My Unique Adaptation Skill in Another world-Chapter 3 - 2: Horns & Hospitality

The dust settled slowly, bits of stone and torn earth fell down the cliff, clattering into the ravine below. Where the dire wolf had been, there was no movement, just ruin.

Its body lay broken against the shattered earth, spine crushed, skull split open like a vase, Gray fur was darkened with blood and dirt.

"What the fuck just happened? How is something like this evening possible?"

Leo stared as his knees finally gave out.

He dropped hard onto the ground, still breathing heavily.The pain in his leg became much real now that the adrenaline was fading, hot and nauseating.

He looked up.

She stood a few steps away, an oversized club resting against the ground. Even through his fading vision, Leo registered her presence, impossibly tall, pale skin marked with red patterns, white hair, horned. Powerful. His vision blurred further before he could focus on anything else.

She looked down at him as his vision started to blur. The world tilting, and darkness creeping in at the edges of his eyes.

"...Great," he thought dimly. "I’ve been saved."

The last thing he felt was the ground leaving him as strong hands caught and carried him.

Then nothing.

Leo woke up, vision a blur, for a very brief second there was joy in his heart, because he thought he was in his room and everything had been a dream, but the happiness soon died as he got a better view of where he was.

He was in a room with a low wooden ceiling, with beams dark with age crossing overhead. The paper walls along the room shifted faintly as air moved beyond them, he was lying on a thin mattress laid directly over the floor, which gave his body the much comfort it needed.

His leg, shoulder and torso was wrapped tight in bandages, layers pulled firm around his calf, his shoulder throbbed like it had been pushed back into place.

He tried to sit up, but pain snapped sharp through his entire body at the same time. Leo hissed and fell back against the bedding, jaw tight as he forced himself to breathe evenly.

"That wasn’t a good idea it seems...at least I’m alive"

He thought to himself, letting out a sigh of relief.

Movement caught at the edge of his vision.

Two women kneeling upright with both legs folded beneath them, hips resting on the heels near the far wall, broad-shouldered, their faces were hidden behind smooth, feminine masks carved with clean lines and calm expressions, with smooth horns rising from where their brows would be. Red skin showed at their necks, marked with pale white patterns that flowed naturally, their kimonos were layered and immaculate, sleeves tied.

The women watching Leo, stood up after registering that he was properly awake, then straightened and turned away. The other followed without a word, leaving in a quiet line that felt practiced.

The door slid shut behind them.

Horns was the first thing his mind kept circling back to, no matter how hard he tried to focus on anything else, and red skin, too, that can’t be right, he thought, there’s got to be a trick here. Prosthetics, makeup, or some kind of cultural thing, maybe, after all it’s not like he’s in some fantasy world, but then again nothing he has experienced so far had been normal, so he tried to keep an open mind.

Leo lay still, staring up at the ceiling sorting out his thoughts, when the door slid open again. An old man entered first,

He was small, his height made slighter by the bend in his back. He walked with a cane, tapping softly against the floor as he walked unhurried. His skin was red, deep and weathered, the white patterns across it thinned and broken with age.

Two horns rose from his head, chipped and cracked, broken unevenly, his eyes, nearly closed.

"Wow, I really am in a fantasy world," Leo thought to himself after seeing the old man.

The old man lowered himself to the floor across from Leo with a slow, careful motion, folding his legs beneath him, as Leo sat up straight, now somehow used to the pain he previously felt.

A cup of tea was placed between them. Steam curled up, carrying a faint bitterness.

Only then did Leo notice her.

The girl that had saved him earlier, tall and strikingly beautiful. She stood near the doorway, leaning back against the wall...red patterns flowed across her arms, shoulders, and collarbone, the markings uneven and organic, like liquid caught mid-motion. Her white hair fell straight down her back, and her two long horns curved elegantly, fading from pale white at the base into deep crimson toward the tips, darkening until they caught the light like faceted blood-red gems.

Her build was unmistakably feminine, a warrior’s body with heavy, full breasts that pressed against her wrappings, thick hips that drew the eye, and powerful thighs. There was nothing soft about her despite the curves; she looked like she had been carved from stone and breathed into life.

She had two katanas, each resting on the wall as she watched the conversation about to unfold.

The old man lifted the tea cup, paused for a bit, then took a slow sip.

"its a good thing that you are awake" he said. His voice was calm, touched with mild amusement. "how are you feeling?"

"Could be worse" Leo gave a polite bow. "thank you for taking care of me"

"You are welcome" the old man said, voice steady.

"Where am I?" Leo asked.

"A place you should not have reached," the old man replied easily. "Especially alive."

The previous warm environment now turned tense.

"I... I don’t know how I got here," Leo said. His voice caught in his throat. "I wasn’t trying to—"

"what you wanted or did not want is none of my business," the old man interrupted softly. "By the agreements, humans found on our territory without being invited should be dealt as we please"

Leo swallowed. It had started feeling quite hard to breathe.

"To make things worse you crossed into our scared grouds" the old man continued. "Even our own tread lightly there."

The words hung in the air, silence filled the room, Leo was confused more than anything, it felt like things had just been happening one after the other, like a serious case of bad luck. Then

"Luckily," the old man said "You came at a time meant for our hunting festival"

"I—" Leo started again, but he had no words that could explain what he didn’t understand.

"You cannot go back," the old man said, setting the cup down. "And ignorance does not excuse your presence."

The room seemed smaller, the walls closing with the weight of inevitability.

" As I was saying, you arrived during our hunt festival" the old man went on, casually, "Your presence here forces a choice."

Leo’s throat tightened. "A choice?"

"Yes," the old man said, "One option is simple," he lift one finger, and drew a quick line across his throat, he did not explain further.

Leo heart dropped to his stomach.

The second finger rose.

"The other is participation."

The woman shifted, wood creaking beneath her feet.

"You will enter the high forest" the old man said. "Hunt and return with proof, and your trespass is forgiven, you will also be compensated, and escorted safely back to the western continent, fail, and serve as fertilizer for the soil"

Leo’s pulse thundered in his ears. He sat there, bandaged and aching, staring at the alien choice laid before him.