Chapter 108: Then be free

Well, I could tell that, from my perspective, it was mankind who was weird to comprehend. No matter how many times my old man told me that normal people weren't born savant and independent as I had been, I couldn't imagine how that was possible. Were people really born as tiny worthless fussy crying red little versions of human adults? That would be so humiliating if you asked me. They say babies aren't even capable of real intellectual speech and reflection before they aged at least 15 years. Impressive, right? Fifteen years is like an eternity for me.

As I said as much to the royalty, she politely laughed and said she didn't know whether to treat me like a child or an adult anymore. I didn't really know about that myself, but I was confident she could just refer to me as a normal teenage boy. I told her I wanted to fit in society, so fit in I would.

But what about school anyway? On my wish list, I also told the royalty I wanted to be an adventurer if I could. Also, I didn't want to sleep on the streets, have an empty stomach, eat dried veggies with a team of worthless elves, and be discriminated against.

I didn't know what the Academy was, but she said she was sure I'd be fond of it if what I wanted, for now, was to learn about the world. Also, to most of my other wishes, surprisingly, the gorgeous lady said all of it was a given I would be granted food and shelter, and that my becoming a monster-hunter could be arranged, too. Monster-hunter could also be another term for "adventurer," from what I remembered. "Funny you should like to become a monster-hunter, though! Though I assume you really are different from what the term low-level monster usually implies..."

I ignored the remark she just made, my eyes became all round, my mouth gaped, and my brows were raised. Did she just say I could become an adventurer like it was no big deal at all? Being young and easily excited, I was so happy to hear that, jumped from my seat, and hugged the gorgeous lady, happily chuckling.

Thus, the royalty who was brave enough to venture and recruit her own little irregular soldier, for reasons she didn't fully dive into, and the monster, who, lacking commonsense, didn't need to think twice about it when he heard he would be able to become an adventurer of the Guild, that it could all be arranged, if he so chose to form a contract with the first lady who said she could use his help, ended their parley, both agreeing to work together... or something like that anyway.

To be quite honest, I didn't care about what was said about whatever agreements we reached. It just so happened that, after I created my Character, participating in the Game, I was tasked with the completion of a certain Main Quest of the System, and thus, tomorrow, in the capital of the Roerden Kingdom, I would wake up in my own cozy home with my uncle and the elf girl I liked, and that was the end of the matter.

The old man would certainly tell me that I shouldn't have rushed through it, that this kind of life-changing choice wasn't to be made lightly, but who cared about what the old soul said?

As I said, I didn't care much about what was or wasn't said today. If it so happened that, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, I grew bored of the gorgeous royalty who gave me a job as her little soldier, I would just cut her down on the spot and be free of any agreements we had.

Today's quest had been long enough. So many instructions were given to me. At last, the Main Quest "Orc and Humans" was completed with my teaming up with Princess Elina de Roerden.

And after everything was said and done, the royalty and the bad habit she had of whispering the contents of her (private) thoughts out loud made me laugh again: I overheard that, damn, it was all so fucking crazy, as she said. What negotiations were even that?

She had been thinking she might be a goner for sure more than three times in less than an hour when her entire life had been so peaceful and calm up to this point. So "fucking nuts," she insisted, using language. She dryly also scoffed at herself saying she had her desperate situation to thank for winning me over. Now that she had one crazy little S-tier soldier, though, she could only rejoice. But man, she could also hardly believe she had pulled all of what she did today.

In her hurry, she hadn't planned any of that. Hell, she didn't even post her personal guards to ensure her life wouldn't be in danger so much she was unprepared. What's more, what was it with the overflowing confidence she felt before she tried to recruit that unique monster soldier, whose background she didn't know anything about at all? "Also, what the hell? To think that my little soldier already had a caretaker... Some old man, the boy said. I thought the boy was already all mine! Truly, a shame!" Ideally, she expressed she would have wished to keep me all for herself.

But anyway, today had been crazy on top of crazy, and from the girl's perspective, that particular event of the day felt so random and haphazard that she could barely believe any of it had truly happened. I felt like that feeling should have been shared on both sides, but I, being so youthful and lacking commonsense, didn't think much of all that had happened this afternoon. Meeting with a person of her standing out of nowhere that only very few people got to see, then being tasked with making friends with the person of outstanding background by a certain System, and then ending up having long-life plans decided out of the blue, for quite a few years of my life... or something along those lines.

I said it already, but I wouldn't say it enough times: If I ever grew bored of the engagement we had together, I'd just do as I like and forget about it all. Maybe bring down the royalty, then be free. It was no big deal to me.

Anyway, as she continued to speak thousands and thousands of words about how she couldn't believe she had done "it," I decided not to eavesdrop so long with Mana Perception, and headed off to the old man and his woods.

In a few hours, along with my gang of three, I'd be meeting back with the royalty who could hardly be proud of herself enough for what had transpired, today, and then... we were headed to the Capital.

The battle of Greenfield was obviously the human army's victory, and the Orc Stronghold of Ladafar was closer to its fall.