The Real Monster 7 Pursued By Cruelty Iii

The town of Agera is peaceful, or wait, it was peaceful. A few hours ago at dawn I woke up and stretched my body. After last night's run-in with the local bully, Ja.n.u.s, I went directly home and slept which resulted in me waking up too early.

So as I stretched my body outside the inn, I heard a roar of a beast. It was probably a few tens of miles from here but it sounded very angry. So I was a bit curious as it was still dawn and monsters are already active. I flew towards where the roar came from and from above I saw a monster as big as a mansion's size. It had a rounded body and looked like a frog but wasn't. It had scales and spikes as well. Overall, it really looked like a porcupine than a frog but the face just makes me want to call it frog. Observing it from above I noticed that it was moving towards a direction. No, it wasn't towards the town, but towards one of the places I have visited yesterday afternoon. In fact, it specifically was marching towards where I encountered and killed the Salamander. It can't be a lover could it? They do both have reptilian blood but that just doesn't make sense to mate.

However, as it got closer and closer to the Salamander's place, it noticed that the Salamander was not home and so rampaged around its territory. I'm sorry Froggy, but your friend won't be coming home after that mistake he did in facing me yesterday, you know, when I crash landed. Anyway, as that was not of concern to me, I left it alone and went back.

When I arrived back, it was still dawn but I guess the people of this world wake up early and also work at dawn, since I saw the shops getting ready to receive customers already. Stalls were being set up and the patrolmen were doing their rounds as a new shift replaced them. Unconsciously, I was dazedly looking around and did not notice that someone was already beside me.

[Good morning to you Sir. How was your night at our INN?] The receptionist-slash-owner asked me.

Her name is Dalia and she owns the most frequented INN in Agera called Moonwink. It was an INN mainly for adventurers and mercenaries but it's open for all travellers as well. As I am neither of the two, she designated me as a traveller instead. The rate for the rooms here is cheap, you only need to pay a gold coin and she will give you 5 silver coins as change for a month of rent in here, plus meals. I don't really know the value of money here so I am not too sure about it being cheap or expensive but let's just call it cheap, either way I don't care.

"Oh good morning Owner, I was just stretching my legs. I slept well actually, as if I have not slept for a long while, thanks to your INN's services." I really did feel that. It feels like it was only yesterday that I was sent here. However, that's not exactly the case now is it?

[Thank you for saying that. We really do our best to bring our customers the best service. We strive to improve as well every day.] She started telling me the story behind their town. It seems that the town was erected by some adventurer called Daryl a few decades ago and became a village that handled the monsters that came close to the border of the human kingdoms, and then it became a town later. So with this information, I knew that this town was actually the edge of human territory. That's good to know since I might have intruded on another races' territory and found myself in trouble. That's why the adventurers here were stronger than most and even the mercenaries were veterans in defending the town. Just to be clear on the two job descriptions; Adventurers mainly deal with monsters and their materials from the corpse and Mercenaries deal with wars or escorting jobs, so as to not get confused with the two. Of course, it was taught to me by the owner.

"So that's how this town got brought up. Thank you for telling me this necessary information owner. With this I'll be able to survive even more possibly. Now, may I ask what's for breakfast and if it could be brought up to my room?" I asked and pleaded. It's always a good thing to be nice to those who are nice to you right?

My father always told me, "As a salary-man I have to be the humblest guy they ever encountered in their lives. That way they will let their guard down and will enable me to take advantage of that to make profit and deals. Remember this lesson in reality son." And well, I really took that as something to live by. Human nature sucks and it sucks to be one of them filthy beasts with a brain, still, doesn't suck enough to end my life on my own though.

[I'll be sure to tell my husband to put something more for your portion. My daughter will be taking it up to your room so don't worry and enjoy your meal. As always, thank you for your patronage.]

I turned to walk away after saying my thanks, but she stopped me from doing it..

[…oh! By the way, you look young and strong, if you don't mind me asking please do me a small favor.]

"Depends on what kind of favor it is, let me hear it first."

{O-Okay, you see we've been having trouble with catching some boars lately from the known hunting spots for them. And well, the adventurer's here are all kind of lug heads who do little work and spend it all on drinks or merry-making so I can't rely on them to really do the job. Don't misunderstand, these people are good at what they do but just too d.a.m.n bloated in the head. So seeing as you're young and I think the strongest of the people here, I figured you'd take on this favor and check to see what's making the boars go in hiding and report it to the guild branch here, that'd really help.]

"Hm, what will I get for doing this, owner?" I think it's fairly easy especially with my abilities. I don't have to move far from the INN as well, plus, I'd like to taste their pork meat dishes. Maybe I'll be able to try those anime mean that's very convenient-looking to eat? Before she could answer, I already told her my price.

"You know, if I get to eat your meat dishes from the boars then I guess that's good enough for me. What do you say?" Maybe my bargain's too much to agree on, but I won't stand down from this.

[E-Eh? Yeah, sure! Sure! That'd be awesome if you really found out the reason why, in return if they catch boar then I'll cook something for you especially. Okay?] Well she agreed to that fast, maybe my bargain was too low? Well, whatever, as long as I get to eat meat.

You see, their dishes here were stew with some vegetables here and there and a piece of jerky or dried meat or the alternative of having hard bread and a piece of jerky. So to have juicy meat dish for a meal is good enough to make me stop craving for it. Well then, let's get to work.

I agreed to her request obviously, so I asked for the spots she was talking about and gave me a map with circles signifying the hunting spots for them and hurriedly hid from sight. That exchange just now felt to me as if I was a game character who've just accepted a quest and when I come back I'd get some EXP and bonus rewards with its completion, so it made me want to try it at least once, just like that Princess Giselle's case, too bad for her really, she was likeable, just not companion material since she was dedicated to her citizens and what-not. Well, enough remembering about her nice curves, I'm already up in the skies and using my great vision, I can see the lay of the land and well that little patch of forest to the east should be one of them then there's the other one slightly north of that little patch of forest and then the last one is… way east of the forest patch. That's the three of them, so I wonder if I can survey it this way. Looking at it with my eyes to see through things is awesome. The forest is laid bare before me and there's no trace of any boar there. North, there's movement but it's of wolves instead of boars. Do boars and wolves leave near each other? Well then the last one would be that gra.s.s-filled plain way east. There's also movements but those are human footprints right there. It leads to the town, so maybe the previous investigators. I can't find anything else like this, I have to survey some more and maybe even have to descend down there.

*Roar*

Then I heard that distant roar of the frog monster I heard from earlier. What's up with that thing? Is it really a problem of my ears being too strong or is it that it really is just loud? Anyway, I won't find anything else but that at the moment so I better go back, I'll continue my 'investigation' later after breakfast.

***

I ate my breakfast consisting bread and egg. Well it was a sight for sore eyes the daughter of Dalia, her name was Daisy as she introduced herself. She is about 17 years old and well she's already a consenting adult, so maybe… nah~

After breakfast, I wanted to continue my investigation and walked out of the INN to go to a more isolated place where I can take off and fly, however it seems that last night's trouble has come back to bite me in b.u.t.t. Ja.n.u.s and his companions are surrounding me in one of the corners of the street.

[What do we have here; the pretty boy is going somewhere?]

[Maybe he's going out of town and never coming back right?]

[Shall we help with that, men?]

I'm really surprised that they still have guts to appear in front of me after yesterday when I used overpower. Although that was very restrained, it should still have been enough to induce fear of me. As expected of veterans huh?

"You're name is Ja.n.u.s, right? What do you have planned by gathering up and surrounding me?" I asked with an annoyed face. Yeah, I'm annoyed with this guy disturbing my peace again for the second time. If this were a novel I'd allow him speaks after I asked but then, that would take too much time.

*Hu* Wind broke as I moved towards Ja.n.u.s and held his neck in my hand.

"Hey man, I don't want any trouble from the start, you're the one who provoked me the first time, now you gather up and surround me early in the morning as if a bunch of kids who think this part of town is theirs. You're all grownups and you still play gang?

*Ack*

"Now, I don't really care if you do your business in town or anything, but don't come near me from now on will yah? I don't like my personal s.p.a.ce to be invaded by people like you. I won't kill you, but do this again or anything that's related to you that inconveniences me, I will kill you. I hope this is clear enough." Well Ja.n.u.s can't answer right now because I'm definitely holding his windpipe a bit tight just enough to keep him like this for a few seconds. So I sweep him away from sight like a curtain and eyed the rest of his companions. If I use over power now when I'm certainly p.i.s.sed, I just might choose to not hold back and make them faint or I their unlucky, die.

[W-We understand. Please spare us.] What are you talking about? As if I'm going to kill you without warning or something.

"This serves as your warning. So get it in that thick heads of yours. And also, tell this b.i.t.c.h when he wakes up, if he doesn't listen to you then, then just beat him up yourself, I don't care, just don't disturb me again while I'm in town do you hear me? Go!"

I tossed Ja.n.u.s who already fainted halfway from my lecture. This guy's a bit weak for a veteran; maybe I'm just very strong? I don't know. My status has grown already with my STR stat having the valuation of Heroic instead of the Rare it once had. That goes for my INT, MGC, and DEX stats. So currently if my guess is correct, there would be Poor, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique, Heroic, Legendary, Mythical, and then maybe after that would be G.o.dly and above. I put Rare and Unique next to each other as Unique appeared together with it. However, Unique is, I think more personal than general that's why It's put as Unique for me.

More importantly, just a few days from my summoning and my strength already grew to Heroic, fit for my t.i.tle isn't it? Well, whatever. I should continue my investigation.

***

I finally found the reason for the boars going away. That d.a.m.n frog scared off the predators close to the Salamander's Lair and are now causing this. How do I know this?

{You d.a.m.n human! Who are you?! To dare face me, Agamemkeru, Lord of the Swamps, I shall teach you a lesson!} Agamem-wha? He introduced himself and where he came from. I don't know if it's custom for monsters to do this, BUT!

What the h.e.l.l! The frog spoke to me as if it was natural and without even moving its mouth! IS this some high level frog or something?!

*Bang* Well, the frog Agamemsomething is slamming his legs to stomp on me. It'd get annoying if he starts using magic. Something with this kind of intelligence is bound to know magic, strong magic enough to kill me in one shot I bet. First ask him about why he's come and how long he's been moving.

"Uh, Agamemkappa, why have you come here to the Salamander's Lair? And is it your first time travelling here?" I asked him after moving towards him and landing on his head.

{How did you get there you pest! And it's Agamemkeru!! Remove yourself from my beautiful scales this instant!} It yelled. It's really loud this one. And it's not answering me. Plan B.

"Overpower MAX" I don't know if adding MAX in the end would help but I released all my intent to kill the frog if it doesn't stop moving around and attacking me. It's humongous body is enough to cover the town of Agera in one jump, so you can imagine just how big this guy is and when he starts moving around and even attacking, the ground ripples as if it's liquid. I think it's cool and all, but I think that's what disturbed the natural order of the ecology here in the first place. So definitely, this frog is the cause for me not getting to eat juicy meat.

When my Overpower activated to the fullest, the frog abruptly stopped moving. So I took the chance to ask again.

"Hey, I will ask again. Why have you come this far just to meet the Salamander?" This time it should start answering me right?

{W-Who are you? To have this much killing intent that only those who've suffered a lot of hardships in life and took countless lives would have.} It lowered its head and spoke again. It did not answer my question again. It's getting annoying now. One last chance frog!

"I'll give you one last chance. Answer me right now and maybe we won't have problems. If you don't I'll sell your carca.s.s to merchants as well just like that Salamander. Thanks to him I can live the way I like for quite a while." Don't misunderstand, that Salamander was an ant compared to this guy. Its sheer size just can't compare. Plus that Salamander died when I crash landed last time, it's embarra.s.sing that I defeated a monster by landing incorrectly, but whatever method, I still defeated it so yeah.

{You killed the Salamander alone?! Impossible, but no, if you're as strong as your killing intent, then maybe you'd be able to defeat him, but not kill him. To kill my lovely pet, I really liked the scales on that one and to think you killed him, unforgivable, UNFORGIVABLE!"

*BOOM*

A huge shock wave expanded from the frog as the center and reached all the way to Agera and even beyond. Dammit, I hope the town's okay. They should be on alert after that and see this big-a.s.s frog from afar now. It stood up again and made a motion with its mouth opening. Oh no. If that is what I think it is, then I better go and escape now. With all my current speed, I turned around to escape in a different direction from the town because if I'm right and that thing he's charging up is a beam of concentrated energy and from the size of its mouth the size of that shot would be close to half his body's size. If I don't move away, the town would be no more. I can't let the innocent people get hurt because of me. However,

{WHERE.DO.YOU.THINK.YOU'RE.GOING.b.a.s.t.a.r.d?!} It yelled and simply jumped ahead of me towards where I was planning on running. Dammit, is my current strength not enough to escape this guy? Don't tell me I bit off more than I can chew? Shoot! I might just die from that Plan C!

*Squish* *Toss*

"Argh!" s.h.i.t! Dammit! Dammit! f.u.c.k! It f.u.c.king hurts!

{For killing my favorite pet, you will die without even ash left behind! I figured you must be the Hero the humans summoned recently, but it's good contribution for the demon kind. I will be promoted after reporting it to them. Kerukerukerukeru take this, !}

What's up with that cool sounding spell name! Dammit! No time to notice these things! Escape!

Using all of my strength, I even started flying already but the frog still redirected the shot towards me as if it was a homing missile with power enough to destroy a city as big as the capital of a kingdom. If I can't survive this then I'm a goner. If my gamble doesn't work, it would truly be my end. Dammit! To think I grew too complacent and underestimated this frog just because I felt I've become stronger. s.h.i.t! If I survive this, I'll definitely keep a low profile! s.h.i.t! f.u.c.k!

"AH~!" The frog's beam hit me squarely. My consciousness is fading already. Dammit!