Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 2 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Dark Omens

“Graaawr!”

A gray wolf, a firefang, ran through the dense forest as it howled wildly. It weaved its way through the overgrown trees, trampled down bushes, and circled around to our rear at a speed I couldn’t follow. However, that wasn’t enough to surpass the mobility of the white spider with me.

“Grrrr...?!”

The firefang growled in shock. A white shadow, which was by my side just a moment ago, now blocked its path.

“You shan’t pass,” the white spider said as she grinned at the wolf. “Hmph.”

“Gya?!”

The white spider, Gerbera, punched the firefang on the snout with her bare hand. She just casually flung out her fist, but it had more than enough power behind it to be deadly. Smashed fangs flew into the air as the two-meter-tall wolf was sent flying in the opposite direction. The impact looked like it was enough to break the wolf’s neck, but as expected of a monster, the firefang got back to its feet with a bloody nose.

“Grrr...! Grawr!”

It growled to keep us back, but then it decided it was at a disadvantage and bolted away.

We weren’t going to let it get away, of course.

“My Lord!”

Gerbera swiftly returned to my side and took the large shield from my hands, stowed it away, and then picked me up in her slender arms. She was completely fluid. Every action she took in combat was shrewd, no wasted movements. It was captivating. She truly shined on the field of battle like the blessed child of the god of war. If pushed to say it, her usual regretful behavior seemed like a lie. That in itself was adorable, though.

“Please be careful not to bite your tongue.”

“It would’ve been nice if you had told me that when we first met.”

“...Didn’t you promise not to mention that?”

Gerbera looked displeased with my lousy joke, but I wanted to be forgiven for at least this much. She was carrying me like a princess, after all. It was so pathetic. I felt like crying, but due to my deficiency in movement speed, I had no choice but to accept my fate. I did tell her she may as well carry me over her shoulder like a sack, but she rejected my proposal because it was too dangerous running through the forest like that.

“Here we go,” she said as she began running like a loosed arrow.

“Uooh?!”

We accelerated quickly as the trees of the forest streamed behind us at an unbelievable speed. It wasn’t all that different from a car back in modern Japan, but I couldn’t forget we were in a densely packed forest. If I was capable of going this speed on my own, I would absolutely have crashed into a tree within just a few steps. Her reflexes were incredible. Not only that, Gerbera was being careful not to shake me about as much as she could. If I were slung over her shoulder, she wouldn’t have been able to have such a firm hold of me.

My eyes were gradually getting accustomed to the speed. I could see the firefang we were chasing. It was also running through the forest at a terrifying pace. But Gerbera was capable of going far faster. That was precisely why she could maintain a fixed distance behind it. If we were the ones being chased, the firefang certainly wouldn’t be able to do the same.

The wolf noticed it couldn’t get away and came to a stop. It turned toward us as we also stopped, and then it took a deep breath.

“Awooooo!”

I couldn’t tell whether it was steeling itself for battle or screaming in despair. But several seconds later, I heard other wolves howling in response. Wolves typically formed packs. The firefangs near the Colony were simply “strays” who had escaped the exploration team’s hunts. The one we encountered today just happened to be on its own, but we anticipated it would call for help when cornered. In other words...

“...Looks like the mission is a success,” I muttered quietly.

“Mm.” Gerbera nodded. “Looks like about five or six of them.”

Wolves came leaping out to our left and right just as she finished speaking.

“Graaawr!”

The firefang’s strongest attack, the flames it could shoot from its mouth, bathed the forest in red. The moment before they completely enveloped us, Gerbera leapt straight up and took refuge at the top of a tree.

“Ugh...!”

The rustling branches brushing against my skin hurt, but I bit down and endured the pain. Gerbera immediately jumped to another tree, and a moment later, multiple flames slammed into the spot she was just occupying and lit the tree like a torch.

“Unfortunately, none of them seem to be an ally,” Gerbera commented.

I looked down and spotted six growling firefangs beneath us. I couldn’t sense any of them through my mental path.

“Looks like it.”

“Very well. Then there is no need to hesitate.”

Gerbera smiled boldly and unleashed threads from her hand. Half the firefangs dodged, but the rest were caught in her web. She easily fished up three wolves then drove them back into the ground head first.

“Shall we finish this?”

It didn’t take long for her to exterminate the firefangs.

◆ ◆ ◆

There was no way we were going to carry six whole firefangs back with us, so we had to deal with them here. We carved them into their edible and inedible portions and tried skinning them on our own. We didn’t do a very good job. This type of work had always been left to Rose, so we were made fully aware of her value now that she wasn’t with us.

After leaving the disassembly site behind, I once more struck up a conversation with Gerbera.

“...Now then. We’ve changed our search area, and so far, it’s looking pretty good.”

“Indeed. But we have yet to find another servant.”

“Not much we can do about that. We did at least manage to match our encounters over the last three days in just half a day here.”

We had come over to the lake Gerbera mentioned. There were far more monsters here. Just today, we found three different monsters, the last being the firefang we just fought. It was much more efficient to look for packs of monsters so we could encounter as many as possible. With Gerbera’s abilities, it was no trouble to kick them about. It would’ve been faster to bump into a pack, but depending on the circumstances, we would find monsters acting independently like we just did. That’s where I came up with a certain plan.

Monsters didn’t possess a clear will of their own, but they at least possessed intelligence which matched wild animals back on Earth. As such, if we merely waited for them to call their allies, we could carry out our exploration all the more efficiently. And that was exactly what we did with the firefangs just now. The plan worked out perfectly, so in just a few hours, we’d managed to find eight monsters.

“It’ll start getting dark soon. We should head back and decide on what to do tomorrow.”

The situation wasn’t bad, but we didn’t have much time left. It was about time for Lily to fully recover. Rose was also nearly done with replenishing our armaments. Both these facts were something to be thankful for, but we would lose our chance for Gerbera to achieve something great.

We need to hurry up...

And so we headed back to the arachne nest as I suppressed the panic within me.

◆ ◆ ◆

After returning to the nest, Lily greeted me with an enormous smile.

“Welcome back, Master!”

She clung to my arm and looked up at me. There wasn’t a single hint of exhaustion on her face. On the contrary, she was in oddly high spirits.

“I’m back... Is it okay for you not to be sleeping?”

“I’m doing great now. I just woke up a short while ago, though. Gerbera, welcome back.”

“M-Mm. I’m back...”

Now that I thought of it, it had been several days since Lily clung to me like this. I had been walking around the forest, and whenever I returned, I quickly had a meal and went to sleep. Moreover, Lily was spending a large portion of the day resting, so we never really got to talk.

It was possible her happiness was proportional to the needs she accumulated over time. I was also glad to feel her warmth and see her so healthy. But although I was happy, this was a little troublesome. It was clear as day she would ask to come along on our exploration of the forest now that she was healthy.

It was more convenient to search the forest alone with Gerbera so we could improve her relationship with Rose. So, what was I to do?

I immersed myself in such thoughts with Lily’s love-filled dinner before me. Today’s meal was firefang, which I was accustomed to by now... And just as always, it was pretty bad. And tough. Lily’s love was unable to overcome the poor quality of the ingredients.

“I’ll be coming along starting tomorrow,” she said.

“You’ve only just recovered. How about taking it easy for just a bit longer?”

“I’m totally okay. I’ve got a ton of energy.”

“I took care to rest an extra day after recovering myself, didn’t I?”

I pretended not to notice Lily’s dissatisfied expression and continued eating my meal. It was a poor attempt to buy some time. We clearly had little hope of accomplishing anything in just one day. But it was better to at least have the chance to do so.

“Oh yeah, there’s something I need to tell you about.”

I cut off Lily’s objections by forcefully changing the subject. Besides, I wasn’t lying about having something to tell them. As a result of speaking with Gerbera about the area, I managed to figure out a few things.

“Looks like there’s some hope we can get out of this forest. Thanks to Gerbera, that is.”

“Gerbera?” Lily asked, surprised. She shot a glance over to Gerbera, who nodded with a stiff expression.

There were still some reservations left between these two girls. Lily was acting perfectly naturally, but it looked like Gerbera still felt deeply indebted to her. Lily had taken by far the most damage on that fateful evening, seeing that she had to rest until now to recover. Inevitably Gerbera would feel sorry about that. Seeing her like this made me want to do something about it quickly, but there was nothing I could do.

“Gerbera said she once made it all the way to the edge of the forest before, right?”

“M-Mm. That’s right.” I forced the conversation forward, and Gerbera finally began explaining. “Perhaps we should start from the beginning. It happened quite a long time ago. The two of you are probably unaware of this, but there were three occasions throughout my long life where humans similar to our lord have entered this forest in great numbers. Those were the only times I ever saw humans before now.”

“Hmm.” Lily raised her voice in admiration. “So, there’s humans in this world other than the ones teleported here like our master, huh?”

“That’s what I thought too,” I said.

We had been teleported into the middle of a dense forest, so we were unable to confirm the presence of other humans in this world. It was unknown whether they existed or not.

“Having said that, I kind of guessed they existed based on that hut.”

“Mmm. Oh yeah, that thing.”

I was referring to the hut we found Katou in, which was now reduced to mere wreckage. When we found it, I largely conjectured there were other humans in this world. Although, this could’ve been a planet dominated by apes or some upright slugs or something. There were monsters here, so I couldn’t laugh off such possibilities. In that sense, Gerbera’s firsthand account of seeing actual humans was quite valuable.

“Naturally, with so many humans in the forest, they were sure to leave traces as they moved. There was no way we monsters wouldn’t notice. It was like a surging wave. At the time, I was just one among the wave. And as we chased the humans, we ended up at the forest’s edge before we knew it.”

“I believe the humans Gerbera found were a human military force,” I added. “They were apparently an armed group wearing similar equipment. That said, everything had already become chaotic by the time she arrived, so they didn’t really act like an army by that point.”

Each one was apparently wearing armor, a helmet, a sword, and a shield. From what I’d heard, they were in all likelihood soldiers from some country here in this world. As far as Gerbera knew, they didn’t appear to be armed with any sort of firearm. The reason they were largely armed with swords instead of spears was perhaps because of having to fight in a forest, where there were many obstacles.

“So, according to Gerbera’s previous experience, the shortest distance out of the forest would be straight north. Well, what we consider north, at least.”

“Allow me to add that this was a long time ago. It’s possible the boundary of the forest has changed.”

Lily clapped her hands together and smiled at Gerbera. “Even so, this is way better than knowing nothing!” She really didn’t harbor any bad feelings toward her anymore. On the contrary, her smile looked like she was trying to show Gerbera she was willing to meet halfway on the matter. Her attitude helped ease my worries, especially in the current situation where I was swamped with problems.

“Huh?” Lily muttered as she suddenly realized something. “...Didn’t the first expeditionary force go east?”

“Yeah. It seems their top brass doesn’t have any luck.”

Not that we had any luck ourselves, having followed behind them. It was entirely possible they changed course after realizing it. In that case, Mizushima Miho’s childhood friend Takaya Jun would end up in an endless chase after them, though.

“Well, if they go far enough east, they’ll eventually get out of the forest.” It wasn’t like the forest could go on forever. There was in fact a boundary to the north, after all.

“So, are we going to head north now?” Lily asked.

“...About that. I’m honestly a little conflicted.”

Going east meant we would likely encounter the first expeditionary force. This was the best choice for finding someone to take care of Katou. However, going that way would mean spending more time in the forest.

Sooner or later, we had to get out of here. The environment was far too horrible to live in for a long period of time. Now that we had Gerbera with us, our safety shot up considerably, but the problem of our nutrition couldn’t be solved through her brute force.

It was better to head north and gather what we needed from a human settlement. We could definitely get through the forest with our current forces, and we were very likely to find a settlement that way. An armed force meant some nation was located in that direction. No matter what form it took, a disorderly society wouldn’t have been able to form an army.

However, we wouldn’t be able to rendezvous with the expeditionary force that way. So, the problem of finding someone to guarantee Katou’s safety became more pronounced. It was a difficult decision.

“Well, I guess we don’t really have to decide right away.” That was my conclusion. They did say that rushing things led to blunders. It was better for us to think it over carefully before taking action.

“...Now that I think of it...” Katou, who had been silently listening all this time, suddenly joined the conversation.

“—!” I was stretching out for a spit of firefang meat and came to an unintentional stop upon hearing her voice. “...What is it, Katou?”

I forced myself to move, grabbed the spit, and took a bite. Lily, who was nestled up right next to me, was seemingly the only one who noticed anything strange about my behavior. She was looking at me with a slightly curious expression.

“It’s nothing major. I was just a little curious. Gerbera said she’d only seen humans other than us on those three occasions when those armies entered the forest, right?”

“That’s how I heard it... Is that true?” I said as I turned to Gerbera.

“M-Mm,” she replied while nodding like a small child.

“You never met any humans other than us wearing school uniforms...? I mean, clothes like ours?” Katou asked her.

“You mean those who were sent here with you? No, I’ve never met them.”

“In which case... Senpai?”

Katou shifted her focus to me, and I raised my gaze from my food. I had managed to get my agitation under control by then. But even so, the moment I met her eyes, my heart made a strange noise.

“We found a bunch of mangled corpses, remember? The ones we thought were killed by a high monster. So, if Gerbera never met any of the students, it means she wasn’t the one who killed them.”

“...Now that you mention it, yeah.”

We had once found five mangled corpses, including one of a cheater. He was a warrior who didn’t possess any sort of peculiar ability; only his physical strength and mana were enhanced. Warriors were still supposed to be preposterous enough that they couldn’t be killed by anything short of a high monster. And even then, it would be difficult for the monster. The reason we left the cave in the first place was because we feared bumping into that high monster in the area.

After that, we were attacked by Gerbera. I completely assumed she had killed those students... Or rather, there was so much going on I totally forget about them. But now that Katou mentioned it, Gerbera couldn’t be the culprit. Moreover, thinking back on it, several other facts stood out. All of the corpses looked like they were torn apart by teeth. Gerbera wasn’t that sort of carnivorous beast.

“Mangled corpses? What’s this about?” Gerbera asked.

Just as we thought, she knew nothing about them. Did that mean there was another high monster around there who stood as an exception among monsters? Things didn’t make sense if that wasn’t the case, but it still seemed strange regardless.

Monsters fundamentally didn’t get along amongst themselves. They were even openly hostile to each other depending on the circumstances. This wasn’t like an RPG where monsters happily lined up side by side with different species in a united front.

In fact, monsters didn’t even approach the arachne nest we were currently staying in. This was presumably because the monsters who were liable to do so had all been exterminated over the years. It took us five days to walk from the mangled corpses to this nest. A monster would’ve been able to cover that distance in far less time.

A monster would need to gather mana over many, many years to become a high monster. For example, Gerbera had already lived many human lifetimes. If there was another high monster in such a confined region, it would mean the two of them coexisted for centuries. Was that even possible? I had no choice but to think so; there was no evidence to prove otherwise.

“In any case, we’ll just have to keep it in mind,” I concluded.

“Right,” Katou replied.

She really was talented. She pointed out something I didn’t even realize. Calling her sharp and able... felt a little off in a way. Katou simply had a knack for reading the flow. Even considering how I wasn’t good at this, she looked like she had a discerning and clever nature. How was she capable of that? It was somewhat of a mystery now that I thought of it. Just wondering how she could come up with stuff like this started to make me suspicious.

“...”

I grit my teeth and pushed down my bitter memories. I was disgusted with myself for thinking of the person who saved my life in such a way. One could say I was getting better, seeing that I was at least self-aware now, but this wasn’t a valid excuse. I had a responsibility to repay the favor of saving my life.

It wasn’t just a moral matter. Katou covered areas where I was lacking, just like she did now. Gerbera was correct in saying she was worth consulting. In that sense, I needed to quickly do something about my relationship with her.

But even as I recognized the necessity for this, I still didn’t know what to do. Thus, I quickly went to bed to prepare myself for the last precious opportunity left for Gerbera the following day... I only realized this was a mistake sometime later.