Reject Humanity, Return to Monke

Today's the day, and I'm currently facing Oshurkova who was still stuck dealing with the never-ending amount of paperwork stuck at her desk. Her eyes continued to gain more dark rings under them as the days went on.

It's been about four days already since this Battle Royale started, and I haven't seen a sign of the ring yet, which means that this camp is probably near to the middle of the entire area.

Which is good, I suppose…

Forgetting that topic for a second, I stared at the incredibly haggard vampire, whose looks continued to degrade due to the paperwork that continued to pop out of nowhere and into her desk.

Right beside me was Typhial, who was looking incredibly torn between respecting Oshurkova's privacy and duties as a Dungeon Master, and rushing to her side and getting rid of the problem that plagues her idol with fire.

Lots and lots of fire…

"Jionni, Typhial, it's good you're here early…" Holy shit… Even her voice sounds like it's been through the wringer. Typhial got hit by it the worst, the upper half of her face being shadowed out by her hair. "Typhial, none of your yandere tendencies right now. Paperwork won't kill me, and I'll spend time with you once I get these motherfucking pieces of papers off my desk and into the sun."

Typhial instantly lost her edge and quickly morphed into lovey-dovey mode, an extreme bipolar characteristic, if I have to add.

"Heh, always works." Oshurkova snickered, but Typhial was too deep in her thoughts to even hear her words. "Anyway, Jionni, you and Typhial are to meet up with the rival group with whom you've accidentally killed one of their members and return the body. After that, apologize, and leave."

"And please, for the love of our entire group, do not give in to their taunts." Oshurkova warned, and Typhial suddenly had her whole serious aura returned in an instant. "They won't attack first, since if they do, it would leave a mark on their reputation. If you, however, attack first, that would leave a mark on our reputation, and give them a reason to attack us and also kill us, if possible. Not that they would be able to since I'm pretty sure most of them are just weak and starting Dungeon Masters, but the reputation part is the most important part of the deal."

I was about to ask about the reputation system with the community of Dungeon Masters, but was stopped by Oshurkova's raised hand.

"Just know this, Jionni. Reputation in this community gives you armor. The more rep you have, the more armor you have, since more Dungeon Masters would flock to your side and join your cause, and no one would dare mess with a group of Dungeon Masters with a bunch of strong members, and their leader who is also a monster in their own right."

Her explanation gave me all I needed to connect the dots, and I nodded, my question and my curiosity satisfied.

"Well then, if that is all, good luck. Please do not mess this up."

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It's been three hours since that discussion with Oshurkova, and both I and Typhial were now waiting for the rival group representatives to arrive and claim the body of one of their members, which I accidentally killed.

Our travel here wasn't anything too flashy, nor exciting. Just using the quickest path to get to this area without talking and stopping.

We arrived here only a few minutes ago and decided to pass the time by talking to one another, revealing our preferences in food and what type of hobby we each have.

It was about ten minutes into our talk that Typhial sensed movement a few meters away. We both descended into silence as we prepared ourselves for any kind of ambush or attack, but weren't met with any, and instead, were met with a group of Dungeon Masters that numbered four, with very threatening looking armor and weapons, and I use the threatening term loosely because...

'… My [Armor of the Primates] looks way scarier than those cheap knock-offs of a Knight of Spikes.' I couldn't help but be disappointed at their tactic of trying to draw us into a fight by taunts. If I was a normal Dungeon Master, I would be scared shitless and refuse to fight, no matter how much taunting they did.

"So, this is the Dungeon Master who killed Orlg? He looks like nothing much." One of the Dungeon Masters in armor quipped, a mocking laugh exiting from underneath his helmet as the rest of the armored Dungeon Masters followed suit.

I remained silent, however, and so did Typhial, thoroughly not amused at the sight.

"Oh, look, he's frozen in fear that he couldn't even speak!" Another voice piped up and their laughter redoubled in volume. I ignored them and brought the corpse of the ogre, of Orlg, as they called him, out of my inventory and promptly dropped the corpse on the ground.

"Here's the body, and I sincerely apologize for accidentally taking a life from your group." I was sure sarcasm was dripping with every word I spouted out, but who cares? They won't attack because their reputation is on the line, and it would make them a target for other Dungeon Master groups.

Plus, Oshurkova said that they aren't strong enough to compete with us… So…

"Please, let us forget this transgression and hope that we can forge bonds anew from the pits of our mistakes and foolishness." Once I was done saying my piece with a smile, I left, with Typhial following suit, her face showing the blatant disgust she had at the group of four, heavily armed Dungeon Masters that were making fools of themselves.

"What a stupid bunch of clowns." Typhial remarked as we made our way back to the camp.

"I couldn't agree more." I said, my face cringing in disgust and annoyance at the very stereotypical 'thugs' of the isekai genre, but this time, in full gear and was deadlier than the normal thugs.

We both continued like that for another three hours and arrived back at camp without much hindrance.

'I wonder what's in store for us the next day?'