Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 1 - Chapter SS

Extra Story: That Which I Carry In My Heart ~Lily’s POV~

I leaped toward a high branch and thrust out the spear in my hands.

“Yaaah!”

I let out a yell, and the tip of my spear gouged into the tree. My timing was perfect. My aim was good. The little skink lizard crawling along the tree split in two and fell to the ground. I landed a moment later and pumped my empty fist in victory.

Taking aim at small animals like this was about 50-50 for me. Quite often, they would literally cast off their tails and run away. I wasn’t really good at hitting small targets.

Unfortunately, as a slime, I didn’t have much knowledge in spearmanship to begin with. And the girl I became able to mimic a few days ago, Mizushima Miho, had no reliable skills in this regard either. About the only tool I could rely on her for was the oboe, which was useless in a fight. I doubted such an instrument could be procured in this world, anyway.

Fortunately, the original owner of this spear, the magical puppet I ate, had a fundamental knowledge of how to use it, even if it wasn’t to the level of martial arts. Thanks to that, I was at least able to use it as a weapon in battle.

I picked up the dead lizard and stored it in my leather bag. I looked at my other bag filled with edible berries and loosened my cheeks.

I wonder if my master will be pleased with this?

◆ ◆ ◆

“Welcome back, Lily.”

I was greeted by my master and Rose as I returned to the cave. Katou was still sleeping and didn’t notice. I handed today’s harvest over to Rose and then hugged my master’s arm.

“Eheheh, I’m back.”

He had a perfectly average build, but unexpectedly his arms were quite firm. When he got teleported to this world, my master took part in the construction of the Colony as a member of the home team. He was a serious person, so it was easy to imagine he had worked harder than anyone else. I could actually see him working vigorously in Mizushima Miho’s memories too.

He’d evidently built up some muscle over the course of doing manual labor. There was worth in hugging his arm, and I wanted to have it pressed against my chest at all times. Actually, I pretty much spent all my time doing so except for when we were on the move.

“Sorry for making you do all this, Lily.”

He gently brushed my head. His fingers were rough, like one would expect of a boy. His hand ran across my forehead. The feeling of his touch against the skin I was mimicking was endlessly endearing.

“It’s fine, Master. It’s more than enough for me to spend time like this when I get back.”

I closed my eyes and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling on my fake skin. My master didn’t refuse my embrace. Though, it had nothing to do with Mizushima Miho’s beauty or the feeling of my breasts, which I had made a little bigger with my mimicry. He accepted my very existence.

Being by him was ever so calming. I strongly believed this to be my place. My master’s side was truly special to my being.

I’m a mimic slime, a monster completely unique in this world. From the very moment I was born, I instinctively knew I was alone. That’s why I immediately separated from my mother specimen’s body and ran away as if shooting right out of her. In the next instant, the queen slime who’d birthed me came crashing down on the spot. If I had sat there inattentively, I would’ve been crushed flat the moment I was born. It obviously wasn’t normal even for a monster without a will to kill their newborn child. Such creatures wouldn’t be able to propagate.

In other words, my mother specimen didn’t consider me to be the same as her. It was entirely possible she didn’t even have a sense for actually birthing me into this world. She may have just thought that foreign matter had been ejected from her body.

After barely escaping the danger which immediately followed my birth, I lived on as a weakling in the forest. I simply wandered around without a purpose. I ran away when I encountered other monsters. If I couldn’t get away, I used magic to intercept them and to create an opening to do so. I had no kin. Everything I met was either enemy or prey.

Wander around, meet something, run, wander around, meet something, eat, wander around, meet something, attack, run away, wander around, wander around, wander around... Those dull and uninteresting days went on and on.

That fateful day, the day I came to this cave, had been the same. I wandered through the forest as always and detected the taste of blood on the ground. Sensing something wounded, I instinctively began chasing its whereabouts.

A small amount of blood was scattered here and there. It hadn’t been that long since it fell to the ground. I continued pursuing the trail while diligently erasing those tracks. I wanted to make sure nobody snatched my spoils.

I arrived at the cave and finally found my prey. It had been fairly weakened. It was so debilitated it would absolutely die even if I didn’t do anything. As a weakling of the forest myself, encountering this manner of prey was a great opportunity.

I immediately began eating my food. This was the first time in my life I got to eat something so big. I gradually dissolved it from the fingertips while it was still alive. Just then, my prey groaned. It was common for food to groan while on the verge of death. And yet I came to a complete stop. For some reason, I could understand that my prey was in grief over something.

Someone, save me.

It was odd. My prey was debilitated, so it wasn’t even capable of groaning. In other words, anything that came from its mouth shouldn’t have been coherent. There was no way for me to understand anything it said. Actually, I was nothing more than a slime in the first place. I wasn’t able to understand anything like human language.

I now knew this was the voice of my master’s heart conveyed to me through our mental path. Our souls were connected. Our hearts were connected. Everything about what was supposed to be my prey flowed into me through that passageway made of mana.

I swallowed all of it. I licked it all up and ate every last crumb. I was a slime; it was my instinct to digest everything that went into my stomach. And by tasting the heart of another, I became aware of my “self” with regard to “others.” That was when he taught me everything about how “I” should live. That was how my personality quickly took shape.

Such a thing barely existed within me before, and I screamed in joy when it took such concrete form. I was changing. I was being changed. Anything and everything about me transformed. In that case, I wasn’t the one eating him. Perhaps he was eating me from the inside out.

Why was this feeling so sweet? I wanted to eat more. No, it was the other way. I wanted to be eaten more. I was completely intoxicated.

When I noticed the thing flowing into me weakening rapidly, I came back to my senses. I wondered what was going on, and I realized my prey... that boy was dying. I spat out his hand in a panic.

I had no kin. Everything was either enemy or prey. And yet I didn’t hesitate to cast healing magic on him.

“Save me.” That’s what he had said. That was the first time anyone desired anything from me. It was also the first time I thought to answer any such plea. Not that I ever had the opportunity to think of such a thing before.

The feeling of wanting to save this tattered boy was my very first desire since being born. And that desire persisted even now.

◆ ◆ ◆

I embraced my master’s arm against my chest. Just by being here, I could fully chew on the feeling of someone else being there. Just by doing so, I could confirm I wasn’t alone.

I was originally an isolated existence. With no heart, I couldn’t even think that such a thing was painful as I wandered around all alone. Upon fortuitously meeting my master, I was no longer lonely. I had my beloved master with me now. I had my cute and reliable little sister. And I had a heart which could think of these bonds as precious.

I couldn’t help but pray such days went on forever.

“Master.”

“What?”

I called out to him, and he replied. Just by looking up at him, a huge smile came to my face.

“I love you.”

Higure Minto

A resident of Osaka. In elementary school, they dove into the sixth entry of a certain JRPG where a slime became an ally, and now they are writing a novel where the heroine is a slime. (September 2014)

Illustrations by Napo.

Born in February 1994 in Nagano. Their favorite food is ramen. Has recently taken on photography as a hobby. Taking pretty pictures is a great pleasure of theirs. (September 2014)