I am a mindless machine.

"Even though this led to the current situation?"

Reaching the wooden chair beside Bart, Yun You gently adjusted the hem of her beige robe and sat down. Then she spoke directly.

Perhaps surprised that the girl would so incisively point out this well-known fact, even Bart was stunned for a moment. After thinking seriously for a moment, he said softly:

"Yes, I don't regret it. Because that bag of seeds really saved so many people, so many... more than I could ever imagine."

"After all, we live in this kind of world. For me, even being able to live and breathe the next day was like a dream. Now, being able to live such a leisurely life is completely unimaginable. Being able to increase the size of animals by more than three times... such advanced technology is something that forest elves can create with ease. This world is really trash (unreasonable), don't you think?" As if touched by a deep feeling, he glanced at the girl's delicate face and spoke at length with a wry smile. As the leader, he couldn't reveal these negative things to ordinary people, so it must have been accumulating for a long time.

"Yunyou, you will be the successor to the leadership."

After speaking, he looked earnestly at Yun You and revealed the real reason he had summoned her today: "You know, my wife died young due to poor sanitation. To me, Funa is the most important thing, a treasure more precious than life itself. And the current settlement... you understand, this burden is far too heavy for her. Although she always puts on a brave face in front of me, I can tell she doesn't actually like this position... From childhood to adulthood, the only thing she probably liked was playing."

"Funa is very dependent on you now, which means that if you inherit this position..."

"I have already given you a definite answer, Bart."

Yun You gently shook her head, her delicate face still expressionless, rejecting Bart's suggestion without any room for rebuttal.

She will not take any responsibility—she needs to act as an observer from the clearest position.

"...Is that so? I'm sorry, it seems I acted on my emotions."

Bart said with a wry smile, raising his head to look at the sky obscured by the cave ceiling, as if his gaze could truly penetrate the hard stone walls: "Ha, it's embarrassing to admit. When I first went to that ruined village and saw you, I thought the settlement would have another mouth to feed (a good-for-nothing), but who knew you would be so capable. Yunyou, you deserve a lot of credit for the settlement's development today."

"........."

"Alright, I've said what I needed to say. You can go back to what you're doing... I'm going to continue enjoying my leisurely life as a grandpa~"

Bart waved his hand, forcing an awkward smile again, trying to make the girl forget what happened today.

But at that moment—

"N-No, this is terrible!!! Lord Batou!!"

A young man came running over, panting and looking terrified.

"—What happened! Tell me quickly!" Seeing his expression, a sense of crisis he hadn't experienced in a long time returned. Bart asked him seriously without the slightest hesitation. He had a very bad feeling.

"Yes, yes, yes, they're orcs!" The young man stammered, his lips trembling and turning purple. "They...they attacked from the entrance!"

At the entrance—Oh no!

Bart's pupils constricted to their limit, and before his mind could even process it, he had already darted out. His speed was no less than it had been in his prime, and perhaps even slightly surpassed it. This was the power generated by squeezing his full potential to its absolute limit.

—Funa is in danger!!

Chapter Sixteen Arrives

The once peaceful village was now filled with despair and panic. The ground was littered with overturned or discarded farm tools and wooden implements, as well as muddy footprints left by those who had just been working in the fields, each step leaving a trail of filthy mud in the hard earth. Those who had been feeding the animals hadn't even had time to close the fences before fleeing, leaving the area filled with all sorts of enormous livestock running rampant.

The scene was a complete mess, and order had long since vanished.

"Coo coo coo—oh!"

A gigantic chicken flapped its wings and hopped around wildly, running about aimlessly like a headless fly. With its limited intelligence, it couldn't understand why the people were so agitated, but that didn't stop it from getting agitated by their commotion.

It instinctively scurried forward, head down, flapping its wings, and then suddenly felt a lightness in its body—

"...So these are animals that roamed out of here after all. This is quite interesting."

The man with pure white fox ears on his head, his pure black pupils half-open, murmured in a seemingly weak tone. He wore a fox mask with red stripes at an angle on his head, his beard trembling slightly on his lazy and wild face, and he was dressed in shabby clothes that could only be described as shabby.

Now, the clothes were soaked in bright red blood. The surrounding noise had also quietly disappeared—instead, there were corpses piled irregularly on the ground.

"I was skeptical when I caught that young boar in the forest, which was much bigger than its kind, but I never imagined that such technology actually existed? Forcibly increasing size by sacrificing the lifespan of animals...?" The fox-eared man casually pinched the wing of the chicken in his hand, as if he had discovered something interesting. He glanced around at the corpses lying on the ground and chuckled, "This couldn't possibly be a technology that mere insects could develop, could it?"

The ability to live a comfortable life can gradually lead to a lack of ambition in organisms. The most compelling evidence for this is the todo, also known as the foolish dove, discovered by humans on the island of Mauritius in South India. They lived on this isolated island for thousands of years, where nothing posed a threat to them. Then, after the Portuguese first discovered these birds in 1505, they faced extinction within a mere 200 years.

Before its extinction, the last Dodo bird still chirped joyfully at the human who approached it with a hunting feather.

Although this period of basic subsistence lasted only three short years, it was enough for the youngest group, who had not yet truly experienced the cruelty of this world, to lower their guard and adaptability. This was especially true for the young people who held high positions and enjoyed the best treatment.

So when the fence broke down, the boy in charge of managing the livestock didn't report the incident to his superiors, nor did he immediately count the number of pigs in the pen. Instead, fearing punishment or scolding, he hastily repaired the fence. As a result, no one except him knew about the incident.

Only one machine noticed this subtle unusualness.

The fox-eared man easily snapped the neck of the noisy chicken in his hand and tossed it aside. Then, he suddenly spoke to an empty spot, "Right? You little human girl? — Don't pretend you don't understand what I'm saying, okay? Because after I explained my reasoning, your heartbeat noticeably quickened."

"Of course, if you want that heart to stop forever, I don't mind."

"........." Funa silently emerged from the corner of the building, making no attempt to escape. Although this was the first time in her life she had encountered a true beastman, she had always understood from her father that humans could not defeat any other race in this world. Therefore, since they were not immediately killing her but questioning her, obediently complying was the best course of action. There was no need for pointless resistance.

The fear of death made the graceful young girl's legs tremble uncontrollably. Tears welled in her eyes, but she endured them, forcing herself not to let her despair show on her face—she knew she couldn't let her enemy see that she had lost all will to fight. Funa's lips parted several times before she finally managed to speak to the man in her rudimentary orcish language, "You...you want to ask...ask...what?"

At this point, she was so terrified that she had forgotten...

"Heh—that makes me even more interested." The fox-eared man raised an eyebrow slightly, his tail swaying as he walked up to Funa. He lightly lifted the girl's chin with his hand, his pure black eyes, capable of captivating the soul, fixed on her stubborn gaze. He grinned, revealing sharp teeth. "Your physical condition clearly shows absolute despair, yet you still managed to muster the courage to ask me a question?... Little girl, you're quite something. But unfortunately, I don't have much time to waste right now."

"Now—I need your answer. Do you know who in this cave knows the most about these gigantic animals?"

Funa felt her heart, which was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to explode, suddenly tighten when she heard the fox-eared man's question.

Regardless of her own will, a figure subconsciously appeared in her mind—the petite girl in a milky white robe.

"I absolutely cannot tell him about Yun You's existence..." Just as Funa was contemplating this thought with a death wish, the man in front of her twitched his ears, as if he could read her mind, and began to mutter to himself.

"Oh? So you knew that. That makes things easier."

A simple sentence caused the girl's newly formed resolve to crumble rapidly.

"Hmm, so you killed a bunch of people when you came in. After all, it's instinctive to take the life of your prey first. Maybe you killed the mission target too... No, no? That's great. So that person is still hiding in the back area, right—hmm, I understand. So it's a man, right... Hmm? Isn't it? That's surprising..."

The fox-eared man ignored the girl's bewildered and terrified expression, instead engaging in a series of questioning and answering sessions as if possessed. Incredibly, however, with each strange question, his deductions increasingly leaned towards Yun You's image. Realizing this, Funa finally remembered with fear the innate abilities of the beastmen.

Orcs can easily judge the physiological state of their prey by relying solely on their five senses, which allow them to clearly hear even the flow of blood, and their excellent intuition.

So... all the information he's getting now is from his own heart!?

Upon realizing this, Funa was on the verge of a mental breakdown. If her chin hadn't been held down and she hadn't dared to make any rash moves, she might have already collapsed to her knees.

However, she didn't know one thing: even orcs couldn't possibly deduce things so accurately from a human's psychological state. Most orcs could only determine if a creature was lying. The fox-eared man who could do this—he was a top-tier, bloodthirsty individual among the orcs, Shuang Lai Leng—was an exceptional orc sent on a mission after the orc tribe determined that the peculiar boar was important information.

Having obtained detailed intelligence, he had no intention of wasting any more time on Funa. Although he had brought an entire squad of orcs with him due to the importance of this mission, and those orcs were now guarding the cave's exits, delay could lead to unforeseen circumstances. He had to capture the little girl, who held crucial information, as soon as possible.

Just then, Shuang Lai Leng's ears twitched, and he looked toward the passageway leading to the hall.

The next instant—a sharp arrow, carrying a cold wind, shot out silently from the darkness at the perfect angle!

Chapter Seventeen: The Assassination

Bart fired his arrow with all his might, in the perfect moment of surprise, but the orc easily caught it with one hand—something Bart had anticipated. Humans were no match for orcs; he knew this deeply, learned through blood and tears. Therefore, his purpose from the beginning was singular—to draw the orc's attention!

"dad--!?"

Before Funa could react, Bart had already pushed her away forcefully. She staggered back several steps.

"--Walk!!"

Bart could only roar out that word; he knew that if he wanted to buy time, he couldn't afford to waste even a single second! Without even looking behind him, he swung the longsword that had been with him his entire life at the enemy. After his nose was injured, he thought he might never need this old companion again. He never imagined that in this final moment of his life, he could fight alongside it once more.

Fighting to protect something more important than life itself!

—Pfft.

A soft sound.

"Oh dear, you really scared me." Shuang Lai narrowed his eyes, his killing intent chilling. He was no longer the casual person he had been when they first met, and he had even abandoned his relaxed demeanor. Clearly, he had been enraged by Bart's actions. He withdrew his hand from Bart's heart, flicking the blood off his hand as if he had touched something dirty. "I didn't expect there to be such a 'deadly insect' in this tribe—but an insect should remain an insect. Die."

After saying this, he kicked Bart's limp body away—slamming it heavily against the wall with several dull thuds of breaking bones. Bloodstains slid down the wall to the floor.

The burly man had completely lost the strength to speak; in the final moments of his life, he could only barely open his blood-stained, blurred eyes to look at the girl he had tried to protect but ultimately failed to. This was the second time in his life he had felt utterly powerless; the first time was when his wife was weakened by illness, and the village lacked sufficient nutrition for her.

Now, even the most precious possessions left by his wife were beyond his protection. Although every nerve in his body was sending excruciating pain signals to his brain, Bart felt the most intense pain was in his heart, the despair of being unable to protect anything. He knew clearly that Funa was beyond saving. When he ran over, he had tried to ask the people he knew best for help—but all he received were indifferent glances. No one intended to lend a hand to him, the man who bore the weight of the community on his shoulders, because that would undoubtedly lead to their own demise.

...Well, that's a fact we've already accepted. Because we are human...a race that committed original sin from the very beginning.

What sin is more incurable than weakness?

Bart had resigned himself to his fate and was about to close his eyes when the orc was walking towards Funa, his angry face revealing his intentions. Bart didn't want to witness such a tragic end.

But just before he was about to die from blood loss, he caught a glimpse of white out of the corner of his eye—and then he lost his life.

So even he himself didn't realize what kind of expression he ultimately showed.

—That was a hearty smile he hadn't shown in a long time.

...

...

"Varied--?"

His claws were blocked—Shuang Lai Leng realized this instantly. His fur bristled, and he stomped hard on the ground, even kicking a hole in it. He retreated rapidly, extending his claws to his chest, preparing to fend off any potential pursuit. However, to his surprise, no attack came. After landing safely, he immediately used his orcish abilities to try and read the attacker's heartbeat, pupils, and even the blood flow in his capillaries.

--What?

However, the result of the reading left him completely astonished. His dark pupils dilated and contracted, something that was something he could never have imagined, even if the sky were to fall. He was stunned for several seconds.

Meanwhile, he wasn't the only one at the scene who was utterly shocked.

"Huh? Eh? What... is going on?" Two tears still lingered on her face from her father's death. The purple-haired girl stared, speechless, using all her remaining strength, like a child unwilling to face reality. Her eyes were vacant as she stared at the familiar figure blocking her path.

The girl's light-colored robe fluttered down, the cuffs torn open from the sudden attack. Two deep cuts ripped through the flesh on her snow-white arms. However, these gruesome injuries didn't cause a steady flow of blood—instead, they emitted a faint crackling sound of electricity, and...

Those intricate and complex instruments are beyond imagination.

"........."

The hood that had been covering the girl's head fluttered down, revealing the mechanical ornaments that resembled ears. Her crimson eyes reflected the carnage in the hall, sweeping over Bart's blood-soaked figure lying on the ground, before finally focusing on Shuang Lai Leng.

—Just that cold, silent gaze made Shuang Lai Leng tremble all over, and she even took a step back.

The Machina—he recognized the opponent he was facing. A cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead, and his composure vanished. His mind raced, recalling all the information about the Machina, the most ferocious race in his clan, trying to figure out how to escape. At the same time, he quickly suppressed all his killing intent, fearing that the Machina before him would mistake him for an enemy.

...Wait a minute, shouldn't the Machine Race retaliate the moment they're attacked? This question popped into my head as I pondered. But before Shuang Lai could continue her analysis, the monster (Yun You) spoke first.

"...Funa, now is not the time to be daydreaming, is it? Hurry up and settle everyone in the settlement, that's your responsibility."

The girl spoke in a cool, aloof tone that Funa knew all too well, using language that was perfectly in line with Funa's own logic.