Becoming a Monster

Chapter 130: Chapter 130: Shattered Trust

Levi blinked with a somewhat odd stare, caught unaware of Noah’s simplicity. Regaining his bearings, he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. ”Ah, right. My apologies for the lack of clarity.” He straightened up, his expression becoming more serious. ”Let’s start with something fundamental. Your creatures are obviously different from the norm, is there a difference in how you form your contracts than others, and if so, what are the benefits in doing so?”

Despite Noah’s urgency in using the shop, the series of questions asked by Levi spurred on his inner otaku. For each question answered, Levi would ask a series of clarifying inquiries of his own, while sometimes given input that would broaden Noah’s perception.

The intensity of their conversation particularly peaked when Noah discussed his findings of the mana cores, while further explaining the effects it had on his abilities.

”You.....you really are a monster!” Levi muttered in disbelief, his mouth agape after learning of Noah literally eating the zombie’s mana cores. He couldn’t help but give Noah another once-over.

”We’ve had people attempt to absorb the mana from the cores, hoping that doing so in a controlled environment could potentially offset the ’infection’, but each person still was turned into mindless zombies. The effect was even faster than being bitten. It makes me wonder what type of zombies you could create if you were the one to infect them.”

Both Noah and Levi’s discussion became dark, while the shine in their eyes contradicted what was being discussed.

Ailetta felt the need to distance herself from the two madmen. The intensity of their discussion was too much for her, so she decided to use this chance to make her way over to Jasmine and the others. A wry smile still was etched on her face as she couldn’t stop recalling the insane things Noah and Levi mentioned. It was when she was almost upon the others that her expression deepened, her gaze instantly locking onto Jasmine’s conflicted stare.

Unlike the hesitance she’s shown before, Ailetta held more confidence in herself, not letting the concerned and judging stares make her second guess her decision. Observing Ailetta’s determined confidence, Jasmine could already guess the purpose of her approach.

”Ailetta...” Jasmine began, her voice strained from her emotions threatened to overtake her. ”I know why you decided to leave...I just wish...I wish none of this ever happened...Sometimes I still think that maybe I’ll wake up and this will all be just a dream..”

Ailetta’s expression softened, and she reached out to hold Jasmine’s hands. Although there have been numerous scenarios that should’ve caused Ailetta to hate her; she couldn’t forget that Jasmine was always there for her all those years when no one else was. Although those memories will always stay with her, she was aware that those memories will only stay memories. Not only did she change, but the woman who always stood by her side had changed on the very day the world did.

”Jasmine,” Ailetta began, her voice gentle but lacking the emotion shared by Jasmine. ”Far too often I wished the same, but....this world has already shown us that it’s here to stay. But the world isn’t the only thing that changed, so have we. But I’ll always cherish the times we had together, and I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me.”

Tears welled up in Jasmine’s eyes as she abandoned wanting to hold Ailetta’s hands, embracing her within her arms as tightly as she could. ”I just don’t want to lose you too.”

Burrowed between Jasmine’s breasts, Ailetta’s expression was unnoticeable. Her expression was one of a gloomy outlook on what Jasmine said. Noah had opened her eyes to the amount of times she almost died, only for Bailey to ever come to her aid. Jasmine’s words were filled with hypocrisy, at least that’s how Ailetta felt at that moment.

However, it was also Noah’s reminder that helped her to forgive Jasmine. Although Jasmine hesitated to save her in her times of need, she never faltered when it came to Mark. ’I guess I was just never important enough...’ Aitletta thought to herself; her resignation of not being cared for enough somehow made her feel better about it all; at least now she knew that there was someone who would always be there for her.

With a well practiced mask, Ailetta looked towards jasmines’ teary face with a sad smile of her own. ”You won’t lose me. As far as Noah is concerned, he’ll make sure that he comes here every once in a while just to use the shop that’s supposed to be here.”

Not only Jasmine, but Mark and the others showed their surprise at what Ailetta said, not knowing the contents of Levi’s and Noah’s discussion.

”But...but I thought Raven told Noah not to ever come back,” Jasmine brought up what she recalled, despite her hesitance to do so.

”Well, unlike her, there are still some people who can look past Noah’s appearance.” Ailetta spoke of Raven with a small hint of hostility before looking back to the others with a small smile. ”With what they discussed, as long as the shop remains here, then we will also come back here.”

No one was oblivious to Aieltta’s change when speaking of Raven; their hearts felt troubled due to the spite in her words. They too felt like targets of her hatred, knowing that they were no different from Raven in their initial judgment of Noah.

A stifled silence overcame the group, their shame preventing them from changing the topic to a happier subject.

”Le?” but suddenly, Noah’s call caught their attention. Noah was alone with his monsters while Levi was discussing the details of his talk to Raven and Peterson.

Ailetta turned toward Noah, mouthing the words ’I know,’ before turning back to the group. Her demeanor was a clear contrast from before, a change that gave Jasmine and the others a bad premonition for what they were going to discuss next.

”I’m sorry. If the circumstances were different, I would find a suitable time to bring this up.”

Jasmine looked over from Noah to Ailetta, not understanding where this was leading too. No one else was sure either; they were only left to speculate. There was only one person there who held a respectable fear of Noah in her heart to understand what Ailetta wanted.

”We made a deal with the devil, and now he’s coming to collect...” All heads turned to the source of the monotone voice, finding Isabelle staring in Noah’s direction.

”A deal? What do you mean? I don’t recall making a deal with Noa- ’’ Mark attempted to rebuke the absurbidy until he remembered that the deal wasn’t made with Noah, but it was through Ailetta. The deal where they were supposed to share whatever loot they received along the way.

Looking around, the group’s expression began to distort with an undisguised fear. Not just because they had forgotten about the deal and were afraid of what Noah might do, but also because everyone else wasn’t here. They were unsure if Noah would even be satisfied if only given what they had and not everyone else’s.

Seeing their terrified reactions, Ailetta could only imagine what they could be thinking. Embarrassingly, she smiled, thinking of what kind of person they all thought Noah to be.

”I know what we had agreed to before. But Noah can be understanding. Knowing that you all have most likely used whatever you had obtained from your loot, he only wants half of everyone’s gold.”

”Ha-Half?!” Alicia gasped at the absurd amount. She wanted to rebuke Noah’s demand, but this time her mouth was being covered up by Ishii.

”Half is fine! It’s the least we can give Noah for all he has done for us.” Ishii spoke up in Alicia’s place. Alicia couldn’t hold in her glare towards Ishii. Despising him for still not foregoing his worship over the monster even after everything he has done. But, she couldn’t continue to look at Ishii that way. Instead, she shifted her glare towards Noah. A decision she quickly regretted when Noah noticed her, causing her to bury her face within Ishii’s chest.

Most of the others couldn’t fault Alicia for not wanting to relent to such a demand. Realizing how much importance Noah placed on gold, they all began to see gold in a higher light, making them not want to give it up even more.

However, they couldn’t begin to imagine the consequences of reneging on their deal, especially with Noah’s recent display of what he could do to people that he despised.

Noah watched with satisfaction as he saw Jasmine approach everyone in their group one by one before finally approaching Ailetta. The two reached out their hands, maintaining contact while they made the exchange.

”It’s done...” Jasmine uttered softly, with a touch of resignation in her voice. Ailetta, on the other hand, didn’t know exactly what to say. It was an honest exchange, but Jasmine and the others made her feel like a villain.

Ailetta felt more and more uncomfortable given everyone’s silence, no one seemingly in the mood to talk.

She gave her friends one last, lingering look. ”Take care, everyone. When I come back I expect for you all to be alive and stronger than ever.” With that, she took off into a brisk walk to join Noah, each step punctuated by a slight skip as he hurried to his side, taking herself away from the tension from before.

The group watched her go, watched her as she dove into Noah, witnessing his surprise from her actions while also witnessing the giant smile that was now plastered on Ailetta’s face. Her happiness didn’t suit the scene with the destabilized city behind her and the large puddle of blood not so far away.

Ailetta’s and Noah’s contrasting atmosphere made the weight of Ailetta’s parting words linger in the air. They knew they had to change, not only just to survive, but for they too can find happiness in the world filled with death.

—

”You agreed to what?!” Both Raven and Peterson yelled in hush whispers towards Levi after hearing that he didn’t follow the plan.

Levi raised his hands defensively, trying to calm them down. ”I didn’t deviate too far. And besides, we are the ones benefiting more from this deal.”

”Explain,” Peterson ordered, caring more for the process rather than just the results. Despite what he heard about Noah from Raven, if using Noah could benefit them and they held full control over the situation, then he wouldn’t mind having to extend more resources than they agreed on.

Levi put on a helpless smile to Peterson’s demand, while attempting to ignore Raven’s evil stare; all the while, his thoughts towards them were filled with malicious intent as he explained what Noah and him agreed on.

”Let me get this straight,” Raven interrupted. ”You are not only letting him use the shop whenever he wants, but you also barely received any information from him that would actually be useful! How will knowing that he can eat those fucking cores be useful to us? And what about how he tamed his creatures? We don’t have anyone who could achieve that. And don’t get me started on evolving his creatures, his class is what made that happen! Nothing he has told you are things we can replicate!” Raven attacked Levi, rebuking him at every turn.

Peterson also came to agree with her, his frustration and disappointment was evident, his admonishing death stare said it all.

”What would any of you cavemen understand?” Levi lost his cool for the first time. His eyes burned with a rare intensity as he faced them. ”You continue to see a lack of immediate results and dismiss the potential. The cores, the evolution, the taming; these aren’t just random facts!”

”Just think for a moment! The cores he ate benefitted his skills pertaining to the cores alignment. Have you not thought that the same could be applied if you were to consume a human core?”

Initially enraged by Levi’s blatant insults, Peterson and Raven froze at his words. The idea of humans even having cores had never occurred to them. Unlike Levi, who was thinking of the benefits of such information, both Peterson and Raven staggered from the implications. If humans were to come upon this information, no one would be able to foresee the amount of innocents would be killed just for the potential gain. Levi, however, was too absorbed explaining his findings to care about their worries.

”And the insights gained on his creatures’ evolution is just as insightful. It shows that creatures raised by tamers do not follow the same evolutionary path and can be influenced and even enhanced by the tamer. Imagine, Peterson, if your group of K9 tamers were to awaken, each and everyone of them being able to evolve their dog’s to specialize in different areas. Not to mention the fact that we have civilians who are wasting their potential! We should be gathering everyone and having them support the base based on their profession. And we can start with those with monster taming class, we don’t even need them to fight. Just finding creatures for them to tame would be enough, hell! We can even use zombies! All they would need to do is send the creatures out to fight, eventually those creatures would be able to evolve and we would gain even more capable hands to help us fight.”

Peterson’s expression shifted from shock to contemplation. Levi’s vision for the base was ambitious, yet the practicality and potential of his ideas were hard to ignore.

Raven still was unable to rid herself of her reservations, despite all of the advantages. ”Levi, this information is just too dangerous to ignore, even more so, I think it’s better not to mention it at all. Just the cores alone will bring about internal conflict, your group alone is made up of criminals bent on greed and power; sooner or later, people would be killed by other humans just to gain those cores.”

Acknowledging that the two finally realized the importance of what he said, Levi wasn’t so quick to rebuke Raven’s concern, for he too was already considering how to get his hands on human cores.