On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

"I—I have to feed a Wyvern?"

"Yes, the Wyverns."

"H-How many are there?"

"Not many—ten."

"..."

As I look at the expressionless Valeria, I am sure she is laughing at me inwardly. She must be enjoying the look on my face. I am not going to blame her; I would definitely do the same thing if I were in her position.

Gazing at the dark, sinister room that I visited briefly yesterday, I can't help gulping drily upon remembering what kind of Aura greeted me when I entered it yesterday. When I remember about what I have faced however, I suddenly lose my fear.

"Now that I think about it, I have died too many times that I don't care about dying once again."

"Hoh? Are you not afraid?"

"I am not afraid of dying—I just hate pain."

Valeria crosses her hand then hums to herself while looking at me. She stares at me silently from behind her mask for a few seconds, before motioning me to come in with her head.

Shrugging nonchalantly, I walk forward, and enter the stable in the next moment. 'As I expected, I don't feel as much fear as I used to.' I am still uncomfortable with the aura the room has, but I believe I will be able to adapt to it in no time.

As I turn my body around to Valeria so I can ask her a few questions, she immediately starts explaining about what I should do.

"You have two hours to do your job—to feed all of the ten Wyverns. I will close the door the moment you start doing your job, and you won't be able to open it unless two hours has passed, even if you have done your job before it."

Seeing there is a pause in Valeria's explanation, I raise my hand politely. "Excuse me, Miss. Valeria. Can I ask you a question?" Valeria nods her head, and I continue, "In what way this part of training can help me?"

Valeria scoffs lightly before saying, "Who says it's a part of training? There is a reason I call it a job: you are doing it as a way to pay for the things we provide you." She waves her hand graciously. "Life is not free."

I open my mouth, but no words come out. I am so speechless by her explanation, I don't know how to react.

"But, you said this is the next step in the Training Field earlier. Also, why do I have to pay? Shouldn't it be the opposite?"

Uncaring to my muttering, Valeria opens her mouth once again. "You also have to understand that not finishing your job will get you punished. Therefore, make sure you have already fed all of these Wyverns by the time I open the door."

"What is the punishment?"

"Something you won't like."

I really want to joke with her by saying, 'If it's S&M play, yeah, I won't like it,' but I am afraid Darth Valeria will do something I really don't like—getting my abdomen opened like an envelope filled with money.

"Does this world have a culture of gutting someone out or something?" I laugh at my absurd muttering, then shake my head in denial. "There is no way—"

"We have that culture."

"..."

I just stare at Valeria blankly, and she stares—well she is not really staring at me, but she is looking at me—at me in absolute seriousness. I chuckle hollowly at that; I already somehow get the picture of what she will do to punish me if I fail to finish the job.

"I will do my best, Miss Valeria."

"Good."

Valeria nods her head in appreciation, likely because I have a professional smile on my face. I am not actually worrying about whether I can finish the job, but the time I will spend here alone with the Wyverns.

After all, feeding Wyverns is not so different from feeding horses or any other farm animals, and the only difference lies in the level of danger the Wyverns possess. 'If I am careful enough, this job should be easy, right?'

"You are lucky that the food is already here, so you only have to deliver the food to the Wyvern's cage."

"Where is the food?"

"There." Valeria points her finger toward the left corner beside me. "Very well. I will lock the door now, so you may start your job." As fast as a wind, and as gracious as a noble lady, Valeria leaves the room.

I look at the now locked door in bewilderment, shock, and dread. Turning my eyes to the left, I can see ten lumps of meat that are a half times bigger than my body. Looking at the size alone, one can tell how heavy they are.

'Feeding Wyverns should be easy, right?' At this moment, I recall my naive thought about how things should have been, and can't help cursing inwardly. 'How the fuck should I bring them to the Wyverns?!'

I want to scream badly just so I can let out my frustrations, but I am smart enough to realize that doing so will only bring me unwanted pain. Judging by how quiet the stable is, these Wyverns must like silence, and I don't want to provoke them.

"Okay, calm down, Layland. You can do it. You have three possible fate awaiting you: getting your abdomen opened, getting burnt to crisp by a Wyvern, and succeeding in your endeavor. You have to fight for the better fate."

As I steady my breathing, my mind is getting sharper and calmer. "I have to stay positive." I clear my throat, and resume my monologue. "Out of the three, the first two situations have the biggest probability of happening—I am positive of it..."

'AAHHHHH!!!' I scream internally, as I am aware of my misplaced positivity. Clutching my head in frustration, I crouch and scream internally for, I think, 10 minutes.

I stand myself up when I am sure I have already died internally, then walk toward one of the meat lumps on the corner of the room. I take a light sniff of the meat, but immediately scrunch up my nose afterwards.

"Dude, it smells worse than bear meat. I feel like my nose is falling." Fanning my nose with my right hand to somehow get rid of the smell, I grab the bone sticking with the meat with my left hand. "I'm glad the bone is not slippery."

I try pulling it, but the meat barely moves an inch. I sigh softly, then put my other hand on the bone and pull the meat once again.

It moves, but not even a foot away from its initial position. I turn my gaze to the closest Wyvern cage in the stable, then calculate the distance between it and the meat I am dragging.

"50 feet, huh? So, the farthest cage will be 250 feet away from me." I smile bitterly before laughing humorlessly. "Won't it be a good workout? ... FUC—calm down, me. It's not good to be angry."

Putting a smile on my face once again, I am quickly filled with positivity once again. Of course, my positivity is on how sure I am that I am going to fail miserably, but I still pull the gigantic meat with everything I got.

"I am lucky all of them are drumsticks." I don't actually feel that lucky that the meat has a bone to be pulled on, but I am trying to fill myself with as much positivity as possible. "Though, I am not sure whether this meat belonged to a bird species."

I drag the meat while saying many encouraging remarks at myself, not only to give myself some hope, but also distract my mind from the burden the activity is giving me. I have only dragged it for 7 feet, but I am already sweating like I have just taken a bath.

Around two minutes later, I eventually arrive in front of the first cage with the meat behind me. I find myself not shaking upon gazing into the dark cage, unlike the last time, but I am puzzled about how I should feed the meat to the Wyvern.

"The gap between the bars aren't even wide enough for the meat to fit in."

Humming to myself, I try to think of a solution. My gaze goes to my waist, and my face quickly contorts upon doing so.

"Valeria is not telling me to cut this meat into pieces with this short sword, right? She really has a bad sense of humor, if it is ... Actually, she might actually want me to do it."

As I accept getting my gut opened as the fate that I will meet in the end, I touch the short sword on my waist with a small sad smile. I am about to pull it out of the sheath, when suddenly I feel an ominous aura coming from in front of me.

As I have learned today from my fight with Millonia that ominous aura equals to an incoming attack, I quickly turn my head toward the cage. Upon doing so, I am greeted by a pair of red eyes with a slitted pupil in the middle.

Unlike the last time however, I can now fully see the Wyvern. It is around 15 feet tall as it stretches its neck toward me, but it will be around 25 feet tall when it straightens its neck.

It is looking at me in, what I can say, interest, and I strangely can't look away from its eyes. It takes me a long time to realize it, but I am not afraid of it.