Eternal Thief

Chuchu looked at Ace with confusion and fear before she looked at Cyrus, who was sitting on Ace’s shoulder with a wronged look, and uttered, “Chu.. chu…(Boss, what is your brother saying? He’s very scary!)”

Ace suddenly realized that Chuchu was speaking in the beast language, not the common tongue, which meant she didn’t understand what he just said. Since she might’ve never encountered humans, she didn’t know their language.

Understanding his mistake, he repeats what he said in beast language for Chuchu without giving Cyrus any chance to speak first. After all, if he wanted to appear as Cyrus’ big brother, he needed to make sure Chuchu understood he could communicate with her, or the intent behind his words would have no meaning if Cyrus repeated them.

Chuchu was startled when she heard Ace speaking in her language. Truthfully, it was her first time seeing a human speaking in a beast tongue. It wasn’t her first time seeing humans; there were many settlements of humans on the outskirts of the Beast Calamity Mountain Range, and they often ventured deep into the mountains for hunting.

But she had only secretly observed them from far away and heard them speak, and she could never understand them. Furthermore, she never attacked them and always avoided them. It was her first time even coming in front of Ace, and it was all because of Cyrus.

First, she didn’t understand why an existence like Cyrus was brother with a weak human because even she couldn’t feel any cultivation from Ace. freewёbnoνel.com

However, when she stood before him, her instincts told her that Ace was extremely mysterious. Despite not having any aura around him, his presence was enough to make her wary of him. Then, there was a strange attraction around Ace, which was why she was drawn to them and found Cyrus.

Now, he was even speaking in a language that she could understand. She started to understand why Cyrus called him ‘Big Brother’ and seemed to respect him. Still, she was indignant when she heard Ace’s words and thought he was being unreasonable by doubting someone harmless like her and questioning her loyalty toward her Boss.

“Chu… (Boss has a noble bloodline, and he’s the Lord of Fire! It’s only natural for fire beings like myself to follow someone like Boss!)” She explained to the best of her ability. Ace’s eyes narrowed when he heard this subtle yet somewhat reasonable explanation. He knew Cyrus’s bloodline was extremely terrifying, and he hadn’t seen anyone who could manipulate fire as naturally as Cyrus.

But he was still not convinced, “How do you reach this conclusion? Can you sense his bloodline, and then just by that, you reached the conclusion that he’s the Lord of Fire?”

Chuchu felt even more wronged and didn’t know how to explain her feelings in words; she wasn’t a match for someone like Ace, who had tons of experience and was a cunning thief while she was just a herbivore magic beast around 20 years old and unaware of her own potential because her personality was simply too timid.

“I-I don’t know! I just become aware the moment, I sense Boss’s presence! His fire is even stronger than the mountain tyrant, and the moment I saw him, I was attracted to Boss. Please let me follow him; I mean no harm, and I know many things about these mountains.

“Boss told me you want to get out of here, right? But you’re going deeper into the mountains. However, I can help you with that and let you avoid all the territories of the mountain lords.

“Or if you keep following this river, you’ll enter the Water Lord’s territory. She’s very vicious and has killed many people like you, and she’s also the subordinate of the Mountain Tyrant.

“If she sensed the Boss’s bloodline, then she’d tell the Mountain Tyrant, and he’d do anything to hunt the Boss down. Right now, the boss is no match for the Mountain Tyrant!” Chuchu sincerely revealed with a hint of anger when she mentioned ‘Mountain Tyrant’ and ‘Water Lord’.

Ace was startled. If what Chuchu said was true, then he was going in the exact opposite direction, and these Mountain Lords seemed quite powerful, especially this Mountain Tyrant.

“You seemed to have quite an experience with these mountain lords, huh? Especially this Mountain Tyrant. I can tell that you hate him, and from what I can gather from your explanation, he also seemed to be a being who controlled fire, right?

“Then why didn’t you submit to him? Since he’s stronger than Cyrus, he’ll be a perfect backer for you, right? You might also be fooling us by leading us right into his trap!” Ace sternly questioned. freēwēbnovel.com

“No! He’s just a bully who hoards everything, treats everyone like his slaves, and works them to death. Furthermore, he’s very sensitive towards beings of fire and kills them without hesitation before eating them and their fires to increase his own power.

“I’ve been hiding from him all this time. If he knew I could use fire, he wouldn’t rest until he ate me! He’s nothing like Boss, and I don’t feel any attraction to him; instead, he disgusts me! Only Boss is worthy of my loyalty. He’s also bestowed me the name Chuchu, so he’s very kind, unlike that bully!” Chuchu stated matter-of-factly with a hint of reverence and joy when she mentioned how Cyrus gave her a name.

Ace became silent as he deeply looked towards small Chuchu, who was looking at him with hope, and then glanced at Cyrus, who was also waiting for his positive response with pitiful eyes.

‘I can’t tell if she’s telling the truth or not since my abilities are still sealed, and my twilight soul sense is too weak to work on her. If she’s acting, then she’s as good as me since she sounds very sincere.

‘Besides, this brat would probably be disappointed if I rejected her since it’s his first time making friends with someone like him on his own. Eva really leads him astray by teaching him about maids. I don’t understand why they are obsessed with having maids.

‘Well, let it be an experience for him. If she betrayed him, he’d learn a valuable lesson, and if not, she’d be a great asset, and he might learn some vigilance from her since she had survived in this place on her own for all this time. I just need to make sure to protect him if the former becomes a reality!’

‘Sigh…why are these kinds of things happening to me after just ascending in this place…’ Ace sighed in resignation at this moment. He knew it was too late and really didn’t want to see Cyrus disappointed.

He solemnly stated while looking at Chuchu, “Alright, I’ll let you stay by his side, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on you. If I ever feel like that you have an ulterior motive, I won’t be so kind. For now, let’s see if you can really lead us outside these mountains. Consider this your first test for earning my trust!”