Ango hadn't moved, yet both girls watched with terrified eyes as Baik continued devouring the chimera.

"W-What do we do, Hanaya? W-Why isn't he listening?"

Nehlka's hands slipped over her unconscious sibling's chest, shaking him whilst the sling-armed girl loaded another stone.

"I-If it comes to it, s-stay behind me Nehlka." Although nervous, Hanaya's shaking hands squeezed the staff and she tried to look tough. "Leik is... L-Leik is... gone... so I... I have to..."

Baik's teeth shattered one of the chimera's neckbones, causing Hanaya to nearly drop the staff as tears began rolling down her face. Acting brave and looking tough weren't substitutes for the real deal; the carnage before them was overkill, completely unparalleled compared to what had happened to Ango. Neither of them had any idea about the mutagen. All they could see was the prince who had fought so hard to kill the chimera now feasting on it, unwilling to even hear them out. Both of Baik's eyes had turned dark red, hiding the pupils and any sort of intelligence within them.

Killing a chimera should have been celebratory but the expressions of fear couldn't be shaken.

"Ango," Nehlka whimpered, shaking and lowering her ears after a particularly loud bone snap. "A-Ango, w-wake up! Please, Ango!"

Her brother shook but his sleeping face didn't falter; the snake's bite had to still run its course, keeping him unconscious despite all the noise.

But when the noises of Baik's feasting slowed, their tears and hearts almost stopped. Their bodies frozen in terror forced them to watch the blood-covered prince sit-upright, dragging one extra handful of the raw meat into his mouth.

It tastes awful.

Baik kept chewing but didn't know if it was of his own volition or not. He felt weak but knew that raw meat wouldn't mess with him anywhere near as closely as it might for a human. In this world, kobolds commonly ate raw meat in emergencies or during attempts to stay hidden. The mutagen and his Awakening had thankfully happened when he had a sizable prey in front of him. Baik looked up and beyond the mauled nearly headless chimera at the limp body of Leik, feeling all the meat lurch in his gut before jerking his gaze off him.

Only then did he see the girls.

"Nehlka," he whispered confusedly. "Hanaya, too... why do you look so scared?"

They were young; even if kobolds lived harsh lives, neither had experienced the sort of primal hunger that had snatched their leader's senses. Although unconscious, Ango likely would have been on edge too.

Staggering up to his feet, Baik stumbled away from the chimera and towards the trio. Hanaya let out a panicked cry and swung the staff, sending one of the edged stones just past him before collapsing backward. Nehlka grit her teeth and protectively thrust herself over Ango, pointing her bone knife at him in a display of aggression. Right now, they didn't see him as the Kobold Prince but as a monster... and part of Baik didn't blame them.

But rather than fully walk to them, he stopped midway; he squatted down and grabbed the now-cindering torch, standing back upright and looking over at the chimera and Leik.

"... You girls take Ango inside the tower."

The tone in his voice was deeper than a moment ago; whether or not it was a side-effect of his Awakened state's changes wasn't important, only that it provided both of them an excuse to ferry Ango between them and off into the dark interior. It had once been the chimera's nest and in his clarity, Baik remembered that this fight had been for the sake of securing their survival through acquiring it. Perhaps the only reason he wasn't joining them was that he needed to do something no kobold may have enjoyed. Cannibalizing the dead was their way and both of them likely hadn't realized it.

Am I really going to eat Leik? I've only known him for about two days... but...

Baik's gaze drifted to onto the chimera. It feasted on them no different than he had it. The morals of this world and his new people weren't for him to question. The prince scooped his dagger up and walked past the chimera, approaching the deceased boy with a grimace.

Leik... if not for your attack distracting the chimera, I'd have died. You did your part. But... until the rest of us pass, we're not truly kobolds.

Baik hunched over, setting the torch against the fur wrap. The cinders were enough to ignite the old pelt, eventually starting to spread across the kobold's skin and fur. Even though the smell was horrible, compared to feasting face-first in the neck of a chimera it was something he would handle. Baik turned his attention to the tower, knowing full well that this death was going to be the one time they could afford to make a proper fire for a while and that he should have used it for cooking the chimera or preparing tools. Wasteful as this gambit was with those humans in the area, it was a decision he needed to make.

Don't worry, Leik. I might not know the others very well but that loyalty won't be going unrewarded. Your ashes can be used; I'll turn them into a weapon that will let us hunt. And from there, you'll feed us. Kobolds must eat kobolds.

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It had been about two weeks since Leik's passing, yet Baik hadn't completely understood just how important this tower or his Awakening would be. The girls and Ango had claimed one section of the upper floor and asked Baik to take the ground floor for now.

The tower could easily situate all of them, as the initial guess had been the tower's ground floor had no furniture and had been filled the bones of the chimera's most recent hunts. A few kobolds had been among the fold with tools dotting the area, yet nothing human-sized or similar to the body of the deceased man that Baik looted. Although it eliminated the chimera as the culprit, it didn't indicate that they were entirely outside of detection or discovery. No kobolds could have built the tower or its spiraling staircase; the only stone structures that kobolds had via Bai's confirmation were carved from natural stone. Kobolds were cave-dwellers or lived carved out stony hills and mountains.

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As for the upper floor, it had been somewhat more accommodating perhaps due to the chimera's quadruped body making it difficult to ascend the stairs. A few older wooden pieces of furniture had fallen apart, as well as a ladder that led up to a hatch for the tower's rooftop. Using that wood after he woke up a day later, Ango had created bedding frames for the trio and then one for Baik. The rest had been stacked up in the corner, where they planned to use it for construction or firewood in the future. Given there were some wooden posts additionally supporting the web-spotted walls, there were going to be placed to repair that he could help with thanks to his prior world experiences still echoing in his mind.

But perhaps the main reason he enjoyed being apart from the group was that his Awakening had eventually revealed its use. At the end of week one, his voice had remained deeper and smoothed out. But during the second week, it had been far more than the voice that changed. Everything about Baik's physical state improved; he grew stronger, faster, and became far more enduring despite his younger body. Whilst before Leik had been their muscle, he now handily could lift the loosened stones that fell from the walls and drag out a large majority of the bones without exhausting himself.

Baik had ground up some of the bones and set a mix of stone and wood pieces around it to prepare a more archaically fertilized farming plot, but with the limit of local domesticated flora there wasn't anything to plant in it. In the future, it would likely house any herbs or other plants he might be able to acquire after reconnecting with Bailaka. The other bones had been gathered and used with some of Nehlka's vine rope to create a basic armored vest and a bone-reinforced shield. Originally the goal had been to give the shield to Ango but the other kobold's sister didn't fully trust Baik again after losing himself in his feasting. In exchange, Baik used a particularly long bone — it maybe came from a horse's leg, since it was possible the chimera could have killed one that was wild or lost amidst the woods — and created a bone pike for him.

The chimera's corpse had been almost entirely beneficial for future preparation, unfortunately. Leik had handled it before but with him gone it was on Baik to use his lack of practical experience for the group. All of their clothing was going to be unbearable in a few days since he had barely had time to properly apply anything after getting all the meat out. Without properly applying mixtures — "braining" as the primitive method meant that they'd have had to mash the wolf's brain with water to make an oil for it — then the hardening pelts wouldn't have a very long lifespan.

So Baik spent time going through the grisly work, made much easier thanks to his Awakening. Despite the chimera's pelt being thicker than the wolf's, the work Baik provided almost degraded the quality and lost some parts of it. However, the end of it granted them an impressive amount of material. Today, both of the girls were handling the final stretching to try and get it softer for clothing... but neither of them seemed very happy. Nehlka and Hanaya sat near the garden and the spot of cleared grass, keeping at least one of their gazes on Baik while he chipped stone. They needed more tools and this was the only way to prepare a decent axhead.

But even Baik couldn't keep the tension this high-strung; he looked over at the pair and they hastily dropped their gazes.

"... You guys don't need to act so weird; it's still me, you know."

Hanaya turned her head further away but Nehlka peeked at him, frowning. "As you say, Prince."

"I'm serious," he reiterated, setting the stone against the in-progress axhead. "We're going to be here at least until the village contacts us. Leik died to give us this place to hide and gather our strength. Isn't it only logical for us to start working together again?"

Now Hanaya finally raised her head, distracting Nehlka and speaking with a punitive tone. "You don't even remember glaring us down, Baik. You're a Prince... but we've never seen a Kobold Prince act like that. You almost ate the chimera's entire head... and you burned Leik. If you really cared for survival, why didn't you adhere to the laws? Leik could have fed us."

"We had the chimera," he replied. They'd not been hard-pressed for food as far as he knew; all four of them could easily forage roots and fruits, even without the meat they ate the first few days of their stay here. "And I told you, I'm going to use his ashes to get us more food."

Hanaya grumbled and lowered her attention to the hide, pulling at the pinkish-white fur. While Baik didn't fault her for not trusting him, the prince wished they would at least let go of what happened. Part of passing this test meant they needed to understand survival was important, too. All of Leik's ashes had been gathered up and stored in the wolf pelt bag for the time being. He returned his attention to the stone and resumed chipping.

This is for their sake; I have to show them that they can trust me. If they don't, then our chances of survival will drop. Leik... you and I will show them how.

A final crack broke the rock just enough, giving Baik the perfect hand-filling blade. He grabbed the branch he'd prepared nearby, lifting his bone knife and starting to cut away at its top.

First, I need to finish a proper weapon for this...

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"I'm going hunting."

Baik had the ax in his right hand and carried the largest piece of the chimera's pelt over his left shoulder. The girls had cut out enough for clothing before giving him nearly two feet of the hide to use as a bag or pull-sled if necessary.

"Alright," Ango sighed, pulling the pike's wooden shaft close to his chest. Unlike the girls, he at least was willing to face Baik. "But you're not taking your sling-staff?"

Baik's eyes turned toward the stairs. "No, I gave it to Hanaya. Even if she distrusts me, she was able to hit the chimera a few times. She's probably better off with it than I am. Besides... I have the ax and ashes; this should be all I need to hunt today."

The other kobold set one hand on his hip. "Will it really work?"

"Yes," Baik answered confidently. "While we've been here, I'm sure you saw some of the local critters. We got squirrels, lizards, and a few rabbits nearby. If I get cornered by wolves, I'll just flee up a tree... but that also means that if I'm not back in three days-"

"We'll be on our own."

Ango's deduction was sobering but true; Baik looked back at the kobold, reaching out and grabbing his shoulder. Despite the awkwardness after the chimera, Ango hadn't lost sight of the laws nor the reality that they had to work toward the same goals to surpass the expectations of older kobolds.

"When I get back, we'll all eat meat and finally have the extra materials to start surviving long term. If we do that, we'll prove that we're able to survive, Ango. I won't fail."

Baik turned and passed through the door, letting his confidence crack momentarily. His bonewood club wasn't fit for this and while he had his dagger, a fight with anything could be deadly.

Now that I've been Awakened, even a dagger will suffice. If I don't get more food and fur, then I'd never be worthy.

No matter what, I'm coming back with something.

The tower drifted out of view and the forest enveloped his entire surroundings; he wasn't worried about finding his way back since it was a short hunting trip. For the next three days, he'd be trying to get as many kills as possible to bring back for everyone. One day, this would hopefully be nothing more than a bad memory.

Watch over me, Leik.