Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 11 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Second Sister’s Path to Love ~Lily’s POV~

The village was currently short on hands. It was small, but it couldn’t be maintained with only about a dozen adults. We’d all racked our brains trying to figure out what to do about it, and a few days back, a solution had presented itself.

Melvin, the neighboring village’s chief, had sent people over to help. He did so because Philip had promised my master he’d send aid, so we were now actively moving toward restoring the village. There were, however, a few concerns.

We weren’t hiding our circumstances here. Even though this was bound to happen sooner or later, people coming from the outside posed a risk. That said, Melvin had apparently helped us out in this regard. The elves he’d sent hadn’t looked at Gerbera or Lobivia with disgust in their eyes.

Melvin had given them very detailed instructions, and his wife, Leah, had taken the initiative to be very friendly with us monsters. Moreover, the elves were all familiar faces who’d either worked with us suppressing the azure hares or crossed blades with my master during that series of mock battles. I could tell that Melvin had put thought into who he’d sent. From the looks of it, there weren’t going to be any problems.

Leah took charge and tasked the newcomers to care for the fields that we hadn’t been able to get around to. There still weren’t enough hands to go around, though, so we remained responsible for protecting the village.

There weren’t all that many of us for the job. Fortunately, several people, like my master and Shiran, could detect enemies over a wide range, so we were fairly certain we could keep the villagers safe. Still, it was questionable whether we could protect all of the village’s facilities.

Considering the village’s future, it was best to avoid as much damage as possible, so we took precautionary measures before any monster attacks could happen. To be more specific, we suppressed the monsters in the region. That was the reason I found myself walking through the forest now.

I mimicked a wolf’s sense of smell and remained vigilant of my surroundings. My master walked behind me. It didn’t stand out much in this gloomy forest, but he had his perception magic, the Misty Lodge, deployed. It could cover a wide area, and depending on factors like the direction of the wind, it could sense abnormalities beyond what my nose was capable of.

Taking into consideration the balance of our forces in and out of the village, we’d brought Lobivia with us too, so there was no need to worry if it came to battle. What’s more, Salvia was out today as well.

“You’ve gotten rather accustomed to this magic, my dear,” she said happily, floating casually above our master’s shoulder. She almost looked like a balloon being tugged along by a string.

“Well, I guess I can now make it last pretty long,” he replied.

“That’s proof that you’ve grown adept at it and have cut out the waste,” Salvia said. “I didn’t think you’d master it so quickly. You’re gifted.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s more that we have good compatibility.”

He didn’t sound like he was being humble; he truly believed this. As a matter of fact, he didn’t have much aptitude for magic. Actually, disregarding my personal feelings, he was a mediocre fighter. He wasn’t lacking in talent completely, but there was nothing worth noting either. Talent wasn’t the reason he got used to handling mana relatively quickly. His experiences surviving several life-threatening situations had likely played a far larger role.

For example, he’d quickly learned how to handle mana only because Gerbera had supplied him with mana after he’d nearly gotten killed by blowfoxes and bullet creepers. Also, his current trump card, manifesting the Great White Spider’s strength, had awakened in the midst of battle against the Mad Beast, much like how people could somehow summon a primal strength when faced with a dire emergency. That awakening even came with the risk of losing his memories of his world.

The reason he could fight at all to begin with was because of his regular training regimen. It was so severe that anyone who didn’t know of his circumstances would think he was absolutely insane. Anyone would be able to fight after going through that kind of training. It was a different matter whether they could withstand the training itself, though.

Our master gritted his teeth and tried his best for our sakes. Nobody could replicate this feat. The accumulation of his effort was exactly what had allowed him to fight alongside Asarina and to acquire Salvia’s magic. Even so, none of that canceled out his mediocre talent. All that considered, his mastery of the Misty Lodge was outstanding.

“Tee hee hee. Excellent compatibility, huh?” Salvia said with a giggle. “You might be right, my dear. It’s so very comfortable inside you, isn’t it, Asarina?”

“Ssster,” Asarina purred in agreement, oscillating about in the air.

“How nice. I wanna try being inside our master too,” I said.

“What the hell are you saying?” he replied, looking troubled.

“Aww. I mean, I’m curious what it feels like. Right, Lobivia?”

“Huh?! I-I don’t really...”

Lobivia looked a little shaken. Maybe she was actually thinking the same thing as me.

“Well, no matter how good our compatibility is, I’m just about at my limit,” our master said, smiling bitterly.

Nearly an hour had passed since we started our patrol. He’d gotten better at deploying the Misty Lodge efficiently, but keeping it up for such a long time still exhausted his mana supply.

“Well, it’s as good a time as any to head back,” I said.

We’d encountered and defeated several monsters. Our patrol had gone great, so we decided to return.

Just as we turned toward the village, Lobivia tugged on our master’s sleeve. “Hey, Takahiro. I know you don’t got no more mana, but how’s your stamina? You’re all spindly, so say so right away if something’s up.”

I couldn’t even keep count of how many times she’d asked that question today. From a dragon’s perspective, the human body was ever so frail. Lobivia was curt and blunt, but she spoke out of genuine concern. She was surprisingly a bit of a worrywart.

“I’m fine,” our master replied with a smile. “Some blood sprayed on me, though. I’d like to wash it off,” he added, grimacing.

He’d fought some monsters today to get some practical training in. The battles had all gone safely, but a fair amount of blood had gotten on him. He’d wiped it off, but the stench remained, and the crusty feeling on his clothes must’ve felt gross.

“You got what you asked for. I could’ve done them in with a single bite,” Lobivia said.

“Thanks for letting me have a go at it,” our master replied.

“Whatever. I didn’t do nothing.”

“That’s not true. We have to be careful so that things don’t go south, just in case. That’s why I asked you to come along. You’re a big help.”

“Hmph...”

Lobivia scoffed as she pulled on our master’s sleeve again and pushed her head against his arm. It was hard to tell whether she was attached to him or repulsed by him, but this was just her way of hiding her embarrassment. In all likelihood, she was pouting about how she had nothing to do despite being asked to come along. She wanted him to pay attention to her and cheer her up.

“Oh yeah, Master,” I said, recalling something because of her childish behavior. “You’ve been taking care of the village kids every now and then, right? How’s that going?”

“Hm? Pretty well. They’re all good kids,” he answered, turning his attention away from Lobivia. “Why don’t you come along next time? Gerbera joined in recently too.”

“Hmmm. Well, the people in serious condition are starting to stabilize, so maybe I should. Oh, you wanna come too, Lobivia?”

“M-Me?” Lobivia yelled with a start, not expecting the conversation to turn to her. “I-I’m fine. I don’t wanna.”

She shook her head, and her red hair swayed about. She made a face as if I’d said something outrageous. Her reaction was just so cute.

“Aww, come on,” I said, giggling. “They’re all little kids, so you’d be their big sister.”

“B-Big sister...?”

Lobivia blushed. As the youngest sibling among the dragons, that thought tugged at her heartstrings a little.

“Me...a big sister?”

“That’s right. Doesn’t that sound nice, Master?”

I just needed to give her one more little push, but I didn’t get the response from our master that I was expecting.

“What’s the matter, Master?” I asked, cocking my head.

“Huh? Oh. Sorry, it’s nothing,” he said after a pause.

“Hmmm?”

He seemed to be deep in thought. It had me a little curious.

“What did you ask again?” he said.

“Oh, right.” I decided to leave my questions for later and got back on track. “Come on. We were talking about going with you to see the kids. I was thinking Lobivia should come too.”

“Aah. That sounds good.”

“Right? Oh. But maybe we shouldn’t impose on them with too many people at once. There’s me and Lobivia, and Katou, who’s been taking care of them to begin with. Then we need you to come along with us, and Rose too, right?”

“Well, you’ve got a point there,” he said, sounding like he wasn’t all that into the conversation and averting his gaze. This reaction caught my attention.

“Hey, Master?” I said, staring at his face. “Did something happen with Rose?”

“Not really...”

So he claimed, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Hmmm?”

I cocked my head again, but then Lobivia pulled on our master’s hand.

“Hey, Takahiro. If I play with these kids, you’ll be there too, yeah?”

To her, this was worth more attention than our master’s strange reaction.

“Yeah. I’ll only show up once in a while, though,” he said, looking relieved. “I can match my time with yours if you’re going. You want to?”

“I-If I just hafta watch.”

“What’s with that response?”

Lobivia, acting shy, shook our master’s shoulders, and the two of them carried on with their conversation. Meanwhile, I slowed my pace a little. I met Salvia’s eyes and beckoned her over.

“So how’s it actually going for Rose?” I asked quietly.

Salvia usually stayed cooped up to preserve her mana, but she came out once every few days. I hadn’t had a chance to see Rose and our master play with the children, but I figured that Salvia had.

“Right,” Salvia started with a bemused smile. “Lately, it looks like our master is a little conscious of her.”

“I see.”

His reaction made sense now. I didn’t know the full details, but Katou was probably responsible for this change, seeing as how she fully supported Rose. My master’s somewhat-strange reaction was seemingly because her strategy was slowly bearing fruit.

After coming to that conclusion, I knitted my brow a little.

“Is that all?” I asked.

“So far,” Salvia answered.

“Hmm.”

In other words, my cute little sister’s love was progressing, but not yet to a definitive degree. I pursed my lips. Honestly, it was so slow it was vexing. Even if I’d been there a few days before her, Rose had been by our master’s side from the very beginning. She’d supported our master with me through his most painful moments. To be frank, for a long time now, the trust and affection he had for her had been no different from the trust and affection he had for me.

As proof of that, one only had to look back over what had transpired to this day. Rose had gone from a cut-and-dried wooden puppet to a cute, girly doll. Every time she changed little by little, our master would always be shaken. With Katou’s help, Rose had been on the romantic offensive, where pretty much every strike had scored a critical hit. She was simply that special to our master.

The reason things had yet to progress into actual romance was likely because Rose had no confidence in her own feelings. She didn’t know whether she was in love with our master. She had a vague notion that it was possible, but she didn’t have the confidence to believe it. That pretty much summed things up, in my opinion.

Rose was such an honest girl, so it was understandable that she’d struggled to convey her love for our master. He wasn’t faultless in this either. He was still influenced by his old world in some ways, so he was putting the brakes on his own feelings. As a result, even though their hearts throbbed for each other, they couldn’t convey their love.

“Aah, it’s so frustrating. She could just, like, do it, and it’d be fine.”

“Oh my, that seems to come from experience,” Salvia said, covering her mouth, her cheeks slightly flushed. “Well, I do understand how you feel. Everyone has their own pace. You watch over her and wait because you know this, right?”

“I do, but ya know...”

I wanted to respect both of them as much as possible. Katou probably felt the same. If not, she would’ve moved things along far more efficiently. She was exceptionally clever, after all.

It was frustrating to sit back and watch, but the hands of time kept moving forward. The day was sure to come. And as Rose slowly progressed, would she find conviction in her own feelings first? Or would the brakes on our master’s heart stop working before that? I stared at his back as he walked on, looking forward to the day either happened.