Seraphina didn't speak, just gnawed at the roasted rabbit in her hand that was obviously a bit burnt. Her face, illuminated by the bonfire, was tinged with a blush of satisfaction from a girl's heart. "Seraphina." Ansel suddenly spoke, "As a hunter, what is your perception of beasts?"
"...Uh?" Seraphina, who was chewing on rabbit meat, tilted her head, "What do you mean by …'perception of beasts?"
"What I mean is—" Ansel bit into his rabbit meat, looking at Seraphina, the flames reflected in his azure eyes flickered due to the cold wind.
"In your eyes, what exactly are beasts and animals? What is their… essence?"
"Why are you suddenly asking me such profound questions, Ansel?"
The young girl licked her greasy lips in confusion, "You should be asking these questions to Marli."
"Because you are the best hunter," Ansel said with a smile, "So, I believe you can provide the most accurate answer."
Upon hearing this, Seraphina's eyes sparkled, and she broke into a happy smile, "Hehe... Is that so? Then let me think, beasts... um—"
The girl fell into deep thought, but didn't forget to continue tearing and swallowing her rabbit meat.
"In the end, they are creatures never satisfied and driven by greed."
After a long while, she revealed her canine teeth and gave Ansel this answer.
"Greed?" Ansel's eyebrows raised slightly.
"Yes, greedy creatures," Seraphina said as if it was the most natural thing in the world, "They live to become stronger by consuming others."
"Leaves, wild fruits, meat... anything that suits them, anything that can make them stronger, so they can consume even more, they will eat it all, they are never satisfied."
Ansel chuckled, his words carrying a profound meaning that Seraphina didn't catch, "I thought you would say, they do so in order to survive."
"To survive... hahaha, that's too funny, who would think of beasts as such pitiful creatures."
Upon hearing Ansel's words, Seraphina burst into laughter, completely taking Ansel's words as a joke.
The girl wiped the tears from her laughter with the back of her hand, and with an arrogant and matter-of-fact tone, she said:
"Beasts that only think 'it's enough to survive' are all dead!"
"In this forest, in the even wider forests, on the snowfields, and even in the larger areas where those greedy creatures live—"
She turned her head to look at Ansel, her dark red eyes burning with a fierce flame.
Was it the reflection of the real fire burning in the campfire, or was it the endless ambition… rooted deep within the soul of the wild beast?
"Those pitiful creatures that only want to survive are not qualified to live."
Seraphina tore into the rabbit meat with big bites, feeling extremely satisfied with the rich taste of meat and seasoning in her mouth, "Only those who are desperate to become stronger can survive."
"What I mean by 'strong' is not like the strength of a tiger or a lion. Some need to become faster, some need to become stronger, some choose to make their senses more sensitive... um, Ansel, you should understand what I mean, it's like, um, how should I put it..."
The girl chewing on the meat frowned in thought, unable to come up with an appropriate term.
"Evolution."
Ansel softly provided the answer.
"Ah! Yes, that's it!"
Seraphina's eyes lit up, she was almost clapping her hands in joy at Ansel's understanding of her, "Exactly, evolution! That's what beasts are! They don't live just to survive, they live to become stronger, to evolve, to become more formidable creatures, they never stop eating."
"So, essentially, they are a bunch of greedy and always hungry creatures."
Compared to the knowledge of the traveler, Seraphina's understanding could be said to be completely wrong. In that world, the instinct of living beings is to survive and reproduce, all behaviors are based on this.
But for this world, for the land under Ansel's feet, for the countless creatures, countless "beasts" living on this land, living in the endless ocean, Seraphina's words... are the best interpretation of their nature.
All beasts are pursuing further possibilities.
And survival is just a small part of the results brought about by this pursuit.
"There's no such thing as a tameable wild beast." Seraphina said somewhat unhappily, "When I was thirteen, I caught a hawk as a birthday gift for Marli. I fed it for over a year, but because there was a month when the harvest was poor and I fed it less and less, it ran away and never came back."
"In the end—" The girl angrily tore into the remaining rabbit meat, "They are creatures that are never satisfied."
Ansel lowered his gaze and murmured, "So-called beasts are such existences."
"Once tamed, a beast is no longer a beast, but livestock."
"Right, exactly!" Seraphina nodded in agreement, "You can never tame what can't be tamed, what can be tamed is livestock, it's not the same thing as a wild beast."
"So—"
The young Hydral tilted his head, suddenly staring into Seraphina's eyes.
"The truest, purest beast can never be tamed. Seraphina, that's what you think, right?"
"…Oh, hm, yes."
Seraphina nodded, feeling somewhat uneasy under Ansel's gaze for some reason.
Was the rabbit meat not very tasty? The girl was a little anxious.
Looking at Seraphina, who seemed somewhat uneasy, Ansel suddenly chuckled:
"Indeed, asking Seraphina this question was the right choice."
"…Eh? Really?"
Seraphina was taken aback, but seeing Ansel's smile, she also laughed happily, "Then I'm not that stupid, hehe~"
The firewood crackled, and looking at Ansel's face, Seraphina suddenly felt an irresistible impulse.
He came out to play with her, to hang out, willing to eat what she made, and sincerely said it was delicious…
Seraphina could feel that Ansel cared about her, he didn't want her to be affected by what she had experienced recently, so he brought her out to relax.
The girl didn't say anything, she suddenly leaned over and kissed Ansel on the cheek.
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