TPA 11

Chapter 11

The Gourmet’s Table (6)

People say violence can never be justified, no matter the reason—but this time, Misa decided to make an exception.

She gave the man no chance to get back up, continuing to kick him as he curled up and tried to defend himself. Part of it was venting her rage on something barely human, but the real reason was more practical: she had to completely subdue him in case things went wrong.

The man was armed. This place held countless captives, including children—perfect hostages waiting to be exploited.

“Gah! Stop! Please—stop! Agh!”

While Misa brutally pinned the man down, Ul smashed open the iron cages and untied the ropes binding the captives.

Most of them were young women and children. They huddled together, trembling in fear.

“Stop. You’ll kill him at this rate.”

“Hah… Right. Killing him would be bad. I guess I lost my head for a moment.”

Misa stopped kicking.

At her feet lay the man, reduced to a bloody lump and completely unconscious.

It was absurd.

How many people had been violated and killed by someone this weak and pathetic?

If they hadn’t arrived in time, that child would have been slaughtered.

Regaining her composure, Misa addressed the frightened captives.

“We’re here to rescue you. We need to get out of here, quickly.”

A woman, shaking with fear, answered her.

“It’s impossible to leave. We’ll all die. We’ll be eaten!”

“You can leave. You can live.”

“We can’t defeat that man. He’s not human. He’s a monster. Humans can’t win.”

Extreme fear bred utter helplessness.

These people were paralyzed. Terror ruled their minds so completely that escape itself had become unthinkable.

“Staying here means dying like dogs anyway.”

“……”

“We came to help you. If you trust us and follow, I promise we’ll save you.”

“……And why should we trust you?”

Misa pulled out her hunter’s identification card.

“I’m a hunter.”

The room stirred. People exchanged glances, then spoke in desperate voices.

“Will you really save us? Can we survive? Can we go back to our families…?”

“You can go back.”

“No. Going back won’t be possible.”

At the unfamiliar voice, Misa spun around.

The lord’s lackeys were already descending the stairs, grinning.

“You’re not the only hunter here.”

Several of them cheerfully flashed their own hunter IDs.

Misa staggered back in shock.

“You’re hunters—and you serve the lord?”

“Did you already figure out who our lord really is? As expected of a hunter. After dealing with beastmen for so long, your instincts must be sharp.”

“Why? Why would you do this? Aren’t beastmen our natural enemies?”

The men snickered.

Then they said something unbelievable.

“Enemy or not, money’s what matters.”

“…Money? You threw away your honor as hunters and chose to collude with beastmen over money?”

“Exactly. What’s the point of hunting forever? No one appreciates our work. We risk our lives, and the pay’s crap. Don’t you think that’s unfair?”

“…It’s a hard job that doesn’t pay well, but you chose it.”

“Sure. Because it’s the best option people like us ever get. Compared to other jobs, the pay’s decent. Stable. Hard to get fired.”

“Then why?”

“Because we realized early that this was our ceiling.”

The man smiled, idly playing with his knife.

“The pay aside, the work’s filthy hard. And it’s not like we’re treated all that well. You live in constant fear of dying. So I gave up early.”

“…Pathetic. And this is what you chose instead?”

“Do you know how much money we get every time we finish one job for the lord? A hunter’s annual salary. Who’d turn that down?”

“No matter how crazy you are for money, selling out your own kind? You’re worse than trash.”

“Well, aren’t you a righteous young lady.”

The man stepped closer and patted Misa’s shoulder.

“Does righteousness put food on the table?”

Misa was speechless.

She hadn’t chosen this path for praise or recognition.

She was a victim—someone who had lost precious people to beastmen. She knew better than anyone how painful and brutal that thorny path was. She simply didn’t want anyone else to suffer the same fate.

“So what if you earn less money?”

“……”

“If you don’t have money to eat, then don’t eat. Does righteousness put food on the table? You pieces of trash. Does food bought with sold-out consciences taste that good?”

Misa grabbed the man’s hand from her shoulder.

And twisted.

Crack.

The sound of bone breaking rang out.

“Aaaagh!”

The man screamed and collapsed. The others drew their weapons in fury. One charged at Misa with an axe.

But the axe was stopped mid-swing.

“What the hell are you?!”

“Her guardian.”

“…What?”

“And her mate.”

Crunch.

The axe split cleanly in two.

The man stumbled back, eyes wide at the monstrous strength.

“You’d better step aside. If you block us, I’ll have to kill you.”

Ul calmly removed his helmet.

As his face was revealed, the lackeys recoiled in terror. Some of them were former hunters, and they’d just seen him snap an axe barehanded—no one could mistake him for human.

“I’m freeing these people, and then I’m killing your master. Are you really stupid enough to risk your lives over spare change, humans?”

Normally, they might have dismissed it as empty bravado.

But this didn’t feel like bluffing.

They shrank back instinctively. Ul didn’t seem to be lying.

The fear that they might truly die here flickered in their eyes.

“If you don’t move aside, I’ll kill everyone here.”

“Hehehe… die—cough—who’s dying?”

The man Misa had beaten senseless staggered back to his feet.

He lurched toward the wall.

“Did you think my master wouldn’t anticipate something like this?”

In an instant, he pressed a small switch embedded in the wall.

A mysterious white powder rained down from the ceiling. Misa hurriedly covered her nose and mouth with her clothes and crouched.

Even so, a small amount entered her lungs, and paralysis spread through her body.

One by one, people collapsed.

It was powdered fragment butterfly—an agent with anesthetic and sedative effects.

Yet amid everyone falling, one man remained standing.

Ul.

He looked around in confusion, then swiftly scooped Misa into his arms.

“Are you alright?”

“…I’m okay, but I can’t hold out long. We need to get these people out, now.”

Other soldiers would arrive soon.

If they missed this chance, the captives would never escape.

“Leave me. Take them first. Hurry.”

“You come first.”

“No! They go first. Please!”

Even if Ul transformed, there was no guarantee he could carry everyone at once.

Saving even one person mattered more than anything right now.

“Hurry! Soldiers will be here any second!”

Reluctantly, Ul transformed into a massive wolf.

Straining, Misa loaded the unconscious people onto his back.

Ul still didn’t understand her—but he couldn’t disobey her. He’d known from the start that her resolve was unbreakable.

She knew she couldn’t save everyone. Still, she tried to save as many as possible—even at the cost of her own escape.

“Wait. I’ll come back.”

Misa nodded and handed four small children to his mouth.

Ul raced out of the underground passage. Misa slumped to the floor, gasping.

Even after sending as many as she could, five people remained.

She had to endure until he returned.

But her body no longer obeyed. Her eyelids felt heavy as lead. Her vision blurred, foggy. Her muscles stiffened and locked.

“Well, you’ve made quite a mess.”

When she could no longer rise, a man leisurely descended the stairs.

Rashur, the lord’s butler.

He surveyed the ruined breeding pit.

“It’s a shame the carefully procured meat was taken, but meat can always be replaced.”

It’s about time to prepare breakfast.

A chilling smile curved his lips.

“Shall we present the rat who ruined the pens today?”

She couldn’t move.

She saw him approaching, yet her body was frozen solid.

“I’ll prepare a full course—by body part. So nothing goes to waste.”

Her eyes closed.

The last thing she felt was someone lifting her body—and then consciousness slipped away completely.

Ul was more desperate than he’d ever been.

And so, he ran faster than ever.

Soldiers spotted him but couldn’t stop him. His speed was beyond human limits.

We were only apart for a moment…

His heart pounded violently, blood boiling.

His jaws clenched around the children he carried. The urge to tear into human flesh surged again.

He’d felt this countless times—but perhaps because he’d forgotten it for a while, grown used to peace—it was harder to endure now.

He wanted to devour those on his back, those in his mouth.

He didn’t know how long or how far he ran. When he reached the outskirts of town, he hurriedly set the people down.

The butterfly powder would wear off within an hour. They’d wake up, flee, or alert others.

The goal—freeing the captives—had been achieved. The rest was up to them.

Now only one thing remained.

Saving Misa.

Ul turned back at once—running even faster than before.

Misa slowly opened her eyes.

Candlelight flickered softly.

“Awake?”

A calm, low voice reached her ears.

She turned her head and saw Epicure.

He sipped tea leisurely.

She tried to move—and froze. Shackles bound her hands and feet.

“I checked—you’re a hunter.”

“……”

“My guess is that my men were followed while procuring meat, and you wandered all the way here.”

He called the kidnapped children “meat.”

Misa’s face twisted, but he continued indifferently.

“Didn’t your parents teach you not to poke your nose where it doesn’t belong?”

“At least they didn’t teach me to ignore people who need help.”

“If you’d looked the other way, you’d still be alive. What a shame.”

“If I were afraid of dying, I wouldn’t have started this in the first place.”

“No regrets?”

“Why would I regret it? Thanks to me, most of the captives escaped.”

Epicure laughed softly and set his cup down, approaching her.

“A lie.”

“……”

“No creature is unafraid of death. Human or beastman—it’s an absolute terror that always follows.”

He was right.

No one was unafraid of death—especially finite beings.

Epicure knew Misa’s bravado was hollow.

“A quick death would be merciful, but you know better than anyone, hunter.”

“……”

“Most don’t die quickly. Why? Because we enjoy torturing them.”

Beastman victims were always mutilated beyond recognition.

She knew. They never killed swiftly. They reveled in suffering until death finally came.

“I’m no different. I have a butcher, but sometimes I do it myself.”

“……”

“I’m meticulous. I enjoy peeling skin layer by layer. Once the thin skin and fur are gone, the red flesh swells beautifully.”

“……”

“It looks delicious, soaked in blood.”

He spoke calmly, describing murder in detail.

“Sometimes I eat the flesh raw, like sashimi. Human meat isn’t bad that way. Children’s flesh is especially tender—so soft it comes away with barely any effort.”

Her body trembled at his serene delivery of horror.

“I’m not done yet. Why are you trembling so?”

“……”

“Aren’t you unafraid of death?”

What she feared wasn’t death.

It was the madman before her, speaking of killing as if it were nothing.

“How can something like you exist…?”

“I’m going to delicately dismantle your body now.”

He picked up a thin blade—a surgical scalpel.

“I’ll start by opening your abdomen and removing the organs.”

The bluish blade gleamed sharply.

His crazed eyes shone coldly against the steel.