Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 11 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Skanda’s Questions ~Iino Yuna’s POV~

Shortly after the unexpected anticlimax, the battle came to an end. I watched it all the way through, in a daze the whole time. I was feeling extremely fatigued, but that was also because all the tension that’d been hanging over me snapped at once.

My head was throbbing as if I had a terrible cold. I couldn’t get enough oxygen. There was no blood in my face. It felt like my stomach was empty, yet it also felt as if what was inside was trying to come back out.

“Iino...? Hey! It’s Iino!”

I felt like I was going to pass out, but just around the time the last monster fell, the former exploration team members noticed me. They all jumped up onto the walls next to me.

“I thought it was weird. Not that many monsters made their way in. I didn’t think you were fighting for us outside!”

“Umm, you’re...Hebiiwa Keigo, right?”

My brain wasn’t working right, so it took me a second to remember his name.

“That’s right. So you remember me.”

Hebiiwa was one year younger than me. The boy and girl who were with him were also first years. I didn’t have any sort of connection to them, but we’d at least spoken a few times before this. The three of them beamed at me with innocent smiles.

“You really surprised us! You were holding them back, right?”

“Whoa! Amazing! There’s a ton of dead monsters outside!”

“This many all on your own? That’s Iino for you!”

The battle had only just ended, so they were all a little excited. They all praised me, leaving me no opening to cut in. Not that I had the composure to say anything. I was exhausted.

The knights of the Holy Order came over soon after.

“Well done, Mister Keigo. Who is this, by the way?”

“Right, let me introduce you. This is Iino Yuna, one of the exploration team’s upper brass.”

“Ooh, so this is the famous Skanda of the exploration team! You’ve told me about her before!”

“It looks like she was fighting outside the village. Come on, take a look.”

Hebiiwa’s words were overflowing with genuine respect, and the knight speaking with him was the same. However, listening to them made my throat feel disgustingly dry for some reason.

“A-All this on her own?!” the knight exclaimed.

“It surprised me too,” Hebiiwa replied. “The rumors are true... No, this is well beyond the rumors.”

“You three played an active role too.”

“All’s well that ends well.”

“Listen up, everyone!” the knight called. “The crisis is over thanks to the hard efforts of these great saviors!”

“Inform all the villagers!”

“Hail the saviors!”

The knights cheered in chorus. Hearing them, the villagers who’d been hiding in the houses started coming out one after the other. They looked up our way, their eyes filled with hope.

An unpleasant sensation crawled up my throat. I’d only realized how powerless I truly was moments ago. I wasn’t so impudent that I could accept such praise shortly after.

“P-Please wait a moment.”

Unable to bear it, I cut in. Because of my horrible headache, the simple act of speaking felt like stabbing a knife into my brain. Still, thanks to that, the haze that had been clouding my thoughts cleared up.

“What’s the matter, Iino?” Hebiiwa asked, his young-looking face steeped in concern. “You’re looking pretty pale. Sorry, I didn’t notice. You fought that many monsters, so I’m sure you’re tired. You should get some—”

“I’m all right, Hebiiwa.” I refused the hand he offered me. There was something I had to get to first. “More importantly, I need to ask you something. Why is the Holy Order here?”

I’d known that former exploration team members would be in this village, but nobody had said anything about the Holy Order.

“Oh, that? Well, I guess it does seem strange, huh?” Hebiiwa said, nodding. “We’ve actually been chasing rumors of the fake savior.”

“The fake savior...?”

“Yeah. After we left the exploration team, we made our way to the imperial capital. There were others who did the same. We were under the care of the Holy Church there. One day, we got a request to help investigate these rumors of a fake savior.”

Not all former members of the exploration team were in this region. Over sixty people had left the team after we’d reached Fort Ebenus. A fair number of them had gone to the imperial capital, which was basically the center of this world.

It was standard for visitors to be invited to the capital and fight as saviors. Hebiiwa’s group basically fell into this category and had agreed to help investigate the fake savior.

“That’s what brought you here?” I asked.

“Yeah. We accepted right away,” he answered, puffing out his chest. “We’re saviors, after all. We gotta help people in need.”

He showed no hesitation as he spoke. I was a little surprised. I didn’t know he had such a strong sense of justice. The other two nodded. These three obviously got along well.

“That’s basically it,” Hebiiwa continued, throwing a look at the knights. “That’s how we ended up coming here with the knights of the Holy Order’s First Company.”

“The First Company? Meaning you got word from the Second Company?”

“Huh? How do you know that?”

Hebiiwa looked confused, but I was starting to see the bigger picture.

“I’ve been traveling with the Second Company,” I said. “We’ve also been chasing the fake savior.”

“Aah, that’s why.”

The First and Second Company were both investigating this incident together, but we’d only decided on our destination yesterday, so neither group had been aware of each other’s movements. That was normal, considering how slow communication was in this world.

“I understand,” I said with a nod. “It’s a shame the culprit in question got away, then.”

Hebiiwa’s group had come all the way here looking for the fake savior, but it had been in vain. Things would’ve ended had I captured Kudou Riku, but I hadn’t been able to. I had to inform them of this and exchange what information we had.

Oh, I also had to tell them of the two dead exploration team members. It was a heavy topic, but it was my responsibility as the one who failed to accomplish anything. However, just before I could inform them of this, Hebiiwa cut me off.

“No, he didn’t, Iino.” A somewhat-proud air floated behind his innocent smile. “We caught the fake savior.”

“Huh...? You...caught him?”

I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t understand what he said.

“Yes. Well, it was the knights who caught him.”

He spoke like he didn’t have a care in the world. It wasn’t a lie or a joke, and that just made it all the more confusing.

“H-Hang on, the knights caught him?”

“Yeah. We weren’t there when it happened, so we only got the report afterward. Uhh, is something wrong?”

“You weren’t there?” Things were making less and less sense. “So you’re saying the knights caught Kudou Riku all on their own?”

That was impossible. He was the Lord of Darkness. Just moments ago, I had to let him get away. Me, the Skanda, a cheater with a nickname. However, Hebiiwa’s response just confused me more.

“Kudou? What’s this got to do with Kudou?” he asked, blinking in confusion.

“I mean, Kudou Riku is the fake savior, so...”

“What makes you say that?”

“Huh?”

We looked at each other in bewilderment. What was going on? We weren’t getting through to each other, and something felt off. It was a mess. Was one of us misunderstanding something? If so, what?

“The Holy Order caught the fake savior, and it isn’t Kudou Riku?”

This was completely different from what I knew, but that was what Hebiiwa was saying. I suddenly recalled my conversation with Kudou.

“This is this, that is that... Not that it seems like you’ll listen to me.”

He’d denied laying a hand on the former exploration team members. What’s more, he’d claimed that this incident with the village had nothing to do with him. If he’d been lying, would he have made such a poor excuse?

Did that mean he acted like that precisely because he was telling the truth? If so... No, that couldn’t be right. I denied that thought. I mean, it’d be weird if that was the case. If Kudou had nothing to do with this village, then what was with all the monsters?

Things weren’t matching up. Kudou had just been spouting random lies. I couldn’t think of any other possibility. But if Kudou was the fake savior, who was the one they captured in this village? I had to think. Who was in this village to begin with?

“No way...”

I reached my answer and groaned. If I was right, I couldn’t let it be. I closed in on Hebiiwa in a fluster.

“Hebiiwa! Where is the fake savior right now?!”

“Huh? Wh-What’s this all of a sudden?” he asked, his eyes darting about.

“Just answer me!”

“U-Uhh... We didn’t catch him or anything, so I don’t know for sure. I heard he was to be escorted right away to— Hey! Iino?!”

I started moving before he’d even finished. I ran across the wall that encircled the village. It was a small village, so the gate quickly came into sight. I saw someone being led to a manamobile parked nearby—a criminal. He had a white cloth covering his head and was surrounded by knights.

“Wait right there!”

I suppressed my headache and my urge to vomit and leaped from the wall. I landed like a bullet right in front of the knights.

“Wh-What?!”

A whirlwind of sand kicked up, and the knights covered their faces in shock. The white cloth that had been covering the criminal’s face also flew up in the air.

“Ah...”

Our eyes met. He was a boy with black hair and eyes. It was just as I thought.

“Kouzu.”

I called his name, and the boy’s sunken eyes widened slightly.

“Iino?”

Kouzu Asahi. He was a former exploration team member. He was a second year like me, so I’d talked with him quite a lot during our time in the exploration team. He was the fake savior they’d arrested.

I never thought that both a real and fake savior would be in the same village at the same time. If they’d caught a fake savior who wasn’t Kudou Riku, then this kind of misunderstanding was entirely possible. Of the three former exploration team members staying in this village, two had been killed. The third had been mistaken for the fake savior.

“Miss Iino?”

I reunited with one other person in this moment. One of the knights had spoken up, a woman who gave off an air of wisdom. I remembered her.

“Umm, we met before, right?” I asked.

“Yes. My name is Eleanor. I apologize for the discourtesy I showed the other day.”

She was the female knight I’d met in one of the destroyed villages that had fallen victim to the fake savior. I’d been mistaken for the fake, and she’d drawn her sword on me. It was some strange fate that I now witnessed her mistaking another visitor as a fake savior.

I’d managed to get by without a problem because Gordon knew who I was. Here, I knew who Kouzu was. The situation was very similar.

“Lady Eleanor, we’ll talk about that later. For now...I’m glad I made it in time.”

I ran over to Kouzu. I placed my hands on his shoulders and peered into his eyes. He looked exhausted. That only made sense if he’d been falsely accused. Seeing my weakened comrade, some strength returned to my own withered body. I looked back to the knights surrounding us.

“Please listen to me. He isn’t the fake savior.”

“Are you saying he’s real?” Eleanor asked.

Her expression was stern. There was a certain pressure behind her eyes that nearly made me falter.

“That’s right,” I said, returning her gaze head-on. I would protect my comrades. I had no intention of yielding a single step. “He’s a savior just like me.”

Even if Eleanor obstinately stuck to her misunderstanding, I planned to firmly object to the end. I’d sworn to myself that I would. However, that resolve was crushed from an unexpected direction.

“You’re wrong...”

“Huh?”

I staggered and gasped, stupefied. I’d been pushed aside. My body was weak after having fought for so long, but it was more because I hadn’t expected it whatsoever. It was unbelievable. The person who’d pushed me aside stared back at me.

“Kouzu...?”

“You’re wrong.”

He was hoarse. I felt a sudden chill. Kouzu’s face was vacant. It was as though he were a corpse who’d just gotten back up.

“You’re wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!”

He screamed. He tore at his hair and kept yelling his denial. His hair came out, and his nails dug through his skin. He didn’t stop even as blood flowed down his head. I was petrified by his mad behavior.

“I’m not a savior!” Kouzu screamed, his voice sounding as if it came from the depths of despair. “I’m nothing like a savior!”

And then he collapsed to the ground. I couldn’t do anything but stare down at his back. I couldn’t understand what was going on. I couldn’t make sense of the scene before me.

Someone please tell me what the heck is going on.