Chapter 162: Monk’s Problem 3

The Lunari race turned out not to be all that different from humans in general.

Their lives were like those of humans in rabbit form, who had been acquainted with Mana from the very beginning.

Then, just like with humanity, an Invasion from another world had simply happened. The Invaders came from every side, attacking and causing chaos.

In fact, after hearing what Monk said, Julian could tell that humanity’s situation was in far better shape by comparison.

It had all happened because of whatever they called the Primordial.

"...How long have you been enslaved?"

Slavery.

In exchange for their lives, the Primordial allowed the Lunari race to live on, but on the condition that they work for the Primordial itself.

Monk bowed her head, her ears, which usually twitched so lively, now drooping limply.

"It’s been more than hundreds or thousands of years. Monk doesn’t have any reliable records, because everything was taken away."

"Ah..."

That sounded even sadder.

But... What was the Primordial’s real purpose?

As Julian thought back on what Monk had said, the Primordial’s actions made no sense at all.

And not knowing was suffocating.

"You really don’t know what that pyramid is for?"

A pyramid.

The Lunari had been forced to build a giant pyramid, one whose size was absurd and which devoured an enormous amount of resources, even lives.

Going by Monk’s story, the sheer size of the structure alone was enough to make anyone question why it was being built.

The Primordial was said to have sent many of its subordinates to make sure that any Lunari who saw what was being built inside would be killed.

That, it turned out, was the reason nobody knew the Pyramid’s function.

Even when they were curious, no one would dare to peek, knowing their lives would be gone in an instant.

Monk was still trembling, snot smeared across her clothes, her tears seemingly never-ending.

She tried to wipe her face with her sleeve, but fresh tears immediately replaced the old ones.

"Monk doesn’t know..... Monk only knows that it’s making the world where Monk lives get worse."

"...So that’s why you entered the Breach, to find another place to live?"

Monk nodded hard, sniffling and hiccuping.

Her ears bobbed along with the nod while she tried to steady her ragged breathing.

"Well... That’s complicated. What about the gods you worship?"

The gods.

When Julian thought about them, he couldn’t help but scoff a little. The reason was simple: he didn’t believe they existed.

Julian had lived in an environment where such a belief was almost absurd, something only a fool would do.

But after remembering where he was now, Julian reconsidered.

’Gods might be real here.’

There were the Church of Ascension, who tried to worship the Aliens as their gods in search of salvation, and then Monk and her race, who also had gods to worship.

Considering how far living beings could go with their power, it showed that gods clearly existed.

Wasn’t someone reaching Rank-SSS reason enough for them to be called a god?

That was why Julian was curious about the gods Monk had mentioned.

"Monk doesn’t know, because Monk hates the gods."

"....?"

Julian turned his full attention to Monk.

The rabbit girl clenched both hands in her lap, her drooping ears trembling slightly.

"The elders, even Father and Mother, everyone in the village, why do they worship that god without stopping? Why do they keep doing it, even when the god never gives an answer? Aren’t they not real? Or... Maybe they’re already dead."

Her voice grew heavier toward the end of the sentence.

Monk bit her lip for a moment, as if there were still so much she wanted to say but she didn’t know how to say it.

It was somewhat surprising to see Monk openly showing her defiance toward what her own race believed in.

Well, knowing Monk’s own history, it seemed only natural.

Her race had been praying for years on end, yet not even one small response had ever come.

Monk had probably been born without ever meeting that god, so her faith had weakened on its own.

With a small sigh, Julian rubbed his face for a moment.

’Will the human world end the same way if it falls into the hands of the Primordial?’

Would humans also be enslaved to build something similar?

Without realizing it, his fingers stopped moving. For a moment, Julian just sat in silence, thinking about that possibility.

While thinking about it, Julian could hear his own heartbeat. He was sure it wasn’t fear, considering he was in a state of Fearless right now.

What he felt leaned more toward worry.

Either way, after learning of Monk’s circumstances, Julian wasn’t sure what he could do, but he was at least certain that when he finally landed in Monk’s world, it wouldn’t mean everything was over.

Whatever was waiting for him there was still a huge problem.

How annoying.

Grumbling inside his own head, Julian comforted Monk, who kept sobbing for the next several minutes.

He let the rabbit girl cry for a while, then reached out to pat her head gently.

Julian also took the chance to ask a few things, including how to consume the Language Fruit.

According to Monk, the Language Fruit that Garph had given him was a whole fruit.

Yes, Julian knew it was a whole fruit, but only now did he realize that a Whole Language Fruit was something extremely precious.

Monk even said that she had only ever tasted one-fifth of a Whole Fruit, and shared the rest with the others.

And as for how to consume it, nothing was different. You just ate it directly, as if you were eating an apple.

"In that case, I guess I should eat it."

It was deeply uncomfortable to think that Julian couldn’t understand anything the Dragons around him were saying.

It felt like being left out by your schoolmates.

So Julian turned around a little. He had set the Language Fruit on the bed earlier, because he’d been too shocked by the sight of Monk’s terror.

But before his hand could reach the fruit, he noticed something that should not have been happening.

And now, Julian froze once again at the sight of the Language Fruit he had left on the bed, which was being nibbled on by the little fox.

The fox looked like she was enjoying her meal so much that she didn’t even notice Julian watching.

"Hey...!"

In a panic, Julian snatched the Little Fox away. Luckily, the Fox hadn’t eaten all of it.

He quickly pulled the Little Fox away from the fruit, which now bore bite marks, and examined the small body carefully.

Well, it wasn’t that Julian was stingy or anything. Maybe it would be good if the Fox could understand language. But wasn’t that only possible if the Little Fox had intelligence?

And if the fox had no intelligence, who knew what kind of effect it might have?

"Are you okay?"

Julian watched the Fox for a moment and found that, unlike when consuming Mana, the Little Fox had eaten the fruit by using its teeth and taking it straight to its stomach.

Just like eating an ordinary apple.

The Little Fox didn’t seem to respond at all, and it showed no reaction even when Julian forcibly grabbed it.

For a moment, the small body just stayed still in his grasp.

Julian could only see that its condition was confusing. And then, in the next moment, the Fox’s whole body trembled slightly, its face turned pale, and it went completely limp.

Its nine tails, which had been swaying slowly just before, now drooped without any strength.