Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 12 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Puppet’s Secret Plan ~Rose’s POV~

It didn’t take that long for Lily to come back. Kath’s life was no longer in danger, so we could at least feel relieved about that. Kath was unconscious now and lying in the same vehicle as my master. Lily went back to continuously healing him, and I switched places with her and got out of the manamobile with Lobivia.

“Are you all right?” I asked her.

“Mm...” She nodded, but her expression was dark.

“May I have a moment, Rose?” Shiran said, running over to us with a stern look. “Have you heard about the enemy’s movements from Lily?”

Kath had given us this information before passing out.

“Yes,” I answered. “They’re apparently coming from the opposite side of the wetlands. I thought they were chasing us through the Woodlands, though...”

“They have a surplus of force. They may have split into two groups to take us down for sure.”

“Meaning we’ve been perfectly lured into a pincer attack.”

“Yes. It’s good that Kath informed us. It’s unfortunate what happened to Draconia, though...”

Shiran’s expression darkened. Kath had told Lobivia about Draconia’s fate. Malvina had suffered an honorable defeat after a head-on confrontation with a group of invading saviors. That obstinate man, Rex, had also died in battle.

Kath and a group of her siblings had encountered a lone savior while escaping from the settlement. She’d managed to get away while suffering major wounds, but she’d gotten separated from her siblings in the process, so their safety was currently unknown. I couldn’t even imagine what was going on in Lobivia’s heart after having lost her home and family.

“Lobivia, we don’t mind if you stay with Kath,” I said.

“I have to fight,” she replied, shaking her head. It wouldn’t have been strange if she’d broken down and cried, but she refused to act so helpless. “We don’t got enough hands to go around, yeah?”

That was true. If we removed Lobivia from our active forces, we would definitely be understaffed to protect everyone.

“Forgive us,” I said. “If only we were stronger, then we wouldn’t have to place this burden on you.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re all in the same boat,” Lobivia said. Even though she was pale, she put on a strong front and curved her lips into a smile before turning to Shiran. “Anyway, what’re we gonna do?”

“Until now, we’ve been aiming for the Mist Barrier in northern Aker,” Shiran started. “However, that barrier is already gone. I’m assuming the enemy knew this was going to happen, so the knights of the Holy Order accompanying them likely provided them with this information. If we continue through the wetlands, we’ll run headlong into the force that has gone around ahead of us. The enemy is still chasing us from behind, so we can’t turn around either.”

From our current position, north and east led into the wetlands, while south and west led into the Woodlands. The wetlands were dangerous, and turning back was useless, so we only had one direction left to go.

“So we turn west?” Lobivia concluded.

“Yes. We’ll return to the Woodlands and head west,” Shiran answered, nodding.

“But if we do nothing but run, won’t they eventually catch up?” I asked.

“Yes, but if we stop, we’ll be overwhelmed. Now that it’s come to this, our only choice is to try and put together a plan while running away. I’ll go speak with everyone. Rose, Lobivia, please get ready.”

With that, Shiran began calling out the elves. Even with things looking so dire, even though she knew how bad things were, she’d yet to give up. Nevertheless, we had to find some way to get through this. I could feel how strong Shiran’s will was to do what was necessary to that end. The problem was whether we’d even be able to buy the time we needed.

“Lobivia, I’ll go inform Gerbera’s group. Can you tell Lily?”

“Got it.”

I decided that Lobivia should spend as much time by Kath’s side as possible, so I left the manamobile to her while I spoke to others who were farther away. While I was at it, I checked on how the elves were doing.

The majority of them were sitting on the ground. They were at the limit of their stamina and strength. What’s more, I was worried about their mental state. They’d believed it would work out somehow after coming this far, which was what had driven them to keep on going. The destination they’d reached wasn’t safe, though, so it wouldn’t be surprising if their hearts had broken at this point.

Leah and Helena went around with Shiran, trying to comfort them. The two of them looked so worn out, but they were doing everything they could to improve the situation. Each elf they spoke to got up despite their fatigue.

But the heart wasn’t so simple. Would we be able to escape like this? I clenched my fist, feeling pathetic. Shiran refused to give up, instead searching for a way through this crisis, although her body’s poor state was dragging her down. Lobivia had just lost her family, but she gathered the will to keep fighting. The elves were trying their best too. But if things were still beyond hope—

“Rose.”

“Mana?”

I turned around to see my best friend. She looked terribly pale. She’d used too much magic, and our constant days of flight had been a large burden on her body.

“What’s the matter? Shouldn’t you be—”

“I have something to say. Come with me for a bit,” Mana said, interrupting me and leading me away by the hand.

We went around to the shadow of the manamobile. Apparently, she wanted to talk in private. Vaguely, just vaguely, I got a bad premonition.

“I heard about the situation,” Mana said.

Her expression was stiff, her face that of someone at the end of their rope. This made perfect sense given the circumstances, but something about it...

“I have an idea,” she started. My intuition was telling me that something about this was wrong. “Things are as bad as they can be, but there’s a way we can get through it. I mean, until now, if we really wanted to, we could have counterattacked too.”

“Mana, don’t.”

I didn’t want her to say it, but she didn’t stop.

“Rose, you and the others must’ve figured it out already. We can’t do anything because we have the elves with us.”

She said it. Her voice sounded so hoarse.

“If it were just your small group,” she continued, “we could’ve even slipped through the azure hares’ breeding ground. A big army can’t do anything like that, so they would’ve had to clash with the azure hares. That would’ve been enough to hold them back.”

She spoke quickly, her voice trembling. It was as if something were forcing her to keep going.

“We can even move faster. In the worst case, we could go deeper into the Woodlands. We have plenty of choices. It’s still not too late. It’s simple. If we abandon—”

“Mana!”

I raised my voice and cut her off. I couldn’t keep listening. Mana looked white as a sheet as she tried to propose a heartless plan. She was so stiff that she seemed liable to collapse at any moment.

“It’s fine, Mana. There’s no need for you to play the villain.”

I already knew. My best friend was a very kind girl. She’d been so helpful to me in so many ways when I’d been nothing more than a featureless puppet. She’d had so much fun when interacting with the village children.

She was merciless toward her enemies, but she didn’t have the heart to calmly abandon her allies. Above all else, if she had to make such a decision, she would take responsibility for it herself. She would surely stay behind with the abandoned elves, but I couldn’t possibly allow that.

“You’re tired, Mana,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder and pressing my forehead against hers. “Get some sleep and calm down. You’ll come up with a better idea. After all, you’re my best friend, and I’m so very proud of you.”

“Rose...”

“I’ll buy some time until you can think of something. I have an idea of my own.”

“You do?”

“Yes. It’s a little dangerous, but it’ll buy us some time.”

With her face right in front of mine, I met her eyes and smiled. She was my first friend, and I loved her so very much. I prayed her heart could remain at peace.

Then, I quickly explained my plan.

◆ ◆ ◆

After Shiran approved it, we quickly put the plan I had detailed to Mana into action. It sounded grandiose when put like that, but it was just something simple even I could come up with. It wasn’t all that impressive.

“Sorry for asking you to stay with me, Berta,” I said to the wolf next to me. I kept working even as we talked.

“I don’t mind.”

The plan was simple. I would stay behind until the very last moment and prepare traps to slow down the army behind us. Using that time, we would get the slower-moving elves as far away as possible. Once I was done setting the traps, I would follow after my companions. There was a risk the enemy would catch me, though, so I had the fleet-footed Berta stay behind with me, just in case.

That was the entirety of my plan. It was, of course, extremely dangerous. There was no guarantee I could get away, even with Berta here. Also, the defensive formation around the elves would be weaker without us, so if the pursuit force attacked them, it was possible they would suffer a great many casualties. It was even questionable whether I had the time to set any useful traps.

Sadly, we were so far at the end of our rope that we had to resort to these luck-dependent methods. We had to do what we could. That was my claim, and that was how I’d gotten the plan approved. The deciding factor was one of the magic tools I’d developed that could inflict severe damage on the enemy army. Well, even without that, we didn’t have any other plans. That was why I was here now.

“Get it done quickly,” Berta urged me on. “It’ll be too late when the enemy gets here.”

“I know.”

I emptied the contents of my tool bag. I had a good grasp of what was inside, even if not to the extent Mana did.

“What’s that?” Berta asked, looking at one of the objects on the ground.

“It’s called a matryoshka doll. It’s modeled after Lily. You can split it open here, and there’s a smaller Lily within. Inside that one is a doll of Ayame.”

“Is that going to be of any use?”

“No. It’s just a toy. It’s one of Gerbera’s favorites.”

“What happened to setting traps?”

“I’m just taking everything out now,” I answered, still pulling things from the bag all the while. “Sorry. There isn’t much time. Can you lend me a hand?”

“Aren’t I here as an escort?”

So she grumbled, but Berta stretched out her tentacles and fished things out of the magic bag with an unexpectedly delicate touch.

“There’s a lot in here...” she muttered after getting most of the stuff out. She sounded somewhat exasperated.

“All of this signifies the progress I’ve made since the very beginning, though that’s an exaggerated way to put it.”

The items formed a small mountain. I’d poured my heart into making each and every one. Emotions flowed through me, but now wasn’t the time to bask in such thoughts.

“Now then,” I said, fishing through to find what I needed.

Some items could be used as is, but others had to be assembled. Fortunately, there was an abundance of goods here. I’d made far too many for my master’s sake, against my better judgment, but now that actually came in handy.

“It’s a little late to ask, but did we really need to take out everything?” Berta asked.

“Yes, we did,” I answered as I put a few things together. “I have to expend my everything.”

“Expend...?” Berta watched me work and wrinkled her large snout, then narrowed her eyes and growled deeply. “Hey, puppet. What the hell are you putting together?”

She sounded awfully suspicious, but I’d predicted this.

“Are you telling me that’s a trap?” she continued. “There’s no way it is. What are you plotting?”

I stopped my work and looked up at her, staring right back into her wolflike eyes.

“Berta, I have a request to make of you.”