Summoned and Unwanted

[Ahem. Setting aside how Awa ogled at your naked body, I wonder how the girls will react to this. I bet they will never allow you to leave for a journey alone.]

Vincent kicked Orso’s charred head. The head turned green and dematerialized into particles.

Vincent looked at his hand, and green particles entering his palm. “I will need to have a talk with Anna and Lucas about this. Now that they know about my real identity, they will be able to understand something terrible is happing around the city.”

[You are correct to inform them, in my opinion. First, we met with two magic beasts with injured feet, as if they were chained.]

[Then we were attacked by undead bears. Now that I think about it some had blood that was between red and yellow.]

[Afterwards, we met with the big boss, the great Orso, as Awa’s people called it. It was mutated, but not with your mutation.]

-Chained animals, disposed of test subjects, and the complete result. Could they...-

[Yes, Vincent. This was most likely man-made. This makes me think, is this a war tactic or...]

.....

“Don’t forget the ants.” Vincent interrupted.

[You are right. We were told Feng Mengli is the strongest human without mana in the world. However, we were also told that it was difficult for Feng Mengli to beat the strangely unkillable broodmother queen.]

Vincent walked to the large body of a charred bear without a head. He touched the body, causing it to become green, dematerialize, and the green particles enter his hand.

“My mutation caused Orso to mutate and become stronger, yet it could not recover from the wounds I inflicted with my gauntlets or mutated mana.” Vincent crossed his arms and frowned. “I would have been a goner if my mutation could not win.”

[Ahem. How about we stop talking about this subject and head back? You can enter naked if you want, hehe. I wonder what kind of expression Awa would make. I am getting curious and excited.]

*Tsk, tsk, tsk* Vincent shook his head. He didn’t want to cause further misunderstandings. He wanted to remain a gentleman as well.

“I need to store the undead bears because I need to show them as proof. Lucas and Anna need to know what was roaming around the city.” Vincent said while going to each undead body part. He could find and store them inside his Soul Dimensional Storage.

Vincent became frustrated with moving from one place to the other. The fight, the explosions, and the flame vortex had scattered the body parts of the undead bears all over the place.

*Tsk* “I could have stored everything in one go if my intent control was as good as it used to be.” He complained.

Kazumi didn’t pass a comment while watching Vincent acting frustrated. She understood removing the corpses was in their and the world’s best interest.

After Vincent finished storing all the body parts he could find, he started to feel cold. The cold temperature was returning, and remaining naked was a horrible idea.

Before Vincent summoned the warm herbal water, he had previously washed Awa with. Vincent saw a familiar pearl-like ball on the ground. After picking it up, Vincent smiled. It was the slime-core hair tie.

Vincent happily cleaned himself in warm water and used fabrics to dry himself. He was surprised to discover that the flames didn’t damage his skin. Additionally, not even one hair was burnt.

Vincent wore spare common winter clothes, wore his slime-core hair tie, and wore a necklace with his women’s rings.

Vincent entered the warm cabin. The first thing he heard was Zero telling him, “Zero. Go. Stay. Alert. Outside.”

“Here, Zero. Take these. ” Vincent said with his arm extended. On his hand appeared multiple Limb Seeds.

Zero appeared intelligent enough to understand Vincent would also need the seeds. “Zero. Does. Not. Need.”

Vincent and Kazumi were surprised by Zero’s behavior. The more Zero assimilated with special seeds and grew, the more intelligent it appeared to become.

“Don’t worry about me. I have left five seeds for personal use.” Vincent said.

Zero chose to accept the seeds after tilting its head. It appeared as if Zero was imitating a puzzled Plow. Afterward, Zero placed the seeds in its mouth and left the cabin.

In the cabin were Vincent, Plow, and Awa. After the dangerous interruption was dealt with, Vincent was ready to hear what Awa had to say.

Vincent went casually sitting on his previous chair. He sighed and said, “I am tired. I hope we can stop playing the betting game. I can pay you food for telling answering my questions.”

“Okay. But I want to reject the question if I want.” Awa responded. Her cheeks were still blushing, and she averted her gaze a couple of times.

“As for the question I won from the bet, can I know about Orso and your people’s history with it? Orso was a demonic beast, yet it was also similar to a magic beast at the same time.”

Awa nodded and responded, “The great Orso appeared out of the blue one day. It killed three Dullahans, and when our clan leader was about to be killed, my father went in between them and lost his arm.”

“Can I know what happened afterward? How is your father faring?” Vincent asked.

“My mother and I had to do everything we could to help my father recover. My mother traded the extra food we were awarded for saving the clan leader’s life for herbs. My mother also used all the favors we built in the years to save my father.”

Awa stopped blushing and donned a grim expression. The suffering of trying to treat her father could be seen on Awa’s face.

“I put my hobby to good use. I used the herbs to extract the nutrients and make one herb create many doses with about the same effect.”

“Hobby?” Vincent asked.

“Yes. We always had difficulty acquiring enough food to live with a happy belly every day. I wanted better for my family. I wanted the stale vegetables, which were stored for a long time to taste better by creating sauces extracted from plants. I also wanted to make the tiny portion of meat shared depending on the contribution points taste better as well.”

“Contribution points? Are you saying the more contribution points one has, the more food they are allowed to eat?” Vincent questioned.

“Yes. Our contribution was always on the average side, and after my father got hurt...”

*Bam* Vincent slammed his fist on the table out of anger. “Is that why you are very thin and had to leave to find food in your current weak state?”

[The pieces have connected with each other. It was suicide for Awa to leave alone and without the power to protect herself, yet she did it anyway.]

“Plow does not like clan leader baddie. Clan leader baddie should have helped.” *Pho*

Awa was too surprised to speak. She never expected to hear and see Vincent and Plow become angry for her sake. It almost made a tear appear in her eyes.

“Even though I almost used all my potions to heal you, I have some other stuff I can use to help your father recover.” Vincent offered.

“Than...” *Sniffle* Awa wiped her eyes and tried her hardest not to cry.

After watching Vincent defeat Orso while putting his life on the line, Awa started to respect Vincent inside of treating him like before. Hearing kind words leave his mouth sounded more believable now, even if he was tricking her.

“It is going to be fine now. I promised to escort you, and I also promised to provide food to you, your family, and your people. I will help your father after hearing how much you Dullahans are suffering.”

Awa nodded. She sniffled a few more times and continued with the response.

“I was one of the few girls chosen to become the next clan chieftain.”

“Clan chieftain?”

“Clan chieftain is what the wife of the clan leader is called. Her role is to birth a new strong leader and lead the clan when the clan leader is out on his hunting trip.”

“So you are going to marry the clan leader?”

“I was not chosen, even if I was the best when it came to learning how to read, write, and plan strategies for the safety of our clan. The chosen wife passed away a month ago during childbirth. She did not have enough strength...”

[This is sad news indeed. The Dullahans eat so little that bearing a child is fatal for them.]

[Wait! If Awa was not chosen, maybe because of bribes, for example, does it mean Awa might have made a deal to marry the clan leader in order to save her father?]

As Kazumi guessed, Awa said, “I went to the clan leader’s mother and begged to be the next clan chieftain. I was accepted immediately because no other woman approached to marry the current clan leader, but...”

Vincent noticed Awa frown as if she recalled terrible memories. It made Vincent wonder what kind of person the clan leader was for making Awa express unhappiness.

“I got accepted to become the next chieftain. I was forced to quickly read and learn everything a chieftain should know in order to return the order within our clan.”

“Can I ask why you left to find food if you were going to become the wife of the most important Dullahan in your clan?” Vincent questioned.