Wildness and Masks

Text: "It's no use, I'm about to die... I know this better than anyone...

Ogre, my child, I really don't want to leave you... There are so many things I still want to tell you...

Although.

I had foreseen this day would come.

But I still feel regret, regret that I can no longer be by my child's side to witness his growth."

***

My name is Humanoid Nade.

The shaman of the tribe gave me this name, which roughly means a humanoid—someone who looks like a human.

Yes, I'm not human.

I'm an ogre, an ogre who looks somewhat human and is a bit special.

Before I met that child, my life as an ogre was filled with failure—

From the moment I was born, I was already a loser.

Compared to other ogres, I'm an anomaly, a complete anomaly!

My father was a standard ogre warrior, with two eyes and two heads.

But I have two eyes and only one head.

Having too many eyes is not a good thing for an ogre. Strong ogre warriors are all one-eyed—because our ancestors were powerful one-eyed giants, so the closer the bloodline to the ancestors, the stronger it is.

Of course, having more eyes doesn't necessarily mean anything; some of my kin have even more eyes than I do.

But the main issue is my head—too few.

I only have one head.

Without extra heads to assist in casting, it means I can't master dual or even triple casting.

This means I can't be an excellent ogre marauder or a powerful ogre wizard...

And indeed, the results confirmed this.

I was born smaller than my kin, and even later, I didn't grow much. Many younger ones were already much stronger than me.

Ogres revere the strong, and someone as weak as me is destined to have a low status.

Even if my father is the chief.

The result of all this is probably because my mother was human, though I've never seen her.

Maybe that's why I'm curious about human language.

Honestly, if it weren't for my naturally dark blue skin, I might have been eaten by those guys from my tribe...

Of course, my end wasn't much better—when it was confirmed that I couldn't inherit the tribe's witchcraft, I was exiled.

After all, I was too useless.

Fortunately, as an ogre, I'm still stronger than goblins. By relying on evasion and learning, I didn't die in this forest of demon beasts.

But as a lone ogre, my treatment was destined to be poor, and all races rejected me.

Including those human explorers.

After all, ogres are synonymous with greed and brutality, and this ogre looks so much like a human.

Even though I clearly did nothing...

Loneliness surrounded me, and at that moment, I realized that having intelligence beyond my kin was also a curse.

***

The life of being ostracized went on day after day, year after year, and I gradually got used to it—

At first, I envied the beautiful and elegant elves...

Envied the united goblins.

Envied the strong minotaurs.

And envied the powerful and civilized human professionals.

But I was, after all, just an ogre, a mixed-blood ogre who had never eaten a human.

If nothing unexpected happened, I would eventually die at the hands of any one of these creatures...

Until that day.

I found a child, a human child.

The place where I met the child was a village, but different—it was a village that had been raided by the Goblin King.

As usual, I waited until they finished raiding before going in to scavenge for anything useful.

After all, compared to those goblins, I'm a bit smarter. The good things they can't recognize are my treasures.

Although there weren't many such things in the village, finding a few still made me very happy.

It was on that day that I encountered the unexpected.

In a cleverly hidden floor compartment, I found a child.

If it weren't for his cries, I wouldn't have discovered him.

"How pitiful..."

That was my first thought—probably because I saw a reflection of myself in this child.

Then I looked at this small child.

A primal hunger surged from within me—I had never completely killed or eaten a human before...

After all, I'm an ogre, and he's human. Eating him should be natural.

At that moment, I even opened my mouth.

But in the end, my reason suppressed it.

Because I knew this wasn't a good place to eat.

Perhaps, maybe.

It was because I heard the child say "mom"—I had heard this word before—it was what humans called their mothers. This child was as pitiful as I was, having lost his mother from a young age.

Finally, after searching for a while.

I left that ruined little village with the child.

***

I don't know what went wrong, but I ended up not eating the child and instead began to raise him.

Maybe it's because he's the only one who smiles at me and doesn't despise me.

Or maybe it's because I needed a companion.

In this forest of demon beasts and mutants, he would become an anomaly like me.

***

My abilities are poor, and it's already difficult to feed myself with my usual hunting.

So to take care of this child.

I had to disguise myself as a human and venture into human towns to trade the things I collected.

This forest is vast, and there are often novice apprentice professionals who die here, leaving behind items that are useless to demon beasts and mutants.

But I knew they could be exchanged for currency called money.

So I would intentionally or unintentionally collect the things they dropped—even if I couldn't understand some of them.

Now, these collected items finally served their purpose.

Luckily, I succeeded...

I exchanged them for food for the child, and in the process, I gradually learned the human language.

I don't know how much I lost in the process, but the child survived, and that was enough.

Isn't it?

I understood that this process was dangerous, but for some reason, when I saw the child's smile.

I actually felt—it was all worth it.

It wasn't me who saved this child; it was this child who redeemed me...

Perhaps, I exist for him.

***

"Father, why is our skin different?"

Whenever the child asked me, I always remained silent.

"Ogre..."

I softly called, the name I gave my child—it means ogre, and it's the low growl of ogres that humans who don't understand the ogre language hear.

"Because I'm an ogre, and you're a human child..." I explained to the child.

In truth, I didn't want to tell the child the truth.

But I knew that one day we would part... I couldn't delay him.

I had already paved the way for his future.

The Church of Truth in the west is quite good; they often adopt strong children.

Perhaps, I could use the wealth I collected to enroll the child in the Magic Academy—if he had a talent for mana...

He shouldn't become an anomaly like me.

That's why I've always taught him in a human way...

"Father, why do you say I'm a human child?" the young child asked me curiously.

He's curious about everything, which is a good thing.

"You're not my biological child, Ogre. I found you."

Although Ogre didn't understand these things, I still had to tell him the truth.

He must be human and not become an ogre like me...

But now he's still too young and too cute. I'm worried about him, so I can't let him go.

Yes, that's it.

Let's wait a little longer...

"Then can I still call you father..."

"Of course, you can, child."

Ogre, he's always so obedient that it breaks my heart...

During this time, I also figured out the meaning of the emblem Ogre carried—the Kessing family.

It seems to be a distant and significant human power.

I just don't know why it appeared in such a remote place.

***

"Father, look what I caught."

"Ogre, didn't I tell you not to go out!"

That was the first time I got angry at the child because it was too dangerous outside...

I completely ignored the beautiful blue butterfly the child was showing me...

I made him sad...

***

"Ogre, look what I brought you." I lifted a magic rabbit and smiled at Ogre, showing it to him as compensation.

Sure enough, this little guy seemed to like it.

"Wow, it's furry!"

Ogre is strong, so I'm not worried about him handling a magic rabbit.

"Father, is this for dinner?"

"Uh..."

At that moment, I realized that I might still be a bit different from humans...

Perhaps I should properly teach the child not to follow my path...

Let's start by cultivating compassion!

"This is a companion I brought for you. While I'm not around, it can keep Ogre company."

Life has to go on, and I can't always stay by Ogre's side.

Although the idea of an ogre teaching a human sounds a bit fantastical, I think I can do it.

When Ogre gets a bit older, I'll send him to learn to read. He's really growing fast and is very smart.

"So it's not for eating..."

"Of course, there's food too, look what this is!"

"Wow, it's candy."

In the end, Ogre accepted the rabbit, but I felt he didn't seem very interested in keeping a pet...