Part 1 Chapter 1 (7)

Damn it. How did I end up in this situation?

I fell into the biggest dilemma of my life, staring at the forbidden item before my eyes.

“Perhaps it doesn’t fit? Oh dear. Well, my granddaughter is quite well-endowed, you see.”

I barely managed to hold back from flipping Old Man Park off through the wall, as he mixed in lewd jokes and sexually harassed me. Instead, I picked up the item before me.

I didn’t know exactly how to put it on. But after examining it this way and that, I generally figured out how to wear it.

All that was left was to put it on.

“Gulp.”

I put it on with more nervousness than when I faced Shaolin.

‘It’s a bit tight.’

As expected, Phoenix. Old Man Park’s granddaughter was quite large, but Phoenix was a step above her.

“Mmmph….”

I turned my body this way and that in front of the full-length mirror in the corner of the room. The light sky blue color, as if matched with her blue, watery hair, clearly covered her important parts.

“For today, I resent that this is a dating sim. Seriously.”

It felt like looking at a beautiful work of art, but the owner of that body was me. Although I had spent a night with Phoenix in the game, this was the first time I was seeing her naked.

‘I need to put something on quickly.’

If I kept this up, I might get a nosebleed just by looking in the mirror.

I opened the box Old Man Park had left. It was the only complete set of clothes left behind by his granddaughter before she left.

“…Oh, God.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as I lifted the set of clothes carefully placed inside the box.

* * *

“Thank you for everything, elder.”

The girl bowed her head and greeted Old Man Park.

“No problem. Thanks to you, I felt like I was living in a world with people again. *Chuckle*. Next time, don’t get separated from your companions and make sure to stick together. Don’t go getting eaten by something like Seawater Sword again. Got it?”

“I’ll be careful.”

The old man didn’t know that even if Seawater Sword ascended to become a dragon, he wouldn’t be able to touch the tip of the girl’s toes.

However, every time he saw the girl, he was reminded of his granddaughter who had lost her father, so the old man couldn’t just leave the girl alone.

Even her small actions of trying to take care of the old man, pretending not to.

“If… if it’s alright, I could escort you to the terminal-“

“I said it’s fine.”

The old man waved his hand dismissively and made a disgusted face.

“Where would I go, leaving the place I was born? I’ll die here, even if it kills me. And besides….”

The old man turned his gaze to the sea and continued speaking.

“When my son comes back, shouldn’t there be someone to greet him? If he comes home to an empty house, how heartbroken would he be? If I want to receive some filial piety from a son who doesn’t even show any, this old man has to wait here. Until he returns, someday.”

“What if a monster attacks then?”

“Then that’ll be the day I return to the sea. Ah. Monsters probably don’t understand words, do they? I want to tell them to scatter my ashes in the sea if I die.”

“…Unless this world is destroyed, you won’t die by a monster, elder.”

The girl’s voice was filled with conviction. The old man found the girl’s occasional absurd attempts to comfort him somewhat amusing.

“Yeah. Is it because of the clothes? You look exactly your age.”

“*Groan*.”

The girl glared at Old Man Park with a prim expression.

“I’m twenty-five….”

“Bah. Enough of that, just go quickly. Don’t waste time here, go straight to New Seoul and register as a Hero.”

“Yes. I’ll heed your words.”

The girl bowed her head deeply in greeting and turned to leave.

“Stay healthy and live long. Until your son returns.”

“This… well, alright. Even if I don’t live long enough to become senile, I’ll stay alive until my son comes back so I can smack him on the head. Is that enough?”

The old man shook his head as if fed up and went inside the house.

The girl, Phoenix, stopped smiling and lightly jumped in place.

…

*Thump*.

The buildings she leaped over with her mana-enhanced leg strength seemed to number more than ten.

Phoenix, who had hidden inside a building that was now no different from a haunted house, roughly wiped the dust off a table and placed a monster’s Core in the center.

‘Let’s see. According to the settings….’

Mana wrapped around the Core like a thread.

*Crackle. Crackle.*

The Core, which was like a small bead, reacted with the flame mana and floated into the air. The flames gradually spread in all directions, beginning to take on a human form.

‘I have to do it, right?’

Phoenix, I took a deep breath, recalling the ‘monstrous human creation’ scene that the executives performed in the original work.

“The sun commands. You, cast off the shackles of a beast and be reborn as a being endowed with intellect. I am the one who blesses your birth. I am the one who will claim your death. Azure Flame Phoenix.”

I gently placed my hand on the Core and infused a little more mana. The burning flames, like an outer skin, became scales and tightly enveloped the entire body.

‘Add a piece of veil there.’

I tore off a piece of the veil that was wrapped around me like a scarf and put it into the Core.

The monster’s body glowed and began to take on a teal color. I forced my curling fingers straight and thought of some random lines that came to mind, adding a few more verses to the incantation.

“You are one who treads two worlds. You shall become the flame spear that illuminates and protects the world.”

The mana consumed through the Core was immense, but the mental exhaustion was no joke. I don’t know what the executives in the original work were thinking, performing such a ritual live worldwide. Do they have no shame?

I took my hand off the Core and snapped my fingers.

“Manifest. My servant.”

The end of the incantation. A fierce mana storm raged through the house.

[……A servant born from the Azure Flame greets you, Master.]

Speaking in a voice like a series of electronic noises, the monster, no, the monstrous human Seawater Sword, knelt on one knee.

“Uh. Yes. But you can speak in human language.”

“If that is Master’s will.”

A mask-like muzzle opened, and a heavy voice resonated.

Monstrous humans.

They were still too early to appear in this world, but in the original timeline, they were villains who gradually revealed themselves. Unlike Villains, who were Heroes who had fallen and committed crimes, monstrous humans were beings who made the murder of humanity and the destruction of Earth their reason for existence.

Of course, that was because the Spirits, who considered themselves executives of an evil organization, made them that way.

I placed my hand on the shoulder of the monstrous human Seawater Sword and asked,

“What is the reason for your birth?”

“As Master’s servant, it is to protect the world according to Master’s command.”

This is why the wording of the incantation is important when creating a monstrous human. I patted their shoulder and asked again.

“From what do you protect the world?”

“…Uh, um. Do I protect the sea? From humans who throw trash?”

Perhaps because its origin was a fish, its perception of the world still hadn’t left the sea. I held my throbbing head and stepped back from Seawater Sword.

‘I don’t have time to teach them everything. Did I make a mistake creating them?’

An S-rank monster would show intelligence beyond that of a human, so it was a bit disappointing. But since it was the first monstrous human I had created, it felt like a waste to discard them. And there was a role for them to play.

I’ll just make up something appropriate. I pointed to the ground with my finger and gave a command.

“To protect the world from a coming threat someday. You are to cultivate your strength here in Yeongjongdo. Becoming the master of this island would be good too.”

“What do you mean?”

“South of Yeongjongdo is Silmido, and there’s an A-rank monster there. Kill it and conquer this entire Yeongjongdo area. And prevent any monsters coming down from the north from passing through here. If Heroes come to subdue you, hide yourself and never get caught. And as for the humans living in this area…”

“Can I eat them?”

This bastard cut me off. I raised my hand and smacked Seawater Sword on the head.

“Leave the humans alone. The ‘human race’ is also included in the world we will protect from now on. Do you understand?”

“Yes. I understand.”

Seawater Sword touched its dented scales and then straightened up.

“But what if I’m caught by humans? It seems Master wishes my existence to remain hidden.”

“Even though there probably aren’t any, just never speak to civilians and simply hide yourself. Never get caught by humans. Understood?”

I neatly adjusted my wind-blown clothes and turned around.

“What I said earlier is your code of conduct. More than anything else, what you must do first is-“

I unfolded a photo that was neatly folded in the pocket of my top. In it were the old man and his granddaughter, and a brightly smiling young man.

Seawater Sword stared at the photo without a word. Feigning composure, I pointed to the old man in the photo.

“It’s to watch over this old man. Understand? Conquer Yeongjongdo and subdue the monster of Silmido while this old man is asleep.”

“Yes. But what is your relationship with this human, Master?”

Seawater Sword’s voice cracked.

“I owe this human a debt of gratitude. Since I can’t stay on this island right now, I want you to repay this favor on my behalf. He’s waiting here for his ‘son’ whom he lost long ago.”

With those words, I pointed in the direction of the old man’s house and left the ruins. Seawater Sword couldn’t even think of seeing me off, staring out the window at the old man’s house.

“Ah.”

The old man, who had just come out to sweep the yard, spotted me and waved. I glanced at the ruins and then raised my hand.

“Stay healthy.”

That was all I could say. Even if the old man couldn’t hear me.

Seawater Sword put its hand on the window and waved.

“This world is truly a tragic one.”

It is known that only plants and animals turn into monsters in this world.

However, sometimes people also turn into monsters. Like in cases where they swallowed a monster’s Core for some reason.

“…If I had known, I wouldn’t have done this.”

I walked along the road, clenching my hands tightly, the same hands that had blown up Seawater Sword with mana.

* * *

The monstrous human thought.

A command from the Master who created them.

A strange command that suppressed even the instincts to kill humans or destroy as they pleased.

It had given all sorts of strange directives, but at its core, it was a command to watch over that insignificant old man.

The monstrous human thought.

A command from the Creator is absolute.

Having been newly reborn as a monstrous human, they had only inherited the name ‘Seawater Sword’ but were born anew onto this land as a completely different being.

But the command to suppress the killing instinct and destruction instinct inherent as a monster and watch over a human,

“Oh, my back.”

It wasn’t bad.

The monstrous human perched on a tree on a hill overlooking the sandy beach and observed the old man’s every move.

*Drip*.

Seawater flowed from its eyeballs. Were there still remnants of when it was a sea monster? But it should have been a being born from a Core.

The monstrous human wiped away the continuously flowing water, then turned away as the old man entered the house, and bared its fangs.

*Grrr*.

A wolf-type monster, hidden in the mountains, was slowly descending towards the houses. The monstrous human leaped quickly from the tree and pounced on the wolf from behind.

*Crunch!*

The monstrous human’s sharp fist pierced the wolf’s chest. At the same time, a small spark of flame flew from the monstrous human’s hand.

The monster died instantly without even letting out a death cry, and the monstrous human pulled out the clutched heart and jumped back onto the tree.

“……Huh?”

Old Man Park frowned at the fishy smell of blood. The old man, tense with the thought that monsters might now be coming this far down, picked up a metal skewer lying on the road and cautiously walked forward.

“……Damn it.”

Before Old Man Park’s eyes was the corpse of the dead wolf monster. With its heart torn out, the monster was slowly cooking from the pierced hole.

“Was that the kid’s doing?”

Old Man Park’s teeth chattered. If that blue girl had killed off all the surrounding monsters to help him and then left, it would be a considerably huge problem for Old Man Park.

“I saved a monster, didn’t I?”

Old Man Park crossed his arms, trembling, and went into the house. The monstrous human silently watched the old man enter the house from the tree.

*Screech…!*

At the burning smell of the wolf monster, other monsters slowly began to stir. The monstrous human realized that ‘small fry’ that the Master hadn’t dealt with were still remaining, and quietly launched itself.

Yeongjongdo.

The land that had become a monster habitat.

It was the moment a new ruler appeared on that small island.