Welcome to the Demon’s Cabin - Chapter 21

Irene stole a glance at Idris, whose word count had decreased to a surprising degree. After pleading with her to search the other storage shed, only to confirm there was truly nothing there, he had looked as if his soul had vacated his body throughout the entire walk back along the forest path.

His reaction looked so gloomy that it was incomparable to even when he had first seen her. While she was quite grateful that he feared her existence less than the risk of starvation, she began to worry before she could even enjoy the shift. He kept muttering to himself things like, “If there are this many ears of corn, then this many days,” or, “If there is this much wheat, then this many loaves of bread,” and she was not sure if it was alright to just leave him be.

‘Is it really that serious of a matter?’

It had been so long since she lived while eating proper food that the gravity of it did not quite register.

Come to think of it, she was devouring food she did not even need and planned to continue doing so, so she felt a bit sorry for Idris, who was so obsessed with the food supply.

While Irene was pondering what to do, her eyes met the eyes of a hawk perched atop a distant treetop. Watching the large bird hurriedly take flight with a flutter of its brown wings, her eyes sparkled.

‘Right, if worst comes to worst, I can just catch animals for him to eat.’

Because this place was far from the source of demonic energy and close to human habitation, quite a few animals lived here. While the predators had mostly been killed off by monsters to establish a hierarchy, many herbivores, whose primary job had always been to flee, remained.

Since they often wandered into Irene’s territory, there was no need for her to sneak out specifically to hunt. It seemed like a truly great idea.

“Mr. Idris, please do not worry so much! There are wild animals as well, so if worst comes to worst, could we not just catch and eat them?”

“Do wild animals live nearby?”

“Yes. You saw a squirrel earlier. Perhaps because monsters do not enter this territory, quite a few animals roam around, so it is not a problem.”

Provided they did not run into her, of course. The moment they locked eyes, they would either freeze or flee. It was nothing short of disappointing, considering she neither harmed nor ate them.

The deathly look on Idris’s face seemed to shift as he fell into deep thought, gradually smoothing out. Having finally regained about half of his usual expression, he turned his head with eyes full of hope.

“Do large animals roam about as well?”

“Hmm, I have mostly only seen small animals.”

“Ah……”

Idris turned deathly pale again and wiped his face with his large hands. His footsteps, which had been falling at a steady interval, repeatedly slowed down and then sped up. He seemed to be lost in thought.

How should she put it.

He really looked like he did not want to starve.

‘I have no intention of letting him starve anyway, but I cannot say that.’

Catching a few animals was no task at all, and while there were few large animals here, things like wild boars were scattered everywhere if one just went a little further down the mountain. While leaving the territory was a suicidal act for Idris, for her, it was nothing more or less than a stroll, so there was no way he would starve to death. As long as Irene herself remained determined, that is.

‘But is it alright for a person to live only on meat?’

At the sudden thought, Irene’s feet, encased in polished black boots, came to a halt. Idris sent a puzzled look toward her as she stopped in the middle of the forest, but Irene paid it no mind.

‘Did he say that if he saved carefully, he could eat for about two months? Then, if we assume he eats only meat for a month, that is three months. What, we have plenty of time.’

She had worried for nothing. Three months? More like, as long as he was with her, there was a high possibility that Idris’s sanity would reach its limit in less than a month.

If he could just stay like this without going crazy until then, she was willing to seriously devise a plan when the time came. Yes, provided he looked at her with that exact expression.

A mundane expression. A face that revealed no emotion other than the thought: ‘Why did she stop so suddenly? What is going on?’

The dilemma was resolved in an instant. Thinking it was no big deal after all, Irene flashed her usual bright smile.

“It is nothing. Let us hurry.”

“……? Yes, I understand.”

Idris seemed to accept it immediately and followed after her. As he, being much taller than her, walked beside her, the slanted morning sunlight was completely blocked out. Irene, standing within his shadow, tilted her head for a moment and then laughed radiantly.

“Mr. Idris, do not worry too much. There are truly many small animals, and quite a few fish live in the lake. Even if the grain runs out, we will be able to make a sufficient meal.”

‘Still, I should reassure him; that way, it will take as long as possible for him to lose his mind.’

“In the lake? That is unexpected. It is so strangely clear that I thought there would be almost no fish.”

“There are not a vast amount, but there are quite a few schools of small fish. They usually live in reasonably shallow areas, so would we not be able to catch them easily if we just made a net?”

“That is a stroke of luck in the midst of misfortune……”

From what she had seen every time she swam down to the bottom of the lake, even the fish living in the lowest parts only roamed at a medium depth at best.

One of the facts she had newly learned after turning into this grotesque thing was that animals were much more sensitive than she thought. They were foolish, but on the other hand, they were very clever and quick.