Chapter 177

Mikael woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. Furrneka was sleeping next to him, they were still in the forest of Amazon. It was good that they had a portable house, a house that could put inside the expanded box. Mikael quietly sat up to not disturb Furrneka who was sleeping peacefully. 

He took his phone and found that it was already 11 am, 11:47 to be exact and noon was getting near.  He yawned, they sleep late last night. He looked again and saw that Patriarch was the one who was calling him. 

"Hello, Patriarch?"

He answered it. A loud cackling caught him off guard. The Patriarch was laughing and Mikael distanced the phone. After a couple of chuckles, Patriarch greeted him. 

"How are you Mikael? Did you just wake up, I think it's already noon there?"

"Ah, it's still 11 am here but yes I did just wake up right now."

Mikael wiped his eyes, he was still sleepy. 

"Oh, did I disturb you?"

"No no, it's fine."

Mikael stood up, he glanced at Furrneka and her ears twitched but she quickly returned to sleep. Mikael decided to leave the room so that Furrneka could sleep without any noise. He slowly closed the door and opened his mouth.

"Patriarch, what is it? Furrneka is sleeping in the room so I decided to get out."

"Oh, Is that so, it seems like you're having a good time."

The Patriarch laughed.

"Well, yes I'm really having a good time."

Mikael smirked, he had scratches around his body but he felt good.

"By the way, congratulations."

"Eh about what?"

He tilted his head, he was confused about what the Patriarch meant when he said congratulations.

"I'm talking about the tournament, I watched it, haha. I saw how you dominate the tournament. You lost but all of the people understood that you are the strongest. You eliminated three teams, singlehandedly. That's thirty Hunters but you just bitch-slapped them, gwuhaha."

"Ahh…-- w- what?"

Mikael was surprised, when did the Patriarch learn the word bitch-slap?

"The bitch-slap? Haha, I learned it while watching ---------"

The Patriarch proudly said. The old man was amazed at the technology of this world, he could watch procreation in a small box, what an incredible thing! Mikael shook his head and laughed. 

They talked about many things, the Patriarch was not boring to talk with, he knew how to make a conversation. Even if Mikael wasn't talking, he was entertained, the Patriarch knew how to make someone comfortable. Mikael understood that people around him were trying to make him happy. He was glad and realized that he was not lonely. He had his friends and family, they were good people. 

"Thank you, Patriarch."

"As long as it's you. I'm actually in Australia right now. I'm babysitting... Although this one is not young anymore."

"Hm? I thought you're in rehab? Are your arms okay now?"

Mikael asked, he was concerned about the Patriarch's health. Mikael talked to the doctor if they could transplant real arms but the doctor didn't agree. Beastmen and humans may look the same but they were still different species. Besides, attaching new arms would be hard, the Patriarch's physical features were different compared to a normal cat-person. Healing won't work and reattaching new arms was not good, so they decided to go with the mechanical one. 

"I'm still not completely accustomed, but I'm okay. I'm actually in awe of your medical technology or something. In our planet, it would be close to impossible to heal destroyed arms."

The old laughed it off. Who cares about arms, as long as his family is okay, he didn't care if he lost his limbs. 

"Is that so."

Mikael breathed in relief, Patriarch's health was important for him and Furrneka. 

After a few minutes of conversation, Mikael decided to go straight to the point. He knew that the Patriarch had a reason why he made a call.

"And? Patriarch I know that you have a reason why you call me. Um, is this about Furrneka?"

The old man paused and a dozen seconds passed before he opened his mouth. 

"I see, so you understand it huh. Yes, I wanted to ask Furrneka, she's still sleeping right?"

Mikael looked at the room where Furrneka was sleeping, he didn't detect any movement. He decided to go far away from the room so that Furrneka won't hear their conversation. Mikael understood that Patriarch would talk something big and he wanted to keep it a secret from Furrneka.

"… Mikael, I think you already know what corruption is, right?"

"… Yes, I know it."

Mikael remembered his friend… he decided to listen to what Patriarch would say.

"Furrneka has a mild corruption, she's controlled by her instinct so much and she can't fight it."

Mikael nodded, he knew this already but the Patriarch paused again which caused Mikael to furrow his forehead.

"… However… I think... I think the Wishing Orb made her crazier. Mikael, did you find that something is changing about her, did you see anything strange?"

"… "

Mikael didn't say anything, instead, he made a deep sigh. He knew what the Patriarch was saying. Furrneka was getting violent, her tendency of hurting people was obvious just like how she kicked Seven. Another thing that Mikael realized that Furrneka was easy to get jealous of, she would cover Mikael's eyes so that he won't see other women. Furrneka was slowly changing, the corruption got stronger because of the Wishing Orb.

"Mikael no matter what, you must protect her."

"I will."

"Thank you… Mikael, I just want to ask. What do you think of Furrneka?"

The old man had a hoarse voice. He was afraid to ask but he braced himself and decided to do it.

"I love her, no matter what happened to her, I will love her. I will protect her with all my might. Even if she became a Demon, I will do my best to protect her. Demon or not, I love her."

Mikael didn't hesitate to answer his question. Fuck the Demon-thinggy, for him Furrneka is Furrneka. People changed but his love will stay the same.

"I see… So I really did find a good man to protect my granddaughter. Mikael thank you."

Patriarch smiled, he was thankful that Furrneka had a man like Mikael. Patriarch believed all of the words that Mikael said, all of them had conviction and he felt that Mikael would really accomplish them. The Patriarch shed tears, he didn't cry because of sadness, this was tears of joy.

'I hope that you two will have a happy life. Nekon, Asikan, looks like your daughter found a good man.'

Patriarch prayed for Furrneka's parents, telling them that their daughter found a good man. 

"Patriarch are you there?"

Mikael spoke because all he heard was the sound of the wind.

"Patriarch?"

………

……

…

The two men didn't know that someone was listening to them. A woman silently covered her face and sobbed weakly. Mikael already had her heart but the words that he spoke caught her everything. Furrneka felt that she was blessed. Her heart beats faster, tears kept pouring down, she was delighted to hear his words.

(Maybe you hate Furrneka because she's annoying, arrogant, selfish, and had a tendency of hurting someone, welp, all I wanted to say is that, that's my intention. I created her to show you what is Corruption, she is a woman who is full of negativity. And this is the reason why I wanted to give her peace, I think it's lovely that someone is loving you wholeheartedly despite your ugly and unloving attitude. Mikael is too good for Furrneka, and yeah, I support them.)