That Unique Monster Who Just Got the 'Consciousness' Passive Skill

I made up my mind, and maybe I could hear the girl out while I was at it. There was also, as usual, the fact that the System guided me here, to do this particular quest, and so I should probably follow my power's instructions. It never failed to surprise me in a good way, after all.

"Speak," I coldly ordered.

When I withdrew my aura and hostility, she didn't stammer so much. "I truly am sorry. I do not know what to understand of this— of our situation. I did indeed think that the matter was clear between us." Did she say "clear"?

So who was the one who couldn't get a clue—the monster or the royalty? Nothing was clear to me, and I was still in fact more or less lost as to the reason why, for instance, she would need a powerful soldier for. Sure, she spoke a lot on her own so I could get the main idea behind her actions, but wouldn't she at least introduce herself? "B-But what did I miss…? If you could be so kind as to enlighten me…" Your introduction, maybe?

After I said the word "quest" out loud, nothing happened. When I repeated it to make sure the System was stirring me toward that unexpected direction, the human royalty begged my pardon, wondering why I kept repeating "quest" to not particularly anyone. I ignored her and stared into her eyes.

As I did so she quickly averted hers and looked away. It wasn't that she was bashful, really, she was simply scared. The fact that she feared me put me at ease. Ah, but just to make sure we all got things straight, I curtly told the girl I would show her "something."

"B-By all means, do so."

Since she agreed to it herself, I decided not to hold back at all. She sat in her chair and I sat in mine. The board was so long that there was probably a solid fifteen feet between us. Also, the decaying orc head was still present there, showing the back of his head to me and facing the royalty. I didn't bother hiding myself, now. My expression was listless and icy. I was the monster, right now, and it showed through. Gesturing with my chin to the orc head, I nodded at the royalty. If she understood what I meant, she would try and not die like some Warchief ogre guy I met earlier today.

"...Today, huh?" Today truly was a long day. Crossing my arms on my chest, I asked the royalty if she was ready to see the "something," and she faintly whispered yes. When she gave me the green light, I activated the "Intimidation" skill to the fullest. And then, if you asked the royalty to paint me, the monster, at that precise moment when I unleashed my true self, she would only, with trembling hands, draft the darkest and coldest of drawings, the one drawing that could pierce right through her skin and bones all together, rendering her frightened and powerless to an unspeakable point.

As my eyes plunged into hers, and my aura assaulted her, the girl was plunged deep, deep within the most profound of oceans, where she drowned. The dark blue light of my eyes was like this—it either gave life or drowned it.

Thankfully for the royalty, her nightmare lasted less than a second. After I activated the Intimidation active skill to the fullest, I immediately called it off. My goal wasn't to frighten the poor little girl beyond what was necessary, after all.

When she was freed from my shadow, the third princess quickly jumped up, then backed down only to fall into her chair again. She was so breathless as her shoulders heaved up and down so rapidly and she gnawed on her nails. That was what I liked to see: she had sunk into despair.

She kept whispering, under her ragged breathing, that she shouldn't have gone out of her way to do that, that now she was so scared, that the worst in all of this was that she came about recruiting me without any guards or escort protecting her to ensure she didn't die like a fool, that she regretted it, that she never imagined this was what her older brothers, who had recruited irregular soldiers and given their younger sister the idea, would need to go through, and that if possible she would try and run—

"You sit down." My voice brought her back to reality. "Don't try and run on me, now."

"I-I-I-I'm sorry! I shouldn't— I should have never! I— Please—"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! …Relax. I asked you to sit down."

"Y-Yes…!"

"It's all right. You're all right. That, just now, it was a simple warning so we all get things straight. Understand?"

"O-Of course!"

Yeah. Maybe that was overkill. I simply wanted to make it clear who was the most powerful of us two so that she didn't try anything funny, but it obviously was too much. I'd need to apologize later if she needed it. She must have been way weaker than I imagined.

After a moment of breathing deeply and relaxing—I told the girl I had time and so she had better take her time to calm down and explain to me whatever the hell she thought she would tell me, the monster, after she made it clear she knew about me—she finally calmed down. I had to tell her again that she was quite all right, there was nothing she should fear, and explained to her the reason why I had to show her who was the strongest of us.

When that finally sunk in properly, I also put away my icy, expressionless face and replaced it with a normal boy's cheerful face. I was less of a monster, now, and more like the innocent human boy my appearance indicated I was; the royalty seemed to appreciate that. That was great, and after another minute of the princess trying to pull herself together, she restarted the speech she was about to give me moments ago.

"Do please hear me out, then. It really is important." Her voice was still shaky, but I ignored it. "Do please hear me out." And she pleaded, her gaze still downward. She had actually let it be known that she would forget all about me and let me go if I did the same with her a moment before as she was mostly afraid of me now, but I insisted that wasn't an option.

That's probably how she got the resolve to pull off whatever plan she had. I'd probably need to do something about her being overly scared of me and act in the sweetest manner. I could do that.

"Before that, you're the one hearing me out."

"Absolutely." With a lowered chin, she answered me.

"You don't want to kill me? …Ma'am. They all want that. They want to hurt me. I don't like it. …Are you different from the others, ma'am?"

Erratically, the lady jumped up from her chair, slammed a fist onto the board, placed a hand on her chest and spoke with so much passion. "No, no, no!" I was glad to see she wasn't so scared and paralyzed by my presence, now.

Maybe she felt pity for me when I said everyone wanted to hurt me and I didn't like it. The royalty seized me with her gaze so intently and she told me that—"No! Oh, and I'm resentful now! Is it because of 'the others' that you treated me so poorly?!"

Okay, maybe she overdid it, now. "Sit down."

"I wouldn't dream of harming you!"

"Keep your voice down, too."

"No, I wouldn't. Harming you? T-Truly! I now see there has been a huge misunderstanding in our parley, monster!"

"There has."

"Why would I?"

"...You tell me. People have always wanted to kill me ever since I was born."

"Aww. I-I should deny such people."

Now she truly pitied me. What was it with her? So many crazy people in my life. She was scared senseless minutes ago, but now she had forgotten it all. Should I remind her I could be her nightmare at any time? I probably shouldn't, no. I guess she was maybe still a little afraid of me, in any case. As she was a noble lady of the palace, one of the direct descendents of the king, no less, she had a good poker-face and wouldn't let her true emotions show through easily.