Chapter 36: Going into the Hidden Layer(1)

“Human!” Logier greeted her with his broken accent. I would have laughed if possible, but I didn’t want to scare them with my scratchy voice. Cathie’s eyes landed on Logier’s missing limb. She gasped in shock. There was a look of disbelief on her face. I couldn’t blame her for this. Even I was surprised to find his hands gone that day.

“What happened here?” Cathie asked in a trembling voice. Then she controlled her emotions and looked at us calmly, before repeating her question once again. Her eyes were kind of scary when she asked us about it.

I nudged at Logier. Perhaps he grew some brain cells Logier understood my motive. He looked at Cathie in the eye and said, “War.” It was a curt reply but held the essence of everything that happened to us. At the same time, it also answered all of Cathie’s questions.

Cathie nodded her head and then looked at me. Then her eye landed on my tail. Come to think of it, when she left the dungeon, I had a pointy end tail. Later, I evolved, and it changed to this trident shape. To show her off, I raised my tail and wiggled it around in front of her. Her lips curved upwards as she smiled.

“You are right, sis. They really are intelligent! And this orc can even talk!!” The other girl, Leah, exclaimed. Surprise and shock were written all over her face when she saw us. She came closer to me and showed a smile, “I am Leah. Cathie’s friend.” She introduced herself while pointing a finger to her chest(oversized). But the way she said that pissed me off.

What am I? A toddler!

I really hate the baby talk.

I nodded at her. Now that I saw her, I started to ponder over something in my heart. Earlier, I thought of coming clean with Cathie, but the situation with goblin lord matured me a lot. I started to think deeply about everything. Trust doesn't come overnight, and neither it was guaranteed every time. Even if I saved her from a disaster, I couldn’t be too sure that she won’t betray me.

After all, she was still a human while I am but a monster. Therefore I decided to restrain myself from showing too much. I will first observe her character. If it was good and she proved to be someone trustworthy, then only I will come out of my shell before her. This way, it might convince her that I ‘gradually’ evolved to a higher intelligent being.

‘Hmm, that’s a good plan.’ I thought to myself. Unfortunately, by doing so, I would have to push all my questions about magic to a later date. But that’s nothing compared to my life. It's worth it. As a person from the information era, I have read and saw many such instances where the main character was screwed up by others because they were too trusting. If I also fall for the same thing, I will be a shame to my world.

“Sis, look! It nodded at me.”

I couldn’t understand her excitement. Were intelligent monsters that rare? But before I could think about it, that girl, Leah, smiled at me and grabbed my hand in hers, “Thank you for saving my sister.” I was startled momentarily. It was too sudden. Nonetheless, I already knew her character. That day, she was ready to sacrifice her life to let Cathie escape, how valiant was that?

She was a true friend. For her to thank a monster wasn’t that inconceivable given what she did in the past.

I just shook my head and waved my hands around. I was trying to say ‘no problem’ although I was not sure if she could understand that or not. Then I nudged at Logier and spoke to him with monsterspeak about inviting them inside. He nodded and relayed the same thing with his broken accent. Logier may seem intelligent, but his intelligence could only amount to that of a ten years old kid in front of humans. Comprehending basic things wasn’t a problem for him.

“Come… inside…” He said to the two girls as I signaled them with my right hand. I couldn’t show too advanced a reaction least they become suspicious. Cathie nodded, but suddenly Leah looked apprehensive. She pulled on Cathie’s arms and whispered something to her. I could somewhat guess the topic of their discussion. I just stood in silence, pretending to be just an average intelligent monster.

“Let’s go.” After a few seconds of their whispering, Cathie smiled and agreed to go in with us. Meanwhile, I also had something to say to Logier. “Logier, go in and assemble all the goblins and orcs. We have to introduce them to these humans. Let them know that these people should be left alone should they come inside in the future.”

“Ok.” Logier nodded and left first. Cathie looked a little confused, and Leah stealthily put on her guard. I couldn’t blame her. Cathie was so trusting towards us was because we helped her when she was weak. According to her, if we didn’t kill her when she couldn’t even protect herself, why would we do so now?

As we walked through the dimly lighted corridor, I was discreetly listening to their whispers.

“Sis, is it really alright to follow them? I am a little scared.” Leah whispered into Cathie’s ears. It was normal to feel fear of the unknown. Right now, to Leah, we were unknowns. I am completely okay with her suspicions.

“Don’t worry, they are fine,” Cathie whispered back. I was a little startled at the amount of trust she had towards us. I wondered why she was so trusting towards us. Was saving her from death had that big of an impact?

“But sis, don’t you know? Dream Weavers are very manipulative. I am afraid it might have agendas. It was so intelligent too!”

I was surprised again due to Leah’s question. It wasn’t aware my race was that infamous among the human community. At the same time, I rejoiced at my quick thinking of not showing too much in front of them. Or else, even Cathie would have been suspicious. Somehow I avoided a disaster.

“Don’t worry. Do you think I am dumb? I have seen this world much more than you. I know which monster has agendas and which not.” It was a good thing Cathie was so trusting towards me. At that time, we passed through the spot where Leah and Cathie fought with their lives on line back then. That place still had dark patches and destroyed floorings.

The background suddenly became too quiet. Sound of their footsteps also stopped coming. Getting confused when I looked back, I was startled to see Leah standing with a blank look on her face. Cathie was supporting her by her side. It made me confused as to what was happening?

Cathie smiled at me and shook her head. I think she wanted me not to worry about it. I could somewhat guess what was happening with her. It was the effect of the psychological trauma she received, and this was the very place where it happened. Perhaps it triggered something inside her head. I stopped thinking about it and nodded at her.

After a minute of waiting, that girl came to her senses and behaved as if nothing happened. To be honest, it scared the shit out of me for a moment there. It was my first time seeing such a thing. I never saw anyone with this kind of disorder in the past.

We resumed walking.

When we arrived at the other end of the tunnel, a huge fanfare was waiting for us. Orcs led by Logier stood on one side, and goblins led by Urt stood on the other. It was a bit unnerving, even for me. I could only guess what Cathie and Leah must be thinking. Forget about Leah, even Cathie was a bit nervous. I can see it in her eyes and the fact that she was clutching something on her right hand very tightly.

I didn’t mind them and looked at the gathered crowd.

“Listen, everyone. These humans behind me are not to be harmed as long as they don’t harm you. They are my guests. Got it?” To emphasize my point, I deepened my voice and even glared at everyone. By now, everyone aware of my power, especially when I defeated the goblin lord with ease. No one dared to question me. In their eyes, my status was even higher than Logier and Urt.

“Yes!” A chorus echoed from everyone gathered. I was satisfied with their reply. Then I pointed at Logier and asked him to explain Cathie and Leah, the situation.

“No… worry. They… not… attack you!” With his broken accent, he tried his best to make them understand the situation. Cathie was the first one to relax her guard, followed by Leah. She had the utmost trust in us. Seeing how we made them our guest, she smiled at us. I was a bit mesmerized at that smile.

I don’t know if it was due to the magic in the air, girls were beautiful while boys were a bit more handsome. It was probably just my imagination. Still, I have never seen girls as beautiful as these two.

I led them through the forest that was now void of half of its trees and arrived at the cave system that was Urt’s accommodate. I purposely didn’t take them to goblin lord’s place. Things would become a little messy if people know about his secret. A form of magic that could make people reincarnate into bodies of monsters after their death. If people came to know of this, it would be a disaster. Not only this place would be crowded by humans and other intelligent species, but also the lives of monsters here would also be thrown into jeopardy.

I do not want such things to happen to them.