Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 14 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Witness Testimony

“Dammit, a dead end,” Berta groaned.

She’d just scattered the monsters who’d blocked her path, only to find herself with nowhere to go.

“We’re backtracking.”

She turned around smoothly, returning all the way to the last junction. This place was like a labyrinth. Without a guide, it would be impossible to find anyone.

“Is this way fine?”

[Mm. That way!] an adorable fox yelped in response.

Berta did as Ayame said and ran down the dimly lit corridor. They were headed toward Ayame’s master, Majima Takahiro. Berta wasn’t his servant, but she’d been ordered by her king to protect him. As her king’s subject, she didn’t hesitate to stake her life on fulfilling her duty. Also, as an individual, she felt like she couldn’t afford to lose the boy that her king saw as special...and to add to that, at this point, she was rather fond of him too.

The one guiding her toward the boy was Ayame, seated atop one of her heads. Berta had a tentacle holding her in place by the belly, making sure that she didn’t get shaken off by Berta’s running.

[My master is that way, but Rose and Lobivia are on the opposite side. Looks like he’s headed toward them.]

“Meaning he’s going the same direction as us. We need to hurry or we’ll never catch up.”

[Mm! Hurry! Hurry!]

“I know.”

That said, the layout here was complex. She couldn’t just run in a straight line. It was sure to take a significant amount of time to catch up. What’s more, there were monsters here, so she couldn’t act carelessly.

Berta kept running, keeping an eye on her surroundings. That was when someone stirred atop her back.

“U-Ugh...” It was a girl, her voice hoarse from extreme exhaustion. “Where is this...?”

“You’re awake?” Berta asked, but no answer came. Was she surprised? Or did she have her mind on something? Berta continued without really paying that any mind. “How are you feeling, Shimazu Yui?”

The one Berta had placed on her back and was carrying around was a member of the exploration team, the Fairy Ring Shimazu Yui. Right before Majima Takahiro’s group had gotten swallowed in this teleportation, she’d suddenly appeared before Berta. Her inherent ability had been the cause of this incident. Berta had secured her person.

“Where are we going?” Shimazu asked quietly.

“To Majima Takahiro,” Berta answered. “You lost consciousness. If left alone, you were likely to be killed by the monsters wandering around here, so I brought you along. Even if you’re a visitor, you have no way of resisting while unconscious.”

Shimazu Yui fell silent for a while. She appeared to be deep in thought.

“Meaning you’ve been protecting me,” she finally said.

“Well, yes. What about it?”

“Don’t you...suspect me of being behind all this?”

Shimazu Yui looked so defenseless on Berta’s back, an air of resignation in her voice. Interpreting this correctly, Berta snorted. It was ludicrous. There’d been no need for her to do anything of the sort.

“Not at all,” Berta denied bluntly. “The moment before we were teleported, I witnessed what you did.”

◆ ◆ ◆

It happened right before the teleportation. Shimazu Yui appeared, her expression deathly pale. She looked shaken upon seeing Berta. She probably tried to say something, but, as if purposefully preempting her, a loud noise rumbled through the room. It was the sound of something breaking spectacularly in a nearby room.

Shimazu Yui started at the sudden event before a look of fear dominated her features. Immediately after that, her expression changed completely.

“Oh no!”

She screamed and accumulated mana in her body. Visitors possessed tremendous mana, yet on the spur of the moment, there was only so much she could gather. Before she could do anything, a terrifying amount of mana distorted the world. It was unleashed by someone else entirely.

“That was definitely teleportation by Fairy Ring,” Berta said, reminiscing over the event. “However, you weren’t the culprit behind it this time. On the contrary, I saw you resist it on the spot. Did I see wrong?”

“No... It’s exactly as you say,” Shimazu answered hesitantly. Perhaps she’d been prepared to be accused of being the culprit. That idea didn’t sit well with Berta.

“Don’t make light of us,” Berta said, huffing. “Things were done a little too shoddily this time to even consider you as a suspect. During the teleportation, it was possible to resist using mana. Fairy Ring’s effect can be resisted, correct?”

“Y-Yes. My Fairy Ring isn’t meant for battle,” Shimazu admitted, somewhat bewildered. A shadow fell over her expression, and she hung her head feebly. “In truth, Fairy Ring is meant only for running away; to go somewhere familiar that’s far and safe. That was what I wished for, so it can’t do anything else.”

A visitor’s ability was born of their wish, meaning it was a display of everything that was in their heart. Just maybe, she had a complex about this.

“Fairy Ring can’t be used for violence,” Shimazu continued. “If attempted, not only will it fail, it’ll inflict serious damage on the user.”

“You understand your own ability well,” Berta said, nodding.

“Well, it is mine.”

“That’s the point.”

“Huh?”

“According to my king, a visitor understands their own inherent ability without having to be taught by anyone. As such, things should never have ended up like this.”

“Meaning?”

“As a result of our resisting the teleportation, the enemy has lost the initiative and sent us flying to random, unknown locations. If you were the perpetrator, there would be no need to pick a time that made it explicitly possible to resist. You could’ve prepared a surefire trap and sent us there at any point during our journey to the capital.”

Naturally, Berta had only realized that something was out of place because she knew for a fact that Shimazu Yui wasn’t their true foe. Any other concerned party in this crisis was likewise sure to notice sooner or later.

“Nevertheless, we were teleported,” Berta said. “What’s more, it was done by Fairy Ring. As such, there is another culprit. As for who is capable of this—”

“The Almighty Vessel Okazaki Takuma. He’s the only one who can,” Shimazu said.

His power to use other people’s abilities made it possible for him to use Fairy Ring. Shimazu Yui made a horribly bitter face at the thought. How could she not? Not only had her ability been used to do this, but she’d fallen prey to it as well.

“That makes sense to me,” Shimazu continued. “You know, I was called by Majima, so I went to his room. I was sure he was going to criticize me harshly.”

“I heard nothing of the sort from Majima Takahiro,” Berta said.

“Thought so... I was probably tricked,” Shimazu admitted bitterly.

“Now that you mention it, Iino Yuna said she was called to go see you,” Berta said, coming to a sudden realization.

“What’s with that? I don’t know anything about it.”

“Hmm. Meaning she was fooled too.”

By gathering another perspective, the rough picture was taking shape. Okazaki Takuma had fabricated a lethal trap and had made an attempt on Majima Takahiro’s entire party by throwing them into it. However, there were no absolutes in such complex schemes. He’d made a way to lay the blame on the ability’s original user, the Fairy Ring Shimazu Yui. Or perhaps she’d also been a target to kill. In either case, she had been dragged into his play.

“Although,” Berta added, “even if the Almighty Vessel succeeded in teleporting you into a trap, your Fairy Ring would be able to teleport you right back out of it. It’s curious that he didn’t realize that.”

“No. That’s impossible,” Shimazu said. “My Fairy Ring takes time to prepare depending on how far I need to go. I can only go somewhere I’ve been before too. If I’m sent somewhere unfamiliar and far away, I would need time to gather the mana to make the long journey to somewhere I know. I wouldn’t be able to run away on the spot.”

“Meaning you wouldn’t be able to break out of a lethal trap.”

The plan itself had apparently been valid. However, Okazaki Takuma hadn’t grasped Fairy Ring’s fragility. The teleportation had been executed poorly, and the enemy had lost the initiative because of it. That about summed it up. Now convinced of this, Berta was suddenly caught on a certain detail.

“But if Fairy Ring requires time to gather mana for long-distance teleportation, how was it executed so quickly?”

It’d taken nearly no time at all from detecting the mana to the ability’s activation. If time was needed to prepare, Berta would’ve noticed and could’ve escaped in the meantime.

“Is it possible to do such a thing with Okazaki Takuma’s Almighty Vessel?”

That was the only thing that came to Berta’s mind, but Shimazu Yui shook her head.

“No. Not at all. His Almighty Vessel is definitely an extremely powerful ability, but it has its flaws. For most inherent abilities, he can’t draw out as much power as the real thing. There are even abilities he can’t copy at all.”

“Is that so?”

“Mm-hm. Our leader’s Sword of Light is one of them. If that wasn’t the case, that boy would’ve made a move to take our leader’s seat. He craves the limelight. I’m guessing Majima’s ability is also impossible for him. That ability has captured the entire world’s attention, after all. I can’t imagine him not trying to copy it, and if he managed, he definitely would’ve bragged about it.”

“He sounds like an awfully petty human.”

“Mm. Just maybe, that’s exactly why his Almighty Vessel isn’t really almighty. He once said, ‘If someone else can do something, there’s no way I can’t do it too.’ He actually is pretty talented. However, even if a vessel is almighty, its scope can limit its function.”

Shimazu Yui sighed.

“So I say, but I don’t know if that’s actually the reason,” she added. “Anyway, his pettiness may be connected to this reckless action.”

“However, even if he’s petty, he is a definite threat,” Berta said, getting things back on track. “Your Fairy Ring can’t be immediately activated. The same goes for Okazaki. Can you think of anything that makes it possible, then?”

As the original user of Fairy Ring, maybe there was something she was capable of figuring out. Still being shaken about on Berta’s back, Shimazu Yui sank into thought for a while. In the end, she shook her head.

“Sorry, I can’t think of anything. The only way would be for Okazaki to have his mana fully ready and have me use my own Fairy Ring to bring him to your room...”

“You didn’t bring him. I saw that with my own eyes.”

“So if it’s possible, it was done some other way. There are magic tools in this world, so maybe it was made viable by some other means.”

“Doesn’t that mean anything goes?” Berta said with a grunt.

“It sure does,” Shimazu admitted. “But that’s exactly why we can figure some things out.”

“What?”

“I mean, the magic tools of this world are very limited, right? At most, they can reproduce grade 3 magic. It isn’t quite anything goes. Normally, at least.”

“Hmm...”

The first thing that came to Berta’s mind was the fight against Takaya Jun. Before he manifested the power of the Mad Beast, he’d used a treasured sword to unleash earth magic. That sword was the greatest class of magic tool that’d been created in this world, yet didn’t seem impressive in the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t all that bad as a weapon, but it was very restricted in its use. A visitor’s inherent ability was simply outlandish, making the weapon look simple. After thinking it through, Berta figured it out.

“Aah, I get it,” she said. “Is this what you’re trying to say? No matter what it is, it’s impossible for the magic tool that the Almighty Vessel used here to be something normal.”

“Exactly. It would only be possible for a relic of salvation, and there are only a few ways of getting those. The only ones who have any are the Holy Church and Holy Order... But that’s impossible. The Holy Church needs Majima to survive. Otherwise, they’ll have major problems.”

If these discussions between Majima Takahiro and the margrave ended poorly, it would destabilize the entire world. If Majima Takahiro were killed after being explicitly invited by the church, they would suffer a terrible blow to their authority. It would create a fissure between them and the exploration team too. There was nothing to gain from it at all.

“In that case, the possibilities are limited,” Shimazu said.

“The Angel Puppeteer’s group and the unknown faction they serve...”

Berta reached the answer right away. As former knights of the Holy Order, they possessed and wielded relics of salvation. It was highly probable for them to be involved. They’d been quiet since the last battle, but had finally made a move.

“How troublesome,” Berta groaned.

“Seriously,” Shimazu agreed. “Still, there is a small stroke of good luck here. Okazaki used Fairy Ring carelessly.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s not some errand runner like I am. He’s a true nicknamed cheater of the exploration team. He’s unbelievably strong. Right now, though, he can’t move. Due to his careless use of Fairy Ring, the damage he suffered from having it resisted should be significant.”

“I see. Meaning one of our troublesome enemies isn’t capable of fighting.”

“Exactly. What’s more, I interfered as someone capable of using the same ability, so the effect on him must’ve been even greater. Conversely, having used that ability to resist, the same could be said about me.”

An apologetic expression crossed her emaciated and pale face.

“I’m doing better than Okazaki, but I suffered damage too,” she added. “My mana is totally drained, and I don’t quite know how to put it, but I feel like I’m a total wreck on a more fundamental level. At worst, I think I’ll need an entire day to recover before I can transport all of you out of here using Fairy Ring.”

In other words, it would be impossible to escape this place right away. Not that Berta had any intention of criticizing her for it. She’d witnessed Shimazu Yui writhing in agony resisting the teleportation, looking like she was going to die, and passing out from the pain.

Besides, so long as she recovered, they could use Fairy Ring. If everyone managed to meet up and evade danger for another day, they would be able to get out of here without having to defeat the enemy.

Majima Takahiro’s group could win by linking everyone back up and crushing the enemy before leaving the place on foot. Now, they could also wait for time to pass and escape using Fairy Ring. Having more choices in this situation held great significance. Involving Shimazu Yui in their poorly executed schemes had come to bite the enemy in the back.

“At any rate, we must hurry and find the others first,” Berta said.

According to Ayame, Rose and Lobivia looked like they were going to be the first to link up with Majima Takahiro. After them, it would probably be Lily and Gerbera. Berta’s group would be next, and then finally Shiran.

Thinking of it like that meant Shiran, having been sent to this place all on her own, wouldn’t be able to get to the others until the very end. Berta knew of her strength, but it was still cause for concern. That was when she came to a realization. She really had been influenced by these people so much. She recalled the conversation she’d had with Iino Yuna right before being teleported.

“Majima’s a hateful guy, but he treats his companions dearly. I think this is a suitable place for you. I’m sure you’ll be able to live a happy life by his side.”

Berta already considered them dear travel companions and worried for their safety as if it was a matter of course. This was surely what it meant to belong somewhere. Convincing herself of this, all that was left to do was to run.