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

Epilogue: "And Shop received a quest, too."

At the very beginning, there was Shop.

Therefore, we all exclaimed, "For Shop's will."

From his breast, Shop created us, hence, we were Shops.

Thus, to this day, there are Shops.

.

.

.

We were Shops. And Shops were waiting. In a cave, we, Shops, need to wait. To be patient, then the orders from above would come to us. So we wait, count the days, and feel the suns away, as well as the suns ahead.

In this cavern, the fragment of Skill shall come to us, eventually. Because Shops took care of it—we waited for our quest to be received, became waiters under Shop's orders, identified the Mortde Reinred individual, wielder of the legendary "Mana Perception" ability, and obeyed Shop's order when he spoke: "Quest 'Skill Arises!' —" And then spoke again: "Power the beverage with Power Seeds. 0/999." And also when he finally spoke: "Utter: 'This attempt shall be the one.' 0/1. Utter: 'For Shop's will.' 0/1 — Serve the beverage to a certain table after it is ready. 0/1"

"Orders. Orders. Orders," we spoke, not nearly driven to insanity, clearly still patient and resolute to receive Shop's orders. The quest.

For us, Shops, it had been decades since there were any orders. Stationed at the entrance of the First Dungeon that the fragment of Skill will have to clear, it truly has been decades.

"Orders, orders, orders," we continued chanting, alone in the dark, feeling not the slightest touch of loneliness, here, away from Lord Shop, still awaiting his orders after decades of patience. "To wait for orders, to wait for orders, to wait for orders… We just have to be patient… For Shop's will."

That is exactly correct, for Shop's will shall always prevail. That is why we wait. Love is not necessary for the devout servant. Power and dominance alone suffice. Therefore, we wait.

"In this… In this cave… We wait in this cave. From this cave. For the master's orders. We wait… for this cave. The First Dungeon. We count the days… from this cave. And the suns… with this cave. We… are with ourselves. We are not alone. In this cave, we cannot be alone. Shops are with us. …We are Shops."

Suddenly, Shop spoke. "Dro— Dro— Dro— Dro— Dro— Dro— Drop of… of… of… of… Drop, drop, drop!" we shouted… or was it us who shouted? "Shu— Shu— Shu— SHUT UP!" Shops shouted once more, clearly driven past insanity.

In this cave, waiting for the master's—Shop's orders, there were two of us. Two Shops. Thus, we were with Shops. …But "us" was annoying. We are annoying. "Us" angered us. We angered ourselves.

"Shu— Shut up! No— No cave! No— No Shops! I— I want to buy myself an ice cream! I— I want it with cream, a ton of cream, and salted butter caramel…! Shu— Shu— Dro— Shut up!"

Even annoyed to the point of insanity, we still waited so that it may be known to the master that we are a good Shop. "Patiently, patiently, patiently," we spoke, passively rebuking the insane Shop, solving Shop's problem. "For Shop's will."

But there was still a problem for we couldn't do anything about ourselves. Aside from hearing that hideously melodic tone of wild stammerings, driven by sore and putrid madness swelling within ourselves, naught is what we could do. The cave was dark, and while we patiently stood by the entrance of the bottom of the ancient crypt that was established to be the gateway to the First Dungeon, the other Shop, driven mad with insanity, stood no farther than thirty feet from us, in the dark too—then it occurred to us we were wounded.

"Shu— Shu— Shut up!" we shouted to our loudest, banging our head against the rocky walls of the cavern. "They— They— They— They… have stoooooped!"

"Again," we swiftly responded.

"Again! We want ice cream! Sal— Sal— Salted butter caramel ice cream!" we responded again.

Though outside the cave there was still a world like we remembered, it had been so long we were inside the cave that, our colleague, the insane Shop, must have forgotten what rain was. "Sometimes, it rains," we offered an explanation, calmly. "Sometimes, it does not rain." Stopping at that, we hoped Shop would be satisfied with Shop's explanation. From the ground level, rain sank deep into the earth and finally reached our cave. In the end, we were not satisfied with the explanation.

"...Don't matter to me! Ice cream! Can I buy myself an— Can I buy myself an ice cream?! Please! I want ice cream— Don't matter to me!" Still banging our heads against the rocky wall, we cried hysterically, wishing for creamy salted butter caramel ice cream.

"We are hurt," we said.

"I— I– I know!"

"...For Shop's will." And we educated the insane Shop again: "Lord Shop isn't so weak that he should want his servant to pass away from banging our head against the rocky wall of the crypt wishing for a quick escape from our master's orders."

Shop was strong. Stronger than every being in the world. If Shop so wished, he could take over the world in the span of a year. Even Skill, who is said to be the agent of Mana against the ancient tribe, and most probably the whole world, will never be as strong as our master, Shop, the Mighty, the Strict.

For Shop's will. Shop will not die. Even if we bang our head in such an insane-driven way. Incidentally, as it had been decades since we waited, the rocky wall we whacked our forehead onto, to the point of bleeding, was bashed in. Also, we became less annoying when insanely banging our head against the rocky wall, even though it hurt us.

Thus, it was decided that, being a good Shop, we should let ourselves bang our head so as we always did. For that is what we had to do: To wait for orders. To wait for the quest. And then, we will kill them all. Kill the old man who also wore his brother's face, and when Skill will think to come to them, he will find they are away, and we will take back the fragment of Skill.

But this quest was for later on. For now, we only had to wait. In the cave. For decades. Where the drops of water from the gathered moisture of the upper ground fall and run all their way down to here, somehow passing through every rock, stone, and chunk of the earth, then showing through the cave's rocky uneven rook. Where these very drops of water dive down headfirst and shatter themselves against the rocks of the poorly cut floor. Where, when the drops of water stop, we cannot help but do it ourselves and go banging our head as if it were a drop of water against the rocky walls, insanely crying, desperate for ice cream—

"Whe— Whe— Whe— Where are they ice creams at!" Shouting and screaming, before we are allowed to summon the Shop Interface of the System, let our hand dive within the blue floating window of the Shop, buying the item "Creamy Ice: Salted Butter Caramel x1" for 5 golds, and tossed it to the insane Shop before he grabbed it and indulged in the cream's succulent taste.

That is what Shop does: buy from the Shop Interface.

For days and days, thousands and thousands of days, our daily life happened to be like this. We had to wait. Many more days passed as we waited and banged our head.

Someday, suddenly, both Shops stiffened at once. We were done waiting.

We sensed Skill's presence. As Shop had predicted, he came to complete the First Dungeon.

An ice cream fell from the insane Shop's hand, and an evil grin adorned that Shop's complexion, and at last, loudly guffawing, he pressed and wrapped his arms around his stomach, and fell to the ground where he was flailing around with rapturous joy and gruesome madness. "He— He— He— He's around!"

"We know," we replied, matter-of-factly. "For Shop's will."

"Hehehehe… He's around! Kekekeke… He's… arooound!"

The fragment of Skill was around. And after thirty or so years, we received a new notification.

…Ring!

❮ "Help Skill Out!" Quest — "Your archenemy, the fragment of Skill, has come to clear the First Dungeon… but he has a problem! A fight broke out between the fragment of Skill and the Chieftain of the Goblin Tribe of the Neighboring Forest. The fragment of Skill won, but he suffered great damage in the process. Your archenemy has lost his left arm as well as both legs… won't he need your strength?"

❮ Quest — Let the Player meet with Player: Skill, buy the item "High-Level Monster-type: Rare Mystic Earth Dragon Lizard x1" from the Shop Interface, and offer it to your archenemy.

❮ 0/1 ❯

"...For Shop's will."