Chapter 43

  Hidden Monsters (II)

  Light, or whatever her name is, wasn't much of a talker.

  She wasn't much of anything, really; for the remainder of the day, she stayed in the corner, whipping books out one after another (she got that fancy spatial ring, the brat!), and just reading them in silence.

  Dai Xiu tried to strike up a conversation only to be met with, well, silence. The three-foot-long devil didn't even 'ignore' her; it was more that she seemed to exist in a different reality, one divorced from our own.

  "... Master," Long Tao walked up to me moments after noting the newcomer.

  "Don't."

  "You pick up the strangest things," he said.

  "Goddammit, I didn't even pick up this one!" I vented. "She was forced onto me!"

  "Just so you know--"

  "--nope. I don't want to know anything," I quickly interrupted; I knew, but I didn't want it known that I know, you know? Aah. "Go, go cultivate or something."

  "..." The old monster eyed me with bemusement for a moment before shrugging and walking away.

  ... I didn't ask for this, okay?

  First off, dear, beloved Sect Master--there is no way in all the living hells that you don't know who this girl is. And not only did you take her in, but you now stiffed me with her?

  Screw you, okay! I will never say it out loud because I'm extremely terrified of you, but screw you big time.

  Demonic Cultivators, as you can imagine, are abhorred in this world. They are considered worse than demonic beasts, even. It's a long-held belief, persisting across countless generations, and a war that continues to this day.

  As you can imagine, since their de facto 'princess' is here with me, the Demonic side is very much on the losing end of things. They are struggling mightily, at least in this corner of the world.

  This now tells me a few things: that strange anxiety I felt toward the Sect Master? Yeah, that wasn't just your normal anxiety; that was probably that stupid talent or trait of mine reacting to the Demonic Qi or energy or whatever in him.

  So, yeah, our vaunted, hallowed, well-respected Spirit Sage is actually a Demonic Cultivator, and he has with him a potential harbinger of doom, and now I'm in charge of raising that harbinger... How does any of this make any sense?!

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Encountering Long Tao just as I came here? Okay, fine, maybe it was just your average roll of a dice--coincidences like that happen. Dai Xiu? Fine, you could say that it was probably the system in some capacity helping me, or maybe it was fate, or, yet again, it was just dumb luck.

  But the second old monster and now the demon princess?

  Nuh-uh.

  This ain't no luck. This is the world slowly cranking its difficulty up from 'Novice' to 'You better lube up, asshat', and, and--haah.

  Forget it, forget it.

  As far as Lu Qi would know, she's just some random cute (if remarkably cold) girl with even less respect toward Elders than Long Tao.

  She was probably sent over to me just to spy on me, anyway, and report to the Spirit Sage if she notices anything strange. So, if I behave super weirdly around her and let them know that I know, then they'd know that I know, and the whole lens of knowing would fall apart, you know?

  So, I'll just do what I need to do best now: pretend to be a dumb oaf unaware of anything. Yes, there are now three supreme monsters living here with me and another potential monster, and yes, I am the sun around which they orbit, but--pshaw, these are my buses. Just be dumb, give them arts on occasion, and comply with every damned demand that they will ever have.

  Haah.

  I've been sighing a lot, I noticed, the last couple of days. It's not good for my heart, I gotta say, and it's not like this body's health was all up there to begin with.

  A distraction!

  That's right, I need a distraction!

  We have a newcomer with nowhere to sleep, no? So, let's go back and start building stuff!

  The 'mute' followed me as I went and started taking measurements for the next addition to the humble setup of wooden shacks that I had in front of me.

  "I don't know why Sect Master sent that kid here." Look, I gotta vent, and it's not like this world has therapists. And, for all intents and purposes, this monster is mute. Of course, I won't say anything too stupid, but I just need to get some things off my chest. Otherwise, I might legit explode. "Does he think that just because I lucked into two amazing kids that mostly just cultivate on their own that I am now somehow amazing at making everyone super strong?

  "Did you see her? That attitude! And, if you ask me, I don't see any talent there, nothing! I bet, come in close, yes, closer--I bet, and you can't tell anyone this--I bet she's the Sect Master's, you know, illegitimate daughter. Everyone pans me for going places, but at least I have the brains not to father kids, no? Haah, if you're going to father children, at least be a father to them! Don't offload them on me!"

  "... your Sect Master isn't my father." You know that expression? The heart getting stuck in your throat? Yeah, I just lived it out. Not even an expression, not an idiom, not a metaphor--my heart literally heaved out of its chamber and up my larynx and stopped just shy of the back of my tongue. I could practically chew on it a bit if I tried.

  "Y-you, I thought... you were reading," sweat started pouring out as I turned around and faced the little stealthy cat. Thankfully, she appeared completely unbothered by my comments; then again, her apathy was at 'Epic' level, according to the system, while Long Tao's was 'only' at 'Common'. Can only imagine how little she feels things.

  "I was. Then I got curious about what you were doing out here and came to see."

  "Ah. Actually, we are taking measurements for your house."

  "Really?"

  "Yes," good, good, it looks like she won't get hung up on that--

  "It sounded to me like you were badmouthing the Sect Master."

  "..." At some point, Hua snuck away--tsk, that old monster also seemed to know this little girl wasn't just a girl, so he bolted, leaving me to dry. Oh, my stupid tongue and me; I just wanted to vent a bit and showcase that I'm quite stupid--no, wait, doesn't this mean she'll probably tell my gaffe to the Spirit Sage, which will confirm that I'm no more than a lucky oaf?

  Hurray for my dumb tongue! Twice, even: hurray!