Chapter 6

I'm hungry.

My stomach rumbles a bit too much for me to fall asleep. I roll around on the bed, but I'm still not remotely sleepy.

It's all the human female's fault I'm suffering.

I imagine punching her and telling her to shut her annoying mouth. I doubt I can do that without the other males finding out. I can't fight all of them.

I feel my poor stomach and roll to stare at the other side of the room, which is also a wall.

What time is it?

Sure feels longer than I'd like when food is involved. There has to be enough for me, too.

Maybe she is just there to annoy me or show me that she has the power to decide whether I can stay alive.

I clench a fist. I'm not going to sit here and starve.

From the window, it is already late. Maybe everyone's sleeping. Seeing this is a village far away from other places, I doubt they will put guards to watch the kitchen. There has to be something I can eat.

My horns buzz with excitement and a surge of heat pulses through my body. This has to be a good idea. Even though I may not command a battleship anymore, I'm still a uzain warrior, I'm not giving up just yet.

I open the door of my room, peeking into the corridor. There's no one out there. The lights are still on, but it is quiet.

Looks like the best time to hunt for food.

I get outside, heading to the lift. If anyone asks, I'm going to tell them I get lost, which should be a fine excuse to be wandering, since I'm new here.

There are other doors along the corridor, but all of them are closed. Maybe these are storage rooms. Seeing my room is the nursing room for injured beings, maybe these are similar. Most likely, these are empty. I doubt beings here get injured all the time. The population here is likely to be small, anyway.

At the lift, it is still quiet, and no one is around. I press the button for the lift, but before my finger touches the button, I pull it back. What if someone is watching from a security camera?

I rub my horn. Whatever. I don't think these beings are that careful when they live together and share food together. They won't be expecting anyone like me to steal food.

No, I'm not stealing food. I'm just checking out what they have to offer, which is different.

My stomach rumbles again. Whatever that's called, I want food inside my stomach.

I press for the lift and it arrives quickly when no one else is waiting for it or using it. The lift opens and is empty, which is for the best.

I tap my feet as the lift descends. It should move quicker, I have no patience.

Whoever designed this thing and made the setting should be fired.

When the lift finally arrives, I hurry out of the door the moment it is opened enough for me to slide through. There's no one outside either. It must be late enough for everyone to be home.

I pause at the door to the food area. The door is closed. There's a button to the side, which will open the door for me. I can already imagine food and how good it will feel to be full again. I need some food and no one can stop me.

I press the button. The door opens to the dark food area when no beings are around. I sniff the air. Nothing is in the air, but there has to be food somewhere.

There are rows and rows of tables and chairs. At the far end of the place, there's a counter, where food is served. At the side of the counter, there's a door, which should lead to the kitchen.

Food, here I—

Bonk!

"Ouch!" I spin around when my head hurts.

It is that fucking human female again!

I sneer at her. "What have you done?"

Her staff rests on her shoulder, she lifts it with ease and she tilts her head to the side, eyeing me up and down. "That's my question to you. Why are you here?"

I swallow. "Maybe that's my question for you. Why are you here?"

"Well, I lead this place. I don't owe you an explanation. At the same time..." She pokes my chest with her finger. "You are the one who has no reason to show up here. What are you doing? Food thief."

I sneer at her. "Shut up!"

Now there are no other beings around who will help her. She definitely can't fight me.

I hiss. "You don't get to tell me what to do."

"Oh yeah?"

I punch at her, but she dodges. I turn around to kick her when she swiftly moves to the side. Before I can grab her, she smacks my wrist with the staff. A spark of pain jolts through me. I halt for a mere second when she knees my side.

Except she is thinking a bit too highly of herself.

I take a breath and brace for the hit. It hurts, but I snatch her ankle before she can take her leg back. I fling her to the side, at the wall, but she does a rollover and gets up in no time. She lifts her staff to her side, still watching me without any fear in her eyes.

Looks like I didn't hurt her a bit.

She smirks. "Maybe you can be a useful part of the community if you put your skills to use. But my word still stands. Before you work with us, you aren't getting any food."

I sneer, ignore her, and dash to the kitchen.

"Funny how you think that will work."

She... Hops onto the table and ignores all the paths.

I halt and spin around, right when she smacks the staff at my back. I pull a chair, blocking her off. The legs of the chair catch her staff. I spin the chair. The legs of the chair tangle with the staff. I spin it even harder to yank the staff off her hands. She grunts, fighting to hold on to it.

Except she is no match to me when it comes to strength.

She jolts back and the staff flies off her hand, falling steps away from us.

I dash forward, aiming the chair at her. So much for smacking me all the time. Maybe she should have a taste of her own medicine.

She drops on her back, kicking the chair to the side when I smack it at her.

When I get the chair in control again, she is already up. Except I'm blocking her away from her staff.

I sneer. "Look, maybe you should just give up. You can't win."

She fixes her ponytail. "You still haven't gotten your food, and I'll make sure you won't get any."

I hiss at her. If she keeps fighting me, I won't have time to grab food for myself. And if I badly injure her, the other beings won't leave me alone. I can't kill her off, either. That'll make sure I'd end up sleeping out of the village.

She folds her arms. "Maybe you should just work with everyone, then you can get food like everyone else."

If I catch her and pin her down, or cause enough pain for her to give up fighting me, maybe I can get my food. She is such a small being compared to me, but somehow...

I dash forward at her, punching at her face while lowering my horns at her, but she slides to the side, dodging me every time I try.

She is such an annoying fly.

I grunt and kick at her, but she grabs me and...

Fuck—

I lose my balance and she flings me out along my momentum. I crash into the table and chairs. Pain lingers and my legs are weak for a second.

She says, "Are you still going to fight me? It won't help your empty stomach."

I hiss at her. When I grab her, it will be the end of her. Except... She is so hard to put my hand on.

Worse, she doesn't even seem to be tired.

She shrugs and picks up her staff. "Look, I'm not here to fight you. You're just a bit too predictable. I don't know where you come from and why you end up here. Frankly, I don't care about that, as long as you don't mean harm to anyone."

My stomach rumbles a bit too loudly. She can probably hear it. My horns are burning hot and I wish I could hide. I'm a uzain warrior, but I can't even win against a tiny human... That's such a shame.

I get up, patting off the dust on my pants. "If I'm hungry, I can't work."

She eyes me up and down. "Not very convincing when you can fight me."

"But..."

"If I were you, I'd work. I wonder what you were about before you ended up here. Do you not have to work or do anything back in where you come from?"

Well... I fight the Empire's minions. At times, we rob their spaceship, and that gives us food and money. But... I'm not sure whether I should tell her about it.

She waits for another second for my answer, which... I'm not giving her a response before I know what this place is about and whether they will hate someone like me.

She shrugs. "I hold my word. You can choose to starve to death or join everyone."

"I told you, if I'm hungry, I can't work."

She tilts her head to the side. "Maybe if you'll learn not to waste your energy fighting me, you'll be able to still work with an empty stomach, which you opted for."

I hiss at her, but she doesn't seem to care. She says, "Your empty stomach is your problem, not mine."

I suppose she isn't wrong, but...

She rests the staff on her shoulder again. "Breakfast is served seven in the morning for beings that will be working that day. It's your choice." She heads to the door, ignoring whether I'll still try to get into the kitchen. "Maybe you can fool us once by sneaking in, but what's good from that, anyway? You can be an honorable one, or... It's your choice too."

I fold my arms, glaring at her back as she leaves. I'm alone again. This time, there's no other being who will jump out and stop me from getting food. But... if I go inside the kitchen... it will be like what she said... If I beat her ass and went inside for food, I could happily take my win. But... I didn't beat her, so...

Between my empty stomach and being an honorable warrior...

I swallow with my empty stomach. It really shouldn't be that difficult.

The door to the kitchen is steps away. There lies tasty food. Whether the food is tasty or not doesn't even matter. The important thing is that... it will fill my stomach.

I turn to the door to the corridor, which is already closed. Even though the human female is likely long gone and won't be back to check on me. But what she said lingers...

I sigh. No matter how useless I am, I'm still a uzain and should try to keep some honor.

That won't fill the stomach, but...

I hate that human female...