Chapter 55

“Sheela!”

At the booming shout, Royle’s eyes snapped open. The monster was staring right at him.

Royle hesitated, not knowing what to answer. Should he go along with it, or correct him that he’s Royle?

“Um……”

“Don’t be scared. I know you’re Royle. I know that, but I’m just going to call you Sheela. Because to my eyes, you look like Sheela.”

“What?”

“Don’t try to understand me. Don’t wonder ‘what the hell is this bastard?’ I don’t know what I am either. My head’s completely broken.”

The monster grinned while scrunching his nose.

The monster plopped down next to him. He crossed both legs and placed them on his thighs—just looking at it seemed like an uncomfortable position.

“Want to try it too?”

He followed along, feeling like he’d get hit if he didn’t. The moment he placed his left foot on his right thigh, his pelvis tingled sharply.

“Ah, I can’t do it.”

“Right. It normally doesn’t work well. I thought ‘what is this’ at first too. But you know, once you do it, it’s comfortable. This is called the demon-subduing posture, and it’s good for meditation.”

The monster rambled on and on.

Royle watched the monster’s mood. His foot felt like it would cramp. He wanted to stretch comfortably.

“Why? Don’t want to do it?”

“No!”

“Crazy bastard. You want to do this? It’s fucking uncomfortable.”

“……”

One thing became certain. He’s really insane.

“Um, you’re not going to eat us, are you?”

“I don’t have a hobby of eating people. I might develop one soon, but I don’t have one yet, so relax.”

After finishing his words, the monster giggled and said it was also a joke, but Royle’s face only hardened.

It might not be a joke.

“I’m not a goblin.”

“What?”

“I’m human. I look like this, but I’m a person just like you. No wait, there are goblins that resemble people too. Hey, have you seen a goblin that looks like a person?”

“I saw one once.”

“You’re lucky. You met something like that and you’re still alive.”

“Someone helped us.”

“There must still be quite a few humans falling into this forest. It’s a fucking terrible place, really. You think so too, right?”

Royle mumbled while watching the monster’s mood.

“How long have you been here?”

“About three months, I think.”

“Wow, you survived a whole three months? You’ve got skills.”

“I stayed with other people. The day we first entered this forest, Aunt Daisy found us.”

“Aunt Daisy?”

Oops. She’d saved them, yes, but that didn’t mean she could be trusted.

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“Don’t think about lying anywhere. It shows all over your face. Are you worried I’ll go find this Aunt Daisy or whatever and devour them all?”

“No! I absolutely didn’t think that.”

“Why not? You should. I could do that.”

The black eyes stared directly at Royle.

Terror sprouted. The strength drained completely from his waist and his body tilted. Royle looked at the monster while choking up.

“You can’t, those people…… you can’t. You really can’t!”

Tears and snot streamed down.

The monster laughed loudly and said,

“You cry really well. It’s funny.”

“Wh-what?”

“I said you cry well. Ah, what I said was a joke. I told you. I don’t have a hobby of eating people.”

The monster’s hand approached. He kneaded his face mercilessly. Royle grimaced and pulled his face back.

“How old are you?”

“Nine years old.”

“Your sibling?”

“Six years old.”

“Seeing how you know your ages properly, you were born in a good family. I’m envious, so envious.”

The monster approached his sibling. Royle followed the monster on his knees. He was worried about what he might do to his sibling.

But.

Zen’s reaction was strange. After meeting the goblin for the first time, they’d lost their voice and been frightened of everything.

“You’re pretty heavy, huh?”

When the monster suddenly picked them up, they smiled brightly. There was no sign of reluctance either. It had taken over ten for them days to warm up to the people at the shelter.

“Clench your teeth, tense your stomach.”

The monster held Royle in his left hand and Zen in his right, then stomped his foot.

At the dizzying floating sensation, Royle squeezed his eyes shut. His body shook violently several times.

When he cautiously opened his eyes, they’d already landed.

Is he really human?

“Now, go to your brother.”

The monster tossed his sibling lightly. Royle caught his sibling in alarm.

“Let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“Where else? The place you should return to. Or do you want to keep staying with me? I’m fine with it. It means more friends to chat with.”

He couldn’t bring himself to answer “yes.”

He kept his mouth firmly shut and followed behind the monster.

“Nice weather. Right?”

The monster said.

“Weather?”

Then the monster stopped walking and looked at Royle. His blank expression made him scared for no reason.

“Don’t answer. It’s a crazy bastard talking to himself. No, Twella. This kid seems not to know.”

Hehe, the monster spoke into empty air while letting out a low laugh.

“Sheela.”

“Yes.”

“Say hi to Twella here.”

The monster pointed to the right. There was only a withered tree standing alone—not even a person’s shadow.

He swallowed dryly before greeting.

“Hello.”

The monster opened his mouth wide and laughed.

“Hey, do you see something?”

“What?”

“I asked what you see. Is someone here?”

“N-no.”

“Then why are you making a fuss greeting them? You’re a weird one.”

Shaking his head saying he didn’t understand, the monster walked ahead again.

Royle frowned at the monster’s back. He’s really insane. It’ll be dangerous to stay close for long.

His sibling, who’d been holding his hand, hurried their steps. Judging by their expression, they seemed to want to approach the monster.

“Zen, that person is dangerous. We don’t know when or how he’ll change.”

Zen shook their head vigorously.

“He’s not?”

It was an incomprehensible reaction from his sibling.

“Don’t just stand there like an idiot, follow me!”

The monster shouted.

Royle hurried to follow.

They crossed tree roots bursting through the ground, pushed through undergrowth, and walked across muddy ground teeming with insects.

Where is this?

The sun was gradually setting. His legs hurt too. Royle checked his sibling’s condition. They were staggering while breathing faintly.

“U-um!”

He called to the monster still striding ahead.

“What?”

“Could we rest just a little? My sibling is very tired.”

The monster approached and stared intently at Zen.

“I didn’t think of that. Sorry.”

The apology came out suddenly. The monster lifted Zen and placed them on his shoulder.

“Want me to carry you too?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Kid. Acting like a big brother.”

He’d clearly said he was fine, but the monster ignored it and lifted Royle too. Turned into luggage, Royle watched the trees rapidly receding.

He was impossibly fast.

Only then did he realize.

That the monster had slowed his pace thinking of them. If the monster had run properly, they would’ve lost him in the blink of an eye.

“Sheela!”

Because of the sound of wind roughly sweeping over his body, he could barely hear or produce a voice.

So he shouted with all his strength.

“Yes!”

“Take good care of your sibling. Don’t abandon them.”

“I won’t abandon them!”

The monster made a big leap. Their bodies floated up and trees were laid below their feet.

An exclamation of “Wow” came out naturally.

From the elevated view, light caught in his vision. A vermillion glow gently illuminating the surroundings. Signs of people.

The monster who’d descended to the ground rushed toward the light. It was a dizzying speed. It was hard to keep his eyes open.

“Here.”

The monster threw Royle as if tossing him away. Zen flew over Royle who’d landed on his bottom.

Royle quickly extended both hands and caught his sibling.

“Royle!”

A voice that had been desperately searching came from behind. It was Aunt Daisy. Other people gathered too, holding weapons.

Royle approached Daisy with Zen. The tension released in an instant.

“You were alive.”

Daisy said while hugging Royle and Zen.

They’d returned. Royle emerged from the warm embrace and pointed behind.

“That person, we……”

He’d disappeared. The monster who’d been standing behind just moments ago had vanished without a trace.

“Huh?”

He was bewildered. Where did he go?

“If it’s Monkey, he left as soon as he put you down.”

“Monkey?”

An acrobatic animal. He knew what it looked like since acrobats often brought them out when performing dangerous tricks.

It was also an animal Zen loved very much.

“I don’t know what kind of person he is. I don’t even know his name. I just know that he hates goblins terribly.”

Royle looked up at Daisy stroking his head.

“Is he a good person?”

“Auntie doesn’t know that either. We’ve definitely received help many times. But quite a few people have been hurt after getting close. Sometimes he approaches while greeting us warmly, but other times he throws stones from far away while threatening us. Saying if we come close we’ll di…… no, we’ll be in trouble.”

Royle recalled the monster’s behavior in the tree. Laughing alone, crying alone, getting angry alone, then soon staring far away with blank eyes—a person impossible to understand.

“But he saved us.”

“Yes, he did. But even if you see him next time, don’t get close. He might suddenly see things and attack.”

“……Yes.”

Royle looked at his sibling. Zen was staring blankly in the direction the monster had disappeared while gripping his hand tightly.

“But why Monkey?”

“That’s……”

It was when Daisy trailed off.

From far away came eek-eek-eek, a strange crying sound. Daisy gave a weak smile.

“He cries like that from time to time. He looks just like a monkey, so among ourselves we call him Monkey.”

Daisy cast her gaze toward where the sound came from.

“It seems he’s been in this forest for a very long time. People from another group we met a few days ago said he was here three years ago too.”

“Three years?”

It was a dizzying length of time.

“He might have spent much longer than three years. That’s why he went crazy like that.”

Daisy shook her head.

“Let’s not think too deeply. He’s not someone we’ll see for long anyway. We just run into him occasionally like this. More importantly, tell Auntie what happened. What happened after you met Big Mouth and got separated.”

There was so much to tell.

Royle headed toward the huts with the people.

Once again, bizarre crying sounds came from far away.

Royle looked back.

The people said it resembled a monkey’s cry, but Royle’s thoughts were a bit different.

It sounded more like pig squeals than a monkey.

“Royle?”

At Daisy’s call, Royle answered “Yes” and started walking.

*

“Wouldn’t it be better to live together with people?”

Twella said.

Quilbion sneered.

“What if I have a fit while sleeping and kill someone?”

“You’ve stabilized quite a bit now.”

“It’s not stability, it’s chronic. I’m always insane and occasionally come to my senses. When I do come to my senses, it feels so shitty I want to smash everything.”

On the way home.

Quilbion recalled the siblings who’d been gripping hands tightly.

“Twella.”

“What?”

“Not all people are rotten, right?”

“Of course. There are so many pure people.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Quilbion simultaneously answered and slashed his hand toward Twella’s fantasy. The nark that moved along the pathways in his body radiated from his fingertips.

Mana responded to the scattered nark.

A blue flash bisected the fantasy.

Twella, split in half, smiled brightly and said,

“Sleep well.”

Quilbion also smiled and replied,

“Yeah, you too.”