Monster Integration

SAFE ZONE, COMBAT IS NOT ALLOWED

The text appeared in front of us as we crossed some invisible boundary; seeing that, a smile couldn’t help but appear on my face. I was wondering how humans and Grimms walking to so close to each other without attacking, so this is the reason for that.

“Safe zone makes things quite easier,” said Rachel as she straightened her back and began to walk without fear; I also straightened up and removed the cloth from the pocked and wore it on my face like the mask.

I had created it earlier with the cloth I found in the Grimms backpack.

My identity is quite sensitive; I am one person that Grimm likes to kill the most, even more than the Grand Lords; it is better I hide my identity.

“This mask might make you a bigger target than hiding your identity,” said Racheal, and I smiled. “I am sure there would be quite a few humans who would be hiding their identity,” I said, and she looked at me with a big surprise.

I have changed my voice and also my gait; even though people here could notice far more things than ordinary people with similar senses, they still would have trouble recognizing me.

I have also cut my hair due to the blood of Grimm that get inside, and very hard to clean up. Also, wear gloves and shoes. It could be said that nearly every part of my body is covered, so one could not identify me through normal means.

Half an hour passed by, and we reached the glowing beacon, which is a huge fountain; it is over a hundred meters tall, with luminescent water spraying through it beautifully.

I could see both humans and Grimms filling their canteens through it without killing each other, though they were staring daggers into the eyes of each other as they did that.

“It is quite a scene, isn’t it?” asked Rachel. To that, I couldn’t help but nod. “It is all due to the safe zone; if no combat law disappeared, it wouldn’t take a second for us to cut each other apart,” I replied; she just smiled.

It is quite an active scene around the fountain, which has lighted up the huge swath of area.

On the right side are the camps of humans, and on the left are camps of Grimms; there are hundreds of people on both sides; from what I could see, there are around two hundred humans and a similar number of Grimms on the other side, their numbers might be slightly more than humans.

I am surprised that these many humans have survived, it is quite hard to fight Grimms, but I should not have been.

Since the Grimms invaded, we have been at a disadvantage against them, but despite that, we have been fighting war after war without getting wiped out. So, even in such conditions, humans will find a way, just like Rachel and I did.

“Market, I have missed it,” said Rachel and quickened her pace toward the market, where the Grimm and Human selling their wares.

It had been years since I had seen such a scene, it used to be quite common in the low-level runes, but as the stakes became higher, such scenes disappeared before coming back now.

I followed behind her, looking at both humans and Grimms, identifying each and every one of them. Though most I could remember with my own memory, for some, I needed to take help from my clone.

Most humans are Masters, more than 50% of them, while the rest are Masters and Grandmasters, but even among them, most are Grandmasters, with a minority being High-Grandmasters. It is not surprising considering over six thousand Masters have come, and there are only around four hundred Grandmasters and less than a hundred High-Grandmaster.

Still, despite their high and mighty power, this place has turned them into ordinary beings; even Grimms are not spared by it.

As we walked toward the market, I got looks due to my mask, but these looks were less intrusive than I had expected. As I am not the only one who is wearing such a thing, about 20% of humans are doing that, and some minority of Grimms.

Which is kind of unexpected.

Soon, we entered the market, and it was filled with wares; most of them were non-magical in nature, but some were magical ones, and most of them were weapons.

“We have two weapons; if you find something that will increase your battle power, don’t hesitate to exchange them,” I whispered to Racheal’s ears.

Now, I am truly regretting not taking the staff of the Apeman; I have taken the ax from the Werewolf and the sword from the Ratman, but not that staff from Apeman, which would have increased the weight and had been a pretty useless weapon, without the edge.

If I had known there would be a market, I would have picked up that little extra weight.

We attracted quite a lot of attention as we moved; we had more artifacts on us than most people; both of us had two weapons, and there were also my shoes, which nearly everyone was staring at with either greed or envy.

“Hey, would you like to exchange that sword with my mase,” asked one human, his name is sam dahl, a Master.

“No,” I said and walked ahead.

As we moved, more and more people asked for our stuff, but what they had was not what we needed. Most of the things these people are selling are useless to us, though there are some things we have found that I very much love to have.

“Are you willing to exchange that greatsword with my halberd?” I asked the Bullman, “No, but I am very interested in that sword and those shoes,” it said, looking at my sword and the shoes.

I shook my head and walked ahead before stopping in front of another Grimm, a werewolf, who had three arrows and long claws in front of it.

“Are you interested in my wares?” it asked as Rachel stopped in front of huge arrows. “Yes, I want these arrows,” she replied straightforwardly.

“Good, then I will take two of your weapons in exchange, or I am willing to take those shoes if they are good enough,” he said, looking at my shoes greedily.

“Only halberd,” said Rachel, and Grimms eyes became sharp, and cruelty flashed in them. “Little human, I am selling three arrows, and I am only asking for two weapons exchange; I am taking a loss here,” it said, lifting the arrows.

“Only Halberd,” Rachel repeated, and seeing no reaction from it, we began to walk away. “Stop; I will trade with you,” said the Grimm as we prepared to walk away.

“You humans are really cruel; If I did not need the halberd for my self-defense, I would have never agreed to sell you, bastard,” he said and moved the arrows in front of us, with craftiness hidden in its eyes.

“Trade platform,” I said simply and could see it moving its lips to curse.

This is no combat zone, which means we could not fight. So during the trade, when the things left our hands, it could easily snatch them with its big size, which offers it big advantages in things; from what I heard through the conversations, quite a few humans have fallen for this.