After agreeing with Mira's request to help the animals in the next round, Levin could feel that the atmosphere changed. Even though the animals here were still not polite or friendly with them, at least those animals didn't show any hostility toward the two humans in front of them anymore. Levin also stared in amusement as his hand was stuffed with meat after meat in the last couple of minutes by the brown bear who acted as a chef here.
However, that wasn't the most outrageous part here.
No, even though their contrasting behavior toward him was a bit unexpected, it wasn't as outrageous as how they acted around Mira. All the small animals basically fought to get her attention, while the bigger ones like the deer and the bear kept picking small fruit for her to eat, and the elephant itself just rubbed the girl fondly with its trunk.
Those animals basically treated the girl like a real princess, adored by her subject.
'Yeah, this is probably the charm of her genuine kindness.' Levin smiled softly at the adorable sight in front of him. 'Still, she needs to learn how to see through people's acting so that she wouldn't be used to the other's advantage.'
Yeah, Levin somehow felt distressed when he remembered the girl's innocence who always thought the best of the people. It wasn't a bad trait, per se, but not a suitable one in a battle royale game like this where all the players should've tried to kill each other to win everything. He would need to hone her bullshit detector so that the girl could smell lies and deceptions even from a mile away.
Well, that would be his problem in the future. However, right now, Levin still has many questions for the elephant, who was a veteran in this game.
"So, there would be at least four rounds, but you don't know if there would be anything further because the fourth round is the furthest any participants had advanced through, and it was two battle royales ago, right?" He asked the bear who was willing to be his guide.
"Yes, a good man he was. A bit too naive and innocent to join this game, but a completely different monster once he puts his gloves on his hand. He is a champion boxer if I didn't remember it wrong." The bear smiled, reminiscing the past.
"So, what happened to him?"
For that question, the bear had his face darkened instantly. "We don't know what happened to him, but we only saw what was left of his body. He lost all of his limbs, ears, tongue, and there were so many scars on his body, showing so many traces of torture there. However, what made us sick was the lost expression on his face, showing that he gave up before he died. Whatever those bastards did to him, it completely broke the poor boy."
Levin shuddered as he heard that, knowing full well that this could be his fate at the end of the day. Even though he was no stranger to torture and interrogation, he had never seen one that could make someone really lose their will, and honestly, thinking about that really scared the soldier a lot.
"Do you know why the ruler does all of this crazy stuff?" He frowned, now curious over the reason behind all of this.
He noticed that the bear stiffened a bit and exchanged glances with the elephant for a split second before the creature finally shook his head and answered, "No, I don't know anything about that bastard. The only time we see his presence is when we lose consciousness before he injects us with some kind of drug that makes us go berserk. Other than that, he just let us live in fear that this time would happen again at any time, and right now, it seems that we are close to our monthly – no, should be annual – torture session."
Levin narrowed his eyes suspiciously, knowing that the bear didn't tell him the full truth. Well, he could understand why the creatures here wouldn't reveal all their cards so easily. After all, they were willing to give this information freely only because of Mira's promise to help them, and it was clear that they hadn't trusted him yet. Maybe, it was because he was an adult that they were still wary of him.
Still, this was a productive session, and Levin was satisfied with the information he received here. From the bear, he knew that the second round would last for another week with the prize for that round being a stock of food to satisfy their hunger after being starved for about two weeks, something that Levin himself felt that it wasn't that much of a prize. As for the third round, it involved exploring a maze for some sort of a treasure hunter event, and in this round, even the strongest player would be in danger. As for the fourth round and the more advanced one, the creatures didn't know anything about that since they had only seen one who managed to reach that stage, just to end up horribly.
After about one hour of grilling the information from the animals around here, the sun finally went down below the horizon, and Levin knew that this was time to go back. Even though Mira was reluctant to leave her new friends, she also didn't want to spend the night in the forest. After all, the last time they did that ended up in them being attacked by the illusionist.
So, after bringing back Eggly – yeah, they didn't forget their original purpose – and also bringing back a sack full of meat that was enough to last for about a year – this was present from the animals for Mira – they finally left, but not before a tearful farewell from the girl.
"Bye, Dodo! Kaya! Mr. Azzar! Mr. Arjit! Nini! Fei Fei! Lily! Bana!" She waved her hands while sobbing dramatically as they left the waterfall. Once again, Levin had his sweat dropped on his face at the names the girl called for farewell. While he knew she made a lot of friends here, he didn't expect it would be that much. Hell, out of all the animals there, he only knew about Azzar – the elephant – and Arjit – the bear – there. As for the others, he just referred to them as their species. "Goodbye, everyone! Don't worry, we will help you in the next round! See you later!" She waved her hand excitedly.
As the two humans disappeared from their sight, the bear couldn't help but sigh, asking the elephant, "Do you think we did the right thing by not telling them everything?"
The elephant was quiet for a moment before nodding its head gently. "Yes, I believe we did the right thing. Although Mira is a sweet girl, we still don't know about that man's situation. Also, You know how their mind would be affected by the awakening, right?" The bear could only sigh, knowing full well what its leader was talking about.
Yeah, those animals didn't tell Levin and Mira everything they knew about this game. Even though those two humans managed to gain their trust, the animals here were still wary of them and decided not to reveal all their cards. They still hadn't told the humans a lot of things like about how could they speak normal to them, their evolution ability – like how the elephant could become a mammoth – and the real identity of the ruler itself.
Even though those two knew that it would jeopardize Levin and Mira's effort to help them, they couldn't help it. They knew that the players of this battle royale game would have an awakening before the second round began, and it would affect the entire game completely and it was for a bad reason. Even though they didn't have too much hope for Levin, those animals just hoped that Mira who had been nice and genuine today would not change too much so that they could still save her. Unfortunately, that matter wasn't up to them.
"Let's go, Arjit! Since the players have already found us, we need to prepare ourselves! You are the closest animal to reach my strength, so don't you dare to die in this fucking game, okay?!"
"Yes, Sir!"