Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 1 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Encounter in the Forest

One more week had passed. We were still living in the same cave as before. We spent our evenings in the cave, while we used the days to search the forest. That cycle simply repeated itself.

We came across monsters on several occasions, but we managed to survive all the way up until now thanks to Lily and Rose. That in itself was splendid news. However, the fact that we had to survive through all those encounters meant that we had to fight our way through them. In other words, my primary goal of gaining more servants wasn’t going well.

I knew I had to be patient, but I was still in a fluster. The biggest problem really was that I had no idea what the conditions were for my monster taming ability to activate. I could tell instinctively when meeting a monster that it wasn’t going to work. I couldn’t tell when I met Rose, but I was in a bit of a panic back then and didn’t have the composure to calmly think it over and assess whether or not she was my servant.

But I still didn’t know the proper conditions. As such, I had to continuously expose myself to dangerous battles. Lately, I’d started thinking I was unable to distinguish what the conditions were entirely. I didn’t want to believe that, but...

“I’m back.”

“Welcome back.”

I had a wooden sword in my hands and brought my arms to a stop as Lily returned to the cave.

“Oh, were you training?” she asked as she ran over to me with light steps.

“Don’t put it that way,” I replied with a strained smile.

“Hm? Why?”

“It sounds corny. I’m just killing time here.”

I decided to do some practice swings with this sword whenever I had the time. I took kendo as an elective back at school, so I at least knew how to do the practice swings. Whether or not I knew how to do them properly, I could at least mimic the movements.

I honestly didn’t know if there was any meaning in doing this. It was possible that moving my body around more than usual would mean I could take action when it was necessary. It’d be nice if that was the case. And that was pretty much all the thought I put into this.

I didn’t expect much of myself in this respect. If you were to ask me what else I could do exactly, I’d have no choice but to sink into silence. Maybe I was training my weak body whenever I had the time precisely because I couldn’t do anything. Not that I knew if anything would come of it.

Incidentally, it was fine to just wave around a wooden stick or something, but since I decided to do this, I figured I might as well have something with the right shape. So, several days ago, I asked Rose to make me something I could swing around.

Unlike us humans, Rose didn’t need to sleep. She had the entire night to work and be active. Having said that, she was normally quite busy making all sorts of tools at my request. That’s why I would stick on addenda like, “I don’t mind if you make it when you have the spare time,” and “it doesn’t even need an edge,” and “it’s enough to have something around the right weight and length that I can grip properly.”

However, because she was making equipment for me, she was apparently inspired. I was left wide-eyed in shock when she presented what she made for me just one day after I made the request.

Even though the sword was made of wood, the blade had a grey luster to it. The grip was somewhat black and felt like it stuck to the palm of my hand. When I tried swinging it, it was far lighter than it seemed. Yet it didn’t feel unreliable, perhaps because its center of gravity was perfectly placed. It was extremely robust, and its edge was nothing to laugh at.

Because it was made of wood, there was a grainy pattern running along it, but it was clear even that had been formed in a way to give the sword a solemn appearance.

How weird...

I was pretty sure I requested something to be used for practice. This was obviously a case of overengineering. Despite being a complete amateur, I could see Rose’s crafter-spirit at a glance. She did far too well in making this.

Lily said it was similar to Damascus steel, using Mizushima Miho’s knowledge as reference. I didn’t know what that meant exactly, but it was apparently a fairly famous metal. This was unmistakably a masterwork, and a complete waste in my hands. The thought of simply handing it over to Lily did cross my mind, but... I was completely incapable of doing such a thing after Rose had presented it to me with such high hopes.

Instead... or rather, additionally, I ended up asking Rose to replace all of our current equipment after she finished with her own spare parts. It was clear her skills were improving as she made more stuff, so it was appropriate for us to upgrade whatever we had. Although, it didn’t seem like she could just pump out weapons that surpassed the sword she made me.

I stowed the sword away in the sheathe Rose made to go along with it and brought my practice to an end as I turned to Lily.

“Sorry for making you go out on your own, Lily.”

“Mmm...” Lily embraced my arm as if to say that was where she belonged. Her flaxen hair brushed against my upper arm like a friendly dog.

We had finished our daily exploration of the forest a short while ago. While we took a break in the cave, I had Lily go out to secure food and check on the state of the hut. This was of course to verify whether the exploration team had returned yet. Lily was capable of going there and coming back several times faster on her own than if she were bringing us along.

This was something best left for Lily to do. Because Rose didn’t look any different from other magical puppets, in the off chance that she came across the exploration team, it was likely that she would be killed on the spot. The danger was fairly substantial.

On the other hand, if they were to come across Lily, who looked human, it was unlikely they’d attack. Furthermore, after eating the meat of a firefang, Lily had gained the sense of smell of a wolf. It was several times greater than her original senses, so her ability to search for enemies was upgraded immensely. As long as she wasn’t careless, I was pretty sure she could retreat before being noticed by the exploration team if she were to find them.

There was the possibility of her being discovered by Takaya, but the chance of her situation being exposed on the spot was fairly low. If she just acted like Mizushima Miho, she could at least buy enough time to rendezvous with us without being suspected.

Rose had all sorts of other work to do, so pretty much all of the work where we humans would get in the way, like foraging for food or exploring the area independently, was delegated entirely to Lily.

“Did you notice anything different out there?” I used my finger to play with Lily’s bangs while she clung to my arm in satisfaction.

I asked her the same question I had asked her for the past few days. It was a little harsh to say so after telling her to go out on her own like that, but I didn’t expect much in terms of results.

Even if the exploration team were to return, I guessed it wouldn’t happen for quite some time still. According to Katou, Takaya knew the route the first expeditionary force was taking. As such, I calculated the time it would take assuming he dedicated himself entirely to the chase.

The Colony was destroyed six days after the first expeditionary force left. Within 24 hours of that, Katou and I escaped the Colony. It took me three days to reach this cave. Even with the physical abilities of a cheater, Takaya had to match Mizushima Miho and Katou’s pace, so it took them several days to reach that hut. He then immediately set off to search for the first expeditionary force, but no matter how much he rushed, there was no way he was going to catch up that quickly to a team who had left ten days ago.

Furthermore, the people he was chasing were moving further and further away as time passed. No matter how much he hurried, the difficulty of getting through this forest on his own far outweighed anything the first expeditionary force would encounter. They were composed of over a hundred elites, so they were surely progressing at a smooth pace.

Taking all of that into consideration, I estimated it would still be another week before they returned. You could even say this was an underestimation.

“I found traces of human activity at the hut... or, I guess, what’s left of it.”

That’s why Lily’s report was utterly shocking. “Was it the returning exploration team members?”

“I wonder? I don’t know. I came back here immediately, just as you instructed.”

“I see. That’s fine then... Still, it’s weird. It’s way too early for them to be back.”

Lily presented another possibility. “Maybe it was someone else. There was just one person there, after all.”

“Just one?”

“Mhmm. If it was one of the members of the expeditionary force, it’d be strange for them to separate from the group, right? You managed to get all the way to this cave on your own, so it’s probably another student who managed to get away from the Colony.”

“That’s entirely possible.”

This forest was rampant with dangerous monsters, but it was fairly uncommon to actually bump into them. At most, we came across them about once a day. And it was, for example, possible to evade an encounter with a monster by discovering it first. This was out of the question, though, for firefangs and the like who had a tremendous sense for locating prey. If the monsters were to locate you first, it would naturally be all over, so that aspect relied entirely on luck. But even those who possessed no special powers could wander around this forest for several days given the right amount of luck.

Actually, this situation was the result of the one month the exploration team spent upon arriving in this world. As a member of the home team, I didn’t know much of the details, but back when the Colony was up and running, this area was definitely within their circle of activity. This must be true, because a member of said team, Takaya, knew of the existence of that hut.

The exploration team’s first goal was to eliminate monsters in order to create a safe zone for the Colony. The large majority of monsters within their active area were hunted to extinction. This cave was also within said active area. That’s why the population of monsters around here was in rapid decline.

Thinking back on it now, it was highly probable that they hunted down monsters I could have tamed. It was truly regrettable. Not that I could do anything about it now. My greatest fortune was that Lily was never found by the exploration team. My very fate was tied to having met her, after all.

“There’s still a possibility that it’s a cheater from the exploration team. We won’t know until we check, I guess,” Lily said.

“You’re right. We need to verify what kind of student went to that hut.” I nodded in agreement and then made my plan. “If they happen to be a member of the exploration team who went on the expedition or stayed behind to protect the Colony, we’ll need to check whether they’re someone we can trust with Katou.”

“...That’s fine and all, Majima-senpai, but may I confirm something with you?”

After walking up to us, Katou joined in on our conversation. It seemed like she was regaining just a little of her energy lately. Her expression was still gloomy, but she stopped murmuring and pausing when she talked. She also became able to ask us about the course of action we were planning to take, just like she did now.

It was a good trend... excepting the fact that my wariness toward her had to go up a level, that is.

“What do you plan on doing if they’re not a cheater?”

“The plan isn’t all that different in that case. We’ll observe them, and depending on the circumstance, we’ll interact with them to gather information.”

“...Why? I honestly don’t think there’s a need for that.”

“You have a point. If they’re not a cheater, then there’s no real need for us to check them out or come in contact with them. There’s not much to gain by doing so.” I acknowledged what she had to say but shook my head. “However, it’s possible a member of the exploration team who stayed behind in the Colony is with them and Lily simply didn’t notice.”

“Yeah, that’s definitely possible. I did come back right away,” Lily said in agreement.

“Besides, there’s a chance they’ll know something about the state of the Colony after we ran away. There’s a benefit to contacting them if we can get some information on what happened to the rebel group after that.”

“...Understood. Thank you for answering me.”

Katou bowed. She didn’t have any other questions or objections.

Thus, we immediately left the cave behind.

◆ ◆ ◆

We delved into the forest. One week ago, we had to be afraid of surprise attacks from monsters. But now that Lily could mimic a firefang’s sense of smell, we could walk through the same forest with an entirely different sense of safety. Having said that, we still couldn’t be careless since it was possible to come across a disadvantageous encounter depending on the wind’s direction. As such, we marched forward with caution. Fortunately, we didn’t meet any monsters on the way to our destination.

The hut was nothing but a shadow of its former self. Not even a day after I destroyed that mysterious stone, it was already ravaged by monsters. And after several more days, it was nothing more than the ruins of a hut. It seemed monsters were still coming by and laying waste to the building. In the not too distant future, it was sure to be reduced to a state where one couldn’t even recognize what manner of building it was to begin with.

There was a boy loitering around the wreckage of the building. He was a little taller than I was and had a slightly more muscular build. He wore his blazer with the buttons undone. The only thing that really stood out about him was the frivolous atmosphere he gave off. But I suppose it’d be better to say that he was a perfectly normal Japanese high school student.

He stomped around the ruined hut and rummaged through the wreckage. Every now and then, he would look around, a frightened look on his face, and curse.

What is he thinking?

That was the first thing that came to mind. Anyone who found this wrecked hut would guess that monsters did it and wouldn’t stick around for long. I completely thought the student Lily found would’ve left already. My plan was to use Lily’s mimicked wolf senses to follow their tracks, but it seemed there was no need for that.

“Is that a member of the exploration team?” Katou muttered thoughtfully, apparently wondering the same thing I was.

If this was in fact a member of the exploration team, then he was able to move about as he liked without worrying about monsters. His behavior was entirely unlike that of someone so powerful that they didn’t perceive monsters as a threat, though.

“No, he’s not.”

I denied that possibility. He simply didn’t realize the danger he was in.

“That guy’s part of the home team.”

“Is it maybe someone you know?”

I nodded as I continued watching the schoolboy loiter around and kick the wreckage of the hut in irritation.

“A classmate.”

◆ ◆ ◆

After having a short meeting, we split up into two groups. As for why we did that, I suppose you could say it was a simple precautionary measure. I headed toward the hut together with Lily. As we got closer, we could hear the boy muttering. He was disparaging this world and the situation he was stuck in. It was all cursing and complaints.

Judging that we wouldn’t be able to get any useful information by just listening in on him from afar, I called out to him.

“Hey there, Kaga.”

“Eek!”

After I called out to him, the boy, Kaga, jumped with a start and shrank back.

“...Hey, don’t run.”

It seemed he was under the impression that a monster discovered him. Kaga reflexively began running away, but my voice made him stop. This confirmed that he was no different from the home team member I had last seen, a student with no power. A cheater wouldn’t have reacted in such a way.

Kaga turned around. “You guys are...” He recognized us and relaxed. “Majima, and... Ooh, if it isn’t Mizushima!”

There was clearly far more tension in his voice when he addressed Lily. That’s the kind of guy he was. Having said that, I didn’t actually know him all that well. Kaga was, at most, a classmate to me. He wasn’t someone I was close to. Even back in the classroom, I only ever exchanged greetings with him. He wasn’t really the type of guy I got along with, and I’m sure the feeling was mutual.

“Thank god, looks like you’re okay.”

“You too, Kaga. Good job getting away from that chaos,” I replied.

Lily behaved in a friendly manner, just as I told her to beforehand, so Kaga ran up to her with enough vigor it felt like he was going to grab her hands. I took a step forward and cut him off. I thought it would turn out like this, and sure enough, Kaga acted just as expected. He really wasn’t the type of guy I could get along with.

Kaga looked completely disappointed and turned his attention to me. “Majima...? Yeah, I somehow got by. You been together with Mizushima since then?”

Even as he talked to me, Kaga kept stealing glances at Lily. It was somewhat unpleasant, but I swallowed my emotions and kept my composure. This was inevitable. Lily was quite beautiful, after all. She was even three times more radiant when she acted amicably like this. She was fundamentally all smiles around me though, so I guess you could say this was the same as usual.

“Fortunately, I managed to get away from the chaos at the Colony together with Mizushima here,” I said as casually as I could, “and we’ve been working together ever since.”

Did I manage to pull it off? How did I even speak before coming to this world?

It was tremendously difficult for me to remember. It had only been one month since then, but it felt like those peaceful days were much further in the past.

“I see. Lucky you.”

Thankfully, Kaga’s attitude didn’t show any hints of suspicion. This could be attributed more to Kaga not really paying attention to me rather than my talent for expressing myself. He only had Mizushima Miho on his mind.

“Seems you also managed to get away safely, Kaga.”

“Yeah, I was worried about how I’d get by for a bit there, though.”

“Looks like we were both lucky.”

“Seriously. I’m glad we could meet again while we’re all alive and kicking.”

“Yeah.”

Kaga didn’t seem to be lying, so I was able to maintain a conversation without any real issues. I was in fact more or less relieved to know that someone I knew was still alive. It was better for him to be alive than dead. That was only obvious, and such an obvious feeling still remained within me.

It wasn’t like I thought all humans should just die, like the last boss who tries to bring about the apocalypse in some video game. It was certainly true that I distrusted and disliked humans though, so it wasn’t like I was the hero of said game either.

“I just got here today. Were you two maybe using this hut as your base?”

“Do you really think we could?” I was unable to hide my astonishment at his ridiculous guess. “We’ve been hiding in a far less conspicuous cave.”

“Hmm, a cave, huh? How primitive.”

“Primitive is still better than this place. Actually, I’m surprised you’ve been loitering around this wreck. Haven’t you noticed? Monsters made this mess.”

“What?! Seriously?!” Kaga was so shocked his eyes looked like they would pop out.

“And why exactly would humans go and destroy a perfectly good hut?” I said with a sigh. “You can tell at a glance that it didn’t fall apart naturally too.”

There were many visible signs which clearly pointed at monsters being responsible for this. So, what was Kaga spending so much time looking around here for?

I guess it doesn’t really need to be said.

“S-So, we should get the hell away from here already,” Kaga said in a panic.

“Yeah.”

Thus, we left the hut behind.

“Anyway, I’m surprised you two managed to survive. You were both part of the home team, right? Do you maybe have one of those cheaters with you?” Kaga kept shooting glances behind him as he questioned me. His voice was full of hope.

“What about you?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t go off on my own like this if I had someone like that around. I’ve just been lucky,” he replied with a grimace.

“I see. The same goes for us. We’ve just been desperately running about, and we got here before we knew it. I managed to pick this thing up, but it never really came into use.” I slapped the wooden sword at my hip.

“Ooh. A wooden sword from a magical puppet, huh? Uhh, what?” Kaga looked at the sword curiously. “Doesn’t this seem... kinda different?”

I averted my gaze and played dumb. “...Who knows? These things are all a mystery to me. I just picked it up after finding it on the ground.”

Kaga’s eyes were of course attracted to the imitation Damascus steel sword. My servant’s adorable thoughtlessness almost caused him to be strangely suspicious of us, but Kaga lost interest and simply went “Hmmm” as he looked the other way. I was saved by how little interest he had in me.

“Well, it’s not like I could even hit a monster with it, so it’s more for self-defense... Oh, I have used it for hunting small animals, but that’s about it.”

“I brought rations out with me from the Colony.” Kaga proudly pointed at the backpack he was carrying and laughed.

“How shrewd.”

He was definitely pretty stupid, but this facet of Kaga was likely what had helped him survive until now. Other than that, I suppose it was all a villain’s luck. Not that I could really say that myself.

Even as I spoke with Kaga, I continued to walk and push the thickets out of our way. Lately, Rose had been taking the vanguard and doing this, so I was no longer used to the heavy labor. I was breathing rather roughly.

Actually, Kaga. Could you forget about Mizushima Miho and help me out already?

“But still, you and Mizushima?”

“It’s just a coincidence.”

“Is that cave you mentioned close?”

“Relatively. We’ll have to be careful while heading that way, so it’ll take about an hour.”

“And you’re the only ones there?”

“Yeah.”

Kaga kept persistently asking about our circumstances as we walked. It was only reasonable that it was on his mind. After spending so much time in the forest alone, he was surely starved for conversation. That was how I decided to interpret it, at least. I didn’t want to think of anything unnecessary, so I focused on creating a path we could walk through.

“So, the reason you guys were at those ruins was ’cause the exploration team might come that way?!”

“Yeah. It might still be a while, though. It’s not guaranteed they’ll come either.”

“That’s more than enough! That’s great! We’re gonna survive!”

“Right.” I responded vaguely and continued making a path toward the cave.

We gradually ran out of questions to ask each other, and our conversation eventually changed to something closer to idle gossip.

“Oh yeah, I found some corpses of guys who were eaten by monsters near here.”

“Was there a bunch of them all torn to shreds?” He was likely talking about the corpses we found a week ago. We continued to search the vicinity since then, but we didn’t find any more dead students. “So, they’re still there. What about them?”

“I mean, one of those guys was an exploration team member, I think.”

“...What? Really?”

This was information I didn’t know. My hands unintentionally came to a stop, and I turned around to face Kaga.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure he was a cheater who didn’t go along with the first expeditionary force and stayed behind at the Colony to protect it.”

“I didn’t notice that...”

“There’s no helping that. The guy was just a regular soldier. He was like an outcast even among the other warriors. That’s why the expeditionary guys didn’t take him along.”

“...I see.”

Something about the way Kaga disparaged the dead bothered me, but I decided to leave that aside for now. He wasn’t the type of guy to listen to advice from others, and he had no reason to listen to me. Besides, this wasn’t the time to be fixated on such inconsequential matters.

If what Kaga was saying was true, things were a little bad. It would mean that there was a powerful monster in the area who could even kill a cheater. Granted, he could have just come across a group of monsters and got taken out while trying to protect the other students who were nothing but hindrances. It was better to assume the worst, though.

It seemed we would be better off moving our base sooner rather than later. Or perhaps it was worth considering that our very survival so far meant the dangerous monster had already left the area. But that was being too optimistic. We had to move our base. At the least, we had to consider such action eventually.

While I was thinking about our situation, Kaga constantly tried to talk to Lily. I had told Lily beforehand to smile and respond appropriately in a friendly manner. There was a chance her disguise would fail if she didn’t speak with him normally. Fortunately enough, Kaga was only interested in desperately displaying his good points, so it didn’t seem like we had to worry about Lily’s identity getting exposed.

In any case, did this guy truly understand the situation he was in? It wasn’t the time to be hitting on girls. Or perhaps it was precisely because he knew the severity of the situation that he was doing so. I didn’t really like the reasoning that if you’re going to die anyway, then you may as well do what you want, but I did understand it.

“We’re here.”

We managed to arrive at the cave without much trouble.

Kaga gazed at the cave with interest. “Hmm. So this is the place.”

I got my breathing back in order and then lightly glared at him. “I’ll need you to help out with all sorts of things from now on, okay? There’s a ton that needs to be done, like finding food and such. We don’t have enough hands to go around.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Kaga waved his hand at me like I was being an annoying nag. “Oh come on, cut it out. You acting like the leader already?”

“I wasn’t intending to. A leader doesn’t really mean anything with just three people to begin with.”

“Damn straight.” Kaga laughed and then snapped his fingers as if he had suddenly realized something. “Oh yeah, there’s something I gotta tell you.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Uhhh.” Kaga put on airs and acted like he was deep in thought. “Before that... Could you have Mizushima go back to the cave?”

“Why?”

“It’s a private talk between us guys. You get it, right?”

What’s this guy on about?

Kaga leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice. “I wanna talk about the expeditionary force.”

“The expeditionary force?” I asked in a quiet voice myself.

“Yeah. It’s about when those guys’ll get back... or whether they’re coming back at all. You wanna hear about it, yeah?”

If this was in fact true, then I had no choice but to hear him out. Not that I knew what that had to do with keeping Mizushima Miho out of it. However, from what I could see from Kaga’s attitude, he showed no signs of yielding. Judging that nothing could be done about this, I turned to “Mizushima Miho.”

“Got it. Are you fine with that, Mizushima? We’ll be nearby, so go back ahead of us.”

“Mm. Got it.” Lily nodded and turned on her heels.

After seeing her vanish into the cave, I turned to face Kaga once more.

“So? What’s this about the expeditionary—”

“Dumbass. Mizushima might still hear us.” Kaga cut me off. “It’s a bit of a stimulating story. Can’t have her hearing us. Let’s go out a little further.”

Kaga began walking without waiting for my reply. I let out a heavy sigh at his refusal to even let me nod and followed after him.