POV: Brenda
Six years ago, I had a conversation with my father that I’ll never forget. As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky a dark orange, and the stars began to twinkle, we sat on the roof.
He flicked a pebble off the edge, his gaze lost in the distance.
He turned to me and asked, “I’ve been thinking about a gift for you. What’s your favourite kind of monster?”
Surprised, I opened my eyes and responded, “Supremes! No, blessed monsters! Fairy blessed ones are cool too, but blessed ones are my favourite!”
He smiled awkwardly and said, “I asked for a kind… not a type. You sure want something almost impossible, don’t you?”
“Well… you have all of the ones I just mentioned except for a blessed. Anyway, are you going to get me one?” I asked.
He sighed and placed his arm around my shoulder. “Those are very hard to get, you know.”
“Then, I will get one myself.”
“Hm… you… Ugh. They aren’t easy to catch. You don’t approach them like you would a normal monster. You treat them like very weird animals. They may kill you or may help you based on your desires. If you are a good girl, one of them might only choose to bite your arm off!”
***
Taking a deep breath, I contemplated the present situation.
“I need your help,” I declared.
The dragon began to move towards me, slowly. Each step it took, its majestic golden claws scraped deeply into the reinforced concrete floor.
My heart pounded against my chest.
From outside, Vernisha screamed, “Open it!” She began to pound on the door with all her might. “You moron!”
Shortly after, she summoned an Ice Gorilla monster. It tried its best to break the glass wall but was failing miserably.
Suddenly, I felt a gust of hot, stinky air breathed down on me. My hair fluttered in the currents as I faced the dragon, its face right in front of mine.
It’s not attacking…
With its eyes locked on me, the dragon remained silent and still.
Vernisha, who was panting heavily from exhaustion, noticed this and was taken aback.
The dragon then looked at the floor before writing, ‘What do you want?’
I stared, baffled, before answering in shock. “You! I want you to be my monster!”
It wrote again, 'Why?'
What was I supposed to say? Because my father gifted you to me? That sounded silly.
“Because I want to. I need your help to help my friend,” I answered. That had to be it. It was a blessed monster after all, and what I said was true.
Suddenly, the wind whistled and out of nowhere, its tail hit me across my side, catapulting me towards the wall with a loud thud. The back of my head screamed in agony as I dropped to the ground. I struggled to crawl, tasting blood in my mouth.
Did I answer wrong?
The dragon moved towards me, not in a rush. To it, I was probably just an annoying flower petal that drifted into its vision.
No, after all, it’s still a monster.
“Remember, even if these monsters are blessed by Balash itself, they are still monsters. They harbor evil desires."
As the dragon raised its paw towards my head, its claws growing longer by the second, I reacted quickly with the Qi gun. Placing the stock on my right shoulder, I aimed and fired! The recoil immediately dislocated my right shoulder as it released a powerful white stream towards the dragon’s chest.
Upon impact, its body was rocketed towards the wall with a huge thud, followed by a screech.
My shoulder! Damn it!
Why did I have to reset my level? But… I guess I was lucky… I’ve heard of normal humans having their shoulders shattered from the recoil. I dropped the gun, noticing my wrist was also fractured.
“The bird!” Vernisha shouted from behind the glass door. “If you want to be such a fool, then at least give me the bird so I can heal you!”
As I stood up, I said, “Yeah… the thing is, even if I wanted to leave the room, I couldn’t. I doubt there is any poisonous gas thing too. My dad knew about how blessed monsters worked. He definitely wouldn’t use that plan. It’s a test, I think.”
“What the… Your Dad is… What the hell?!”
The dragon leaped towards me with all of its force. But, the moment I noticed its wing twitch, I had already jumped to the side with the gun in my left hand.
The dragon’s head moved towards me mid-air, and it opened its mouth. The air around it began to swirl violently as dirt built up, and it pushed towards me.
Immediately, I pulled the trigger and fired another round right into its mouth, sacrificing the functionality of my left arm.
Upon impact, the dragon’s head snapped back as it hit the wall. Blood flowed from its mouth as it growled.
“Damn it… I want your power to protect my friend!” I shouted.
I breathed hard, knowing both of my arms no longer could function. Once again, the dragon lunged at me with a roar, as if it was dissatisfied with my answer.
I attempted to move, but the dragon’s tail whipped my foot, causing me to stumble and fall. Instantly, it flipped me over with its claw, tapping my abdomen before slowly moving its claw toward the center of my face.
The dragon’s face was devoid of emotion. Suddenly, its tail dug into the walls, carving out words:
'I don’t care for your friend! Nor do I care what you desire! Only what I want matters! Only those that are in agreement with what I desire shall live!'
How was I supposed to make this monster agree with me?
What did it even want?!
How the hell was I supposed to understand the desires of a damn monster?
It was a monster. If it desired to kill me, or consume me, or whatever else it did, why would I ever agree to that?!
The claw inched closer to my face. If I claimed I wasn’t scared, I would have been lying. But… I didn’t want to be.
Still…
My voice trembled as I asked, “What… do you want?”
The dragon moved its head closer to me. It sniffed me, then raised its head in contemplation.
What the hell…? Oh god, it better not—
The dragon’s tail whipped towards the wall, carving out messy words: 'HOME! I want to return to my damn home! I don’t desire to be on this damn island! My ancestors and other family line may have agreed to come here ages ago, but my kind, my race desire… home.'
I muttered in response, “I get that… I too want to return home.”
It glared at me as its tail carved out more words with greater aggression. 'How are you not home?! You are of this nation, aren’t you? I smell it!'
“Well… It can’t be home if those who made it home aren’t here. My father and mother are not here. I came back… I always wanted to come back to meet my mom deep down in my heart. They made this place home. I also had a friend, who died. It doesn’t feel like home. It’s just where my home is supposed to be.”
Its golden eyes glared at me for a long moment before softening. It then wrote more, but gently: 'Same for me. My home… no longer exists, but… I want to rebuild it. I want to arch on the tallest tree on that island and roar with all my might. I want them to see my might… to fear my might…'
I stood up, despite the incredible pain. “Then… let’s help each other! Let’s both find our homes or what made our home, home!”
It looked at me, then began to circle around me. 'How can you help me, feeble child?'
“I don’t know yet… but… you are a monster, so acquiring information would be hard for you.”
'No. I am a dragon and a blessed dragon at that. The strongest of your kind would be crawling to get their hands on me.'
Suddenly, a light bulb went on in my head. “Exactly! And guess what! They will not care about your desires! You may think your blessing will protect you from their seal’s mind influence, but it doesn’t protect you from another monster’s. What makes you think they wouldn’t just mind control you to make you willing to be a monster of theirs, huh?!”
I said that with a confident smile, but it seemed to tick it off.
With an angry growl, the room shook as it carved into the ground with the fury of a mad king. 'Do you want to die?! I will make sure to feast on your body, taking the little stats you possess! Or perhaps, you want me to force you to summon a monster of yours? I wouldn’t just kill it or eat it, rather… I think I would take a chance stripping it of a skill, then eating it along with you!'
I smiled, completely confident. “How would that change your fate? Do you know how strong adventurers are? The lowest ranking in the number ranking system is 25. That same man once launched an attack so powerful that 5 out of the 6 major nations felt the tremors from it. My father, a Vlandos, fought that man and lived. And guess what…? My father is the same man that put you here.”
The creature’s anger intensified. Slowly, it bared its fangs at me, clawing at the ground in a display of frustration. Then, it wrote, “You claim to offer help. How can I trust your word?”
I shrugged. “You are a blessed monster. You have the freedom to choose at any time.”
It contemplated, stretching its paw towards me. “Then, I agree. I will aid you in finding those that make your home, home. In return, you will help me reclaim my home.”
“Wait, are you serious?” I asked, disbelief creeping into my voice.
“Tch! Stop wasting my time! I stand to gain the most here. I will utilize your knowledge and your humanity—your Vlandos nature—to its fullest extent! I will be the true master! Besides, I desire the Vlandos power-up methods. I’d rather have fourteen than seven!”
I laughed, then forced myself against a wall. Taking a deep breath, I pushed my dislocated arm back into place. Despite the pain, I muffled a scream and tapped its paw with the back of my hand. “Sure.”
It glowed white before being absorbed into my master seal. I stared at it, still glowing brightly. I realized then that I needed a rank 3 seal to capture an exotic. To my surprise, the seal held it. Of course, as a blessed monster, it could do whatever it pleased.
I turned towards Vernisha, who had teary eyes. I grinned. “See? Told you.”
“Just… get out of there, please.” Maybe I had stressed her out a bit too much.
Then, a square in the ceiling moved aside, and a letter dropped from it. I watched it drift to the ground. As soon as it landed, I sighed. I wasn’t surprised.
‘So… I may have lied about the poison gas, but if you captured it, that meant one thing: You remembered, and so did I! Also, don’t worry, I actually did have a contingency plan if it was going to kill you. Your intelligence was it.’
I sighed again. “What a gift this is…”
The door automatically opened. As I suspected, it had been locked. I strolled towards Vernisha, who immediately demanded that I send out Birmall. I complied.
As soon as the creature was out, she healed it, which in turn healed all my injuries. She then glared at me. “You really are good at pissing people off. Next time, tell me before you just dive in headfirst.”
“Yeah… Sorry. I was worried that it was paying attention and would think I was trying to manipulate it if I told you my plan. Or what I was going to say.”
Vernisha placed her hands on her hips. “Well, we saw how that turned out.”
“Yeah, although, that would have been such a cool moment for you to have unlocked your secret long-range healing power! I put myself in danger for your power-up, and you completely fumbled it!”
Her worried expression slowly disappeared as wrath consumed her. Though she tried to hide it, her eyes were still twitching. “Oh? You want to die for my development? Is that it?”
I saluted with my hand on my right shoulder. “Gladly. But… now that I have a dragon, I may require you to do it for me.”
She shook her head and walked out of the room. “Now that you have such a monster, it’s about time we power you up.”
I ran beside her. “You mean… leveling up?”
“Yeah, we’re not going into the Jurest district with armor on anyway, since it would attract too much attention in such a place. So, our main priority would be to make you as strong as possible. During that, I would also need you to tell me a lot about that district so that we can plan for almost any situation that may occur.”
“Got it!” I was smiling deeply.
She noticed my smile and inquired. “Huh? You’re excited?”
“Somewhat.”
“Damn… of course, you are,” She muttered. “That’s why we adventurers have a worse reputation than regular Vlandos. We’re just a bunch of power-hungry murder hobos.”
“Who wouldn’t be excited to get stronger?” I retorted. “Especially when they have a damn dragon! And not just any dragon, a blessed dragon! And an exotic monster! That’s like… only three rarity ranks before legendary! Not to mention, it’s a monster that can communicate!”
“Please be secretive and quiet about that,” she warned. “You don’t want adventurers or monster hunters coming after your neck for your monster.”
Right, that was stupid of me.
“Okay, first, before we go to a monster zone, preferably the Burning Monster Savannah, I want to make sure the box you have has the coordinates and name of the client on it," I said.
Vernisha stopped walking then pulled a small black box from her inventory. She shuffled it, and then looked below it, which had words.
She then pointed it at me. “I don’t have the universal language perk… Seems he wrote that in a different language or is it how you all write y’all Oil city dialect?”
I gently took it from her and read it. “No, it’s just what the big-time criminals came up with to encrypt their messages.”
She crossed her arms and smiled. “Your father taught you it?”
“No, I just saw it a lot and learned it,” I replied as I read it. “It’s for… some guy I never heard of before. Richard Thomas. The coordinates are there too. Apparently, at his main house. Seems the dude is a confident big shot.”
“Hm… I should have also asked Joeran how people would know I have this and attack me for it, but I am going to guess there are always people spying around the city for when someone leaves his shop… After all, this place doesn't have a safety zone. So, monsters can be ejected from our seals.”
I asked her, “How did you… figure that out?”
“Remember the guy I threatened by showing him the fake monster seal? I thought at first it was because of my enhanced body. But the more I thought about this city, I thought… The chance of this place having a Balash temple will be high, but, there is no way they would ask Balash for a safety zone. Assassination attempts, and transportation of drugs and goods would be so much faster without a safety zone to block out monster summons.”
“Oh. Yeah, you are correct.”
Vernisha then shrugged. “Let’s hope things play out smooth.”
I walked in front. “If not, we will make them wish they never crossed paths with us!”
“Yeah… giving you all that power so soon was a mistake.”
“Silence, heathen!” I tried to keep a straight face as we exited the basement and then left the house.
Vernisha then said with her hands in her black pants. “We got 6 hours remaining, let’s get you strong in that time frame.”
***
POV: The King.
When I was a child, my father seemed like the greatest man in the world to me. His every action, from the way he walked and ate to the way he conversed, was imbued with confidence and certainty. It was as if he held the entire world in his hands.
Initially, I attributed this to his greatness. However, as I grew older, I realized that wasn’t the case.
After all, all rulers of nations exuded the same confidence. All kings were… similar.
So, at the tender age of 15, I decided to acquire that confidence. When my father met a sudden death, and my brother ascended the throne, I saw his arrogance.
He was a kind brother, but he didn’t respect Miss Maria the way my father did… he respected her a little too much.
I reflected on his smile when he looked at her and how my mother, before her demise, would gaze at her with hatred. Regardless, my brother was foolish in that regard.
That was why he met his end. Miss Maria recognized that I was more suited for this kingdom than him. When I thought of killing him, I was initially anxious.
After all, he was my elder brother. He was always kind to me and assisted me in my studies. But… I yearned to be King. I didn’t want to be a king, but THE KING.
Unfortunately for him, he had to die. And then, I was crowned King… But as soon as I ascended, Miss Maria fell ill, leaving me alone in this dangerous world, and even demanded that I must not kill Joseph, my younger brother.
I sighed. Whatever. The present was all that mattered...
In front of me, the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore flowed in my ears. Unfortunately, the present was too damn slow.
I clicked my tongue and asked the Holvious woman, “Merla—”
“Do not call me by my birth name,” she, who was leaning against a coconut tree, replied.
What a damn frustrating existence to deal with. I turned to look at James and Tarneisha who were simply standing there, minding their business.
I guess Tarneisha was staring at her right hand like always. Still, every time I looked at her, her face reminded me of that evil child… and both of them reminded me… of...
No, that’s silly.
I groaned and turned back to Olina. “What’s taking your damn sister so long to answer?”
“She normally replies to me quickly, except for when it involves something you want. I am sure you can understand why? Perhaps you being a dirty Terrafallian?”
I got up in a fury. “Why you…”
Immediately, the Julios women stepped by her side. “Uh… Please calm down.”
Verlan, who was on top of the crown of the coconut tree, joined the conversation, “King C—”
I cut him off. “I told you. King, that’s all. Just King.”
“I apologize… But I’ve been curious,” he began. “Since you sent me to train on that island, you must have had a personal bodyguard to replace me. Where are they?”
“I would prefer to rot alone than to trust someone else with such a responsibility,” I replied. “You hate Darsean cultists because your father and mother became one, so… the chance of you betraying me until you kill that child is low.”
He was stunned but managed a smile. “Always cautious, King.”
I returned to my seat, fingers interlaced. How could I trust someone else? As long as I stay on this throne, everything around me is a threat…
Hm... And there is nothing around to soothe my mind.
I needed Miss Maria back as soon as possible.
I wanted the freedom to sit back in my chair and say, 'I am safe.' I wanted the freedom to make a decision and think, 'this will work out. Nothing bad will occur from it.' I needed the freedom to believe… my life will be... just right.
Olina then spoke up as she looked at her pyramid communicator. “My sister has replied. She says yes. You can come to Holvious.”
