Chapter 156: The Man - 13
Chapter 156: The Man - 13
Jiha called Mayan over and, with Guason leading the way, headed straight for the banquet hall.
Walking ahead, Guason spoke in a tense voice.
"Are you truly certain about this? You can still turn back. And I cannot assist you."
"I'll assist him," Mayan said eagerly.
Guason stared at the cute dog beastman, all prettily dressed, her petite frame making her look utterly unthreatening, and looked baffled.
"What exactly do you two intend to accomplish alone?"
"I'll handle the plan myself, so stop racking your brain right now."
Jiha cut him off.
"Once I finish things here, you'll have your own work to do after that."
Guason's face stiffened. He had understood.
'Not completely slow-witted, then.'
Jiha had prodded him after hearing that Guason had approached Pamin—now a shut-in wreck, never leaving his house.
The man gathered information, tried to protect his own skin, and thought ahead.
Exactly the sort Jiha found useful.
"For now......."
Jiha pushed open the closed banquet hall doors and stepped inside.
Beastmen, golems, slimes, and zombies were all making a noisy racket.
Every species imaginable, but all of them male.
Their rough looks and rougher talk made the place feel exactly like the barracks full of Commons.
The elves who had come to negotiate and a handful of humans didn't fit the atmosphere at all, drinking quietly in the corners.
The one ruling over these rough brutes who filled most of the hall was the tiger-headed beastman seated at the head of the table.
Jiha strode toward Lungtao without a moment's hesitation.
The men who had been drinking and carousing tilted their heads as they watched him approach Lungtao.
"Who's that?"
"A human?"
"Huh, I've seen him somewhere......."
"That's the bastard who barged in last time!"
The moment someone recognized him and shouted, the drinkers all hurled their cups aside and drew their weapons in unison.
"This crazy bastard! Take him out!"
"Don't let him get near Lord Lungtao!"
Lungtao, watching Jiha approach him head-on, smiled faintly.
At that, the guards who'd been making a fuss all froze.
Jiha stopped in front of Lungtao, and the tiger beastman boldly offered him a seat.
"You're here. Don't just stand there—sit."
"I don't see a chair."
At Jiha's remark, Mayan scrambled to bring a chair over.
The banquet table was arranged in a U-shape. Jiha sat alone in the inner space and faced Lungtao directly.
Everyone in the hall—the guards and the Elf Seven Council alike—froze and watched the standoff between the two.
This gathering was supposed to be where the elves had asked Lungtao to deal with Jiha.
And now the target himself, Jiha, had walked right in and sat face-to-face with Lungtao.
Their blood couldn't help but run cold.
"No drink for me?"
"Bring him a cup."
Whether the others were nervous or not, Jiha and Lungtao conversed without the slightest awkwardness.
One flustered guard tried to bring Jiha an empty cup, but Mayan was faster.
As expected of a maid—she handled this sort of task quicker than anyone.
Jiha took the cup and held it out, and Lungtao filled it with liquor.
Jiha and Lungtao stared into each other's eyes as they emptied their cups down their throats.
"Not great."
"High-grade liquor doesn't suit my palate. I prefer something a little rougher."
Jiha and Lungtao nodded as if they had rehearsed it.
The conversation sounded less like enemies and more like old friends.
While everyone else struggled to understand, the words kept flowing.
"What do you intend to do from here?"
"That's what I want to ask you. What are you trying to accomplish with all this?"
Jiha picked up the bottle and filled Lungtao's empty cup.
Lungtao acknowledged it with his eyes, then filled Jiha's empty cup in return.
Neither man drank right away. They simply stared into each other's eyes.
"What are you trying to accomplish, then?"
"Seems we're both thinking along similar lines."
Just as Jiha had investigated Lungtao, Lungtao had investigated Jiha.
By now, each knew in greater detail what kind of man the other was.
"You aren't a Dirga's Super Rare, either."
"And you aren't a Super Rare, either."
"I'm a Common."
"I'm a Normal."
Both had built up their strength near Uniques without revealing themselves.
Neither tried to seize an opportunity for official advancement—they were purely amassing power.
Which meant they were aiming for something bigger.
The two men gazed at one another.
Sizing up each other's caliber and true intentions.
"Lord Lungtao, please moderate how you indulge your whims."
One of the guards stepped forward.
A rat-head with protruding front teeth—a mouse beastman.
"Every time you act on impulse like this, all the tactics I've laid out fall to pieces. You must not indulge this madman."
"Doesn't look like that one's your subordinate."
Jiha commented briefly.
"If he were your subordinate, he'd realize that stepping forward like this right now chips away at your authority. Unless he knows and is doing it anyway?"
"Shut your mouth, human. Begging for your life now is already too late."
The mouse beastman spoke sharply and issued orders to the other guards.
From the look of it, he was the number two among Lungtao's men, high in the hierarchy.
"Kill the male human and capture the female beastman alive. The one who contributes most to killing the male human gets the woman."
"What a ratty little son of a bitch."
At Jiha's brief assessment, Lungtao shook his head.
"Getereu, this is a banquet. Let it go generously."
"I cannot. That is exactly why......."
As the mouse beastman approached the pair, Jiha's shadow stretched out long.
The moment Getereu hesitated, a Shadow Hand shot out, seized his ankle, and swung him hard.
Bam! Bam!
"Kugh?! Kuaaaagh!!"
Caught off guard, Getereu had his head slammed into the floor over and over by the Shadow Hand, then was hurled left and right.
Even as his subordinate who had stepped forward was being thrashed, Lungtao's expression didn't change.
Jiha kept drinking, his shadow alone moving as he leisurely smashed Getereu around.
"Gruaaagh!!"
Bloodied, his protruding front teeth broken, Getereu went completely limp.
Jiha set his cup down and spoke coldly.
"Don't eye my woman. Run your mouth one more time and I'll cut your tongue out."
"?!"
Mayan's mouth fell open in shock, but Jiha kept his eyes fixed solely on Lungtao before him.
Lungtao glanced at Mayan briefly, then nodded.
"Take good care of her."
'He really does care about that.......'
The tiger beastmen now had no females left and faced inevitable extinction.
Jiha had guessed that Lungtao must have complicated feelings about this, which was why he had deliberately brought Mayan along to test him.
Getereu, who had stepped forward, was now completely unconscious, yet Lungtao paid it no mind and poured more liquor into Jiha's empty cup.
The other guards hovered in indecision, unsure whether to intervene or hold back.
Lungtao gave a short order.
"Take Getereu to a healer and see that he's treated."
"Y-yes."
"It's nighttime, so finding a healer will be difficult. Sounds like trouble."
Jiha said it breezily while drinking and chewing on some food.
Lungtao looked at Jiha, then at Mayan standing behind him, and nodded.
"Are you two bonded?"
"Wh-what......."
Mayan, who had kept silent until now, was visibly flustered.
A maid does not step forward at a formal gathering.
Mayan had maintained that demeanor, but the question of whether she was Jiha's spouse threw her off completely.
"She's embarrassed, can't you tell? Why ask such an obvious thing on purpose?"
Lungtao studied him with deep eyes, then nodded.
"Shall we call it a day and go back?"
'Did he decide not to make a move because he sees me as the husband of a female beastman?'
That was a little unexpected.
He'd picked Mayan expecting some kind of reaction, but this was beyond what he'd imagined.
Jiha spoke nonchalantly.
"I haven't finished drinking yet."
"Then......."
Just then, one of the male elves from the Seven Council stepped forward and approached.
"Hold on! Lungtao! This is not what we discussed!"
The head of the Seven Council, Quority Rosen.
Drunk, judging by his staggering gait, he pointed at Jiha and shouted.
"Kill this bastard right now! We elves will pay one billion!"
"The price went up by three hundred million in no time at all."
Jiha sneered.
Lungtao merely shifted his eyes toward Quority.
It was a signal to back off, but the drunken Quority didn't catch it.
"Money is all you people need, isn't it! Money! The elves will pay!"
"If I die here, which of you seven becomes Leticia's fiancé?"
"Why, me, of course!"
Quority declared it as if it were obvious.
Jiha asked again.
"The other elves pay the one-billion contract fee to kill me, and you take the engagement?"
"I am a member of the Rosen Family, and I am the only elf capable of making that insolent bitch behave!"
The faces of the six listening behind him stiffened.
Quority Rosen might hold the strongest voice in the Seven Council, but this was sheer arrogance.
The other elves would pay the money, and Quority would monopolize the prize?
"Step back."
Lungtao warned him, but Quority kept ranting, spittle flying from his mouth.
"No, I'm offering money, so why are you dragging your feet, you imbecile beastman? I said money! Money! If there's money, you do it! Huh? Are you fur-covered types deaf as well? I knew beastmen were stupid, but this is genuinely infuriating!"
"......."
The other guards watching, especially the beastmen, turned murderous.
Lungtao didn't answer and simply stared at Quority.
He was giving him one last chance, but Quority failed to realize it and kept babbling.
"Honestly, furballs aren't worth a damn thing. At best, the female beastmen sell their bodies in brothels......."
Boom!
Lungtao rose from his seat and threw a sideways punch.
"Gwuuuaaagh!!!"
With a sound like tearing wind, Quority flew horizontally and slammed into the wall.
Crack!!
The wall fissured. Quority's body, smearing blood across the surface, slid down limply.
One punch had caved his face in beyond recognition and twisted his chest. He was on the brink of death.
'He struck with Mana.'
Tiger beastmen had tremendous physical ability, but pure strength alone couldn't do that.
Lungtao glared at Quority with savage eyes.
"Do not bring that insect bastard before me ever again."
"L-let's go......."
The elves hastily gathered Quority up and fled the banquet hall.
Jiha shot a glance toward Guason, then turned back around as Lungtao slowly resumed his seat.
"This could have been a fine occasion, but it keeps turning messy."
"I showed up uninvited, so it's only natural. I understand."
Jiha answered while organizing his thoughts.
'Quority revealed his selfish motives too plainly, so the Seven Council will crack. I'll just have Guason spill the information and clean it up.'
Lungtao studied Jiha with deep eyes, then offered.
"Send the woman back."
"She's tough in rough situations, so there's no need."
Lungtao looked slightly bothered, but he moved to the main point.
"How will we do this?"
"The loser goes under the winner."
"Can you do that?"
"Can you?"
Jiha and Lungtao—neither was the type to put anyone above himself.
They were men born to lead subordinates and live as chieftains.
Lungtao spoke.
"I have one condition."
"Name it."
"If I lose, I'll follow you. But you must promise me one thing."
"The Beast King?"
Jiha guessed, but Lungtao shook his head.
"Liberation."
"From what?"
"We'll discuss the details when the time comes. I don't expect to lose."
Lungtao said it as he rose from his seat.
Jiha rose as well.
"Not that the outcome won't be obvious once we try."
"Indeed. Obvious."
Both men believed without a shred of doubt that they would win and make the other their subordinate.
Jiha and Lungtao clenched their fists at the same time.
"I'll win."
The second round had begun.