The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 35
“Idiot, you actually came all the way here?”
In that instant, Theo turned back and opened his mouth.
It was then that Bael noticed the crooked grin spreading across Theo’s face.
“You didn’t think I’d notice you following me?”
……
“Try running.”
“What?”
“If you can manage it.”
Whoosh.
In a sudden motion, Theo wheeled his brown horse’s head in the opposite direction.
……Ha.
Bael’s brow furrowed.
A trap.
The Frost Water Snake was a carnivorous predator, and it had a particular taste for horses.
If there was a human atop one, it wouldn’t turn that down either.
Knowing this full well, Theo drove his horse toward the forest before Bael could even react, widening the distance between himself and the Frost Water Snake.
“If you just sit there like an idiot on that horse, you’ll get devoured in the most ridiculous way possible!”
In other words, Theo was telling Bael to dismount and flee.
More precisely, to stumble pathetically without the use of his legs.
Either way, the result would be the same.
Bael would be eliminated, and Theo would automatically take home the victory.
A filthy, cowardly move.
Bael could sense the scheme Theo had constructed.
The Frost Water Snake wasn’t a common creature, but one could certainly be procured for a price.
Bring one specimen—a large one—to lure Bael to that spot, then Theo himself would flee on horseback to safety while Bael, desperate to survive, would tumble from his mount and thrash about.
Once the Spectator Stands intervened at that point, the Hunting Competition would be over, and he’d take the championship. That must have been the picture Theo had painted.
Rather than heed his call to flee, Bael gripped the bow in his hands tightly.
The instant Theo and his horse came rushing near the forest’s edge,
Tss—
A peculiar sound escaped the Frost Water Snake’s maw as it lay half-submerged in the water, its gaze fixed on the shore.
Tsss-tss-tss—
The snake held its massive body perfectly still, repeating the sound several times.
Its sickly gleaming, blood-red eyes were fixed not on Bael and Estelle, but on Theo and his horse.
Tss-tss-tss-tss-tss—
The sound grew louder and unnaturally, unnervingly so.
It felt as though it was constricting the listener’s very body.
Just as the snake’s cry swelled into a horrific wail,
“Wha—wha—what?”
Theo’s galloping horse came to an abrupt, dead stop.
“What—what’s wrong? Move, I said!”
Theo kicked frantically in panic, but the horse remained rigid, unmoving.
Or rather, the horse stood stiff and trembling.
“……An Innate Ability?”
Bael murmured to himself.
An Innate Ability was a unique offensive power possessed by only the rarest of Monsters.
Hypnosis, control—and countless other forms—a strength incomparably greater than any ordinary beast.
In this case, it seemed to pierce deep terror into its prey, rendering them immobile.
So thoroughly that their entire body would stiffen.
Bael clenched his teeth.
‘Of all Frost Water Snakes……’
The fact that the water snake Theo had paid for possessed such power was a senseless, unhelpful stroke of misfortune to everyone concerned.
Shiver—
Estelle suddenly shuddered with displeasure, and through their shared Mana, Bael distinctly felt the sensation transmitted from her.
Fear. Yes, that was it.
But unlike Theo’s horse, Estelle was not paralyzed stiff.
The innate instinct to break free from panic allowed Estelle’s movements to continue.
Theo’s horse, however, faced a different fate.
“Hey! You crazy bastard! You never acted like this! Move before it gets close—uuugggghhh!”
Splash—
The water snake propelled itself fully out of the water and sank its fangs into the neck of Theo’s horse, injecting its venom.
“Eeeek!”
Theo tumbled from his horse and began crawling frantically to escape.
The horse lost consciousness without so much as a cry, and the Frost Water Snake withdrew its fangs, its eyes darting between Bael and Theo.
Those blood-red eyes gleamed sickeningly, as if deciding which prey to strike first.
Bael felt Estelle shake her head vigorously.
Shiver—
Use them as bait and let’s escape.
—that’s what it seemed to convey.
“Wait.”
At Bael’s refusal, he felt Estelle’s sharp irritation.
Shiver!
No, let’s run!
“Stay calm.”
Whinny—
You maniac, hurry!
Instead of fleeing, Bael nocked an arrow onto his bowstring.
“We can’t run.”
He gritted his teeth and released the arrow.
“……I said I would win.”
And he did want to win.
Not merely to survive, but to triumph in this clash completely and utterly.
Against Theo, against the Frost Water Snake—he would not flee, and he would not yield.
This was resolve.
A new will born in these two years, one that transcended mere survival and reached toward the desire to truly live.
For a moment, Bael seemed to taste the chocolate that Lucilla had made for him on his tongue.
She’d said she would show him nothing but new flavors.
Perhaps what she had given him was not a taste, but a new life itself.
Each time he ate the food she prepared, each time he felt her relentless determination to make him strong, an ambition he’d never known before bloomed in his heart.
Whinny!
Since when did you become so greedy, you human beast!
Regardless of Estelle’s curses flooding through his entire body, the arrow cleaved through the air and lodged itself in the Frost Water Snake’s neck.
Tss!
The Frost Water Snake, which had been baring its fangs at the trembling Theo, suddenly turned its head sharply toward Bael’s direction.
Whinny! Shiver-shiver-shiver!
If anyone dies, it’ll be you alone!
Just as Estelle was about to wheel around frantically, Bael poured a faint stream of Mana into her body.
“Once this is over, I’ll convince Lucilla to feed you the most delicious thing she can make.”
Shiver……?
Estelle’s eyes widened, and she faltered, coming to a stop.
Tss-tss-tss!
Bael seized that opening, meeting the serpent’s gaze head-on as he steadied his breathing.
Only seconds remained before the snake’s fangs reached Estelle and Bael.
Fleeing was no longer an option—he’d already struck it from consideration.
Fighting with Mana was futile; the opponent was too large, too powerful.
Arrows could do little more than pierce the hide.
That left only one choice: to bring it down face to face.
Bael threw down his bow and drew the sword from his belt.
‘I can do this.’
He would do what needed to be done and return to Lucilla’s side.
Wasn’t that what she so desperately wanted?
Splash—
The serpent closed in in an instant, its maw gaping wide as it descended upon Estelle and Bael.
* * *
Everyone in the Spectator Stands rose from their seats.
“Isn’t—isn’t that suicide?”
“We have to jump in and save him right now!”
“The horse looked like it was about to flee, so why did it suddenly stop……!”
While they murmured among themselves, Lucilla watched Bael in silence.
Or rather, what she observed was precisely Bael and Estelle—both of them.
Even as the massive serpent Monster bore down upon them, the two remained perfectly anchored to their spot.
‘That’s not rigidity from fear.’
Estelle was a rare sensitive hybrid of a Holy Spirit Horse, and by nature moved faster than any other the moment danger was sensed.
It wasn’t as though there had been no time to flee, either.
When the Frost Water Snake had struck at Theo’s horse, Estelle’s body was already oriented in the opposite direction.
Yet they stood there nonetheless.
As if by design, as if some plan lay beneath it all.
Lucilla gazed once more at the Crystal Sphere containing Bael.
Bael’s eyes seemed oddly composed, and that composure was clearly being transmitted to Estelle.
The attack could be evaded.
Or perhaps—evasion was not all that awaited.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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