Falling: How to Survive as a Cannon Fodder

HTSCF CH 025 Gotta catch them all!

"I've found it! I've finally found it!" Jun exclaimed and gestured to the item he was talking about to Azazel and Elior with fanatical enthusiasm. "This is what I have been talking about—tea leaves!"

Jun was so happy his cheeks were tinged with some pinkness and his eyes twinkled. There were even hints of some tears of joy. The level of adorableness made Elior unable to resist kissing Jun. Of course, it was with tongue and lasted an entire minute. Embarrassed, Jun lightly pushed Elior away. "What are you doing?"

Elior just grinned, a smug expression on his handsome face. Azazel patted and caressed Jun's head in a placating manner, his hand casually brushing over the cat ears. Don't think Jun didn't notice this subtle movement!

"How much?" Azazel asked.

Having noticed that there were two King rank beastmen here and both of them seemed to be the shorter male's mates, the vendor didn't dare try to cheat them. These useless things grew everywhere where he lived so he had decided to bring them to the Trade Market on a whim and was planning to upsell them as an exotic plant but was now against the idea.

"Just 10 beast cores for one stack."

"So cheap!" Jun smiled brightly, earning another affectionate look and pat on the head from Azazel.

"How much for everything?" Azazel asked.

"E-everything?"

"Your entire stock."

In the previous world, Azazel had been an overbearing CEO. Jun didn't expect to see similar actions in this world and couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't need that much. Instead, do you have any seeds for this plant?" If possible, he wanted to try growing his own tea plants to have a private stash of tea leaves.

"I'm sorry but no."

"Really? Aw..."

"If you guarantee to come every year with these plants, we guarantee to buy them," Elior said, then grinned at Jun as if to say: How's that, baby? I did good, right? Reward me!

Jun smiled at him, and it was enough for Elior. Later he would get his real reward. In the end, they bought about a dozen stacks and the vendor said if they needed more, they could always visit him in the Mountainside Tribe.

Hugging his stacks of tea leaves, Jun looked just like a child who had received some candy after years of abstaining. He was ready to head back home and prepare the tea leaves for drying when a soft and gentle voice called out to him.

"Faye?"

Turning around, Jun was met with a beautiful man shorter than him. He had a gentle and elegant demeanor and with his black hair and eyes as well as the many men surrounding him, Jun could almost see the protagonist's halo hovering above his head. Who else could it be but Sorrel Hill? It wasn't that unexpected for them to run into each other.

Just as he was ready to go home and get started on his tea making. He couldn't even use these tea leaves yet and had to prepare them first by roasting, then rolling, then drying before he could even brew some tea, and that would take time. Time that the protagonist was now taking up.

"Sorrel, it's... been a while. How are you?" Jun asked with a pleasant smile.

'Now hurry up and look at me with pity then leave!' He thought, forgetting that the current 'Faye' wasn't actually tragic. He was healthy, his limbs were in good condition and he had two mates to protect him.

"This is?" Azazel asked with a slightly forbidding face as he wrapped an arm around Jun's shoulders.

Sorrel saw the handsomeness of the man and was astounded. He was even more remarkable than Leo—taller, more muscular, and oozing masculinity. It made his heart race.

On his tiptoes, Jun whispered into Azazel's ears. "He's the female I bullied." This caused Azazel to laugh, and the change of expression made Sorrel even more infatuated.

Not realizing that his whispering did nothing because male beastmen had really good hearing, Jun said aloud, "He's Sorrel from the Golden Lion tribe."

"Oh." Azazel defaulted to his calm and expressionless ways.

"Baby, let's go home." Elior ignored the entire group of people and took the stacks of tea leaves from Jun to carry them for him. Sorrel saw that this man was just as handsome as the other, but he wasn't interested in that type of open flirtatiousness. Someone cold on the surface but hot underneath was more his type, which was why Leo was his favorite and why he was interested in the other male.

"I hope you've been well, Sorrel. I'm sorry for the things I did in the past and I hope you can forgive me. I was just jealous of you." Jun wanted to leave too, of course. He was about to have milk tea after three—three!—years!

"Babe, you have nothing to be jealous of. You're much better looking." Azazel declared and dropped an endearing kiss on Jun's cheek.

Sorrel's infatuation with the man diminished a little. To hear that term of endearment in this world of beastmen was a first for him—He had forgotten that Elior used it first. From the sounds of it, the man was together with Faye? Were they perhaps mates?

Jun promptly clarified the situation. "They are my mates, Azazel and Elior. I'm very happy now, so I won't ever bother you again."

"Your mates...?"

"Yes." Jun wasn't stupid nor oblivious. He had seen the too noticeable looks of desire Sorrel had directed at Azazel. Was a dozen men not enough for him that the protagonist even wanted his man? He hadn't thought much about the Hidden Mission before, but now he would reveal this person's true face.

Even after the revelation that Azazel was Jun's mate, the look of ambition didn't disappear but had even increased. He could even see in Sorrel's eyes a certain arrogance that seemed to be saying that he would have Azazel. What pure and good?

"Let's go, babe," Azazel said with a hint of annoyance. He didn't like others intruding in their time. This person wasn't even a friend of Jun's so why should he care?

Leo, who had been watching this exchange, wanted to interject but couldn't the moment Elior sent his piercing stare at him and he felt an overpowering pressure, unlike anything he had ever felt before. It almost made him fall to his knees and he had difficulty breathing.

Emperor beastmen had complete control over their pressure, so things like choosing how much pressure to exert or directing their pressure at a specific person were nothing to them.

Uncertainty washed over Leo. Was this the same King rank as him? Impossible. Then did that mean that they had broken through to the next rank? With wide eyes and a panicked expression, Leo yanked Sorrel's arm and walked away.

"Wait, I haven't—"

"We need to go." Leo had to inform the rest of Beastmen City's council. It was strange how he suddenly felt no pressure from them. They may have fooled others, but he was still a King beastman.

A distance away, Sorrel dragged his feet and forced Leo to stop. "I want that man, Leo. The dark-haired one. Azazel, was it?"

—

A/N: Yes, I'm ending it there... Cause I reached my word count goal...