Loki also didn’t want to be beaten, and he didn’t want to die. However, he knew how to fight. He was also willing to fight to avoid the fate of being beaten to death and devoured by hungry, rabid dogs. So he took a step closer to his opponent.
He hadn’t picked the jerky from the ground, but it was the least of his concerns right now. Even the naive boy had stopped chewing the jerky. The situation was such that they didn’t have the leisure to be concerned about food.
As Loki stepped forward, the boy stepped back in fright. But this didn’t stop Loki. He took another step forward.
His purposeful stride and the look in his eyes frightened the young boy too much. The other boy took another step forward, but because of his fear, he didn’t pay attention to his steps. So he stumbled and fell onto his butt.
He was in a vulnerable position, yet Loki continued to approach him. This made the boy say to him with tears in his eyes and a pleasing tone, "Please."
This seemed to get to Loki because he stopped. He seemed to struggle mentally because his eyes became unfocused for a while.
But then he heard the barking of the dogs. This signified that someone was bringing the dogs over.
He had never doubted that the dogs would be let loose on them. Even with his short period of experience here, he knew that if their masters said that they would do something, they would surely do it, no matter how abhorrent it was.
So the threat of the rabid dogs had been a serious threat to him. What he hadn’t expected was that the rabid dogs were already so close.
The barking of the dogs snapped him out of his thoughts. His eyes became stern again, and he became even more determined to live, so he took another step closer to the boy. Then he fell on the boy and began choking him.
The fight was not easy, even though he had the initiative from the beginning to the end. Not once did the boy fight back. All the boy did was struggle to live. This was all that was needed to make the fight difficult for him.
The problem was that he was weak. So he didn’t have enough strength to finish the job quickly. He even had to choke the boy with mud by forcing mud into his mouth and nose.
It was not easy at all. Many times during the process, he wanted to stop. His body wanted to give out, and his mind wanted to stop what he was doing.
But he was hungry. He was so, so hungry, and he didn’t want to die. So he continued with the arduous work of wringing life out of a young, defenseless boy.
When the work was done, the slave manager took the moldy jerky to Simon and said, "Please, bless this with your spit as grace for this lowly slave, young master."
Simon didn’t say anything. He just spat on the moldy jerky.
The innocent Slav saw this and became interested in it. He clamoured, saying, "Me too. Me too."
So the slave manager smiled and said, "Of course, young master. It is the slave’s grace to be blessed by you."
As he spoke, he brought the jerky towards Slav’s face. This was to make it easier for Slav to spit on it, but Slav still failed. The innocent boy couldn’t spit, so his saliva dribbled down his plump lips.
It took a lot of effort before Slav could get a drop of saliva on the moldy jerky. Everyone laughed during the process and called it cute.
Only Loki didn’t think it was cute. He was definitely an outlier in this because the boy he had just killed would have been honored that the young master was willing to touch the food he would eat. Even if the contact between the young master and the food was indirect, it is still something a slave should be glad for.
But Loki wasn’t happy that the food he just fought for was being defiled. However, his dissatisfaction didn’t stop him from gathering the moldy jerky when it was thrown into the mud pit with reckless abandon.
Not only was the jerky moldy, but it now had two people’s saliva and mud on it. Seven years ago, before he came to this world, he was someone who wouldn’t put his lips to cups and bottles that strangers had put to their lips. But this time, he didn’t have such qualms.
He couldn’t care about extra saliva and a serving of mid on the side because he was very hungry and because he had killed someone for this meal.
Someone had died for this meal, so no matter how picky he was, he had to appreciate this food. So he ate every piece of jerky as soon as he got his hands on it.
He ate the jerky as if it were his last meal. But even though there was a lot of jerky, it couldn’t quench his hunger or satisfy him.
His hunger felt like a flame, and he was feeding this flame to make it stronger. So instead of being filled, he was only becoming hungrier.
His hunger seemed to yearn for something more. It made him wish to eat something better.
If he didn’t have memories of a better life, this wish would be nothing but a delirious dream. But he knew his situation could be better, and he didn’t think his life should be worth a handful of moldy jerky.
In fact, he didn’t think his life should be worth less than the lives of the two young masters. So as his hunger grew stronger within him, his yearning for a better life also became stronger.
His eyes were vacant of emotions, and his face was calm, but that fire of hunger continued to burn within him. It burned with such an intensity that it threatened to consume the whole world if he didn’t satisfy it.