Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 5 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Road to the Trade City

The knights, with cooperation from the local villagers, successfully suppressed the monsters in the vicinity of the reclamation village. Zero casualties were suffered. Lily and I also participated at the commander’s request.

There was, in fact, an increase in monster activity, leading to some pretty chilling encounters. However, with Shiran at the front and Lily supporting from the rear while also acting as my guard, along with the experienced knights, we managed to face everything head-on and cut our way through any threats.

It was also a valuable opportunity for me to accumulate combat experience. Unfortunately, I didn’t find any new servants. But even if I had, it would’ve been difficult to explain to the villagers accompanying us, so maybe it was for the best.

After we finished our task, we returned to the reclamation village and stayed the night. Nothing of note happened that evening other than Miyoshi dragging his two friends over—the boys who had gotten drunk and acted out of hand—to apologize to us.

Come morning, we left the village behind. The villagers all gathered to see us off—to see their saviors off.

The commander had already sent news of Fort Tilia’s fall ahead by horse, but we didn’t know how quickly the Empire would be able to respond. Worst-case scenario, the people here would have to abandon this reclamation village and take refuge to the north.

Despite this situation, the villagers’ faces were more hopeful than anxious. The advent of the saviors was upon them. What did they think forced the evacuation of Fort Tilia in the first place, putting them in these dire straits?

This gave me mixed feelings. The villagers didn’t know of Juumonji Tatsuya and Kudou Riku’s deeds. These details couldn’t thoughtlessly be made public, so the commander had only reported that Fort Tilia fell because of a massive monster attack. I wondered how exactly they would look at us if they knew the truth. I couldn’t help but focus on the gazes directed at us from behind as our manamobile left the village.

◆ ◆ ◆

The commander left some of the knights who could still fight in the village to help prepare for the worst, so our journey was going to be a little more difficult. Luckily, the rest we got at the village, restoring our stamina and willpower, balanced things out pretty evenly.

The monotony of the forest scenery was going to thin out, but we still couldn’t let our guards down. Our journey continued as we fended off more monster attacks. Three days after our departure, a sudden change occurred. I had expected there to be fewer and fewer trees around us as we got further. I didn’t think the change would be so evident, however.

“The air’s different...”

Something had vanished from the air—something that had constantly surrounded us, as if we’d been underwater but simply hadn’t noticed because we’d always been submerged. The oversaturation had paralyzed our senses. Once it was gone, however, I finally realized. That was the Woodlands.

It was like those mana-dense trees created another realm. This was the reason some animals, like horses, steered clear of the Woodlands. They were sensitive to this change in atmosphere.

I left control of the manamobile to Lily and stood up on top of the driver’s seat. Our vehicle had just started going down a slight incline as the brakes creaked to slow our descent. With my higher vantage point, I could see the situation in front of us through the lines of trees. The density of the forest decreased, revealing a large prairie spreading out to the front.

I could see what looked like a small reclamation village. Far in the distance, I saw a dense cluster of green. Was that a normal forest? Or was it one of those fragments of the Woodlands left at large that they called the Dark Woods? I squinted as the wind blew against me. Even the scent of the wind was different.

“Senpai, just now...”

As I stood there watching the scenery before me, Katou poked her head out from the carriage. She had also sensed the change. There was hope in her eyes.

I nodded back to her. “Yeah. It seems we’re out of the Woodlands.”

An air of relief spread out among the two columns of marching soldiers. The commander’s voice, giving out orders to fire everyone up, even reached us all the way in the back.

“Finally...” Katou muttered, her voice containing a mix of emotions as she leaned forward onto the driver’s seat.

Katou remained captivated by the scenery for a while. She didn’t appear to realize she was much closer to me than usual because of the way she was leaning forward. After we were sent to this world, we had been captives of the Woodlands. Now, we finally managed to get out of the forest. There was definitely a torrent of indescribable emotions overflowing from her heart.

Just then, Katou grabbed the hem of my clothes. She seemed to do so unconsciously as she stared at the prairie. If I pointed it out, though, she was likely to let go. Doing so felt like it would demolish this precious time of hers. Thus, I pretended not to notice and once more looked far off into the distance.

This road led to Lorenz County, to the trade city Serrata.

◆ ◆ ◆

The survivors of Fort Tilia marched down the road, their steps much lighter. After exiting the Woodlands, we entered Lorenz County. From what Kei had told me beforehand, contempt for elves was particularly strong in these lands.

The southern part of the Empire, including Lorenz County, discriminated against elves more than the rest of the nation, which didn’t border the northern Woodlands. Their dislike was probably a reason the elves were relegated to defensive forces.

In contrast, the Five Northern Kingdoms, including Kei and Shiran’s homeland of Aker, had never discriminated against elves. However, these countries were basically half-engulfed by the Woodlands. Either way, elves had difficult lives.

Thinking back on it, when we were preparing to leave Fort Tilia, the commander had always handled the imperial soldiers with Mikihiko by her side, whereas Shiran had been devoted to leading the Alliance Knights. The majority of the Southern Imperial Army’s soldiers came from Lorenz County. That was the reason for the division of labor between the commander and Shiran. In any case, we had to take this detail about the region into account.

Come nighttime, we set up camp a small distance away from the soldiers so as to avoid unnecessary friction. Kei stayed with us as our caretaker. Shiran and Mikihiko usually joined us, but they didn’t come today.

“Kei, can you come here for a second?” I asked.

“What is it, Takahiro?”

Kei, who had been talking to Gerbera, walked over to me. She was carrying Ayame in her arms. The way the little fox lazily dangled her legs was ever so cute. But when she met my eyes, Ayame started flailing about. It seemed she wanted to come over to me.

I caught her as she leaped out of Kei’s arms, her bushy tail shaking vigorously and her legs paddling in the air.

“I have something for you,” I said to Kei.

“For me?”

“Yeah. Rose, please give her what you just showed me.”

“Yes, Master.” Rose nodded, then handed the object in her hands to Kei.

“We borrowed a few runestones from the knights for research, remember? We finished analyzing some of the simpler ones, so I had Rose use them as reference to make some copies.”

The item Rose had handed her was a simply ornamented bracelet inlaid with a cream-colored imitation runestone.

“This is an imitation flash runestone,” I said as I brushed Ayame’s head.

“Huh?” Kei’s hand came to a stop just as she was about to put the bracelet on. “By flash runestone, you mean the one-time use runestone?”

“Yeah. That one.”

Some runestones were limited in their use. Flash runestones possessed no lethal force; they were only meant to blind their targets. One stone could create a powerful light, but it disintegrated after a single use. In that sense, it was different from an illumination runestone, though it also created light. The difference was in the base runestone’s quality and the output level. The higher the quality, the longer it could hold out. The higher the output, the faster it was consumed.

Kei panicked and tried to return the bracelet. “I-I can’t possibly accept something so valuable!”

Flash runestones didn’t normally use high-quality materials, so they were relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things. Nevertheless, regular citizens recoiled at the price for a single-use product. This was no regular runestone, however. It was an imitation runestone.

“Don’t worry about it, Kei. Rose made this from scratch, so there’s no real material cost. You’ll have to forgive its one-time use. She still can’t make anything more than that.”

The durability and output of Rose’s imitation runestones were still pretty low. She was currently in a trial-and-error period, so these limitations were pretty much to be expected. Furthermore, there was one other technical limitation.

Runestones could be split into two categories: those that required mana from the user and those that didn’t. The self-filling water canteen and the lighter were good examples of the former, whereas the manamobile, which took mana from the land, was a good example of the latter.

The latter type of runestones were equipped with a function to absorb mana. An extreme example of this was the restraining device they used on prisoners who were thrown into jail. In our world, it was enough to disarm a person to render them powerless, but here in this world, there were those who could strengthen their bodies and manipulate magic with no weapons at all. They could break out of prison completely naked if they wanted to. This world had tools that could seal mana as a countermeasure against such people. If they tried to use mana, the restraining device would absorb and scatter it away. As such, once restrained, no normal person could possibly escape.

There were, of course, limitations. Living beings naturally resisted any external interference with their mana. So long as they were conscious and had the will to oppose it, then no one could apply the restraints and activate them in the first place. Also, the restraints weren’t strong enough to capture a savior who specialized in battle, like a warrior. Nevertheless, such tools helped maintain public order here.

Unfortunately, these types of runestones had to absorb mana somehow, without regards to the function they were meant to fulfill. This made them too complex for Rose at her current stage of trials. She wanted to make her own manamobile, but that required a runestone that absorbed mana from the atmosphere and had the durability to constantly output power. She had been quite depressed to find that both of these were too difficult to accomplish as she was now.

“Okay, but why give it to me?” Kei asked. The way her hands nervously handled the bracelet was a little strange.

I smiled at this. “I heard elves aren’t well liked in imperial territory. There’s no harm in having as many means of self-defense as possible in case you get caught up in some trouble, right?”

“It’s true that contempt for elves is strong within the Empire, but it’s not like they’ll suddenly start throwing rocks at us, you know? People aren’t really oppressing elves in Lorenz County either... I’ve heard of such things happening in the Margraviate of Maclaurin to the north, though.”

“The Margraviate of Maclaurin... You mean Elf-Hater Maclaurin?”

I was gradually learning more and more about this world. According to Kei’s lessons, three highly influential noble houses that also possessed great military strength managed the nobles of the Empire’s southern region.

Margrave Maclaurin was one such noble. His territory was vast, matching his grand title. According to the map I’d seen of the region north of the Woodlands, it was bigger than the Five Northern Kingdoms combined. Even if these kingdoms were all small countries to begin with, it was a little odd for a single noble to control more territory than all of them together. The territories of the Empire’s grand houses were basically countries of their own.

Mikihiko had described the emperor as the most powerful noble. He had an ancient and honorable bloodline, and he was uplifted by the savior-worshiping Holy Church. Mikihiko had emphasized the last point, which meant if the church had problems with an emperor, they could simply swap them out for a new one.

This viewpoint was characteristic of Mikihiko, who hated the concept of saviors and hence saw the church in a poor light. He did describe the essence of things pretty well, though. There was in fact a precedent of the church backing another noble to usurp the emperor.

The Empire’s nobles possessed great power that sometimes even surpassed the emperor. The Margraviate of Maclaurin wasn’t merely vast; it was home to multiple mines that produced unprocessed runestones, so it was in terrific economical standing as well. It didn’t directly border the Woodlands, so the threat from monsters was relatively low, meaning its large military force backed by extensive financial support suffered very few casualties. His slanderous nickname, Elf-Hater Maclaurin, came from his open contempt for elves as a powerful southern noble. He had no need for their strength, and hence treated them poorly.

“After we finish our business in Serrata, we’ll leave Lorenz County right away and return to Aker,” Kei said. “We don’t have any plans to go as far as the Margraviate of Maclaurin, so there’s no need for such worries. Soldiers from the margraviate are typically dispatched to Fort Ebenus, so they don’t have anything to do with Fort Tilia, anyway.”

“That might be the case, but still, there’s nobody who can help if something happens while we’re in the Empire, right? It won’t hurt to carry it. You’ve been a great help to us in many ways, so think of it as a thank-you gift.”

Kei looked somewhat troubled, seeing that I had no intention of backing down.

“Isn’t it fine to accept his present?” Katou said, slapping both of Kei’s shoulders and peeking at her face. “Senpai is just worried about you... I think he’s being a bit of a worrywart, though.”

“Tee hee. You’re right.”

Katou smiled as she watched Kei gently hold the bracelet to her chest. Seeing Katou like this, I raised a brow.

“Why are you talking like this has nothing to do with you?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“I’ve got one for you too.”

I glanced over to Rose, and she held out another bracelet to Katou.

Katou’s eyes widened in shock. “You just gave me this knife the other day...”

“Didn’t you hear me? There’s no harm in having as many means of self-defense as possible.”

I didn’t forget the little complication that had happened while we were at the reclamation village. It was stupid to unnecessarily damage relations, so I had told Miyoshi not to worry about it when he came to apologize. Still, I didn’t have any obligation to trust them enough to let it go without preparing for the future.

“But...”

“Just take it, Katou,” Lily said, cutting her off. “Just like you said, he’s a worrywart, right?”

“Not really... I’m just being careful,” I complained.

Lily hugged me from behind and poked my cheek as I grimaced. She giggled, totally seeing through my attempt to hide my embarrassment with my displeasure.

◆ ◆ ◆

Our journey went on. We passed by reclamation villages, asked about their circumstances, and sometimes stopped for rest as we pushed on north. Before long, we arrived at a large prairie.

We were now near the center of Lorenz County. This region was used for pastures, so we saw cows chewing away at grass and cattlemen leading them around. They worked in large groups and were wearing armor beneath their sturdy-looking greatcoats. They were even armed with all manner of weapons. No matter how I looked at them, they appeared more like brawny mercenaries.

Here in this world rampant with monsters, the cattlemen of the southern Empire were apparently quite famous as an armed group. They weren’t affiliated with any agricultural communities or settlements. They lived out in the dangerous prairies and were viewed with contempt in an entirely different way from elves. This made sense. Even from my eyes, they looked like they were living in their own world.

Those who spent their entire lives in the villages they were born in thought this way of life was eerie. It wasn’t a matter of good or bad; they simply found it strange. In a sense, the cattlemen’s position wasn’t all that different from visitors. Unconditional respect was no different from a form of prejudice, after all.

◆ ◆ ◆

One day, we saw an uncountable school of fish. I doubted my eyes at first. The fish were moving over land. They were obviously monsters. They were called tripdrills and resembled small colorful marlins. They formed schools and used their pectoral fins to fly through the sky as if they were in the sea. The sight was like a work of art.

“So those are migratory monsters...” I muttered.

“Yes. Tripdrills are particularly famous for moving in huge groups between the largest Dark Woods in the northern continent and the Fringes,” Kei said as she peeked out of the carriage. “The entire school takes a particular route, so villages and cities are built in a way to avoid their path. They’re basically safe so long as we avoid their migrations.”

“Basically?”

“Every year, packs of tripdrills break off from the school and cause a large number of casualties. The actual problem is that monsters who prey upon tripdrills take the same route north and scatter to hunt the stragglers.”

With such massive numbers, it was fairly common for smaller schools to break off. Much stronger monsters came out of the Woodlands in significant force every year to prey on these smaller groups.

“Incidentally, a single tripdrill is considered weak, even in the Fringes. The schools aren’t out of control either, so they aren’t treated as a disaster.”

“With that many...?”

Even grade 5 magic would only blow away a small portion of the school. We couldn’t do anything about them. It would be over if we got caught in the flow, so we waited for the tripdrills to pass by.

Three days later, we arrived at our destination: the trade city Serrata.