Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 10 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Wounded

I woke up to the sight of an unassuming room. I was staying in a house that had escaped the Holy Order’s destruction. It was just before dawn, and light was starting to fill the room. I’d just seen Shiran lying in a bed next to mine when Asarina suddenly jumped into sight.

“Ssster?”

She tilted her Venus-flytrap-like head and started play-biting my ear.

It felt itchy, so I reflexively tucked my neck, and the gears of my consciousness began moving again.

“Mm... Oh. That’s what’s going on.”

I got up from bed and came out into the hallway.

“Oh. Takahiro.”

“Morning, Kei.”

Kei, who’d been headed toward my room from the hallway, looked surprised.

“Did you bring breakfast?” I asked.

“Yes. I was thinking of checking if you were awake first... Did I maybe wake you up?”

“Not really. Asarina woke me up. To be precise, I had her wake me up. I asked her to keep a watch on our surroundings in case something happened while I was asleep.”

“Masss—ter!”

I gave Asarina a wry smile as she slithered about in the air proudly. Then Kei gave me my meal. Given the circumstances, it was a simple breakfast made up of whatever was available.

“Umm. If you’d rather rest a bit more, I could bring it by later,” Kei said.

“It’s fine. It’s better to eat while I can.”

I took a bite out of the manju-like bun made from potato flour particular to this region. I chewed on its elastic texture and drank it down with some water. It was then that I noticed Kei’s eyes.

“How about you, Kei? Are you all right? You haven’t slept, have you?”

“I’m no use in battle, after all.”

I reached out and tidied up her unkempt hair. Kei closed her eyes and let me do as I pleased for a short while.

“Ssster?” Asarina purred.

Sensing someone approaching, I stopped what I was doing. A male elf and several children appeared down the hallway. After meeting my eyes, the man brought the children my way.

“My apologies for disturbing your rest, sir,” he said.

“Is something the matter, Dennis?” I asked.

He was one of the villagers who’d miraculously escaped the Holy Order’s blades. He was very cooperative with us, and thanks to him, I had a general idea of what had happened here. According to what he’d said before I took a nap, the Holy Order had started by making the villagers disarm themselves and gather in one place.

The people of Aker—men, women, children, the elderly—all walked about armed to varying degrees. Despite the obvious difference in combat experience compared to the knights, the villagers had likely judged it imprudent to resist and put up a fight.

The Holy Order hadn’t suffered a single casualty aside from the knights who’d fought Shiran. I’d found it strange that there’d been no evidence of any villagers resisting, but that was because they’d been prevented from doing so from the start.

However, the villagers had sensed something wrong during all this. Aker bordered the Woodlands, so danger was always close by. It was part of their everyday lives, so the residents of reclamation villages were particularly sensitive to danger. They couldn’t refuse the Holy Order’s demands, but they’d realized it would be dangerous to meekly obey them too. On the spur of the moment, they’d hidden all the children in their houses, an order that came from Shiran’s uncle, the village chief.

By using the Misty Lodge’s perception magic, I’d found all of the children one by one. Some had been in precarious positions because of the burning houses, but I’d somehow made it in time.

Meanwhile, I’d ordered the others, who’d been hiding in the manamobile, to go around collecting any surviving villagers. After gathering them all, Lily had continued casting healing magic until her mana ran dry. The rest of us had had nothing on our hands, so we’d spent the time running around stopping people from bleeding out as best we could.

Lives had been at stake. Time had passed in a flurry. By the time we treated who we could, the sun had set completely. Thanks to Lily’s magic, we saved many lives, but we couldn’t save them all. Some were still alive, but their condition was uncertain. These next few days were going to be the most critical. I wanted to save even just one more life if possible, but at this point, all I could do was pray.

“M-Mister Takahiro,” one of the children said.

They were all shy of ten years old, making them just a little younger than Kei.

“What is it?” I asked.

The children exchanged glances and timidly looked my way. Somehow, their reaction reminded me of how Kei had acted when we met.

Unable to stand by and watch them, Dennis spoke in their stead. “I must apologize for these children, sir. How is Lady Shiran doing?”

They’d apparently come here to find out how she was doing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t provide them the answer they wanted to hear.

“She hasn’t woken up yet...”

I turned to look at the room I came out of. We were connected by the mental path, so I had the best grasp of Shiran’s current condition and could deal with any problems. For that reason, I’d stayed with her while I got some rest, but even after half a day, she remained unconscious and out of mana. I’d soaked her mouth in my own blood a few times while she slept and had managed to recuperate a small amount of her mana. I wanted to believe that she would eventually recover, but...

“Is that so...?” Dennis said with a sigh before lowering his head deeply. “Mister Takahiro, now that the Holy Church has declared us heretics, we have nobody else to turn to. Please take care of Lady Shiran,” he said, grief-stricken.

“I... Yeah. I’ll do everything I can.”

Dennis, haggard with anxiety, raised his head and smiled at me ever so slightly. He was so desperate that even my empty words were enough for him. It also showed that he worried about Shiran from the bottom of his heart. I felt somewhat relieved to see him like this; that was something I’d worried about myself, after all.

I’d feared that, with the Holy Order targeting Shiran, some of the villagers would blame her for all of this. The knights were, of course, in the wrong, and Shiran was nothing more than a victim. Pinning the responsibility on her would be unreasonable. Still, people often acted unreasonably. A cornered human’s weakness would come to the fore.

Thankfully, Dennis and the few survivors of the village didn’t blame Shiran. Or at least, I hadn’t seen any signs of it. That was when I came to a realization. In their minds, this hadn’t happened because of Shiran. They’d been attacked, including Shiran. In short, they were family. The reason they treated me favorably, despite the fact that monsters accompanied me, was in part because I’d saved them, but it was largely because of my relationship with their family members, Shiran and Kei.

The elves of the reclamation villages understood the value of bonds. They were the weak, crushed underfoot by the strong, but they also had stout hearts. Perhaps it was this environment that had fostered Shiran’s nobility. Nevertheless, these same elves were on the verge of a major crisis.

“What’s the best thing we can do...?” I wondered.

After Dennis, the children, and Kei left, I returned to the room where Shiran was resting and started thinking about our next move. Fortunately, the Holy Order had yet to launch an attack.

I’d kept the Misty Lodge up to keep an eye on our surroundings until I eventually had to get some sleep. While I’d been napping, Leah, who’d recovered from the emotional shock, and Lily, who was waiting for her mana to recover, were supposed to be on watch in my stead.

It was hard to believe that the Holy Order would stay their hand much longer. What was the best thing to do? I continued to ponder that question when a voice suddenly called out to me.

“Takahiro...”

Shiran, still lying in bed, opened her eye.

“Shiran?!” I gasped, at a loss for breath. “You’re awake?!”

“Yes.”

This was the first time she’d opened her eyes since running out of mana yesterday.

“Where is this?” she asked. “Actually, what happened to me?” Shiran closed her eye, combing her memories. “Oh, right. I saw the village under attack, and then...”

“So you remember?”

“Up until I lost myself and went on a rampage. From the looks of it, I ran out of mana and became immobile.”

Even though she was physically weaker now, she hadn’t lost the experience she’d built up as a knight. She was calm despite just regaining consciousness.

“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.

“About half a day. I’m so glad you came back to us.”

I walked up to Shiran’s side, lowered myself to one knee, and took a close look at her face. Her voice was so weak that I could barely hear her without doing this. She’d regained consciousness, but she was definitely still debilitated.

“Do you...want blood?” I asked.

“No. I’m grateful for the offer, but there isn’t much point. Takahiro, you can tell, can’t you?”

Her voice was frail, but her tone still quietly admonished me. I understood instinctively that she was right. Shiran’s body already absorbed very little mana to begin with, but her symptoms had gotten worse now, and she could absorb almost nothing.

An undead monster’s mental state greatly influenced their body. Shiran’s spirit had been so beat down that she couldn’t even maintain her own body. Her vessel was cracked, and only a little water remained at the very bottom.

“What happened to the village...?”

Even in such a state, the first thing on her mind was the safety of others. Consequently, I couldn’t keep it from her.

“According to what I heard...”

I went on to tell her about what had happened after she’d lost consciousness, including what Dennis had told me.

“That’s everything.”

“I see. Because the Holy Order was chasing me...”

Shiran fell silent; it was a difficult situation for her to swallow. Time wouldn’t wait, though.

“Sorry, Shiran. I want to get things in order. Can I get your thoughts?”

She had experience as a lieutenant of the Alliance Knights, so she had some knowledge regarding the Holy Order. Her opinion had great value.

“First, do you think this incident is backed by the entire Holy Order?” I asked.

“I can’t say for certain...” Shiran answered, averting her eye. “But I think that’s unlikely.”

“Can you tell me why?”

“The knights who did this were far too violent. I’ve yet to meet him in person, but the Holy Order’s marshal, Sir Harrison Addington, and its vice marshal, Sir Gordon Cavill, have terrific reputations. They are both knights of great repute. Besides...”

Shiran blinked slowly as if remembering the past.

“I heard this during my time in the Alliance Knights,” she continued. “The commander was acquainted with them.”

“How did they meet?”

“Several years ago, the Holy Order’s First Company visited Fort Tilia. It was when my brother was still alive. The commander rated them highly, saying, ‘Those are true knights.’ I find it hard to believe that people like that would attack civilians.”

“I see.”

Travis’s force was just one of the Holy Order’s four companies. It would be too hasty to label the entire order based on what we’d seen from this one company.

“Meaning we can assume that Travis started this incident of his own accord?” I asked.

“That’s what I believe.”

“So we haven’t made an enemy of the entire Holy Order. That’s good, at least...” I said, knitting my brow. “But in that case, it will be hard to convince them to stop the attack.”

“It will be. From what you’ve told me, Travis of the Holy Gaze didn’t act out of righteous indignation. It would be difficult to undo any misunderstandings and reconcile like we did with the Skanda Yuna.”

Say this incident had all happened because the Holy Order considered me a dangerous individual. In that case, we might have reached a compromise like we had with Iino. However, if Travis was doing this out of malice for the sake of fame and glory, then that wouldn’t fly. It would be useless to claim that I wasn’t evil and that Shiran wasn’t dangerous despite being undead.

Travis carried the just cause of subjugating the Wicked Monster Tamer and the Repulsive Ghoul, but that was nothing more than an excuse. The truth didn’t really matter. If that was their stance, then I could understand why they attacked the village. If the villagers were in cahoots with me, then the knights were justified in murdering them. If the villagers weren’t, then dead men told no tales.

“Reconciliation is impossible. That said, we can’t run away either,” I remarked, throwing out ideas as they came up. “Several villagers are on the verge of death. We can’t escape with them.”

It would be hard to move them when they needed bed rest, let alone move them quickly.

“The only choice is to strike back...” I muttered. Battle was inevitable. I clenched my fists.

But unlike me, Shiran remained calm. Unnaturally calm, in fact.

“No. There’s a way to avoid battle,” she said.

Her voice had no strength behind it, but there was still a powerful glint in her eye. Her expression was that of someone resolving themself for death.

“I have a request,” she said. “I will stay behind in the village. Takahiro, please take everyone capable of moving and run away.”