He donned on the boy’s clothes—a long black coat, black pants, and leather boots. The clothes felt incredibly confining and uncomfortable.

“Ahh humans,” he sighed, unable to comprehend why people would wear such a thing. The urge to rip off the coat right off his body was high, but for now, he resisted. After all, learning to compromise is an important skill.

To lurk among the humans, one must first wear like humans.

“Just until the eggs hatch, just until the eggs hatch!” he consoled himself.

As he walked near the eggs and picked them, he pondered, “Traveling west towards the Elfin Domain or the south, home of vampires, would increase the odds of finding means to hatch the eggs.”

He shook his head. That would have been too risky, especially considering his past deeds.

After keeping the three eggs in a black sack, he started to travel east—towards the land of the humans.

The woods were his home for a long time. As a result, he knew the entire place thoroughly. But travelling with his new tiny legs and tiny steps felt strange. The trees also looked bigger. It felt suffocating.

——————

After about two days of walk, he arrived at the edge of the forest. He’d chosen to walk instead of using any spells to arrive faster to get used to his new form.

Standing beside the last tree, he could see a grassland ahead.

A cool breeze brushed past his face. It was a refreshing feeling.

“But, what’s this?” With his blood-red eyes, he could see colossal walls afar. The golden wall extended as far as his eyes could see. There also seemed to be located yellow gates periodically.

“To think I never noticed.”

Never had he expected that humans would build such a wall. “Ah, yes,” Using his skill plunderer, he had stolen the boy’s memories. From those memories, he recalled that the walls were constructed to prevent anyone from entering the demonic woods without a permit and prevent the monster lurking in the woods from invading the Vriweth Empire—in case it decided to leave the forest.

The ghoul facepalmed and gave out a twisted chuckle, “Prevent Me?? Absurd!”

He strolled near the gate. With every step, he got further and further away from the forest.

Thump! Thump!

With every step, his heartbeat grew quieter and quieter.

With his sharp vision, he noticed few humans atop the walls. The humans also seemed to have noticed him.

The ghoul halted right in front of the wall. His eyes peered as he noticed countless incantations and enchantments placed upon the fence and gates.

“Impressive… but futile,” He was not that far from the forest. Only a flick of his finger would be able to break it right now.

But he did not act and waited. If he’d planned to do everything with brute force, then he wouldn’t have taken this form.

He realized the boy whose body he’d stolen was not just a typical boy from the memories. So, he hoped the gate would open on its own.

….

Few minutes passed, yet nothing happened. He could still see some humans muttering above the gate.

“Whatever!” His fist clenched as his eyes got redder.

Clank!

The metal gate slowly opened. Seeing that, the ghoul sighed and loosened his fists.

He strolled inside and, right after crossing the gate, encountered a horde of knights.

“Stop right there!” A knight in his early 30’s with blonde hair and blue eyes shouted—a knight named Greysen Lindone.

Slish!

The knights drew their blades. Greysen stood in front of the ghoul. He drew his blade and pointed it near the ghoul’s neck.

“Why have you returned?” Greysen asked. “No matter. Still, you’re the first one to ever return from the demonic woods. You shall be questioned under—”

The knight kept speaking, but the ghoul did not hear a single word. On his mind was only one thing—the enticing smell of the humans. Ten years! It had been ten years since a human had last entered the forest. For ten years had he starved. And now, all of them looked so fresh and juicy.

The ghoul gulped. His senses heightened.

[Skill: Forage(Active)]

His skill allowed him to search for food. And using his skill, he detected over 400 people spread across the wall. 100 in the tents, and 15 currently surrounding him.

Ahh, humans, so fragile, yet so odorous.

“Oi! You dare ignore me?” Greysen scowled.

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Killing them would serve no difficulty, but from what he could gather. One of the five great families in the Royal Empire, the Hartelles, was tasked with supervising and investigating those who defy the law.

Killing over 500 would count as genocide, and this matter would undoubtedly be investigated.

Sigh!

The ghoul sighed.

One of the veins popped on Greysen’s forehead. But being a knight, he’d to follow regulations. Then, his gaze fell upon the sack, hanging at the ghoul’s waist. For years many people had entered the forest carrying highly refined swords, mana stones, spell books and never returned. ‘What if he found a hidden treasure?’ He thought. It made sense—finding a hidden treasure might have given him a reason to return.

“I hereby seize any material you might have obtained from the forest for the purpose of research.”

Retracting the sword, the knight stretched his arm to grab the sack, that’s when—

A breeze brushed past the blonde knight. But it was not the breeze that caused the knight to sweat. It was the bloodlust—that came along the breeze.

Even on a bright day, all the knight could suddenly see was the blood-red eyes glaring at him.

“What’s my name?” The owner of the blood-red eyes asked.

The knight found his grip on the sword loosened. His feet felt numb.

“W-what?” Greysen shuddered.

“What’s my name?” The ghoul took one step forward.

The knight felt his throat getting dry, “Z-Zul Amon Delsin” The knight took a step back.

“And what does that make me?” The ghoul took another step forward.

The knight took another step backwards, “t-the heir to one…of the 5 great families. A royal. And the overseer.. of 10,000..knights.”

Greysen answered without realizing.

“And what happens to a knight - who points his blade towards such a man?” The ghoul’s face brewed a vile smile, which echoed perfectly with his deep, piercing eyes.

Seeing such a sight, Greysen’s sword slipped out of his hand and dropped to the ground. He also lost his footing and fell back.

“Y-you—” Although not an heir, Greysen also was a member of the five great families. He’d no reason to be scared, yet his arms kept trembling. Under intense bloodlust, the knight snapped, “How dare!—you were supposed to kill yourself! You’re nothing but a puppet. You dare act all mighty now? In front of the emperor, you begged like a dog. You gave up your rights as a royal when you signed the contract. 10,000 knights?! Bullshit. You wrote yourself that your property and knights be handed to the emperor after you kill yourself. You possess nothing! You can do nothing.”

“Is that so?” The ghoul crouched. His blood-red eyes stopped glittering as he grabbed the sword’s hilt. The bloodlust disappeared.

The knight blinked in confusion. “Why am I on the ground?” The knight asked himself.

“The contract was based on the pretext that I kill myself.” The ghoul gripped the sword, “Do I look dead to you?” He asked with a light smile.

“What?” Greysen looked at the ghoul’s smile. There was no blood lust, yet he felt his life leaving his body. Soon after, the world looked upside down.

“Oh my god!”

The knights circling the ghoul all screamed as they saw Greysen’s head being sliced off.

“Anyone else?” The ghoul asked.

The knights gritted their teeth, yet no one moved. The bloodlust they felt before had paralyzed their legs.

“I thought so,” The ghoul threw away the blade and kept walking.

—————

“I can already imagine the fury on the emperor’s face,” said a woman, looking from above the wall. Her face grew a smile as she saw the knights drag Greysen’s corpse.

“Miss Edlyn, shall I report this incident to the emperor?” A knight with black hair and blue eyes asked.

“Of course,” Edlyn faced reddened. “Kill the rest of the Greysen’s troops, inform the emperor, Zul Amon Delsin slaughtered, Greysen Lindone and the knights under him, and declared his desire to rebel against the empire.”

—————

The ghoul had strolled about 300 steps afar from the wall. “Ugh! Why did I do that?” Even after spending all that willpower in order to not eat everyone there, he still ended up killing someone.

But a mere human dared look down on him? What else was he supposed to do?

He rubbed the back of his head. While walking, he’d gone through the boy’s memories. The boy whose identity he’d taken, “Zul Amon Delsin,” seems to have been a person tangled in quite a bit of conspiracy and lived a miserable life. He was even forced to enter the demonic woods and kill himself.

“Maybe, I should take someone else’s face.”

All the ghoul wanted was to find ways to hatch the dragon’s eggs, so he decided if the situation turns too dire, he will change his identity.

The ghoul halted. Right now, he was exactly 500 steps away from the forest. He’d reached the end line.

This was the final step.

He took a long breath and marched forward.

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[You have strayed away from your confined prison.]

[Warning: For each day you stray outside the forest, additional ten years will be added to your sentence]

“10 years? Last time it was 100 years per day.” The ghoul looked at the screen with an intrigued look.

He strolled ahead without a care in the world.

[All of your abilities are hereby sealed]

[But for your contributions in the past aeons, you are hereby granted access to any two of your abilities]

[Name any two abilities you want to keep:]

“Contributions?” The ghoul busted out into laughter after seeing that word. His entire life, he’d not contributed even a dime for anyone except for the dragon eggs, of course. He was confident that was not the reason, he was allowed to keep any two of his abilities.

“Are they trying to get on my good side? Hmm”

He didn’t ponder much thinking about the reason. “two abilities….” He possessed countless abilities. When he’d decided to leave the forest, he knew his abilities would be sealed. But didn’t care much, as he was a ‘Ghoul.’ His innate nature and innate skill could never be sealed. That was enough.

“But if I am allowed to have two more….” He wondered what he should keep.

After strolling for a while, he arrived at the city gate.

Countless guards guarded the gate, and after the gate, he entered Dethia Town. People crowded the lanes and roads. His face was well known, and everyone gazed at him with a weird look.

The ghoul covered his nose with his arm and consoled himself,

“Control, control.”

Amon was an heir to an esteemed household. Naturally, he’d many servants. So, the ghoul consulted himself. He could eat any servant he wanted in his household and cover up their deaths. No need to even cover-up, a lord could even go as far as to rape or torture the servants of their household, and no one would even give a damn.

So, no matter how enticing the scents of the people on the road might be, he’d to control himself. After all, juicy sacks of meat were waiting to be eaten by him at his household.