Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 5 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Girl in My Dreams, the You Right Here

“Wanna come stargazing?”

That was how Kaneki Mikihiko, my friend since middle school, had invited me out. It was April, and we’d just become high school students. The local science museum was holding a stargazing party at school that evening. This was one of several events to help us get to know each other at our new school, taking advantage of the starry night sky during the weekend. There were over thirty participants and two teachers. Fortunately, both Mikihiko and I had won the raffle to attend, so we were able to take part.

That evening, we all gathered on the roof of the school. We started by learning about the stars. I was just there because I’d been invited, so I didn’t really have much interest to begin with. Actually, neither did many of the participants, but the event organizers seemed to be aware of this, so their explanations were quite well thought-out and amusing.

After that, we got to actually look through a telescope at the moon and other planets. We were tasked to find designated celestial bodies. We used the timer on a digital camera to take pictures of the stars, and the teachers in charge berated the students who were goofing off and getting in the way of the picture.

It was an extraordinary—yet completely ordinary—scene out of our everyday lives. So why was it that something was swelling within my heart? It was supposedly my first time seeing the school roof, but it felt nostalgic. This was the world we lived in. I didn’t even need to confirm it. I shouldn’t have needed to, at least.

And yet...it all felt so terribly far away. Everything I was trying not to remember inadvertently overflowed from the recesses of my mind. The emotions I had packed and sealed away were about to burst out. But I couldn’t shed any tears.

Once I realized I was experiencing emotions that I hadn’t felt at that time, my dream crumbled easily. I figured out this was a memory buried deep in my mind. Even if I hadn’t realized that, this dream was about to end anyway. The world was vanishing little by little from the edge of my vision.

I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And just then, one of the girls standing on the rooftop turned my way. She had a beautiful face.

Now that’s high school for you. There’s even a cute girl like that around. I remembered being weirdly surprised when the participants had gathered. She was in a different class than me, and we didn’t really have anything in common, so I wasn’t likely to ever talk to her.

But as our eyes met, she smiled. The moonlight poured down on her thin fluttering hair, turning it almost white—and my vision blacked out.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Oh, Master. Are you awake?”

The first thing I saw upon waking was Lily turning my way, wearing a school uniform and sitting on the end of my bed. The light from the morning sun was just coming through the window, illuminating her flaxen hair. It stood out in the gloomy room. The sunlight made it look almost transparent. It was like a scene right out of a painting.

“Morning, Master.”

Our eyes met, and Lily gave me an affectionate and sweet smile. For an instant, it felt like her smile overlapped with an image I had seen once before.

“Hm? What’s up?”

“Nothing, it’s just...” I got out of bed and pressed my hand against my forehead. “I had a nostalgic dream...I think.”

The vague sensation particular to dreams already felt so far away. All I could feel within my sluggish thoughts was a strange sense of déjà vu.

“A dream? What kind?” Lily asked, blinking curiously. “A bad dream?”

She stretched her fingers out and touched my forehead. They were slightly cold but had a familiar warmth. This was Lily. Of course it was. That was obvious.

I gave her a slight smile. “No, not really. Anyway, I see you’re back.”

“Oh, yup,” Lily said as she withdrew her hand and nodded. “I just got here. I’m taking a bit of a break.”

“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

“Rose was here just a moment ago, but she switched with me to go see Katou. After she helped me some, Gerbera took a nap over here, but she got up a little earlier. She said she was going to take a walk with Ayame.”

“A walk...? Is that going to be okay?”

“You’re such a worrywart.” Lily’s lips slackened in both exasperation and affection. Realizing I had started scowling before I knew it, I felt a little awkward about it. “It’s okay. I’m a little worried about Ayame too, but I told Gerbera to keep an eye on her.”

“That so? Thanks.”

“You’re going to be heading out too, right? Get changed. I’ll go ask for breakfast.”

With that, Lily left the room. I started getting dressed in the meantime. I took off my sleepwear and stretched my arm out toward the clothing Gerbera had made for me; they sat folded by my side. A vine shot out of the back of my hand and pulled them toward me.

“Thanks, Asarina.”

“Massster!”

My plan for the day was to get changed, eat breakfast, and then meet Shiran and ask about the current situation. Two days had passed since another monster tamer, Kudou Riku, had manipulated an army of monsters into attacking Fort Tilia, where ten students—including myself—had been staying.

After that incident, I had been given the use of an entire floor within the residential area of the fortress. All of my servants, including Rose and Gerbera, were staying there with me. Even though some areas of the fortress had been destroyed, because there had been so many casualties, there were more than enough rooms to spare for us.

Three military organizations had been stationed in Fort Tilia: the Imperial Southern Army, the Second Company of the Imperial Knights, and the Third Company of the Alliance Knights. Currently, the fortress was housing around three hundred survivors from the Imperial Southern Army, fifty from the Alliance Knights, and about a hundred noncombatants. Except for the knights who had accompanied Iino Yuna into the Depths to rescue more students, the Second Company of the Imperial Knights had been wiped out during Juumonji’s betrayal. Considering how Fort Tilia had once been packed with over two thousand personnel, the losses were catastrophic.

In a war among humans, there might’ve been the option to surrender and avoid such casualties. But against monsters, and in a siege with nowhere to run, the damage had been catastrophic.

Among the students staying at the fortress, the main culprit behind the incident, Juumonji Tatsuya; his accomplice, Sakagami Gouta; the exploration team’s Watanabe Yoshiki; and eight members of the Colony’s home team had all died. The only survivors were myself, Mikihiko, Miyoshi Taichi, Miyoshi Taichi’s three friends, Iino Yuna—who wasn’t likely to return from the Depths for a while—and Kudou Riku.

“Hey, Senpai. Want to join forces with me?”

That day, I’d refused the hand of my fellow tamer. If I hadn’t, I would have been abandoning everything I’d held on to so dearly up until now and turning into the same kind of monster he had become. I knew this, but just as he’d said, he had no intention of giving up on me. We were sure to meet again. How would he appear before me next time? What would happen to me then? I couldn’t even imagine it right now.

“What’s wrong, Master?”

Before I knew it, Lily had returned. She was holding a tray with what appeared to be emergency rations—chopped root vegetables and meat all jumbled up into some sort of gruel. She set the tray down atop a round table near the window and looked at me curiously. I then noticed my hands had come to a complete stop.

“O-Oh, sorry. I just kinda zoned out.”

I laughed it off and sealed away the vague anxiety I felt about my future. I quickly finished changing and sat down in the chair across from Lily. There was one portion in front of me.

“You’re not eating?” I asked with a cock of my head.

“Geez. Are you still asleep, Master? I’ve had plenty to eat already, remember? Didn’t I tell you I came back for a break?”

Lily gave her stomach a good slap. I found myself looking down, but I immediately averted my gaze. Even if we were in private, she was still a girl. It wasn’t good to stare too much.

“Oh yeah, you did... How’s the cleanup going?”

“Hmmm. From yesterday to today? About a third done or so?”

Rose had been my guard from last night until this morning while Lily worked on a job only she could do. Fort Tilia had managed to overcome an unprecedented crisis, but the survivors had no time to rest at all because of having to deal with the aftermath.

The upper brass in charge of the fortress had all been part of the hastily constructed counteroffensive plan, and they’d been completely wiped out by Juumonji’s magic when he unveiled his true nature. Little by little, the commander of the Alliance Knights was taking charge and dealing with the cleanup, but the biggest problem was the staggering number of deceased soldiers.

The Woodlands were rich with mana. Corpses left at large here were liable to turn into ghouls. If they weren’t dealt with within a few days, Fort Tilia could be torn apart by the living dead from the inside out, even though it had already overcome one major crisis.

Even if that didn’t happen, the corpses would rot if left at large, and that could lead to disease. That was their priority for now, but there were more than just human corpses. Monsters who had surged through the fortress during the attack were laying dead all over the place.

I had asked the knights to allow me to help with that. There were a few reasons we wanted to handle this work, but the major reason was based on information we had gotten from Kudou. In this world, one could gain mana by defeating other beings who also possessed mana. Incidentally, this wasn’t necessarily limited to monsters either. In addition, according to Kudou, eating the meat of the fallen was more efficient than simply killing them. That was why Kudou had retrieved the corpses of the students who had large amounts of mana. This law applied to eating monsters too.

Suffice it to say, there was plenty to gain by dealing with all the monster corpses ourselves, and Lily had the best aptitude for doing so.

She was a slime. Her very nature was predation. She had been playing up hitting her belly, but with her undefined biology, there was nothing in her like a stomach that limited how much she could eat. With no limit, she could get that much stronger. Furthermore, she was a mimic slime. She could mimic the abilities of all the monsters she ate.

In any case, that was why I had asked Lily to clean up all the monsters. I had also asked Gerbera to transport the corpses to the room Lily was using for this. The fact that Gerbera was out right now taking a walk meant that she had reached a good point to take a break.

“So a third, huh? It’s going quicker than I thought,” I said.

“I’m prioritizing the ones that rot over time, and they happen to digest faster too.”

“I see.”

I had accompanied Lily partway through her work yesterday. I recalled all the monsters I’d seen during that time. A slime’s ability to digest and absorb matter was a part of their specialty as monsters. However, it did take some time depending on matters such as compatibility. We had avoided engaging monsters as much as we could two days ago, instead prioritizing dealing with the cheaters. There were multiple monsters we hadn’t seen before who looked like they would take a while to digest. For example, there were doll-like clay mud golems, dark-red fire elementals who were amalgamations of polyhedrons, large steel ants with metallic shells, and enormous armored tortoises.

“Well, I’ll probably be done within a few days,” Lily said.

“I see. Then please focus on that a while longer. I’m sure it’s troublesome with how many there are...”

“It’s fine. It’s not really troublesome. This is the first time since I’ve been born that I’ve gotten so much to eat. Actually, it’s kinda...”

Lily licked her lips. Her red tongue was seductive. I inadvertently stopped my spoon halfway up to my mouth.

“Hey, Master...?” she said with a charming smile. “I’m, you know, a slime, right? It’s normal for me to eat, grow bigger, and split apart to multiply.”

“Yeah. What about it? Actually, Lily, what’s with you? You seem kind of...”

Lily seemed strangely erotic. I faltered somewhat, and Lily shook her head at me.

“Nothing really. I’m normal. Yup, this is normal... I mean, eating means multiplying. And multiplying, means multiplying.”

In other words, Lily’s original biology as a slime had an influence on her disposition as a mimicked girl. She rose to her feet and leaned over the small table. Her slightly flushed and adorable face drew closer as her fingers touched my cheek. Her sweet scent tickled my nose. This adorable invasion of personal space was a special right only she possessed.

“Master...”

Lily’s entrancing smile was right in front of my face, and I gulped.

“What are you trying to get me to do first thing in the morning?” I said, flicking her forehead.

“Owie.”

Lily sat back down, holding her forehead. I looked at her with bleary eyes.

“I’m going to see Shiran today. I don’t have the time to laze around.”

“Kaaaay...”

Lily kept holding her forehead as she prostrated herself over the table, even though it was bad manners to do so. Looking down at her acting so defenseless, I secretly felt relieved.

That was close. Just a little more and I would’ve gone with it... It was a little frightening that there was a part of me that regretted that I hadn’t. If I remained here any longer, that spark in my chest might just ignite at any moment. I quickly gulped down the rest of my breakfast and rose from my seat.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Mm, fine... Hey, Master?”

She was being surprisingly docile. She remained prostrated over the table, looking up at me only by moving her eyes. I put myself on guard for what was to come.

“If you’ve ever got something worrying you, you know you can depend on me any time you want, right?”

Just then, I suddenly realized that my anxieties about Kudou had faded away while I was having such a silly conversation with her.

“Lily...”

She smiled gently at me. I really was no match for her. That was what I honestly thought when I saw her smile.

“I know,” I said, scratching my head.

I held my hand out to her. Her smile deepened, and she took my hand to stand up. I didn’t stop there, however. Things weren’t very well balanced if I was the one getting played with all the time. I tugged on her hand.

“Whoa!”

She didn’t seem to expect this, so I was able to catch her more easily than I’d expected. With my beloved in my arms, I soaked in her sweet body heat and tenderness. It made me feel like a simpleton, but I didn’t think that was a bad thing, not in the least.

“Now then, shall we get going?” I asked.

“Mm.”

We exchanged smiles and left the room together.

◆ ◆ ◆

Members of the Alliance Knights were stationed on the floor we were using at all times. After we exited our room, Lily and I asked one of the knights in the corridor to escort us to where Shiran was.

We proceeded down the barren hallways. The imposing stone walls had crumbled here and there, and broken fragments lay every few steps. They hadn’t had the time to deal with this stuff yet.

“Oh yeah,” Lily said on the way. “Rose mentioned something before leaving the room. There’s something she wants from you, Master.”

“What is it?”

“She’d like to see more kinds of runestones.”

Runestones were special stones capable of manifesting magic-like phenomena such as creating water or light. Each was carved in a unique way depending on its use. Some required special training to use, but fundamentally, they operated with mana and didn’t necessarily require that the user have any magical skill. However, it seemed their effects were rather limited. Furthermore, excluding the simple runestones that were in common circulation, there were barely any artisans left capable of carving them, and those made by such artisans were extremely expensive. Depending on the type, some were held under lock and key, never to leave their vaults. There were also runestones whose manufacturing methods had been lost, like the barrier runestones that protected those huts in the Depths.

“More runestones...? Oh yeah, she did look pretty interested in them.”

When the attack on Fort Tilia had been settled with Juumonji’s death and Kudou’s escape, Rose had returned to the fortress with us. She showed great interest in the technology she was seeing for the very first time. As a magical puppet who created magic tools, unknown technologies roused her interest. She had apparently detached the illumination runestone in her room and investigated it.

“She wants to see types other than the illumination runestone. If possible, she also wanted to see some before they were carved too.”

“Unprocessed runestones? Is she planning to try and make some herself?”

“She wants to try, but she said she didn’t mind even if she can just take a look. There’s some other things she’s apparently curious about.”

“That’s awfully vague coming from Rose.”

“Seems like she’s not entirely sure herself. Actually, isn’t it because she’s not sure that she wants to ask you and check a bunch of things?”

That made sense. I gave Lily a nod. “Okay, I’ll ask after our talks with Shiran are over.”

“Mm. Please do.”

As we chatted, we reached the room at the end of the corridor. We thanked the knight who’d accompanied us and were about to enter the room when several knights came out. The girl who saw them off then turned our way. Her blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail, revealing her pointy ears, and she was wearing an eyepatch. The elven girl, who now only had one blue eye, spotted Lily and I standing there.

“You’re here, Takahiro. Good morning to you.”

“Morning, Shiran. You seem busy.”

After exchanging greetings, I settled down next to Lily on the chair Shiran guided us to.

“Nothing of the sort. The commander is far busier than I am. I just finished passing out the orders for the day. How is your condition?”

“The fatigue has passed. How about you?”

“Thank you for your concern. There haven’t been any particular inconveniences as of yet.”

Shiran smiled, but I didn’t feel relieved. Both Shiran and I had surmounted the same carnage, teetering between life and death, but our circumstances were different. She’d been killed in the battle two days ago, after all. It wasn’t really a matter of teetering for her; she had fallen completely to death’s side. After that, she had awakened as an undead monster through her own tremendous willpower. Though just a mindless ghoul, she had regained her self-consciousness and was now able to smile just as she did now.

The Tragedy of the Undead King Carl told of a powerful undead monster called a lich who’d maintained a sense of reason while still being a king. It was currently treated as nothing more than a fairy tale, but Shiran’s existence proved it might’ve been true. She was currently somewhere between a lich and a ghoul...a demilich, so to speak. There was no precedent for this, so a follow-up inspection was necessary.

“There is no need to worry. As you can see, I can even call out the sprite now.” She pointed up to a little ball floating above her that resembled a doll a child would make out of clay.

There were those among the elves who could convene with spirits, an ability unique to their race. They were called spiritualists. Shiran was one such spiritualist, and the little ball floating above her was a spirit she had made a contract with. Right after turning into a demilich, she had said that she couldn’t call for the spirits due to the instability of her mana, but just two days later, she had apparently regained their use. Such abilities were indicative of her title as the strongest knight in the northern Woodlands.

“Although, I’m embarrassed to say that calling one of them out is the best I can do, and it doesn’t look like I can ask it to search the area. I’ll need to adjust gradually regarding this matter.”

“So long as things are okay... Let me know if anything comes up. There might be something I can help with.”

Shiran retained the personality she’d had in life even as an undead monster. But though she was a monster with a will, her circumstances differed from the other girls, and there was no way I could call her my servant. However, at the same time, her very being was of the same nature as theirs. It was possible I could help in some way if a problem occurred.

She was my servant, yet she wasn’t. Still, my desire to help her was just as strong as it was toward all the others. That was how dearly I thought of this noble girl.

“Thank you very much,” Shiran said, giving me a wide smile before cutting to the chase. “So, am I right to assume you’ve come today to hear about the current situation in the fortress?”

“Yeah. According to what the commander mentioned the day before yesterday, they were still deciding on the plans up until today. Could you fill me in on the details?”

“Understood.” Shiran nodded, then began telling us about the situation. “First, regarding the burial of the dead. It seems this will take several days, just as we expected. The army is mostly in charge of handling this, but seeing how resources are limited and that caution must be taken against the presence of ghouls, it’s taking some time to accomplish.”

“That’s pretty much inevitable... Have there been any ghoul outbreaks?”

“Two bodies turned into ghouls yesterday. Both were dealt with on the spot. The Alliance Knights rushed to the site immediately, so there weren’t any casualties.”

“I see.”

Perhaps things could’ve gone differently had I been there. That thought passed through my mind...but an exceptional case like Shiran’s wasn’t all that likely to reoccur. Plus, it wouldn’t be worth multiplying the number of casualties by trying to hold back the ghouls until I got there, only for it not to work. That would be putting the cart before the horse. Shiran was an exception. It seemed I had no choice but to give up in this regard.

“More ghoul outbreaks will occur as time passes,” Shiran continued, “so we must be rid of the corpses as quickly as possible. It vexes me that we cannot give them all a proper funeral service, though...”

“Is there anything we can help with?”

“No, that’s a little...”

Shiran trailed off, her expression dark. It seemed I had said something thoughtless.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to trouble you,” I told her.

“I should be the one to apologize. I know it is rather rude of us...”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault,” I said, scratching my head awkwardly. “Besides... Right. It’s important to know the current situation. Now’s as good a time as any. Could you tell me how the survivors feel about me?”

Everyone left here knew I had the ability to tame monsters. This naturally applied to the Alliance Knights who had fought alongside us, and there were several others who had seen us as we moved through the fortress. We were well beyond the point of keeping it hidden.

The people of this world saw monsters as their greatest enemies. They had feared monsters so long that the fear had become instinctual. They were also a target of hatred and resentment for all those who had lost someone precious to them. The elven race turned out spiritualists in great numbers, and due to the belief that spirits were a subspecies of monsters, they’d been persecuted as traitors to humanity. To the people here, accepting a monster tamer would be unthinkable, and it wasn’t something that I could change in just one or two days.

As an elven spiritualist, Shiran understood this better than any other. She smiled at me sadly. “In truth, I believe many are bewildered by the situation. The ability to make companions of monsters is completely unheard of, even for the fabled saviors descended from other worlds.”

I thought of an unsteady balancing scale. Any attempt to stabilize it could send it reeling in the other direction. We couldn’t just carelessly adjust it. This was another reason I’d wanted to dispose of the monsters’ corpses. The Alliance Knights would adhere to their commander’s will, but we couldn’t work alongside the imperial soldiers. We weren’t sectioned off in the fortress and under the constant guard of the Alliance Knights because we were some sort of VIPs. They were a buffer zone between us and the soldiers, so to speak.

“Well, in the long history of visitors from afar, only Kudou and I have had this kind of power,” I said. “I can understand why they won’t easily accept me. I had braced myself for this from the very beginning, and it’s actually going a lot better than I thought it would.”

Humans weren’t machines. They had hearts. The people of this world had their own sense of values. I couldn’t just say “when in Rome” and leave things as they were, but trying to force them to accept me would just incite chaos and potentially bring misfortune to everyone involved. It would just be selfish. At the very least, they weren’t going to interfere so long as I didn’t do anything strange. That was more than enough.

“I actually thought they’d reject me outright,” I said.

“You saved many of them following the battle, after all.”

Just as Shiran said, after we’d confirmed that Kudou was gone two days ago, we’d helped the Alliance Knights with rescue activities. Lily had used her healing magic on some of the survivors, and Gerbera had dragged some of them out of fallen debris, though they screamed the whole time.

“By defeating Juumonji Tatsuya and routing Kudou Riku, you are technically responsible for saving everyone currently in the fortress... But it seems your direct help with the rescue efforts does play a larger role. I cannot claim that none bear you animosity, but you can consider them the minority. The Alliance Knights can assist you with that. It pains me that this is all we’re capable of doing, though.”

“That’s more than enough. Now that you mention it, are there any of the Alliance Knights dissatisfied with this?”

“All members of the Third Company were selected by the commander,” Shiran said with a wry yet proud smile. “Besides, she made me, an elf, her lieutenant. Anyone who would be dissatisfied now wouldn’t be a member in the first place. Actually, thanks to that, the commander is treated as an eccentric elf-lover in some parts.”

“I see. So that’s what has both you and Mikihiko smitten, huh?”

I shrugged. Shiran smiled in agreement, then looked at me with a gentle gaze.

“Takahiro, what do you plan on doing from here?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“After the dead are buried, we are abandoning Fort Tilia.”

I gulped at this revelation. “I see. So the commander has made her decision.”

“Yes. Currently, only two-thirds of the survivors can move about properly. Only half of those can fight. Regardless of what I said earlier, if there were in fact anyone who bore you malice, everyone is exhausted to the point that they don’t have the energy to act on it.”

This world possessed a miraculous power that didn’t exist in ours: healing magic. It wasn’t unlimited, however. For example, Lily’s grade 3 healing magic could even reattach a limb depending on the circumstances, but it couldn’t reform a limb if, say, a monster had devoured it. There were many cases where it was too late for any healing, and some required rehabilitation before fighting was even worth considering. Grade 3 magic also happened to be the highest level the people of this world could possibly hope to achieve. There had only been a scant few practitioners in the fortress to begin with, including Shiran, but she had lost the ability to do so when she’d turned into an undead monster.

“Furthermore, the esteemed saviors’ betrayal...especially Juumonji Tatsuya, who many of the soldiers were familiar with, was a tremendous shock. There are many who are dismayed, saying such a thing can’t possibly be true.”

“But it really happened.”

“Yes. We Alliance Knights saw it with our own eyes, and there are several soldiers who survived the collapse at the ramparts. That’s precisely why many of them are mentally overwhelmed.”

Visitors from afar were treated as saviors here. They were symbols of hope, verging on religious pillars that morally supported the entire populace. The realities of this world were so harsh that people couldn’t continue living if they didn’t have the hope they called saviors. So when these saviors wielded their extraordinary powers against the people for selfish reasons, both shock and confusion were perfectly natural. It would understandably tear their hearts apart.

There was still the residual heat from the battle and the looming threat of ghoul outbreaks, so they were somehow able to keep it together. However, we didn’t know how long that could last. It was actually astounding they were able to carry out their work like this.

Much of this was probably due to the commander’s abilities. She hadn’t even given the soldiers the time to fall to their knees and groan. Instead, she had scolded them, saying, “And you call yourselves the vanguards who protect humanity?” At a glance, she appeared to be rather harsh, but she was getting everything underway for the evacuation while they could still move so that no further victims would arise.

“All of the fortress’s facilities have been practically destroyed,” Shiran continued. “It will take large-scale repairs involving thousands of people, several years, and a fully-detailed plan for reorganization. There is nothing we can do about it as we are now.”

“There’s no way for a hundred or so people to protect a fortress riddled with holes, you mean.”

“Exactly. We’ve already sent out a messenger to request relief, but it will still take three or four days for them to reach the nearest village by horse. Gathering soldiers and organizing the army will take even more time than that before they can be dispatched. Staying here any longer will only increase the number of casualties for no purpose whatsoever.”

“Hence the evacuation.”

Shiran nodded as a shadow of sorrow fell over her. Up until now, she had been putting her life on the line fighting at Fort Tilia, a wall built to protect the human world. Abandoning such a fortress was certainly heartrending for her and the knights.

“Fortunately, the number of monsters in the immediate area has dropped sharply, for the time being. New monsters will undoubtedly come in from the surrounding regions within ten days, but we should be able to evacuate in time.”

“Kudou slammed all the monsters he’d gathered against us and all, so he probably depleted the region.”

“We cannot afford to have the fortress become a den of undead monsters, so the bodies must be buried. Once that’s over, the commander has decided to depart.” Shiran took a deep breath. Her expression was stiff with tension. “At that time, we would like for you to come with us, Takahiro.”

“If you’d like my help, then of course I intend to accept.”

Now it was clear why she had asked about my plans. Evacuating the survivors meant moving almost five hundred people. The road running through the Woodlands was maintained for the use of the army, so its safety was apparently guaranteed to a certain extent. However, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t encounter any monsters while moving so many people at once. Fort Tilia’s forces had been the ones to maintain the safety of the road in the first place, so with those patrols paralyzed, the journey would get more dangerous the longer it went on. Also, there were many among the five hundred survivors who were non-combatants or no longer capable of fighting. We might be able to help reduce the number of casualties by going with them.

However, Shiran’s smile looked troubled. “I am of course happy to have your cooperation, but that wasn’t what I meant.”

I raised my eyebrow curiously as Shiran continued.

“The commander said that she would like to invite you to our country.”

“Huh...?”

“The fall of Fort Tilia is a major incident. The commander will no doubt be indisposed, having to explain the situation to everyone. Before that, she plans to return home to report to her father, His Majesty the King. At that time, she would like you to be present as well, Takahiro.”

I don’t get it... I had in fact heard that the commander was the princess of a certain country. The home Shiran referred to was probably the capital of that country, but...

“Why would she want me there?”

“Do we require any other reason than wanting to invite an honored guest from another world to a warm reception? Besides, you are our benefactor. You saved our lives by battling Juumonji Tatsuya, and you fought by our side on the battlefield. If you have other plans, however, then I do not intend to push the matter.”

“No, I don’t really have any plans...”

“It is customary to invite the great saviors to the imperial capital for a hospitable welcome. The other visitors will surely be going there. However, you will not be going with them, will you?”

“Considering my abilities, it would be difficult to live as some grand hero here. I didn’t even have the faintest intention of doing so to start with.”

I hadn’t lied when I’d spoken to Kudou two days ago. The most important thing to me was living together with the girls as their master. I had no plans of becoming some savior of the world.

“I’ll be fine so long as I can find a place to live in peace alongside Lily and the others.”

“If so, then I do believe this is a good proposal for you. How about taking the time to consider your options while consulting with the commander during your stay in our home country?”

It wasn’t a bad idea. My goal was to locate a safe place to live. However, it was hard to take action in this world when I knew nothing about the environment. I needed connections. Even if it came down to only securing provisions and living in the Woodlands, we still needed to come up with and execute a plan from scratch, which was sure to be a thorny path. Consulting a princess could expand my options considerably.

Our choice was between wandering into a foreign land with no help or starting somewhere I already had a reassuring ally. It didn’t need to be said which was the better option. All that was left was deciding whether the commander could be trusted...

I shot a glance over to Lily, who smiled back at me.

“Got it,” I said with a nod. “I’ll accept your offer. I’ll discuss it with my companions, but I don’t think they’ll object.”

“Thank goodness. I’ll inform the commander of such afterward,” Shiran replied with a broad smile.

“Oh yeah, what do you plan on doing, Shiran? I’m guessing you’re going back with the commander to your country too?”

Shiran’s position was extremely delicate right now. Nobody could tell at a glance that she was an undead monster. She looked slightly pale, but that was pretty much it. The only ones who knew of her circumstances aside from us were the members of the Alliance Knights who had witnessed her rampage when she came back as a ghoul. The knights who fought shoulder to shoulder in the Woodlands had a strong sense of fellowship. They wouldn’t even consider spreading rumors of their lieutenant’s secret. It was pretty unlikely that it would get out. Having said that, it could cause trouble for the company if it were to come to light.

Shiran looked troubled, but she still smiled happily. “I’m honestly conflicted...but thankfully, the commander has told me to continue serving as a knight. She scolded me, saying I should’ve already known just from the fact that I hadn’t been dismissed as her lieutenant.”

“Seems just like her.”

I had witnessed for myself that the bond tying these two women together as comrades in arms was far deeper than their simple connection as a lieutenant and commander. There was no way the commander would let her trusted subordinate worry about her future.

“I’m truly blessed.”

Shiran sounded somewhat bitter as she took out something dangling from a chain around her neck. It was a ring with a red gem in it. After she had turned into a ghoul, she couldn’t even put it on in front of anyone, but she couldn’t throw it away. It was proof she was a knight.

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

The runestone within the ring turned blue for a human and yellow for a ghoul. The red gem in Shiran’s ring was proof that she was a demilich. However, she was a knight before any of that.

Shiran was strong. Even as an undead monster, she still had many worries, but she gazed unwaveringly at what she was meant to be. It was this self-awareness as a knight that supported her so.

“I am of course grateful to you as well, Takahiro. I’m very glad we met.”

“Likewise. It seems we’ll be together a while longer. Let’s do our best.”

Shiran smiled wholeheartedly, half her face hidden by an eyepatch.

So we decided to leave Fort Tilia behind for Shiran’s home country.