New law of Beast Taming

'Yoko Tsurugi, you are so cocky. But worry not. After today, you will not be able to lift your head in front of me. Well, you will be dead anyway so I guess I can forgive you this time.'

The priest coughed into her hand to calm her nervousness down. She did not want to show people that this situation was getting on her nerves. And she especially did not want anyone to know that she had a problem with Yoko Tsurugi.

"I see. In that case, I will start the trial. The beast shall be let in now and you all need to do your best to survive against them. I wish all of you the best."

The priest spoke this softly before she signaled for the door to open. A lot of beasts jumped into the arena with an angry aura around them.

To most people, they looked angry because their young had been killed and they sought vengeance. But Amane could feel something weird in their aura.

They seemed hungry and agitated before they were led into this arena. It was no wonder that they were so violent.

"Since you all have been framed for committing a crime against nature, let nature be the judge of your fate as well. I wish all of you luck from here on."

The priest yelled as she held up her staff. A transparent barrier appeared around the arena, effectively trapping the people inside.

If Amane wanted to, she could have broken the cage and gotten out that way. It would have been all too easy for her to do.

But then she would not be able to deal with these beasts in front of her. She needed to make that her priority.

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Amane was sure that someone was trying to frame her and get her killed. That someone was likely the priest who hated Amane ever since she met her. The priest seemed convinced that Amane was stealing her king away from her.

And that was why, she likely cooked up this whole scheme to get Amane into trouble - so that she had a reason to drive Amane out of the village.

'I respect the hustle of trying to get rid of me, but I have to say that these tricks are not effective against me. I need to teach that priest a lesson once I am done with this trial.'

A little pleasure-filled punishment should be enough to get the priest to break down and apologize to Amane. And the priest was also cute enough for Amane to play around with.

"S-Save us. Please, save us. We have family waiting for us back home. We cannot die here."

The poachers looked at the beasts in front of them and were scared. The aura pressing down at them from the beast's side was massive and that made them immobile. The only reason they had not fainted yet was because of the fear as well.

The adrenaline coursing through their system forced them to be awake and endure the pressing pressure on their minds. This was getting more and more dangerous for them.

So, they turned toward the one person who could deal with this all - Yoko Tsurugi. She had shown how powerful she was to them before. Surely, she would be open to helping them once more?

But one look at Yoko Tsurugi's closed-off expression was enough to dash all their hopes.

Forget about being helped, Yoko Tsurugi looked at them as if she was ready to throw them in front of the beasts herself.

"You know, we are in this situation because of you and your greed. You also had the audacity of dragging me along with you and now you ask me for help? I want to end your pathetic life right here and now but I will give you all another chance."

"Go ahead and take care of the beast. Aren't you poachers famous for killing the beasts? You can take care of this small problem easily, right?"

The poachers feared the beasts, but they were even more scared of Yoko Tsurugi. For some reason, Yoko Tsurugi looked scary enough to eat them all alive. The aura of the beasts was nothing compared to her.

But still, Yoko Tsurugi was a human. And as a human, it was natural for her to feel compassion for her fellow humans.

"Y-You cannot do this to us. Please, help us out this time. We promise to repay you this favor-"

The beast served the head of the poacher from his body. That happened in a matter of seconds. The second one did not survive long as well.

The beasts feasted on their bodies and then turned toward Amane. They had locked her body as their next prey.

"Hoh? So, you all would dare to charge toward me knowing what I am? Fine then, come and try to attack me."

Amane accepted the beast's challenge head-on. She respected their hustle of trying to attack her.

Above her, everyone gasped in surprise as Yoko Tsurugi did not shy away from the beast and she did not try to save herself. She took the beasts head-on.

'Yes, kill her. Kill Yoko Tsurugi right now.'

The priest chanted inside her mind as she watched the fighting taking place below her. The stadium was going to be the last resting place of Yoko Tsurugi.

She watched as the beast tried to claw Yoko but failed again and again. It tried so hard, but Yoko was always one step faster than the beast.

Ultimately, the game of chase had to come to an end and the beast finally managed to corner Yoko Tsurugi. This was going to be the end for her and the priest paid full attention to it. She wanted to record this moment in her heart forever.

Only, things did not happen as she hoped. She hoped to see Yoko Tsurugi being torn into pieces.

Instead, Yoko Tsurugi did not only survive, but she showed everyone a miracle. Roots erupted from the ground and held the hunger beast in its grasp and all of them stilled as soon as they noticed their leader getting caught.

......

"You all are not as tough as you think yourself to be. Once your leader is down, you all turn into cowards. How disappointing of you."

Amane whispered as she dusted herself. She looked at the beasts in front of her and they took a step back from her. They seemed to fear her presence now.

In the jungle, it was the survival of the fittest. And since Amane had shown that she was more powerful than anyone in this small gathering, she had established herself as the 'Alpha' of this pack.

"Now, all of you need to show your respect to me before I get angry. So, sit down and lower your heads in front of me."

Amane ordered and the beasts were quick to follow. They lowered their heads and touched their bellies with the ground. They were all submitting to her.

"Good children. Now, I can see that you all are hungry so I will let you leave for hunting. Make sure you get a lot of prey and share among each other."

Amane made a fist and extended it outwards. A root shot from the ground behind her and broke the door.

Everyone looked shocked at her sudden action and the beasts looked up gleefully before running out. They had been carving for freedom for a long time now. And they finally get to have it.

"W-What do you think you are doing, Yoko Tsurugi? Those are the viscous and mad dogs of our clan. How dare you set them free. What will happen to the forest now?"

The priest yelled loudly, showing her displeasure and disagreement with what Yoko had just done.

"I just freed them. These kids were not mad, they were just hungry. Being kept in captivity hurt their health so I decided to help them out. You all should understand because you are so close to them."

Amane explained this but the priest looked ready to argue again. Not that she got the chance to do so.

The leader, who was still stuck in Amane's attack, let out a grown toward the priest's direction and Amane let the leader go. It quickly circled Amane protectively and accepted her as a pack.

Beasts were always quick to gain favor with the strong to survive. Especially when they were certain that the strong were not here to prey on them.

"It looks like these kids prefer me over you all. In that case, I will take care of them as long as I am here and I will give them a choice of staying or coming with me when I leave this forest."

Everyone looked stunned after hearing Yoko's words. They suddenly realized that she was an outsider despite her similar nature to them.

And now there was a real threat of their village being abandoned by the beasts. They could not Yoko Tsurugi leave without resolving this misunderstanding.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Yoko Tsurugi, I apologize for all that happened. Believe me when I say that it was not our intention of humiliating you. May we talk about this calm with you over dinner?"

The queen asked this of Amane. Everyone looked tense to hear her answer and Amane decided to give them another chance.

"One more chance. That is all I am willing to give you this time. But I am not very forgiving so you will have to be careful this time around me."

"Oh, and, I will leave in three days and that is non-negotiable. I have spent too much time away from home."