The way to Protect the Female Lead’s Older Brother - Chapter 43

“Eurgh, I stink,” Jeremy stuck his tongue out.

He wrung his arms and tried to shake off some of the monster venom off his shirt. He was dripping in the monster’s body fluids. His hair, which naturally curled upward in soft spikes, was now plastered against his skull. A few weeds poking out of the ground shriveled through the cobblestone cracks as he came back in through the castle gates. The sulfuric stench, or the smell of rotting eggs, seemed to come out from his very pores.

“F*#King vermin. Trash. I wish I could eliminate you all at once,” Jeremy spat. He continued walking and rubbed his eyes with a dirty sleeve. Some of the venom had blurred his vision.

It had been another long day for Jeremy in the menagerie, where Lant Agriche held the most dangerous and despicable monsters in his land for his criminal organization’s use. The boy’s task today was to cut off the tip of the tails, or stings, from the scorpion-type monsters for the apothecary. It would have been easier for him to destroy all the scorpion monsters in their breeding area, but his orders were to keep those monsters alive; the tails would regenerate and someone could retrieve more potion ingredients later.

Jeremy had rolled his eyes when his instructor had told him about the task this morning. He knew his father was using him as a skilled monster hunter to collect expensive ingredients for the R&D (research and development) team. The Agriche were always trying to make their drugs and poisons more addictive or potent. On paper though, collecting monster parts was just another regimen in Jeremy’s education.

Honestly, Jeremy didn’t care that much if Lant Agriche was using him. In a way, he was an obedient son who followed orders well, even if he often grumbled and complained about working.

“You call this training? I’m being used as slave labour,” Jeremy muttered. He rolled the venom in his mouth again and hawked the roll of saliva onto the ground. He could still taste the awful rotten egg smell. He ruffled his dark hair in frustration until the damp spikes stuck out in random spots.

He stopped moving and narrowed his eyes when he saw shadows approaching.

Steps echoed across the stone corridor. When they turned around the corner, Jeremy saw two maids arrive with a corpse in a body bag. The maids were tall and thin, but they held up the heavy bag easily, as if it were filled with paper. Their smooth foreheads were devoid of sweat and their dresses were crisp and clean.

The maid holding the shoulder part of the bag shifted the weight slightly. Jeremy saw a dash of someone else’s blood on the maid’s hand before she covered it up again.

“Good day, Master Jeremy,” the maids said dutifully.

Jeremy rubbed his eyes with his sleeve again furiously, as if he were a small puppy. His vision cleared slightly. He couldn’t make out the maids’ faces, but saw the outlines of their bodies more thoroughly now from the flickering light from the torches on the walls.

“What the hell are you doing here? You plan on feeding them?” Jeremy said. He sniffed at the body bag and then regretted it when the rotten smell on his skin enveloped his nostrils.

“Yes, Master Jeremy,” the maid closest to him said. She seemed to be the senior maid between her and her co-worker.

“You’d best go to a different breeding ground. I’ve agitated these ones here. No one’s going to cry if you ladies die in there,” Jeremys said off-handedly.

The patriarch of the scorpion monsters was especially in a foul mood. Jeremy had laughed before slicing its stinger off with his broadsword. The boy had hopped about the twenty foot monster, climbing over its hard shell and left a hard gash down its middle, as if he were extracting the flesh from a lobster tail.

Jeremy had been too overconfident. If he had just taken that last stinger and retreated instead of playing around with the monsters more, he wouldn’t have been doused with venom from a lucky shot aimed at his head. The fun had vanished once the acid had started burning through his clothes and irritated his eyes.

From behind Jeremy, the monsters were still screeching for Jeremy’s blood in their animal language. Their high pitched shrieks made the ground tremble.

Jeremy crossed his arms.

“We will be fine. If it’s for a short time, we can handle these demons,” the senior maid said quietly. She was a foot taller than Jeremy and had a blank, docile expression on her face. Jeremy couldn’t point out why, but he found this maid quite arrogant.

“Who sent for you?” Jeremy frowned. He was going rip the owners’ head off if he had to clean up their maids’ corpses in the menagerie afterward.

“We work for Madame Maria,” the maids chimed together.

Jeremy grinned. He abhorred that woman, but he did recognize that Maria hired only strong followers. They may possibly be idiots, but the maids were physically strong. During Maria’s hiring process, one of the maids’ requirements was to lift the iron maiden, or a coffin with metal spikes inside to impale the victim locked within. It was one of Maria’s favourite tools and she ordered her servants to move it frequently between her chambers and the garden.

He was confident now that the maids would return in one piece. A 50/50 chance.

Jeremy opened the gate door graciously for them, as the gentleman he occasionally was. He had been torn between letting Maria have her way, or stopping the maids from carrying out her plans. However, he was shrewd enough to recognise that he couldn’t agitate Maria too much. She was the psychotic third wife, after all. It would be more prudent to give her a piece of his mind in person.

Despite what he said about the menagerie, it was predominantly his playground. He didn’t want Maria of all people to mess with his monsters.

He smiled at the maids and waved them goodbye before closing the metal gate door behind him, and whistled an upbeat tune. Perhaps, if they were Roxana’s maids, he would have gone back in and helped them with their task. As it was, he leaned against the wall and waited patiently for the maids to come back.

Human screams echoed from within the menagerie. Jeremy tapped his fingers against his arm.

A few minutes later, the maids opened the door and came back, unscathed. Their bodies were in a pool of sweat and their eyes were frozen and unblinking, their mouths agape in a silent scream.

“I told you to go to a different breeding ground,” Jeremy’s mouth curled upward. He pushed his back off from against the wall mischievously; the picture of the devil’s son.

It could not be helped. The breeding grounds were fields apart. If the maids had traveled to a different breeding ground on foot, they would have been late to return to Maria Agriche. They really would be killed then if they disrespected their lady, so.

“W-we will t-take our leave,” the senior maid said. The maids both curtseyed with trembling hands.

“Yeah, dismissed,” Jeremy said. He followed the maids back to the gardens, his arms crossed over his head.

After a while, the maids felt a shiver go down their back and turned to see Jeremy behind them.

“Well? Keep going?” Jeremy smirked.

The maids turned back and made their way back to Maria at a faster pace. The boy was young, but seeing his acrid-burning clothes and demonic smile in the sunlight was more unnerving than seeing him in the castle gateway.

It was a toss-up, but in that moment, the maids weren’t sure if they were afraid of Maria or Jeremy Agriche more.

Translator’s Note: Lol, so gruesome, but Jeremy makes it sound playful. (^o^)