So, done with his conversation, the young Hero apprentice started running toward my concealed position.
That woke me up from my reverie, and I started considering my options.
I could tell he had no idea I had been there the whole time, but if the monster saw me that could have been an issue...
As I looked at the spot previously occupied by the snake-girl however I noted she was already gone by the time the boy was halfway through the distance that separated us.
My new sense told me she was still within its range, but she was moving extremely fast in a different direction and would soon leave it.
Well that took care of that problem.
After taking a deep breath, I made my decision and stepped out, ready to call out to the boy...
Only for him to completely fail to notice me and run straight into my body, knocking both of us down on our asses.
"Ouch!" we both cried out after a not so graceful landing.
Then finally the young man raised his head and looked straight at me.
After a moment of surprise he quickly got up and offered me a hand.
"I'm sorry! I was running and didn't see you there. Are you okay?" he asked apologetically.
I simply took his hand and let him help me up, before replying.
"I'm fine, thanks... Though if it's not too much trouble, could you guide me to the nearest human settlement? I'm afraid I'm a bit lost..." I pleaded.
The boy looked torn for a moment before replying.
"Of course, I would be glad to help!" he agreed, his mouth stretched in a slightly strained smile.
"I'm sorry. You were probably in a hurry. If I had any other options I wouldn't ask but..." I lamented.
"It's fine. It's a Hero's duty to help those in need." he cialmed, the smile on his face a bit less strained now.
Inwardly a bit impressed (though not really surprised) by his kindness, I gratefully smiled.
"Then thank you very much. I will be relying on you." I declared.
"Leave it to me! I will get you to Ilias village safely! My name is Luka and I'm a Hero apprentice! You are?" Luka questioned.
"My name is Daniel, nice to meet you, Luka." I politely replied.
"Likewise, Daniel. Well then, we should probably get going, before a monster shows up. These woods aren't the safest place to be..." Luka explained, before stopping for a moment.
"Hey Daniel." he called out.
"Yes?" I answered.
"When exactly did you get to that clearing?" he inquired.
Thinking fast, I lied.
"I bumped into you just as I was about to enter it, why?" I asked in a curious voice.
The boy was silent for a moment before sighing in relief.
"Oh, it's nothing. Let's go." he concluded, before we started walking.
~– ~ – ~
En route to the young Hero apprentice's village, I finally had the time I needed to think over my current circumstances, and start outlining a course of action.
So, first of all, what did I know?
One: I was in a world that seemed to be identical so far to the one described in Monstergirl Quest, a game I had once played.
In a way, it was reassuring, because at least I had a pretty good idea of what this world's common knowledge (and possibly even people and future events) were like, at least compared to other possibilities.
On the other hand, this place was extremely dangerous.
I was keenly aware that the snake-girl I had seen was not the only monster in the world, and all of them predated on humans, though not always in a lethal manner, most monster girls simply limiting themselves to draining their victim's balls.
The game had deserved its Adult-only rating, after all, despite the story being the main focus of my attention as I played it, thanks to its deceptively deep and well-structured narrative, and interesting characters.
Even after seeing one of them myself, I just couldn't wrap my head around it.
Sentient beings with power beyond human that fed on them as a species.
The threat they could pose to my life was overwhelming.
And that was without considering what they could do to my sanity...
I felt panic creeping back up again, but managed to bottle it up for later.
Luka was still walking beside me, and I couldn't afford to break down in front of him if I wanted to keep up appearances.
Two: Somehow, I was now able to perceive magical energy.
I had not understood at first but, now that I had more information, making the connection was easy.
Back in the game Luka and other characters could perceive how strong their opponents were and even discern their position based on a sense that was never really explained.
I now knew how that felt, though Luka himself seemed incapable of it so far.
Now, this new sense could have originated from a lot of different things.
It could have been an ability I had automatically gained upon entering this world, or maybe I had acquired it through other means that temporarily escaped my understanding...
Or it could simply be that I always had it, but my homeworld was devoid of magic and therefore I never noticed.
It would explain why it felt so overwhelming at first.
I had read somewhere that sensory overload could cause, sometimes extreme, disorientation.
This theory made even more sense when I considered that I seemingly had no magic of my own, and that the ambient magic I was feeling seemed to pass right through me, unaffected by my presence.
Were all other humans back home the same?
I really had no idea.
Three: Ilias.
She was most likely the first being I had perceived appearing above me, before the snake-girl (whose name I knew to be Alice) and her clashed, and the former got blown towards me.
The information I had on her was far from reassuring.
A being powerful enough to be called a Goddess by the whole world, able to create life in the form of angels, and other similarly divine feats.
She was also certifiably insane.
After eons of loneliness and envy for her rival, the dark god Alipheese, she had snapped and become a ruthless warmongering narcissistic racist.
Obviously, no human other than me was aware of this fact at this point in time, and monsters born from the efforts of Alipheese were persecuted in Ilias' name from the ones that worshipped her.
She was also stalking Luka, as he was involved in her current grand scheme.
That did not bode well for me.
I could not currently feel anyone around observing us, but I remembered that not even Alice, the current Monster Lord, had been able to find anything, despite Ilias and her minions somehow always being aware of Luka's progress.
I had felt Ilias using magic to teleport, however, and Alice taking out the sword I knew to be called Angel Halo from what I could only assume was some sort of hammerspace to hit her opponent with, so maybe I would be able to tell somehow if she were to spy on us?
I had no way to confirm this yet, however.
Now this was what I already knew.
What did I still need to find out?
One: Why was I here?
The last thing I remembered before the change of scenery was being en-route to the ice cream store.
I still had no idea just what happened in between the two.
The only theory I had was that there was someone behind it.
I mean, the whole situation presented way too many coincidences to be anything but artificial.
On a purely statistical level, if the dimensional transfer was the result of a random event, like some sort of natural spacetime-fracture-thing I just happened to fall through, then the most likely conclusion would have been me dying, either in the vacuum of space, or burned up by a star, or even poisoned by an unbreathable atmosphere, and that's assuming the universe I got to didn't develop in different ways I could not even fathom... But I digress.
The point is, not only was I still alive, but this was a world I even had previous knowledge thereof!
This just screamed of a plan behind everything, but I had no idea what the plan was, who had made it, and why.
Two: How could I get back home?
I was clearly out of my depth on this one.
Firstly, I didn't even know if it was possible.
For all I knew, my theory about a plan behind my presence here could have been wrong, and it could have been the consequence of an irrepeatable cosmic event or something.
Still there was no use thinking too hard on it.
The best thing I could do now was gather more information.
Magic seemed like a good start.
I mean, I had witnessed Ilias teleporting myself, so it was probably worth looking into right?
Three: How much could I trust the information I had on this world?
So far it had appeared to be pretty accurate, but I had no way of knowing how long that would last, especially once the consequences of my presence factored in...
For a moment, I considered that me appearing in front of Luka may have had already irreversibly changed things too much, and condemned this world to its demise.
"Hey Daniel, are you alright? You seem a bit pale..." Luka suddenly asked in concern, interrupting my train of thought.
"I'm fine, just a bit tired, I walked around for some time before meeting you..." I answered, trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice.
"Ok... Just tell me if you need to take a break." he kindly offered.
"I'm okay, let's keep moving." I simply declared.
I need to get a grip, keep moving forward, I thought to myself.
So, after delineating what I did, or didn't know, what could I do with myself?
I had a few options, but none of them were too appealing to me.
I could have stayed at Ilias village, but not only did I already know about their previous distrust for outsiders that had cost Luka his mother, (a distrust that could possibly still have been present for all I knew) but also the village itself was going to be destroyed by Ilias in an angel invasion if events followed canon, making that idea a no-go.
So I had to leave Ilias village, but where could I go?
Pretty much every human settlement would be attacked eventually, if I even managed to survive that long, and God knew how unlikely THAT was considering I was not at all a fighter.
Monster settlements were not even worth considering, what with the war still ongoing AND the fact they would still be attacked too.
Like, seriously, was there even a place that would NOT be invaded later?
If there was, I didn't know about it.
And I had no illusion whatsoever of being able to survive in a world as dangerous as this one alone.
So, I was forced to acknowledge the fact that what I needed was allies, friends, comrades, however you wanted to call them.
And making friends in my situation also meant to pick a side.
There were, as far as I knew, six different factions involved in the main plot of the game.
Luka and Alice, Humans, Monsters, Ilias, Promestein, and Black Alice.
Luka and Alice's faction was one that fought for world peace on the ideal of coexistence.
Humans warred against monsters following Ilias' teachings.
Monsters defended themselves against Humans, sometimes proactively despite Alice's order of only exerting power in self-defense.
Ilias wanted to use Promestein's work to become a being of both Light and Dark and reign as supreme ruler of the world, though no one but her should have known about it.
Promestein herself was a bit more enigmatic, but her plan was similar to Ilias, if not for the fact that her true objective was the pursuit of knowledge, a goal I could respect, if not because her methods were definitely too... Unethical for my taste.
And Black Alice was really the same as Ilias, but more sadistic and cruel, which was saying something.
Honestly, the choice was easy.
Humans and monsters were a no-go, considering future events and the fact that monsters would not accept me in the first place.
Ilias and Black Alice were either too crazy or too cruel to ever consider helping them, and Promestein would likely just make me a lab rat rather than help me.
So, I would have to join Luka and Alice's still-forming faction.
As soon as I finished that thought, I noticed that, if there really was someone behind my appearance here, than that was most likely what they wanted.
Assuming that they knew what I knew, they did not really leave me with many possibilities, doing a pretty good job of forcing me into a corner.
So, my best option was to join a shorty wannabe Hero and a monster that literally ate humans on a journey that would span an entire world, while simultaneously trying to not get my ass killed or worse, and finding out just how I could get back home.
Oh and facing a genocidal Goddess and her multiple armies of course.
I was already fucked, wasn't I?
~– ~ – ~
When I was done figuring out what to do next, Luka and I were still on the way to the village.
We had already been walking for about fifteen minutes, and I had no idea how long we had left to go, so I decided that this was probably a good time to establish a rapport.
I did feel guilty even just thinking about manipulating the kind kid, but as much as I wished I could avoid it, I really had no other choice if I wanted to survive.
I promised myself I would make it up to him somehow, and started a conversation.
"Hey Luka." I called out.
"Yes?" he answered.
God, this was already awkward.
"Just thought we should maybe talk a bit? I realize I was a bit quiet there for a while, sorry, I just had a lot to think about..." I apologized.
"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" he easily agreed.
I braced myself before replying.
"Well... Ilias village huh? What kind of place is it?" I asked in a conversational tone.
"Well, it's my hometown, I lived there all my life." he replied.
"Really? How was it?" I casually questioned.
Immediately after saying it, I realized I had already stepped on a landmine.
Thankfully Luka just shrugged, before answering my question.
"Eh, it's kind of a small place, not that many people coming around lately, except for the Baptism of course." he explained.
"Right. Of course." I agreed.
God I really needed to watch what I said, that could have been bad.
Luka's mom was left to die by the villagers there, before most of them succumbed to the same plague that took her, for fuck's sake!
"So, you're going to get baptized today? Is that why you were in a rush?" I asked even while knowing the answer, guilt already growing in my chest.
"Yeah, if I can still get there in time..." he confirmed bitterly.
"You know, we could move a bit faster? I still got some energy before I drop..." I offered.
Luka looked torn for a second before replying.
"It's fine, you already look..." he started.
"Like shit?" I interrupted.
I really did to be fair.
I had thankfully already wiped the blood from my nose before getting to the clearing, so at least I did not look as hurt, but my face still stung and my clothes were caked with mud on the front after falling down twice.
The fact I was sweating like a pig and my breath was ragged did not help matters either.
"I wasn't gonna go that far..." luka said uncomfortably.
"No need to mince words, I feel like crap, but I'd feel worse if my savior was late to something that important because I was too lazy." I declared.
It hurt lying to the kid.
I was fully aware that there was no point in rushing, but I really didn't know how to keep going with the conversation by that point.
I was never good at finding arguments to talk about, even before having to keep secrets this massive.
I felt like a goddamn voyeur.
I increased my pace, making Luka smile a little in gratitude
"Thanks. So, what about you? Where are you from?" he inquired.
It was at this point that I felt something change.
A little ways above us, a bright energy appeared, forming a pattern again, but it was different from before.
Instead of a door it felt more like... A window.
Immediately I schooled my expression and kept talking, using the excuse I had already prepared.
"Actually, my home is pretty far. I honestly doubt you've heard of it, it's on Sentora after all." I lied.
"The Sentora continent!? That IS far. Why did you come this far south then?" Luka questioned in surprise.
"Well, it's a bit of a long story... I don't mind explaining, but I would rather wait until we are at the village and you are done with your business, this pace is a bit too much for walk 'n talk." I replied.
I wasn't even lying then, we were almost running by that point and, unathletic as I was, it was a surprise to me I had even gotten that far.
"Alright. Thanks." he voiced gratefully.
"No problem." I simply answered, before continuing to run the rest of the way silently, as I inwardly considered the implications of the invisible magic window in the sky I could still feel above us, trailing after our path.
I desperately hoped I hadn't given anything away by accident.
If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that holding Ilias' interest was not something I wanted.
~– ~ – ~
When we finally made it to Ilias village, I was practically wheezing.
I had never smoked, thankfully, but I did suffer from asthma when I was younger, so Luka was looking at me with a bit of worry in his eyes that I inwardly shared.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked me in a concerned tone.
"Yeah, huff... Just peachy, puff..." I managed to pant out.
"Okay then... I really need to go now. We can meet at my house after I'm done, it's the one over there." He said pointing to a small, but obviously well kept, wooden building.
I had been about to suggest the same thing actually, as I did not want to risk him leaving without me.
In lieu of an answer I simply gave him a thumbs up.
After a last look of worry, he took off, running much faster now, towards a marble building massive enough that I could barely see it even from the considerable distance that separated us.
As I turned to the house he pointed at, I noticed there was a familiar dark presence already inside.
That was both reassuring and worrisome.
Reassuring because it meant my foreknowledge was still reliable.
Worrisome because she was a man-eating monster that I had no previous connection with.
Thankfully, however, Luka had forgotten a minor detail I could use to delay our encounter.
He had not given me the key to his house.
So instead of trying to enter, I simply sat around on his porch waiting for him to return.
~– ~ – ~
As I had predicted, I did not have to wait for long.
Luka's crestfallen look told me all I needed to know about his business at the temple.
He automatically went to open the door, only to stop and almost drop his keys when he noticed me.
"Waah! Where did you come from!?" he yelled in a startled tone.
I blinked at him for a moment, slightly off-put by his reaction.
"Dude, I was here the whole time. Are you okay?" I gently inquired.
"...I didn't get baptized." Luka replied softly, his glistening eyes obviously holding back tears.
"What happened? No, wait, let's get inside first." I solicited, before gently taking the key from his slightly trembling hand and opening the door, ushering him inside.
I then closed the entrance behind us, as he walked past me.
"You're slow." A familiar female voice mocked, causing Luka to visibly startle again.
"Wh... What?" he stammered in confusion.
I was still hidden from view at this point, a small partition on the left of the entrance door separating me from his interlocutor's position, in a room that I still could not see with my eyes.
My new sense, however, still provided me with the basic layout.
"How did you find my house?" Luka asked his uninvited guest a second later.
A reasonable doubt in my opinion, that was met by an unreasonable answer.
"By scent. Smelling your unsophisticated scent once was all it took" the female voice haughtily replied.
At this point I decided to make myself known.
"Hey Luka, who are you talking to...?" I said, as I walked past the partition and looked towards the direction Alice's voice had been coming from.
Much like I expected, there she was, snake tail and all, standing in a room I could recognize from the game's background.
What I did NOT expect was her reaction.
She startled, looking at me with wide eyes, before backing up a step (or in her case a slither) and saying a familiar line.
"Waah! Where did you come from!?" she yelled.
I had a foreboding moment there, that I would be hearing that phrase a lot in the future.
My answer was pretty much the same as the first time.
"Lady, I was here the whole time. I entered the house with him. Anyway, my name's Daniel, what's yours?" I inquired in a friendly manner.
For a moment, both human and monster stared at me, a confused expression on their faces.
Then Luka spoke up.
"Not that I mind it, but why are you not scared? She IS a monster you know?" he educated.
"Is she not your friend? You were talking a second ago." I questioned, moving my gaze to him.
"Nnnot exactly..." he drawled.
"Oh. Well, she seems nice. So, do you have a name?" I asked once more, the guilt I was feeling temporarily abated by the amusement I got from their confusion, helping me keeping my nonchalant facade.
"Alipheese Fateburn. But I'll allow you to call me Alice." Alice answered, as she turned her expression and tone back to the usual haughty ones.
"Well, nice to meet you Alice." I politely replied in a friendly tone.
At that point, Luka stepped in.
"Why are you here? How did you even manage to infiltrate the village?" he demanded to the monster.
"Oh, please, infiltrating a village like this was nothing, who do you think I am? As for the reason, well, I was interested. There's also something I'd like to confirm." Alice concluded.
I couldn't help but notice how much of a non-answer that was and had to suppress a chuckle at Luka's twitching expression.
"Anyway this isn't good. I can't let my neighbors see a monster in my house." Luka finally said, as he looked away from Alice.
He then proceeded to close a few curtains on the windows, obscuring us from outside view, but not from the one window made of magic that was still above us.
It had followed Luka to the temple and back, making me think Ilias probably still considered me unimportant.
That suited me just fine.
As Luka finished his work, Alice just looked at me with an undecipherable expression, without saying a word, making me a bit uncomfortable, even as I kept my expression relaxed.
After he was done, Luka turned back to Alice.
"Look if you're here to make fun of me again this really isn't a good time, I'm already depressed because I couldn't receive my baptism..." he said tiredly.
"Hah... Hearing that is one of the reasons I came. So Ilias didn't appear for your baptism... I owed her for giving me so many wounds... Goddess that created the world... How stupid." Alice scoffed.
"Eh? What do you mean? You... What did you do...?" Luka asked in befuddlement with just a tinge of fear.
"Food." Alice interrupted confounding Luka even more.
"Huh?" he dumbly said.
"Get me some food. Make yourself useful." she ordered.
Immediately, alarm bells started going off in my head.
If luka refused her, that could be bad for me.
Mind-control magic was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.
I quickly spoke out, trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice.
"I can take care of that, if you guys want to continue talking. Just tell me where to look Luka." I offered.
Luka looked at me in annoyance for a moment, before replying.
"...There's nothing in the house. I planned on departing today, the only thing I've got is some Hoshi meat I prepared for the journey..." he explained, fetching the aforementioned food from his backpack.
"Hoshi Meat... Oh well, I'm tired... I'll just have it as an appetizer I guess." Alice conceded, grabbing the meat from Luka's hands and starting to chew on it with an unhappy expression that soon turned pleased.
"Hmm... It's not too bad after all. The seasoning and spices were done well... It complements the meat." she commended.
"Really? I practiced how to cook in preparation for my journey... I'll need to cook when I set up camp... Though I wasn't able to become a Hero..." Luka said, brightening up a bit at the praise, before finishing with a dejected voice.
I put a hand on his shoulder as a small show of support, and he looked at me gratefully for a moment.
"Oh well. I guess I'm fine with just the appetizer. I guess the main dish won't be necessary" Alice declared.
"Eh...? Main dish?" Luka uttered in confusion once again.
The look on Alice's face told me and Luka everything we needed to know.
Uncomfortable with the silence, I spoke up.
"So, how do you guys actually know each other?" I inquired.
Instead of answering my question, however, Luka turned to Alice.
"So, why else did you come here? Are you going to make fun of me for not becoming a Hero?" he angrily demanded.
"Hrm... I guess I said too much earlier. You just sounded so childish... I couldn't help myself." she acknowledged.
"I've been meaning to ask actually, how old are you, Luka?" I casually interjected.
I really was curious, after all his age was never mentioned in the game, though I knew him to be younger than Alice, who was around 21.
"I'm 19. Why?" he asked back.
"19? You look young for your age." I noted.
"Yeah I know..." he trailed off, growing even more dejected, before I continued.
"I sort of envy that. Everyone always tells me I look older than I actually am, it's actually a bit depressing." I revealed.
"Really? How old are you?" he questioned, looking back at me.
"23." I simply answered.
"Wow, you do look older. I'd have said 29 or something." Luka confessed.
"Ahem." Alice cleared her throat loudly, getting our attention back to the previous topic.
"Anyway, that's why I wanted to clear the air on something. I've traveled around the world and seen plenty of things. While your childishness is idiotic... It's a good thing." she declared.
Luka just stared at her with a flat expression.
"What? I'm comforting you. What's with that face?" she asked in annoyance.
"Eh? C... Comforting!?" Luka stammered in disbelief.
"Anyway what are you going to do after this? Surely you're not going to give up going on a journey?" Alice inquired, changing the argument.
"Just as I planned, I'm going to defeat the Monster Lord. Even if I'm not a Hero, I'll still leave." Luka replied resolutely, after taking a moment to gather himself.
I really had to control myself not to glance at Alice as he said this.
She seemingly did not notice my inner bemusement, and simply smiled softly.
"Hahaha... That's good. In fact, I'm a little interested in you..." she said in an enticing tone.
"Interested... In me?" Luka managed to articulate, a small blush rising on his face.
"That's right. You're interesting. You're able to say such a ridiculous thing as "I want monsters and humans to coexist" so confidently." she continued, as I noticed her gaze moving slightly in my direction, likely gauging my reaction to her words.
I consciously glued my own gaze to Luka with a curious look.
Luka had instead turned around towards me, looking fearful for a moment, before both of their expressions turned surprised at my apparent lack of hostility.
Feeling pressured under both of their gazes, I took a moment to collect myself, changing my own look to a slightly uncomfortable one, matching my tone as I started speaking.
"What? It sounds like a pretty nice ideal to me, if a bit difficult to achieve without help. It's the way things were before Remina, it's not like it would be unprecedented." I shrugged.
Luka and Alice just kept staring at me, eyes wide.
I was fighting not to let my guilt show, and it wasn't easy.
I knew just how important this argument was for the both of them, and I hated that I was using their beliefs for my benefit.
Not that I disagreed with what I was saying in the least.
Even if I didn't know about future events, I likely still would have thought the same thing.
Nihil novi sub sole.
There is nothing new under the sun.
If peaceful coexistence was achieved in the past, it could be achieved again.
Finally, Alice broke the silence.
"Just... Who are you?" she demanded, her expression still dazed.
"I'm not sure how to respond if you ask me like that... Though, in retrospect, I should have expected this kind of reaction, really." I wryly acknowledged, while mentally reviewing the excuse I was about to give out instead of the insane truth.
"What? What do you mean?" Luka asked, looking confused.
"Well... Remember when I told you I'm from Sentora?" I questioned, looking at him.
Alice took on a pensive expression, while Luka still looked the same
"Yeah, why?" he confirmed.
I braced myself once more, and started talking again.
"Now, I'd like you both to promise me to keep this a secret, if at all possible. I know it's a lot to ask, but I didn't make the rules. Also, please do not press me for more details, and listen until I am done, OK? I'm really only telling you guys about this because I need your help, and I really hope I can trust you." I seriously requested.
"Um... This sounds pretty big... You can trust me, but..." Luka trailed off, his gaze moving to Alice.
She simply scoffed in response.
"Who do you take me for? My word is my bond, I will keep this secret, as long as it doesn't represent a danger to myself or others. Would this be the case?" she asked me, narrowing her eyes, as she studied my expression.
"Not really. I mean, it's a secret, but not a dangerous one, it's meant to defend us, not harm others." I wryly replied.
"Then fine, you may speak." she graciously allowed.
I took a deep breath and started to lie in earnest.
"Ok, so... As I already mentioned, my village is on the Sentora continent. However, the precise location of it is a well-kept secret. As for the reason, well..." I stopped, looking them both in the eyes, confirming I had their full attention, the magic window above us still present.
"The village is like Remina was. Before the Slaughter, I mean. With both humans and monsters living in it peacefully." I falsely confessed.
Their reaction to my last words was the most extreme I had seen yet.
They both stood stock still for a moment, before yelling out in a loud chorus
"WHAT!?" they shouted in unison.
I had to force myself to repress what my gut reaction would have been: laughing my ass off.
The guilt made it easier.
"Shhh! Keep your voice down, I told you, this is a secret!" I whispered, putting a finger on my lips.
"How is this possible!? How did they keep this village hidden from the Monster Lord!?" Alice demanded in a loud hiss.
"I don't know whether the Monster Lord knows about us or not... But if she does, she never bothered us. The village was founded a little before I was born. My dad was actually the chief at the time, and the secret of its existence was kept ever since, as far as I know." I lied while internally cringing.
Alice took on a pensive expression again, muttering something incomprehensible to herself.
"So you guys can coexist peacefully without any problems?" Luka asked me, admiration and hope evident in his eyes.
"Well, we do have our issues from time to time, we're sort of a rowdy bunch, but we managed so far... By the way I must apologize to the both of you." I suddenly added.
"Huh? Why would you need to apologize?" Luka asked in confusion.
"Well, I told you a small lie, Luka. I actually got to that clearing a bit earlier than I told you." I disclosed.
At that both Alice and Luka turned to me, looking fearful for a moment.
"What!? But then why would you...?" Luka trailed off.
"Well, I had just met you, and while Alice had seemed reasonable enough, monsters outside of my village are not always peaceful... I knew I didn't stand a chance against her, so I hid and waited, looking for a chance to help in case she tried to hurt you. Not that I think I could have done much..." I admitted, wryly looking aside.
"Anyway, after hearing what you two talked about, I knew I needed to speak to you Luka." I finally declared, for once truthfully.
"With me? Why?" he asked in a curious tone.
"See, the reason I left my village? I have a dream too. And imagine my surprise, when I heard it coming out of your lips." I lied.
His eyes went wide again.
"You mean...?" he said, understanding starting to dawn on him.
"Yep. Though in my case being a Hero is not part of the plan. Especially 'cause I don't really think I could pull it off..." I said, shrugging wryly, and looking at my pudgy body.
It was weird.
The more I lied the easier it got.
The guilt however, was only growing.
"What I wanted to do was travel the world to find valiant comrades to help me, investigate the truth behind the Slaughter of Remina with them, and finally bring back the old days together." I finished.
Luka looked at me with admiration, while Alice's expression became undecipherable.
"Why? Why would you go so far for such an impossible dream?" she asked, hiding the the unease I knew she felt.
I truly felt like scum of the earth, and I knew, at that moment, that I had already dug my own grave.
If they ever found out the truth after this...
I didn't even want to imagine.
Nevertheless I forged on, following the path I had chosen.
"My parents are from Remina." I untruthfully declared.
Their eyes went wide again at the false revelation.
"They barely escaped with their lives, and they never talked about the Slaughter. But I knew that the official story was crap. After all... My dad's a human, but my mom's a monster."I concluded, with a proud smile on my face that perfectly concealed my inner turmoil.
Their dumbstruck expression was hilarious, helping me maintain the facade once more.
"How is that possible!? I've never even heard of a monster having a human child right off the bat! You should be at the very least monster-blooded, and I can't feel even a hint of..." Alice trailed off, before her eyes went even wider.
"Y...You... Why can I not sense you at all!? It's like you have no scent whatsoever! If I wasn't looking at you I wouldn't even know you were there! I can sense that ant over there better than I can sense you!" she yelled out fearfully, while pointing at the aforementioned minuscule bug crawling on the wall.
"Don't tell me... You..." she stammered, as her face paled.
I could tell what she was thinking.
Now, I knew it was wrong.
But I just couldn't resist after seeing her like that.
It was simply too hilarious an opportunity.
I had to give her the coup de gràce.
"What, you think I'm a ghost or something?" I innocently asked.
Alice stopped dead, her suspicions all but confirmed in her mind.
Then, very slowly, she turned her expression neutral, and in an instant zoomed away, towards what I could only assume was the back door, before smashing right through it, knocking it off its hinges, (I was very impressed by the fact it was sturdy enough to stay in one piece after being hit by a fearful Monster Lord) and disappearing from our sight.
Dead silence reigned in the room for all of two seconds, before I broke it with my unhinged laughter, and Luka started groaning about his door.
The tears that fell from my eyes at that moment, however, were not in any way linked to my laughter.