Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 223 Compensation

"Where… where have you brought us?"

"The Surface, where else?"

And although his neck was currently being held and under the threat of being torn to shreds, he seemed completely unperturbed and just raised his palms in the air. He slightly glanced back and up at Edissa, only for him to be nudged hard, and the dirty shattered claws of Edissa to dig through his skin even further, but still not fully penetrate it.

"The Surface…" Edissa's eyes once again quickly scanned the area, and the only thing she could really see was that they were inside some sort of ruins, with the broken walls leading to some sort of endless darkness. But most importantly, the longer she scanned the area, the more corpses she could see,

"...You lied! You described Olympus, and yet all I see here is death!"

"Well…" Rhys turned to look at Talia, shaking his head to signal her not to do anything, "...This isn't the Surface."

"You just said it was!" Edissa once again nudged Rhys.

"It's only a very small part of it, not even a single dot," Rhys muttered, "And the people you see here are… bad people, the criminals of my kind. Murderers, traffickers, rapists — all of them are bad people."

"Rapists? What are rapists?" Edissa lowered her eyebrows, "Stop inventing words when you do not need to. Tell me the truth or I will kill you!"

"How will you even know if I am telling the truth?" Rhys sighed, "I don't have a reason to lie to you — I just saved your lives. As for the bodies surrounding us, we killed them just several hours ago, they are still fresh, you can help yourself if you want to."

"Help myself…?"

"Eat them," Rhys shrugged, "You seem like you haven't eaten anything for a year."

"I have never been hungry!" Edissa raised her voice, almost screaming as she tightened her grip on Rhys's neck, "I am one of the best hunters of my tribe, I have never been hungry because I can shoot a prey from a mile away with my eyes closed and—"

And before Edissa could finish her words, a rumbling thunder suddenly echoed throughout the ruined hall.

"What was that!? What monsters are you hiding in here!?" Edissa finally let go of Rhys as she prioritized handling the bigger threat that suddenly appeared within her midst. She then focused on where the rumble came from, only for the sound to lead her to one of her unconscious companions, or more specifically, toward the stomach of one of her companions,

"Wh—"

And before she could even utter another word, she heard the very same sound from her own stomach, causing her to just lower her head there and then in absolute embarrassment.

"Help yourself," Rhys then let out a small sigh as he slowly backed away from Edissa, "I'll return in an hour, you should be done then and willing to talk."

"You think of me as a scavenger!? I am not going to eat something I did not hunt!" Edissa once again raised her voice as she turned to look at Rhys; her decently-sized breasts which were completely exposed, bouncing fervently as she waved her hand, "And where are you going!? Are you not afraid that we will escape!?"

"Then escape," Rhys gestured to Talia, the two of them just turning their backs at Edissa as they walked away from the hall, "You can go back to the Underworld, where you will die. Or you can get out where you'll be met by an endless amount of water you have probably never seen before, if you did miraculously survive trekking the treacherous ocean, you'll be hunted down by the Explorers. Either way…

…you are not prisoners here."

Rhys did not even wait for Edissa to reply to him as he just left the hall with Talia, only to be welcomed by another group of corpses across the corridors of the prison. Rhys, however, just casually stepped on them while walking.

"Are you sure those hybrids can be left alone?" Talia muttered.

"I said what I said, Talia — they are not our prisoners," Rhys shook his head, "There will be no prisoners in the land we will build, no camps, no chains."

"Should I take that ominously?" Talia squinted her eyes.

"Take it as you want to take it, Ma'am," Rhys smiled.

"Well, that is good and all — but they are beasts," Talia shook her head, "But I am curious why you changed your mind as soon as you looked at the female cat — you did the same to me when you looked above my head."

"Perceptive," Rhys smiled, "You're the second one who noticed that."

"Is the other one you are speaking of the Commander of the Underworld Corps?" Talia raised an eyebrow.

"No, another one — the one who works for me in the shadows."

"Oho? It would zeem there are a lot of capable people in your army," Talia smirked, "I am excited to leave this place and finally see them."

"Well…

…we might still just die here."

***

"Fool."

An hour later, Rhys returned to the hall where he left the cenleons as promised, only to be welcomed by their antagonistic eyes and sharp claws pointed once again at his neck. The only one who was not showing hostility to him was the man who seemed to be their leader; his four paws, carefully stepping closer to Rhys.

Seeing as all of them had blood covering their mouths and trailing all the way down to their necks and bellies, it would seem they could not help but break their hunter's oath and just feast. If there was something that surprised Rhys, however, it was the fact that the remaining bodies they did not eat were now nicely and respectfully lined up across the hall.

"You are a fool to return alone here, human," Edissa let out a scoff as she looked at Rhys, "What can I expect from someone of lower intelligence, you are—"

"Edissa, enough!" And as their leader was only a meter away from Rhys, he immediately reprimanded Edissa and ordered for his people to lower their guards, "They may be a lower life form, but it does not change the fact that this human saved us!"

"But Maha, he is—"

"I said enough!" Their leader, Maha, stomped one of his paws on the floor and hissed, causing Edissa and the other members of their group to lower their heads and back away, "All of you, give the human and me some space, now!"

And with those words, Edissa and the other cenleons had no choice but to turn away and go to a corner of the hall, with Edissa still glaring at Rhys before shaking her head and sitting at a corner… while still glaring at him.

"Human, I was told by my daughter you wished to speak with me?" Maha took another step toward Rhys; his head, almost 3 feet higher than Rhys's, "I take it you wish for compensation for trying to help us?"

"Compensation…" Rhys was initially trying to blame all of the death on them, but that changed when he saw the Hearts floating above Edissa's head — and right now, Rhys did not really have a plan for them other than to stay here… and then ultimately frame them for everyone's death,

"...No — your tribe is free to leave anytime you wish."

"Leave where?" Maha smiled, "I took a look outside these broken walls, and all I saw was an endless darkness."

"That's called the sky and the ocean," Rhys also smiled, "It's dark because it's nighttime now. You will see it differently in a few hours."

"Night time…?" Maha squinted his eyes, "I suppose it does not matter. Speak, what is the compensation you want? We do not accept food from another without anything to trade it with. What do you want?"

"I don't really need anything, but…" Rhys looked Maha in the eyes, "...are you sure? I saved 14 of you, the compensation I expect to receive will not be light."

"Speak of it," Maha let out a short but very deep breath as he returned Rhys's stares, "If I can provide it, then I will."

"Edissa," Rhys then pointed at Edissa, who started looking back and forth between him and Maha as soon as they looked at her, "I want her."

"You want her?" Maha looked down to think of what Rhys meant by his words, "What for? I was told that you are responsible for all of the food that surrounds us — you do not need a hunter of inferior skills by your side, it will only hold you back."

"I'm not—"

"Inferior!?" And before Rhys and Maha could continue their conversation, Edissa rushed toward them and raised her voice, "What are you saying, Maha!? Why are you talking about me!? Enough discussions and let us get rid of this human already!"

"No," Maha stretched his arm to the side to block Edissa, "There is no us anymore, Edissa."

"What…?" Edissa raised an eyebrow.

"From now on, you belong to this human as his Bond."

"What!?"