"Hand over the silvers, now, would ya? …Uh, ma'am." Crap. That probably didn't go out as intended. But it was right. If, as I had reasoned, we were here to trade heads and silver coins, well, now she needed to hold her end of the deal and pour some silvers on me. That wouldn't happen.
Now, the Warlord Orc finally had gotten his revenge on the evil humans, as he had told me. After it had done so, crushing many mountains and soldier enemies, on the 2D map, it also managed to shake off most of the soldiers of the platoon, and all the wooden figurines tumbled to the side, as if dead. After the warlord orc bounced everywhere around the battlefield, it destroyed everything and calmed the enemy army in less than a minute. Way less than that.
The ogre's dream had come true. I mean, it was too bad that just happened on the strategic board, though. Too bad the Warchief also was dead, huh. I'm sure the orc team should have liked to see it happen for real. And that's how entertaining such thoughts, I promised that one day, I'd definitely do it myself, crush the many soldiers to death under my power and make them all tumble down to the side, lifeless. That was a promise, but I didn't feel like doing it right now, so it would have to wait.
And she ignored it all— "I'm so… sorry? W-What do you mean, you're not a monster?" I was glad she could ignore my blunder with the orc head, but why would she ask the obvious? Like I'd tell her I was in fact a monster anyway. I decided to act as naturally as possible.
"This is my orc head, by the way," I said, imitating the business-like smile she gave me earlier.
"S-Sure… As I would expect from you: this head should belong to a general enemy."
"I know. So powerful, right?"
"Y-Yes."
After a long moment of silence—I stared at her with confidence and a smile, and the girl kept switching between meeting my eyes or looking downward—she spoke again.
"So… You, what should you mean by saying you're not, in actual fact, a mon—"
"Not a monster." I cut herself short.
"B-But, I believe you—"
"You got the wrong person." And I kept my business smile plastered on my face.
"N-No, but…"
"No buts, only butts, ma'am." Did I have to say that? Absolutely not, but man, I was nervous too, now. Should I be adding "the ladies', of course," like the general from earlier had said?
"You… are a monster."
"YES, GODDAMN IT, ONLY THE LADIES'!" I yelled from the top of my voice, slamming both hands on the board and frowning at the royal lady. "I mean, c'mon! No I'm not! Who says I am? You're… bizarre, ma'am." For once, she wasn't so afraid.
"B-But it is the reason why I brought you here, monster! What should I refer to you as? D-Do you have a name…?"
"Look, now," I sighed. "I don't know what you're talking about." I was pretty intent on denying it to the end, even when it was totally clear she knew about my identity. "But do you have proof?" I shrugged. She couldn't have proof, heh. It wasn't like she could measure and quantify my monster-ness in any way, right?
"I… could… but will it be necessary? I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to m-m-make it look like I'm... exposing you or anything, but…"
I frowned. The lingering tension, that was so far kept hidden and neglected, was now as clear as daylight. From now on, I decided to stop messing around with her in hopes that she would stop, too. Come to think of it, she didn't even mess with me, however. She simply surprised me with her words, since I was ignorant she knew I was a unique monster, but hey, that wasn't her fault, was it?
I made up my mind, and maybe I could hear the girl out while I was at it. There was also, as usual, the fact that the System guided me here, to do this particular quest, and so I should probably follow my System's instructions. It never failed to surprise me in a good way, after all.
"Speak," I coldly ordered.
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