Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 14 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Quarrel

While Rose had been spending time with Lobivia, the two had been teleported to a strange place. Naturally, like his other servants, the two girls were moving to rendezvous with their master. However, the place they’d found themselves was inhabited by monsters. Fighting was unavoidable if they hoped to return to his side.

Though Rose had her axe in hand, she hadn’t once taken part in any battles. The same went for Lobivia. There was no need for either of them to do so.

“Hyaaah!”

A typhoon in the shape of a human blew through the vast corridor. A sword slashed at the puppets blocking their path. The strike was so intense that even Rose, a monster from the Depths trained in human martial arts, would barely be able to block a single attack. These puppets had no way of dealing with such a force and were quickly bisected along with their weapons. The wielder of the sword was a girl with long black hair. She was the fastest of the exploration team—the Skanda Iino Yuna. Rose and Lobivia had bumped into her by coincidence.

“That’s all of them.”

Iino Yuna returned to the two girls after cutting down all their enemies. Naturally, she didn’t have a scratch on her. It’d taken nearly no time at all to exterminate them. It was a little late, but Rose couldn’t help but be awestruck by Iino’s dreadful power. This was a stroke of good fortune, in Rose’s opinion.

Rose and Lobivia were plenty strong enough, but they were a step below Lily, Gerbera, and Shiran. It was lucky that the two had gotten teleported together, but the situation had still been dire. It was extremely reassuring to have the exploration team’s Skanda with them. Of course, it wasn’t as though they had nothing to be worried about.

“Are you hurt?” Iino asked.

“Not at all,” Rose answered, then turned her eyes to the side. “Lobivia is fine too.”

Next to her, the little dragon pouted in silence. She’d been like this ever since the two had bumped into Iino Yuna. She pretty much refused to speak and generally wouldn’t leave Rose’s side. She just kept a careful eye on her surroundings while observing Iino Yuna’s behavior. This was common for a shy child, but her behavior didn’t offer a very friendly impression.

“I see. So long as you’re both fine,” Iino said, fortunately not really taking any particular offense.

At any rate, Rose was getting closer to her master at a steady pace. While on the move, Iino Yuna volunteered to take the lead, which had her coming into contact with the most enemies. Not connected by the mental path, she turned around every now and then to verify which way to go, and Rose provided her with directions.

Iino Yuna had taken responsibility for all the fighting. Running across monsters on the way would normally stall them considerably, but because of her ability to instantly bring things to an end, it hardly amounted to any time lost. Furthermore, her presence here had great significance. After all, bringing the exploration team’s great Skanda to their master would guarantee his safety. Just that would be enough to flip the situation on its head. It was extremely lucky that she’d bumped into Rose and Lobivia, who were the closest to their master’s location.

“It’s okay, Lobivia. If I get to him, I can guarantee Majima’s safety,” Iino said.

She understood the situation and interpreted Lobivia’s silence as anxiety. That wasn’t entirely wrong. Lobivia’s state right after being teleported had been pretty horrible, after all.

“Takahiro? Huh? No way.”

At first, she’d been dumbfounded and had then turned pale as a sheet.

“Takahiro. Takahiro. Takahiro... What do we do, Rose? If Takahiro dies, I... I don’t want that. Where’d you go? Takahirooo...?”

She’d practically been panicking. This had shocked Rose a good deal. Lobivia was extremely—in a sense, abnormally—terrified of losing the boy she idolized. Although considering what had happened to her lately, it wasn’t all that strange.

It’d seemed that Lobivia had recovered from the cruel death of her mother Malvina relatively quickly. Lately, she’d often made claims that she was “gonna be the one to protect Takahiro,” keeping an optimistic outlook. However, in truth, she hadn’t recovered. She’d been driven by her fear of losing the one last precious thing left to her, thrusting her depression aside with obsessive insistence.

Rose had somehow managed to calm her down. The two had bumped into Iino Yuna after that. That was why Iino Yuna wasn’t wrong to assume that Lobivia was worried about Majima Takahiro’s safety. However...

“Guarantee Takahiro’s safety...? You?” Lobivia said.

“Yes,” Iino answered, smiling. “Didn’t you see that fight just now? I’m actually pretty strong.”

“I know you’re strong,” Lobivia said curtly, her face expressionless. “But can you be trusted?”

“Huh?”

It was an extremely impolite question to ask someone who had been so helpful.

“Lobivia,” Rose said, raising her voice to warn Lobivia, but the little girl kept her lips tight and didn’t answer.

“Yes...” Iino said, a bewildered expression on her face. “Of course you can trust me.”

She probably hadn’t imagined being asked such a thing. Perhaps she found it a little vexing. Nevertheless, she didn’t get angry. She was likely taking into consideration that she was speaking with a child—one who was emotionally unstable and had been forcefully dragged into such an inexplicable situation.

“It’s okay. I’ve always fought for the sake of justice. You can trust me,” Iino said, nothing but kindness in her voice.

Maybe she’d consoled the frightened people of this world before using such a tactic. There was pride and confidence behind her words. There was a strength to her that could convince others, and not just because she was a visitor who was treated like a savior in this world. If only she hadn’t been speaking to Lobivia, she might’ve been very impressive. However, things were different here.

“Justice...?” Lobivia said, her voice penetratingly cold. “Are you saying you’ll protect Takahiro for the sake of your justice?”

The emotions behind her words were far beyond simple irritation or anger; they were verging on bloodlust. This definitely wasn’t the attitude to take toward someone who was helping. It seemed Lobivia hadn’t once considered Iino Yuna as an ally.

“Your people destroyed my home claiming it was for the sake of justice,” she spat in a terrifyingly chilling voice.

Ever since finding out the settlement had been destroyed by visitors, Lobivia had only seen visitors aside from Majima Takahiro and Katou Mana as subjects of suspicion. What’s more, it’d been discovered that one of those who’d attacked the settlement was one of the exploration team’s upper brass. The only reason she suppressed her animosity toward the exploration team was that she took into consideration the position of the boy she idolized.

Not only that, Lobivia had met Iino Yuna at a bad time. In contrast, Rose had gotten to know her over a relatively long period. They’d cooperated in getting Lily back from Takaya Jun too. Rose didn’t believe she would betray them, and found her overwhelming power here indispensable.

But Lobivia was different. She’d met Iino Yuna after visitors had taken her home away. That in itself had given Lobivia a horrible impression of visitors, and after that, the two hadn’t had an opportunity to socialize. To make matters worse, there’d been the incident with Okazaki Takuma. It was impossible for her to trust Iino Yuna. And so long as Lobivia couldn’t trust her, the power she possessed could only be seen as a major threat.

That was why Lobivia was scared. Not only that, she’d made up her mind that she had to protect her companions. In truth, the reason Lobivia hadn’t left Rose’s side wasn’t that she was a shy child, but so that she could stand in Iino Yuna’s way and protect Rose in case the Skanda turned to attack them.

“I really can’t trust any of you,” Lobivia said, her eyes transforming into those of a dragon.

Lobivia had apprehensions that bringing Iino Yuna with them would mean something horrible could happen to the boy so dear to her. In contrast, faced with such unexpected hostility from someone she’d had nothing but genuine consideration and goodwill for, Iino Yuna looked really thrown off. She was pale, unable to say anything in her defense. At worst, it was possible this would end in battle between them. If anyone could diffuse the tension, it was Rose, who understood Lobivia’s heart well.

“Stop that, Lobivia,” Rose said. “Iino isn’t that type of person.”

“I can’t trust her. I mean, that Shimazu girl who was working with her ended up betraying us too, dragging us into this place. How can I trust her?”

She was being stubborn, but she did have a point. Lobivia wasn’t being thoughtless. In her own way, she was trying to protect what was dear to her. That was why she wasn’t going to yield so easily. However, Rose had an ace up her sleeve for times like these. She’d learned how to do it by watching her best friend prod at just the right spots, after all.

“Lobivia. I’ll say it once more. Stop that.”

“But!”

“Have you forgotten? Our master knows Iino far better than you, and he’s decided that she can be trusted.”

Hearing that, Lobivia swallowed her rebuttal. Her stubborn expression shook, and her eyes wavered.

“Takahiro said...”

“That’s right.”

The effect was instantaneous. Hostility vanished from Lobivia’s tiny frame as if physically expelled from within her.

“Takahiro...”

In the end, he was definitely the most important thing to her. Rose knew that well. She only needed one more push.

“Don’t you believe in our master?”

“Of course I do...”

“Then you understand, right?”

After a moment’s indecision, Lobivia nodded.

“Good girl,” Rose said, sighing in relief.

It wasn’t as if Lobivia’s hostility toward the exploration team and suspicion toward visitors had vanished. Nevertheless, she kept them to herself now. Rose patted Lobivia’s head, then turned to Iino Yuna. She required a few words too.

“Please forgive her,” Rose said. “Even though you’re helping us, she said such rude things to you.”

“It’s fine... I was careless too,” Iino said, her face still pale. “Right, there was that matter with Okazaki... And Yui-senpai too...”

“Neither one is your fault,” Rose said, shaking her head.

If forced to choose, Rose would have actually found Lobivia in the wrong. Justice wasn’t a bad thing in itself. Her master was in fact someone who devoted everything he had to protecting those close to him, but he didn’t refute those who acted for the sake of people they didn’t know. He saw this as something he was incapable of, and even harbored admiration toward those that did so. That was one of the many complicated feelings he had toward Iino Yuna.

On the other hand, it would be far too cruel to ask the young Lobivia to act rationally right after losing her family. The situation had moved beyond sheer reason. Moreover, she’d gotten one thing wrong.

“Also, I don’t believe we can be sure about Shimazu yet,” Rose said.

“Huh?” Iino Yuna widened her eyes, not quite expecting that.

“What do you mean?” Lobivia asked, likewise taken by surprise.

Rose was fine with answering them, but she didn’t forget the situation they were in.

“Let’s continue this conversation on the move,” she said, pointing in the right direction with her axe. “Fortunately, we’ve resolved Lobivia’s apprehensions for now. There is no more reason for you to obstruct us from reaching our master, right?”

“Yeah. I ain’t gonna complain,” Lobivia said, exchanging looks with Iino Yuna.

“Then let’s get going,” Rose said.

Having somehow resolved the issue, the three of them were about to get moving once more, but just then, Iino Yuna’s brow pricked up.

“Something’s approaching...”

“Another monster?” Rose asked.

“I bet it is.”

Iino Yuna corrected the grip on her sword. She was still a little pale, but it looked like she was trying to get her feelings in order. Not that the Skanda would be remotely bothered by some monster just because she wasn’t in tip-top shape. Just as before, it would be less than a hindrance. They were sure to rendezvous with Majima Takahiro shortly.

“First, we have to get this nuisance out of the way,” Iino said, as though she were simply cleaning the place up, then ran off.