Chapter 28: The Hunting Transport Team  

In the Jifunora Sea Tree Forest, filled with danger beasts, the carnivorous flowers were capable of trapping and digesting even dangerous creatures, proving the strength of their petals.

But strength is relative. Broly easily pried open the petals of the flower that had swallowed the girl and pulled her out.

The girl fell to the ground, scrambling to the edge of the flower patch where the twin sisters stood, still shaken.

**[Do good deeds without leaving your name. Call me the Red Scarf!]**

This thought crossed Broly's mind as he jumped down from the flower's petals. But before he could land, the flower, having lost its prey, snapped its petals shut and swallowed him whole.

The flower shook for a moment, then fell still.

"That idiot."

Akame waited for a while, but when Broly didn't emerge, she cursed under her breath.

"Kurome, stay here."

"Sister, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to save him."

Akame said.

"Why bother with him?"

Kurome grabbed Akame's arm, not wanting her sister to take the risk.

"He saved us. I owe him."

"Then I'll help you save him."

Unable to convince her sister to stay, Akame had no choice but to bring Kurome along.

However, the carnivorous flowers were only dangerous when not feeding. Once they had prey, they ignored everything else.

The flower that had swallowed Broly was on the edge of the patch, and the surrounding flowers were busy with their own meals. The sisters reached the flower without incident.

But they couldn't pry open the petals like Broly had. Instead, they used their knives to hack at the flower's stem.

Plants don't feel pain, and despite being dangerous, the flower didn't react. After some effort, the sisters managed to cut off the upper part of the flower.

They continued stabbing at the thick petals, eventually creating a small opening.

"Are you okay?"

Akame called through the opening.

"I'm fine."

Broly replied from inside.

"If you're fine, why aren't you coming out?"

Kurome asked, standing on her tiptoes to peer through the hole.

"I'm drinking something. Almost done. I'll be out soon."

True to his word, Broly soon pushed the petals open from the inside.

"What were you drinking?"

Relieved to see him unharmed, Akame asked.

"I don't know, but I saved some for you. It's sweet and smells nice. Try it."

Broly held out a soft inner petal filled with a clear, fragrant liquid.

This was the nectar of the carnivorous flower. Normally, the plant used this nectar to lure in prey. Strong creatures could drink it without harm, but weaker ones would be trapped and digested.

The twin sisters: "..."

While they had been trying to save him, Broly had been enjoying a drink inside the flower.

"It's sweet. Sister, try it."

Kurome, unable to resist, took a sip.

"Don't just drink anything. What if it's poisonous?"

Akame scolded but also took a taste.

The sisters, both food lovers, quickly finished the nectar Broly had brought out.

The rescued girl, watching this, was stunned but soon snapped out of it.

"Can you help save my sister? She was swallowed by another flower."

She pleaded.

Akame and Kurome exchanged glances. They had noticed that the flowers didn't attack while feeding.

Before they could agree, Broly was already pulling down another flower, forcing its petals open.

He reached in, grabbed a foot, and pulled out another girl. But this girl wasn't breathing.

"Sister!"

The rescued girl cried, hugging her sister's lifeless body. Akame stepped forward: "I've seen drowned people before. She might have suffocated inside the flower."

"Can you save her?"

"I don't know, but I can try."

Akame remembered how adults had saved drowning victims and began performing CPR.

"Cough, cough..."

By the time Broly finished drinking the nectar from another flower and squeezed out, the girl had come back to life.

"There are more people."

Broly, who loved sweet things and enjoyed both drinking nectar and saving people, didn't refuse.

Thus, the carnivorous flowers suffered. Their recently caught prey was forcibly taken away.

In total, seven children were rescued. Aside from the girl who had nearly drowned in the nectar, the others were still alive when pulled out.

Broly harvested five more nectar-filled flowers, but instead of drinking it all, he packed the nectar-filled petals to take with him.

He considered harvesting more, but after opening one flower that still had a half-digested animal inside and smelling the foul odor, he gave up.

The nectar of the carnivorous flowers was essentially digestive fluid. While digesting prey, it became corrosive and foul-smelling.

"How are you going to carry all this by yourself?"

Akame asked, watching Broly struggle with the large and small bundles.

"Hmm..."

Broly was indeed troubled. The items weren't heavy, but they were bulky.

"Got it."

He soon had an idea. He handed the nectar-filled petals to the rescued children.

"Help me carry these, and I'll share some food with you later."

The three boys and four girls, having been saved by Broly, had no objections.

"Wait, where are you going? That's not the direction to the center of the forest."

Akame noticed Broly heading in a strange direction.

"I heard some noises. There might be prey there."

The delicious nectar had awakened Broly's hunting instincts. He wanted to find new prey.

He didn't know where the prey was—the forest was filled with too many scents.

But his sharp hearing picked up some movements in the forest.

And so, Broly led a group of children his age through the dangerous Jifunora Sea Tree Forest, embarking on a hunting spree.

Of course, Broly was the only one doing the hunting. The others were just there to carry the spoils.

"Help..."

"Thud~"

"Help me carry this, and I'll give you some food later."

Along the way, children being hunted by danger beasts were also saved when Broly took down their pursuers.

They, too, joined the strange hunting party as food carriers.

Compared to braving the dangerous forest alone, following the powerful Broly was clearly the safer option, especially since he promised to share food.

The Jifunora Sea Tree Forest was vast. Hundreds of children thrown into it were like pebbles dropped into a lake, creating barely a ripple.

Many children died shortly after entering the forest. Those who survived this long were either skilled or lucky.

---

As evening approached, Bill grew anxious at the forest's central clearing.

"Why hasn't anyone come out yet?"

"Don't worry. This forest doesn't have many powerful danger beasts, but the density of weaker ones is high. It's normal for it to take time to weed out the purely lucky ones. Just wait a bit longer."

Gozuki reassured him. It wasn't until nightfall that a few children finally emerged from the trees.

---

Chapter 29: External Wives

"Damn it, that bastard in charge of procuring children dared to embezzle even this money?!"

By nightfall, only six children had emerged from the forest, two of whom had broken limbs and had crawled out through sheer willpower. Bill, the bald man, was furious. They had promised carefully selected candidates, and this was the result?

The only explanation was that the funds meant for procuring the children had been embezzled by the logistics officer. Of course, embezzlement was commonplace in the corrupt empire. High-ranking officials and nobles enjoyed the bribes from lower-ranking ones.

In this empire, where corruption was rampant, advancement wasn't based on ability but on how much money you could bribe your superiors with.

Similarly, to live a good life, squeezing money from the common folk and engaging in bribery and embezzlement was the clearest path.

But it was precisely this corruption that had brought the empire to its current state of decline. Rebellions were breaking out everywhere, and those dissatisfied with the empire's state of affairs were fanning the flames, aiming to overthrow it.

In this situation, the intelligence agency planned to form an assassination unit to suppress the unrest and eliminate the ambitious figures hiding in the shadows.

But even in selecting suitable children, they encountered internal corruption. How could Bill, in charge of this operation, not be furious?

"Those bastards dare to take any money. Why don't they just sell the ropes to hang themselves to the empire's enemies?"

"Sir Bill, someone actually did that. They sold not just ropes but also weapons and armor. Remember the guy who was selling military supplies? We hanged him in the square of Carter City."

A subordinate reminded him. Bill's face stiffened, and he glared at the subordinate before angrily saying, "Bring me the communication device. I want the logistics department to cut off the heads of those anti-empire scum who dared to embezzle funds!"

The subordinate quickly brought the communicator, and Bill dialed. The officer at the forest's edge, receiving the call, turned pale and hurried to a tent.

Inside the tent, the young officer who had beheaded the boy earlier was now on top of a girl with vacant eyes. Seeing his superior enter, he even invited him to join.

Then, with a bang, a bullet hole appeared in his forehead.

"Search his house. Anyone who dares to embezzle intelligence agency funds deserves to die."

The officer said viciously, then shot the girl beneath the corpse.

The truth didn't matter. What mattered was that the operation to deploy the children had failed.

Someone had to take the fall for Bill's wrath.

It couldn't be him, and he couldn't bear to sacrifice his trusted subordinates.

Fortunately, a recent recruit from a fallen noble family, though quite capable and respectful, was expendable.

The officer could only hope that this fallen noble's family still had some assets left to placate Bill's anger.

---

"Now, do you want those six children?"

At the forest's center, Bill, having vented some of his anger, calmed down and asked Gozuki.

"You brought me here to train elites, not trash, right?"

Gozuki retorted. He had seen the children who made it out. The two with broken limbs aside, the remaining four didn't seem to have the makings of elite assassins. While they were better than average, he was here for the best.

"Then we'll have to wait for the next batch of children to be procured."

"How long will that take?"

"At least ten days to half a month."

"So we just wait here like idiots?"

"The forest is more dangerous at night. We'll leave tomorrow by flying danger beast."

"Fine."

Gozuki looked displeased but had no choice.

"Hey, you there, go spread some mixed danger beast blood around. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night and have to fight off attacking danger beasts."

The clearing in the forest's center was surrounded by the scent of mixed danger beast blood. This complex scent deterred the more intelligent danger beasts from approaching.

To them, the mixed blood scent signaled the presence of one or more apex predators in the area.

---

For example, in the southwest of the Jifunora Sea Tree Forest, near a river, a clearing had been blasted open by energy attacks. Piles of danger beast carcasses lay scattered, their mixed blood scent keeping many nocturnal danger beasts at bay.

Of course, some bold danger beasts still approached, only to end up as part of the food supply.

"Everyone, cut the meat into smaller pieces. It'll cook faster."

Broly had gathered over seventy children. After reaching the safe area he had created, they quickly began processing the food.

Some gathered firewood, others started fires, cut meat, or foraged for wild vegetables. Even some mushrooms were picked.

The logistics officer in charge of procuring the children hadn't embezzled funds. These children, forced into the assassin selection, were indeed skilled in their own ways.

"Broly, here's your meat."

A boy named Nahashu, after roasting a lizard skewer, didn't eat it himself despite being starving. Instead, he brought it to Broly and offered it to him.

During his time as a homeless orphan, Nahashu had occasionally banded together with other homeless children for survival. These groups were like wolf packs, where the leader always ate first to assert dominance.

Nahashu hadn't understood this at first, but after a beating, he learned the hard way.

Though Broly hadn't expressed any desire to be their leader, the children, awed by his strength and ability to easily kill danger beasts, naturally saw him as the core of their makeshift group.

"You're a good person."

Surprised by Nahashu's offering, Broly didn't refuse. He accepted the skewer and complimented him.

Following Nahashu's example, the other children seemed to catch on and began lining up to offer their roasted food.

"Here's my roasted stag meat."

"This is roasted two-headed snake tail."

"I made a wild vegetable and swamp crab soup."

"This is a mud-baked bear paw."

"I picked these mushrooms. They're colorful and must be delicious."

...

Among the offerings was something odd.

"Idiot, those are poisonous mushrooms! Don't give strange food to Broly!"

A girl named Ponni snatched the skewer of poisonous mushrooms and threw it away.

"My mushrooms!"

The girl watched her poisonous mushrooms fly into the river, looking as if she wanted to eat them herself.

Her poison resistance was impressive, likely from a childhood spent eating strange fungi without dying.

"You're all good people!"

Broly was touched. So many people were offering him food.

Though most of it was meat from the danger beasts he had killed, the processed food wasn't technically his.

He had promised to share food with those who helped carry the supplies, so the food should have been theirs. Yet they were willing to share it with him.

Broly was deeply moved. Even though only Akame and Kurome were recognized by the Crystal Palace as potential wives, he now considered this group, who had fed him, as his external wives in this world.

"You know, offering the first bite is a tradition where I come from. It's a way to acknowledge someone as the leader. Once you've acknowledged a leader, you're under their protection. Those who haven't acknowledged a leader can't compete with us for food."

"So that's why I could never compete with others in the city."

A child who had been a lone wanderer suddenly understood.

"Lothar, did you ever acknowledge a leader before?"

Another child asked.

"Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't be this well-fed."

The boy who had spoken about acknowledging leaders lifted his shirt, revealing a slightly plump belly.

Compared to the other emaciated children, he was relatively well-fed.

"Then where's your former leader now?"

"Dead."

"Huh?"

"While we were playing in the city, my leader accidentally bumped into a passing noble. The noble's guards whipped him to death.

After he died, we couldn't compete with others. I sold myself to a slave trader, hoping for a meal, but ended up here as food for danger beasts."

The chubby boy looked bitter. He had incredible strength and had carried the bear carcass Broly had killed to this spot.

"But now I have a new leader. Broly is clearly very powerful. He easily takes down danger beasts. Even the nobles in the city couldn't easily kill him. Following him, I'll definitely eat well."

The chubby boy, Lothar, looked at Broly by the bonfire, determined to stick with his new leader. The other children, inspired, also expressed their desire to follow a leader who could ensure they ate well.

The children chewed on their meat, chatting with those around them about their harsh pasts. As they learned about each other's struggles, their loyalty to their new leader grew.

This loyalty stemmed not only from being saved but also from Broly's willingness to share food and let them eat meat.

They had fed Broly, and in turn, Broly had fed them.