Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 13 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Mist Woman’s Feelings

I fell asleep, and before I knew it, I came to this world once more. A city I’d lived in before teleporting to another world spread out before my eyes. I was seeing it in my sleep, but this wasn’t a dream. This world existed inside me—it was the place I believed was created by the evolution of my ability.

“I figured I’d end up here again, but...” I mumbled to myself and let out a sigh. I never thought it’d happen the day I arrived in the imperial capital.

I was standing in the parking lot of a familiar convenience store that was on my path to school. Maybe this was a continuation of the last time I was here? I couldn’t tell. I still had a lot of questions regarding this phenomenon.

“Oh, you’ve come again, my dear,” a happy voice said.

Mist appeared out of nowhere and took the shape of a person. I’d met her last time too, so I wasn’t surprised.

“Salvia, have you been here the whole time?” I said.

“Yes,” she answered, a bubbly smile on her face.

Lately, she hadn’t been showing herself in the real world.

“Aren’t you bored all on your own in here?” I asked, walking up to her.

“Not at all. Little Asarina drops by once in a while too.”

“Ssster!”

Asarina lunged out the back of my hand and purred energetically. It seemed the two of them had been spending time together in here without my knowing it.

“Besides, this world is filled with things I’ve never seen, so it’s rather interesting,” Salvia added cheerfully. She then knelt down and poked the asphalt. “I was really surprised when I first came here. The majority of the earth in your world is made of stone.”

“Aah, that’s not quite right. This is just paved.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Salvia said, putting a hand to her mouth bashfully. “I was completely under the impression that... I mean, there’s more covered ground than not.”

“That’s ’cause we’re in the middle of the city. If you go toward the mountain, it’s the same as the other world. Have you not gone that far out?”

“Well...” Salvia replied a little vaguely. It looked like she sank into thought for a moment, but she stood back up before I could say anything. “So this is where you lived before, my dear?”

She looked around as if deeply moved by it all. To me, the sight was familiar and nostalgic, but for her, it was different.

“That’s right,” I answered. “I went down this path every day to go to high school.”

“High school?”

“It’s like an academy meant for people around my age. Does that make sense?”

“Academies I know of. Humans have them in our world too. Scholars who work in such places have ventured into the world of mist. I can’t really imagine what they’re like, though.” Salvia put a hand to her chin and gave it some thought. “I’m sure it’s, like, really amazing.”

“I don’t know what you just imagined, but you’re probably wrong.”

“Oh my. Then what kind of place is it?” she asked, turning a smile my way.

She looked enthralled, so I thought it over for a bit, then inclined my head.

“It’s hard to put into words...” I said.

Salvia didn’t know anything about this world. She’d looked around this area, so she might’ve seen it already but didn’t know what to call it. It was difficult to explain it to someone like that. Not that there was any need to in the first place.

“Oh well, if you’re interested, wanna go take a look? We could walk there,” I suggested.

A picture was worth a thousand words. I usually commuted by bike, but it wasn’t too far to walk.

“That sounds wonderful,” Salvia said, happily clapping her hands in front of her chest. “But is that all right with you?”

“I’ve got the time and all.”

I was sleeping in the real world, so it wasn’t as if I could do anything else. Nothing was stopping me from guiding her to school in something like a dream.

“In that case, can you show me the way?” she said. “Hee hee, I’m looking forward to it.”

I started walking down the path with Salvia. From our current location, the high school was about a thirty-minute walk away. Considering the distance, I could’ve gone to get a bike, but Salvia said she preferred to walk, so I went along with her request. I didn’t have to make it in time for class or anything, so we had no reason to rush.

“It’s pretty rare to get to spend time with you like this,” I commented.

“Now that you mention it, you’re right. I can’t come out all that often, after all.”

To manifest in the real world, Salvia had to expend the mana she stockpiled for creating the Misty Lodge. She couldn’t just come out all the time, and those precious opportunities were typically reserved for cases when I was in danger.

“When I think of it like that, maybe this is a good opportunity,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re always the one helping me out, and I never get to repay you.”

Before all this, when the Travis variant of Holy Water attacked me in the world of light, Salvia and Asarina had joined forces to save me. Salvia had also stopped me when I was on the brink of casting away everything about myself to fulfill my wish when I crushed Travis. Before all that, if not for the power of the Misty Lodge that I borrowed from her through our contract, we would’ve been completely helpless more than a few times. I didn’t like the idea of being unable to repay her for it.

“I hope I can help you enjoy yourself here, even if only a little,” I said.

“Yes, I’m looking forward to it,” Salvia said, smiling sweetly. “But you don’t really have to worry about it, you know? I mean, I’m always enjoying myself.”

“Huh?”

“You misunderstand one thing, my dear.” Salvia came to a stop. I also stopped to turn around, and she faced me with a gentle smile. “The dream you all share is truly beautiful. I want to cheer you on. I want to watch over you. If you’re in trouble, I want to reach out and help you. As the Misty Lodge, I am the magic that creates a world where wishes are granted... In the end, perhaps that is just my nature.”

She shrugged as if to say there was no helping it, yet she didn’t seem all that dissatisfied with it either.

“That’s why it’s so fun to be with all of you,” she continued. “You’ve repaid me plenty... Oh, also, this is a first for me.”

She narrowed her eyes as if recalling the past.

“I’ve wandered the world for many, many years,” she said. “During that time, I’ve had many encounters. However, I’m something like a dream limited to but a few days. I’ve always had to part ways with those I met right away.”

Salvia could only muster the power to appear in the world once every few decades. She could also only do it for a few days at a time. If she were just a magical phenomenon, that wouldn’t be much of a problem, but she’d awoken to a will. What’s more, she enjoyed socializing with others by nature, so surely she disliked spending decades in solitude at a time. Maybe that was why she was able to smile so happily now.

“I’ve always been an onlooker—one who appears, grants, and vanishes. But that isn’t the case now. I’m not an onlooker; I’m a proper member of the group. Just like you, I’m able to work hard for my own dream. By forming a contract with you like this, I can come with you on your journey. I’ve been so happy lately. Just that is enough to fill my heart.”

Salvia sighed deeply as if exhaling the emotions filling her chest.

“That’s why getting to monopolize you like this today is almost too good to be true,” she said.

She was probably being serious. I knew this, so I shook my head.

“That’s not true,” I said. “We’ll have all the opportunities we want. Until now, and from today onward, we’ll always be together.”

After a pause, Salvia smiled gently.

“You’re right. In that case, would you show me around today?”

My answer to that had long been decided.

◆ ◆ ◆

After that, we headed toward the school as we chatted.

“Asarina comes here every now and then, right? What do you two do?” I asked.

“We mostly explore the area. Asarina can freely move around in here. She’s back in your hand now, though... Maybe that’s because it’s comfortable there?”

“Sster!”

“Also, sometimes I listen to her requests.”

“Requests? From Asarina?” I said.

“That’s right. Hee hee. The details are a secret.”

“What’s with that?”

“It’s a secret, right?”

“Ssster.”

We continued talking and walked down the hill, then crossed the road without having to wait for the signal. Seeing the two-lane road, Salvia cocked her head.

“That’s an awfully wide road,” she said. “Are there so many people walking around that it needs to be that wide?”

“Oh, not at all. This road is meant for cars. Pedestrians use the sidewalk we’re on.”

With no knowledge of automobiles, it was easy to make that mistake.

“Aah, so this is the walkway,” Salvia said with a sigh. “I was wondering why we were walking on the edge of such a wide path.”

“I never thought of it like that...”

If cars were driving about, Salvia might’ve figured it out. Her misunderstanding could only be made because this was my internal world.

“Now that you say that, you have a point,” I said. “It’s perfectly safe with no cars around, and we don’t have to worry about traffic laws, so we can walk in the middle of the road too.”

I’d gone down the sidewalk without questioning it, but from the perspective of someone who didn’t know, maybe that was pretty peculiar.

“What do you wanna do?” I asked. “Wanna try walking on the road instead?”

Salvia put a hand to her cheek and thought it over, then shook her head.

“No. Let’s not. I’m sure it’ll be more wonderful to follow your world’s rules, my dear.”

“Is that how it works?”

“It is.”

Salvia grinned. Now that I thought of it, normally she moved around by floating in the air, but here she was walking. Maybe this was another way she was emulating the ways of this world. She seemed to be enjoying herself, even if we were only walking around. She was full of interest whenever I explained anything to her. Because of that, our pace was slow and we stopped a lot, but we weren’t in a rush, so we took our time.

As we walked on, I told Salvia about the current situation in the real world. I spoke of our arrival in the imperial capital and how we’d met with the Holy Church. I then told her of my reunion with Mikihiko.

“Aah, Mikihiko. Is he the friend you’ve had since middle school?” she asked.

“Yeah. We were stuck together whether we liked it or not. We were classmates in high school too.”

“So you two spent time together in this school we’re headed to, yes?” Salvia’s eyes were sparkling with interest. “Hee hee. I’m looking forward to it. I wonder what kind of place it is?”

“You’re acting like it’s parents’ day,” I said, smiling wryly, then realized she wouldn’t get the reference.

“Parents’ day? What’s that?” she asked, full of curiosity, just as expected.

“Uhh, let’s see... Normally, school takes place in classrooms...in big rooms where students take lessons from a single teacher. But on parents’ day, they call in the students’ guardians to watch the students engage in their classes.”

“Hmm. So that’s parents’ day. It certainly is similar to this,” Salvia said, then suddenly peered into my eyes. “But using that example, wouldn’t that make me your guardian?”

I was speechless.

“I’m so happy you think of me that way,” she said, looking like she was in a strangely good mood.

“Don’t tease me too much...” I said, awkwardly averting my eyes.

“Oh my, how unfortunate,” Salvia said jokingly, then pulled away from me.

Still, I got the impression she was being a little serious, so I ended up returning her gaze. Noticing this, she smiled back at me. For that one instant, I saw a certain emotion pass across her eyes. Just maybe, what she’d said wasn’t a joke at all. The reason I felt that way was likely because I’d just heard how she felt about us.

“What is it?” Salvia asked, inclining her head.

“No, it’s nothing.”

It would be rude of me to ask her about it directly and also weirdly embarrassing. I wasn’t sure why I felt that way, though.

“We take a right here.”

So instead, I gave directions and turned the corner. I then came to an unexpected and obligatory stop.

“What the...”

The path that should’ve been there had disappeared.