Chapter 116
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Taming the Fantasy Beast (2)
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‘Alright, good.’
Sneaking along.
Swiftly.
Lloyd glided forward step by step.
In his hand, he gripped a blue sunflower seed snugly.
His target was the King Stoma rampaging up ahead.
‘Feeding that thing a blue sunflower seed... it’s worth a shot at least once.’
No matter how he looked at it, that King Stoma was definitely a fantasy beast.
The proof was that he could understand every word it said.
So he made a guess.
Maybe that King Stoma had the opposite constitution from the other fantasy beasts.
Normally, little Ppodong and Bangul grew to a certain size for a while after eating red sunflower seeds, but perhaps this one was normally huge and shrank to a certain size for a while after eating a blue sunflower seed.
‘It’s plenty possible.’
If not, oh well.
If his guess turned out wrong?
He could switch to another method then.
‘There are plenty of options anyway. Retreat, subdue it, or if nothing else works, kill it. Besides, it doesn’t seem to have any owner.’
Truth be told, he was a bit surprised.
The very fact that a fantasy beast he hadn’t summoned existed in this world.
But whatever, it didn’t matter.
That thing was a fantasy beast.
And that meant there was a chance to tame it.
Right now, that was all that mattered.
‘Just a bit more.’
The King Stoma thrashing about to catch Haviel.
He closed the distance further.
He approached stealthily, submerged up to his waist in the lake water.
But then.
“Bevung?”
The King Stoma’s round, massive head whipped around toward him!
“……!”
Lloyd hurriedly ducked down. He sank straight into the lake water up to his head. The rippling surface. Above it, the King Stoma’s figure peered around suspiciously, its reflection wavering.
Had he been spotted?
As that thought crossed his mind.
Thwack!
A Blasting shot flew in from the opposite side.
It grazed right over the King Stoma’s head.
Thanks to that, the King Stoma’s gaze shifted back that way.
“Bevung! Bevung!”
Boom, kwaboom—the deafening roars echoed as the King Stoma rampaged again.
Watching its back, Lloyd exhaled a sigh of relief underwater, bubbles rising.
‘That thing’s senses are way sharper than it looks.’
That had been close for real.
If his reaction had been even a little slower?
If he hadn’t hidden in the water fast enough?
He would’ve been spotted and taken a hit from the beast.
‘Time to go fully submerged.’
From then on.
Lloyd crept underwater toward the King Stoma. He handled his breathing by occasionally poking his face above the surface.
All the while, he prayed fervently.
‘Haviel! Pull its aggro properly, please!’
Of course, Lloyd wasn’t a telepath.
So his desperate plea didn’t reach Haviel, not even by a mosquito’s toenail.
At that moment, Haviel was thinking.
‘Lord Lloyd, taking on the danger himself again, as expected.’
He’d hoped he wouldn’t try something like that.
But it seemed his wish was in vain.
‘He’s always been like that.’
Looking back, he really had.
When he’d dueled Sir Neumann to restore order in the territory. When he’d entered the beast ants’ nest himself. When he’d gone to rescue the Engineering Corps members captured by the black mage.
‘His words and actions never match.’
He’d say he hated danger.
Why would he do that stuff himself?
He’d act all shameless about it.
But his actions?
‘When the most dangerous moment comes, he’s always the first to step up.’
Just like right now.
Never passing it off to someone else.
Taking every risk upon himself.
A man who proved himself through actions that contradicted his words.
That was Lloyd Frontera, the son of his liege lord whom he served.
‘So my role today is this, I suppose.’
He wouldn’t let all the danger fall on Lloyd.
He’d step in and take any threat headed his way instead.
Haviel vowed that.
He unleashed Blasting even more vigorously.
He kept stimulating the King Stoma’s nerves.
But it wasn’t enough.
It had happened earlier too.
Who knew when the King Stoma might whip its head around again and spot Lloyd like before.
So Haviel thought of a way.
A more dramatic way to seize the King Stoma’s attention.
“Bevung!”
Kwaaaang—!
A massive forepaw slamming down.
He dodged it nimbly.
In an instant, he put distance between them leisurely.
“Hup.”
He inhaled deeply.
To use Aura?
To unleash an even stronger Blasting?
Neither.
His deep breath soon exploded into a mighty shout.
“Bevung—!”
The shout, infused with heavy mana, burst forth.
It shook the lakeside with a volume nearly matching the King Stoma’s roar.
Was it the effect of that shout?
The charging King Stoma froze in place.
A bewildered expression rose on the King Stoma’s face.
The single word Haviel had just shouted at it: ‘Bevung!’
In the King Stoma’s language, that meant ‘Mommy!’
“Bevung?”
Hey, I’m not your mom.
And I’m definitely male.
Heck, I’ve been single for hundreds of years?
The halted King Stoma asked back as such.
Haviel pointed his sword tip this way.
He shouted even more fiercely, packing in mana, thunderously.
“Bevung! Bevung! Bevung!”
Of course, Haviel didn’t know the King Stoma’s language at all.
Naturally, he had no idea what he was shouting and just yelled.
But to the King Stoma, those shouts sounded like: ‘Rain’s coming tonight! Why’s there no sauce on the pork cutlet!’
The King Stoma fell into confusion.
“Bevung?”
Did you eat something bad?
Or are you suddenly feeling sick?
The King Stoma was flustered.
This bad human who’d destroyed its dam.
And now the guy was suddenly spouting weird nonsense.
Flustered turned to creeping unease.
It was only natural.
Some rude person kicked down your front door bang bang.
You get mad and open it.
You confront them fiercely.
But then you realize?
The person’s a raving lunatic spewing bizarre crap.
From then on, anyone in the world would feel flustered and anxious.
That was exactly how the King Stoma felt now.
“Bevung? Bevung?”
Can’t you just fight normally like before?
The King Stoma asked with its own sincerity.
Haviel boomed back.
“Bevung! Bebervung! Bevung! Bevung! (Chained up and hula dancing is sad! Nosebleeds taste good! I’m cute!)”
“……Be-Bevung?”
“Bebervung! Bevung! Bevung! (So the king said! I rleam tears sometimes! I love beef braised in soy!)”
“Bevung, Bevung?”
The King Stoma grew even more flustered.
It sank into deeper contemplation.
‘Bevung, Bevung.’
That human’s definitely not right in the head.
But do I have to keep fighting like this?
Or should I calm it down first, let it get its sanity back, then fight?
As it delved into those worries, the King Stoma’s gaze and senses locked entirely on Haviel.
‘Good. This method’s working.’
A smile crept onto Haviel’s lips.
He kept up the thunderous nonsense festival while glancing sideways.
Where his gaze went.
There was Lloyd.
Lloyd had by now sneaked up the King Stoma’s tail and was climbing.
‘Nice, perfect. Keep it up!’
Lloyd cheered Haviel on with his eyes.
He climbed the tail even more stealthily and vigorously. He savored the feeling of being a flea, crawling across the dozens-of-meters-long back.
And finally, he reached the top of the King Stoma’s head.
“Bevung?”
Only then did the King Stoma sense something off and jerk its head up.
But it was already too late.
‘Right now!’
Thwack!
Lloyd kicked off the King Stoma’s crown and leaped.
He soared into the air.
He looked down.
He saw the King Stoma craning its head toward him.
Their eyes met.
“……Bevung?”
The King Stoma’s mouth gaped blankly.
He aimed right for it and flung his right hand fiercely.
Swoosh!
The blue sunflower seed left Lloyd’s hand.
It traced a two-seam fastball arc.
Shot straight in a line.
Into the momentarily stunned target.
Straight into the King Stoma’s mouth.
Gulp.
“Bevung?”
The King Stoma unwittingly swallowed the blue sunflower seed.
And then….
Pffft!
It shrank.
To 10 centimeters in size.
Splash!
“……Bevung?”
As its body shrank, it plunged into the lake water in an instant.
Splash—the King Stoma panicked as it sank.
Confusion turned to utter chaos.
‘Be-Bevung? Bevung?’
It had just accidentally swallowed something small.
But suddenly the world had grown enormously huge!
The scene beneath the lake water that swallowed it in a flash was like that.
For the first time, the swaying aquatic plants looked bigger than itself.
The loaches swimming leisurely past.
The frogs kicking their hind legs in fright.
They all looked about its own size.
And moreover….
“Gotcha!”
“……!”
Splash!
A hand shattering the surface and lunging into the water.
No time to react before it seized it.
Grabbed and lifted it up.
“Be-Bevung!”
It thrashed wildly.
Infusing the sensation of toppling ten trees with a single swipe.
Like the memory of pulverizing rocks with just its butt.
It twisted violently with immense power.
But no effect.
It couldn’t escape the grip.
And the world visible beyond that hand… was so vast and enormous!
“Hey, given up yet?”
“……!”
The massive hand clutching it.
The forearm beyond looked majestic like a mountain range.
Beyond that, a human face loomed, filling the sky.
Dark hair dripping water.
Eyes like full moons staring down.
Hopeless.
Dizzying.
The shock of seeing a creature far larger than itself for the first time.
In that, the King Stoma finally realized.
The human hadn’t grown bigger.
It… had shrunk.
“Be-Bevung! Bevung!”
What did you do to me!
The King Stoma cried out urgently.
The human gripping it shrugged.
“What do you mean? I made you small.”
“……!”
Another shock enveloped the King Stoma.
From confirming it had shrunk?
No.
‘Bevung? Bevung?’
Had it just… fully understood that human’s words?
No way, how could that even be possible?
The King Stoma grew even more confused.
It was the first time ever.
Even rummaging through its hazy memories of the ancient past, from when it first fell into this world.
‘Bevung, Bevung, Bevung.’
No one had ever called it.
No one had birthed it.
Yet one day, it suddenly existed in this world.
As if it had dropped from the sky.
And it had lived.
Just survived, grew, and lived.
Of course, it had never met another of its kind in all that time.
No, it had never even thought its kind existed in this world.
Naturally, it hadn’t imagined conversing with any other being.
But now, right before its eyes, such a being existed.
“Hey, you. You understand me, right? Yeah?”
“…….”
Gulp.
The King Stoma stared at Lloyd in disbelief.
A smirk crept onto Lloyd’s lips.
“Bingo. You get it.”
“Be-Bevung, Bevung.”
“Yeah. I understand you too. So how about we talk calmly?”
“Bevung?”
“Whew, tough. Let me sit first.”
“…….”
“What to say first. Should I reassure you? I won’t hurt you.”
“Bevung?”
“For real. I won’t hurt you. Promise.”
“……Bevung.”
“You don’t trust human words?”
“Bevung. Bevung!”
“You’ll trample me if I don’t let go right now?”
“Bevung!”
“Hmm, but that’d be a problem. I’m way bigger than you now, but I’m not trampling you, right? Wouldn’t it be nice to stop fighting?”
“Bevung! Bebervung!”
“You refuse to heed a mere human’s words? Why?”
“Bevung!”
“Because you’re the ruler of this lake?”
“Bevung!”
“……Hmm.”
Lloyd felt troubled.
‘This guy’s fiercer than I thought.’
Even now, the King Stoma thrashed with all its might in his grip.
Its stubbornness was way tougher than expected.
Plus, it showed zero fondness for humans.
Just because they could talk didn’t mean it was tamed—it was pure wild beast.
‘Totally different from Ppodong, Bangul, or Hamang.’
Probably because it wasn’t one he’d summoned.
So did that mean he had to break it harshly to tame it?
Lloyd shook his head as he pondered.
‘Hmm, if I do that and it shuts down emotionally, things’ll get harder.’
He’d gone through all this risk to feed it the blue sunflower seed.
But the effect wouldn’t last beyond 24 hours.
After 24 hours, it’d balloon back to 100 meters.
So he had to persuade or tame it before then and see results.
‘Best outcome would be convincing it since we can talk, getting it to voluntarily guard this place. Hmm, what to do?’
Thoughts ping-ponged in his head.
He folded his brain wrinkles diligently.
Then, it hit him.
‘Maybe.’
If it saw other fantasy beasts besides him, would its wariness ease?
At that sparkling possibility, Lloyd slightly opened his coat’s inner pocket.
“Hey, Ppodong? Bangul? Hamang?”
“Ppuwoong! Ppong!”
“Eupupu, Bangul!”
“Hamamaang!”
A reply came from the inner pocket, filled with water like a bathtub.
Lloyd’s lip curled up slyly.
“There’s a new friend here. Wanna come out and meet?”
“Ppong! Bang! Ha!”
The response was immediate.
Ppong emerged from the pocket, Hamang riding on its back.
It scurried up to his shoulder.
It looked at the King Stoma in his hand.
“Ppong?”
“Hamang?”
“Bevung! Bevung! Arrr!”
The King Stoma bared its sharp front teeth at Ppong and Hamang.
But the next moment.
“Bangul?”
Bangul climbed onto Lloyd’s shoulder late.
It had been sorting its wet ribbon.
Shaking the water from its Bangul.
It appeared on his shoulder a beat later.
Its damp face sparkled innocently.
And toward the ‘new friend’ Lloyd mentioned, its round black eyes sparkled brightly.
“Bbangul?”
That sound drew the King Stoma’s attention.
“Bevung?”
Still growling fiercely as is.
The King Stoma’s gaze shifted.
To Lloyd’s shoulder.
Toward Bangul, peeking out.
Bangul’s sparkling eyes met its gaze.
In that instant, the King Stoma’s fiercely twisted face unwittingly went blank.
“……Be……vung?”
That day, the King Stoma fell into magical pink first love.