Rae kept walking along with Norton and Roland with a calm face so as to not warn them.

He figured that if this Shadow Panther really wanted to kill them, it would not matter if they knew about her or not and thought it best to not incite any hostile actions.

“Uh, h-hello, ma’am,” Rae said as he was trying his best not to freak out.

“I was chasing a ‘toy’ in my boredom, but who would’ve thought that I would come across you. I was intrigued with you since you entered the forest; I’ve been following you ever since.” Not minding admitting to stalking him.

“Oh, and call me ‘Yva’. “Ma’am” just makes me sound so… old,” said the Shadow Panther.

‘How could I draw the attention of this monster of monsters?!’ thought Rae but would never say it out loud.

He decided to introduce himself despite finding it strange to speak to a beast through telepathy. “I apologize…Yva. My name is Rae.”

“Your name is Rae? I heard those humans refer to you as “White”. And from what I can tell from that collar around your neck and the fact you’re a goblin, you appear to be their slave. How can you have a different name than the one they gave you?” asked Yva curiously.

‘Shit, she just said she had been following us since we entered and with her abilities, listening in on us is easy.’ Rae felt anxiety creeping up on him.

Rae channeled his inner bullshitter. “I was named before I became a slave. So my true name is Rae.”

Yva could tell the difference in his tone when he spoke. “Liar,” she said in a harsh tone.

Rae’s heart dropped when he heard her, but then she spoke again. This time in a voice completely opposite of what it was before. “I'm just teasing you, Rae. Well, it’s okay. You’re obviously different, and we all have our secrets don’t we?” Yva said gently.

“Thank you for your understanding, Yva,” Rae wasn’t sure if he could find respite from what she said, but he decided to be as amicable as possible.

“So, Yva, I was wondering what you wanted to speak to me about. That headache from earlier was you trying to communicate, right?”

A beautiful laughter resounded throughout Rae’s mind. “I apologize for the headache. When I use「Telepathy」, I must get permission from the other party to form a two-way connection or force my way in. The latter of which causes headaches and is only one way. Luckily, you had a slip in your concentration and I got in.”

She continued, “As for why I’m interested in you…” Yva paused before she finished her sentence, and then whispered the next words slowly. As if toying with Rae’s already incredibly tense nerves.

“I was wondering why you...”

Yva could hear Rae’s heartbeat begin to stir.

“…smell...”

Rae began to feel a cold sweat forming.

“…absolutely…”

‘Don’t say it, please!’ Rae hoped she wouldn’t say what he was thinking.

“…positively…” Rae’s heart began to beat rapidly

‘Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it.’ Rae prayed with all his heart.

“…delicious,” Yva finished saying.

Rae was able to discern the faint sounds of the Shadow Panther wiping her lips over with her tongue. His heart began pounding and racing with all haste.

Rae tripped from the fear and gathered Norton and Roland’s attention. “White, what’s wrong?” asked Roland.

“Nothing, Master. No trouble at all. Just slipped,” Rae said with a wry smile.

Norton looked at Rae. “Be careful.”

“Yes, Master,” replied Rae. They continued after that.

‘Is she going to kill all of us? She said she was toying with that Dire Boar out of boredom. Maybe this is like that one 1996 horror movie 'Squeal', where the pig-masked killer talked to his victim before he ‘offed' them?' Rae couldn’t help think of the worst-case scenario.

Yva’s sultry voice turned into laughter echoed in his mind at his reaction. “Relax, Rae. You’re just too fun to tease. Your smell isn’t what caught my curiosity. Although you really do smell delicious, you’re much too cute for me to just eat. Also...” Rae didn’t know if he should be thankful for that.

“...what did catch my attention was your “aura”.” Yva continued. “I felt drawn to you the instant you entered the forest. When I ran to you, I overheard you and your two human “masters” talking about the Dire Boar I was playing with. So I decided to let you have at him,” she said nonchalantly.

Her tone then changed and inquisitiveness peaked. “Frankly, I’m quite surprised you were able to kill it alone in that cave despite being a tiny goblin. And also… I felt that attractive “aura” on you get much stronger afterward.” Rae could hear the suspicion in her voice.

“I’m a mutated goblin so I’m a lot stronger than I look and I leveled up a bit after killing the Dire Boar so I got stronger. Maybe that’s why you’re attracted to me?” Rae actually didn’t believe what he just said but he wasn’t going to tell her his actual conjecture. Despite her saying that she did not want to eat him, he still had no reason to trust her.

Although Rae did not necessarily lie, he didn’t tell her the truth either. Yva could feel that was the case.

She spoke up. “Rae, you’re a tricky little goblin aren’t you? Well, no matter. I’ll just kill those humans in an instant and free you. I'll get to know you slowly for myself.”

Rae panicked. “WAIT!”

Yva was surprised at Rae’s outburst. “You don’t want me to free you?”

Although it would be nice to be free, he didn’t know Yva well enough. Not only that, he had hopes for the upcoming auction. He could gain better information from the humans or whatever else civilized species exists on Altera.

Also, he did not want her to kill Norton or Roland. Norton treated him well, and even though Roland acted like a bit of an ass, he was not a bad person. He wouldn’t feel right if they died on a whim.

He had to come up with an excuse to stop Yva.

Rae decided to tell Yva part of the reason he had not escaped yet. “The humans that are currently keeping me are part of an auction house called Silver Ridge and they’re planning on auctioning me off in a week. That’s why they brought me out here. It was to kill the Dire Boar to level up and appeal to them as a strong slave. The two humans that are with me, aren’t bonded with my collar. A collar owner can kill them instantly with just a thought as a failsafe.”

Rae was not lying. While he was traveling with Roland and Norton to the Dark Forest, he overheard them talking about it. It was part of the reason Eric allowed Rae to go despite neither Roland nor Norton being bonded with his collar.

He thought that the person who created the collar was not only ingenious, but a real bastard as well when he found that out. Luckily, the collar did not affect him.

Yva could not spot any omissions or lies in what Rae said. Actually, Yva had already known about the collars, but she thought his owners were Norton and Roland.

“Silver Ride Auction House, huh. I see…”

That was the last he heard from her before he felt her leave his mind.

‘Whew, things could have gone bad. If Norton and Roland died with me missing, I could have become wanted. That would not have been good.’ Rae felt relieved as he could not feel her presence in the area anymore.

Rae was honestly curious about Yva. How did she learn「Telepathy」? And there was that strange Title he didn’t have the chance to appraise. He wondered if they would meet again. He didn’t know if he was unlucky or lucky to have run into her.

‘First Norton, then the Dire Boar, and even worse, Yva. Are strong people in this world cabbages or something?! I’ve already run into so many already,’ he complained.

By the time the trio made it back to the compound, it was midnight.

********

In the Silver Ridge’s Elders conference room, Bruno had just finished being briefed by Norton about the Dire Boar and unknown beast.

Bruno exhaled heavily. ‘The Dark Forest is acting up while Astoburgh and Fahrareta are showing signs of war again… Chaotic times are ahead.’

********

In Fento City, a woman was walking down the street, drawing the attention of every male, and even some women.

Her dark skin and voluptuous and alluring body glistened against the torch lights along the street lamps. She had pitch black hair that ran alongside her back with a short braid on each side that went down to her shoulder. What really made her stand out though was her outfit that accentuated her figure. All she had keeping her chest in place was a cloth that was connected to a ring on her back. Two sides wrapped around in front of her, over each of her large breasts, across her collarbones, over her shoulder, and reconnected to the ring behind her. As for her pants, she wore none. She had a cloth wrapped around her waist and the two ends were connected with another ring. Despite that though, the right side still showed off her physically well-toned, tanned thighs and legs as she walked. (Essentially, a belly dancer outfit.)

Her face drew just as much attention. With her beautifully carved jawline, small curved nose, succulent and full lips that gave her a sensual look. Her yellow eyes with vertical pupils that slightly narrowed at the corners, magnified the sensual look many times over.

‘I don’t know why Arteriax’s Will makes me so drawn to you, but I will heed it. I was getting bored with those Old Ones in the Dark Forest, anyway.’

********

The next day, Rae woke up with Eric hovering over him.

The first thing Eric said was, “Goblin, how many levels did you gain yesterday and did your skills level up?”

Rae nearly twitched his eyebrows but kept his irritation in check.

“I gained 7 levels, and 「Barehanded Combat LV4」,「Swordsmanship LV4」and 「Dash LV3」,” he said with a smile on his face.

Eric nearly fainted from shock.

He stood there, frozen until he burst into laughter all of a sudden. “Hahahaha, I can smell the gold you’re going to make for us. Just rest until the auction so you’re in perfect condition.”

This man reminded him of 'those people' in his own way. Looking at Rae as if he was nothing but a thing, and one to throw away the instant it benefited him. It brought about an immense amount of anger because of what happened to him. Then it also thoroughly disgusted him.

‘Breathe, Rae. Just breathe.’

『Akashic System』「Breathing Technique LV6」Leveled up!