Hamatarou slammed the Salamander down to the ground, pushing his claws further into it as he arrived into an enclosed empty room. He looked around for a moment and only then realised that there was something slimy in his mouth.
Hamatarou quickly spits it out, and the frog swordsman rolled on the floor, gasping for air. Despite all the saliva that stained his entire body (and his clothes), Gaeru struggled to stand up as he directed his sword towards Hamatarou.
“Is this how you treat your saviour?” The Hamster Prince turned back into a large hamster as he removed his hand and stepped on the wound of the Salamander underneath his claw.
“…You…you are the saviour? The one who gave us the Totem of Atem?” Gaeru lowered his sword for a moment as Hamatarou proudly nodded his head. However, announcing his true identity made the Salamander struggled even more under Hamatarou.
But instead of lowering his sword, Gaeru changed into a stance where Hamatarou felt an intent to kill coming right towards him. His sword had reached a position that would be optimal for an upper slash cut against enemies larger than Gaeru.
“Wait, wait! I am not your enemy! You are mistaken! I really did save you from that mess-“
“You are no saviour! You did not come to aid us in our time of peril!” The frog swordsman began to leap toward Hamatarou, and he was too slow to act against the attack.
But suddenly a mysterious figure entered Gaeru’s path and intercepted the attack by parrying his sword away. “Is this an enemy as well? The Frog?” Qiu Yue, who had finished talking with Jin, happened to see that the room was immediately occupied by a large furry hamster and two other creatures.
The System allowed her to observe for a moment until she noticed things were not going as planned. The young woman decided to enter and protect Hamatarou. Before the Salamander could even speak properly, Qiu Yue plunged her sword into its head, and the Salamander died.
“Why- Why did you kill it? I was hoping to interrogate it!” Hamatarou complained as he saw the Frog, relentless in his attitude, picking up his sword again and aiming to kill Qiu Yue in front of it.
“How is this possible? You are not of any of the tribes I’ve known. I do not know what exactly you are, but if you are trying to defend him, then I can only consider you an enemy!” Gaeru shouted as he charged in once again only to have its attack easily deflected by the Red Panda cultivator.
“While I am not one to criticise, but your sword strike is not true. You obviously have reservations in your eyes despite your comments.” Qiu Yue then proceed to break the sword with one strike with the usage of her cultivation powers.
Gaeru stepped back and drew out a short dagger he kept as a last resort. Both Hamatarou and Qiu Yue sighed at his unyielding behaviour.
“Sub System User Qiu Yue. Killing should prove to be the most efficient method of dealing with this nuisance.” The System stated, and Qiu Yue agreed to it immediately.
“Wait- What? Hold on a moment. How is killing the most efficient metho-” Before Hamatarou finished talking, Qiu Yue already sprinted towards Gaeru and chopped him into half.
Nonetheless, she was surprised that he had managed to aim for her carotid artery as a last ditch effort while she was not looking. The aim was correct, but the cut was very shallow mainly because his dagger was equally blunt too.
“I see, so that little Frog had some skills too.” Qiu Yue praised the deceased as she took out a chi regeneration potion and drank it on the spot. In the meantime, Hamatarou was absolutely speechless and furious to see the two dead bodies on the ground.
“… I can perhaps excuse you killing the Salamander Guard, as he would likely not have known too much and we could easily kidnap another one. But did you have to kill the frog?!” Hamatarou had no idea what was going on in the Red Panda’s head.
“You are, without a doubt, capable of incapacitating him without the need for lethal force. We could have learned what happened to his village! If you kill the person I saved and the one I intended to capture, then what is the point of my actions?!” Hamatarou folded his tiny arms and reprimanded Qiu Yue heavily.
“Relax. Didn’t I tell you, our magic and technology is way more advanced than what you could have imagined?” Qiu Yue replied and told Hamatarou to look around. The bodies disappeared, and instead, he saw an intact Salamander Guard and frog swordsman kneeling in front of Qiu Yue.
“This. This is the power of my Boss’s magic.” Qiu Yue announced as she requested the System to get them a table and chairs to sit and talk.
Eventually, Hamatarou learned more about the System which he was contracted too and the two that became minions for Jin. The Hamster Prince could not believe such a convenient…magical entity not only existed but was so readily available to be used by them.
“Now I sort of understand why you asked me to bring the suspects in.” Hamatarou looked at the Salamander Guard who introduced himself the grandson of the great Edwardio. Hamatarou lied by saying that he vaguely remembered that his father had a royal guard with such a name. (To preserve their family’s past honour, his father named him as Edwardio II. But ever since the passing of his father, he kept his name short instead.)
It had been around a century or maybe more (who could tell how many winters had passed, when surviving tomorrow was always a persistent problem) since he last faced his father who had not cared for his fate.
That was the reason why Hamatarou had assumed Qiu Yue and Lynn to be members of an entirely new species. He had personally confirmed that no humans existed in the current Giant World (at least not on their continent).
“I am honoured you remember my grandfather’s name, Prince Hama. It has been years since his death.” Edwardio seemed elated, and Hamatarou with a slightly guilty face told him to drop the title and to refer to him as Hamatarou, especially since the Druids had baptised him with this new name.
“I too apologise for my rash behaviour. I knew that you alone could not have prevented the inevitable death of my fellow village mates.” Gaeru formally knelt and begged for forgiveness. Hamatarou quickly accepted and demanded him to stand. That was when he took his broken sword and pointed at the uncaring Salamander.
“However, I cannot forgive myself that I have to sit at the same table of my enemy. I wish to kill myself, knowing that I will have to work with one of those murderers in the future.” Gaeru sounded enraged and sent the other party a deathly stare.
Qiu Yue figured that the Frog Swordsman behaved very much like the samurais of the past days where’s one’s principle was so rigid that they died fighting for their country or cause. She was entertaining the thought of whether to introduce him to Zeru or Lynn first. (She did think about Kraft too, but he was way too good at brainwashing…)
Oddly enough, the Salamander was experienced enough not to fall for such an obvious taunt. Edwardio ignored not only Gaeru, but his petty insult towards the Salamanders had no effect on him.
Ever since he was resurrected by the System, Edwardio could already feel that he had cut all allegiance to his fellow Salamanders. No one acted upon Gaeru’s insult as well, making him slightly embarrassed by the many stares. After which, Gaeru croaked to break the silence, and he quietly placed his broken sword down while slowing moving his seat to the opposite end of the table.
Regardless, the Hamster Prince felt it was a good start and began to ask the table several questions. “Now that we have introduced ourselves perhaps we can finally talk about why the hell the Salamanders are acting this way,” Hamatarou suggested with eyes looking at Salamander Guard Edwardio who coughed to clear his throat.
“Prince’s orders. Hmm to be precise…The New King’s Orders.” Edwardio answered truthfully without any prompt from the System.
