Part 2
‹M-MASTER! Help, please help! A thief! There’s a thief in our midst!›
Just as my sparring practice with Volk came to a close, I heard a telepathic message from inside the waterfall cave.
“Treant?! I’ll be right there!” I rushed over to the waterfall cave, still in my human form.
The cave had been ransacked. One of our jars of mandragora spice had been knocked to the ground and shattered, scattering its contents everywhere. Several large, deep claw marks decorated the cave’s walls. Treant—in its tree spirit form—sat in the corner, its head in both wings, trembling.
And in front of Treant was a mysterious man I’d never seen before, clad in filthy rags. His skin looked sunken and gray. A fine web of wrinkles decorated his face, but his narrowed eyes betrayed no emotion. I couldn’t tell how old he was—the wrinkles were arranged in a strange pattern that made it difficult to tell whether they were signs of old age or just from an abundance of bulging face muscles. At first, I thought he looked sixty years old, but up close he could’ve been as young as thirty.
“A human…? Are you a survivor from Lilyxila’s ranks?! The battle is over!” He didn’t really look like a member of the Holy Knights, but maybe he was one of the special ones, like Aluanne and Howgley?
When I called to him, the man gave an eerie laugh that deepened the lines in his face even more. “Geh heh, geh heh heh heh heh heh!” He gnawed off a strip of the dried fenrir meat clenched in his hand, noisily gobbled it down, smacked his lips, and cackled again.
“Yummyyyy! Yummy, yum, yum, yummy!”
Hearing his simplistic shouts, I came to a belated realization: This was no man—it was a monster using Human Transformation!
Suddenly, the odd appearance made perfect sense. The monster’s Human Transformation skill probably wasn’t that high.
“Geeeeegh!!” With a howl, the man thrust his arms toward the cave’s ceiling. His muscles rippled and expanded, and two more massive arms sprouted from his shoulders. He grew from around two, to over three meters tall.
Welp. Guess it released its Human Transformation.
“Gehhh heh heh heh! You all, dieeee! All this, becomes mine! Die die die die die die die die!” The man rushed toward me, swinging those four gigantic arms. I brought my own two arms up to block him, and his four fists pounded against me.
Ouch. This guy’s strong, even for the monsters that live around here. If I engage him here, we might destroy the entire waterfall cave.
I leapt backward toward the cave’s entrance. The man chased after me, leaving the cave with little resistance.
“Geh heh heh! For a human, you’re good! No monster here can survive my attacks!” The man began to stretch and expand even more, his joints cracking. “But can you handle…my true form?”
As he expanded, the man’s gray skin grew darker and began to sprout fur. The muscles in his shoulders wriggled violently as two additional heads grew on either side of the original. By the end of its transformation, it no longer looked remotely human. It towered over me at around eight meters tall and swung two large tails through the air behind it. At the end of each tail, I could see what looked like a mouth and sharp fangs.
Vanara: Rank A. A giant ape with three heads, sometimes called the monkey king. A monkey who has lived for over one thousand years and secluded itself in a strange land to become a mountain hermit. Greedy, cruel, cunning, and above all, possesses four formidable arms.
I see. A rank A monster, huh?
‹Come on! Let’s have some fun!›
I released my Human Transformation.
‹O-oh? You’re a monster too, eh? A…pretty big one, at that…› As I reverted to my original size, the vanara’s movements slowed. It seemed pretty smart for a monster. Maybe it realized how much I outranked it?
‹W-wait! Look! I’ll return the meat I took, okay? Okay?! So…!›
I swung my paw at the vanara and struck it hard. Its body thudded against the ground and bounced back into the air. The ground shook and cracked from the force of the impact. All six of the Vanara’s eyes opened wide, showing their whites.
Right as I was about to follow up with another blow, the vanara found its footing again. I waited for it to counterattack, but instead, it plopped down to the ground, its head resting against the dirt in a bow.
‹P-please, overlook my misdeeds! I beg you…!› it pleaded.
Sheesh. Awfully quick to change your tune, aren’t you?
Just as I was about to make my move, Volk thrust the Grandpa Magiatite sword at the vanara. “You came here with the intent to kill, did you not? Why would we spare a meager pest like you?”
‹I-I know, but please…please spare me!› The vanara banged its head violently against the ground.
‹Hey, let’s just let it go. I’m going to have a guilty conscience if we kill this guy in cold blood. And I’m not really interested in eating monkey.› Not after making those orangurang pals, at least…
‹O-oh! That big dragon body holds a big dragon heart, I see! I’ve never met such a pure and holy dragon before!› The vanara’s three heads began to weep openly. ‹Thank you, kind sir! Thank you!›
…Ugh. This guy’s starting to get on my last nerve. How can a monkey who’s lived for a thousand years be this skeevy?
“Illusia, I do not feel that leaving his thing alive will be a net positive for anyone,” Volk said, frowning.
‹Wait! Th-that’s not true! If you let me go, I’ll give you my treasure!› the vanara offered, clearly desperate.
Treasure…? Well, I doubt it’s anything worthwhile, but…
‹What is it?› I asked.
‹Before I tell you, you need to agree to spare me! You decide first! If you kill me, I won’t tell you where my treasure is! So? What’s your decision? You must be curious, right?!› The vanara looked anxiously from me to Volk, then back at me.
Why did this guy think he could dupe me after trying to rob me, getting caught, and getting brought down with a single smack?
“Come now, Illusia… We should just bring this beast down here.”
‹Why?!› the vanara asked. ‹Don’t you want the monkey king’s prized possession?!›
“Not particularly,” said Volk. “The prospect of receiving your treasure fills me more with a sense of abject disgust than of curiosity.”
‹Wh-what did you say?!›
I let out an exasperated sigh. ‹All right, all right. Hurry up and get me your treasure, then scram.›
‹Oo-oo! I knew it! As the stronger one, I knew you’d see reason!› The vanara cheered and leapt to his feet. I watched in blank amazement as his back disappeared into the trees in seconds.
“I doubt that one will be returning anytime soon…” Volk muttered.
Honestly, I was fine whether it did or not. It’s wasn’t like I was expecting a monkey king’s treasure to be anything special, anyway.
The vanara’s description did say it was cunning. He probably just made up the treasure as an excuse to escape. I doubted he had any intention of coming back.
But despite my misgivings, the vanara returned a few moments later. He was carrying a giant tree nut in its arms. It was enormous, about the size of a human. The nut seemed to be dried, and looked brown and hard.
The vanara set the nut down at the cave’s entrance. ‹This…is my treasure! Monkey Wine Soma!›
‹Huh? It’s…alcohol?› I asked. The vanara nodded vigorously with all three heads. Then he removed the top of the nut. The insides looked hollowed out; he must have cleaned and dried the nut out to use it as a container. There was definitely some sort of liquid inside.
‹To make it, I chose twelve yummy fruits, crushed ’em, and put ’em inside!› The vanara opened and closed his four hands like it was squeezing fruit. ›And then I added the sacred monkey liquid and left it to ferment for one hundred years!›
‹Sacred monkey liquid…?› I asked hesitantly. The vanara pointed at his mouth and spat.
…Gross.
“Let’s…just cut it down, Illusia,” Volk said after a pause. “This is worthless.”
‹Wh-what?! Are you calling my treasured wine worthless?!› The vanara raised his four arms threateningly. ‹I considered just running away, but the big dragon’s big heart convinced me to return with it!›
So, it really was considering running away, huh? But for all his sly and sneaky actions, he seemed righteous to a fault. Hmmm… I guess I’ll check that wine out anyway. Maybe it’s all a lie and he brought us a big vat of poison instead.
Monkey Wine Soma: Value A+. Wine fermented by the monkey king for a hundred years. Deadly if consumed by someone with weak stats and a weaker stomach. Powerful enough to bring even the best drinkers to their knees with a few drops, but the taste is so unforgettable that one cannot help but try and drink it again. It is said that a ruler once gave up their throne in exchange for a sip of this ambrosial liquid. Considered one of the three greatest liquors in the world.
Wh-whoa… This wine’s no joke. But who in their right mind would give up their throne for a bit of fancy wine? That’s a deadly level of alcoholism…
‹Thank you, monkey king. We’ll take it with us.›
When I thanked him, the vanara laughed, bared its three sets of fangs, and nimbly hopped away into the forest.
Man. Must be a busy guy.
Alcohol, huh? I didn’t particularly care for it myself, but Partner used to love it. I thought back to her happily dunking her head into the pot of alcohol the Lithovar tribe had offered us as tribute. If only she could’ve had the chance to try this Monkey Wine Soma…
Allo crept out from inside the cave, seemingly curious about the big nut filled with alcohol the vanara left behind. “Wh-what the heck? I’m getting dizzy just being close to it…”