Overlord: When Human Meets Inhuman

Chapter 20: You make friends because you want to

"Morning, kid! How'd you sleep?" 

Well, she looks rested. I don't.

"Like shit…" I mutter with a long yawn. 
"Oh...bummer. Anyway, are you ready for a nice walk in the woods?" She asks with an excited smile. I slightly smile back and nod. 
"Yeah, let's go. I've also got shit to tell you, so we might as well start walking." 
Lupusregina raises her eyebrows and smiles very widely. 
"Alright, you can start talking right away!" She says and we head to the woods. So I explain to her what happened with Shalltear last night, up to the point she hugged me. 
"Woah...and then?" 
"Then she left, and I went to bed." I lie.

I don't wanna tell her everything, I wanna let the situation develop a bit.

"And I'm a bit confused." I add.
Lupusregina's face suddenly turns serious, and she shakes her head. 
"She's playing with you, kid. Be careful." 

Hmm…

"How can you tell?" 
"She's a vampire, and she's a bitch. Two kinds of beings that love toying with people's feelings. And toying with people in general. You're not gonna get anything good out of trying to get close to her. You're just gonna end up very badly. And I mean very badly. Don't trust her. Trust me, for example! I don't have any intention to murder you or to make you my sex slave!" 

What? Oh, right, the bed…

"Right...thanks." I mutter and crack a smile. 
"No problem! It's rare to meet somebody as nice as you and that has the same taste for murder as you, so I wanna keep you with me!" 

Well, that was nice of her, I gotta say. 

"Thanks...that was a nice thing to say." 
Lupusregina gives me a wink and one of her stupidly wide smiles and pats me on the back. 
"Keep me updated on what Shalltear does and says around you, alright?" She asks. 
"I will. I'll see you every day from now on, so I won't have any problems with doing that." 
"Good! Now, let's focus on why we're here!" 

Right, a walk in the woods. Kinda. 

"Yeah...let's go." 
Lupusregina and I start walking through the woods at a sustained pace, but not going too fast. We need to make one trip around the forest and we've got two hours to do so. And yesterday she was smart enough to say a whole trip would take us two hours, while in reality it takes one hour less, if we're going quickly. That way we can take it easy, be more careful as we go and save a bit of time to do what we like. 

From now on I've gotta be very wary of Shalltear…
Good thing I've got Lupusregina by my side. 

"Kid?" 

The worst thing is that I still don't know very well what Shalltear's intentions are.

"Kid, you there?"

And knowing her, she probably doesn't mean well.

"Mark!" 

"Ah! Sorry, I was a bit lost in my thoughts…" 
Lupusregina shakes her head and gives me a friendly pat on the back.
"Poor thing...you must feel completely discombobulated and confused...you're not in a good situation, I'm not gonna lie." She says joining her hands behind her head. 
"Yeah...by the way, why have you been acting so nice to me in the space of a day?" I ask kinda suspiciously. 
"What? Oh, right...you don't need to worry about me, whenever I'm given a task by S...I mean...shit." 
She laughs in a very stupid way, making me laugh as well, but then I think about what she said for a second.
"Wait, a task?" 
I stop walking and cross my arms, then I give Lupusregina a stern look. 
"Yeah...sorry. Sebas kinda told me to start keeping an eye on you whenever I'd have the chance. And the whole "scout the woods" thing arrived with perfect timing!" She finishes with a wide smile. 
"Tsk...everybody here has an ulterior motive to do what they do...I wish people were fucking honest…" I mutter and start walking again with my head down. 
"Hey, kid wait!" 
"What?" I whisper in an exasperated tone as I turn around with tears in my eyes. 
"Don't...don't hate me for doin' my job, alright? I'm trying my best here, okay? Plus…" 

Oh, what do you know, she likes leaving sentences unfinished too. 

"What?" I ask with a long sigh. 
"When Sebas gave me this job, I thought I'd just get away with...I don't know, a "let me know if you need anything", or something like that. But I thought about it, and...um...I think the main reason why I'm doing this isn't "because my boss told me to". The truth is...I like you, kid. Not like I'm in love with you or something, but like you're a nice guy. You're kind, you're surprisingly happy for all the shit you're going through, and you're funny! So I'm doing this out of...kindness, or even friendship if you wanna call it that. Not because of some stupid order from my boss or something. I might not be the most experienced person about this kinda stuff, alright? But one thing I know for sure: you make friends because you want to, not 'cause your boss told you to. Sebas never told me to become your friend, you know. I'm only doing this because I want to. Alright?"
She finishes with her classic broad and friendly smile, with her fists on her hips and a wink. 

Well, what do you know...I might have just found the first non-human that is actually being honest with their feelings. 

"Well...shit. Thanks, really. It...means a lot to me." I stutter and smile back. 
"No problem!" She says opening her arms. 

Well...what am I supposed to do? I'm not very fond of these things. 

"So are you gonna come here or you're gonna leave me here until my arms fall off?" 
"You mean...you wanna-" 
"Yeah! I like hugs, even though in Nazarick not many people do. Except CZ...she's too much. If she finds you cute she'll stick to you and she won't let you go until somebody of authority tells her to stop...anyway, what was I saying? Oh right! So...are you gonna hug me or not?" She finishes with her arms still wide open and she gestures me to come.

Alright, I won't say no to a hug.

I slowly and reluctantly walk closer to her until she probably gets bored and drags me in her arms and hugs me with an enormous strength. After a few seconds she breaks away with the same contagious smile on her face. 
"So, are you feeling better now?" She asks proudly. 
"Yeah. Thanks."