Chapter 102: Monsters that Yearn for People

They were there when I noticed.

In the dark darkness, a space where no one was present. I was the only one in the world.

There was no one else. Just alone.

At that time, they appeared before me.

—

「It seems you were able to restore your memory. 」

「…Yes. 」

It was a conversation exchanged between the Beast Hero Lily, who was caught by the Empire, and the Emperor Hero Rostam. The continuation of the truth.

「Even so, it was surprising that you were one of the Seven Great Heroes, Sun Wolf Squall. 」

「What? 」

Lily raised her face to Rostam in astonishment.

Certainly, Rostam noticed Lily’s identity.

But the Emperor Hero, just like the others, should not know it.

「Can’t you see? You should understand why I noticed your identity. 」

Rostam, who had been observing her for a while, noticed what was there.

「I see…what you’re taking about…Behemoth. 」

「That’s right. You can see that I’ve placed myself this strange position. 」

Lily smiled at the Emperor Hero.

Certainly, SS-ranked monsters had humanization ability, but few actually used it.

In the first place, if we thought about the role of the SS-ranked, it would be impossible to believe that such a monster would enter the human circle as a hero.

「Well, our backgrounds are different, but we have similar reasons. 」

Lily understood that Behemoth’s laughing expression was no longer of a joke.

「Squall, no, Lily. I want you to lend me your power. In order to grow the world. 」

He told Lily about his plan, the original plan of the Emperor.

There was opposition, including the Cultivation Hero.

「…I understand the story, but I don’t want to be part of it. But, if you do that, you’ll be killed at the end, did you know that?」

Yes, what the Emperor was trying to do was a kind of an outrageous action.

Invasion of other countries, and even aversion for Kyou.

And as compensation for his deeds, he would eventually be killed.

But still, the Emperor just laughed.

「I don’t care. Rather, it is our role in the first place. Then, I’m satisfied with it. 」

Yes, the original role of SS-rank monster.

He stood as a human’s obstacle, like the Demon King, and promoted its growth.

In a sense, Behemoth’s act was the most suitable for SS-ranked monsters.

And that’s why Lily understood why he called out to herself, who was also a monster of the same level.

「…But now you are the Emperor Rostam. Is it really okay to abandon that status? 」

Lily asked the Emperor, who still had a gentle smile.

「I’m not interested in the position of Emperor, but it’s a shame to throw it away. 」

After a short time, Behemoth, who became the Emperor, answered.

「The Emperor is my older brother. 」

「Eh? 」

「You can understand, “Lily”. We have no concept of family as monsters, or SS-ranks. We didn’t need any concepts that people had, but I believe you have seen many people during your new path.」

Lily recalled Behemoth’s question.

The first thing she saw was the concept of “friend”.

A human figure fighting for a friend standing next door.

Laughing, crying, and snuggling with friends.

The concept of “friendship” was what she came to know from the human girl who approached her when she was just the Sun Wolf Squall.

「In my case, it was “older brother”. My brother. We encouraged each other and sometimes quarreled, but we were able to convey the feelings of thoughts about each other.」

Yes, they were monsters.

Beasts created to play a specific role.

That’s why monsters yearned for people.

Yearned for brothers, friends, lovers, family, and all of these concepts seemed very enviable and beautiful.

「So I thought, if I could get into that circle someday, it would be very wonderful. 」

Lily agreed without knowing Behemoth’s words.

No, it was probably an emotion that agreed to all SS-ranks.

They were equally encouraging people’s growth.

For that reason, they saw the growth of many people, and were convinced that the emotions that arrived at their hearts were yearning.

Even the current Demon King Fafnir, who was against the concept of family, had her feelings changed dramatically.

It spread not only on people, but also throughout the whole monster community, the concept of family.

Other SS-ranks also had differences in emotions and concepts, but what they had in common was the yearning for people.

「So I was very happy to be in the same position as that person and got the same concept as that person, but I was the one who killed that person named Rostam.」

It was a tragedy for Behemoth to play Rostam’s role after what happened.

At that time, Behemoth met two brothers with unprecedented brilliance.

And he was convinced while fighting.

They were willing to give up their own lives for each other’s sake.

Moreover, they were trying to fulfill the contribution to the world by fighting Behemoth.

Behemoth fought with all his might to protect the oath.

As a result, the growth of the two brothers had influenced the contribution to the world.

However, in the last process, Behemoth put an end to the great hero called Rostam.

He fought with all his might, but it was still regrettable.

If the young man revived in exchange for his life, then be it.

Yes, when Behemoth thought so, an unexpected incident occurred in Behemoth’s body.

That was the rewriting of memories and emotions by Zahak.

Behemoth dared to accept it.

By doing so, Behemoth became Rostum and decided to live together as the younger brother of Zahak.

One wanted to be a person.

An enviable feeling of getting the concept of a brother and wanting to live in it.

And the other was full of guilt.

Behemoth wanted to make up for the death of the real brother and warm Zahak’s heart for losing his beloved brother.

However, the Rostam’s death was still a fact that was unchanged.

In order to compensate for that sin, Behemoth wanted to contribute to the world by giving his life.

And that opportunity was now.

An opportunity called Cultivation Hero, whom the Goddess chose as the pivotal person for this world’s growth.

It was time for him to pay for his sin.

When Lily heard that, she realized that Behemoth’s situation was the same as hers.

That’s why she called out to him.

「Despite being similar, our situations are different. There’s no need to cooperate with me, but don’t get in my way…」

「…No, I’ll do it. I’ll help you too. 」

Lily decided to say.

The sin that once killed a friend called Lily.

There was no other opportunity to compensate for this.

As a result, even if Behemoth was killed by Kyou’s hands, it could play the role of an SS-rank and be compensated.

There was no other opportunity.

Then, the two joined forces, and the beginning of the plan was moved to execution.

—

「…So, brother. I have no hatred for you. What I feel towards you is gratitude. In fact, I was able to experience the concept of being brothers. That alone made me very happy. 」

As he said this, Rostam’s expression was gentler and full of compassion than ever before.

Seeing Rostam’s expression like that, Zahak seemed to remember the image of his own younger brother, and simply shed tears.

「…Ah, isn’t that alright? There’s no need for you to die, Behemoth. 」

It was my mother, Fafnir, who spoke to settle this exchange.

Then, I looked up at my mother and noticed that she called out to someone who was watching this scene.

「As you can see, he has fulfilled his role. Why don’t you come out now, Semargul? * And Goddess Mokoshi. 」

As if nodding at my mother’s voice, those two people appeared right in front of us.

It was the Goddess Mo-chan that I had seen before, and her attendant, the SS-rank monster Semargul.

「Hi, hi, Kyou-kun. It’s been a while. 」

Yeah, even in this situation, this person is still lenient.

As I was thinking about this, my mother was approaching the Goddess for some reason.

「That’s enough. You’re the one who announced this plan to Behemoth in the first place, right? Even though it’s for the sake of growing the world, could you please stop bullying my son and my daughter too much?」

「Oh my, I don’t know what you’re talking about. 」

The Goddess said those words while her eyes were moving incessantly.

Well, I had a feeling she was involved somehow.

「More importantly, congratulations on growing the World Tree’s seed, Kyou-kun! 」

The Goddess made the crackers sound and threw out confetti.

This person seemed extremely free.

「Well, this time, thanks to you guys, I made a new discovery, so first of all, I would like to thank you for that. 」

Saying that, Mo-chan thanked me again.

Was this a discovery?

Did I do something?

「Yes, yes, you did. You did a lot. 」

What? Did she read my mind?

Well, she was a Goddess, so maybe something like that was possible.

Personally, I found it easier to have a conversation that way.

So what did I do?

「First of all, your cultivation of monsters. It has been proven that this is directly connected to the growth of this world.」

Hmm, what did she mean by that?

「In other words, the world has grown slightly due to the birth of the Seven Great Heroes. However, with this incident, the three seeds of the World Tree that you possess have bloomed. No matter how much your own power is, if you put your mind on something, your growth will be abnormal. However, it wasn’t just your growth that increased. 」

Mo-chan said that and pointed at an unexpected person.

It was the fallen Jack and others that Lily had carried to the third floor earlier.

「It wasn’t just people. You influenced the growth of this world to larger scale. 」

Hmm? What did that mean?

「…The growth of monsters also had an impact on the growth of this world. It’s all thanks to you.」

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*Semargul appeared in chapters 26 and 27 of volume 1 where he is introduced by the Goddess.