Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 2 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: A Scene Worth Protecting

During the next few days, I spent my time until I fully recovered discussing our plans for the future with my companions. In short, we were deciding whether to stay here, head north to look for human settlements, or head east in the wake of the first expeditionary force.

Lily was in favor of going north. “Shouldn’t we go find a human settlement sooner than later? Fortunately, Gerbera’s account proves there are humans in this world, and we know a way of getting out of the forest. Considering your own body, Master, we should get supplies for ourselves there as quickly as we can.”

I’d thought the same until recently, but Lily was also focused on something else.

“You’ve been injured quite badly a few times now, haven’t you? You need both proper rest and nourishment to heal fully. But we can’t get what we need in this forest. I’m worried it’ll one day become impossible to keep things up at this rate.”

Lily had pointed out before that my body was a little thinner than it used to be. I couldn’t tell myself, but she was apparently sensitive to minute changes in my body from spending so much time nestled against me. I could dodge the issue for now, but it wouldn’t last forever. It would be too late after I collapsed. I absolutely refused from the very bottom of my heart to hold everyone back like that.

Rose and Gerbera surely supported Lily’s opinion. That only left Katou. From her perspective, it would be best to head east first, so that the first expeditionary force could take care of her, and then head north. However, Katou herself insisted we go straight north instead. She said it wasn’t definitive that we would meet the expeditionary force if we were to head east. It was a sound opinion. Thus, we decided on going north.

All that was left was to set forth. The time for departure was close, and I was preparing everything I needed for that day.

◆ ◆ ◆

On this evening, the physical weariness finally left my body. I took Lily along and stepped just outside the arachne nest. The forest was already gloomy, so with night painting over the sky like ink, everything in sight melted away around me.

After rolling my shoulders a few times, I lowered my gaze to my left hand. “Now then. Let’s get this started. Ready, Asarina?”

“Masss—ter!” replied the jarring voice of a plant trying to talk.

The bullet creeper, now the parasite creeper Asarina—another flower name Katou picked out when I consulted her—stretched out from the back of my left hand. She was like a snake slithering out of its hole, smoothly extending her body and marking her target.

“Go!”

At my command, the green snake lunged out and thrust into the tree five meters in front of me. Fragments of bark scattered into the air as the sound of shaking leaves rang out, accompanied by a dull thud.

“Urgh... Okay, come back.”

I grit my teeth and endured the pain running up my arm as I called her back. I walked up to the tree to check it out and found a hole about two centimeters in diameter and about three centimeters deep. I nodded in satisfaction at the result and gently petted Asarina’s head with my right index finger. She wriggled about over the back of my left hand.

“Mass—ssss—sss—ter! Ter!” she sang out in a strange voice. It seemed this pleased her.

Asarina didn’t possess the bullet creeper’s ability to shoot out seeds. She didn’t even have the organs that made it possible. At this point, I wasn’t sure whether this was something she would develop as she grew up or whether she was a new species of bullet creeper altogether.

It was unfortunate she couldn’t shoot seeds, but instead she possessed physical abilities which surpassed normal bullet creepers. She could move her flexible body much like a whip. She could also deliver a powerful strike by stretching straight out much like she did just now.

I was worried she could be intercepted and severed from my hand, but I found out this was a needless anxiety. Even if Asarina’s body was torn off, a new head would grow back from the stump.

The end of her body looked a lot like the head of a snake, but she didn’t have anything resembling a brain in there. If I had to guess, her actual body lay in the roots digging into my left arm. I felt a slight sense of discomfort throughout my arm because of this, but I was sure to get used to it eventually.

What’s more, Asarina continuously sipped on my mana little by little. This was both to maintain her life and to gather reserves needed for emergencies. Unlike when she was just sprouting, now that she had a will, Asarina could properly regulate the amount of mana she sucked from me. For example, she could hold back when I didn’t have much mana, and she could take more when I had an excess. In some ways, she was something like a rechargeable battery which drew on any mana I didn’t need.

From another perspective, I wasn’t able to use my mana for anything, but she was able to serve a combat role for me by using it. It was actually quite groundbreaking. With this, I finally possessed the strength to stand in battle on my own—maybe. This was of course Asarina’s strength, not mine. However, seeing how I couldn’t remove her from my body, there was no meaning in considering us as different combatants.

I had to borrow strength from others, just as before. It was still somewhat pathetic, but I had no choice but to swallow my pride. I didn’t want to make Lily cry like that ever again. I would do only what I was capable of. I honestly thought that way now.

“The destructive force is looking pretty good, huh?” Lily said as she stood up from where she was sitting and walked over to me. “All that’s left is figuring out how complex a command you can send through the mental path... How’s that looking?”

“We’ll need practice.”

Going out of my way to yell out my commands presented a time lag where I wouldn’t always make it in time. In that sense, it was essential for me to move as if I was one with Asarina. The idea came to mind that the mental path could be used for this.

From what I knew about the mental path so far, the closer I was, the higher the rate of conductivity, so to speak. My experience to date showed I could exchange more information through the mental path with physical contact. Furthermore, with her inside my body, it was possible to exchange information and share my intent, to a certain extent, at least. The time Lily and Rose saved me from Gerbera was a pretty easy-to-understand example of this.

Asarina was basically connected as directly to the mental path as she could be. All that was left was to practice passing her accurate instructions as quickly as possible. There was, of course, also the possibility that Asarina could learn to make her own judgments and take action in cases where my directions wouldn’t make it in time regardless of communication speed. In that sense, I wasn’t just hoping for her to serve as my weapon but also as a semi-automatic defense mechanism.

“I hope it goes well,” Lily said as she played with Asarina using her finger. “It’s a big advantage to be able to stay at your side at all times.”

“We can’t physically separate anyway.”

Asarina’s combat potential was quite low. It would likely be difficult for her to stand toe to toe with common monsters. However, always being by my side was an advantage which compensated for this. It was just as Lily said, though her thought deviated from mine a little.

“But... Right. So, Asarina is always by your side.” Lily pulled back her hand and interlaced her fingers behind her back. “That makes me a little jealous.” She pouted ever so slightly as she bent over toward me.

Lily was typically always at my side except for special circumstances. Nevertheless, it seemed this wasn’t enough for her. Having said that, this was likely what a special relationship between two people in love was like. It was natural to want to be together all the time. It was obvious to stick together using any excuse at hand... I was the same in this sense. Not that I’d say it aloud.

“It’s gotten dark. Dinner’s probably done, so let’s head back,” I said as I averted my gaze from Lily’s cute pouting and pretended to be indifferent about the matter.

“Right. You’ve only just recovered, Master. You shouldn’t be pushing yourself.”

Lily clung tightly to my right arm. I didn’t say anything aloud, but my embarrassed sentiments were passed through to her anyway. It didn’t feel bad at all.

◆ ◆ ◆

When we returned to the arachne nest, preparations for dinner were complete. The sunken fireplace Rose made was burning bright red with skewered ingredients hanging over it. Today’s menu was the giant crayfish, big scissors meat. This was something Gerbera hunted, while Rose cleaned and processed it for cooking.

I took a taste. The big scissors meat was plainer than I thought it’d be. I was hoping for something a little saltier. Having said that, it was several times better than firefang meat. Right now, we were only capable of roasting it, but I felt like it would be pretty good raw with some soy sauce or something. Katou was of the same opinion apparently. She was having a silly conversation with Rose about sushi and sashimi.

The scene of the two of them talking had become quite common lately. They were all alone together while I was out exploring, so they likely had many opportunities to deepen their relationship.

There was also one other unusual scene becoming quite common. After thanking Asarina for stretching out and grabbing a skewer for me, I looked over to my left where Gerbera was sitting. A baby fox was lying on her head with its legs dangling down lazily.

“Come now, Ayame. Must you always sit atop my head?”

Ayame was the name we gave the young blowfox. Gerbera looked up at her with a disconcerted expression. She wasn’t seriously displeased by this, however. It would be nothing for this white arachne to snatch the young Ayame off her head. It was easy to see her inner thoughts on the matter just from that.

“Kuu-kuuu.”

“It’s troubling for me if you whine in discontent like that... I’m the one who’d like to complain here.”

“Kuu?”

“...What a hopeless fellow.”

The young Ayame was apparently quite attached to Gerbera. She spent most of her time with her. Ayame had a tendency to dart about restlessly like a child, but I frequently found her sitting atop Gerbera’s white head or the flat portion of her spider body. Gerbera was often troubled by Ayame’s lackadaisical behavior, but she quite liked the presence of her new little sister.

Ayame leaped from Gerbera’s head and ran around wildly like a tomboy, to which Gerbera willfully complied and stood up.

“Good grief. Are you incapable of sitting still for a single moment?”

So she said, but Gerbera took chase after her anyway. A charming scene played out before me. Ayame ran about as if playing with Gerbera, and after a while, she ran over to where Katou was talking to Rose.

“Oh? What’s the matter, Ayame? It’s dangerous over here,” Rose said.

Rose didn’t need to eat, so she spent dinnertime working away as she always did. She had her knife in her right hand and a half-carved sword in the other. It was dangerous to frolic around her. Ayame paid no mind to this and sniffed at Rose like a spoiled child, pressing her snout against her hard, wooden lap.

“Oh well.”

Rose placed her work aside on the ground. After hesitantly waving her hand through the air for a moment, she patted Ayame’s head with awkward movements.

“Sorry, Rose. Ayame must be in your way,” Gerbera said as she came over to them.

“No worries. I don’t mind.”

Ayame looked up at Gerbera while Rose petted her head, then she lay down on the spot. It seemed she was in the mood to be fawned over by an older sister she didn’t normally interact with much. She looked to be in a great mood, whereas Gerbera stood stock still, an unpleasant look on her face. Rose turned her featureless face up to her while still petting Ayame.

“She’s quite cute, isn’t she?” she said.

“M-Mm.”

“There’s no need to stand there; how about taking a seat?”

“Mm.” Gerbera nodded and then folded in her eight legs. She and Rose were now sitting next to each other with Ayame in between them.

“...”

“...”

Neither of them spoke. They had completely stiffened up. Ayame looked up at both of them, wagging her fluffy tail about.

“Kuu?”

Katou looked at them reproachfully for a while before she said with an astonished sigh, “Don’t just sit there awkwardly. Say something. Come on, Ayame. Your two big sisters look like they have something to talk about, so come on over here.”

Katou clicked her tongue a few times and beckoned Ayame over. Ayame looked up at Rose and then at Gerbera before slipping out of Rose’s hand and running off to Katou. The two girls were left on their own, exchanging glances.

They were now in a situation where they couldn’t take their leave until they had a conversation of some sort. They had no choice but to give in now. Above all else, their youngest sister was now looking at them with her cute, round, black eyes. “Aren’t you going to talk? Why aren’t you saying anything?” they seemed to say. There was no way the two could go against that.

“This is just something our master mentioned to me before...” After several seconds of searching for a topic, the older sister Rose was the one to finally get the ball rolling. “That by combining my ability to create magic tools with your ability to weave silk, we could create even better equipment.”

“Hmmm,” Gerbera replied with interest.

“I do believe it’s worth considering. What do you think?”

“Right. I think it’s a good idea,” Gerbera said awkwardly, a somewhat stiff smile still on her face. “...What kind of equipment are you thinking of, for example?”

“Let’s see...”

Things went smoothly once their conversation got underway. Both of them excelled as crafters. It was still awkward for a regular conversation, but the topic of crafting seemed bottomless to them.

As for Ayame, who had created this opportunity, she was curled up in Katou’s lap while snoring cutely as the schoolgirl smiled reservedly and watched the other two talk away. The little blowfox really did operate to her own tune, but it was certainly thanks to her that the air here had softened up.

Ayame was definitely the weakest among my servants. Her physical abilities were about on par with a puppy back on Earth. She did have the stamina of a monster, and she could spit fireballs, but neither were at a level which would allow her to endure a battle on her own. However, Ayame’s simple presence granted us a certain sense of peace. That in itself was difficult to acquire, making her another existence I couldn’t possibly go without anymore.

“It’d be great if these times could just go on forever,” Lily said, nestling up next to me.

“Yeah,” I replied with a nod as a flood of emotions rushed over me. “I really wish they would.”

I could somehow tell such a wish wasn’t going to come true. By leaving the forest, the environment around me would change drastically. By stepping into the human world, I would have to face my fellow humans whether I liked it or not.

I was a master who led my servants. I had already decided within my heart that I would live hand in hand with them no matter what happened. However, I didn’t know if the human world would accept my nature as a being who led monsters. I didn’t even know how a chance encounter with the students from my world would go. I didn’t need them to accept me, but I prayed they would at least not antagonize us.

But even if they did, I would steel my resolve and fight against my fellow humans. All for the sake of protecting this very scene right before my eyes.

◆ ◆ ◆

We left the arachne nest several days later. We were headed north, toward the edge of the forest, beyond which supposedly lay the human world.