping closer in hesitation.
━ Uh, hello.
━ Hello? No, I told you to pay back your debts; and look at you gambling with it. What were you thinking if I lost?
━ You said beasts from the East were strong, right…?
━ Well, that part is true. Hey Garm, do you see this girl? She’s a snow cat from the Northern Ancient Nest. You’re in charge of sending her back north.
━ Huh? No, I can’t go back home anymore…
Nebah panicked and didn’t know what to do. I faced the crowd again and roared:
━ I just bet everything in this shop, so that includes this girl! Anyone who lays a hand on my belongings will be torn to shreds!
The crowd fell silent, unable to respond to my threat. Turning my attention back to the disgruntled mob, I shouted again.
━ Hey, today’s business is over. Can’t you hurry and clear out?
The stunned crowd slowly dispersed like an army of ants, all coughing awkwardly.
━ I didn’t ask for help…
Garm groaned on the ground.
━ I didn’t help you. Didn’t you hear me earlier? You now work under me. You can talk about shops and whatnot, but I’m terrible with money. Just live like you used to, and help me immediately when I call.
If I have a competent subordinate, it can be beneficial at any time.
I had realized that from that black jackal in the desert. So I figured even someone as strong as Garm could prove helpful if tied down by debts.
‘While I have neither the interest nor talent in leading, it would be best to create competent subordinates who can manage themselves without me.’
The Nationwide White One.
As I mused over that name, envisioning a bright future, Garm was lying on the floor, chuckling quietly.
━ An undefeated record and one loss are different. The crowd will now look down on me. And you expect me to continue doing business like before? I’m out of funds now. I’ll have to sell hides to even pay my staff.
What a ridiculous statement. Gak. Garm spat bl**d onto the ground. I replied nonchalantly.
━ That’s your problem. You wanted me to bet on a woman; you need to bear the costs.
━ Ugh…
‘Hmm.’
Garm squirmed, distressed.
I paused to think as I looked down at him. To ignite any ambition, one needs a sweet carrot to chase.
Pock! Pock. Peck! Peck!
I plucked four spines from my back and tossed them in front of him.
━ …What’s this?
━ S-Spines! T-They’re gold coins!
Realizing the value of the spines on my back, Nebah’s eyes gleamed with a golden glint.
—
[Author’s Note] If you enjoyed reading, please tap the recommendation button at the top of the mobile screen! With just two seconds of your time, you can make a writer’s day! Thank you to everyone who left comments and gave me coupons!
