Birds were singing as the first rays of morning pierced through the canopy of trees, the forest was coming to life little by little as the sun rose, and it was then that a small bird landed upon a pile of twigs and leaves, pecking at small grains. Soon enough, more of its kind joined, and they enjoyed the free meal whilst making small noises.

  And then I shut my maw right on them all. Their small, fragile bodies exploded into clouds of gore as none of them survived to even know what hit them. Their remains were absorbed into my body rapidly as I rose.

  The branches and whatever else I had stacked on top of me after lying down slid off as I rose from the ground, shaking off the grains that I had placed in the center of my open maw.

  After several weeks of prowling the countryside and various natural biomes, I had learned how to trick and hunt the denizens of the forest. Birds, in particular, I found especially easy to catch.

  I did not breathe, have a heartbeat or anything of the sort, so when I stood still, I truly stood perfectly immobile.

  Sprinkle a little bit of food, and they’ll come without hesitation… Literally jumping directly toward their death.

  Though that tactic was also effective on squirrels sometimes.

  In general, staying perfectly still was enough to trick most of the wildlife into thinking that I truly am just an inanimate object. Some would be put off by my strange appearance, but most would eventually get close enough for me to grab and kill them.

  Unfortunately, unlike with people, I struggled to get as many negative emotions from animals, and thus, I was missing out on some bonus experience, but unfortunately, my methods often resulted in me killing without giving them a chance to even be afraid.

  But their simplistic emotions were quite a delight. Although I still felt the need to supplement my diet by occasionally targeting small villages or farmlands…

  Mara, I would like to remind you that you do not need to eat anything. You are like an undead in that regard

  Listen, Nara, it isn’t about what I need. It’s about what I want.

  And I am hungry! Besides, is it not a good thing if I follow my nature as a Steel-Bound Curse and Vengeful Spirit by eating and absorbing as much as I can?

  It is beneficial for the acquisition of more XP upon kills… But that isn’t quite part of the nature of those sorts of beings, you know? That’s just you-

  No way, I am a good person, I would never start killing and tormenting people just because it’s fun…

  “Ah–ah”

  That laugh meant nothing. I just thought of something funny, alright?

  Sure

  I can’t help but notice that the number of animals I have been catching has been reducing as time goes by… And I also ran into fewer and fewer areas inhabited by people. Although my path was far from a straight line, I had been heading north from the moment I left the city… And unless I got hit in the head, I know that the capital is up north as well, so shouldn’t it mean that there would be more and more people as I progress?

  This trend continued for the next few days, before I could catch rabbits often and even occasionally nab a fox, and there were always some deer too, but now, I was lucky if I could get to see a bird.

  Eventually, I stumbled upon a village.

  An abandoned village, that is, it looked like it had been deserted years ago, the houses had fallen into ruins. The foundations were the only things that remained mostly intact, but even then, everything had become overgrown, and judging by the fact that trees in the middle of destroyed houses had reached decent sizes, I would guess that it had at least been a decade since then.

  Huh… Did I miss other ruins by not paying attention?

  The next day, I stumbled upon an abandoned farm instead. The barn was still standing, but everything seemed desolate. The inside of said barn was still filled with hay that had grown grey with time, but most importantly. There was a corpse hanging by the legs in its entrance.

  It looked dried–What was the word for those desert undeads again?

  Mummified?

  Yes! Exactly, he looked like he had been mummified, but without all that linen wrapped around them, this… Man? Doesn’t matter much. He must have died a while ago, judging by the state of the farm, but his body was preserved enough for me to see that it was covered in stabbing marks.

  To me, it seemed like he had been hung upside down and then used as a live target for the practice of what I presume were throwing knives.

  Well, that wasn’t a very nice thing to do…

  It sounds like something you would do, though

  Please, I don’t own any throwing knives…

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  But seriously, for a desolate farm where at least one person was brutally killed, don’t you think that this place is strangely lacking in negative emotions? I can usually feel a sliver of them wherever I go, but here? Nothing, did someone siphon it all away? If they can do that, I would like to find whatever box they keep them in. I might be able to eat it all…

  The usage of energies besides mana is rather rare. The odds of us running into something or someone who specifically targets negative energy are incredibly small

  But is it impossible?

  Well… If we go into such territories, it isn’t impossible for a portal to hell to open right in front of us and for a devil prince to step out… Or it isn’t impossible for a golden ingot to mysteriously fall from the sky…

  Aren’t you getting sassy now? But I do get your point, just because anything is possible in this wild world, it doesn’t mean that we should just abandon reason.

  Still, that’s a bit suspect, right?

  I will admit that the absence of such a common energy is concerning

  As I wonder what could be the cause of this, I casually reach out and start eating the old corpse without regard for its state. It's not like I risk getting sick, and as such, all flesh is worth consuming in my eyes.

  A ‘clang’ rang out as the corpse’s skull was about to enter my maw.

  “O–Ouch”

  With the typical stutter of my voice, I express the slight tinge of pain that erupts within me from the harmless contact as I turn around to see a humanoid figure garbed in weird, dark garments.

  I would describe the garbs as a mix between a mage’s and a belly dancer’s, as for some reason, the midriff and everything below the shoulders was left uncovered, revealing the thin, palish body of a strangely short man.

  Although my steel body was imposing, I was still a meter and eighty-five centimeters tall, which was certainly tall for a member of the fairer sex, such as myself, but far from freakishly tall overall, and yet, that lad was barely taller than half of my body.

  “Ah! What the hell are you made of-”

  He was holding a dagger with a wavy blade. Naturally, trying to stab me with that had resulted in rather strong vibrations coursing up his arm, but this small fellow seemed to forget all about that as he looked up from beneath his hood and made eye contact with me.

  He hurriedly stepped back–Quite quickly, actually.

  “Oy, what the hell are you?! Don’t you know where you are?”

  I am surprised that he actually thinks he can engage me in conversation, as rationality would say that the steel monster with a beartrap for a mouth was probably not much of a conversationalist, but hey, I welcome that approach.

  “I–I–I do not kn–know, mind explaining–ning?”

  Despite being the one who spoke to me first, he seems horrified that I can actually respond. What’s wrong with you, buddy? You actually just converse with things that don’t answer normally? That lunatic behaviour, right there.

  His first reaction is to cut his own palm open and start speaking some nonsense.

  “Il Fluma, Al Flum–Argh!”

  I smack him to the ground with the back of my hand, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him like a noisy baby as he uselessly tries to slash and stab me with his dagger.

  “R–Really? Incant–Incantations? Just use energy manipulation like–like-like a normal p–ers–on”

  It should be obvious that saying the damned spell you were going to cast ahead of time was a stupid idea, especially when you were already within reach of your target! You could have at least taken one more step back so that I couldn’t touch you with a casual slap! I can’t believe such an amateur actually thought he could do something against me.

  Honestly, I am quite insulted by this.

  “N-Now, explain”

  “Explain what…?”

  I grab one of his ears and tear it off, eating it in front of his eyes. He screams in pain and struggles a fair bit, but after I threaten to do the same thing to his other ear, he finally settles down and just starts rambling about whatever comes to his mind.

  “This… This is the territory Lord Argantis has carved for himself within the borders of Rootriska! No one has been able to boot him out of here in the last fifteen years!”

  He cried out.

  “Never h–ear–d of this guy”

  “He… He… He is a master of incantations, a great curse slinger, and a well-known maker of totem hexes! This is territory, and I am one of his men! I was… I was just patrolling to check for any intruders!”

  “Oh… Intruders l–like m–me? Are you–ou calling me u–u–undesirable?”

  “What…? No! I wouldn’t dare, you are more than welcome! Ahahahah, I’ll even escort you to meet Lord Argantis!”

  I stared him straight in the eyes for a solid minute in abject silence, his face slowly contorting with absolute terror as I enjoyed the savours of his negative emotions… I was honestly quite miffed about just how much anger he was feeling toward me. What sort of brat was this for him to be so mad when I had his life in my grasp? And hide all that wrath behind a mask of fear? He must think that he is slick!

  My maw slightly opened, and his entire body tensed to my amusement.

  “What direction?”

  “...T-This way, Ma’am…”

  His arm trembled like a leaf as he pointed toward the north.

  That’s what I thought it would be…

  I started playing the music box within me.

  “~Thank you~ For the direction~”

  I sang a few words and then took hold of his head, ripping it straight off his shoulders. Surely, he wasn’t expecting me to let him go after he stabbed me in the back? Whilst I was trying to eat at that… This sort of offence is obviously punished by death.

  Lord Argantis, huh? A curse slinger, mmh…

  A man who has occupied territory for fifteen years within the borders of a kingdom is certainly not one to be trifled with. I would recommend that you lay your desire for curses to rest

  Come on, Nara, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to just go right up to him without proper preparation… I’ll try to get my hands on a few more of his men, I’ll gauge what he is made of before I make my decision… And if I can’t harvest the goods directly, then maybe I could get him to throw curses at people so that I can then eat them?

  My recommendation would be to stay as far away as possible

  A good recommendation, but I think that I’ll be hanging around for a little while longer, if only to get my hands on a few more easy prey like this one.

  Speaking of which, it’s time for me to eat…