{Have I ever told even a single lie to the Legion Commander up to now?}
“.......”
Hearing that, I could only stare blankly at its face.
Because.
Just like it said, it hadn’t lied to me even once.
It hadn’t hidden anything, either.
‘No. It’s not just that.’
If I think about it.
This guy actually did nothing but help me.
And while it was always honest with me.
I just snapped at it, treated it like an enemy.
And through Ariella, I was keeping it under the highest possible guard.
I did those things without much thought.
But if I organize what it was saying from its perspective......
‘Honestly, there were parts where it had every right to feel hurt.......’
No—there were a lot.
{I don’t even know what I did wrong for you to act like this.}
At that attitude.
I realized I’d been judging it wrong.
‘It’s definitely rational.’
But.
That doesn’t mean.
‘It has no emotions, either.’
A commander monster leading vicious monsters.
Because of that image, I ended up acting strangely prickly toward it.
But if I looked at it as if it were an ordinary human.
The one being rude was obviously me, no matter how you looked at it.
‘Ah. So that’s it.’
And.
Only then did I finally realize why I’d acted hostile toward it.
Why I couldn’t easily trust it, why I kept doubting it.
‘Because there was no one who showed me this much goodwill.......’
Not just the otherworld beings I’d met.
Even counting everyone I’d met in my entire life.
There was no one as honest as this guy.
Monsters, and even people.
Whether the existence was good or evil was beside the point.
Most of them had their own inner intentions.
The reason I came to think that way was none other than—
‘......[Taste Bud Enhancement].’
After gaining this power that let me taste someone’s emotions.
I began tasting, little by little, the emotions of everyone who spoke to me.
Even someone with deep loyalty toward me.
Often hid their true feelings when talking to me.
After getting this power.
I started thinking that everyone was hiding their inner intentions.
And that I had to use this power to uncover them.
But like everything in the world.
Exceptions exist.
{I wanted to strengthen friendly ties with the Legion...... but it’s to the point where my own actions are making me skeptical.}
‘Truth.’
That.
Was this guy.
But.
I never imagined this guy would be that exception.
No.
Honestly, it makes sense that I wouldn’t.
Krrrk.......
‘A monster that looks like that has no hidden agenda...... how the hell am I supposed to believe that?’
Compared to any monster I’d met.
This guy was more grotesque, more bizarre-looking.
And the monsters it was handling outside were the same.
But.
If I think about it......
‘It said something about cultural differences, didn’t it.’
In the end.
It’s an otherworld being.
I think I look fairly normal.
But to some otherworld beings, I might look incomparably disgusting.
And other otherworld beings might see me as incomparably beautiful.
Judging another existence’s essence by its appearance......
Was such a ridiculous blunder that even I found it absurd.
{I don’t understand why you can’t trust me that much......}
“.......”
At that.
I could only gape, unable to answer.
Because.
I can’t exactly reply, “Because you look insanely disgusting~.”
“Do you really not intend to deceive us?”
{Correct.}
“......Why?”
Instead of giving that answer.
I asked it seriously.
{......?}
And.
Its answer......
Was quite simple.
{Is there a reason I must deceive you?}
A plain taste.
Truth.
“If I ask you questions...... you’re not going to try to slip past by mixing truth and lies cleverly?”
{No.}
This was truth too.
It really was unbelievable, but.
This guy had absolutely no intention of deceiving us.
Up to now, to figure out what it was really thinking.
I’d been forced to worry about how I could drag out its inner intentions with trivial questions.
“If that’s really the case, let me ask a few more things.”
{As if you haven’t been asking all along. Do as you please.}
But if it was going to be that honest with me.
“The reason you said you hate the gods. And.......”
I wouldn’t need to twist and coil around the topic.
Or use all kinds of leading interrogation tricks to pull answers out of it.
“Tell me what you want to gain by building a friendly relationship with us.”
{.......}
*****
When I asked bluntly like that.
It answered in a voice with a hint of hesitation.
{Answering the second question is easy. But.......}
“But?”
{The first reason...... is a bit awkward to say.}
That was truth as well.
Even if it doesn’t lie to me.
It can still have things it’s uncomfortable saying.
And.
That first question it said was awkward was......
‘Why it came to hate the gods.’
In our last conversation.
It didn’t hide its disgust from me at all.
I’d wanted to ask the reason from the beginning.
But based on the emotion I’d tasted from it back then.
I thought it would be a very sensitive matter, so I hadn’t asked.
Looks like I was right.
“I want to know.”
{......?}
If so.
Hm.
“You probably know too, but on this land...... there isn’t any existence you could call Divinity, the kind you hate so much. We’re far too ignorant about those existences.”
{.......}
“But.”
It’s hard to believe, looking at that exterior, but.
It was honest with me.
“You /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ know, don’t you?”
If so, then I.
Need to treat it a little more seriously too.
“I tasted the rage you felt. That rage definitely had a reason.”
{.......}
“I...... want to know what they are, what kind of existences they are, and why they’re the kind you have to carry that rage toward...... I want to know the reason.”
At my words.
The doctor—no.
The monster that looked like the doctor’s terminal stared blankly at my face.
{If it’s for that reason.}
What was it thinking?
After a long pause, it finally opened its mouth.
{I suppose I can answer a little.}
“......Thank you!”
Its body sagged limp.
And a weak voice echoed in my head.
{Where do you think...... my medical art came from?}
*****
Like most other worlds.
His world also had an existence that became that world’s master.
{I was originally a priest. A priest who served the Great One...... and even among them, I sat at the very bottom.}
And.
The ‘doctor’ said it had been a faithful believer and priest of such a god.
“A priest became a doctor?”
{It’s a little different, strictly speaking. More like I was a priest, and a doctor.}
“......?”
When I tilted my head.
The doctor continued calmly.
{That one’s divine name...... was healing and recovery.}
“......!”
{Every priest who represented that one’s will had to possess outstanding medical art.}
Even as I was shocked, I could understand what it meant.
It called itself a ‘doctor.’
So now I could see the origin of its medical art.
{That one...... promised believers who devoted themselves an eternal life without pain.}
And.
The words that followed......
Were a proposal that even I found tempting.
‘An eternal life without pain.’
That was the exact kind of life.
The one I wanted more than anything.
And at the same time.
“Something like that is possible?”
It also felt like the kind of life.
No matter what you did, you could never obtain.
{I believed it was possible. There was proof. Those who refused that one’s faith, or committed sins—criminals—could not live longer than a hundred years at most, while I, who sat at the bottom of the priests who followed that one, lived dozens of times longer than those criminals.}
At that, I couldn’t help but flinch.
This guy.
How old is it?
“......From what I’m hearing, it sounds like a good guy.”
{......It was a god that received sincere love from many believers, myself included...... yes.}
“Then...... why now?”
{Why?}
At my words.
That dizzyingly scorching spicy taste I felt last time.
Coiled around my mouth again.
{If you see me here now, do you not understand?}
“.......”
Grrrk.......
I turned my head slightly and looked outside the window.
Countless monsters spread across all of Gangnam.
Were trembling in resonance with the doctor’s rage.
‘It said liars.......’
It doesn’t seem like it wants to spell out that situation.
But just like it said.
{......I’ve shown an unpresentable state.}
The fact that it was here now......
Meant that promise hadn’t been kept.
That would be why it was that enraged.
“Then why do you want to build a friendly relationship with us?”
What I needed to ask next was.
Whether it had other inner intentions, or not.
{Like I said, that promise was not kept. To be precise, it was an impudent lie that could never be kept from the start.}
“So?”
{But still.}
And.
For this part, it answered quite cleanly.
{I...... intend to obtain what that one promised me, no matter what it takes.}
“If it’s what that one promised.”
{An eternal life without pain.}
The taste I felt from it shifted slightly.
A cold and bitter taste.
{After realizing that one’s promise was a lie...... do you know what the first emotion I felt was?}
“......I don’t know. I feel like I might.”
{Fear.}
Fear.
{I was terrified of death that would someday come for me.}
“.......”
*****
If what it said was true.
It originally would have been promised immortality and undying life.
{I was afraid of the fact that someday I would become a corpse and rot uglily.}
And then it suddenly realized that promise was a lie.
{The fact that such a future was guaranteed was so terrifying I could barely even hold myself upright.}
When it had to face death.
The death it thought would never come for it.
I couldn’t even properly imagine how great that fear must have been.
{......Only later did I understand. That death is the natural ending that comes to all life.}
“.......”
{From your perspective, I must look so weak...... so pathetic. But what can I do. That is.......}
It spoke.
In a trembling voice, as if it was scared to even let the words leave its mouth.
{That death is too frightening.}
And.
At those words......
I couldn’t say anything.
‘It’ll look weak and pathetic?’
That’s ridiculous.
Because.
‘This guy is the same as me.’
The fear it felt.
Was exactly the same fear I was feeling.
‘The end that will come...... to me, and to the people precious to me.’
I, too.
Was so terrified of the death that would someday come.
That I struggled to build the strength to resist it.
In that struggle, I’d nearly died countless times.
But because of it, I believed I was slowly getting farther from inevitable death.
And yet.
I still couldn’t shake it off.
Maybe I’ll live my whole life, up until death, trying to run from death.
And this guy.
{......So. I began research.}
In a direction a little different from mine.
It was flailing.
To overcome that inevitable death.
