บท 51: Reasoning

"What do I mean about my action? You should ask that question to him."

After Nicholas replied to them face to face, he then turned his head to the kneeling man, which his face was painted with mud, and who was still confused about what Nicholas meant directed to him.

"Why would we question him, you mother f*cker?! You are clearly the one who fired at him with no fcking reason!" Vincent immediately argued back with an earsplitting voice.

"What about him, then?" replied Nicholas with a nonchalant expression. He slowly walked toward them.

He was standing at them at the west while the commotion happened where Clover, Vincent, Eliza, and the man who shot the former were in the south. So he had to walk with them a little longer before he finally reached them.

After Vincent heard the question, he finally calmed down, turning his head at his back, and his gaze landed on the awful man. Eliza also looked at the young man with a disdainful expression on her face. She didn't forget that this young man suddenly fired for no reason, and when Nicholas pointed out that matter, it finally dawned on her.

"Speak! Explain, Why you suddenly shot him?!" Vincent ordered.

With his face contorted, alongside his terrifying rising voice, caused the awful face man to feel trepidation.

"Eek!"

He finally gave in under the pressure and shrieked. His eyes turned upward, and he fainted to the ground with a thud. Vincent, Clover, and Eliza gasped with disbelief. Vincent had just wanted to interrogate the awful face man as to for what reason that caused him to turn unconscious. Anyone knew the reason why.

"Figured! This is the reason why I exist in this group, Vincent," said Nicholas while his feet just before the fainted, awful face man.

He seemed to be expected that this would happen, so he didn't feel surprised about it. He only shook his head, and his head facing below looking at the fainted man.

"That doesn't mean no one can explain why he shot for no reason." Vincent snorted, his eyes looking towards Nicholas, seemingly not offended by his mock.

"So you do have your brain, huh, Vincent," scoffed Nicholas.

"Huh? What do you mean about that? You seemed to be wanted to fight that badly?"

Vincent clenched his fist with his other hand, seemingly readying himself before a fight. He couldn't take Nicholas's insult to him anymore, and he invited Nicholas to a fistfight.

"Was that a display, then? Why would I accept to brawl with someone who attained higher stages than me?" Nicholas laughed, which caused Vincent to growl in anger.

However, Vincent stopped playing anymore and opened his mouth and said, "Let's stop playing, then. Explain why he suddenly shot in impulse."

The people who expected that their leader and the second strongest among the group were about to fight were exhilarated and even gossiped among themselves to bet who would win. But, the reality wasn't on them, and this caused them to feel disappointed.

Brawl with comrades was a standard requirement for them to know who was the strongest, and the latter could have superiority over the defeated one. So aside from the strongest three – Vincent, Nicholas, and Eliza. The Fourth position repeatedly changed, and thus the favorite ranking position to the other hunters.

"After I heard him saying about someone whispering to him to act vicious to his own kind, I thought that this man was already in the skirmish stage on his animus. At first, I didn't want to kill him but seeing him having his mental and emotional breakdown from your pressure. I couldn't help but think this man was slowly succumbing to his animus, which caused me not to hesitate to fire my arrow with full strength," He conveyed.

He added: "Who could have thought that Eliza could defend my arrow?"

His eyes landed on Eliza's face, while the latter responded with a disdainful looked towards him. His lips curled upward before he turned his head to the group of people, who had aghast expression looked on their faces.

Of course, who wouldn't feel that way when they heard their comrade was in the skirmish stage with their animus and was now slowly succumbing to his animus. Every one of them felt a chill crawl on their backs, and some of them lay on the ground and felt numb while their eyes met the smiling Nicholas.

"This should be enough reason, right?" He turned his head towards Vincent who snorted in response.

The latter's back had been always straight and always looked at the people with his head low due to his height. His chest was always bulging out, with his eyelids halfway open. This showed how much he valued his pride.

"Although it seems logical, still, that is not enough."

It was Eliza who chimed in, and even though Nicholas claimed seemed to make sense, that reason wasn't enough. Having her experience in the military, she came to know that without a valid reason and only relying upon the mouth of a single person, it was easy for their mission to be misunderstood, which may cause casualties with their fellow comrade.

"What do I have to explain, then?" Nicholas narrowed his eyes to Eliza, while the latter also eyed him back.

Anyone felt a pressure that something was bound to happen, but they didn't have the leisure to expect what would happened, for their minds muddled about their comrade reaching the skirmish stage.

Their morale was broken yet again, and even though this sudden low of morale doesn't much happen when faced with beast invasion. When they were reminded that something inside them wanted to take over their body like a parasite, caused them to feel terrified.

"U-Um… You know. You all can wait for him to wake up before you questioned him again, and the truth will prevail under his tongue." Clover interjected with justification statements, which caused anyone to be awoken and immediately turn their heads towards him.

'Argh! This is really hard to face, it was much better facing a horde of beasts, than facing dozens of gaze landed towards me.' Clover complained on his mind, yet his facial expression was smiling.