Chapter 33 The Church Knight: "Don't you have anything to say?"...
When Catherine realized this, her body stiffened involuntarily.
She pretended that she hadn't woken up yet. Although she knew she would have to speak sooner or later, she still hoped to postpone the first conversation as much as possible.
But how could Tarasco not have noticed her movements when she was not fully conscious? He played along, pretending not to realize she was awake, while hoping she would speak first.
Unexpectedly, Catherine was able to pretend for so long, and she didn't say a word until they entered the cave and he put her on the ground.
Tarasco's brow twitched, and his lips unconsciously tightened.
"Don't you have anything to say?"
He hesitated for a long time, but after seeing Catherine start climbing onto the bed on her own, he couldn't help but speak up.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Catherine turned her head, her eyes shining as she looked at him with delight: "Your Vilandar language is very good now!"
"What I asked was..."
Tarasco was speaking when he saw Catherine blinking at him, her eyes full of innocence. The rest of his words fell silent.
"never mind."
He hadn't taken more than a few steps after turning around when he heard footsteps chasing after him from behind.
Tarasco deliberately slowed down, and soon a warm hand touched his side. He looked down and saw an anxious face.
"Are you... are you angry? I'm human. That day was the first time I encountered my own kind in the Devil's Forest. I was just so homesick..."
Catherine spoke quickly, as if afraid Tarasco would leave before she finished. She looked utterly pitiful, her eyes brimming with tears.
Not wanting him to see her cry, she quickly lowered her face, and a tear fell to the ground with a soft thud.
Upon seeing Catherine like this, Tarasco's anger and displeasure vanished instantly, leaving only a faint trace of emotion in his mind.
Given how fragile the human race is, if she misses her fellow human beings... it seems understandable, right?
After a long silence, Catherine, her face downcast, bit her lip and hesitantly asked in a low voice, "Do you really think I would leave you?"
Tarasco, who had genuinely thought so before, instinctively retorted, "No."
Upon hearing this, Catherine hugged him, burying her face in his skin, the warmth of her tears making him feel inexplicably itchy.
"That's wonderful!" she exclaimed, sounding delighted.
Tarasco reached out and ruffled Catherine's hair.
"Never mind," he thought. He was so much stronger than her; he should be tolerant of her minor mistakes. Besides, she was crying so hard; she certainly didn't really want to leave him. It was all the fault of those humans; they had deceived her.
Thinking of this, Tarasco narrowed his eyes. He regretted not killing all the humans when he left.
Just then, Catherine's voice pulled him back to reality.
"I'm hungry... I haven't been able to eat anything because of the sudden attack by those giant snakes." Her voice was filled with deep grievance.
Tarasco immediately went to the top of the cave and retrieved the food stored there. He didn't see the triumphant smile flashing in Catherine's eyes as he turned away.
However, it must be said that it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. After eating human-cooked food with seasonings for several days, even though Catherine was mentally prepared, she still couldn't help but freeze when she took the first bite of this tasteless roast meat.
Catherine glanced at Tarasco's puzzled expression and took a deep breath: "It's delicious."
After quickly finishing a piece of roast meat, Catherine pretended to be full.
At the camp, the snakes attacked at night, and after all that commotion, it was now late at night. Usually, Catherine would be fast asleep by this time. So, with something in her stomach, drowsiness gradually crept in and quickly overwhelmed her.
She sleepily searched for her bed, then leaned her back against Tarasco with peace of mind.
In the darkness, she didn't notice that Tarasco's beastly eyes were deep in color and that his breathing was gradually becoming heavier.
From the moment Catherine entered the cave, her scent wafted continuously, and later, it surrounded his nostrils at all times.
She didn't mean it, but he couldn't resist the temptation.
Catherine had just touched the bed and was figuring out how to climb up when suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. The next second, she was abruptly lifted into the air and landed on the gray back armor.
Tarasco buried his head in the crook of her neck, his hands tightly wrapped around her waist, their body heat burning.
Catherine reacted instantly. A damp touch came from her neck, the warm, moist temperature pressing against her skin with each breath, instantly raising goosebumps.
After being away for a few days, her memory of the event had become somewhat hazy. However, the human body is a strange thing; it mostly requires the brain to control it, yet the traces left behind sometimes don't fade away with the blurring of memory. Soon, under Tarasco's constant kisses, she began to lift her head in a daze, responding to his kisses.
Catherine raised her hand and hooked it around his neck, pressing down with a little force. Trapped in the warmth, she lost her strength and could only cling to Tarasco's neck to keep from falling.
Tarasco didn't know what she was going to do, but he still submitted to her power without resistance, willingly bowing down before her.
But later on, Catherine seemed to have no strength left to even hook her arms around his neck. She lowered her hands somewhat angrily, but Tarasco, of course, wouldn't let her fall to the ground. He caught Catherine, just like a mother in a human tribe would hold her baby.
Time ticked by, and the heat finally reached a point where Catherine could no longer bear it; tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks. She tilted her head back and unconsciously kissed Tarasco. She didn't really know what she was doing, but she knew that if her attention wasn't diverted, she would go mad first.
The next morning, Catherine was still fast asleep, buoyed by the previous day's enthusiasm in Tarasco. Meanwhile, at the camp, the hunting party, led by Benson, was preparing to set off for the hunt.
Yesterday, on the festival of the god of agriculture, most of their food was used in the preparations for the festival, while the rest was trampled and soiled during the fight with the giant snake and became inedible.
In order not to go hungry all day, they had to get up early to hunt for food.
Before setting off, the hunting party members did a final check to ensure their protective gear was in good working order and their weapons were sharp. Then they waved to the rest of the camp and disappeared into the Devil's Forest.
They had been in the Devil's Forest for over half a month, and had been fighting wild beasts for just as long, gaining rich hunting experience. Unless they encountered extremely ferocious magical beasts or large herds of them, they generally wouldn't run into any problems. Therefore, no one was particularly worried about today's hunt.
The weather is pretty good today. The fog in Devil's Forest is relatively light, with only a thin layer covering the cool morning sunlight, giving everything in the forest a hazy feel.
The group moved silently through the jungle, stopping occasionally to carefully examine animal droppings and footprints on the ground to locate predators. They needed to look for animals that weren't particularly large to ensure they could hunt them down without losing their lives.
After walking for an hour or two, Benson spotted a wild beast that was perfect for hunting.
They carefully set traps along its likely path, then quickly hid in the bushes, waiting for the monster to arrive.
Click—
Almost an hour later, a soft rustling sound of grass blades rang out, and a snow-white beast resembling a lynx appeared in their sight.
This lynx was nearly two meters tall, with a rounded body and thick fur covering its entire body. It shook its head, shaking off the leaves that had fallen on it, and walked unnoticed towards the trap they had set.
The people in the bushes held their breath, preparing to rush forward the moment the trap was activated.
Just then, a faint tremor came from the ground. The snow-white beast seemed to be startled and fled into the depths of the Devil's Forest, disappearing in no time.
Benson and his companions were somewhat disappointed. The fact that the monster had escaped meant that their preparations of more than two hours had been in vain, and they would have to start the search all over again.
However, this was a common occurrence during hunts, so they didn't falter for long. They emerged from the bushes, ready to dismantle the trap and move it to another location. But before they could all emerge, the faint tremor that only the magical beast had noticed became so strong that even Benson and the other humans could feel it.
They all stopped in their tracks, turned around, and hid back in the bushes to observe what had happened.
Soon, through the gaps in the leaves, they saw a group of humans dressed in white and gold robes walking in an orderly fashion towards them, several hundred meters away.
"It's a knight from the church!" someone whispered from the bushes.
They had once been servants in noble households, often accompanying their masters to and from the Papacy. Upon seeing the clothes those people were wearing, they instantly recognized their identities.
His voice was low, but the knights still heard it. The leader, his brow furrowed, shouted, "Who goes there!"
"Oh no!"
Upon seeing the group chasing after them, everyone immediately turned to leave.
The Devil's Forest has always been off-limits to humans, a rule explicitly written in the law—of course, those who were once slaves were unaware that every few years, the Church would select a nun as a sacrifice to appease the Tree Spirit. Only those not chosen as sacrifices were forbidden entry, which is why they initially mistook Catherine for the witch they were searching for.
Of course, very occasionally, some people might accidentally wander into Devil's Forest or sneak in for various reasons, but these are all done in secret, and the Vatican is unaware of them.
They sneaked in.
They dared not imagine what punishment they would receive if caught by the Vatican, so they could only leave as soon as possible to avoid confronting them.
However, to their surprise, the knights were much faster than expected, and they were caught up with in no time.
Seeing that there was no way to escape, Benson turned around and looked at the knights in front of him, placing his hand on the large sword on his back.
The two sides exchanged glances, and then, in the next second, they both picked up their weapons and charged towards each other.
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