Dry Drowning - Chapter 41

The next morning, Ian slowly opened his eyes and was surprised by Logan’s face in front of him. Is it a dream? It might be a dream because they hadn’t faced each other like this in the morning.

However, Logan, who smiled softly, opened his mouth as if to correct Ian’s thoughts.

“Would you like me to greet you in the morning?”

“…..”

He knew it was not a dream. As he shook his head and raised his upper body, a feeling of pain swept across his whole body. Come to think of it, when did I fall asleep? Ian slowly recalled his memory, rubbing his hands around his eyes. So, yesterday…

“Do you remember what happened yesterday?”

Logan, who was carefully observing Ian’s behaviour, seemed like he had been waiting and finally asked. He looked like a child pressing down on a small bug with his finger out of curiosity. Expectations were buried at the end of the tone of his question as if he had been waiting for a gift all night.

Ian, who glanced at the face, removed his hand from his eyes. He didn’t know why he looked like that, but he remembered yesterday.

So, I went to the forest to pick up Shyu. I met a big beast there, cut off his throat, went further inside…

“…..!”

He remembered. Ian’s slowly hardening expression made Logan’s mouth curl*. He had a delicate expression, his eyes were glazed with a smile on his lips, but Ian was not in the mood to recognize it properly.

[*T/N: To curl one’s lips: to move the corner of one’s lip up in an expression that usually shows disgust or disapproval. It can also mean bored or annoyed or something else. (Seeing Ian’s slowly hardening expression, Logan understood that Ian remembered everything.)]

“What did you see?”

I saw people being eaten through their armour.

It approached right next to him, and it smelled bloody every time he opened his mouth. As he held his breath, its big eyes moved with a wet sound. Crumble. He turned his head at the same time as the sound of a branch being stepped on was heard. Following the fast crawling, found Shyu and ran while holding the child.

Since I was thrown into a tree, it had been hard to breathe.

Every time I hit the ground, I felt a sharp pain like being stung with a needle.

But I ran like crazy. It was because if I stopped walking, something that was following me would swallow Shyu in one bite. I didn’t want to see it chew up his small head like the man with his chest open.

That’s all I remember.

When I saw the campsite, my whole body was already in a cold sweat.

“Prince, please be honest with me.”

Ian blinked at the soothing whisper. The gaze he encountered was so close that it was a little uncomfortable.

“How did you run away when you saw it? I didn’t even go there.”

“……”

“Oh, is my question difficult? Then just nod your head.”

Logan changed the question after realizing that Ian couldn’t speak. Ian thought it was a very good advantage, but sometimes it seems to be a disadvantage.

“You saw that, right? Crawling around. It has very big eyes, and it eats people.”

Nods.

“Were there any water bodies nearby? Were you hiding there?”

Shakes his head.

[T/N: Says no.]

“Then didn’t it see you? Can’t it smell you?”

He’s stirring again. That’s weird.

[T/N: Here “He’s stirring” probably means that he moved his head again, indicating “no”.]

“It saw you? But why are you alive?”

Logan tilted his head, genuinely wondering. Since there has never been a single person who has come back alive alone after encountering the main beast. Thanks to this, only a few people in the Knights saw that. It was all about discovering and destroying derivatives, and it was meaningful.

Logan was the only one who could kill that in the first place.

That was the reason the trial could not be held, even when a noble was murdered in the banquet hall in broad daylight.

The beginning was around the time when the predecessor Hyer was born. One day, they appeared in the black forest that bordered them, and consumed humans with their hideous appearance.

At first, only one or two were seen, but the number increased as if they were breeding as the years passed, and it was not long before they eventually broke into a nearby village.

At best, it is because humans have weak flesh. Dozens of people were dragged into the forest every day and could never return. People, who were attacked by creatures they were seeing for the first time, quickly acquired fear. Horrible things happened before their eyes as if mocking the fear of war*.

[T/N: Horrible things happened as if to mock the fear of war. It was as if the fear of war was nothing in front of the fear of beasts.]

The news turned the whole country upside down.

It was the first time such a situation happened in the black forest, which was known for its many ferocious beasts from the beginning. Fear of human-eating beings, which had never been seen before, unknown where it came from, quickly swept across the northern part of Shertian.

The Knights were dispatched under the order of the emperor, but only empty armour returned as they were all eaten. The Rox, which bordered the forest, couldn’t be an exception. It couldn’t be killed, because the knife and the spear don’t work. It could not be killed, but the number kept increasing.

Furthermore, it was the first time that human beings who had lived as a predator for thousands of years became prey.

“……”

Recalling the old story, Logan swallowed his laughter. They only eat people. Beasts had a habit of influencing and turning animals into derivatives without even touching them.

[T/N: So the derivatives are animals who were influenced by the beasts in some way. So it’s kind of a zombie thing.]

Abnormal size and bulging eyes were characteristic of the derivatives. And next to them must be the main body that definitely influenced them. The Northern Knights were responsible for finding the derivatives and reporting its location to Logan.

To do so, it’s better to listen carefully to the sound. A person who smells well doesn’t exaggerate, doesn’t do tricks, who is even more fond of himself and isn’t afraid to die…

Just like this prince.

“Ah.”

Logan’s eyes turned forward at the sound of a small scratch. Ian, who suddenly took out the notebook he gave him, wrote something clumsily and handed it to Logan. Oh, he gave me a notebook*. He had a habit of forgetting meaningless things easily.

[*T/N: Ian forgot that Logan gave him a notebook. This is Ian’s thought.]

It can’t eat

What was written on the paper was incomprehensible.

Logan, who pronounced it as it is, opened his mouth.

“What can’t it eat?”

Ian blinked and brought his notebook again and quickly wrote down something and handed it over. Logan looked into it and said nothing for a while.

Me

There was only one word written on the paper.

Since there were many guesses, Logan slowly opened his mouth as he fumbled over it with his fingertips.

“… Did that tell you?”

What Schwartz said on the last expedition was appropriate. He said it was too far away, and he was not sure when he was attacked by a derivative, but he noticed that there was an unpleasant expression on its face when it got close.

[T/N: The above part is truly confusing for me, I am sorry I couldn’t translate it better. But it is probably said that what Schwartz said seemed more believable than what Ian was saying (?)]

It has never spoken before*. For they just made deafening cries, no different from animals with slightly higher intelligence.

[*T/N: This means Logan or the others have never heard the beast speaking.]

But Ian certainly nodded.

There was no reason to lie anywhere.

“That’s strange.”

You eat people and you become like people. Logan murmured softly and slowly leaned forward. His eyes met with Ian’s, who was staring at him, and then he raised his hands and swept back Ian’s loose hair.

The nape of the neck, which was exposed between the collars, still seemed to break easily if touched. Is that why you get hurt every time? He bowed his head, thinking that even the skin tone was weak. As Logan buried his face in the nape of Ian’s white neck, he heard his heart beating.

[T/N: AHHHHHHHH]

Ian’s body reacted slightly, surprised by the sudden contact. The breath under his ears tickled him, so he pushed Logan’s shoulder with his hand, which he was holding haphazardly. He didn’t budge. Instead, a small whisper was heard.

“It smells good…”

“…….”

“Why can’t it eat this?”

He seemed genuinely suspicious. After contemplating what it meant for a moment, Ian soon remembered how it acted like sniffing him.

Does it judge by the smell?

Then why did it say that to me?

[T/N: He is thinking about why that beast said that it can’t eat him.]

There were plenty of opportunities to eat. It would have been a simple task to pierce your chest as soon as it found him, just as it did to Turk. Logan slowly raised his head as he recalled, rolling his eyes in confusion.

“Prince.”

The call was hoarse.

Ian thought so as he looked at his golden eyes that sparkled like gold dust. It sounded like beckoning to a dug-out trap. It was like a voice that pretends to be sorry for wanting something, and eventually achieves what it wants.

Logan gently opened his mouth as Ian just stared at him without saying anything.

“Then.”

A gentle smile still looks like a spring day.

It felt like he was putting his eyes on that familiar and friendly face. There is usually a reason why the wrapping paper is flashy and full of colour. Somewhere in his head buzzed as if warning him that swallowing something sweet and cheap would definitely get him sick.

“Would it not eat next time?”

And yet he wanted to swallow.

He knew he’d get sick even before he ate it.

Strangely so, Ian eventually nodded his head without realizing it.

[T/N: Ian kind of realized Logan’s intentions of sending him alone in the next expedition or something like that, but he didn’t want to say no to Logan. Poor Ian… ಥ‿ಥ]

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T/N: I am so sorry for such a late update. My exams started, so I couldn’t translate any more chaps. I am again sorry, guys. Will try to update a bit faster now. (´；ω；｀) I thought of updating more chaps together but saw someone in the comments being disappointed for not updating for 20 days. So I thought lemme update this chap, will update others later since it would have taken more time to update then. ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ