Whenever he went hunting for beasts in the forest, he always met Mimi.

"Gharaga! You\'re looking good again today, you know!"

"You\'re being TOO familiar! Don\'t talk to me, human."

"Good Morning, Gharaga! Spring is warm and fluffy, you know!"

"Shut up. I\'ll eat you."

"G-Good evening, Gharaga! It\'s snowing t-today. It\'s cold, you know."

"I don\'t care, idiot."

Gharaga was unfriendly, and no one, not even humans or demons, was willing to talk to him.

...No one except for Mimi.

As he spent time with Mimi, Gharaga\'s way of thinking began to change. He was taught that humans\' value was nothing more than slaves or food. However, he did not feel bad when he was with Mimi. He did not dislike seeing Mimi\'s delighted face when he picked fruit from tall trees.

However, his parents were worried about him.

"Gharaga. It seems you\'ve been playing with humans in the forest, haven\'t you?"

"You shouldn\'t play with food!"

Despite their repeated admonitions, Gharaga didn\'t care. Seeing Mimi in the forest had somehow become a source of pleasure for him.

One day, however, Gharaga\'s parents stopped saying anything about Mimi. And Gharaga no longer saw Mimi in the forest. 

A short time later, Gharaga found Mimi\'s torn clothes in the kitchen of their house. Holding Mimi\'s clothes, Gharaga inquired with his parents.

"Ah. That was supper five days ago!"

"Ha-ha-ha. Gharaga. You ate it like it was a delicacy." 

His parents\' words did not come as much of a surprise.

(Ah, I see. The meat from that time. The meat that I thought had a different texture from that of animals.)

Ridiculous. No wonder he could not find her when he searched around.

(Ke-ke-ke. Because I was the one who ate her. She couldn\'t be found because I already ate her. No matter how hard I searched, there was no way I could find her. Ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke.)

But what on earth exactly did Mimi taste like? He couldn\'t remember much. As he tried to remember, his mouth felt salty, as if it was flooding with seawater, and he vomited violently.

...Years have passed since then. However, Gharaga could never get used to the unpleasant taste that chafed the mucous membranes of his tongue.

In the morning, as soon as he woke up, Gharaga vomited the contents of his stomach into a bucket. It had always been like that. The saltiness was especially strong upon waking up.

Wiping his mouth with his arm, Gharaga grinned while breathing heavily.

(I\'m going to get rid of this shitty disease today! If I kill Suzuki, everything will change!)

......

When Gharaga arrived at the training grounds, he found the place crammed with hordes of demons. It seemed that they all knew that Suzuki would be participating in a military duel.

(Even those who don\'t usually come to the training grounds because they seem to hate training. Could it be that he\'s rallying all the members of the Thunder-Lance Charge?)

The junior soldiers were looking at Gharaga from afar and whispering secretly with each other. When Gharaga looked at them, they quickly looked away.

In contrast to Gharaga\'s usual unapproachable self, Suzuki was surrounded by a group of demons with worried expressions on their faces. There was even Nephira and the top-brass Meru-Kiru Sisters.

"It\'s dangerous, you know, Suzuki!"

"You shouldn\'t do this!---"

"Meru, Kiru. Thank you. But this is how I\'ll settle it with Gharaga."

(Ke-ke-ke. That\'s a very bold statement.)

However, the Meru-Kiru sisters seemed to really want Suzuki to call off the duel.

"Suzuki! I know! Your slave was murdered, right!? That\'s why I found you another slave!"

Kiru pushed a middle-aged man with a large mole on his face in front of Suzuki. The man bowed his head.

"He-he-. My liege. I\'ll be in your care!"

"No, you see... That\'s not what this is about, Kiru."

Meru laughed as she kicked away the middle-aged man that Kiru had brought with her.

"You don\'t understand---, My Elder Sister---! Because Suzuki is a boy! Of course, it\'s better if he is fixed with a woman, isn\'t it?---!"

Meru presented a voluptuous, erotic woman with large breasts in front of Suzuki. The woman gazed at Suzuki with eyes like a dead fish.

"From now on, please use me as your sex slave, Lord Suzuki..."

"Like I said, that\'s NOT what this is about!!"

In front of the angry Suzuki, Nephira, the commander of the Thunder-Lance Charge, smiled confidently.

"You fools. You don\'t understand how Suzuki feels. Can\'t you see? Suzuki\'s slave, Allen, is dead. You have to consider that."

Nephira then presented a very young boy to Suzuki.

"This is Eren. His name is similar to Allen\'s, isn\'t it? You are satisfied now, right? Suzuki. Now you can call off the duel."

"No, I\'m not satisfied at all!? You don\'t know how I feel about any of this, do you!?" 

Suzuki raised his voice as if he couldn\'t stand it any longer. Then he noticed Gharaga laughing at him with a "ke-ke-ke," and gave him a scowling look.