Chapter 7
“Kyuuu!”
At my words, Ruby tilted her head and pointed somewhere with her snout.
That direction… was toward the terrifying forest where I’d suffered so much yesterday.
“…The forest?”
“Kyuu!”
Wait a second—Ruby’s a clever monster pup who understands human speech.
“Ruby, are you saying there’s water if we go that way?”
“Arf arf!”
Ruby barked brightly in response.
Bingo! Sounds like there’s a river or something over there.
“…So there’s water that way.”
Should I stay safe and risk starving, or take my chances with danger and hope for the best?
No need to think twice—the latter, obviously.
Not that I wanted to go. But human survival instincts were dragging me toward that forest.
I quickly began making preparations.
‘If worst comes to worst, I still have my gacha potions and the healing handkerchief…’
Recalling the useful items in my inventory, I gestured to Ruby.
“Ruby, let’s go!”
“Kyuuung!”
Chapter 2. The Monsters in the Forest Are Cute
“Hey, you! What do you think you’re doing!?”
“Kyuu!”
As soon as I entered the edge of the forest with Ruby, I was met with an unbelievable sight.
A cute, squishy baby slime was being bullied by a huge monster!
“Hiiiing…”
Squelch!
The slime—pink and jiggly, like a little pudding—was being cowed by the sheer pressure of the large monster, shedding big, gloppy tears.
I might’ve been in a hurry, but there’s no way I could just ignore something like this!
No, I, Kang Haneul—no, Zoé—would personally deliver a lesson in justice with my rod of love, to ensure such cruelty never happened again!
I rushed forward, pushing the slime protectively behind me, and boldly stood between it and the hulking monster.
“…”
The monster’s gaze shifted to me.
Its massive body was made of uneven boulders, its hollow eye sockets glowing red.
Roots and patches of bluish moss clung to its surface.
It looked like a living, ancient statue.
There was no doubt about it—this was a Golem, one of the most common monsters in games, right up there with slimes.
Ha! Golem or not, you’re going down today.
“Hey, you coward! Picking on someone weaker than you—shame on you!”
I shouted at the Golem, ready to launch into a moral lecture.
The Golem blinked its red eyes once, then started to move toward me—slowly but steadily.
Wait, whoa, too close. Way too close!
Up close, the thing was easily over two meters tall—completely intimidating.
Aaaagh, if it gets any closer, I’m striking first. First strike wins.
Just one more step closer and I’d smash my Aqua Mystica down on its head—
—but then, something completely unexpected happened.
“Um, excuse me… I-I wasn’t trying to hurt it, honestly.”
“What… what did you just say?”
T-The monster spoke!? And even bowed at a perfect 90 degrees!?
Completely caught off guard, I stared wide-eyed at the Golem.
“Y-you… you can talk!?”
“Oh! You can understand me? This is amazing! You’re the first human who’s ever understood me!”
…Wait.
It’s not that it’s speaking human language—
It’s that I can understand its!?
And just then—
Ding!
A system window popped up before my eyes.
[<System>] Holders of the title “Monster Tamer” can understand the language of monsters.
So I can understand monster speech because I have that title?
“But wait, I couldn’t understand Ruby earlier.”
[<System>] Young magical beasts cannot yet form proper speech.
“What? That’s why?”
So that means the others might still be understandable…
Looking at the Golem’s clearly delighted expression, I spoke up.
“Um, excuse me, Mr. Golem?”
For some reason, his overly polite manner made me unconsciously speak formally too.
Guess I really am a Confucian girl at heart.
To test something, I pointed to Ruby.
“How does this one sound to you when she talks?”
“Kyuu?” Ruby tilted her head.
“Uh… hmm…” The Golem lowered his head in thought, then lifted it again.
“She’s saying… ‘Kyuuu~.’”
“Pfft!”
I couldn’t help but snort.
Why was he doing a voice impression unprompted!?
“Ah…”
The Golem’s rocky face flushed a faint red.
Oh my, he’s embarrassed.
Maybe he wasn’t such a bad monster after all.
Feeling my guard lower, I asked gently,
“Sorry for yelling earlier. But Mr. Golem, why were you bothering such a fragile little slime?”
I pointed at the slime, whose eyes were still teary.
“T-that… well, this is my garden patch, you see, and those herbs contain deadly poison…”
“…Wait, poison? But you said herbs?”
Startled by the word poison, I instinctively backed away from the plants.
“Oh! They’re called Bergamot—poisonous in their natural state, but once the toxic parts are carefully removed and refined, they become medicinal! Great for fatigue recovery, so I’ve been cultivating a lot of them. But since there are still some unrefined ones growing around, I got worried the little one might get hurt and tried to warn her… b-but I guess, because I’m so big…”
“Oh, I see… I’m really sorry for misunderstanding you. Wait, did you say—garden?”
Now that I looked around, I realized I hadn’t really taken in my surroundings before.
Behind the Golem stretched a beautifully maintained garden filled with vibrant vegetables, fragrant herbs, and unfamiliar medicinal plants.
“Wow, did you grow all this yourself?”
“Y-yes… I just really enjoy gardening…”
“Then, may I take a look around?”
“O-of course! I-it’s not much, but please, go ahead…”
I started walking through the garden, and the Golem followed behind me with heavy thunks.
‘Not much’? Yeah right.
Up close, the garden was even more breathtaking.
On one side, flowers bloomed in full glory, creating rippling waves of color under the warm sunlight.
It looked like a paradise where forest fairies might live.
“Mr. Golem, are you kidding me?”
“Huh? D-did I do something wrong? Oh no, I was standing too close, wasn’t I? I’ll move right—”
“No, I mean—it’s amazing! You must’ve poured so much effort into this. It’s incredible, really.”
The Golem froze for a moment, then bashfully turned his head, his face faintly red again.
“Th-thank you… No one’s ever said something like that to me before.”
His massive hand carefully stroked a tiny flower.
See? Anyone who loves flowers can’t be a bad person.
Or monster. There really are no bad monsters—just misunderstood ones.
“Kiing!”
“Ah! Be careful! That one’s poisonous too!”
The curious pink slime had crept closer again, poking at a toxic herb. The Golem quickly stepped forward to stop it.
‘And I went and judged him so quickly… shame on me. Bad human. Prejudice is evil.’
KWA-BOOM!
Just then, a tremendous noise shook the ground near us, like the earth itself was moving.
“W-what was that?”
“Get back, miss! Something’s coming this way!”
RUMMMMMBLE!
A deafening roar of something massive charging toward us slammed into my eardrums.
I grabbed Ruby, who was tumbling around in the garden, and tried to run—but whatever it was, it reached us in an instant.
Squish! Splosh!
Wha—s-squishy!? The thing was huge, soft, and perfectly round… like a gigantic ball.
“Ugh, what is that!? A giant ball!?”
Before I could get a better look, an ear-splitting roar filled the air.
“KUOOOONG!!”
‘Ugh, so loud! What the heck is happening now? Wait—hold on… that’s—!’
And that’s when I finally realized what the creature was.
