Summoned and Unwanted

684 A leader is born out of anger and frustration

“That is an ordinary bear’s head with its eyes painted yellow! He even burned the head to make it unrecognizable!” A Dullahan said while approaching Vincent and Awa.

“Is this another vile tactic made by your shitty leader and his mother?” Vincent whispered.

“I... I think so...” Awa responded.

‘Did the clan chieftain pay him with food? He never acted this way. He isn’t that kind of man.’ Awa thought with a visible frown. She knew the Dullahan and knew he usually didn’t do these kinds of things.

Awa felt ashamed to hear a proud Dullahan was most likely repeating words the clan chieftain requested. The more of the mother and son’s behavior she saw with her eyes open to the truth, the more Awa started to agree with Vincent.

Kazumi returned. [Huh? Is there a commotion already?] She questioned.

-They are most likely trying to make anything we say enter one ear and exit from the other. It is obvious their intention is to get the Dullahans to hate us.-

The Dullahan stopped in front of Orso’s head. When his and Awa’s eyes met, he averted his gaze, revealing his guilty conscience.

*Gulp* The Dullahan crouched and extended his hand. He touched Orso’s eyes and started to scream, “AHHH! The yellow coloring is poisonous! It is burning my hand! Help!”

.....

Two Dullahans rushed to help the shouting Dullahan. It was too quick not to be called planned assistance. The two Dullahans acted as if the Dullahan faking being in pain was going to die from poisoning.

The audience containing Dullahans who weren’t paid with food and didn’t know this was a trick started to frown. They were doubting Vincent’s credibility and wondering if Awa was being manipulated or if she was his hostage.

“How dare you trick us and say it was an achievement!” Labh loudly exclaimed while pointing his finger at Vincent.

“Anyone can kill a large bear and color the eyes yellow. However, to hurt a Dullahan is unforgivable. To harm a fellow Dullahan in front of our eyes is despicable.” Labh loudly said.

[Sigh. What a classic planned trap. I give this plan three out of ten, though, because it uses sloppy actors.]

[I hoped they would use a more creative trap than this, but because the Dullahans do not trust a person they call a slave trader, a sloppy trap became good enough to succeed.]

*Sigh* -Analyzing everything as always...- Vincent confidently smirked. -but two can play the food bribing game. I will put Awa down and...-

Just as Vincent was telling Kazumi what he was planning to do next, the clan chieftain ordered, “Fire the arrows at the slave trader!” causing Vincent to stop talking and become alert.

“What! W-w-wait!” Awa exclaimed nervously.

“Please have mercy on our daughter. ” Amie begged.

“Please do not hurt our daughter. ” Lamin begged.

Before Vincent entered the village, ten Dullahans were ordered to grab their bows and arrows. They were told to be prepared for anything Vincent might try to do.

The ten Dullahans appearing from different directions in front of Vincent pulled their bowstring and prepared to shoot the arrows.

One second passed from the time the bowstring was drawn with the arrow ready to fire. However, instead of shooting the arrows, they stopped.

Even if the ten Dullahans were going to be paid with food, they had to remember the times Awa helped them and their friends by sharing her food.

If possible, the ten Dullahans didn’t want to hurt Awa, even if they were told by the clan chieftain that Awa was going to betray her people to become a high-quality slave instead an ordinary slave.

“You better not kill me. Like I took out the real Orso’s head from my invisible storage, I can take out a lot of food for everyone to eat. My death means no one will be able to eat until their stomachs become full.”

“Y-yes! Vincent is right. Everyone, listen to me, and please believe me. This human named Vincent has a lot of food. He is willing to share the food and help us survive the winter with no deaths.”

The Dullahan audience looked at Vincent and Awa. Their words sounded tempting, yet it also made them consider if this was an elaborate trap.

“Listen to none of their tempting words, my proud and mighty Dullahans. If the eyes of the fake Orso’s head were poisoned, then what about the food?” The clan chieftain pointed at Vincent. The mother and son duo pointed their fingers at Vincent, carrying Awa now.

The situation kept being in favor of the clan leader and the clan chieftain. Vincent needed to prove he was right without adding more suspicion.

Vincent was in a dilemma because of the order to fire the arrows at him.

Behind Vincent were Awa’s parents, a five your old child and an eight-year-old child, a pregnant woman, an old man, and five other Dullahans.

In front of Vincent was Awa in his arms. Beside Vincent was Plow frowning at what was happing, and Zero was moving the vines in its body as if it was ready to fight at any moment.

However, the time was against Vincent.

The bows were drawn, but Dullhans didn’t have the strength and stamina to hold the bowstring for a long time. The cold was also making gripping the arrows difficult.

The longer the bowstring was drawn, the less they could say in firing position. A few seconds of tension later, an arrow was let loose by mistake. Soon more arrows followed like a chain reaction or by mistake as well.

Vincent used the little time to try and persuade the Dullahans instead of using Soul Reset and Overheat. Vincent was vulnerable now.

Kazumi used Soul Invite on Vincent and Awa. She canceled the skill instantly.

Vincent and Awa’s perception of time greatly increased, allowing them to see one second become stretched to about four seconds.

They could see all the arrows flying toward them in slow motion. As the time was returning to normal for the two of them, both quickly noticed two arrows straying from their path. It meant eight arrows were going to hit them, and two arrows were about to hit the Dullahans behind them.

Vincent prepared to move his mouth, and when he was able to speak, he shouted while turning around, “Protect those behind me.”

Plow and Zero were already prepared to act. The moment they heard “Prot” for protect, both acted promptly. Only after hearing “those behind me.” did Plow and Zero move accordingly while trusting Vincent.

While Plow jumped, she used the fake leg to push her body upward and spin her body from losing balance. However, instead of a problem, Plow used this to her advantage. As she extended her tails while her little body spun, a circular tail shield about the size of an umbrella was formed.

Zero didn’t have much time to use the tendrils to protect itself and those behind it. Zero emerged tendrils to rise half of Vincent’s height. Zero then compensated the rest of a wall taller than Vincent by using small vines from its body.

*Clang* One arrow collided with Plow’s tails. The arrow broke into three pieces before falling to the ground.

Plow spun before landing. She swiftly moved her gaze onto Vincent and hoped Vincent wasn’t going to die.

*Thud* One arrow collided against a tendril and vine wall. The arrow got stuck without being allowed to penetrate more than a quartet length of the arrow.

Zero broke the arrow so that it would not be used again and moved its gaze onto Vincent.

The remaining eight arrows went inside Vincent’s back. One after the other, the arrows penetrated Vincent’s back.

Each arrow stabbed Vincent’s back a couple of inches before each arrow was stored in his Soul Dimensional Storage. Even though Vincent wasn’t in danger of death, he got lightly stabbed eight times in his back.

*Thud* Vincent fell to his knees. His teeth were clenched, and his brows deeply frowned. He did want to groan in pain nor reveal weakness, as Labh and his mother could take advantage of such information.

Awa thought she was going to be thrown on the ground, yet Vincent remained to hold her. As Awa felt her feet touching the ground, her heart raced, and her body moved.

Awa, empowered by a rush of adrenaline, stood up on her two feet without any help. She gazed at Vincent and frowned deeply at the thought of her own people trying to kill her if it wasn’t for Vincent using his life to protect her.

Awa was frightened, yet she wanted to see if Vincent was going to die, all because she accepted his desire to escort her home.

Awa moved to Vincent’s side and looked at Vincent’s back. She saw blood trickling from eight wounds on his back, yet the arrows were nowhere to be seen.

Awa noticed the broken arrow Plow blocked. She moved her gaze at Plow.

Plow was in front of Vincent. She was worriedly licking Vincent’s hand and asking if Vincent was going to be okay.

Awa moved her gaze onto Zero next. Unlike what she expected, Zero was showing emotions.

Zero was showing emotions of hate and bloodlust. If Zero heard the letter ‘A,’ Zero would think it meant ‘Attack.’

“Are you unhurt? Please tell us. We are worried.” Amie asked worriedly.

“Daughter... you didn’t get hurt anywhere, right? ” Lamin asked worriedly.

Awa looked at everyone who was behind Vincent. She understood that if Vincent chose to save his life by evading the arrows, her parents and people would be in danger of getting badly wounded or, worse, they could have died.

Upon this moment of realization, the past Awa died, and a new Awa was born. Awa felt enough was enough.