Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 4 - Chapter SS

Extra Story: My Dear Savior ~Shiran’s POV~

My brother, who worked at Fort Tilia as a member of the Alliance Knights, returned to our village. It was his first time home in three years.

“Have you been doing well, Shiran?”

“Yes! It’s wonderful to see you in good health, Brother!”

The job of an Alliance Knight was harsh. For the sake of protecting humanity from the threat of the Woodlands, they ventured into that monster-filled forest and constantly exposed their lives to danger. I always worried such an environment would change my brother completely. However, I knew right away that this was a needless anxiety. His face was more scarred than I remembered, but his kind and gentle expression remained much as it was before.

“I see that little Shiran has grown up quite a lot.”

“Geez! How many years do you think it’s been since we last met?”

I was just seven years old when my brother had left the village as a knight. I was very much attached to him at the time and always followed him everywhere. My father died right after I was born, so my brother was like a foster parent to me. I was very proud of my strong and gentle brother who continuously protected our village as a member of the village watch even before setting forth to Fort Tilia as a knight.

“Huh? Brother? Who is that?”

“Hmm. So this is the sister you spoke of. She resembles you.”

My brother came back home with a woman. For a moment, I thought he’d brought back his new bride. My stepsister, who had given birth to Kei, died four years ago. My brother was still young, only twenty-four, so it wouldn’t be strange for him to take a second wife.

“What? This guy’s wife? Haha. Not at all.”

In truth, I was just jumping to conclusions. This woman with short silver hair was the eighteen-year-old commander, before she’d assumed a post in the Alliance Knights.

My family served as the chief of our small reclamation village. In most cases, chief families bore the duty of protecting this country from monsters. Many members of my family had served as great knights, including my brother, and we’d had a deep connection to the royal family who led the Alliance Knights for generations.

After the woman laughed at my misunderstanding, I turned bright red. I then turned pale, realizing what exactly I had said to the princess of this country. Fortunately, the commander didn’t seem offended. Actually, she looked more pleased than she let on.

The days my brother spent at home went by quietly. I was with him at all times other than when I was doing my job in the village. On the other hand, Kei, who was turning five that year, greatly feared strangers. The last time she’d met her own father was when she was two years old. It was inevitable given her age, but my brother looked somewhat lonely because of this.

I had my brother accompany me several times during my sword training while he was back.

“Brother? Will I be able to protect everyone one day like you do?”

“Hehe. Let’s see... In ten years, I’m sure you’ll become an excellent knight. I bet I won’t even hold a candle to you. You’ll definitely be able to protect a whole lot of people. Keep at it.”

My brother was one of the foremost knights, even among all of the Alliance Knights. I didn’t think he would tell me such a thing. I was quite shocked. I was of course happy. I was also glad that I had seriously continued my training without slacking off even once. I couldn’t even imagine what I would be like at twenty years old, but I had to keep trying harder and harder.

My brother’s short homecoming came to an end, and he returned to Fort Tilia. I kept his words close to my heart as I continued to pour in even more effort than before. Trying to catch up to him was tremendously difficult, but it wasn’t painful.

Two years later, when I turned twelve, I headed to Fort Tilia with my brother. It was decided I would serve as his squire. This was brought on because I had successfully formed a contract with a spirit. This was considered very early, even among great spiritualists.

All of my efforts were paying off. I felt the spirit had acknowledged my feelings. I could finally fight shoulder to shoulder with my brother. I was happy. I felt blessed. And in my very first battle...my brother died right before my eyes.

At the time, the fortress had suddenly gotten busy because of the arrival of an influential imperial noble. It was common for the Alliance Knights to be particularly busy during such times because of the work foisted upon them. Regardless, it was pretty rare for a squire like me to be dispatched.

I heard rumors of something the noble did or didn’t say, but as a mere squire, I didn’t know the truth of the situation. The commander happened to be away from the fortress at the time. Even if she had been there, it was common for others to push jobs onto the Alliance Knights. However, this time it was accompanied by misfortune that far exceeded any expectations.

The monsters we were to exterminate were greater in number than anticipated. They ambushed us and drew us into a battle we weren’t prepared for. We ended up with no way of retreating. The unlucky force of thirty knights was nearly annihilated. The only reason several of us survived was because of the skilled knights, including my brother, who sacrificed themselves for us.

After barely escaping that place with my life and receiving treatment at the fortress, I sat atop my bed, cradling my knees. As a mere squire, I hadn’t been given my own room, but the people I shared a room with were all in a strategy meeting, leaving me all alone.

My tears didn’t flow. I didn’t feel sad my brother had died, nor did I feel happy I had survived. I only felt despondent, liberated from the lingering heat of a battle between life and death. I gazed at the wall in front of me in a daze.

I couldn’t protect a thing, I suddenly thought to myself.

“In ten years, I’m sure you’ll become an excellent knight. I bet I won’t even hold a candle to you.”

Would my twenty-year-old self have been able to do something? Regardless, I was nothing more than a twelve-year-old child. That was why I had lost someone dear to me...

“You’ll definitely be able to protect a whole lot of people. Keep at it.”

“Yes, Brother,” I said to the man in my memories.

He was right. If I wanted to protect what was dear to me, I had to become much, much stronger. I couldn’t wait until I was twenty.

“Shiran, may I come in?”

The commander had returned to the fortress from her other duties. She dropped by my room the day after my brother had been entombed within the mausoleum.

“What have you...?” When she entered the room, her eyes shot open upon seeing my haggard figure.

“Com...mander...?”

My voice was so hoarse I didn’t even recognize it as my own. It was shocking. My exhausted body lay collapsed on the floor and wouldn’t budge. It was hard for me to even breathe. It felt like my heart would stop if I loosened my focus. Still...there was worth in doing this. I could see four floating spirits of different colors through my blurry vision.

Contracting with spirits was a special magic only available to elves. When forming a contract, the spirit tested the spiritualist. It required a diligent soul and the purest of prayers to pass. I’d succeeded in doing so three times in a row. This time, my earnest prayer of wanting to protect others was no lie, but the result was still nothing short of a miracle. By the time the commander went to call someone, I’d passed out entirely.

Several days later, I opened my eyes to the commander hitting my cheek and hugging me so hard it hurt. Her body was trembling. An incomprehensible feeling welled up within me, and I broke into tears for the first time since my brother’s death. I was so sad, helpless, and in agony. I knew the commander shared these feelings, which made it even more painful.

I swore once more right then and there that I would fight to protect everyone, including my brother’s share. Thanks to the commander, I didn’t try to recklessly contract with more spirits, but I devoted myself even more to my training. Within a year, I was officially dispatched to the Woodlands as a knight.

I assertively sought missions into the Woodlands more than any other. One year passed, then two. I survived life-and-death situations many times over and became stronger from real combat experience. There were those who were stronger than me in either sword or magic, but there were none at my level in using both at once, let alone when I made full use of the spirits’ favor. Before I knew it, I was regarded as the strongest knight in the north.

However, people kept dying before my eyes, or out of my reach. I didn’t feel like I had gotten stronger. I’d managed to save people many times, but still, the casualties I prevented were just a drop in a lake.

Being a splendid knight wasn’t good enough. This was about the time my hope in the advent of a great savior from another world began to swell. The disappointment I felt toward myself and the powerlessness I felt within me coalesced into dreams of salvation. Unable to do anything about this myself, time passed...and my hopes finally became reality.

It began with the arrival of a single savior at Fort Tilia. Furthermore, Fort Ebenus to the east had received an unprecedented number of them—one hundred in total. Not only that, they informed us there were many more left behind in the Depths.

I ended up being dispatched to the Depths to rescue the saviors who were left behind. There was no way I could possibly complain about heading into the most dangerous lands of the world. No matter the difficulties, no matter the grief I endured, they were nothing if I could find the saviors.

It was a terribly difficult operation. We met with trouble along the way when we lost contact with a force we were meant to join up with. Despite all that, I managed to safely secure the saviors. And then, on my way back, I met a certain boy and girl.

“Please put away your swords! We’re not monsters!”

After I challenged their identities, a boy came out of hiding alongside a beautiful girl. He called himself Majima Takahiro. He had a diligent look to him. Nothing about his features stood out, but I could sense a strong will in his gaze.

Quite curiously, I kept thinking about his eyes. Perhaps I had a hunch at this point already. I only realized this later, but that gaze was the same as my brother’s when I was young.

I had the opportunity to mingle with Takahiro on multiple occasions after that. During that time, I learned that much like myself and my brother, he devoted everything he had to protecting what was dear to him. I had misunderstood things. I had pushed my own delusions onto his figure. I learned of the weakness in my own heart.

There were no heroes straight out of dazzling tales...but there was still a great savior.

An enormous army of monsters attacked Fort Tilia. When I tried to confine Juumonji Tatsuya, who had guided them here and was trying to slaughter everyone in the fortress, I lost my life. At that time, my very being, all of my feelings, everything was supposed to fade away into obscurity.

Yet something picked up my wish, which had fallen and scattered to the ground, and put it back together. Hope was once more granted to me. He was different from a dazzling hero from the tales, and he would definitely deny this, but to me, he was the savior I was meant to fight alongside as a knight.

What else could this be called other than a blessing? That was why I chose to fight. I would fight by his side, for the sake of everything we so dearly wished to protect.

“Let’s go, Takahiro. Onward to our battlefield.”