Chapter 3

Oh fuck...

My head hurts like hell and my horns are also in pain. What happened?

It is dark everywhere and it seems like I'm stuck somewhere.

"Are you sure about that? Is he intact?"

Who's that?

"Yes, I scanned him. Everything is fine. There's no internal bleeding and no cracked bones. He has some bruises here and there, but won't kill him."

Huh? Are they talking about me?

"Well, when will he wake up?"

So... I'm not up? But I'm not dead either? It's so weird to be listening to beings talking about me when I'm right here.

Maybe the darkness around me is from my closed eyes. If I open them, everything should be fine.

I try to fight, but my eyelids are too heavy to lift. It makes no sense at all!

Where am I?

I hope I wasn't caught and sent back to the basecamp and tossed to the ice castle. I'd rather be dead. But...

Something warm surrounds me as if I'm in a bathtub.

There are noises of beings talking, which I think are the two watching me and talking about me. Yet, I can't make out the words now. It feels like I'm shoved under water and everything blurs.

All I know is that I understand their words, which is a good sign. Among species and planets, sometimes, languages don't work as well.

When the warmth fades, it feels like...

I shiver at the cold. What are they doing to me? Are they making me into a lab test subject? Or do they think of me as food?

Something cold wraps around my waist. I try to move, but I'm not moving. Is that a thing that keeps me down? Or am I not gathering enough strength?

Someone help me!

"Is he moving?"

Yes, fuck yes!

"Are you sure about that?"

Someone notice me! Please!

I remember yanking the spaceship out of the portal, but something hit the ship again. It could be the other uzains chasing me, or I ran into a meteorite. Regardless, the result is losing control of the ship and fuel running low. Then...

I probably crashed.

So... Am I dead? And is this what beings do to a poor soul?

Someone pats me. "Wake up and move some if you're fine. As fine as possible."

I open my mouth, but no words come out of me. I can't even feel myself.

Am I...

Dead?

I flinch and sit up. Now, the darkness is gone, and...

Hey, I'm not dead!

I rub my horns and feel my own hands. I'm fine. There's no pain. I'm not dead.

Around me, there are walls like a regular bedroom. The blinds are up, making the room dim. It almost feels like I'm back in my own bedroom, but... That can't be the case, right?

I'm about to get out of bed when the door opens. I hold the blanket, trying to contain myself in case a guard shows up behind the door.

Instead, a female is there. A fucking human female that grinds my gears.

Even though she isn't the same female as the one Zil took from me, she can't be a good thing. This one has long black hair, which is tied up into a ponytail, all the more annoying.

She scowls at me at once. "So, you're the one everyone saved last night."

Oh... Is that the case?

She has a staff with her, but with her size, she isn't very intimidating and poses no threat to me.

I ask, "Did you save me?"

I hate humans, especially human females, but if she saved me, I guess I should be grateful.

"We did. You are too dumb to drive a spaceship and crashed your ass. Do you know the team could get attacked in the forest?"

I sneer at her. "Hey, do you think I'd choose to crash my spaceship? Maybe you don't have a brain to think!"

She jabs her staff at my chest. "Is this how you'll talk to me?"

I puff my chest. "What's the issue? Do you want me to bow or something because you saved me? I'm grateful. Fucking thank you for that."

She grabs me with the round part of the staff, pulling me close to her face. "Listen, you don't want to mess with me. If you keep acting like that, I'm tossing you back into the forest."

She is going to what?

"Irene, is everything fine?" A male peeks into my room. He is a strong-looking male, someone I shouldn't mess with when I'm not sure whether I'm completely healed.

She lets go of me and heads to the door. "Tell him to work with the herding team or whatever. The medic checked him, he is fine to be working."

The male nods. He... has four arms, making it even dumber to try to fight him. I'm a good fighter, but after the crash, even though this fucking human said I'm fine, I'd be cautious.

She glares at me before she leaves. "We don't have extra food for dead weight. If you don't work, there won't be anything for you."

Ha! Is she threatening me?

I'm going to say something, but she leaves before I can. She is lucky.

The male comes to me. "Hey, how are you? We found your crashed spaceship yesterday and—"

"I'm not going to work. Get out of here!"

He frowns. "Well, I'm not sure why you are so mad. We helped you."

"Shut up!" A fire is still burning in my gut and I want to punch something. "Leave me alone!"

"Fine, fine." He shrugs. "I'll tell you before you regret it. Irene is the leader of the village, so you may want to treat her with more respect. That'll be good for you." His arms are folded. Well, two of the four arms are folded while the other two are... cracking his knuckles.

He heads to the door and says, "If you decide to join the workforce, just come downstairs and look for me. I'm Acea."

That's such a stupid name. I'm not going to work here. I fought so hard to get out of the ice castle just to not work like a dumbass. There's no way I'd subject myself to stupidity here.

I sit on the bed again with my arms folded. At least I'm not in the ice castle for sure. There, no one will ask whether I want to work or not. There will probably only be uzains, and those two aren't uzains.

Where am I?

I go to the window, lifting the blind. I'm in a short building. There are houses down there. It sure looks like a small village. Away from me is a plain and the other side is a forest. Is that the forest I crashed into? On the other side of the plain, there is a cluster of stuff there. Maybe those are livestock.

Hm... Maybe this is a small planet and doesn't have a lot of residents. Not a bad place to be when I want to get away from the stupid ice castle.

Except... That human female is the leader of this village? Sounds dumb enough. She can't be a great fighter. Who makes her the leader?

I hate humans even though that may not make the most sense. When it comes to how I feel, fuck reasonable.

I get out of my room, which has a bed and a wardrobe, which I don't even care to check out. Outside, it feels like I'm back in the headquarters in base camp, but that can't be the case. More likely, this is also set up simply, as an emergency landing place, like how basecamp was established a long time ago.

I go down the corridor, arriving at a lift. I press the button, waiting for... Oh, there are only three floors.

Going downstairs, it is quiet. Looks like no one is around.

Maybe everyone's at work. Who knows what these beings do for a living? Probably not driving battleships and kicking the Empire's ass.

I take a turn when someone seems to be approaching. I halt right before I bump into... It's the fucking human again. I sneer at her and she glares at me.

She says, "So, are you ready to actually be a useful part of the community?"

"I'm useful, regardless. You should mind your own business."

"Except my business is to make sure everything here runs smoothly. Either you want to stay here with us or you get out of here. In case you don't know, since you're too dumb to drive a spaceship, this is the only settlement on this planet. You can feel free to play with the beasts, if that fits you more. Touch some grass and talk to trees."

No way, this can't be the case. Is she suggesting that these beings are the only ones I can communicate with, and are actually beings instead of beasts and animals? I snort a laugh. "Ha-ha, I'm so scared."

She pushes me to the side with her staff. I move to the side, even though she should be the one wary when I have horns and I can stab her with those. If she keeps disrespecting me, I'm going to make her regret her existance.

She says, "You'll know I mean my words soon enough. Like I said, I don't have spare food for a useless pile of fat that only sits around."

What did she say?

I flex my arm. "What is the fat you're talking about?"

Unless she's blind, there's no way she can look at this physique and say that it's just fat.

She eyes me up and down. "A pile of useless muscle is the same as a pile of fat."

I sneer at her, but she doesn't seem to be scared. Except she really should. I can punch her and kill her without any weapon. She may have her staff, but she really should—

She pokes my stomach with the tip of the staff. "I mean what I say. Go find something to help the guys, or starve through the night. It's your choice. I suppose you can go back to the pile of ruin you left in the forest, too. We don't have resources to waste on anyone."

No one has ever done that to me. This is even more disrespectful than the other human female dared to be. And this one thinks that.

Oof... She stabs the top of the staff to my throat. It is the smooth part of the staff, so it doesn't injure, but it humiliates me. It also isn't very comfortable.

"Just go and make yourself useful." She lifts the staff off my throat and walks off. I sneer at her back and fold my arms.

I know I should be grateful that she saved me, and it makes a lot of sense for me to contribute to the village if I want to stay here. But when she keeps poking me and saying it like that, I'm not going to do anything. She just wants to annoy me. I'm going to wait until she learns a lesson. So much for being the leader of this settlement and expecting that I'd just let her boss me around.

I hate human females.