Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 166 Quest's True Identity
Ron took a deep breath and said, "I'm ready."

They had known for a long time that there was something wrong with Quest's identity, but he himself had always refused to say it, and Ron was unwilling to force him.

Now that he is willing to confess himself, that would be the best thing.

"It's not that mysterious actually. It's just that my race is not popular in any world or region, so it's more convenient to act in hiding."

Quest stretched his body, and his shape and appearance as a "Tiefling" gradually became distorted. His skin seemed to come alive, rippling like water, and all the red on his body faded away.

The pair of small horns on his head retracted into his forehead and the tail behind him vanished into smoke. When all the parts of his body that could identify his identity and appearance disappeared, and even his facial features were reduced to only a pair of dark eyes and a mouth, Quest's true form finally appeared in front of Ron.

"So you are..." Ron looked at Quest's changes in shock. He naturally recognized his real race, but the other party's identity was unbelievable to him no matter what.

"You're a shapeshifter?"

"Or rather, your doppelganger." Quest's voice was no longer as friendly and smooth as it was in his tiefling form. Instead, it became stiff and cold. "Obviously, you don't have a very good impression of our race."

"Not really," Ron said with a wry smile, "I haven't even seen other people of your race before. I've only heard of them in books and from other people."

"It's hard to say whether this impression, which comes from hearsay, is good or bad. But in this case..."

"A lot of things can be explained, right?" Quest said in an "I knew it" tone. His true form was only revealed for a short moment before he returned to his tiefling identity. "Mind reading, shapeshifting, and so on."

"Indeed," Ron looked Quest up and down, "I can first ask you to rest assured that I will not drive you away or be hostile to you just because of your race - your behavior has already made your position clear."

“We are indeed allies.”

"But since you have decided to confess your true identity to me, may I go a step further and ask you to reintroduce yourself?"

"Re-introduce?" Quest raised an eyebrow. "Except for the fact that I concealed my race, everything else is true and credible. I can assure you of this."

"I was indeed a spy, responsible for matters related to the remnants of the Hailan Empire. I was also looking for a reliable and generous lord so that I could gather my kind and settle down in a place that could be called 'home'."

"As for the past..." Quest seemed to be reminiscing about his past, "A long, long time ago, I was abandoned when I was still a baby. A kind monk adopted me and took me to his monastery to study, train, and grow up."

"If you're asking me why I'm a monk, this is the answer—and one of the reasons why I go out in the guise of a tiefling."

"one?"

"Oh, you see," Quest sat at the entrance of the tent, "Doppelgangers, or shapeshifters, rarely show their original appearance. We know that we are not welcomed by others." "Some of them have degenerated themselves and choose to use their natural racial advantages to engage in theft, robbery, or fraud, or act as killers; while others try to change the impression they have on others. They will join the army or serve a lord - like me."

"Unfortunately, no matter what profession we pursue, this innate racial identity cannot be erased. Some of us constantly change our form, appearance and place of living to remind ourselves of our true identity; others choose to present themselves as a primary appearance and live with that identity."

"A small number of very, very extreme shapeshifters are unwilling to accept or even hate their own bloodline, so they simply give up the ability to shapeshift and live their entire lives as someone else."

"These people usually die for various reasons, and then people around them will not see their true colors - because they may even forget that they are supposed to be a shapeshifter."

Quest recalled a funny thing: "I once knew a guy like this: he lived in a human town for decades as a human, worked, got married, and had children. However, when his wife gave birth, he found out that his child was actually a half-shapeshifter!"

"He was terrified. He thought his wife was cheating on him with a shapeshifter who had sneaked into his home without anyone noticing! He was sad, angry, and most importantly, scared."

"He fired everyone in the house: the cook, the housekeeper, the gardener... but he couldn't find any trace of the shapeshifter! On the other hand, his wife swore that she had never done anything to offend him."

"So, he invited your spy over?" Ron asked with interest.

"Yes," Quest couldn't help laughing. "Although I work for the lord, I also take on some private jobs. This is one of them."

"I kept visiting, even the neighbors two streets away from his house, but in the end I found nothing."

"It was not until I returned to his home to look for clues that I finally discovered the 'secret' that even he had forgotten."

"And what happened in the end?" Ron demanded.

"It ended well. His wife forgave him for his deception - after all, he had forgotten about it long before he got married."

Quest spread his hands. "You see, we are such a race. When you break away from your innate identity, even you cannot accept your own existence. My ideal is to find a place for such a group to settle down."

"Your delusion, can you give us this opportunity?"

Ron hesitated for a moment and said, "To be honest, this is not something I can decide on my own, but I am willing to help you."

"After all, there are already goblins living in this land. But as you know, they have to find a place to live for themselves, and inter-living is almost impossible."

"After all, whether it's the goblins or the shapeshifters, the shadows they bring to other races cannot be eliminated in a day or two."

(End of this chapter)