Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 12 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Puppet’s Vow ~Rose’s POV~

We departed before sunrise so that we could put some distance between us and our pursuers. We walked in silence to preserve our stamina, keeping a careful watch on our surroundings.

“It’s about time for a break,” Shiran suggested just past noon.

The elves sat down on the ground and stretched their legs. Everyone looked tired, which stood to reason. Just running away from their homes was emotionally taxing, but their enemy, the Maclaurin Provincial Army, was accompanied by the very symbol of righteousness in this world—the Holy Order. It took everything the elves had to keep their hearts intact.

They had to march in that condition for the whole day, resting only briefly at night. And those nights were spent in the dangerous Woodlands, meaning they couldn’t get any proper rest. Altogether, this drained them considerably.

Shiran was in the worst shape of us all. As an undead monster, she depended on a supply of mana from my master, so without that available to her, she was mana deprived. Unlike Asarina and Salvia, who lived in his body, she could at least move around, but she was in poor condition.

Even in that state, however, she gave the elves directions with a stout heart. She knew that the group would fall apart otherwise, so she was pushing herself, but this was different from her previous self-destructive nature.

“Sorry, Rose. Can you go check on everyone for me?” Shiran asked, taking a seat on the ground to keep her mana consumption to a minimum. As she was now, she could still calmly analyze her limits.

“Of course. I don’t mind at all,” I replied. “Please tell me if there is anything else I can do. We cannot afford to have you collapsing on us, after all.”

“I won’t collapse,” she said, smiling reassuringly. “We just have to hold on for two more days.”

“Yes. Let’s hang in there.” I nodded, then started checking on all the elves.

“Rose, I’ll help too,” Lobivia said, her broken arm hanging in a sling.

“I will also make the rounds,” added Leah, the wife of Rapha’s chief.

“Oh, then I’ll bring over some bandages!” her granddaughter, Helena, chimed in.

We split up and checked on our fellow travelers. Many of them had been badly injured in either the attack by Travis’s knights or the one by the provincial army. Some could only be moved by cart. We had to get them the necessary medicine and bandages, all while keeping vigilant of our surroundings.

The provincial army had yet to attack us, but they were definitely on the hunt. With so many people, it was difficult to conceal our tracks, so it was best to assume they were gradually catching up. We had a plan to get ourselves out of this, but it was quite the challenge to get to our destination without our enemy overtaking us and without anyone falling behind.

“Hey, puppet,” Berta called out to me as I made the rounds. “Shouldn’t you go get the slime? It’s about time to switch.”

“Aah, you’re right.”

With everything I had to do, I’d forgotten about it, so Berta had gone out of her way to remind me.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Hmph, I don’t need your thanks.”

Berta huffed, and I headed toward our manamobile. My master was sleeping inside it. After Edgar had poisoned him, he hovered on the verge of death, sustained only by the continuous use of healing magic. There were no signs of him getting better either. He woke up every now and then, but always in a daze. He still looked as if he was in constant pain. It hurt my heart to see him like that, but since I couldn’t use healing magic, there was nothing I could do.

“Sister, it’s about time to switch,” I said.

“Mm, thanks, Rose,” Lily replied, smiling at me as she continued healing our master. She looked tired. The glimmer of magic in her hands was fading.

“It’s only for a little while, but please get some rest,” I said.

“Yeah, I’ll do that. I’ll leave things here to you.”

Lily staggered out of the manamobile. The most efficient way for her to regain her mana was to revert to a slime and get some rest. My sister’s original form was rather large, so she had to go outside to do so. While she did, I took over as our master’s guard. I couldn’t take on her other role of treating our master, though. I walked over to Mana, who was curled up in the corner of the vehicle, and shook her by the shoulder.

“Please wake up, Mana.”

“Fwaaah... Hm? Wose...?”

It was rare to see Mana half-asleep like this, but she was also exhausted. The only ones who could perform healing magic were Lily, Kei, and Mana. Kei was also sleeping in here like a corpse; she’d used up all her mana and needed time to recuperate.

Mana had been asleep for the same reason. The burden on them was immense, but we had no choice but to leave our master’s treatment to these three. Under better circumstances, we would’ve had more leeway, but with the provincial army’s attack, we had to resort to doing this on the move. What’s more, Mana’s body was far weaker than the other two’s, and she didn’t have much mana either. This must’ve weighed exceedingly on her.

“Sorry, Mana. I’m sure this is hard on you, but it’s time.”

“Aah... That’s right. Sorry.”

Mana massaged her brow, probably pushing back a headache. She tried to stand up, but she staggered, and I immediately supported her by the shoulders.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome.”

Her shoulders were so slender. With just a little strength, I could crush them in my grip. Nevertheless, we had no choice but to depend on her now.

Mana took a seat by my master’s side, and the white light of healing magic took shape in her hands. Just then...

“Katou... And Rose?” a hoarse voice uttered.

My hands still on Mana’s shoulders, I unintentionally pulled her into a hug. My master had faintly opened his eyes.

“M-Master! You’re awake!”

“Yeah...” he answered.

I exchanged looks with Mana. He’d woken up multiple times while we were on the move, but this was the first time his consciousness was so clear.

“I was...with Travis... Was that...a dream? No, not a dream... That was...” he muttered incoherently, then attempted to sit up.

“Y-You mustn’t, Master. Please don’t be unreasonable,” I begged in a fluster.

I held him down, not that I had to, though. My master wasn’t able to lift his upper body. I could feel how little strength he had just through my hands. It was heart-wrenching. The poison Edgar had used—Holy Water—was still worming its way through my master’s body. On the other hand, the strength in his eyes remained as strong as ever.

I held him up in my arms and had him drink some water.

“Sorry... Can you tell me what’s going on...?” he asked. “Where is this...? What happened...? What’s the situation...?”

“Do you remember Edgar attacking you?” I asked. “Because of the relic of salvation he used, one called Holy Water, you collapsed.”

Mana was better off concentrating on her healing magic, so I had to answer my master’s questions.

“Holy Water...?” he asked.

“According to legend, it’s a magic tool that is activated by charging it with a knight’s prayers...with a knight’s life. They also call it the Martyr’s Arrow.”

“I see. The poison of a savior, then. That’s why I collapsed...”

Even speaking looked painful for him, but his mind was functioning properly. He nodded in understanding.

“After you lost consciousness, we left the village,” I said. “Right now, we’re heading north through the Woodlands. We were informed that the Maclaurin Provincial Army was closing in on us. Adolf, the Akerian soldier stationed in Diospyro, brought us the news. Claiming that you are the fake savior, the provincial army is here to subjugate you. They number some five thousand soldiers. Gerbera has already checked on their formation and said we would be helpless in a head-on confrontation.”

“The Maclaurin Provincial Army...?”

“Yes. In all likelihood, Edgar carried out his surprise attack in coordination with them. At first, we thought we could fix the misunderstanding that you are the fake savior, but we gave up on the idea after Berta came to the village. We learned that it would be meaningless to try.”

“Berta’s here...? No, never mind. We can leave that for later. More importantly, why is it meaningless?”

“By the time we received the news from Adolf, the provincial army had closed in far more than anyone imagined. To be specific, they’d made it all the way to Rapha.”

“That close...?”

My master’s expression darkened. He likely had a bad feeling about all this. He was right too.

“Yes. Unfortunately, the provincial army attacked and destroyed Rapha. According to the testimony of the elves who escaped, there was no room for discussion. There was no convincing them, so we trusted Berta’s assessment and ran away from the village.”

“No way, that’s absurd... Are you saying Rapha was attacked because of me?” my master asked in shock.

I shook my head. “No. It isn’t your fault, Master. Leah, Helena, and all the elves of Rapha believe that it’s nothing more than a convenient excuse. Truth be told, one of the men who attacked the village apparently said, ‘Annihilate these wicked elves.’”

“So they regard the elves as spiritualists...or rather, monster tamers, and thus traitors to humanity?”

“That’s how it appears.”

Historically, Aker had never harbored any amity for the Margraviate of Maclaurin to begin with, so the elves were all burning with hatred. Mana had hypothesized that one of the reasons our flight from the village was holding together was that the elves’ resentment spurred them on. The Maclaurin Provincial Army’s unreasonable hostility hardened the already-firm bonds between them. When many people moved as one, they exhibited outstanding strength, and in our current predicament, I was grateful for anything that helped.

“One small mercy is that the chief, Melvin, is still alive,” I continued. “After he got most of the elves out of Rapha, Melvin led a force of fighters and resisted the provincial army. Around the time the entire village was done for, Berta intervened and saved his life. He’s badly injured, but it’s not fatal.”

“I see. That’s good. I’ll have to thank her.”

“Yes. Berta has been guarding us ever since. She also brought a letter from Kudou Riku.”

“A letter...?” my master asked.

“Allow me to explain that part,” Mana said. “Sorry. It was addressed to you, Senpai, but seeing as this is an emergency, Lily and I read it already.”

“I don’t mind. What did it say?”

“Kudou Riku has accepted your proposal to keep in contact, and he entrusted Berta with the letter to exchange some information—the true identity of the fake savior. According to him, the fake savior rumored to be in the southern Empire was actually multiple former exploration team members. He omitted the details, but apparently, the cheaters failed to suppress monsters in the region, and what followed was interpreted as the deeds of a fake.”

“I see...” My master grimaced. He had something to say about it, but he decided there were more important matters at hand.

“Since real visitors are being treated as fakes, he wrote that it’s possible we’ll be mistaken for the fake savior too,” Mana explained. “He only gave this as a warning if we were to visit the Empire again, though. It doesn’t seem he predicted that you’d be treated as a fake all the way in Aker.”

“Well, yeah. All of this is absurd.”

“It really is,” Mana said with a nod, her brow creasing. “Even taking that into consideration, this is a little too excessive.”

“Mana?” I prompted, confused by her statement.

“No, it’s nothing...” Mana shook her head. “Rose, please continue.”

“Ah, yes. Very well.” Something was obviously on her mind, but right now we needed to explain things first. “Where were we? Right, we ran away from the village with the elves. That was three days ago.”

“Three days...” My master’s eyes widened slightly. “I’m surprised they haven’t caught up.”

“Mana has taken steps to prevent that.”

“How so?”

“To put it simply, it’s a diversion tactic. While we departed the village, before the provincial army arrived, Gerbera and Ayame acted on their own. Gerbera captured monsters in the vicinity and gathered them in the village, while Ayame kept an eye on how close the provincial army had gotten.”

Gerbera was able to capture monsters in the wild only because of her outstanding strength, her independent combat skills, and her special talent of restraining others with her threads. And since Lily couldn’t leave our master’s side, Ayame’s small size and her ability to sniff out the enemy were indispensable.

“After that, we determined when the provincial army would attack, then let the monsters loose.”

“Meaning the monsters and the provincial army ended up clashing,” my master said with an impressed sigh. “Not only does that slow them down, it doesn’t wear out our own forces. I’d expect nothing less of you, Katou. You really are reliable.”

“She truly is. Her mercilessness is so wonderful,” I gushed.

“I know you’re praising me, but I have mixed feelings when you express it that way...” Mana said, her shoulders drooping.

Her work was worthy of praise. Mana hadn’t come up with this plan on the spot. She’d considered it before—even before the provincial army had arrived—just in case we came under attack. She’d hypothesized that the Holy Order would strike and had selected one of the pertinent plans.

Incidentally, one of the other plans was to slip past the burrows of the currently breeding azure hares, thereby forcing their colossal numbers to battle against our pursuers, but we’d given up on that one. We could have done it on our own, but with the village elves accompanying us, it was far too risky. It was unfortunate, but right now, the best we could do was pour all our efforts into what was possible.

“The provincial army wasted a bunch of time fighting the monsters in the village,” I continued. “And thanks to Berta warning us about the provincial army, we managed to leave rather quickly, so we’ve gotten a fair distance away from them.”

“That’s good. You’ve done so well,” my master said, then frowned with concern. “But what’re we going to do from here? We can’t just keep running away forever, right? Do we have somewhere to go? Hang on. You said we’re headed north?”

He realized our intent in the middle of asking the question. He narrowed his eyes, and I nodded.

“So you noticed. Yes. There is only one method of getting away,” I confirmed.

We hadn’t been running away blindly; we had a destination in mind. Lobivia had been the one to suggest it. Normally, she wouldn’t have mentioned this place, but in this one case, it was pretty much inevitable. It was the first place that came to her mind, after all.

“The Dark Woods in northern Aker,” I said. “To be specific, our destination is the Mist Barrier that surrounds the region.”

“I get it. You really thought this through. That mist has a magic effect that makes those who wander inside it get lost. An army can’t keep up their logistics in there. Besides, even if they manage to stay organized, it’ll be tough to track someone on the run. We even have Lobivia with us too.”

“Precisely. Only dragons are exempt from the mist’s effects. If we venture within, I doubt the provincial army can catch us.”

“If we can get that far, there’s hope. How long until we reach the Mist Barrier?”

“Two days if we hurry. It’ll be a little reckless, but we should arrive around noon the day after tomorrow. At this rate, we’ll likely get there before the provincial army catches up.”

If pushed to say it, it was more important that we didn’t end up with any stragglers. We couldn’t afford to be negligent, of course, but things weren’t utterly hopeless. My master understood this and let out a deep sigh of relief.

“I see, that’s good to hear.”

His eyes then closed a few times. His focus was oddly off. His fatigue had caught up to him due to the relief.

“You must be tired,” I said. “Please don’t push yourself.”

He’d only been awake for a short time, but his body was being violated by poison, and his stamina was essentially nonexistent. There were other things I wanted to talk with him about regarding our current dilemma, and it would’ve been nice for him to speak with the others, but there was no helping it. It was best for us to wait until the next opportunity.

“Please don’t worry, Master. Things will change if we can buy time in the Mist Barrier,” I said, wanting to make sure he could sleep at ease. “Aker’s army is unable to move at the moment, but they will soon hear about the events at the reclamation village. Shiran expects Aker won’t stand for the unreasonable massacre of their citizens. Even if they can’t actively go on the offensive because of the Holy Order’s presence, it’s highly probable they’ll make a move to shelter us.”

If not, we could also work out a plan once we were in the Mist Barrier. We could still overcome this.

“Please get some sleep. You may leave the rest to us.”

“Got it...” In the next instant, he began dozing off, but he continued speaking indistinctly. “Once I sleep...I’ll have to...fight again...”

“Master?”

I didn’t really understand, but there was no time to ask for clarification. My master was already more than halfway asleep.

“Hey, Rose... Could you hold my hand...? Just for a bit...” he said in a delirium, his eyes fully shut.

They said a weakened body weakened the heart, so he was probably anxious. Or maybe he didn’t have a reason. In any case, I wouldn’t refuse such a request.

“Very well.”

I touched my master’s hand, which was a fair bit larger than mine, and he grasped my fingers. He intertwined his fingers with mine, making sure to connect our palms. I hesitated a little, but returned his grip.

Despite the circumstances, my heart was joyful. I was just happy to be desired. I was aware of an immense urge building up inside me, but I still didn’t know what that feeling was, so the urge had nowhere to go. My entire body trembled for a brief instant from this bewilderingly strong and primitive emotion.

As it passed, another urge overcame me, but this time, I knew what it was. I had an intense desire to protect him. I was my master’s shield. That was my raison d’être.

“Master...”

It vexed me that I hadn’t been able to protect him from the Battle Ogre’s surprise attack despite being right by his side. I was disappointed with myself. My desire to keep him safe made me recall all our days together until now. I recalled this feeling I had for my master, one that I still couldn’t name.

Seeing my master so exhausted, a vortex of different emotions swirled together, driving me to one simple conclusion.

“No matter what it costs, I will protect you, Master.”