A Rattling Monster - Chapter 125：The Charisma of a Ghost?

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Complaining about their tunnels. Because right now, all the dwarves are looking at me with angry eyes. I mean, I didn’t say that they were bad, I just say that we both were totally lost inside them. There is a huge difference, I think. I don’t have a map, the only thing guiding me is a god that know nothing about this world, except what the Agorians knew. And they were not particularly keen at exploring the world and its wonders.

(Hey, don’t say that, the reason why they were not traveling was because of the ritual from the djinns. You can’t blame them for that, they saved this world. Show a little more respect.)

Oh, I respect them, a lot actually. I find their history truly tragic and they have made the best decisions they could have made in all those dark times. But, their lack of exploration is still truly baffling. Maybe not send a huge force to explore the world, but at least one or two explorers. That way, we wouldn’t have been lost for nearly four days in those mines.

-The tunnels, you talked about our tunnels. What did you do? What happened to them?

What? What is he talking about? Thongril is asking me something, but I don’t really understand. They are still fine, why is he … Oh, I see. They think that we destroyed them to come here. Well, if I was still my former self, yeah, I would have melted all those tunnels and created a passage to the dwarves. Which would have been a really stupid idea. But, I didn’t do anything, how can I make them trust me. Yes, I know.

I float slowly to the nearby wall and wave at the dwarves. They look at me with their big fiery eyes, still mad. Then, I put my hand in the wall, and retract it. I do that three times, then, I float through the ceiling and come back. I order number one to repeat the same actions, meaning that we don’t really care about stuff like rocks or stones. After that, we both return to our positions, and I explained to the dwarf what happened.

-I think what you wanted to ask was, did I open a safe passage for the ratmen leading them here? The answer is no, we didn’t destroy any of your tunnels, we didn’t destroy any of the stones and rocks that were sealing those tunnels, sleek sleek. We traveled inside three or four tunnels completely obstructed by obstacles before reaching an empty cave. There, since the cave was clean, I thought that maybe someone lived nearby. I found you, your nice explosives buried behind the wall of the tunnel, and the fortress, sleek sleek. Not wanting to get blown up, I float through the stone walls and arrived here, near commandant Bori. And that’s it.

I can see that I manage to convince him, but every time I say sleek sleek, his face is reacting. I need to get rid of this habit, otherwise, I will have a harder time. As for my form, I can’t manage to change it, and a ratman is still small, so, a good form. If I was a giant taller than those djinns warriors, I would have tried anything to turn myself into something smaller. But right now, that’s fine.

Well, you probably saw me, as the ratman leaving the ritual. But I can’t explain that, and I won’t let them make a connection between that small ratman and the ghost ratman in front of them. First, how could I convince them that I evolved? Second, if I do that, that means they will realize that I lied because I already attacked Ronta before in that form. And my story will become a bunch of lies, which is its true identity. Think, think, what did I do afterward?

-I was hunting a small representative of the Decar Clan, that was dealing with the djinns. Since he was helping the djinns that attacked my brothers and sisters, the Tomb Kings, he deserved to die, sleek sleek. However, at that point, I had no idea that the ratmen were in such huge numbers. Only after seeing that near the human city called Ronta, did I realized the threat. By following him, I got near the human kingdom and a city, but I sensed his presence farther West that the city, and I kept following him, sleek sleek. It was during that action, that a bunch of lowly lives dared to attack me and hunt me. They are no longer part of this world.

Ok, now I should have everything covered. Except for my birth, but I can say whatever I think is logical, they will have to believe it. I still don’t know what they truly know, like, did they learn my presence in Atria, the capital of the Holy Kingdom of Aria? Did they see me fighting the ratmen near Ronta? All I see is some angry dwarves and a totally confused and perplexed one. The commandant Bori is truly in the dark, but I guess that makes sense. He is just guarding the border of a potential battlefield, and I guess that the dwarves don’t want the battle to come this far. Otherwise, they would have trapped the tunnels more, instead of sealing them.

(Just for you to know, in case. I have no external signs that they want to kill you. The guards behind the door are still ready to fight but are not stressed. And the rest of the garrison is just looking at them weirdly, wondering why they are here. No ratmen in sight either, I have left a spirit in that previous cave. So keep going, keep spouting lies incrusted with truths, and we will be fine.)

Well, that’s a good news at least. Especially the lack of ratmen, if just one of them appears near this fortress, I am doomed. They will make a hasty connection between them and me, and all my efforts would have been gone. But Thongril is still thinking, can he be a little faster. Of course, I don’t show any emotion, but, mentally, I am counting the seconds. And it has been nearly 26 seconds, that’s a long time to think about something.

Sigh

He just sighted, what does this mean? Is it good? Is it bad? He is just looking at me, with troubled eyes. He is mentally conflicted; I can see it. Believe me, believe me, believe me. Or at least say something.

-Commandant Bori!

-Yes, general?

-I want to ask you something. What is your opinion about all this nonsense that you just heard?

That’s bad, he doesn’t really believe me. But since he asked Bori, I still have a chance. I didn’t do anything wrong in his presence, I am certain that he will be on my side. My charisma is too high.

-Ehhh, I don’t really know. I heard that the djinns were destroyed and that they were truly the allies of the ratmen. As for the rest, is the capital of the holy kingdom truly destroyed by this undead?

-Yes, I am afraid that he told us the truth about that. We have watched him leave the white city, leaving behind a trail of desolation and corpses. Afterward, we saw him massacre everyone in Lucia. But we also saw him fight the ratmen near Ronta, and use some terrible spells. Spells, that could help us greatly in the incoming war. But, those spells are as deadly for us that they are for the ratmen. And we know that he has the capability to create a huge army of undead in a short time. So, what are your thoughts now?

I can see Bori becoming more and more surprised. Damn, he didn’t know about my massacre of thousands of humans. That will probably be a bad thing, even if I justified myself. Oslo, do they have something capable of binding me to an oath? Like the thing with the Nine Heavens?

(I have no idea, but for the dwarves, an oath is naturally followed, even without a threat. But that’s between them, for the strangers and foreigners, they have a total lack of trust in their words. That’s the general information, maybe those dwarfs are easily convinced.)

-General Thongril, I think that we don’t have a choice. A century ago, I was just a young warrior, when I heard that every race fought against the ratmen. Why does this situation is not happening again? Back then, even the orcs stopped their raidings, the Spider Queen personally hunted some ratmen and the Vampires were searching for any member of that treacherous race. And, even if he had done something terrible to our allies, the humans, he is potentially stronger than them. We can’t refuse such help in those dark times. And he is a weird undead, I don’t think that he will attack us without a good reason.