The Real Monster 19 Turning Away From Humanity I

It has been a month since I happened to clean up the Acadria Lineage. The Imperial Capital became a bee's nest that was poked and the imperial family saw to the matter immediately but ultimately could not find the culprit. What they did was to dig up the royal family's past and their recent activities to uncover what I knew about them and more. At first I thought they would do what righteous people would do, but then politics won out and I was made into the criminal. Although it's true, it made me sure that humanity here is no different from back home. I'm not even sure why I still call that world my home even when I know this is how it is.

Moving on though, the imperial family moved their armies and the surrounding kingdoms also started a manhunt for me. This escalated to heights I never imagined it would reach. I escaped the capital without looking back and it took me on less than a day to return to the camp where my subordinates are waiting. My clothes burned in the process but that was a small price to pay.

Inside the camp, fortunately, nothing template-like happened while I was away.

[Sire, it is good to know you are doing alright.] The first to greet me were Caltec, Jon and Mor who just finished their rounds and then followed by Isaac who was handling the internal affairs of the camp after he finished his rounds.

[Sire, you are back. Good to see you safe.] Jon said.

[Are you doing well sire, you seem to be looking gloomy?] Mor added and then [Sire, the camp has been doing well since you left. I shall give you a report later on.] Isaac was looking tired and there was a look in his face that told me something must be wrong as well. In fact, the four of them had a look as if they couldn't wait to confirm something with me.

"What is it? Has news of my deeds already arrived here?" I asked just to probe yet when I finished asking, [S-Sire, we have heard, we have heard about your deeds and want to confirm with you if it truly was you who did it.] After hearing me ask, as if given a golden opportunity, Caltec jumped at the it and asked me to confirm, however, as I do not know what they have heard I need to hear it first.

"What have you heard perchance?" I raised my brows and questioned. [T-That… Uhm, when travelling merchants visited the castle town two months ago, they noticed that the gate to the town was deserted and stains of blood were everywhere with claw-marks in the mix, so they hurriedly came inside and they saw the real state of affairs in Acadria.]

[It was chaos. There were monsters that prowled the town like it were their home, as if no one was there to defend the town. It was completely devoid of human beings and wolves, goblins, and other predators and scavengers were the only creatures present with healthy bodies it seemed they say.]

[The nearby towns were alerted by the same merchant and a subjugation force was dispatched to Acadria the next day forcing a march on every able-bodied mercenary and adventurer. Word is, after the investigation they conducted; the whole town's populace was killed all at the same time or that some summoner of some sort failed a summoning and called a beast that killed the entire population in a moment. However, the second hypothesis was put down because of its impossibility, there are no records of beasts or monsters that can do that.]

[So when we heard this news, we came to the conclusion that only one person we all know of, has the ability to pull that off.] When he finished speaking up to there, they all looked to me with stern looks and seriousness that could not be seen from them since we've been together.

"No, I did not do that. Let me tell you, even if it hurts to think about it again." And so I told them how I came to Acadria and how I was pleaded to by the guards and how I saw the families of the elite troops sprawled on the ground dead and how I buried them and destroyed the palace.

In the middle of telling the story my anger surged and Overpower accidentally went off with my anger as agent and it resulted in all of the people in camp and even the surrounding beasts and monsters fell to the ground and started suffocating from the pressure. A good thing I noticed it before anyone died. I apologized to them at a later time.

With pale faces the four people I call my subordinates looked towards me with fear but also a lot of sadness.

"Hey, hey, it just accidentally went off, my skill. I can't help it, come on... that's not something to be depressed about is it? I'm sorry okay?" I apologized to them, but their faces remained the same… Suddenly, there's a gripping feeling in my chest that is threatening to burst, however, I don't know what it is. I turned to each of them and they simply stared back at me not saying anything.

Finally, Caltec said something straight to me. [Sire, forgive me for being blunt and unpleasant, but… You were the one who killed those people, millions of people, innocents and guilty alike, dead in an instant. Unable to even bury their dead, as no one in their family is alive as well. The children, who had futures, have died.]

Caltec said so, and all I could hear were "You… killed…" and I repeated that. In denial I had to chuckle and say, "No, it can't be me. All I did was grieve for…" I slowly remembered what I did at that moment that I found the cold corpses of the elite troop's families, "…them, and… I became… very angry…"

"!!!"

-Caltec-

"No, it can't be. No, no, no, no, no! It can't be me! It has to be some monsters or the demon kind or even the dragons! That must be it! They killed those millions of people because of the war, isn't that right?!" The lord was mumbling to himself while clutching his head and with a face full of denial. This was it. This was the truth. He did not wish for those people to die and he has realized now how those people died as well. It was his skill, that same skill that almost killed us just now by accidentally activating. Imagine that going off while he was grieving and with the strongest emotion a human being can feel, anger. It spells for a very strong reaction from his skill I bet.

"No, no, no, no, no! I, I, I, I am not the killer, I, I, I, I, I did not, kill them, right?!" Lord turned to me and grabbed the collar of my s.h.i.+rt. [Please lord, overcome this guilt and come back to us, if not, we will probably die by your hands as well.] I spoke to him gently to avoid agitating his mind further but as if that was the last straw, Lord Clay, screamed a voiceless scream while looking up at the sky, kneeling and with tears flooding his eyes, lips as dry as dried fruit and eyes as red as blood, finally, he fainted with the last jolt of his body from that voiceless scream as if losing all the air he had in his lungs.

*thud*

The sound of his body hitting the ground made the four of us subordinates to lord Clay, look down and as strong willed as I am, tears seemed to flow out from eyes just looking at how pitiful our lord is. He never intended for that to happen, of that all of us are sure. He even told us that after this trip we would have grown again with the families of the elite troops joining us before he departed. When he saw their dead bodies his heart must have broken to pieces because he won his gamble but lost his goal. That must have been devastating enough. Now, he realized that it was also because of him that millions of people died because he accidentally activated his skill that made us his subordinates in the first place, that skill, as if the most horrible monster was looking at you and waiting for you to throw yourself towards it and feed it.

All of us believed in him. We knew that he wasn't anyone who would commit genocide only because he threatened people about doing it. However, the truth was laid bare to us and we could not believe it at first, now that we know what really happened, what we feel is only grief for our lord's current heartache.

We know that he may seem cold and detached when dealing with things that matter, but we've spent months with him and he showed us how caring he is and how great it was a decision for us to side with him.

[Please, rest well sire, and come back to us whole. We don't blame you for this; only the Acadria royal family is to blame. We swear, by your name, we will hunt down those dogs in human skin to the very last of their lineage.] Mor said, with gritted teeth, it wasn't me who swore it but I felt that it was the truth that we all have come to a conclusion with together. The four of us swore to hunt those dogs that our lord had described the royal Acadria family as.

-THIRD PERSON-

The turmoil that the imperial family had handled, news about it came back to the camp only after a month had gone by when a merchant that their camp contracted with to sell the lesser potions that their camp produced came. He told everyone of the goings on in the imperial capital and the fate of the Acadria royal lineage. To that news, the four who were leading the camp at the moment smiled wryly as this month was the time they actually planned to enact their plan to hunt down those who were just said to have been eradicated.

[So it seems that Sire actually managed to kill them all after all. It does make sense as Sire came home in a calm mood as if he has accomplished his goal. And then we bombarded him with news that he killed millions… which was a b.u.mmer.] Mor pouted as he said so.

[Well, we don't have anything else to do anyway, so let's train and be strong enough that even Sire would not have to move about for matters about our protection anymore. Once we do that, surely, he'd wake up, right?] Jon optimistically said as he started to run up the usual mountain that the four of them have trained in. In just six months they have upgraded their strengths to be able to carry the burden of having 3 rings of gravity, as Clay named it. That's fifteen times the gravity of this world and they were able to move normally and even exercise which meant that they were already close to wearing the fourth ring. Isaac, who was a late comer, also tried his hardest to catch up even though he was only in charge of administration, because he did not want to be a burden later when all of them grow strong enough to manage on their own. So in his training for the first weeks, he pushed himself to the very limit and abused the potions that the alchemy girls worked hard to mix. Every time he ran for about an hour he would become a vegetable and would have to drink potions of high quality, which gave him the strength to go on and heal at the same time. So by the time they noticed, Isaac was able to match their pace in training and also competed with them to grow faster.

[Humph! Sire will only wake up once we four can beat all those monsters at the top of the mountains here in Moribor, with that, we will be recognized and awarded. I wonder what I'll get, maybe a secret technique.] Mor was drooling from thinking of a reward.

[Dream on kid, the only reward you'll get is the slowpoke award!] Caltec said to Mor as he pa.s.sed the kid. These days, he had started hunting close at the peak of Moribor which is also nest of the most dangerous flying beasts and monsters.

[We should be able to train on our own now, so let's bet on whom kills the largest prey we can catch and that will be Sire's congratulations party's meals.] Caltec proposed. The rest pondered it while running and came to a conclusion, [[[We accept!]]] And so the hunt for the largest pray began.

Meanwhile, Clay was on his bed breathing evenly as if asleep. However, the truth was that he had already been in a coma since a month ago that he came home.