Chapter 155 - Lackey (2)

His vision spun round and round. Time, too, crawled by.

Lackey, the albino gorilla once named Wi Baek, wondered amid the dizzying whirl.

'What...?'

Whether beast or human, it was difficult to recognize death when it came in an instant. But Lackey could see it clearly.

In a world turned upside down, the sloth was looking at him. There was blood on its razor-sharp claws.

Belatedly, he realized that the sloth had sliced clean through his neck.

"Uwah?!"

Lackey's eyes flew wide in terror. Cold sweat poured down him, and his heart pounded wildly.

The first thing he did upon escaping the vision was feel his neck. A moment ago, his head had been flying through the air. Yet now it was perfectly intact.

'W-what just...?'

He could scarcely believe it had been a vision. A human would have felt no differently.

Still feeling his neck, Lackey looked ahead with trembling eyes. Before him stood the sloth, wearing its perpetually relaxed expression. It even tilted its head, as if asking what had happened.

'D-don't tell me...'

His animal instincts told him it had not been an illusion. Had he brought his arm all the way down, that vision would have become reality.

As mentioned before, beasts were incapable of higher reasoning. But when it came to survival—to death—they understood faster than any other creature.

The sloth scratched its head a couple of times.

Unconcerned by Lackey's horror, the sloth—the speed-sloth—merely kept scratching. It seemed to be saying that if he had something to say, he should get on with it.

But what could a beast say after experiencing a vision so close to death? Lackey slowly backed away from the speed-sloth.

'N-now I understand.'

Why Grylls had entrusted the key to this sloth.

It wasn't a trap. The reason was very simple: the speed-sloth was the strongest one here.

At the very least, Grylls wasn't powerful enough to show him a vision of his own death.

And so Lackey arrived at another conclusion.

'This sloth is stronger than the human. Which means...!'

That human, too, was ultimately the sloth's underling—a slave!

It was reasoning that revealed the limits of an animal's mind, yet ironically, it got their relationship exactly right. Grylls offered the speed-sloth all kinds of food as tribute in exchange for protection.

In other words, even if he defeated Grylls, he could never be free as long as the sloth remained.

'The leader...'

A leader always had a clever subordinate at its side. That was probably the role the human played. He also handled all the various arduous tasks.

'Escape... is impossible.'

Lackey despaired. He knew instinctively that he couldn't put so much as a scratch on that sloth, not even if he died and came back to life.

Dare to attack an opponent that had shown him a vision of death itself? He valued his life enough to say with certainty that it would be madness.

'But...'

It wasn't all bad. Lackey had lived as what one might call a wild wanderer.

Even scouring every corner of the Forest of Four Seasons, one would find few animals as powerful as this sloth. If he had to name one, there was his brother, the leader of the gorilla troop.

That meant he could guarantee his safety simply by winning this sloth's favor.

'Perhaps this being...'

Could be the one to defeat that wicked hypocrite.

Was it because he had just seen a vision of his head flying off? His mind was working quickly.

After silently facing the speed-sloth for a while, Lackey slowly bowed his head.

"Chio cho chawo."

Roughly speaking, he was asking to be accepted. Unlike with Grylls, he was showing proper deference to someone unquestionably stronger.

The speed-sloth gazed at him, then tilted its head. Its reaction said it didn't understand, but Lackey interpreted it differently.

'It seems you don't trust me yet.'

That was only natural, considering he had trespassed without warning. By the laws of the wild, he would have had no grounds to complain if his head had already been taken.

Yet the sloth before him had spared his life. What tremendous mercy.

'First, I must earn its recognition.'

Lackey resolved to prove his worth and become the speed-sloth's subordinate. Then he would get rid of that incessantly chattering human and win its trust.

'In that case, I must obey the human, whether I like it or not.'

It rankled, but he could endure it. Patience was bitter, but its fruit was sweet. So said the human who had taught him.

With his future course decided, Lackey behaved respectfully before the speed-sloth. But manners alone weren't enough. In the wild, one had to prove oneself through action.

'Was this how the human did it?'

Without being told, Lackey set to work on the timber. Though clumsy, he used the saw the way Grylls had shown him.

He couldn't use mana, but he still had a gorilla's powerful muscles.

"Huh? What's this? You're doing it on your own?"

Grylls returned at just the right moment. Several fish flopped inside the trap he had brought back.

Lackey gave him a brief glance, then silently continued his duties(?).

"Hmm... Well, I'll take it. That's enough for now. Come eat."

"..."

Lackey pretended not to hear. He didn't understand the words anyway.

But the moment the speed-sloth began slowly moving, he stopped working. He could hardly carry on when even the leader was getting ready for a meal.

He stuck close to the slowly moving speed-sloth and waited quietly. In the meantime, Grylls cooked as he always did.

"All right, let's eat. You have one too."

The appetizing grilled fish were ready before he knew it.

After cautiously gauging the others' reactions, Lackey quietly reached out. Fresh off the fire, the fish was hot, but not too hot to eat.

"Well? Tasty, right?"

"..."

Lackey nodded at the question. Much as he hated to admit it, it really was delicious.

'A versatile fellow.'

Truly an excellent slave. Was that why the speed-sloth trusted him?

Lackey finished the fish, resolving to supplant Grylls as soon as possible.

'I must work even harder.'

A slave mentality was gradually taking root in Lackey.

"Kyuu?"

"..."

"Kyuuu~"

Just then, Roundfur rubbed his face against Lackey's leg. It was an utterly adorable greeting, as though welcoming him to the family.

Lackey gazed at Roundfur's endearing behavior, then nodded.

'Such a merciful being indeed, to have taken in even a cub.'

The subtle misunderstandings were steadily multiplying.

* * *

Had he eaten something strange while I was down at the river?

In that short time, the defiant Lackey had become obedient. I couldn't pin down the exact reason, but I had a pretty good guess.

'Did the speed-sloth teach him a proper lesson?'

Nothing else could explain that total mental overhaul. He must have given up after being thoroughly put in his place.

As far as I was concerned, it couldn't have worked out better.

SCRITCH! SCRITCH! SCRITCH!

"Yeah. Good job. Just keep doing that."

"..."

I'd acquired an excellent worker. All I had to do was demonstrate, and Lackey took care of the rest.

He did things oddly from time to time, but he was an animal, so I could let that slide.

Besides, I intended to handle all the delicate work, such as planing, myself. Being an ape, he was hardly the delicate type.

Even so, having one more worker had doubled our efficiency.

'Wow. We've already done this much?'

Almost all the timber for the bridge was ready. We'd also salvaged most of the logs damaged in Lackey's rampage.

It was possible because he doggedly stuck to sawing while I focused entirely on planing.

"Lackey, that's enough. Take a break. It's starting to get light."

"..."

This guy really was persistent. Whether he'd already developed a slave mentality or simply hadn't understood me, he kept going.

As I watched him, a question occurred to me.

'Who taught him to speak?'

Considering he and the gorilla chief were brothers, perhaps they'd learned from the same human.

The speed-sloth also seemed not to know Lackey. My guess was that he'd left the troop when he was young.

Later on, he'd attacked my distant predecessor—Lais Kraone.

There were far too many things to ask. I organized the questions in my head.

'First, who taught him to speak.'

That was what I wanted to know most. Someone who had even taught martial arts to gorillas had to be highly accomplished.

Beyond that, I might be able to get some idea of why that person had entered the forest and what their story was.

'I'll ask Heavenly Demon.'

Ordinary situations were one thing, but for important matters, it was better to use the language of the Central Plains. Clear communication would let me learn the details of his story.

While Lackey finished working, I asked Heavenly Demon to interpret.

[Heavenly Demon: (A picture of the written question) Will this suffice?]

[Wild Grylls: Yes. Thank you for always helping me.]

[Heavenly Demon: It is nothing. I, too, am curious what answer he will give.]

With Heavenly Demon's help, I wrote out the question on a separate sheet.

Just then, Lackey finished all his work and approached me. Despite the strenuous labor, he looked perfectly fine, without a single drop of sweat.

"Lackey. Look at this."

"?"

He looked puzzled when I showed him the sheet. Written on it was a question asking who had taught him speech and martial arts.

Then he squinted and leaned his head forward. With eyesight as bad as his, he had little choice.

"Ho ah..."

After apparently reading the question, Lackey started to say something, then stopped short. He seemed to have thought better of replying, "Why should I tell you?"

He even glanced warily at the speed-sloth. That settled it: he'd attacked the speed-sloth while I was away and gotten his ass handed to him.

After a moment's apparent hesitation, Lackey spoke.

"Wi Hochang."

"Wi Hochang?"

When I repeated the name, Lackey nodded.

Naturally, I had no idea who that was. Heavenly Demon probably would.

'Wi Hochang should be right, shouldn't it? Names usually follow the pronunciation.'

If that didn't work, I could ask Heavenly Demon. I'd recorded a video in anticipation of this, so there was no problem.

Before asking on the forum, I asked Heavenly Demon who Wi Hochang was.

[Heavenly Demon: Wi Hochang? If he is the Wi Hochang I know, that is quite a remarkable figure.]

[Wild Grylls: Who is he?]

[Heavenly Demon: The man who caused the Righteous-Blood War, once known as the Blood-Handed Overlord.]

[Wild Grylls: Oh.]

Overlord, huh. That was a pretty cool epithet.

[Heavenly Demon: He was also famous as the "Blood Demon."]

[Wild Grylls: Is he really famous?]

[Heavenly Demon: You could say his was the most renowned name before I entered the martial world. Ask on the forum if you are curious.]

[Wild Grylls: Got it.]

Blood Demon, huh. As far as I knew, that epithet appeared often in martial arts fiction, alongside Heavenly Demon.

I didn't know much about the genre, but I knew the basic titles.

'I thought they were usually worse than Heavenly Demons.'

With that thought, I posted on the forum, and...

└Why are you asking about that f***er?

└Wi Hochang lives!!!

└Wi!

└Ho!

└Chang!

└Ah, fuck. The Blood Cult's already caught the scent and swarmed in;;

└Serious advice: delete this now unless you want the comments getting weird;;

└Wild Grylls) What's wrong with you all?;;

Responses I hadn't anticipated came pouring in.