Dein sat on their small prison as he watch the people leave, carrying the awakened nightmare creature with them atop the wagon which was pulled by some while pushed by others.
At the same time, Clay and his all so serious friend who's still angrily scolding him as they walk behind the tribes people tied the rope back on the tree after lifting the wooden cage once more.
Seeing all this, Dein gave a smile. 'Curious…'
But to his side, the little girl's attention seems to be different from his as she silently muttered. Somehow both curious and concerned.
"Hey mister? Where do you think they're the wood mister?"
Dein simply scoffed, not really caring much about the nightmare creature as he was still engrossed in watching the two pair below him.
"I don't know? Probably to use as a firewood or something"
To Dein's surprise, the little girl's mouth hung suddenly hung agape when she heard his words and her eyes went wide, as if unable to believe what she just heard.
"You… you're a bad person aren't you Mister?"
This time, it was Dein who was startled as he immediately turned to the little girl.
"What? Where did you even get that?!"
But all he was met with was the little girl sticking her tongue out with a "Blee!" Then she rolled her eyes before proceeding to walk away from him, leaving Dein buffled, confused and slightly offended.
But what can he say though? The bastard was made out wood, what else could it possibly be used for? Unless the people of this tribes eats wood then that abomination would probably be turned into a house or burned charcoal.
Either way, Dein doesn't have any interest of knowing, it won't affect him anyway.
He simply sighed, his eyes wandering below him to look for the two guys again but to his surprise, they were gone.
'Where did they…?'
They couldn't possibly be gone that fast, he could even still see the group of warriors pushing and pulling the wagon so how did the two…
Suddenly, Dein was cut off as he heard a voice from behind.
"Hey, monster, food's ready"
Dein quickly turned around at the unfamiliar voice, already knowing who it must be.
And sure enough, it was the guy who seems to be scolding Clay earlier, behind him also stood Clay. Now, instead of his yesterday's curious and joyous look, his face was dark and he kept his gaze down, as if afraid that even letting his presence be known will be a mistake.
Dein sighed, he was just about to speak but the new guy beat him to it.
"Tsk! Hey Clay! are you sure this is the monster? It seems to be too stupid to even understand what food meant and…" he studied Dein from head to toe "…and you even have the guts to give this bastard clothes"
Clay faced the guy, his eyes a bit distant but before he could say anything, Dein answered. His tone friendly.
"Actually, I'm the one who asked for the clothes…"
The guy turn to him, his eyes now full of distain.
"So it really talks huh. How curious."
Then, the guy throws a bundle of food wrapped in the same kind of leaves as yesterday, causing some of it to spill on the wooden ground.
"Here, go eat."
Instead of getting angry, Dein's scary face simply formed a smile as he picked up the food and started eating. The guy's eyes narrowed at the sight and he spoke to Clay again.
"See? I told you. This rat is just the same as all of them, all it cares about is food."
Clay couldn't respond, only shrinking back at the guy's every word.
Dein meanwhile, continued to eat, not even caring about the two. After all, Dein would need all the nutrients he could get if he even hopes of recovering before the three days.
The little girl on the other hand, walked closer towards the two young man who seems to be at the same age as each other before tilting her head, studying the new guy in front of her, but of course the guy cannot see her.
After a while the little girl chuckled and said, looking at Dein while pointing at the arrogant guy.
"Haha… Angry mister!"
Hearing it, Dein couldn't help but choke on his food. What? Angry mister? Seeing how the guy's brows contort and his tone always mocking everytime he speak, it was oddly fitting and funny to say the least.
Seeing him on a coughing pit, Clay looks a bit worried while the guy laugh mockingly.
"Ha! Look at that, fricking stupid"
After a few more cough, Dein finally caught himself, he breathed heavily. Seeing the now finished food, he threw the leaf cover behind his back where the sun's light touched it and sat in a carefree position and said. his tone mocking.
"How disgusting. Does your tribe really eats that? If I'm not dying in hunger here I wouldn't even have spared that dog shit of a food a glance"
Both Clay and the guy looked shock by his sudden demeanor, albeit both wore a different expression on their faces.
Clay have his mouth hung open while the guy gnashed his teeth and spat.
"You rat!"
But Dein wasn't finished.
"Don't get angry on me now, I'm just stating the fact." He chuckled "…why? Does your primitive minds unable understand fact? Oh, yes really, that must be the truth! That's why you need the priestess's help right? Because tribes people are stupid!"
With that, Dein laugh. He could feel the guy fuming with anger now outside his cage and even Clay was taken aback by his words, he couldn't quite see it but Dein is sure if he kept going, both the two would be fuming with anger.
Meanwhile, the guy spoke.
"Youu! What do you even know huh? You monster! The food didn't probably meet your taste because you only eat humans and corpses of your fallen kin!"
"Ha! That might be true for others but let me tell you, even I, a monster, can cook a food better than that!"
Truth be told, Dein can't really cook. He tried doing so a lot of time but it really doesn't work for him. His family even tried hiring a professional chef to teach Dein since "cooking is one of the essentials any awakened must learned before traveling the dream realm" they said. Of course, Dein believe so too but his talent seems to be lacking when it comes to cooking.
'Well… I at least know how to start a fire so that's gotta be something'
While Dein is locked on his own stupid thoughts however, the guy opened his big mouth again.
"As if, you probably ca–" Then he stopped, gritting his teeth. His clicked his tongue before turning around. "Tsk! Why am I even arguing with a beast?"
Dein's eyes widen a bit at the sudden turn of events but he didn't let it show, instead he watch the guy leave with subtle curiosity. Irritation still visible in the guy's walk.
After a moment, he sighed, walking towards Clay who's still nervously watching the other guy walk away.
"He's finally gone"
Hearing his Dein's words, Clay turned around, speaking the next second with confused tone rather than angry.
"W-why did you do that?"
Dein raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean why? I just said all of that so he'll leave us alone"
"What? Why?" Clay asked, perplexed.
"Well, he's bullying you isn't he? Who's that guy anyway?"
This time, Clay let out a deep sigh while Dein sat down in front of him, followed by the little girl whom only he could see. After a short while, Clay answered. A frown on his usually happy face.
"His name is Klen, a… friend. And he's not bullying me. He really is just a very serious guy when it comes to monsters"
A really serious guy huh? Well, that there was no doubt, anyone should really be serious when facing nightmare creatures after all, so in that regard, Clay is actually the weird one.
However, the guy, Klen, his personality goes beyond serious and more of hatred when it comes to monsters. He might have a bad past if anyone knew or maybe he really just have severe anger issue.
'Well, to be fair, I did taunt him earlier…'
His taunting earlier, while unjustified was really just because Dein wants to see how far Klen's temper would go and what he would do as well as how Clay would react.
His reason was of course because he wants to find a way to persuade Clay to let him out and a certain guy who always scolds and berate him might just be the perfect way to do that.
Or so he hoped but in the next second Clay spoke again, making Dein froze in place.
"Also, I'm going to be in charge of the north side now, Klen will be taking care of this place"