Beta: Jeannette
A/N: Psst, if you guys didn't catch the reference for this chapter title and the previous one, it's Pokémon lol
Up in the trees, Jun, who had been observing the entire exchange, nodded in approval. Though those two perverts often tried to take advantage of him, they were always dependable in each world. Even as unknown persons in this world, they were still King ranks.
That also explained their ability to transform freely. For some reason, he had never considered the likelihood of them being King rank beastmen. For wild beastmen, those two had been pretty restrained in this world and their perverted level even dropped a notch. Other than hugging and holding him, they hadn't done much more. He wasn't complaining of course, but it was rather odd.
Since Azazel and Elior were both King ranks, they didn't need to waste their time with lower-level beastmen. Although Jun couldn't tell ranks because he was a "female", he knew for a fact that there were less than 10 King ranks in this world and two of them happened to be Azazel and Elior, so the chances of another King rank appearing in the vicinity was improbable.
Jun was still smiling when he saw in the distance a pack of velociraptors. Though not as big as the maybe 15 meters tall T Rex he ran into, these velociraptors were only a little taller than the beastmen but they had more in numbers. (A/N: about 49 feet)
However, with the two King ranks, who could easily shift into their beast forms and even adjust the size of those forms, a pack of velociraptors wasn't that much of an issue. Jun watched in admiration as Elior transformed into a python bigger than the velociraptors and flattened a few of them with the tail end of his body.
Azazel's wolf form was even larger and he used its size to seize the necks of some velociraptors and crush them with his bite. As for the other three beastmen who could only shift between their human forms and average-sized beast forms, taking on a velociraptor each was enough to occupy them.
After all was said and done, Azazel and Elior took down 7 velociraptors while the other party only managed to bring down 3. They could have maybe handled more, but Azazel and Elior had already eliminated the remaining ones before they had the opportunity. When they finished collecting the cores, Elior climbed the tree Jun was in to retrieve him and presented him with the cores to keep.
All the cores they had been accumulating had been given to Jun for safekeeping or to use, and he felt very rich indeed. The two men had even forced him to consume the 3 King colossal cores they had, hoping he'd rank up but nothing happened. They weren't upset, merely confused. One could say it was almost the equivalent of consuming 3 Ferraris in terms of value and price. Jun almost choked on them.
(A/N: Ferrari cars start at at least around $200,000.)
Landing on the ground with a thump, Elior found a flat boulder for Jun to sit on. Colossal meat was very nutritious for beastmen, but there was only so much they could carry with them and Jun ate very little, so the two transformed back into enlarged versions of their beast forms and ate 5 of the 7 velociraptors they hunted. Jun watched them eat with morbid fascination.
After a while he couldn't watch the blood being splattered anymore and turned away, his eyes meeting those of the other three beastmen still there, who were processing the meat of their velociraptors. Surprise shone in their eyes when they had a good look at Jun.
With cold expressions, they all scowled at him. The one with black rounded tipped ears and tail, likely a black panther, spoke. "Faye?"
This one word caught Azazel and Elior's attention. They had suspected that those three were Jun's previous tribesmen and it seemed they were right.
The white-haired beastman, a white tiger, snorted. "You're still alive?"
Jun's eyes widened. He hadn't expected to run into people who knew the original 'Faye.' Though they didn't seem to be on friendly terms, the same could be said of the majority of those from the Golden Lion tribe.
"Faye? Is that your name, little kitty?" Elior excitedly ran over in human form with blood still on his lips. Jun nodded and Elior gestured at the three beastmen. "Then these guys are..."
Jun shrugged. Although he didn't know for sure who they were, with his luck and the knowledge of the world's plot, he had a pretty good guess that they were all part of the protagonist Sorrel's harem, which meant they held strong hostility towards him.
"You don't know them? Or you don't remember?" Azazel, who had finished eating and turned back to a human, hurried to Jun's side. Holding up two crossed fingers, he indicated that it was a mixture of both cases. Azazel nodded in understanding. "Then they are unimportant."
Hearing that, the lion beastman bristled. He was likely to become a King rank soon and was the best candidate to become tribe leader and this wild beastman had just called him unimportant? Intolerable.
"I'm not surprised you were picked up by some wild beastmen. Is it fun spreading your legs for those who can't find their own female?"
Females were rare and precious, so they always had many beastmen protecting them. For wild beastmen who were few and far in between, having a female was something difficult to obtain. Most would try to steal one and often failed.
Elior wasn't the least bit impressed by the lion beast man's insult. "Don't speak nonsense. Unlike you people who would abandon a young beastman because of a handicap, we wouldn't touch him before he's of age."
"Of age? He's already an adult." The lion beastman snorted. "And did you think our tribesmen would abandon a member because of a handicap?"
Elior, seeming to have not heard the second part, nor whatever else was being said, grabbed Jun's shoulders with enthusiasm. "You're an adult!?"
Suddenly feeling a certain foreboding, Jun nodded slowly with a look of suspicion. These guys' lowered level of perverted behavior couldn't possibly be because they thought he was underage, could it?
Azazel had a burning fervent gaze trained on him and when Jun saw that combined with Elior's eager face, he understood that was the truth. A pervert could never change their nature, but he could rejoice in the fact that his two perverts still had some moral integrity.
"This is great!" Elior blurted. "I've been wanting to claim you so badly. Do you know how hard it is to hold back?"
The answer was no, he didn't, so he showed the man a bland expression. As for Azazel, he looked ready to snatch Jun and sprint back to their cave to nestle inside for an entire week. Unfortunately, they still had some dinosaur meat to process.
The lion beastman was offended by being ignored. "Did you not hear me? He betrayed the tribe when he bullied our female!"
Jun wrinkled his eyebrows. Betrayal was a bit of an exaggeration. All the original 'Faye' did was mess with the protagonist Sorrel here and there. He never physically harmed him, but he was forced to drink poison and was cast out because of their crazy fanatical worship of the protagonist. 'Faye' was not even the main villain or even a minor villain, but just a "bully" that had to suffer for years in the wild.
He later reappeared in Beast City to seek refuge, looking haggard and limping his way through. When the protagonist saw him again, he could see that Faye had suffered extensively but only gave him a look of pity before walking away. He was insignificant trash in this world, solely meant to suffer and make the protagonist look better.
"You bullied a female?" Azazel's tone was an amused one. With a shy and helpless expression, Jun shrugged again.
Elior snorted. "What's so good about a female when compared to our Faye?"
"You..." The black panther beastman pointed a finger at him.
"You know what? I don't care." Elior promptly transformed into a python to pluck one of the remaining dinosaur bodies in his mouth and began to slither away. Likewise, Azazel changed into a wolf and laid down on the ground to allow Jun to climb on his back. Picking up the other dinosaur body, he followed after Elior.
"You'll regret this! He's an omen of disaster!" The lion beastman roared angrily after them.
'He's not wrong.' Jun thought. If it wasn't being courted by Death, then it was being courted by Disaster or Misfortune. Trouble always found him no matter what. Though he had Azazel and Elior by his side now, he couldn't predict how their days would be. They often acted as his shields against Death, Disaster, and Misfortune but both times had been for a short period.
In this world, he was guaranteed to encounter suffering opportunities for 5 years. Something could and probably would go wrong, but Jun wouldn't let that bother him. This time, he wanted to stay with Azazel and Elior and would try harder to finish not only the Main Mission but the Hidden Mission too.
After arriving at the familiar stream, Azazel set Jun down and changed back to a human. He started to skin and clean the meat right away. Elior did the same. The faster they finished, the faster they could prepare a sumptuous meal full of invigorating energy for Jun, and the faster they could get down to the real business.
Feeling the passionate gazes of the two men, Jun sensed the impending doom of his body and squirmed, hugging himself. Whatever moral integrity Azazel and Elior might have had seemed to have disappeared entirely.
Later that night, he was yet again squished between the two big men, their hands running all over him. "How can you be so small as an adult male beastman?" Elior wondered. Technically he was a "female" but they didn't need to know that, right? He was a male in heart and body so...
The other thing was that male beastmen being together to comfort one another wasn't uncommon. After all, female beastmen were rare and though they could have multiple mates, they couldn't handle that many males.
"Become our mate." Azazel brushed the hair on Jun's head with tenderness, hovering at the cat ears. "We promise to cherish you."
Elior nodded exuberantly, his naughty fingers tracing the side of Jun's waist. "You're better than any female I've ever seen."
Jun wanted to ask: Exactly how many females have you seen!?
Seeing the look of indignation on Jun's face, Elior burst into laughter. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in females."
Should he confess to them that he was technically one?
Azazel kissed Jun's fingertips. "You're the only one I've ever been interested in."
Feeling a bit mischievous, Jun pointed to Elior with a questioning look. These two had been "together" long before he came along. Azazel gave Jun a look of utter horror and disgust, and so did Elior.
"He's like my brother." He said.
"Ew, I'm like his ancestor," Elior said at the same time.
"I'm older," Azazel growled.
"So?" This familiar banter between the two made Jun laugh out loud, his voice a bit hoarse. Azazel and Elior were pleasantly surprised. "Little kitty, want to try talking?"
Jun cleared his throat a few times before speaking. "E... Eli."
The delight that showed on Elior's face couldn't be contained. "Eli? I like that. Call me again."
"Eli."
Azazel held Jun's cheek and turned his head to face him. "What about me?"
"Azel." Though Jun's voice still had a raspy quality, it was light and airy, pleasant to listen to. In a few days, his voice should return to normal.
"That sounds good." Azazel leaned in and stole a kiss.