Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 11 - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: A Clue ~Iino Yuna’s POV~

After reuniting with Jinguuji in Viscount Bann’s castle, I headed out to link back up with Gordon and the knights of the Holy Order’s Second Company.

“Welcome back, Miss Iino,” Gordon greeted me as I arrived at the inn we’d selected beforehand.

“I’m back, Sir Gordon. Have there been any developments?”

“Please listen to this. We’ve acquired information about a savior. What’s more, they are in very close proximity to here.”

Gordon looked excited. He immediately signaled to have a map spread across his table and began telling me about the new information.

“There are eyewitness accounts of a savior staying in this village here. After that, the information moves to this village. It’s right next to the one we’re in now,” he said, his thick finger tracing along the map. “Normally, we would start by passing the information to the First Company, but it’ll be faster to go there ourselves. We may finally have a lead on the fake savior.”

“I’m surprised,” I muttered. “That’s where I planned to go next.”

“What?”

The village Gordon had pointed out was the one where, according to Jinguuji, I could find some former exploration team members. It was a bit of a shock, but after thinking about it logically, that village was close to the town we were staying in now. It wasn’t strange that Gordon’s group had acquired information on it. I went on to tell him about how I’d met Jinguuji at Viscount Bann’s castle and of what Jinguuji had told me.

“I see. So that’s what’s going on? Not a fake, but real saviors. Forgive me,” Gordon said, looking somewhat ashamed.

“It’s fine. You didn’t know,” I said, then pointed to the map. “There’s a Dark Woods close to this village. They probably went there to protect the villagers from monsters.”

“Ooh, I’d expect nothing less of the hallowed saviors,” one of the knights said with a sigh of admiration.

“This has nothing to do with the fake savior,” I said, looking around at the others, “but I’d like to inform them of the situation. If they know about it, they’ll have a better chance of doing something if someone accuses them of being fakes. How about it?”

I was a little worried they wouldn’t go along with it, but Gordon nodded deeply.

“Of course. We do not wish for the great saviors to be subject to unjust criticism either.”

“Thank you very much.”

Things went off without a hitch, and we packed up within the day and headed out toward the village in question.

◆ ◆ ◆

The manamobile clattered about on our way there.

“You seem to be in a good mood,” Gordon suddenly said from the seat next to mine.

“Huh?”

I looked back at him in confusion. The other knights riding with us were all smiling at me. It was only then that I realized that I’d been humming quietly in rhythm with the shaking carriage.

“Ah...” My cheeks got hotter, and I averted my eyes. “Ha ha. I might’ve cut loose a little.”

Up until now, we’d been chasing rumors, but we’d hit several dead ends. The credibility of the stories were constantly in question, and villages that we’d visited had already been reduced to ghost towns. This was the first time we had some tangible results.

“I relaxed a bit too much. Sorry,” I said.

“There’s no need to apologize, madam,” Gordon said. “You’ve been helping us with our work so passionately. We feel the same.”

“That’s good then.” I smiled, then grimaced. “But we’re back to square one with the fake savior, aren’t we?”

“It seems so.”

Up until now, we’d gotten no useful clues. All we’d found was the damage done. We’d already discovered several villages that, after an eyewitness account of a fake savior, had been utterly destroyed by a monster attack. In all cases, the culprit had been welcomed as a savior, and before their true identity could be discovered, they had run away. We believed they’d dragged monsters into the village to erase any evidence. Their actions were nothing short of brutish.

Who could it be? Considering how scattered these incidents had been and how wide an area they covered, it was hard to imagine that there was only one culprit. But if there were multiple, why did they go to these villages and do nothing but accept a hero’s welcome?

Taking that into consideration, the other possibility sounded more likely—in short, that it was the work of the culprit behind Fort Tilia’s attack, the Lord of Darkness, Kudou Riku. He hated humanity, and he had more than enough of a motive to do this.

However, if Kudou Riku was the fake savior, some parts of this didn’t make sense. Why would he do things in such a roundabout manner? He had the ability to freely manipulate monsters, so if he wanted to destroy villages, he could simply trample them down without having to do something so circuitous as going there in person and pretending to be a savior.

So why? I tried to come up with some reason, but I didn’t have a clue. I wasn’t suited for this stuff. They said detectives had to earn their keep on the scene. That wasn’t really the case here, but our only choice was to continue gathering information and catch the culprit red-handed.

But just catching them in the act wouldn’t be enough. Gordon’s knights were carrying out the investigation with great vigor, but if the culprit was in fact the Lord of Darkness, then even if they caught him in the act, he would certainly strike them all down. It would be nice if I just happened to be present, but I couldn’t always be with them.

So what were we to do? I had an idea.

“I have a suggestion regarding the former exploration team members currently staying in the village we’re on our way to,” I said. “I was thinking of asking them to help with our investigation. The exploration team has many members who have a strong sense of justice. If we ask, I’m pretty sure they’ll agree. In truth, they left the exploration team and came here because they wanted to answer the hopes of the nobles whose lands are suffering damage from monster attacks.”

“Really? How commendable,” Gordon said. “I was under the impression that the saviors staying in the village were merely visiting on their way to the imperial capital.”

“Aah. Now that you mention it, I didn’t say anything about that, huh? When the exploration team was staying at Fort Ebenus, they came into contact with the nobles from this region. The nobles appealed to them many times, saying their lands suffered from monster attacks, so some of our members left to come here. There are some like Jinguuji who are living under the care of nobles like Viscount Bann, but apparently, there are also others going around to villages on their own.”

They were the ones who would presumably help with our investigation. After all, they kept their distance from nobles precisely because they hadn’t come here to live in luxury.

“Seems like there’re others going around village to village without bothering any nobles. ‘We’re fighting to save those in need,’ so they say. They’re the ones with proper motives, unlike the happy-go-lucky idiots like me.”

That was what Jinguuji had said. They went around with no support, suppressing monsters in the region without even asking for recompense. I was sure they would aid our investigation.

“Hm?” It was then that I heard a groan come from Gordon. There was a small crease between his brows. “The saviors are going around to villages on their own?”

“Huh? Yes. That’s what I heard.”

“Is that so...?”

I was a little bewildered by how unconvinced he sounded.

“Is something the matter?” I asked.

“No. Not really. It’s nothing serious,” Gordon answered after a short pause. “I was simply wondering why they aren’t coordinating with nobles.”

“Huh?”

“It would be more efficient to suppress monsters in the region by cooperating with the local authorities.”

It was more like he was purely curious, rather than stating an opinion. He had a point too.

“Well...”

In terms of efficiency, coordinating with the local nobles would be best. They were the ones at their wits’ end from these monster attacks, so they’d happily cooperate however they could. That wasn’t necessarily always the case, of course. Working with nobles came with its own inconveniences. For example, if a noble prioritized their own profits over the people’s safety and that sort of injustice sat poorly with the visitor, it would actually be better to refuse to work with them.

But did the students who came to these lands even think about it that far? Did their refusal to live in luxury really come with noble intentions? Seized by such suspicions, I remained at a loss for several seconds.

Just then, the manamobile shook greatly, and the grating sound of the brakes resounded in the air.

“What happened?!” Gordon roared, his expression instantly turning into that of a commander on the field.

“Bad news!” the knight at the driver’s seat yelled. “Monsters!”

That was all I needed to hear. I leaped from the carriage. First, I had to assess the situation. I could see a monster that looked like a big dog covered in scales charging down the road toward us. By the time I identified it, I’d already brandished my sword.

Monster encounters were frequent during any journey in this world. This wasn’t the first time during my travels with Gordon’s knights that we’d run up on some.

It ended in an instant. Before the monster even recognized my presence, I cut off its head.

“O-Oooh!” the knight in the driver’s seat exclaimed. “That was splendid, Miss Iino!”

“It was nothing.”

I swung the blood off my sword and was about to return it to its sheath, but I stopped just as the tip of the blade went in.

“Graaawr!”

A beastly howl struck my ears, and I turned around instantly. A huge ape with blue fur was glaring at me from beyond the trees some distance from the road. It was another monster. It puffed out its chest, opened its mouth wide, and roared. I slammed my sword into its mouth.

“Grah?!”

I gave it no time to react. I crushed its brain, and the monster died in an instant. This level of monster was nothing to me.

“What’s going on...?”

My voice sounded grave. After all, I’d grasped what was happening. I showed no interest in the giant ape as it collapsed to the ground, and instead returned to the manamobile where Gordon and the other knights waited.

“Miss Iino, I’d expect nothing less of—”

“It’s an emergency!” I yelled, cutting Gordon off. “I sense monsters all around us!”

The knights, who’d relaxed somewhat, all gasped. Gordon was the first to adapt and speak.

“How many?” he asked.

He really was the vice marshal of the elite Holy Order. He got right to the point.

“I don’t know how many exactly, but...a whole lot.”

There was a centipede with gaping maws on both ends of its body, a frog the size of a cow, a lizard with a sharpened cranium like a sword, and ten or so other monsters headed our way. They were still a distance away, but it wouldn’t be long before they reached us.

Realizing the situation we were in, the knights started panicking.

“How can this be? So many monsters at once...?”

Under normal circumstances, the spectacle before them would have been impossible. Excluding famous examples of migratory monsters like tripdrills and species like the blowfox—like the one Majima had with him—monsters didn’t normally gather in packs. It was even more unheard of for monsters of different species to attack the same target at once.

This was the stuff of legends, like the tale of the savior who’d suffered a crushing defeat in the Abyss five hundred years ago, or like the major incident at a certain fortress far more recently.

“This probably isn’t all of them,” I said.

The pieces of the puzzle were falling in place. It was an unexpected development, but in a certain sense, it also answered all of my doubts.

“Aah... I get it. That’s what’s going on,” I muttered bitterly.

“Miss Iino?”

I strengthened my grip on my sword and gritted my teeth. I swallowed my anger, then turned to face the monsters.

“I’ll exterminate them,” I declared. “The rest of you abandon the vehicle and return the way you came.”

“No, if we’re returning, then you should come with—”

“I’m going to continue to the village.”

“You can’t! That’s too dangerous!” Gordon yelled, moving in front of me and blocking my path. “It’s dangerous for a savior to stand against so many monsters on their own. What do you think we knights exist for?”

“Sir Gordon...”

His stern expression indicated that he was worried for my safety from the bottom of his heart.

“We exist to fall in place of the saviors,” he continued. “Only the saviors can save the world. That is why we take up our swords and freely give them our lives.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but...”

Although the powers visitors gained by coming to this world weren’t absolute, they still put us far above all others. Even cheaters without nicknames could defeat monsters with ease. When a group like the exploration team traveled together, there was no danger whatsoever. That was liable to make one misunderstand. Monsters posed more than enough of a threat to saviors too.

An enemy that could be easily defeated one-on-one would be much more formidable in a group of ten. More than ten, and there was a significant risk of death. Saviors were still human. Exhaustion and fatigue were inevitable. Even throughout history, many saviors had died in battle against monsters. I didn’t know much about it, but this was why the Imperial Knights and Holy Order always accompanied any saviors.

“So return with us,” Gordon said.

“But I have to go.”

I shook my head. I was fully aware of the danger, but I couldn’t step down. I had to strike down evil. That was what the Skanda’s power existed for.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, smiling. “I’m not charging in recklessly. I’ll run away if it gets dangerous.”

“Miss Iino...”

“Please relax. I’m actually pretty strong.”

It would be suicidal for any other member of the exploration team to charge into a swarm of monsters, but I had a nickname among cheaters. I was the Skanda. I was the strongest in the exploration team when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

“I’m going.”

I kicked off the ground in top gear. The burning emotion in my heart, undoubtedly from the flames of anger I felt toward wicked deeds, fueled my legs into motion. It burned brightly with no signs of fading and sent my body flying forward. With thoughts of what awaited me filling my mind, I strengthened my grip on the sword in my hand.