Maybe five

It takes time, but your body slowly begins listening to you again. Gingerly you roll yourself over onto your back and sit up, feeling a little more of his cum squeeze out of you as you do. Bruno has already stood and put his trousers back on, and is currently standing in shirtless splendor at a desk with various contraptions and stacks of parchment.

"That's your project?" you ask, curious but entirely clueless.

"Parts of it, yes. And a few other things I've been trying to investigate. Like these, notes on the origin of monsters. What little I can make note of, anyway. I've even included Mr. McDunkin's rather implausible story of a lady-monster birthing a minotaur child."

"Why's that so implausible?"

"Because the lady-monster wasn't a minotaur. And even then, I'm not sure that's how monsters come to be in the first place. Humans like Mr. McDunkin are born, but monsters... It's more like we just appear, similar to heroes."

"Some heroes are born," you remark offhand, remembering the earlier conversation with Karen.

"And some monsters are, as well. But Imps, Dryads, Weed-fiends, Slimes--most monsters emerge somehow. I want to know how, and why. Why do we emerge, only to be killed repeatedly by heroes? And can we not influence the emergence of more of our kind at all? If someone or something else is controlling our creation and existence, then for what purpose do they do so?"

"Well, like I said before: the reason they made me was for sex and general sexiness."

"But why? You must have sex, but it doesn't lead to anything. The city races procreate with it, but for you it's nothing more than recreation."

"What's wrong with recreation? I enjoyed it, and I could tell by your face you did, too. How is that not a reason?"

"Because the ultimate outcome is unchanged by-"

"Look," you stop him, holding your pussy open so he can see his cum still dripping out of it. "Doesn't that just make your heart race? You're looking for something complex, but really I'm just here for sex. It makes me happy, it made you happy. How is that not a reason for something to exist? It's a better reason than heroes have. From everything I've learned, heroes only exist to make everyone else miserable--monsters, NHCs, and even other heroes."

Bruno opens his mouth to retort, but stops. His jaw hangs open as he thinks for several moments. Then he spins back to his desk, reaches around until he grabs parchment and a No.2 Pencil, and begins furiously scribbling. You sit quietly and wait as he puts down his thoughts--or maybe your thoughts. Or both.

Finally he looks up again. "Monsters exist to make people happy?"

"Maybe not all of us, but I'll be saved if someone isn't getting a kick out of us. And if we're lucky, they're someone who likes seeing us happy, too."

"Monsters' Creator... likes seeing monsters happy..." He jots down a few more lines, then looks up again. "I'm not saying I believe life is something so simple, but... Thank you for the ideas. I don't have many sources I can study."

"Pleasure. Now, I'm going to see if my legs can get me back up that ladder yet. I have some companions who were doing a quest for the crazy hermit, and they'll be coming back soon. But... I hope I'll see you again, Bruno."

"Yeah. Same, Shelia."