Chapter 105
This is often misunderstood, but Monster-kun is not a monster supremacist.
After all, he himself is a demon, while his parents and younger brother are human.
Monster-kun has many human friends. He gives presentations at academic conferences and exchanges opinions with other scholars. Even when he looked ready to wet himself, he would go pale at the sight of a line for the public restroom, and he would even go see popular movies.
With the same sensibilities as ordinary people, he simply liked monsters best of all.
That was precisely why people did not disparage him as a "monster bastard," but called him "Monster-kun" with affection.
Monster-kun's younger brother also liked monsters, but he was constantly troubled by having warped his younger brother's life through his own fault.
His younger brother had been forced to live while constantly being compared with Monster-kun. No matter how hard he worked, he was saddled with the label of having "worked hard without losing out in comparisons with his brother," and his efforts were consumed as inspirational entertainment.
How much that praise-that-wasn't-praise—"You two brothers are both amazing!"—must have hurt him!
They compared him with his brother, forced him into painful effort, and then treated him as the subject of a heartwarming story once he overcame his suffering. It was the worst. Most people were unaware of the violence they inflicted and only wanted to see things that felt good to them.
However, that was simply how the world was.
Monster-kun had no power to change the world.
Thinking that he should at least do what was within his reach, Monster-kun spoke with his parents and relatives, examined his own conduct, and made every effort to ensure that home could be a place of peace for his younger brother.
Monsters that lack a safe nest and are subjected to stress die young.
Monster-kun was worried about his younger brother.
But his younger brother was an exceptionally hard worker. Though he suffered, agonized, and sometimes stopped, he steadily moved forward, and after graduating from university, he secured a job at a stable foreign-owned corporation rather than becoming a freelancer like Monster-kun.
His younger brother was strong. Monster-kun was relieved.
His younger brother, who was walking an admirable path while exposed to pressure, was far more admirable than Monster-kun, who lived freely and carelessly.
After his younger brother mediated and smoothed over the mess caused by Monster-kun's two failed attempts at matchmaking, Monster-kun had felt downright pathetic as an older brother. He had thought he was the dependable one, but before he knew it, his younger brother had become the more reliable of the two.
Monster-kun acquired that egg while on a trip to nurse his broken heart after his engagement was called off.
Monster-kun believed it was his own fault that he had been unable to immediately answer the question, "Which is more important, monsters or me?" Even though that had probably been the final push that led to his engagement being called off, what he did on his heartbreak trip was investigate monsters in a remote region. Monster-kun truly did love monsters.
Monster-kun's outstanding powers of observation, honed through his fieldwork-centered activities, led him to discover an egg in the rotting carcass of a whale that had washed ashore. The white, squishy egg had been pecked by seabirds and looked ready to split open and spill its contents.
Enduring the stench of decay, which was detectable even when breathing through his mouth, Monster-kun rescued the egg and gave it emergency treatment using membrane taken from the carcass. Surrounded by seabirds, he somehow managed to escape from the beach.
The egg he brought home was full of mystery. It was about the size of a soccer ball, gave off a foul odor, was squishy, and had a damp, lukewarm surface.
Had it been laid in the whale's carcass? Or was it a whale fetus that had mutated into a monster? Perhaps it was a mutated organism that had been parasitizing the whale?
Much remained unknown about monster mutations. The unfamiliar egg greatly piqued Monster-kun's interest. Was it a new species of monster, or a known monster whose egg had never been discovered?
Monster-kun handled the egg cautiously and with great care, all while remaining on guard.
The first thing he did was place the egg under strict control in the basement.
Some monsters tore through the skin of a nearby large creature immediately after hatching and parasitized it from within. Even if the squishy egg belonged to that kind, Monster-kun took every precaution to ensure that any harm would be limited to himself alone.
On top of that, he prepared the environment so that the egg could hatch safely.
He covered it in rotting flesh to recreate its original surroundings, kept its surface damp with seawater, and occasionally changed its position. He also made sure it received light from the basement window and carefully monitored the temperature and time of day.
The egg hatched after two months, and a vigorous monster was born.
The monster, whose body was a single enormous eyeball, appeared to be an unconfirmed species within the Evil Eye type.
Seven tentacles grew from the eyeball that formed its body, with tiny eyes attached to the tips.
Monster-kun named the monster "Gazer," and a heartwarming bond with the new species began.
Like a bird that regards the first moving thing it sees after hatching as its parent, Gazer-kun seemed to have imprinted on Monster-kun as its parent. Gazer-kun floated gently in the air and became extremely attached to him.
Gazer-kun's favorite food was the eyeballs of other creatures. It happily ate fish, insects, and the eyeballs of rat monsters that Monster-kun bred and raised as feed, all from his hand.
When Monster-kun stayed up late and his eyes became bloodshot, he would put eye drops in Gazer-kun's eyes. Gazer-kun would delightfully entwine him in its tentacles and refuse to let go for a while, sometimes even sharing its food eyeballs with him. To Monster-kun, the creepy flying giant eyeball monster was an affectionate, adorable creature.
Monster-kun kept the existence of this lovable monster secret from everyone and raised it underground.
There were two reasons.
It possessed the characteristics of a Class 1 monster, and it posed a threat of killing someone.
Gazer-kun displayed tremendous magical power from the moment it hatched. There was no magic-power meter, so Monster-kun could not know the exact figure, but he estimated that it exceeded 3,000K.
It possessed enough magic power at birth to approach a Transcendent. In terms of threat level, it was Class 3.
Moreover, its magical power continued to rise day by day. Based on the projected growth curve, Monster-kun believed it would exceed 30,000K before long.
In addition, Gazer-kun could wield multiple types of magic.
Since it was always floating, it was certain to be constantly activating some kind of gravity, repulsion, or levitation magic.
The enormous eyeball that served as both its torso and head could cast petrification magic. Gazer-kun's pupil was a Gremlin, and the powerful petrifying beam it emitted along with its cry easily turned live feeder rats into stone statues.
The eyes at the tips of its seven tentacles each had different abilities. Four effects had been confirmed: a pressure beam, panic induction, X-ray vision, and farsight. The remaining three were unknown.
Immense magical power.
Multiple innate magics.
Intelligence high enough to play Othello with Monster-kun.
Monster-kun quickly realized that he was raising a Class 1 monster.
Nearly ninety years had passed since monsters and magic were brought to Earth, yet humanity still had no precedent for taming a Class 1 monster.
To do so without even using Gremlin implantation was nothing short of an earth-shaking miracle.
Monster-kun's Gazer could have become a precious presence that opened a new frontier in monster studies, but it was dangerous at the same time.
Gazer-kun frequently gouged out and ate Monster-kun's eyes while he was dozing in the basement. After he repeatedly admonished it through gestures and feigned tears, it stopped, but it remained an extremely dangerous creature.
Gazer-kun was clearly especially gentle and considerate toward Monster-kun. Even with Monster-kun, whom it treated so kindly, it still tried to eat his eyes, and when it pinned his head down to gouge them out, he thought his skull would be crushed. If it were dealing with someone it was not attached to, it would probably crush their head first and then drag out their eyes.
Monster-kun must never let Gazer-kun go hungry. It understood simple words and pictures, and it had nodded when he asked it not to attack people, but when it was hungry, that request vanished from its mind.
It was not a monster that could be released into the world.
Keeping a Class 1 monster was prohibited under all circumstances.
Even Class 2 and Class 3 monsters required cumbersome procedures, individual permission from the government, dedicated facilities that had undergone repeated thorough inspections, and a flawless system involving multiple specialists. Private ownership of a man-eating Class 1 monster was utterly out of the question.
Fortunately, Gazer-kun was not a species that grew to enormous proportions, and its growth stopped at a little over two meters in total length.
It did not even crave the air outside, and it grew up quietly in the dark basement.
It became especially devoted to the statue of the Eyeball Witch after Monster-kun gave it one. It played with the statue so aggressively that it frequently broke it, making it essential to keep spares on hand.
Gazer-kun's interest in the Eyeball Witch began when a newspaper Monster-kun had accidentally brought into the basement contained a portrait of the Eyeball Witch, who had been dead for thirty years.
When Gazer-kun saw the newspaper, it reacted unusually and became excited. Because Gazer-kun stared at the portrait using all one main eye and seven subsidiary eyes, Monster-kun made a life-size statue of the Eyeball Witch and gave it to Gazer-kun.
Gazer-kun seemed deeply moved, expressing its affection and gratitude through passionate blinking with all its eyes.
According to Monster-kun's theory, Gazer-kun was the same species as the Eyeball Witch.
Their diets were the same, their abilities were similar, and Gazer-kun's reaction was unusual.
They were probably the male and female of the same species.
Animals whose appearances differed according to sex were not uncommon among monsters. The Phoenix was a famous example, and there was also a theory that Centaur Amari and Centaur represented the male and female forms of the same species.
If his theory was correct, he would eventually have to find Gazer-kun a wife.
No mutated witch corresponding to the Eyeball Witch had yet been discovered. It was also possible that one had been found but kept secret.
But Gazer-kun would be lonely if it were the only one of its kind in the world. Monster-kun could not leave it confined underground for its entire life. Someday, he wanted to introduce it to its own kind.
Class 1 monsters were wonderful creatures. They were intelligent, and if one could build a friendly relationship with them, one could even call them friends.
But even if Monster-kun considered Gazer-kun a friend, public opinion would not.
If its existence were made public, Gazer-kun would be exterminated no matter how strongly Monster-kun insisted that it was not harmless, but controllable. Finding it a wife would be a pipe dream.
While hiding this secret in his basement and going about his usual life as Monster-kun, he encountered a turning point.
Oori, the eccentric he had encountered at the Tama River, was very likely the legendary wandmaker 0933 himself.
The Spider Witch who had been guarding Oori was closely connected to the Blue Witch.
The Blue Witch had been traveling in pursuit of resurrection magic ever since 0933's death immediately after the Zombie Panic.
The Blue Witch had stayed in Tokyo for two months rather than making a temporary trip home, while Oori, who possessed a craftsman's sensibilities, was at the Tama River along Ome City, the Blue Witch's territory. It was impossible not to suspect a connection.
Because Oori had let something slip, Monster-kun was almost certain that he was 0933.
The Blue Witch was an ancient witch who had been alive since immediately after the Gremlin Disaster, and her powerful legendary exploits were too numerous to count. She also had strong connections to important figures in governments around the world.
Oori had a pleasant personality, and Monster-kun had the feeling that he could build a friendly relationship with him as long as Gazer-kun had a full stomach.
If he could contact the Blue Witch through Oori, he might be able to prevent the immediate extermination of Gazer-kun once it matured into a full-fledged Class 1 monster and bring it out into the sunlight openly.
Monster-kun felt guilty about taking advantage of Oori's affection for his own purposes, but he also calculated that Oori would surely understand if he spoke to him sincerely.
After all, Oori did not seem to feel the slightest fear of the Spider Witch. It was not that he accepted and admired fear as Monster-kun did; he seemed to have never felt fear in the first place. Even to Monster-kun, who was renowned as an eccentric, Oori was an eccentric.
However, Monster-kun's plan collapsed completely just a few days after he conceived it.
One morning, the adorable Gazer-kun was greedily devouring a bucketful of eye soup while squeaking happily in the basement when it suddenly stopped moving and began staring at one spot on the wall.
The two subsidiary eyes at the tips of its tentacles widened, and it was clear that it had activated X-ray vision and farsight.
After staring at some distant point for a while, Gazer-kun eventually closed its eye and shuddered.
Then, using all seven tentacles, it gave the puzzled Monster-kun a gentle, affectionate embrace before destroying the basement ceiling with a hair-raising roar and fleeing in an instant.
The color drained from Monster-kun's entire body, and he nearly fainted.
He had no idea what had happened. What could Gazer-kun have seen?
Gazer-kun was an intelligent monster. It must have escaped for reasons of its own.
But whatever the reason, allowing a Class 1 monster loose in an urban area was far too disastrous.
Monster-kun frantically chased after Gazer-kun and bolted out of the house.
Then he ran into his younger brother and learned that Gazer-kun had not escaped, but had gone off to fight.
The public would assume that two Class 1 monsters had clashed. They would try to kill both of them.
But that was not what had happened.
Gazer-kun was on humanity's side. At the very least, it was on Monster-kun's side.
After hearing the circumstances, his younger brother was stunned beyond speech and fell into a daze. Then he slapped his own cheek and pulled himself back to his senses.
His reliable younger brother, Miyabe Kuniaki, spoke briskly with the same dependable look he had worn when he had swiftly resolved the crisis that had erupted when Monster-kun's engagement was called off.
"Your connections are our only hope. Let's go to 0933's house right now. Only the Blue Witch can choose one of the two Class 1 monsters to defeat and get the extermination operation against the other one called off."
The situation was descending into utter chaos, but a glimmer of hope had appeared.
The two of them woke the tiger monster that had apparently been drooling and having a pleasant dream in the garden of Kappa House, hurriedly saddled it, and rode double toward Okutama, where 0933 was located.