On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

I am really curious about how Luxia eats the Essence Peach, but unfortunately, like the others, I can\'t see it. Luxia is doing a really great job on being a Forest Spirit, which is keeping everything she does unknown.

Rustle.

At that sound, I immediately turn my head to the direction of the forest. The leaves of the trees are too far from the ground—the rustling sound they produce shouldn\'t be that loud—so the sound must come from the bushes in the forest.

I am curious to what or who is going to come out. My Mana can\'t penetrate into the forest even though I could spread it just fine inside the forest, so I can\'t tell whether what will show up is an ally or a threat.

Velucan has mentioned about a group of human Adventurers who are going to Brontes Dukedom by passing through Amizanima Forest. That means, there is a possibility that whoever coming out of the forest can be one of them.

Because of that, everyone of us stands up and prepares ourselves for battle. We do still hope it is one of our Warriors though; we don\'t want to kill humans near an area that is already close to Antares Kingdom\'s jurisdiction.

Tap. Tap.

Judging by the steps, there is only one person walking towards us. The steps are getting faster the closer the person gets, however, making me wonder if said person has noticed that a trio of Cursed Creations are ready to kick his ass.

After just a few seconds, the person is fully dashing at us. I can\'t sense any killing intent coming from the person, but he is panicking as if he is being chased by something behind him.

Whoosh!

The moment the person exits the forest, he immediately runs at me. Holding my shoulders firmly before shaking my body violently, he is urging all of us to disguise ourselves as if he knows us well.

"Guys, it\'s me! Quick, go disguise yourself!"

"Excuse me, who are you?"

The man has an ashy grey hair, grey eyes, a face that anyone will say handsome, a well trimmed beard, a height of 6\'4" feet, and a muscular stature. I do not know the man at all even though he seems to know me, so I can only tilt my head in confusion.

His aura and presence somehow feels familiar. Still, I can\'t say for sure if I have ever met this person before or know him personally.

"Oh, come on, pup. It has only been three hours—how can you forget me already?"

The sky is still as dark as night even though it is already six o\'clock. We were still outside Amizanima Forest three hours ago; it was darker than now at that time, so the man must have mistaken me for someone he knows.

I still don\'t think I sensed a human looking at me from afar before I entered the forest though, so I look at the man questioningly again. I am questioning the man\'s sanity for considering a Demon as someone he knows.

"I am your General, damn it! I\'m Velucan! This is my pathetic human form! I am a Garou, remember?!"

"Oh... No wonder you felt familiar," I casually say, slightly perplexed.

"I feel like you are messing with me, but I\'ll let it slide this time." Velucan clicks his tongue lightly. "Alright, go disguise yourself as a human—my girlfriend is coming!"

Blinking my eyes in bewilderment, I say, "Just because you fuck her, it doesn\'t make her your girlfriend. Believe me, you\'ll be surprised when you find out how many men have entered her."

"I\'m experienced enough to know that! Just disguise yourself! I don\'t want a conflict to occur."

"You do realize that I look the most human among us," I say dryly.

"Ah, right... You are wearing a mask after all."

Letting go of my shoulders after nodding his head, Velucan turns to look at Vibiane and Eliseus. Both of them have assumed their "human form," and that makes Velucan nod his head in satisfaction.

Quickly turning his body toward the forest, he shoots forward while saying, "Act as human as possible!"

Velucan seems to be really smitten by this new girl of his. His behaviour is rather unbefitting of someone like him, but I guess the girl he fancies is just so sweet, it evokes his human instinct to protect her.

Pitter-patter.

We have to only wait for a few seconds until Velucan returns with his girlfriend... And girlfriends. The group of Adventurers going to Antares Kingdom—the one Velucan has mentioned about—is a group of female Adventurers.

Despite knowing that Velucan has a look that indicates he is someone who is into that sort of thing, I am still surprised to see his girlfriends. I didn\'t expect that he managed to establish a relationship with not only one of them, but also all of them.

"Everyone, these are my party members ... Sort of." Velucan gestured at us. "That mysterious guy wearing a mask is—"

"Kleinhaus," I interject.

"Yeah, Kleinhaus... Kuhum! That stoic ice queen is Elise, and that friendly airhead is Anne."

Velucan introduces us one by one by calling us with our fake names to his girlfriends. All of them are quite nice and friendly, so they immediately smile at us and also introduce themselves one by one.

"Hi, my name is Zoela. It\'s nice to meet all of you!" The most cheerful looking girl among the group introduces herself first. She has a brown hair, and a face that anyone will say cute.

"Hello, my name is Yule. I hope we can get along well." The most polite girl among the group bows at us. She has a black short hair, and a seemingly eternal serene look on her pleasant to look at face.

"Yo, name is Xenon. Nice to meet ya\'." The most barbaric looking girl looks at us with a grin. She has a wild, curly red hair that is tied in a ponytail; and a masculine but still pretty look.

"Winerva. Good to know you," The girl with the most problematic look introduces herself like she is forced to participate in a school talent show by her parents. She has a long pink hair, and a look that people claim to be a \'bad girl\' look.

"I am Vinetta. Pleasure to meet you." The most normal looking girl in the group gives us the plainest introduction. She is a blonde who looks like that cocky smart girl everyone meets in their high school.

While all of them look like they really want to bond with us, none of us moves returns the same feeling. We all turn our head to Velucan to ask what he is actually planning to do.

He sighs lightly when he notices our gaze. Walking toward us, he pulls us aside and puts us in a circle.

"Listen, they are just going to follow us until we reach Brontes Dukedom. It\'s not far from here, so, at most, we will only spend 5 hours with them," Velucan says helplessly.

"You know we can reach Brontes Dukedom in two hours without them, don\'t you?" Eliseus retorts. "They will only slow us down."

"They are nice people. It\'s been so long since I found friends who see me for what I am inside not how I look outside."

"They are your girlfriends," I rebuke. "All of them."

"I have only one girlfriend—the rest are girl friends. I have only slept with one of them!" Velucan insists.

"I spent my time talking with my girlfriend\'s friends, who have become my girl friends, after doing the deed. After all of my aroused soldiers satisfied their urge, they had become my good friends. Because of that, I want to let them live a little bit longer."

"What about the others?" Vibiane tilts her head. "Let\'s say that they are coming with us. We won\'t be able to join the others with them, will we?"

"I have told them to take our original route; we are going to take a different route. Given how early we got out of the forest, we won\'t encounter them."

All of us collectively hum as we look at Velucan; he looks like a dog that is excited to spend its time with its new owner. We nod our head in agreement eventually, which excites him even more.

He immediately turns around and says sorry to his girl friends. He says he and us have been discussing about the shortest route to Brontes Dukedom that we should take, and all of them immediately accept his explanation.

Turning to us, he walks toward us with the girls following behind him. "Well, it\'s time to start our journey!" He exclaims. "The sun will rise soon, and there is nothing better than basking ourselves in the sunlight while running after our dream."

"That is so poetic of you, Lucan."

"Yeah, that sounds beautiful, but I have to say it is too corny for my taste."

"That\'s what makes him interesting though."

"Indeed. Hahahaha!"

I don\'t hate literature, mind you, but seeing Velucan being poetic is painful. He looks like an idiot who thinks a poem will stop the war whenever he tries being poetic.

The girls seem to not mind Velucan\'s habit of talking nonsense though. In contrary, they enjoy it; so I guess this is the reason why Velucan doesn\'t want to see them die yet.

That is a very simple and also pathetic reason. I don\'t know whether I should laugh or pity Velucan\'s need of someone to listen to his nonsense.