Delicious Final Boss Monologue
The monster king cackled when he sees us approaching. "Well, well, I see we have another batch of adventurers ready to take my throne! You will never defeat me. I've worked thousands of years in order to realize my vision, and I will not fall before my dream comes true. The monsters have been treated unfairly over and over, and we will not just succumb to the humans easily. Haven't you heard of this? You see, back in..."
Axl, the druid, held my arm the moment I released something from my sleeves. "Wait, what are you doing? We can't!" The werewolf who decided to support our cause, Greymane, as well as the dragon, Tiamat, grasped my shoulders. "Look, I get it, His Majesty is wide open right now, but we have to show our respects! Things will turn ugly if you do this kind of thing." The dragon panicked.
I chuckled. "Guys, seriously? Remember what we did on our journey so far? What did you learn from my actions? Trust me." All three of them released their grips and nodded, hoping that whatever my actions are, it will be just as effective. "I trust you, little guy. You did the same to me and the bratty dragon over there, as well as the rest of us. I'm still worried, but I'm willing to place my bets on you." The wolf grinned widely.
I decided to remove a couple of things out of my dimensional bag. Man, that bag sure is helpful. Even though it's small, you can put so many things into it. I need to thank the great wizard, Sinistra, for this gift.
The monster king, still oblivious, kept on preaching about the history of humans and monsters, not noticing what I am doing. Humming a random tune, I placed this massive table I got from the elves, set up the plates and utensils with the rest of my party members, placed a variety of food I prepped based on the recipes I got from the folks I befriended all around the world.
I took out some tea leaves from the World Tree and started to brew it in the magical teapot I obtained from the fairies. While waiting for it to be done, I also took out all kinds of beverages I obtained from the human and monster taverns, letting the dragon pour those onto the pristine glasses made by the dwarf blacksmith himself.
Figuring that we still have 10 minutes of dialogues to go with the monster king, I decided to prop myself on one of the chairs, and took out my dagger, carving the apples into cute rabbits and forming all kinds of flowers from the other fruits. This would normally take ages to do, but my dagger proficiency level 99 and my chef attributes made me carve these faster than the speed of light. Once done, I sorted them out to look like a massive, beautiful fruit bouquet in front of the plates, and I also made an ice sculpture based on the monster king who looks like a chimera.
"...and that's the gist of it. Now, adventurers, ready your..." The king blinked. Once, twice, rubbed his eyes with his paws, with his serpent tail cocking its head, confused over what he is seeing. "What is the meaning of this!?"
I coughed. "So, Your Majesty, the Chimera King, Aldean, we come here in peace. Why don't you sit down on that chair rightttt over there?" I pointed at the chair located right next to mine.
"What is this scheme of yours? I shall not be tricked! I-I..." The poor chimera can't help himself from drooling the moment he smelled the food. His favorite meat pies, the mead he would enjoy a lot at the tavern he normally frequented back before he became the monster king, the scrumptious fried chicken made by the werewolf chef who fled his kingdom 10 years ago, and... "H-how did you know about... that? Who... are you?"
"Well, Aldean. Let's just say that I am but a traveler that got transported into this world. Fascinating place, I'll say, with all of the monsters known to be fictional back in my home world to be real." I apologized, "I'm sorry for this, but the moment I saw you back then, there is this particular memory that popped up. When you were but a child, befriending a human kid whose parents would treat you with... this, yes?" I pointed at the two sets of croissants, made for both the king as well as his serpent tail.
I continued, "I'm... sorry for your loss. It was the start of your loss of hope on the humans, yes? The other villagers were not so kind, and you were chased out as they threw rocks at you. When you returned a month later, you discovered that your friend has been exiled with his family for befriending a "monster," and you never saw them again, coming to the conclusion that they are dead. Your journey continued, and you've grown angry over the unfair treatment on the monsters and decided to be the king and become this major figure that will threaten the humans from doing anything of the sort, yes?"
Aldean sighed, gripping his paws tightly, drawing blood. "I had to make sure that we monsters will not suffer anymore, and I decided that it would be best to invade the humans, make them remember that we are superior, let them be punished for this injustice!"
I held my hand in front of him, "Did you notice a lot of things have changed outside your kingdom?" Aldean cocked his head, "What do you mean?" I sighed, "Aldean, you've been blinded by your ambition. Didn't you notice that your monster army has been dwindling by the day?" Aldean growled dangerously, "Are you saying you killed them!?"
........................
I decided to calm him down by bopping his snout, causing Tiamat and Greymane to gasp, chuckling afterwards. They did not expect the king to be treated like this. Axl shook his hand over my actions as always. "Really, king? If I killed all of them, how on Earth did I make this food in front of you? Why do you see Greymane and Tiamat travelling with me?"
"No, I travelled all around the world before coming here. Sure, there are some humans treating the monsters badly, and vice versa. However, the majority has already come to an agreement to help each other, and the towns and villages that do so live more prosperously because of that. I've seen taverns where monsters and humans hang around getting drunk, the shop vendors collaborating and producing better products, and even living together with smiles on their faces."
I smiled brightly at the king, "In fact, I got some better news for you. Remember that human friend of yours?" Aldean, busy rubbing his snout, frowned, "Yes, what about him? What do you..." His eyes got bigger upon the realization, tearing up. "Y-you don't mean..." I grinned, "Yes, how do you think I got the recipe for this one? They actually evacuated all the way to this port town, setting their family tree. Based on the memory I saw from your friend's descendant, I was able to see that he lived a happy life. And, well... Here, look at this."
Grabbing the picture I took with my phone, (The great wizard taught me a magic spell that allows me to charge it up as well as print out pictures in it, it's always fun to everyone's reaction to this technology that doesn't exist in this world) he stares at it, and started crying. I patted his paw, "He got married, and have three kids. He heard about you becoming king, but he can't get an audience with you. Every year, he tried to meet with you until the age of 50 where his health declined. Throughout his lifetime, he did his best to tell his family about you, and he kept this photo frame in his room. The picture his mother took of you and him, smiling as kids. It's still there after all this time, and the descendant I told you earlier? He decided to teach me his family recipe about those croissants."
Sobbing with his serpent tail trying to comfort him, Aldean said, "T-thank you so much for... telling me this. I... thought he was executed by the villagers, and I just... Oh goodness, I could have..." He composed himself after a while, "So, why did you come here?"
"Look, you couldn't have known, and i feel like you need some closure. Two, I know you are doing your best on trying to keep the harmony between humans and monsters. I noticed that you never harmed the humans either, just forcing them to do some menial tasks to build the kingdom as punishment for treating the monsters badly."
I sipped the fruit juice in front of me. "Well, I wanted to show you that I did my own thing and decided to do the more... peaceful way, and there you have it. Both humans and monsters disposing their weapons, and I also get to learn how to make these delicacies and befriend folks like Greymane and Tiamat over here."
I offered my hand. "So, what do you say, Aldean? I will help you out with this goal of yours using this approach. I will show you that there is still some good in all of us, regardless of our species."
The king pondered, smiling for the first time, and shook my hand tightly. "Thank you, young one, I accept your offer." Greymane laughed, "Great, now let's eat up. I've been staring at these for 30 minutes now!" The poor wolf is trying his best to contain the drool dripping from his maw.The five of us laughed, and we enjoyed the food on the table.
The next day, Aldean announced that he will be opening his kingdom, allowing others to visit and leave the area. He also declared that he will be aborting his plans to invade, and everyone in the world noticed his kindness, a stark change compared to the past 10 years.
.........................
I have grown quite old, and I decided to take some rest on my rocking chair, looking at the sea. Over the past 50 years, the five of us solidified our friendships, and helped both the humans and monsters day and night. Now, the entire world lives in peace, smiles can be seen everywhere with monsters and humans living together.
As I enjoyed the breeze, I heard footsteps. "Well, well, I got a feeling we'll find you here." Axl said. Looking back, I see Axl, Tiamat, Greymane, and Aldean bringing some food. "It has been a fun ride, right, friend?" Aldean smiled. "It sure has, Your Majesty, it sure has."