6 Soul mate (1/2)
With time flying by, one day passed since Boros named himself. Nothing much happened. Carla and himself mostly talked without end,
Boros peeked out of the hidey-hole on a few occasions, confirming that the number of his siblings is withering over time.
Like all those times, while talking with Carla, Boros took a look outside when something strange caught his eye leaving him speechless.
”... And that is how the great continental war concluded. Any questions?”
' ... '
”Boros?”
The lack of response from Boros concerned Carla. I wasn't talking to a wall, right?
'Ah, sorry. I was just distracted with what is happening to that sibling of mine over there...'
Hearing Boros's response, eased Carla's worry, and then she asked: ”You mean the one by the dirt wall?”
'yes, why does the part of his body that shed its old skin looks so much different from the part that is still yet to shed?'
”Oh, he is mutating. This is actually pretty rare... That is the third mutation from the single batch of hatchlings.”
What Boros observed was a snake, slightly bigger than himself, in the middle of its shedding. The snake, unlike its other siblings, had slight extrusions on its head, slightly resembling a horn-like growth. The head of this snake had red ember like colouring, making it obvious it is somehow turning into a fiery serpent.
Carla proceeded to explain how the monsters of this world are split into a couple of categories. The first category is ”Low born monsters”. These are the monsters that are born without sentience, created by the mana provided from the dungeons core. Boros is one such monster, but he is a clear exception.
They can also be found outside of the dungeon and they are best described as a magic version of wild beasts.
The second category is ”Wild born monsters”. These are monsters that contain some sentience, hold minor territories and can build societies. Goblins would be one such example. They are mostly born the same way humans are born, but there can be some exceptions. For example, being born from the condensation of mana in some elements.
The third category is ”Noble born”. These are creatures that are neither human nor Demi-human.
Some say that they were first created when the world was still unspoiled by the human hands, in the times when God's walked the Aequalis, while the mana was so dense that the rivers of it could be found flowing everywhere.
The others, however, say that these Noble born were given birth to by the Goddess of the Monster Isles, to be her devoted followers.
Which one of these stories is true, Carla doesn't really know.
”Ever since I was young, my mother told me that the Goddess is the one who created us, but the historians don't really agree with that. I was not sure which story to believe so I simply decided that I don't care. I am here and my parents gave birth to me, that is all I need to know.”
From the things that Carla said, Boros finally confirmed something that poked at him from the way Carla spoke about the world till now.
'So, you also aren't human.'
What made Boros feel like he uncovered some great mystery made Carla slightly confused.
” I thought that was obvious. ”
'But you aren't demi-human either...'
”Well that part is a bit technical, you see. The humans are the ones that decided if a race is 'worthy' enough to be called a demi-human. But it is all just a show of grandeur. There are many humanoid noble-born races, but just a few are considered demi-human. At the moment those would be Forest elves, dwarves and some of the beast-kin.”
Upon hearing Carla's explanation, Boros hit the ground with the tip of his tail, as if to declare that he has understood.
'So that is how it is. You wouldn't happen to be a ”gifted” elf, right?'
”What? No, I am not an elf... What do you mean by gifted? What does talent have to do with being an elf?”
'Don't worry about it, just feeding my curiosity... What are you then?'
The bluntness of the question made Carla a bit irritated. She knew Boros had no intention to be rude, but the way he asked sounded very rude, even more so by asking a lady.
” First of all, that is no way to ask a lady!”
A lady? Where?
”And if you really need to know my race, I am a gorgon.”
'Okay, I did not see that one coming'
Carla being a gorgon, made Boros a bit confused and flustered.
The novels I read didn't prepare me for this kind of situation. It was always elves and catgirls, with an occasional vampire. I don't know how to tease her properly!
”Eh, why are you so speechless. You don't know what a gorgon is?”
With Carla's question, Boros saw an opportunity. I will forget what I know about the gorgons from my world, because there are so many different ways people depicted gorgons, and some of them were pretty scary. There is no way Carla is scary with such a pretty voice, right?
”why do I feel like you are thinking about something stupid again?”
'Well, you are not wrong there. Please tell me more about gorgons from this world. I heard some stories, but I don't know how true they are. I would love to hear more about you.'
Hearing what Boros said made Carla mumble some words. What she said Boros didn't manage to make out. But she sounded like she was somewhat excited.
” You are not disappointed that I am a Gorgon? You do know what Gorgons are, right? We Gorgons are one of the noble-born races. We, like many noble-born races, can change our forms, from looking almost human to being half snakes. While in the humanlike form, there are five major differences making us different from humans.”
'...'
”First off, our skin retains scale-like structure on random parts of our bodies. Second, our ears look sharper than those of humans, but nothing as extreme as elf ears. Third, our eyes have vertical pupils and lastly...”
'what, why did you stop?'
Carla starter grunting something to herself, as if trying to think of the words to use.
” I am not sure how to say it... It might sound embarrassing...”
Listening to Carla's docile reaction, Boros took the moment of silence to think of what would be bothering her soo much when a picture of a gorgon from his previous world suddenly popped up in his mind.
'Could the thing that is bothering you be the snake hair?'
”You knew? So you had gorgons in your previous life?”
'No, no. Just some old myths.'
Figuring out why Carla was so tense made Boros confused.
Why did she think that it is embarrassing?
Well, there is no need to wonder, I'll just ask.
'Hey, Carla?'
”Hmm?”
Nervousness could clearly be heard withing Carla's tone. This situation seems to really have her on her toes.