Ch.53Let’s Speak in Our Language (2)

This situation is extremely dangerous.

A two-meter-tall humanoid monster with its fist clenched above the head of an innocent blue-haired girl.

As if that weren’t enough, this monster’s combat power is rumored to be similar to that of the Weapon Monster, even though they’re supposedly in cahoots.

In this situation that could only lead to misunderstandings, Carmilla naturally became dumbfounded with an expression of tremendous confusion.

However, despite her young age, perhaps she truly deserves the title of “professional” as an A-rank hero.

“Blue-haired lady!”

“Uh… me?”

“Yes! Run over here right now. And don’t look back!”

“…Ah! U-um! I mean, yes! I’ll do that! Ms. Hero.”

Just moments ago, she was the one who sent a monster after the hero, claiming it was her child.

How shameless.

The Deep Sea Monster, who was running toward Carmilla pretending to be a normal human, even though she clearly knew that Carmilla was the one who had defeated the Shark Monster behind her.

Of course, I couldn’t let her get away.

“Grrrr!”

‘Where do you think you’re going!’

She may look like that on the outside.

But her true nature is that of an incredibly dangerous monster.

I was about to give her a flick on the head to reveal her true identity.

But then.

Bang!

“?!”

Something whizzed past my face just as I was about to swing my clenched fist.

I immediately realized it was a bullet fired from Carmilla’s gun.

“S-stay still…”

“Grrrr…”

“Please! If you move any further, I’ll have no choice but to shoot!”

Honestly, taking a few bullets from Carmilla wouldn’t have left any wounds on my body.

However, that was separate from the face of my childhood friend who was now staring at me.

For a hero facing a monster, she looked far too sorrowful, and I couldn’t bring myself to move recklessly.

No, I didn’t want to move.

“Quickly, escape through the stairs behind me!”

“Thank you!”

The Deep Sea Monster kept shaking her head back and forth as she ran toward Carmilla.

Then, as if she had somewhat figured out our relationship.

Just before leaving, she turned to look at me and stuck out her tongue with a “nyah~” expression, making my fist tremble with anger.

Well, at the same time, it was a relief.

‘If she had tried anything after passing Carmilla, I would have killed her immediately without any attempt at persuasion. She really is no ordinary clever woman.’

Not only harming Carmilla, but even if she had tried to take her hostage, I was planning to strip her bones and entrails without any talk of cooperation.

However, perhaps sensing my killing intent, Deep Sea disguised herself as an ordinary person and completely disappeared from our sight.

Well, anyway, the culprit behind this incident was gone.

“Hic… sob…”

Unlike the original story, there were no casualties in the first chapter of the main story’s first part.

I’m not at all happy about perfectly resolving the aquarium incident.

In a situation that had somehow become even more screwed up than the original story, I was sweating far more than when I had beaten a first-class monster.

“That man… to think that man has fallen so far…!”

Carmilla, what do you mean by “fallen”…

Am I some kind of angel?

To begin with, the word “fallen” feels a bit awkward when applied to a monster.

Let’s be honest, monsters are fallen beings from birth.

“Mister! How… how could you have changed like this?! Huh? Say something at least!”

Carmilla, who had directly witnessed the shameful self-portrait of the man who had saved her when she was young.

Like a mother wailing upon discovering that her son who claimed to have gotten a job had actually joined a gaming guild, she kept sobbing while demanding an answer from me.

But I needed a lawyer.

“Grrrk! Grrrrrk! Grrrk! Grrrk!”

“Huuuuuh… say something, anything!”

“Grrrk! Grrrrrk! Grrrk! Grrrk!”

“Please! Say something, anything, I’m begging you!”

Here’s the surprising fact.

Although my first response and second response looked identical on the surface, they were completely different.

The meaning of my first growl was a desperate excuse about a misunderstanding, and the meaning of my second growl was literally just making random growling noises.

In other words, no matter what I say, all that comes out is grrrk grrrk.

“Mister… weren’t you a good monster?”

Nod nod nod!

“If you’re a good monster, why were you trying to harass that innocent girl earlier?”

Shake shake shake!

She’s not innocent at all!

She’s actually one of the key culprits behind global warming, I tell you!

Since I couldn’t communicate with words, I tried to somehow convey my frustrating feelings through body language.

The “speak with your body” technique.

Swoosh, swish. Swoosh!

Shushuk! Shuk! Shushuk!

“…What?”

Even when traveling abroad, if you use gestures like this, people usually understand about 30% of what you’re trying to say.

So I started moving my entire body, doing my best.

First, pointing with my finger to where the Deep Sea Monster had been.

Slide slide.

“Grrrk!”

‘She!’

“That… girl…?”

Next, with the most monster-like expression I could make.

“Grrrrrk! Guk!”

‘She’s actually a monster!’

“She… made me angry?”

Finally, swinging my fist downward in a flicking motion.

“Grrrk. Guk!”

‘So I was trying to subdue her.’

“So you were trying to kill her?”

Ah, damn it, this isn’t working.

It’s only amplifying the misunderstanding.

“How could you try to hurt a girl for such a trivial reason?!”

“Grrrrrrrk…”

“That’s too much… I’ve actually been looking for you all this time since that day!”

“Grrrk?”

Then came an unexpected revelation.

“Ever since you saved our family that day… I wanted to repay the debt somehow… No, before that, I wanted to meet you again, so I worked incredibly hard.”

Having watched Carmilla’s activities as a hero from up close.

I knew painfully well the effort she had put in to reach A-rank 9th position already in her early twenties.

To think it was because of me.

“You might not know this as a monster, but A-rank heroes are given the qualification to contract with monsters directly, without having to go through years of testing.”

Of course, I knew that setting too.

Thanks to that, heroes who mistakenly thought they were the best and made wrong contracts, ending up with their bodies taken over by monsters, were scheduled to appear later in the story.

But could it be?

“I, I wanted to make a contract with you, mister!”

Anyone watching would think she was a woman who had just been rejected in a proposal.

Carmilla, unable to contain her sadness, with tears dripping onto the floor.

“I’ve fought through so many battlefields for this, and to think this is how it ends… I just can’t believe it!”

Perhaps the shock was too great.

Her legs gave out, and she dropped the guns she was holding in both hands, sitting down on the spot and sobbing even more.

“Why did you have to be a villain, of all people? Hic… Then was that shark monster I fought earlier also your subordinate?”

No.

The only subordinate I have is my unemployed daughter who plays ranked games all day without even wearing underwear in her dorm room.

I felt extremely wronged.

But even if I tried to speak, only monster growls came out.

How was I supposed to comfort Carmilla, who was crying helplessly in such a vulnerable state?

I wanted to quickly escape, return to my human form, and comfort her, but I couldn’t find the right timing.

But then.

Sniff sniff.

“?!”

What is this stench?

The Shark Monster was dead, and the Deep Sea Monster had fled.

By now, there should only be Carmilla and me in this aquarium.

That should definitely be the case, but I could smell the stench of a high-ranking monster coming from inside.

Flustered, I tilted my head, following the smell.

“Mister?”

Carmilla looked up at me and briefly stopped crying.

Wriggle, wriggle.

“…?!!?!?!”

Just like in those erotic doujinshi.

A single octopus tentacle was gradually crawling up behind Carmilla, who was sitting down.

‘Is this even possible…?’

Come to think of it, I’d heard somewhere.

Cephalopods like octopuses, with only minor differences depending on the species.

They have the ability to “regenerate” parts of their bodies that have been severed.

This is possible thanks to their excellent stem cells, which is why octopuses are tenacious creatures that can escape in the sea even at the cost of losing parts of their bodies.

But that should only apply to the main body.

Severed limbs should just be the end.

At most, they’d only be good for delicious octopus sashimi.

‘But how tenacious must its life force be for a limb to try to regenerate on its own…?’

“Mister? Why are you suddenly acting like that?”

Carmilla still had no idea what was happening behind her.

It was dangerous.

At first, it was just a single crawling limb.

But it was gradually creating a head from the severed surface and swelling in size.

Moreover, when I saw those slimy “tentacles” wriggling above Carmilla’s head with each new limb that formed.

Creepy.

For a moment, I imagined my one and only childhood friend becoming the wife of an octopus husband.

So when two tentacles were about to bind her from both sides.

Thump thump thump thump thump!

“M-Mister?!”

I rushed urgently toward Carmilla, who was about to become a monster’s breeding ground.

Then I hugged her tightly and successfully jumped behind the fully regenerated octopus monster.

“Wh-what? What is that…?”

“Grrrrrrrk. Grrrk!”

“Did you… just save me?”

“Grrrk!”

Nod nod.

Like a cephalopod…

No, more like a monster, the octopus monster had eyes on the back of its head.

Does it not have a concept of front and back?

Meanwhile, Carmilla was staring up at me blankly from my arms.

She seemed more surprised by the fact that I had saved her from the monster that had been behind her just moments ago.

But she was still a “hero” after all.

“…Let’s deal with that thing first, then talk.”

Nod nod nod nod!

That’s even better.

I also wanted to clear up the “bad mister” misunderstanding as soon as possible.

Having formed a “temporary truce,” we both took our stances against the octopus monster, which seemed to have fully regenerated its form but was still growing larger, perhaps still lacking in size.

It was continuing to grow, already filling up the interior of the aquarium.