Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 5 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: To Each Their Own Path

“So? What the hell is going on?”

Hearing the commotion, everyone else gathered together, and we went to the living room to hear the details from Mikihiko. According to him, after he and the commander left the suburbs, they arrived at Fort Serrata in about half a day’s time. They made an appointment with Count Lorenz and were ushered into the fortress.

At that point, Mikihiko was taken to a separate room from the commander. Though he was personally invested in the outcome, he was an unrelated party. There were things they couldn’t say in front of outsiders, so he’d had no choice but to back down. The commander had also agreed to this, so Mikihiko had reluctantly accepted.

However, the commander didn’t return no matter how long he waited. He had tried questioning one of the count’s people, but they had brushed him off with vague replies. Come morning, he had finally managed to get the story out of an attendant. The commander and all of her knights were being kept under house arrest within the fortress. Judging that he couldn’t remain, Mikihiko had cleverly used his status as a savior to escape the stronghold and made his way here while keeping an eye out for pursuers.

“Good job getting all the way here,” I said to him.

“Mm. It was all so sudden. I was super confused, and I was kinda unsure of what to do... But right after we made our appointment, we were sent out to wait a bit in the city. That’s when the commander let me know what to do in case this happened.”

“Wait. She predicted this?”

“I wonder... She kinda laughed it off like it was ridiculous, like it had just popped into her mind on the way...”

Regardless, she had gone out of her way to bring it up and give Mikihiko instructions, which had led him here.

“I mean, I told you about this before, right? All the responsibility for Fort Tilia’s fall might get pinned on her. I wasn’t allowed to see her at all after she was put on house arrest, and I couldn’t get any information out of anyone who knew what was going on, so I can’t say anything for sure... But I don’t think there’s any other reason for them to arrest her.”

“Nothing else comes to mind, huh?”

“But Mikihiko,” Shiran said, “no matter the circumstances, aren’t Lord Lorenz’s actions far too overbearing?” Her expression, half hidden by her eyepatch, was noticeably stiff. “The commander is the princess of Aker. Ours is certainly a small country, and it possesses little national power compared to the Empire, but we aren’t so weak-willed that we would accept such behavior. The others of the Five Northern Kingdoms are sure to sympathize with us too. That is to say nothing of Lord Lorenz being responsible for the trade city Serrata, which profits greatly from commerce with the Alliance. I don’t believe him to be the type to act so forcefully...”

“What kind of person is Count Lorenz?” I asked Shiran, trying to wrap my head around the situation. She had a good point, but people in power weren’t always rational, especially considering the feudal society here.

“I haven’t met him personally, but I’ve heard he has a reputation for being cautious in everything he does,” Shiran answered, choosing her words carefully.

“The commander mentioned he’s an opportunist who doesn’t like to rock the boat,” Mikihiko added. “That’s why she brushed this off as pretty unlikely.”

I furrowed my brows. It was easy to assume they’d misread him, but something didn’t feel right. Maybe there was something unbelievable happening out of sight. That bad premonition had my heart astir.

“I can’t say anything for sure, but there’s one thing on my mind,” Mikihiko said, sharpening his gaze from beneath his glasses. “I only found this out while I was gathering information during the commander’s confinement. Margrave Maclaurin is apparently in Serrata right now.”

“Margrave Maclaurin... You mean the big imperial noble who’s famous for hating elves?” I asked, rather perplexed by the unexpected name.

Mikihiko nodded. “Unfortunately, I suppose. It’s possible he heard news of Fort Tilia’s fall and came out here to take advantage of it.”

“Take advantage? Are you suggesting the margrave is the one who ordered the arrest?”

“That’s just my guess.”

Mikihiko glanced at Shiran to ask for her opinion. She hesitated to reply for a moment but then nodded. “House Maclaurin has been at odds with the Five Northern Kingdoms for generations. Their rocky relationship goes all the way back to the age when the Empire and the Alliance were at war. In fact, House Maclaurin was bestowed the title of margrave specifically to serve as a military force against the Alliance. The two are political enemies to this very day.”

The war between the Empire and the Alliance had taken place several centuries ago. Memories of the conflict were far in the past. However, such historical facts could cast shadows over the relationships between countries far into the future. The difference with which the Empire and the Alliance treated elves was but one gulf that separated them.

“Given the opportunity, he’s sure to happily take advantage of it,” Shiran added. “Actually, I can easily see him gouging the wound open further, calm as can be. Moreover, though it’s strange for me to say so myself, the commander is often ridiculed as an elf lover, so...”

Shiran’s words reinforced Mikihiko’s opinion. Did this explain everything for now? I didn’t know much about Maclaurin’s temperament. Considering Shiran’s position as a former citizen of Aker, it was possible her criticism contained a fair amount of prejudice. But even after factoring that in, there was definitely a gulf between Maclaurin and the Alliance. The commander had miscalculated by missing that a noble who didn’t care about deteriorating relations with Aker was currently staying in Serrata.

“I get the general gist of it,” I said. There were still several points that bothered me, but there was no point in giving them more thought. I decided to put a stop to any further probing for now. “So what’ll happen to the commander?”

The attack on Fort Tilia saw over a thousand people dead among the Southern Imperial Army, the Second Company of the Imperial Knights, and the Third Company of the Alliance Knights. What’s more, an important strategic point for all of humanity had been lost and abandoned. I couldn’t even imagine what would happen to the person being held responsible for that.

“Don’t tell me they’re planning to execu—”

I stopped myself halfway in the middle of saying it. I saw Shiran’s expression warp with sorrow. I shouldn’t have said something so careless.

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s out of the question,” Mikihiko said, thankfully shooting down the possibility. “The Aker royal family is loved by its citizens. Being put on house arrest is one thing, but going as far as executing one of their royals would start a war with Aker. The other nations of the Five Northern Kingdoms wouldn’t stay quiet either, thinking they’d be next. Even for the big boss of the southern Empire, messing up the entire border of the northern Woodlands for such a thing would put him in a miserable position. At worst, the Holy Order might even take action.”

“The Holy Order?”

“Yeah. Their main role is to challenge the Woodlands by the saviors’ sides, but they also maintain global order. They’re the strongest military force in the world. The church grants all of their actions religious legitimacy. If they make a move, even a margrave is going to fall to ruin.”

Meaning such a risk would be unthinkable, unless he was planning on destroying his family’s legacy. The only reason Maclaurin came out for this incident when he wasn’t really involved was solely to harass a hated political enemy. It would be stupid to lose everything he had over something so petty.

“Well, that’s all secondhand knowledge from the commander. Anyway, the margrave can’t order an execution at his own discretion.”

“So...we don’t have to worry about her safety?”

Mikihiko nodded, but he had a gloomy look in his eyes. “Still... So long as she’s confined like this, I believe he will push as much of the blame on her as possible. Regardless of what actually happened, she’s in a position to take the blame. She’ll probably be sent under guard to the imperial capital, undergo a trial, and be sentenced.”

“Be sentenced to what, specifically?”

“According to her guess... She’ll be dismissed as the commander of the Third Company.”

“That can’t be!” Shiran practically screamed.

Even as Mikihiko looked at Shiran’s grief-stricken face with sympathy, he explained things to the very end.

“So long as the commander isn’t there, the Third Company will be forced to disband. Even if they can get going again, there’s no way she’ll be the one to lead them. Who knows whether they’d be able to reform at all. You saw what happened at Fort Tilia. So long as the saviors of the present age are here, the higher-ups of the Empire are going to take away as many achievements as possible from their rivals.”

“The Third Company...will disband...?” Shiran said, her voice trembling and hollow. Seeing this made her usual calm behavior almost seem like a lie. “No way... That can’t possibly...”

Shiran staggered, muttering in delirium. Her normally dignified posture now looked fragile. She managed to maintain enough self-control to stop herself from collapsing, but it looked like she could fall over at any time.

She had always strived to be a knight. This was equivalent to losing her place in life. That wasn’t all either. Because she was now an undead monster due to her battle against Juumonji, she would find it difficult to continue being a knight if she had to serve under anyone other than the commander.

“I am a knight, just as before. I will fight for the sake of those I must protect. I cannot thank the commander enough.”

That was what she had once told me with a smile. Just how big a shock would it be for her to lose her place as a knight? The mere thought sent pain through my heart.

“Mikihiko... What should I do?” I was worried about Shiran, but right now we had to deal with the problem in front of us. I killed my urge to call out to Shiran and questioned Mikihiko instead. “The reason you came straight to me is because the commander had something she wanted me to do, right?”

“That makes things quick.”

“Not that I think I can do anything.”

I didn’t know whether I could even be of any use to her. She had been guaranteeing my safety all this time. The knights who fully supported her, knowing of our circumstances, had done so much for us. If she were no longer around, my standing in this world would become considerably more unstable.

“Sorry, but there’s not much I can really do. You’re not going to tell me to help you kick down Fort Serrata’s door to take her back, right?”

“Ha ha. Wouldn’t that be thrilling? It’d be awesome if we could, but unfortunately, that’s not it. Even if we could do that, it would just complicate things more,” Mikihiko said, showing me a smile for the first time today. “Takahiro, the commander’s request is about Shiran.”

“A-About me...?” Shiran said with a surprised gasp.

Mikihiko glanced her way with compassion and then said, “She wants you to see Shiran back to her hometown.”

◆ ◆ ◆

According to the man I saved, the knights outside the town had been restrained as a precaution against any rescue attempts for the commander. So long as they obediently surrendered, no harm would come to her and she would remain under house arrest. There was one big problem, though—Shiran.

As the lieutenant of the commander’s company, Shiran served as her right hand. The people who had arrested the commander wanted to restrain Shiran above all others. That would be a terrible development, however.

Shiran was now an undead monster. If a third party were to capture her, they’d very likely discover this fact. It was unclear whether her extenuating circumstances would be taken into consideration, especially if Elf-Hater Maclaurin was involved.

In that sense, it was fortunate Shiran had been staying with us in this suburb. The commander had prepared this building for us, but it didn’t belong to the Alliance Knights. That placed it outside of Maclaurin’s sight. If not, he would’ve already moved in on it.

“The commander can’t go with you,” Mikihiko said, “but once the trial is over, she’ll presumably return home. In the meantime, she wants you to take Shiran and Kei with you and wait in their village.”

I couldn’t possibly leave Shiran on her own, and I didn’t have any destination in mind, anyway. I agreed to the commander’s request, immediately gathered our luggage, and got going. We didn’t have time to get all necessary preparations for the journey in order, but fortunately, the knights still had a surplus of provisions for the trip that they yielded to us. We could just buy what we needed at the next town, and if need be, we could also hunt monsters for food. I also had the money the commander had given me as recompense for our services that I could use as traveling expenses.

“We got out of town more easily than I thought we would...” I muttered from the driver’s seat of the manamobile.

“I’m sure they have their hands full dealing with the knights outside the town,” Mikihiko said from inside the carriage. “There are fifty knights that they know of. They had to use up a significant amount of personnel in the unlikely case the knights resisted. They don’t have enough men left to close the roads.”

When we left town, we saw a merchant passing us making a fuss about a ton of soldiers coming down from Serrata. Much like Mikihiko had said, Maclaurin had sent the majority of the forces at his beck and call out to secure the knights.

Those soldiers were probably in the process of escorting the knights into Serrata by now. Even if news of the fleeing knight and our interference reached them, Serrata was a half day’s trip away from the suburb. They wouldn’t be able to stop us from leaving.

We mixed in among the flow of peddlers out of town and took the road south. Aker, one of the Five Northern Kingdoms, was a small country located to the southwest of Lorenz County. The safe route there was to first take the road west straight through Longue County, whose southern region bordered Aker. However, half of this border was covered by Dark Woods, and the other half by the precipitous Kitrus Mountains, so it was dangerous to head south from Longue County. That was why the typical route, the one that peddlers used, took a roundabout path further west to Cornisch County. Then it followed a road that ran parallel to Aralia River, a large river that ran down the center of the continent and branched southeast into Aker.

However, since this was the established and safe route, it was possible pursuers would come after us. That was why we started by heading south to take a different route to the southwest. This suggestion had also come from the commander. Unlike regular merchants, we could sacrifice some amount of safety without much trouble. Our journey through the most dangerous lands in this world, the Woodlands, wasn’t just for show.

That night, we set up camp alongside the road. Wrapped up in a mantle, I sat against a tree, feeling Lily’s weight and body heat as she nestled up against me as my guard. I was wide awake. My eyes were fixed on Gerbera, who was sound asleep under the moonlight with our luggage in her arms while Ayame, snoring peacefully, lay curled up in a ball on her spider belly.

I suddenly felt a gaze on me. Shiran, also wrapped up in a mantle, was looking my way with her blue eye. Her white skin stood out against the darkness of the night, though not to the extent of Gerbera’s.

“Is this really all right with you?” she asked.

A short question. She had remained quiet ever since we left, always deep in thought—here in body, but not in spirit. That was simply how big of a shock this was to her. Now, however, she appeared levelheaded. There was no trembling in her voice. She had apparently managed to recover over the latter half of the day...at least to the level where she could keep up appearances.

“Is what all right?” I asked.

“Taking me to my hometown. If my identity is discovered, it will become quite inconvenient for you, Takahiro.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I told her, shrugging my shoulders. Well, shoulder. Lily was stuck to the other. “Going with you isn’t all that bad a choice for me. We’re still unfamiliar with this world, after all. It’d be difficult for us to look for a peaceful place to live, stumbling around until we found it. Besides, I can’t use a translation runestone. I’ll be totally helpless if I can’t communicate with anyone.”

“In that case, you could have just taken Kei with you. She can use one just fine,” Shiran said, shooting a glance over to her niece sleeping soundly next to her. “She is still inept in some ways, but she should serve you more than—”

“Shiran.”

I cut her off. She looked down at the ground. She really wasn’t back to her normal self yet. This was perfectly understandable, considering the circumstances. I couldn’t possibly leave her alone in such a state.

“I’ve been carrying a bomb around to begin with. Nothing changes from having you with me. There’s no need to worry about something so insignificant.”

Even if that weren’t the case, I doubted that I could abandon this elf. The abominable strife Juumonji had caused brought nothing but loss. If there was one thing I could say I’d gained from it, it was the bond of trust I now had with these girls. There was no way I could possibly betray it.

“Besides, the commander asked me directly to do this before all of this happened,” I muttered.

“Directly, you say?” Shiran asked, looking back up at me.

“Yeah. I don’t know if she expected it would turn out like this, though.”

“Please continue to take care of Shiran, Takahiro.”

The words she had told me that night in the reclamation village came to mind. I didn’t know her intention at the time. Rather than saying it in anticipation of these events, she might have spoken them out of simple concern for Shiran’s future. The one thing I was certain of was that she had entrusted Shiran to me. I didn’t plan on throwing that trust away.

◆ ◆ ◆

Dawn came uneventfully. We were keeping on guard, but no pursuers were coming after us. Either it was the right choice to take the road south, or there were no pursuers to begin with.

After having breakfast, we quickly finished our preparations to get going. I boarded the manamobile but soon cocked my head.

“Mikihiko?”

I looked down from the driver’s seat at my friend, who was standing in his traveling outfit with three knights.

“What’s up? Get on. You’re not telling me you want to walk, right?”

The manamobile only moved at walking pace, but it really reduced the fatigue of long-distance travel. There was no reason to go out of the way to walk.

“Yup, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do,” Mikihiko said with a nod. “To Serrata, that is.”

This was rather abrupt, but I wasn’t surprised. Maybe I knew somewhere within me that he would do this.

“If anyone did come after us,” he continued, “I thought I’d be able to talk them out of it somehow, seeing how I’m known as a savior even in Fort Serrata... Seems that’s not necessary anymore.”

“Are you going to the commander?”

“It’s better to have even one more person who can advocate for her, right? My status as savior makes me wanna hurl...but I’ll use it as best I can.”

Mikihiko flashed me a grin. The knight standing next to him also smiled brazenly as he raised his hand.

“Please be at ease, sir. We’ll be going with him. We can’t allow something to happen on the way to Serrata, after all.”

“Marcus...? And you two as well?” Shiran muttered.

She came out of the manamobile, her eye wide in shock. She couldn’t find the words to say and simply stood there with her fist clenched tightly over her armored chest. Their determination was strong. It was clear there was no convincing them otherwise.

“Don’t give me that look, Takahiro,” Mikihiko said with a laugh. “I’m sure you’ll be lonely, but this won’t be our final farewell.”

His tone was frivolous, but it wasn’t because he was being thoughtless. I knew this very well, so I managed to return his smile, albeit weakly.

“Yeah. This isn’t the end...”

Here in this world rife with danger, it was guaranteed that I would part ways with some of the people I met and never see them again. It was different from the world we came from. Transportation and communication here were less than satisfactory. Monsters awaited outside any town, so just moving from one to another was a fatal risk. Even with our group, who had enough strength to overcome such difficulties, we had our own circumstances to deal with. It wouldn’t be strange if we were forced to part at some point.

Both Mikihiko and I were fully aware of this. Our reunion after the Colony’s destruction was already a miracle to begin with.

Regardless, I told him, “I’ll be going ahead. Finish things up nicely and get back to us quickly.”

The commander had saved Mikihiko’s life. He was always doing his best to be of use to her. That was his way. Much like how I had decided to live on as Lily’s master, he had resolved himself to live for the commander’s sake. In that case, we wouldn’t lose heart so easily.

“Right on. We’ll meet again.”

Mikihiko gave me a strong nod, then smiled as he turned around and waved his hand.

I was off to Aker, while Mikihiko walked to Serrata. We each began traveling down our own paths.