Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 2 (Part 2):

The conversation ended in the typical fashion, with Elaga losing her temper. Patience was never a virtue for a creature like Elaga, who was a monster from the beginning.

However, Helmut didn’t give in. Since then, he would seize any opportunity to pester Elaga, his sole conversation partner, with various questions.

“Elaga! What’s this called?”

“Elaga, is this something to eat?”

“Elaga, why is your name Elaga?”

– Kaaaaaaaa!

A stubborn person who wouldn’t be swayed by tantrums or threats. As even the fur that she proudly flaunted began to fall out due to stress, Elaga climbed up a tree in frustration.

‘If this continues, I might explode from the inside!’

That day, Elaga made up her mind.

‘I need to make him self-sufficient and let him go quickly.’

However, it took longer than expected for Helmut to become self-sufficient.

The growth of the human child was slower. Time passed like a snail until he could stand and walk on his own.

Left alone, he might die at any moment, so he had to be fed regularly. And he continued to pester with questions.

Elaga also understood that learning was part of growing up. Humans grew up with learning.

But Elaga was sincerely suffering. It felt like her lifespan was decreasing within the endless cycle of parenting.

Elaga was a monster. And monsters don’t usually care for children; they don’t nurture them.

But she took care of Helmut. Why? nobody knows why. It just happened naturally.

Sometimes, the flow of things has a certain inevitability. Elaga had become accustomed to the shackles of parenting.

The little one had grown quite a bit, as much as a mouthful more.

One day, when Helmut turned ten, he said to Elaga.

“I want to try hunting too.”

– If you learn to hunt, you can fend for yourself, right?

“Yes.”

Elaga readily agreed.

*

Choosing a target was not difficult at all. In Elaga’s vast territory, there were creatures big and small coexisting. Thanks to Elaga’s implicit tolerance.

The Forest of Roots was vast, but the monsters couldn’t venture beyond the sacred boundary.

When the strong ones growled and dominated their territories, the weak ones had no place to go, so they naturally shared their territories.

The powerful monsters that ruled large territories would watch each other, but territorial disputes were between predators, not the birds or mice that passed by.

Of course, Elaga’s territory didn’t look like a peaceful pasture. Underestimating it meant inviting a challenge in the Pahae Forest.

Monsters transformed from wild animals were a good source of food. Elaga hunted them and fed Helmut.

At the age of ten, Helmut knew a lot about the Forest of Roots, especially where he himself was in the forest.

If Elaga hadn’t masked his scent, he would have been eaten without a trace.

Even if he had the seed of darkness, a ten-year-old boy couldn’t just hunt as he pleased.

‘But there are creatures I can hunt.’

Helmut made a plan. When he said he wanted to try hunting, he didn’t say it in vain.

Elaga watched from a distance. She had shown Helmut how to hunt many times. Although there was a huge physical difference, Helmut would know the techniques.

Helmut waited in the trees. He knew that there were creatures below that occasionally appeared and ate grass.

After a short wait, the creature that had discreetly appeared greedily buried its head in the lush foliage.

‘Now!’

Without hesitation, Helmut leaped down and pounced on the target. Thump!

-Kyah, kyahhh!

A scream pierced the eardrums. It was grotesque to call this creature a rabbit, given its enormous size. It had sharp teeth in a body as big as a tree trunk.

‘I’ll get my bones torn if I let my guard down.’

Cold sweat dripped down his neck. Helmut didn’t compare to Elaga in terms of physical strength, but he used his strong hands to firmly press on the target’s neck. This was the weak point.

-Kyeek, kyiiii!

It struggled fiercely. Being just ten years old now, Helmut couldn’t hold on for long.

‘I need to quickly cut off its air supply.’

Helmut quickly reached out and grabbed a sharp rock. Then, he vigorously struck the struggling rabbit’s head.

Crunch! A mixture of blood and brain matter splattered on his expressionless face.

Instant death. Convulsions ran through the rabbit’s body, and its strength faded.

Helmut calmly turned the lifeless body over. It was his successful first hunt.

His excited, bird-like pupils stared through the lifeless rabbit.

– Step aside.

From the distance, Elaga, who had been leisurely observing, approached with a nonchalant stride.

Helmut stepped back, and Elaga raised her claws and slashed the rabbit’s chest. The ground was soaked with the spurting blood.

Helmut wiped the splattered blood from his face with the back of his hand. Elaga used her sharp claw tip to slowly extract something from the rabbit’s chest.

A small, spherical shape with a dark, ominous hue. It seemed to contain darkness within it. Helmut had never seen this before because Elaga had always eaten her prey immediately.

“See, this is a core. When you eat it, you become stronger, and it replenishes the life force that diminishes as you age. This one is small because the creature was weak.”

Helmut nodded. Just as he was about to reach out for his first prey,

– Where to?

Elaga, flicking her tail, forcefully pushed Helmut away and swiftly swallowed the core.

– What are you doing!

Helmut, who was about to sulk, grabbed Elaga’s fur in annoyance. Elaga thumped the ground with her tail.

“Why, can’t I even have this one? Are you stingy?”

– You should have asked if you wanted it!

With a grumpy response, Helmut turned his head abruptly. Elaga chuckled.

– Seems like you’re getting better.

Normally, Helmut scratched and Elaga threw tantrums. The current situation was quite pleasant.

– You’re a human. If you eat something like this and become a monster, you won’t be able to leave the forest.

In any case, that was the biggest reason. Elaga didn’t do this on purpose to tease Helmut.

Elaga closed her mouth, feeling somewhat lonely.

Helmut, who stared blankly at her, began to drag the lifeless rabbit away. The meat was his reward.

Otaku_Tensei

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