Becoming a Monster

Chapter 473: Chapter 472: Interrogation or Investigation?

After the clash of opposing energies, neither side spoke.

Noah still waited for their answer. His creatures, however, were already prepared for war. The intensity in their gazes had not lessened in the slightest, and the quiet menace surrounding them made it clear that they would not hesitate if a battle began.

The adventurers, on the other hand, needed a moment to gather themselves. Their minds raced as they silently gauged what they should do next.

None of them had expected the situation to escalate this far.

The balance between the two sides was fragile.

One careless movement would be enough to shatter it.

Roy slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as he steadied his breathing. The flames along his sword flickered unevenly while he struggled to regain his composure.

The pressure that had crushed against his senses moments earlier had disappeared, yet the memory of it lingered.

It had not been an illusion.

That monster had singled him out.

For the first time since the confrontation began, Roy truly understood the difference between them.

A quiet, stern voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Roy."

The older man had not taken his eyes off Noah when he spoke. He could see that Noah’s creatures’ gaze was mostly centered on Roy.

Roy hesitated before slowly lowering his sword a few inches. The flames did not disappear, yet the movement alone was enough for the others to understand that he was restraining himself.

—

For several seconds, no one answered.

The priest and the cleric exchanged a brief glance. Both of them could feel the darkness within Noah’s aura more clearly now. It was far more insidious than they had initially believed. Every instinct shaped by their faith warned them that the being standing before them should not exist.

A creature whose nature was so deeply aligned with darkness was something their teachings demanded they destroy.

Yet neither of them moved.

They were not certain they possessed either the authority or the power to make that decision here.

Before the older man could speak, the elf, who was more open-minded to creatures and monsters alike, spoke up.

"We didn’t come to fight. We came to investigate the changes in the forest."

A soft green glow still surrounded her body as the mana of nature gathered around her to protect her from Noah’s aura. Though it flickered when Noah’s gaze shifted toward her.

"This forest is one of the only two locations that separates our nation from the demons. Our mission is to determine what is responsible for those changes."

Her eyes briefly moved across the creatures gathered behind Noah before returning to him.

"And now we have found you."

Several of the adventurers waited tensely for Noah’s reaction, unsure whether her honesty would calm the situation or make it worse.

Across from them, Noah simply looked at her.

What she had revealed was not far from what he had already suspected.

At first, Noah had believed that Paul’s group had reported his existence after their encounter with Fenrir. However, if that had truly been the case, the humans standing before him would not have been limited to this number. A far larger force would have been sent.

The fact that only a handful of adventurers with this strength had appeared allowed him to believe that Paul’s group was not as ungrateful after all.

Before Noah could gather his thoughts, the elf spoke again. This time her tone was less wary and more curious than before.

"We also spoke with a group of survivors who recently escaped from this forest," she said while watching Noah carefully. "They claimed that a monster saved one of them. That monster they described fits your description."

Her expression tightened slightly as she continued.

"At first, no one believed her, but if what she said is true... were you the one who saved her?"

Noah was not surprised by that question either.

If it had not been Paul’s group, then there had only been one other group that knew of his existence.

However, the fact that he had been described as someone who saved them immediately brought a specific image to his mind.

The woman who could call upon Anubis.

The memory of her stood out clearly among the others. Unlike the rest of her companions, she had not looked at him with the same fear that the others had shown.

Her followers, on the other hand, had been terrified of him.

And for good reason.

Across from him, the adventurers waited for his response.

Finally, Noah looked back toward the elf.

"It was me," he replied in a tone that suggested the matter held little importance to him. "Although ’saved’ is not how I would describe it. It was more of an... equivalent exchange. They simply possessed something that was as valuable as their lives."

Roy immediately reacted.

"What was it?" he demanded.

Noah’s eyes narrowed slightly as his attention shifted toward him.

"I do not answer to weaklings," he said coldly.

Roy’s grip on his sword tightened again, but before his temper could flare any further, the elf spoke up in his place.

"If you do not mind answering," she said carefully, choosing her words with far more restraint than Roy had shown, "what exactly did they give you in exchange?"

Noah regarded her quietly for a moment before his expression settled into indifference once more.

"That is for me to know," he replied. "If you want the answer badly enough, you can go back and ask them yourselves."

Noah’s answer clearly did not sit well with them.

However, the elf could not argue against it. Noah had not been obligated to answer any of their questions in the first place, and pressing the matter further would only risk escalating the tension again.

When it became clear that the elf had no intention of continuing that line of questioning, the older man coughed lightly and guided the conversation back to its original purpose.

"We appreciate your honesty," he paused as he took the time to choose his next words carefully. "However, our mission here was not simply to confirm rumors."

His gaze moved briefly across the creatures gathered behind Noah and the giant barricade.

"In the span of a single week, this forest has become something entirely different. It has grown more restless and far more dangerous than it has ever been before. The number of attacks against our people has increased significantly, and our adventurers who used to venture here for small missions now risk losing their lives simply by stepping inside."

He paused, hoping to read anything from Noah’s eyes. And in that gaze, he was sure that the monster wasn’t taking him seriously.

"This forest has always been dangerous, but it’s never been this chaotic. The creatures that lived here used to keep to their own territories and avoid fighting unless they had to. Now they’re gathering, moving, and behaving in ways that break that natural order."

His eyes returned to Noah.

"And all of those changes began shortly after your presence appeared here."

The old man did not raise his voice, yet the weight of the implication was clear.

"As adventurers of this nation, we cannot ignore something like that."

He paused briefly before finishing his thought.

"So I will ask you again, though this time more directly. Why have you chosen to come here? What are your intentions for gathering so many monsters?"

Behind him, several of the adventurers grew noticeably more alert. Because every one of them understood the question beneath the question.

Was Noah merely protecting a territory... or preparing for something far more dangerous?

It wouldn’t be far-fetched for them to believe that Noah was gathering an army to invade them. Nor was the second option overlooked. That he could be colluding with the demons.

As Noah considered each of their concerns, he could not help but find the assumptions somewhat absurd.

A faint trace of amusement crossed his mind.

’Even in another world, humans are the same...’

However, his gaze briefly shifted across the group before him, lingering for a moment on the elf and the beastkin standing among them.

’Or perhaps,’ Noah thought, ’it is simply the nature of any sentient species.’

He looked back at them and spoke again. Although the question sounded casual, the sarcasm behind it was impossible to miss.

"Do you own this forest?"

The question was met with tense silence. No one there could confidently claim ownership of the forest, and even suggesting such a thing would have sounded absurd under the circumstances.

As a result, none of the adventurers answered.

"Do monsters exist only so that humans can cut them down?"

Again, no one could answer. Humans and monsters had been killing each other for generations. However, openly claiming that such behavior justified the slaughter of monsters would have been a foolish thing to say in the current situation.

Unfortunately, one of them was not so careful.

"So now we can’t even defend ourselves?" Roy said with a frustrated laugh.

For the first time since the conversation had begun, Noah found himself briefly at a loss for words.

He studied Roy for a moment before finally replying.

"If you walk into someone else’s home and the ones who live there defend it. Who do you think is at fault?"