The Man Who Remained — His Second Life Began with a Humble Bow of Apology. - Chapter 63: On Mindless Monsters.

On Mindless Monsters.

“…Somehow, this feels nostalgic.”

While traveling towards Hourai, Cross found himself surrounded by a horde of small goblin-like creatures and muttered those words.

Having entrusted Roza to Aura and Vaahl, Cross had headed to an unofficial village inhabited by the Rebooters. There, he spoke about Roza’s situation and, at the same time, delivered some relief supplies and consulted them about the future.

Thanks to Roza, the village was now officially recognized, and they no longer had to live in hiding.

That’s what Cross told them, but the villagers remained half in doubt… no, nearly all of them carried a deep skepticism in their eyes, mixed with resignation, as if thinking that such dreams were impossible.

For so many generations, for such a long time, this village had been oppressed. Their despair ran that deep.

Still, if the Demon King had declared he would help them, then no matter what, the outcome would not change. The words of the Demon King were not something so light as to be taken lightly, and if it was Aura, she could be trusted.

She could be strict at times, but to Cross, Aura was a lifesaver, a kind neighbor, and a master worthy of his respect.

Because of that, Cross could say his purpose was mostly fulfilled.

Roza had found a family, and the village had been saved.

For now, everything Cross might have wished for had been realized, thanks to Ellie’s meticulous planning.

As a small bonus, something pleasant had happened for Cross as well.

It turned out that the villagers, surprisingly, had been genuinely worried about Roza.

Was she really okay?

Had she been treated cruelly?

Had she managed to find happiness after leaving the village?

Hearing their worries for their village’s little wise girl made Cross smile.

So, they didn’t hate her after all. On the contrary, they cared deeply for her.

That realization was the greatest reward Cross could have received.

And so, feeling at ease, Cross was able to return to his journey as an adventurer.

With matters in the village settled, Cross and his party resumed their original journey towards Hourai.

To make up for lost time, they used various means of ground transport, at times working as guards for merchant caravans or hiring centaur transport teams as they passed through several towns.

And so, after a week of travel, Cross and Ellie now found themselves surrounded by goblins on a road.

“Gegya gyagyagyagya—”

Unpleasant, scratchy voices like wood scraping together rang out from the small green goblins.

To Cross, this situation felt deeply nostalgic.

“It feels nostalgic…?” Ellie asked, picking up on his impression.

“Yeah. Back when I was human, I used to get attacked like this all the time. Since coming here… yeah, this is the first time.”

Indeed, it was Cross’s first experience being attacked by what were called mindless monsters since becoming one himself.

Mindless monsters.

When he was human, he couldn’t distinguish the difference, but monsters were broadly divided into two types.

Those who could think and communicate, and those like these goblins, who couldn’t even hold a conversation – true to the name, mindless.

When he was human, he had thought it was just individual or racial differences, but that wasn’t the case. Simply put, mindless monsters had no counterpart in the human world, which was why humans could neither understand nor recognize them.

In the first place, even calling them “monsters” didn’t quite fit. They were closer to machines.

More instinct-driven than beasts, and lacking any wariness. Creatures stripped of reason and caution – that was what mindless monsters were.

That’s what Cross had been taught back in kindergarten.

“Well, the number of mindless monsters has been declining lately,” Ellie remarked.

“Is that so? By the way, what should I do about these guys?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… they look like they’re going to attack, so it’s self-defense if I fight back, but… is it okay to kill them…?”

Cross asked with a troubled expression.

Though it was a small community, Cross had lived as part of the monster world for a while now. He had befriended many different races – goblins among them.

Killing goblins, the same race as his friends, felt awkward to him.

“Hmmm. Then allow me to give a quick lecture: ‘How to Deal with Mindless Monsters.’”

“Yaaay, claps claps. Ellie-sensei, please teach me~”

“Yes, you’ve requested it, so here we go.”

Ellie smiled as she spoke.

The goblins continued their scratchy vocalizations, seemingly communicating among themselves, yet for some reason, they showed no signs of actually attacking.

“Indeed, there are some among sentient goblins who dislike seeing mindless goblins killed. However, that is a very small minority. In fact, the opposite is often true.”

“The opposite?”

“Cross-san, if a mindless Necromancer appeared right now and tried to assault me, what would you do?”

“I’d kill it. Every last piece of it.”

Cross replied firmly.

“Exactly. Doesn’t it make you angrier when it’s your own race acting like that?”

“…Yeah, I get that.”

“Right. Precisely because they are of the same species, many despise the crude, thoughtless behavior of mindless monsters. Orcs are a typical example.”

“Ahh…”

Cross understood.

When he was human, his impression of orcs had been terrible. Violent, brutal, kidnapping women for their lust. Such stories were common, so that’s what he believed.

But the orcs he met after becoming a monster were mostly rational and extremely intelligent – speaking formally, carrying books around, and in many ways being difficult for Cross to interact with.

If the negative reputation of orcs was due to mindless orcs, then it was no wonder the sentient ones despised them so deeply.

“Legally speaking, killing mindless monsters without reason is technically a crime, but unless you do something on the scale of slaughtering thousands, you won’t be prosecuted.”

“Thousands…? And even then?”

“It would fall under property damage.”

“I see… Hey, can I ask one thing?”

“Yes, since this is a lecture, please ask freely.”

“Why are these guys just surrounding us without attacking?”

Cross glared sharply at the goblins as he spoke.

They had encircled him, cutting off all escape routes, and looked ready to attack at any moment. He was prepared to respond instantly, but despite their malicious auras and vile grins, they simply stood there.

“Who knows? Maybe they sense the power difference, or maybe they’re stalling for time. I couldn’t say.”

Ellie replied, sounding entirely disinterested.

“…One more time, what should I do?”

“Do as you like. However… appearing on a public road like this means if you leave them, someone else might get hurt.”

“In the past, I wouldn’t have cared… But this is really complicated now.”

Thinking of his goblin friends, Cross sighed softly.

At that moment, he realized he had truly accepted himself as a monster.

“Just compartmentalize it. Humans have good and bad people too, right?”

“…Yeah. Thinking about it that way makes sense. Maybe I was overthinking it.”

“Indeed. And with that, this concludes the lecture. Let’s clean this up quickly and move on.”

Hearing Ellie speak so dismissively, Cross drew his dagger.

Thirty goblins in total.

Within seconds, they were all dead, their bodies moved neatly off the road to avoid obstructing it. Without even a pause, Cross and Ellie continued down the path as if nothing had happened.