Chapter 295

Upon hearing the boy’s scream, I immediately assessed the situation he was in.

A swarm of Man-eating Crabs surrounding the little one.

A few of them were at a certain distance away.

And a few more were approaching the boy from nearby.

Finally, one crab was within arm’s reach, ready to harm the boy.

Compared to that, the distance between me and the boy was like the boundary between the shore and the sea, where the waves crash.

In terms of units, it was at least 100 meters away.

At this critical moment, when the boy could be torn apart and turned into crab rice at any second, 100 meters was a daunting distance.

For an ordinary person, that is.

But for a transcendent being, 100 meters is nothing.

I immediately dropped the shopping basket I was holding and kicked off the sandy beach.

Bang!

As I stepped forward, a clear footprint was left in the sand, and the sand scattered in all directions like ripples.

But I moved forward faster than the sand could hit my body.

In an instant, the boy and the Man-eating Crabs in my vision seemed to enlarge, and before the monsters could react, my arm pierced through the crab’s shell as if crushing tofu.

Crunch!

By the time the crab’s fluids splattered with a disgusting sound, the slower wind caught up to me, and the sound of the shopping basket I had dropped rolling on the ground could be heard from afar.

Thud.

Despite seeing their kin die in an instant, whether due to low intelligence or the sudden change in situation, the crab swarm continued to approach me and the boy.

But with my full-speed charge, I had only managed to pierce through one crab with both hands.

Many crabs were still approaching the boy.

But to me, the difference between one crab and a swarm was negligible.

It’s like the difference between crushing one ant and crushing ten ants—only the time and number of movements differ, not the difficulty.

By the time I had taken down half the swarm, the crabs seemed to realize the gap between us and slowly turned to retreat to the sea, but it was too late.

A hunter doesn’t hunt prey beyond what they need, but beasts that bare their fangs at humans are an exception.

And so, the beach of Leila was soon littered with the corpses of the once-feared Man-eating Crabs.

“Hoo… Are you okay, kid?”

“You’re the guy from lunch earlier…!”

“Yeah. What were you thinking coming to the shore alone? You know how dangerous this place is, right?”

“Th-that’s…”

After dealing with all the monsters, I questioned the boy sharply—no, not just sharply, but with a slightly raised voice, demanding to know what had happened.

The boy, intimidated by my sharp questioning, stammered.

He seemed scared of me, but I couldn’t just let it slide.

This time, luckily, I was passing by and could help, but if I hadn’t been, he would’ve been a meal for the Man-eating Crabs.

“Um…”

Just as I was about to press him further…

“What’s all this noise…! Huh?”

At that moment, someone rushed to where the boy and I were.

It was Mari.

And not just her—Karina and Serena also came running.

“You guys… How did you get here?”

“We heard the scream… Did you save this kid, Kurt?”

“As expected of Kurt!”

“Ugh… I need to wash up. Crab guts are all over me…”

“…Right.”

With the three of them barging in, I lost the chance to scold the boy further…

“Hoo… Let’s head back to the inn and continue this there.”

“…Okay.”

“You guys should stop hunting for today and head back too.”

And so, I picked up the shopping basket I had dropped, gathered the party and the boy, and headed back to the inn.

…

…

…

“…So.”

“….”

Clatter.

“Why did you go to Leila’s shore alone? You know how dangerous it is right now, don’t you?”

After returning to the inn and washing off the crab fluids, I handed the party and the boy the soup I had prepared for lunch and asked.

“That’s…”

But the boy, hunched over, held the soup bowl with both hands and couldn’t easily speak.

Oh no.

Did I scare him too much earlier?

In the heat of the moment, I might have spoken too harshly, and it must have seemed intimidating.

Unlike at lunch, the boy now seemed hesitant and unable to speak easily.

Normally, I wouldn’t force an answer from a child who didn’t want to talk, but…

If I let this slide, who knows when he might do something like this again?

So, I pondered what to say to persuade him.

I’m not great at talking to kids…

While I was choosing my words, thankfully, someone else stepped in to talk to the boy.

“Kid, you shouldn’t do that. Wandering alone in a place where dangerous monsters appear.”

“I-I know, but…”

It was Mari.

While I was quickly washing up, she seemed to have grasped the situation by talking to the boy and now scolded him with a stern expression.

Though, her stern expression wasn’t really intimidating at all.

In this case, her awkward sternness actually helped ease the boy’s tension, as he seemed less nervous than when talking to me.

Right.

Maybe it’s better for Mari, a half-elf, to handle this kind of talk rather than me, a lizardman who looks intimidating to kids.

She’s not usually reliable, but in times like these, she’s incredibly dependable.

Maybe I should leave this to Mari.

“You knew it was dangerous, yet you went in?”

“I knew it was dangerous, but…”

“If you get hurt, it’s not just you who suffers. Think about how worried your mother would be!”

“…Mom.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“I don’t have a mom. She passed away giving birth to me.”

“Ah. Ah… Th-then your father…”

“My dad left home months ago and hasn’t come back!”

“Ah. Ah… Th-that’s…”

But.

Not even 10 seconds after deciding to leave it to Mari, she stepped on a landmine at an astonishing speed.

“Sniff. Help me…”

And within a minute, Mari was making a tearful face, asking for help from me and the others.

…

…

…

After a long while, we finally managed to get the boy to talk.

Surprisingly, it was Karina who ultimately got the boy to open up.

Perhaps it’s her strong maternal instincts, as she dreams of being a perfect wife and mother.

Karina, in a way unimaginable from her usual combat demeanor, gently asked the boy what had happened, and he, like a docile lamb, slowly told his story.

The boy’s name was Lito.

As we learned from his conversation with Mari, Lito lived alone with his father after his mother passed away.

Being from a single-parent family, his father’s job as a sailor often kept him away from home for weeks or even months at a time.

But despite this, Lito and his father had a very close relationship.

Though Lito was often left at the inn when his father was away, it was an unavoidable part of his father’s job. When his father was home, he was a good parent, mentor, and friend to Lito.

Thus, despite the frequent absences, Lito lived a happy life, not feeling the absence of his mother too keenly.

Wait…

That’s strange.

There’s a discrepancy in Lito’s story.

But it didn’t seem like Lito was lying…

I immediately asked Lito about the inconsistency I noticed.

“You said your father is a respectable and admirable man, so why hasn’t he come home for months?”

When I asked this without hiding my confusion, Lito’s face contorted, and he raised his voice.

“That’s… It’s because of the Man-eating Crabs!”

Man-eating Crabs?

Why are those monsters involved here?