Yes, Humans Are Devious as Can Be!
That can't be right. The Demon King betraying me and offering to help? What a ridiculous claim.
I raised my holy sword with the intention of bringing it down when suddenly the Mother shrank back and shrieked, “I-I really mean it! I’ll tell you everything for real! You can take me wherever you like, and I won’t create a nest! Just spare me!!”
…Intriguing.
“…Are you telling the truth?”
“Y-Yes…”
“But you just said the top priority command planted in your mind by your kind is monster reproduction and childbirth. How can you possibly disobey that?”
“I-I can’t disobey, but if there’s no nest, I have no choice…”
“Hmm.”
Still, she was a monster. What if I turned my back on her?
“Sometimes Father will personally command me to capture you, and then I’ll tell you everything in advance! Just spare me!”
…Acting as a living alarm system?
The Mother bowed her head and collapsed face-first onto the ground. She had curled up exactly like that when I had called her “Dogeja” the last time. The gap between her and the North Queen I had seen earlier was so vast that adaptation felt impossible. Was this really a Mother?
I quietly observed her behavior. Nothing about her stance since earlier suggested she was lying. She truly only wanted to live?
“So you want to live like this?”
“W-Who would wish for death? I’m just one life, after all. As a living creature, having a survival instinct is only natural…”
“That’s true.”
Yet I had never considered that this applied to a monster like her.
What to do? Taking her along alive would probably be useful. With me dragging her around, she couldn’t create a nest, and her own combat power was negligible, so she wouldn’t pose a threat.
“I need a guarantee that you won’t stab me in the back.”
“…G-Guarantee?”
“Yes. I’m human, and you’re a monster. Mutual trust doesn’t form easily, does it? For us to trust each other, we’d obviously need something to ensure that.”
“T-That’s right. I understand.”
The Mother nodded once, then suddenly punched her own chest hard. It looked like she was about to vomit.
“…What are you doing?”
“Kuk, coolak, wait a moment.”
“What do you want me to wait for?”
“Uek.”
“You damn brute…?”
As she continued punching her chest, the Mother finally spat something out. A bright red, round object rolled out of her mouth and fell to the ground.
“I-I don’t eat, so there’s no… mess. It’s not dirty at all…”
“What is that?”
“It’s my heart…”
“What? A heart?”
This was her heart? More like a bead.
“Wait, you don’t even have a heart and somehow you’re alive.”
“L-Listen to the end. I was trying to explain that it’s connected to my heart, but you interrupted.”
“Um…”
That wasn’t entirely wrong. But the excuse left a bad taste.
I casually lifted my holy sword higher, and the Mother wrapped her head in her arms and shrank back.
“H-Hiiik!! W-Why?! That thing alone can kill you whenever you want!”
“Really? Then you can’t lie to me?”
“T-That’s right…”
“But how can I trust that this bead is connected to your heart?”
“…Y-You don’t trust humans’ words? Maybe you were just betrayed and lived…”
Slither.
“Hiiik!!! Oh no! I must have misread something!!”
“Well, I get it. With that, I have a guarantee you won’t betray me.”
“T-Then you’re sparing me?”
“Yes.”
“T-Thank you! Really, thank you!”
The Mother bowed deeply and expressed her gratitude.
If she had harmed humans before, I would have killed her without mercy. But according to her, she had never left the forest and had caused no harm…
I would have to use her as a living alarm system and informant while I dragged her around.
“Hmm, but…”
“W-Why?”
“I can’t take you like this.”
“Ah, ah… you mean this appearance. It’s fine. It’s just a protective outer shell, so I can remove it.”
“Eh?”
Outer shell?
“I can remove it? That’s like clothes?”
“Y-Yes. So turn around for a moment. Showing my body to a human is embarrassing.”
“Hmm, then what about your eyes? They’re forward-facing.”
“T-This is also an outer shell to protect the sclera…”
…What kind of shell is that? Now that I think about it, the grey carapaces of the Mothers looked rigid and solid, yet their hair-like strands hung down.
Oh, then…
“So what does the inside look like?”
“U-Um…? I think it’s pretty similar to humans.”
“What?”
…What did I just hear?
“I removed the shell.”
While the Mother removed her shell, I fiddled with the bead connected to her heart and waited.
“I-I’m done.”
“…Amazing.”
The Mother, now completely without her shell, looked exactly like a human, just as she had said. If one didn’t know she was a Mother, she would have appeared as a small human girl with long sky-blue hair trailing down. She wore rags.
The internal structure was completely different, yet the exterior was so similar.
Why did they even look like this to begin with? There were human-shaped monsters, but those were completely different from Golems or Orcs. Yet the Mother who gave birth to them looked like a human. That was baffling.
“Do all your Mothers look like this?”
“E-Everyone’s different. Humans aren’t all the same either, right?”
“So everyone looks similar to humans if you remove the outer shell?”
“T-That’s right.”
…Suddenly it felt creepy. If the Mothers I had killed had worn no outer shell and looked like this, I might have hesitated to cut them down. Their appearance was that human-like.
“Why do you look like humans?”
“I don’t know either… only Father who created us would understand…”
“…”
Estelle didn’t seem to know that Mothers looked like humans.
“You’ll have to act like a human from now on.”
“Ah, got it.”
“But I have companions. I’ll tell them about it.”
“U-Um?”
“If any of my companions object to me bringing you along, I can kill you immediately. That’s fine, right?”
“W-Wait. You just said you were sparing me.”
“I spared you. But if my girlfriends don’t want it, I have no choice but to kill you.”
“Y-Yes, humans are devious as can be! Offering hope only to deliver despair…”
At the warning that I could kill her, the Mother shrieked loudly. But against her thrashing, I handled it simply.
Clang.
“H-Hiiik!!! I-I made a mistake! I misspoke…!”
…This is entertaining.
“Abel, what are you doing? I heard strange noises outside.”
Since I hadn’t been gone long, Estelle and Celine walked into the nest.
“Ah, Estelle. You’re here?”
“You processed the Mother… Wait, what is that girl?”
“Ah, this one? She’s a Mother.”
“…”
Estelle’s face showed clear confusion. Celine, who followed behind, asked the same question, and I gave the same answer.
“…A Mother? It doesn’t make sense no matter how you look at it. It’s more weird that there’s a human inside this nest.”
I spoke the last part calmly and rationally, but Celine still looked bewildered.
It was only natural. I had been in this world for about five months, but these two had lived here their entire lives. It must feel like their common sense was shattered.
“I heard the previous appearance was an outer shell.”
“…”
“But why are you doing this with a Mother? Aren’t you going to kill her?”
“Hic!”
At Estelle’s words, the Mother clutched her head. Both Estelle and Celine’s expressions hardened at the sight. It was as if question marks had popped above their heads.
“The explanation is a bit long…”
I explained everything I had discussed with the Mother to Estelle and Celine. Of course, I omitted the part about the Demon King targeting me. When I mentioned that bringing the Mother along would allow me to obtain information about monster attacks or the Demon King’s orders, Estelle spoke firmly.
“It’s fine, but do we really need that information when we’re risking bringing a monster along?”
“Won’t it help us defeat the Demon King?”
“…”
“Do you know where the Demon King is?”
“Eh?”
What nonsense? One of the reasons heroes exist is to eradicate the Demon King.
Yet Estelle gave an answer completely different from what I expected.
“No one knows exactly where the Demon King is. We haven’t found him, so we can’t do anything.”
“…”
“If we had discovered the Demon King, humanity would have poured every effort into hunting him. Since we don’t know, we can’t strike. That’s why heroes keep roaming around.”
…I see. If we knew the Demon King’s location, we could just go there, but no hero does that. I had thought it was simply because of lack of strength, but apparently not.
“Hey, do you know where you are?”
“U-Um? No… I don’t know either. Only a few know where Father is…”
What to do. She’s already useless.
…Should I kill her?
“Who among that small number?”
“T-The ones with large nests, the big sisters, probably know…”
After listening to the Mother’s answer, Celine narrowed her eyes.
“Then this Mother doesn’t even know the Demon King’s location. She’s useless, Hero-nim?”
“T-That’s right, but if something dangerous happens to this girl, I can tell you!”
“…”
You idiot! What do you do then?!
“…It seems like I can tell you when a monster attack occurs.”
“Ah.”
I showed the Mother fiddling with her holy sword. It was a gentle hint to talk more. The Mother flinched and clutched her head.
“H-Hiiik!”
“…”
“Why are you doing this since earlier?”
“You’re scary to her. Maybe because I cut her hair like this.”
Now I saw the long sky-blue hair had been cut irregularly. Some strands long, some short… a mess. Who could have done this?
“…Are you the one Abel wants to bring?”
“Is there any harm in that? Besides, I have her life in my hands. This is connected to her heart, so if I break it, she dies too.”
“…”
“You want to live that much?”
“I think it’s a bit weird too. I have a leash on her life anyway. If I can use her, isn’t it better?”
I had never seen this reaction from another Mother, so Estelle quietly stared at the Mother, then sighed.
“Another woman. This time not even human…”
“Eh?”
“…No.”
Estelle swept her gaze over the Mother’s appearance.
“Yes, if Abel is telling the truth, she doesn’t seem to have harmed humans, so… she must be useful.”
“O-Oh, you understand?”
“…”
“Who else would understand me better than you?”
“Hehe… um?”
…Wait, when you put it like that, it sounds like I’m an extremely weird person.
“Still… if I take her like this, it’ll be easy to cause misunderstandings. She looks like a girl just from her appearance.”
“Um.”
That’s definitely true. I should dress her in proper clothes. Not those rags.
“I’ll have to buy clothes too.”
“She needs a name. Since we’re bringing her, there won’t be identity issues, but we might need to introduce her as someone.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
I asked the Mother.
“What’s your name?”
“M-My name? There’s none…”
“Hey, didn’t your father give you a name?”
“Ah, Father giving names… Father is a very busy person. There are only a few of us under Father’s command, and he’d do that?”
She sounded like an orphan with no name in that way, and it tugged at my heartstrings.
“Why are you looking at me like that?! I’ve never had a name and never felt inconvenient!”
“…”
“That’s right, I guess.”
“Really!”
“Then do you want a name?”
“…”
“Well… I’ve never thought of one.”
Hmm. Sky-blue hair and golden eyes…
“Skygold.”
“…”
“I don’t know human names well, but I know it’s a strange name.”
“What?”
Clang.
“Hiiik! Ah no! What a wonderful name! Mmm!”
“Abel, stop joking and properly decide.”
…I properly decided.
I covered my chin and closed my eyes, pondering. Naming was truly difficult. First, the names in this novel world were Western-style…
“…How about ‘Alicia’?”
“Not bad at all. Abel’s sense is quite good♡”
“Right? I think it’s a good name too.”
I told the Mother.
“From now on, you’ll be called Alicia. React naturally when introducing me. You can use this name when we introduce you.”
“Ah, got it.”
Alicia nodded twice. I smiled contentedly and sheathed my holy sword on my back again.
“Then let’s go. We only have about a week left, don’t we?”
“Yes. We should arrive in Bonaparte City once we enter.”
On the way, I should buy a gift. First, it would be best to return to the Vesta Kingdom quickly.
“Then let’s go!”