Magus: A Supernatural LitRPG Saga (Apocosmos Book 2) by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris (ebook offline reader txt) 📗

return to the man, who had now placed his branch on the ground next to him and was waiting for his turn to pet Louie. His petting was a bit rougher than I would have liked, but if it annoyed Louie he didn't show it. Until the man bared his teeth and lunged forward to bite him.

"Louie!" I shouted in warning, but the small corgi had already moved back, tail up and fangs bared. He was growling at the man, who was now scared again and was pointing his weapon at Louie.

"Maybe he's just hungry," Louie suggested, so I reached into my inventory to bring out a couple of chocolate bars and a sandwich I'd prepared a couple of days ago.

"Hey!" I shouted, showing him the items when I was sure I had his attention. "Catch!"

I threw one of the chocolate bars at him and he jumped back, avoiding it completely. Once the chocolate hit the ground, he made sure it was dead by hitting it with his branch.

"No, no, no." I took the other chocolate bar out of its packaging and bit off a big chunk. "Mmmm." I tried to emphasize how tasty it was.

The man picked up on what I was showing him, and retrieved the bar from the ground. What he didn't pick up was the part where you removed the chocolate from the packaging, and so he bit into it, paper and all.

I guess that's another way to do it.

His eyes lit up with excitement at the sudden rush of sugar. And just like that, I introduced type two diabetes to a primitive race.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

I showed him the sandwich and made sure to remove the plastic wrap before tossing it to him. Some of its ingredients fell out in midair, but this time the man caught it instead of avoiding it. Without having finished the chocolate, he took a big bite out of the sandwich and that was the first time he tried to communicate with us.

"Mmmm." he copied the noise I'd made, probably trying to convey that he liked what he was eating.

Then, in a moment of primitive brilliance, he opened the sandwich bread and pushed the remaining chocolate bar in it, right alongside the eggs, mayo, and ham.

"What have you done?" Louie asked, but was looking at me. "You created a monster!"

I smiled at his remark and then lay down on the ground, trying to show the man that we were going to bed. He did not seem to mind our presence as much. That was, until he ran out of food.

"Anyone got more food to give him?" I asked. "All I've got is chips and snacks."

"I've got loads of rice and chicken rations," Rory said, producing a huge bucket from his inventory. "The rice is at the bottom and the grilled chicken on top. I like me meat boneless."

"Why do you keep your food in a bucket as if you're Kabamaru?" I asked, but neither Louie nor Leo reacted to my joke.

"Suits me well," he said. "What is it to ye?"

"Just give it to him," I sighed. I continued to act as if I was going to sleep.

Rory took two steps forward and placed the bucket on the ground in front of the man. The cave's original occupant grabbed a piece of chicken and stuffed it in his mouth, before picking up the whole bucket and backing into his hideout behind the turn in the corridor. We stood there for a couple of minutes waiting for him, but he didn't return and nor did we hear anything, save from the occasional loud slurping or chomping noise.

Apparently, this primitive humanoid was a loud open-mouth chewer, but I couldn't complain too much. We'd found a refuge to rest and managed to avoid any conflict.

We all sat down, our backs to the wall, the flashlight illuminating the ceiling of the cavern.

"The ascent tomorrow will be harder," Rory said. "I'd suggest we all get a good night's rest before continuing."

"Then let's rest for today," I said, "I can take the first watch."

"No," the dwarf said. "Ye might be involved in part of the quest. Ye need to rest more. I'll do the first shift. Leo will take the second."

Leo didn't say anything and simply nodded at the remark.

"Hey," I said to Leo, once Louie had curled up beside me, trying to stay as warm as possible in the coldness of the cavern. "You said you were going to tell us what's bothering you."

"I did, didn't I?" he said and moved slightly closer to us.

"Come in here," I said and prompted him to touch his back to mine. "Let's use our bodies to warm each other, but next time we go on a quest, we take extra food, blankets, heating devices, and a big tent."

Leo pushed his body against mine and I felt the bass of his voice reverberate through his back as he started talking again.

"Since the day I got taken," he said, "I haven't been feeling great. I can't sleep well, and when I'm awake, I always feel like someone's following me."

"Have ye been tagged with a spell, elf?" Rory asked.

"No, nothing like that," Leo replied. "It is not a magical thing. I just constantly feel like someone's going to jump from behind me, put a hood over my head, and tie me up. And when I try to calm myself by looking behind me to check, I start worrying that someone will be there when I turn back again, waiting to kidnap me."

"Leo..." I struggled to find the words. "I'm really sorry, man. This is all my fault."

He didn't say anything, which was quite possibly the worst reaction he could have. I would have welcomed him being angry and lashing out at me. Instead, he just remained silent.

"No need to worry anymore, lad," Rory interjected. "Yer clan will make short work of them once we get back."

That was true enough, but it wasn't the point. Leo had gone through