Lakshman watched as the battle between several people against one kind commenced; a human, a monkey, a water spirit and a sacred spirit against the monsters.

At first, there were only two Triaboros monsters that were led by the Fribaboros monster. Then, more and more monsters kept coming towards them. The monsters were ferocious looking as they attacked the group relentlessly.

Darian and Rumble were fighting the strong looking Fribaboros monsters while Tetra and Ondine were battling against numerous Triaboros monsters. Each was facing a challenging battle with their respective opponent.

While this was all going on, Marilia was casting healing magic on the entire group. This kept the fighters from getting injured badly and it gave them an advantage against the monsters. The monsters had no way of getting healed and were being defeated.

Lakshman watched as the fierce battle raged on. Darian and Rumble were fighting the strong Fribaboros while using amazing fighting techniques. Ondine and Tetra were not into the battle and more focused on challenging each other.

Watching as all of this unfolded before him, it made him feel unhappy. The reason they were even here was due to the plea from the messenger that stood behind them. His escort group were attacked by the wild monsters and needed their help in defeating them.

While they did satisfy the purpose, Lakshman felt things changed as they dived headfirst into battle. Somehow, looking from behind, it made him feel like they were the bad people.

He voiced his concerns to Marilia as he said “I feel sorry for them.”

“Don’t feel sorry for them! Monsters are mindless beasts that just attack whatever they like without reason! You should show no sympathy or mercy towards them!” Marilia reply sharply.

“Yes, but... Attacking them like this is...”

“Even if we did show mercy, they will only think of attacking us. It’s just in their nature to kill or be killed! There’s no other way around it!” Marilia said and she suddenly looked angry.

Lakshman was surprised to see such an expression as he hesitantly said “Yes, but still...”

In the past, he also killed monsters. In the situation he was in he did not have a choice. In past events, the monsters that attacked him were out to kill. Although it justified his actions to kill them, he still felt regret towards the monsters that he killed.

Only later did he learn the monsters, that attacked him, were not at fault. Apparently, some people did bad things to the monsters and that caused the monsters to attack them. It was a shocking truth that caused him to feel deep sadness for his actions.

He remembered his first meeting, face to face, with a monster; Two-Headed Cerberus. It was killing and destroying and he was forced to finish it. Only later did he learn that the monster went rouge due to the stupid actions of an adventurer. Then the time a mutated Two-Headed Cerberus went on the rampage due to the experiments of the Serprad clan of the Demon race.

Everything a monster was involved, the truth revealed deeper reasons for their actions. Knowing their reasons, Lakshman felt angry and hatred towards the people that caused it. To him it felt unfair because it was disturbing the quiet lives the monsters lived.

During one time, he had asked if all monsters were evil. He was amazed when he was told that monsters were not evil. It seems that monsters will only attack unless you disturb them, ruin their territory or are just too stupid and arrogant to treat them fairly.

Coming back to the present, he recalled the words of his parents and wondered. Lakshman had a strange feeling that something like that was going on. Each time thing happened, he regretting using his brawn instead of his brains, but now he is not the same as back then. He decided to make things right by doing things differently.

Lakshman took a deep breath and shouted “Tetra! Come to me!”

Tetra, who was fiercely summoning sword to attack the monsters with, suddenly stiffened and looked around. She knew he usually commanded her to return to him into her sword form. So she wondered why he wanted her to return when he needed to use his wand to fight.

As she looked puzzled, he raised his voice louder and yelled “Come to me... now!”

Hearing the commanding voice of her master, Tetra immediately nodded and turned into light. The glow of light zoomed across the ground and transformed into a blade. Lakshman grabbed the handle of the sword and held it firmly in his hand.

“What’s the matter, master?” Tetra asked him curiously in his mind.

“I need to do something, but first activate Transcendent Blade,” Lakshman said in his mind as he folded the staff and put it in a pouch near his waist.

“Huh? Transcendent Blade? Why, master?”

“I want to speak to the red monster over there. I want to find out why it’s attacking us!”

“Speak to the monster? Wait... Do you mean you’ll use the Transcendent Talk?”

“Yes. I have no way to speak to the monster so I want to know what its thinking instead!”

Tetra realised, just from the conversation, what he was planning. She understood his reasoning to being that he just simply did not want to kill monsters. At that moment she realised that, unlike everyone in the group, he was young and innocent.

“Very well. I understand your intentions, master, but remember how it works. You must stab the Phoenix Blade into the head of the monster and activate Transcendent Talk.”

Lakshman nodded as he remembered how to do it and said “Transcendent Blade!”

In an instant, the blade of his sword began glowing in a bright golden light. Then he began running towards the Fribaboros that Darian and Rumble were fighting against. As he ran forward, Marilia called after him.

“Lakshman, what are you doing? Lakshman!”

Lakshman ignored her calls and charged forward quickly. He knew he only had a few seconds before Transcendent Blade deactivated. This was not an attacking technique, but a technique to weaken the opponent and break their concentration.

“Lakshman? What are you doing here? Go back to safety!” Darian said when he saw him rushing towards them.

Lakshman knew he will try to stop him and was prepared to push his way forward. His face contorted as he shouted “Get out of my way!”

With the shout, he suddenly moved forward at an incredible speed. The speed at which he moved caused Darian to be caught off-guard and he was pushed aside easily. Rumble looked amazed as he charged past him and headed straight towards the monster.

The Fribaboros roared angrily and saw him charging at it. It opened its mouth wide and let fire outs of its mouth. Lakshman easily dodged the flames and jumped on the monster’s head and, before it could do anything, he swung the sword around and pressed it into the monster’s head.

The monster roared in pain and it began swinging its head around to get him off its head. Lakshman held his ground and said “Transcendent Talk!”

As the glow of from the sword began to glow brighter and brighter, he said “Speak to me. Speak to me, dammit! Speak!”

Suddenly, there was a violent light and everything vanished. Lakshman found himself drifting in empty space. He gingerly opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by shimmering light. The place he was in was covered in bright colours with stars and different shapes everywhere. That was when he knew he has entered the Transcendent Talk Domain.

He looked at the front and saw the Fribaboros and was amazed to see it emitting red light. Tetra had told that the colours red meant deep negative feeling. Then he heard the voice of the Fribaboros as if he always knew how to understand it.

“They took our baby, our baby! I must find our baby, but there are a lot of people hitting me. My friends are here to help and I can feel the baby’s presence. It won’t be long before I reunite with my baby. Just wait for me, my dear one. Your mama is coming!”

Lakshman was amazed to learn the Fribaboros was a female. Then he was dumbfounded at how it treats their attacks as mere hits. In any case, he understood what was happening and knew what he must do to solve this problem.

As his consciousness left that world, he returned to the present. He found that he was still standing on the monster’s head with the sword in his hand which had mysteriously come out of its head. The monster gave a wild shake of the head and he was forced to jump off.

“Lakshman! Are you crazy?! What were you thinking?!” Darian shouted at Lakshman, but he was forced to fend of the attack of the Fribaboros.

After straightening up, Lakshman quickly moved towards the wagon the escort group had. He quickly reached them and started looking inside the wagon. The messenger quickly walked over to speak to him.

“W-What is it you’re after, kid?”

Lakshman did not respond and continued to look over the wagon. He suspected the baby was put to sleep so that it would not raise an alarm.

Then a man tried to stop him, but Lakshman glared at him and delivered a punch to the stomach. The man’s eyes widened and he collapsed on the ground. The messenger was taken aback when he was suddenly grabbed by the collar by Lakshman.

“Hey! Tell me where the baby is!” Lakshman demanded loudly.

His loud voice caught the attention of everyone and that also included the monsters. They all focused their attention on him as he stared angrily at the man.

The man looked shocked and he stammered “W-W-What are you talking about?! What baby? What are you-? Gah!”

Lakshman suddenly punched the man in the gut and said “Don’t play games with me! Now where is the baby dammit?!”

The man recoiled and went weak. Lakshman realised he had unintentionally delivered a stronger punch than he intended, but he was that angry. Separating a baby from its mother was something that made him feel really angry about.

Deciding the man was no help, he let him collapse on the ground and asked “Tetra! Can you feel the baby’s presence?”

In his mind, Tetra said “Yes, master. Over here.”

As she spoke, the sword began pulling Lakshman in a direction. He moved a few paces and came to stop upon a bunch of blankets. At first he thought he was looking at a pile of fruits, but saw that they were moving up and down. Once he lifted the blankets he saw a small body of a Fribaboros.

Lakshman put his hands inside and gently lifted the sleeping baby of a Fribaboros out. At seeing the baby, the surrounding monsters let out a roar in unison. The mother Fribaboros, at seeing its baby, roared and charged past Darian and Rumble.

Lakshman saw the mother Fribaboros coming his way and said “Stop!”

As if understanding the word, the mother came to a stop, but looked longingly at its baby. Lakshman took the opportunity and ran towards Marilia while clutching the baby.

Once he reached her, he asked “Marilia, please heal the baby! It seems to be a bit injured.”

“O-Okay!” Marilia said quickly and she placed her hand on the monster’s body and cast a healing spell on it.

Once the baby was healed, it began moving around on his arm. Realising the baby was waking up, he walked towards the mother Fribaboros and let the baby gently down. Once the baby woke up, it began crying for its mother and she was there to calm her baby.

While the baby and the mother monsters reunited, the escort group tried to escape. They soon found themselves blocked by a horde of monsters. When they turned around, Darian and Rumble were there to greet them.

“Hello! Where do you think you’re going?” Darian said with a wide smile on his face, but his eyes were sharp with anger.

“Kidnapping monster babies and then selling them? Was that the real reason you came to the city recently? How despicable...!” Rumble said and he looked deeply unhappy as he stared at them.

Then the monsters let out a roar in unison and began moving towards them. Each of the monsters had mad eyes filled with hatred. There was only one thing running through their minds and that was to kill the humans that hurt one of them.

The escort group suddenly realised they were the target and begged “P-Please save us!”

“Even if we could, I doubt it will end as peacefully as returning a baby to its mother!” Darian said with a shrug of his shoulders.

The group suddenly realised they have no hope and knew they did not have the strength to fight on. However, their rescue arrived in the form of Lakshman.

Lakshman quickly activated Transcendent Blade and stabbed the sword on the ground and activated Transcendent Talk. There was an instant flash of light and he was in the swirling world of colours and stars once more. Looking around, he saw the red colours emanating from the monsters.

“I have rescued and returned the baby of your young. Now leave in peace without any hassle or trouble. I do not need to attack the group of monsters that fought so hard to save their young. However, if you attempt to attack someone, I will destroy you all!”

As he spoke, he glared fiercely at them. The monsters were unsure, but they felt something strange from him. It was a strange feeling, but they somehow knew he was someone they should not make trouble with. Additionally, the energy he was releasing also caused them discomfort.

When they returned to the present, all the Triaboros began leaving the area quietly. Some of them looked at the escort with fierce glares, but left anyway. The mother Fribaboros leaned down and rubbed Lakshman’s cheek gently in thanks before leaving.

When the monsters disappeared, everyone let out a sigh of relief. The escort group, now recognised as a Monster Kidnappers group, collapsed and looked dejected. They no longer had the spirit to put up a struggle anymore.

After that, Darian got Marilia to use a teleportation spell to transport them and their wagon into the capital. Before they left, Darian and Rumble went around and attached pieces of paper they found in the wagon and wrote a message on it.

“Member of the Monster Kidnappers.

Sighted by:

Darian Ronald, Sword King”

Once they were gone, the group tiredly got into their carriage and slumped against the walls.

“I feel wasted...!” Rumble muttered in a tired voice.

“You’re not the only one feeling that way,” Darian said in agreement.

“I’m exhausted,” Ondine said as she lay on the floor of the carriage.

Marilia and Tetra, who had switched back into her human form, did not say anything. They were feeling quite drained to say anything. That also included Lakshman as he sat and looked wearily at them.

“At least it ended peacefully,” Marilia said slowly.

“Yes, but I’m amazed master knew the baby monster was kidnapped and that’s why they were attacking,” Ondine said and she looked at him proudly.

“Yes... How did you know the baby was kidnapped, Lakshman?” Darian asked curiously as he looked at him.

Everyone turned to look at him. Lakshman sighed and told them everything that led to the current situation. Once he finished, they were looking really amazed. It appeared that none of them had thought about the things that he had thought through carefully.

“I’m amazed you thought it like that!” Rumble said and he looked impressed.

“I’m even more impressed that you thought about all that just because you didn’t want to kill monsters,” Darian said with a grin on his face.

“Lakshman, didn’t you take my words about monsters being mindless and heartless, although it looks like I was wrong think of them like that,” Marilia said apologetically.

Lakshman shrugged his shoulders and said “They are monsters, but they are also living creatures. If there’s one thing I can be certain of is that all creatures have minds and emotions regardless of whether they are human or not.”

“Wow...!” they all said together.

“Plus I didn’t want to mindlessly kill. So I went searching for a method to solve without violence,” Lakshman said and he smiled a little.

At his words, they raised their eyebrows shot up in amazement and began laughing. As they laughed, Lakshman’s consciousness began to fade.

He was satisfied with the day’s effort. He was a little disappointed that they were deceived, but he was happy how it ended. Seeing the heart-warming scene of the mother Fribaboros and her baby reunited made him feel a little lonely that he could not reunite with his mother yet.

Everyone slept for a while because of how tired they were from the day’s effort. Rumble was the first one to wake up. Seeing that everyone was still asleep, he chuckled and got the horse to pull the carriage. Like that, they resumed their journey to the Floria region.