Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 2 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Encounter with Humans

I peeked through the gap in the trees toward a small clearing some distance away. There was a group of around 20 people taking a rest there. About ten of them were boys and girls wearing school uniforms. The rest were soldiers wearing the same armor as the ghouls we had encountered before. They were keeping a careful watch on their surroundings while taking a break.

“...Students and locals, huh?” I figured we would find one or the other, but not both together. It was honestly somewhat unexpected.

“It looks like others managed to find the people of this world before us,” Lily said.

“Looks like,” I replied as I kept my gaze fixed on the group.

The important thing here was figuring out what kind of position these soldiers held and what their relationship with these students was. This was directly connected to what kind of relationship we could form with them, after all. As far as being able to gather information, the unexpected situation of finding locals and students together was actually rather convenient.

“Master,” Lily called to me as she pulled on my sleeve. “I think those students are probably members of the Colony’s home team.”

“Why do you think so?”

“They wouldn’t look so exhausted if they were cheaters.”

Now that she mentioned it, many of the students look haggard, even if I couldn’t see their expressions from this distance.

“...Survivors from the Colony’s destruction, I guess.”

Meaning they were the same as Katou. Students who had yet to become aware of their own cheats. I was actually surprised that there were so many of them. I then realized there was a sense of relief forming in my heart, scant as it was. There were survivors. And I was relieved by this fact.

It was the same as when I had found Kaga. I couldn’t trust humans. If my goals didn’t require it, I wouldn’t think of mixing in with them. Lily and my other servants were a much greater priority to me. I wouldn’t show any mercy against humans who were hostile to me.

But nevertheless, I wasn’t such a degenerate that I wanted them all to die. One could say my resolve was somewhat half-assed, but to me, that was fine. It was better for them to be alive than dead. That perfectly normal sense of reason still existed within me. This was important. If I ever lost such emotions, I felt like I would even lose my feelings for my servants one day. In any case, now wasn’t the time to bask in such sentimentality.

“...But I’m surprised they managed to survive.”

“I’m sure they’ve been on edge hiding themselves in the forest this entire time, and then the soldiers found them,” Lily concluded, probably having read everything going through my heart.

“If that’s true, then they must’ve had a talented leader. Moreover, it’d be impossible without amazing luck.”

“Maybe a cheater was protecting them. I doubt the exploration team members who stayed behind in the Colony were wiped out that day.”

“Yeah. That’s possible.”

We continued to observe the group while talking. A few of the students still had some vigor left in them and were proactively talking to each other and the other soldiers. I couldn’t hear them from this distance, but I could at least tell they weren’t receiving cruel treatment from the locals.

Hang on... They can talk to each other?

As far as I could tell, judging from the letter I found on the ghouls, the written word here was likely different from anything we knew. So, how were they able to converse? It was curious, but this wasn’t the place to get my answer. The important thing here was that conversation was possible and that one could form a friendly relationship with them by doing so.

This made the risk of contacting them pretty low. Meaning... It should be possible to ask them to guide us to a human settlement? If so, what was the best way to accomplish that? Even if I could just wait for the next opportunity if worse comes to worst, I wanted to avoid failures as much as I could.

I wanted information on the circumstances that brought the students and soldiers together here. With that, I could better visualize how to negotiate with them. There was also the option of remaining hidden and tailing them. There was no way they were planning on wandering around the forest forever. Sooner or later, they were likely to arrive at a human settlement.

“What do we do, Master?” Lily asked.

“...For now, be ready to come in contact with them at any moment.”

No matter how the dice fell, we had to be sure we were ready. Our preparations were already underway. I quickly took off my jersey and put on the undershirt Rose had handed me earlier. I then put my uniform on top of it. This was the first step.

I planned on hiding my ability to tame monsters, but my clothes would become an obstacle to that. The other students would be suspicious if I openly wore the clothes Gerbera had made. Having said that, just wearing my uniform made me uneasy should things take a turn for the worst. That’s why I had Rose and Gerbera make this thin undershirt for me. I could wear it under my uniform and still expect a good amount of defense from it.

I then wrapped the long cloth Gerbera had prepared for me around my left arm like a bandage. This was of course to hide Asarina.

“Masss—ter! Ter!”

“Sorry, it must be cramped in there.”

This cloth was also made from Gerbera’s threads, so it was quite sturdy. I still had burn marks on my arm from the blowfox ambush, so it wasn’t all that strange to have a bandage on.

“As for my sword...”

Just like my clothes, the pseudo-Damascus steel sword could bring suspicion upon me. That’s why we made preparations for this beforehand as well. I had Rose create a normal magical puppet sword which was hollowed out. In short, it was like a sheath pretending to be a sword. I affixed it on top of my actual blade, making it look like a regular magical puppet sword. It seemed simple, but this was of course only possible because of Rose’s skills.

She had never thought of creating something like this on her own and was deeply moved when I made the request. It was somewhat embarrassing and even uncomfortable to be praised in such a way. Crafting was part of Rose’s very ecology, so ideas even I could come up with by mimicking books, manga, and games from the modern world were likely great innovations of the era to her. But it really was like her to take the vague image I described and have something ready the next day, with her own flourishes to the original concept.

All of the armaments used back in the Colony were taken from defeated magical puppets. With this camouflage for my blade, it wouldn’t be suspicious. We did the same sort of work on the black shield I was using.

After that, I couldn’t forget to dirty my clothes and body a little. It was unnatural to be prim and tidy here. I went over to the backpack I’d taken from Kaga and removed the rings we’d found on the ghouls and put them in my pocket. With that, all my preparations were done. Lily and Katou also finished getting ready, and we once more returned to observing the group of humans.

“...In any case, they’re taking quite the long break,” I commented.

“Isn’t it out of consideration for the weakened students?” Lily said.

“Maybe. Whatever. Let’s do all we can in the meantime.”

We decided to hold a meeting on our plans for the immediate future. The situation remained as it was for nearly an hour.

“There’s more.”

Another group of ten soldiers came down the path from the south, the same direction we’d come from. All of them were marching on foot, but their strides were more energetic than one would think considering their full body armor. The new group met up with the ones taking a rest. The reason they were taking such a long break was apparently to wait for this group to catch up.

“...Hm?”

I spotted one soldier in the group of dark gray equipment sporting white armor. It looked like he was giving orders to the other soldiers. This was apparently the group’s leader. And as I continued to observe them, I was left in shock the next moment.

The one wearing the white helmet looked around as if searching for something and then stared right at me. But that was impossible. There was no way he could see us. We were quite far away and hiding in the bushes. They shouldn’t have been able to see us from there, even if we could see them... But my judgment was overturned in an instant.

“Who goes there?!”

An intimidating voice pierced through the forest. I drew back as if I had just been struck through the heart.

“No way, they found us...?!”

I still thought it was impossible, but their leader looked convinced we were here. He drew his sword while keeping a fixed gaze on us.

“Everyone on guard! We’re being targeted!”

The voice cutting through the forest sounded young, much like that of a boy around our age or younger. His warning triggered a hurried reaction across the entire clearing. The students screamed as they gathered together, while the soldiers formed a defensive perimeter around them in an instant.

They looked to be standing their ground. This was surely because they had so many students holding them down. It was fortunate they weren’t charging at us with their swords, but we couldn’t remain in this stalemate forever.

Lily tightened her grip around my arm as she clung to me and watched this unfold. “Looks like they found us. What do we do?” she casually asked.

“...We have no choice but to come out of hiding.”

Our option of secretly tailing them all the way to a human settlement was unfortunately smashed to pieces. I had wanted to gather a little more information before choosing to negotiate with them to guide us, but I had to give up on that. I had to eventually make a decision, anyway. It just so happened that now was the time. I had no choice but to steel myself.

“There’s plenty of students there; we should have plenty of room for negotiation.”

I did of course plan for the worst-case scenario where they attacked us. I’d already told Gerbera to charge in if things looked like they were getting bad. She was extremely powerful, making her fully capable of routing any normal enemies. But just in case, the plan was to cause confusion and run away at full speed. Rose was to support her in this case.

“Rose, Gerbera. It’ll just be for a short while, but we’re going to have to part here. Just do as we discussed.”

“Acknowledged. I will pray for your safety.”

“Take care of our lord, Ayame.”

Rose bowed down, while Gerbera brushed Ayame’s head. She yipped back at her then dove into Lily’s uniform. With this, we were all ready to go.

Am I forgetting anything?

I checked the situation one last time. We had already thought of everything beforehand. Our preparations were done. All that was left was to do our best as the situation evolved.

“Okay, let’s go.”

There was nothing more to it. However, perfection didn’t exist in this world. There was always something to overlook no matter how much one prepared. It was basically inevitable. And this was the very instant when such an accident occurred.

“Katou?” I heard Rose say in an incredulous tone.

I turned around to see what was going on. Katou was standing stock-still. Our plan was for her to come with us to meet them. However, upon taking her first step forward, she froze up completely.

“Ah, huh...?”

Why was that? She didn’t appear to understand either. A bewildered voice leaked from her throat, but it was immediately painted over by painful wheezes. Katou was white as a sheet as she looked at me.

No, not me...

She was looking over my shoulder. She froze up while looking at the humans we were planning to contact.

“...Aaah.”

A quiet shriek spilled from her lips as her body swayed.

“Katou!”

Rose was the first to notice the abnormality. She quickly caught Katou’s dainty body, stopping her from falling over. Now in Rose’s arms, something was very clearly wrong with her. Her entire body was trembling, her breaths were ragged, and she blinked an unnatural amount. She looked like she was trying to stand back up but couldn’t put any strength in her legs.

She was like a snow sculpture which could crumble from the slightest movement. Was it some sort of spasm due to illness...? With this kind of timing? Impossible. To me, it looked like Katou was having a panic attack.

Anxiety, fear, consternation. I could see none of her usual wise self anymore. Why...? And before I could even finish questioning myself, I recalled what was reflected in her eyes the moment before she fell.

A large group of humans. Among them, more than half were men. Her sudden change was extremely easy to understand. Katou had gone through hell in this world. There was nothing strange about her being frightened here. This was actually something I should’ve anticipated. So, why couldn’t I? Why couldn’t Katou? It was pretty simple. This was the very first time I ever saw Katou acting so scared.

“S-Sorry... Sen...pai...”

I didn’t know this small, trembling girl. Ever since I met her in that hut, Katou never showed fear toward me. I thought since she was okay with me, she wouldn’t have any problems with others. I never even considered the possibility. Thinking back on it now, though, everything that had happened so far was actually more peculiar.

Why was she okay with me..? Never mind, now isn’t the time for this.

I brought my thoughts to a stop and confirmed Katou’s condition. She was so pale even her lips were purple. She was barely capable of breathing. She couldn’t possibly come with us like this.

“Rose,” I said as I turned my gaze toward the puppet holding her up. “I’d like you to take Katou and get away from here immediately.”

We had to get her to calm down as soon as possible. The first step in doing so was getting her far away from here. Seeing how she was unable to walk on her own, it was best to have Rose take care of her. Katou could relax and entrust herself to her friend.

“Understood.”

Rose quickly took action. She carefully picked Katou up as if she were handling something extremely fragile.

“So...rry... Senpai... Sorry...” Katou continued to apologize in a delirium, but I had no intention of criticizing her.

“Don’t worry about it. This much is nothing.”

“Senpai...”

I gave her a light smile and then looked back to Rose. “Take care of Katou.”

“Acknowledged.”

Rose took Katou and disappeared beyond the trees while Gerbera took up a hidden position. The only ones left behind were myself, Lily standing next to me, Asarina hiding under the bandage on my left arm, and Ayame poking her head out of Lily’s shirt.

“Master,” Lily said as she tightly gripped my sleeve.

“Yeah. I know. It’s okay.”

I took a deep breath and changed gears. I was worried about Katou’s condition, but we had something to do here. It was a little different from what we had planned, but it didn’t change our course of action. We would negotiate with these people to guide us to a human settlement, and if possible, procure provisions and find a place to entrust Katou.

“Okay then, let’s get going.”

“Mm.”

Nestled up against each other, we exchanged nods and then walked over to the world of humanity.