Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 6 - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Result of Negotiations

Shortly after Kudou had offered to help rescue Lily...

The moment Kudou told us we could ride Berta, I decided to stop back where Rose and the others were. I’d planned on chasing Takaya by foot, but I was a little worried whether we could actually catch up to him like that. However, our transit time would be drastically shorter thanks to Berta’s overwhelming speed and stamina.

Furthermore, we had the monsters Kudou had already sent in pursuit. According to Iino, Takaya wasn’t particularly strong for a member of the exploration team. It was safe to assume the monsters could at least slow him down. Having said that, it would take too much time to go all the way back to where Shiran and Kei were waiting. If we got too far away, the mental path might cut off, but we still had time to go back to where Rose was.

I took the same path I came from...fully prepared for the quarrel that was awaiting me.

◆ ◆ ◆

Sure enough, the moment I appeared riding atop Berta, Iino roared at me.

“What’s the meaning of this?!”

She drew closer, her injured leg clearly impeding her movements. But even as she sidled across the dirt on her knees, I stood my ground. She grabbed my collar and pulled me down to her level, suffocating me a little with her grip. As expected of a cheater, her strength was inconceivable compared to mine.

“Unhand my—”

Rose was indignant, still lying down atop Katou’s knees. Even with her figure tragically reduced to her upper body, she had plenty of fighting spirit. She reached for her ax, but I signaled her with my eyes to stop. Asarina also stretched out of my hand to snap at Iino’s ear, but I kept her at bay as well. Then I turned to face Iino once more.

“Listen to me, Iino,” I said.

“Hmm. And what kind of excuse do you plan on making now?” she asked, a strong glint in her eyes. “You really are colluding with Kudou!”

Well, it was pretty easy to misunderstand the situation here. Incidentally, I hadn’t brought Kudou with me. It was crystal clear what would happen if he were to meet Iino face-to-face. To avoid any unnecessary confrontation, I’d borrowed Berta, Caesar, and a couple of Anton’s spawns before splitting up from him. It seemed Iino had heard about the two-headed wolf who attacked Fort Tilia from Margrave Maclaurin’s subordinate, Louis. She could tell at a glance that Berta was Kudou’s servant.

I didn’t have any intention of hiding it, anyway. This development was pretty much just what I had expected. In a sense, it made things faster. I remained optimistic and got the conversation moving.

“Just listen, okay? I can see why you’d think so, but don’t jump to conclusions. Kudou is just lending me a hand so that I can save Lily.”

“Like I can believe that!”

“I bet you can’t, but I’m telling the truth. That’s why I came back here.”

“What do you mean?”

Seeing that I wasn’t perturbed by her insistence, she looked at me with distrustful and cautious eyes.

“Let me get straight to the point. Iino, I’d like to ask for your help too.”

“What?!”

Iino was hysterical. It must have been quite the shock. But her wide-open eyes gradually squinted.

“Hey, do you have a screw loose?” she asked.

I could tell from her voice and expression that she was seriously considering the state of my sanity. I hadn’t come back here on a whim, after all.

“Yeah. I’m serious.”

“I asked if you’re insane... Hmm... I see. So you’re serious. That means you’ve really gone nuts.”

“That’s harsh. Why do you say that?”

“Why? Isn’t it obvious? Do you really think I’ll help you?”

“Not at all,” I answered, then shrugged. “I ended up accepting Kudou’s help, but you’re different from him. You have no reason to do so. I know that much already.” I grabbed Iino’s hand by the wrist. Her shoulders jolted at my touch. “You’re the one who doesn’t get it, Iino. I’m not crying for you to save me.”

“You’re not making sense. What’re you trying to say?” she asked, faltering ever so slightly, but her competitive spirit immediately flared up as she scowled. “What do you plan on making me do, anyway?”

“Make you do...? No need to paint me like a bad guy. I simply came here to give you a proposal.”

“A proposal?” she asked quizzically.

“Yeah. I’d like you to fight Takaya with me,” I said, watching her eyes shoot open. “This isn’t a bad offer for you. You’re the one who asked me whether I’m planning on fighting someone to the death over some monster, right? You don’t want us to, do you now? So do something about it yourself.”

“H-Hang on a sec!” Iino cried in a flustered voice. “A-Are you asking me to stop you two from killing each other?”

“Exactly. If you stop Takaya’s rampage with your own hands, there’d be no better outcome, right?”

“Th-That’s true, but my legs...”

Iino lowered her eyes. A bandage was wrapped around her left thigh, and she had a brace on her right ankle. I waited for her to look back up at me, then nodded.

“Right. Your prided legs are no good. That’s why you’re stuck here, unable to do a thing.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“But the situation is different now,” I said, turning to the two-headed wolf who brought me here. “You can still fight with your legs like that if you ride Berta, right?”

“Berta...?” Iino turned her gaze to the monster, paused for a few seconds, then gasped before whipping back to me. “Hey! Are you asking me to ride the monster that attacked Fort Tilia?!”

“You don’t want to? Then you can continue lazing around here doing nothing.”

“Ugh... Th-That’s...” she mumbled, her face all scrunched up.

“If you fight, maybe things will end without any deaths. If you don’t, either Takaya or myself is sure to die. Think it over carefully and decide on what you want to do.”

Iino let out an unintelligible groan. “Th-That’s... That’s cheating. T-Taking yourself... No, not just yourself, even your enemy as a hostage like this...”

“You can interpret it however you want, but just as I said, this isn’t a bad offer for you.”

“That’s true, but still...”

I wasn’t taking advantage of Iino’s weakness or forcing her to do something she didn’t want to do. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I was giving her advice on how to accomplish her desires. She seemed to understand this too. Yet the reason she wasn’t responding in the affirmative right away was because I was the one to suggest it. The wheels of fate had deemed that we were to cross paths in the worst possible way.

“Just so you know... If you end up killing Takaya, I’ll turn on you on the spot, okay?” she suddenly said, biting on her lip. “Are you fine with that?”

“Meaning you won’t allow for any betrayal? That’s a relief. So long as Lily comes back to me, I don’t care what happens to him.”

“You don’t think anything of him?”

Her tone was filled with suspicion. From her perspective, my intentions were completely unreadable. Her opinion of me was based on a tremendous misunderstanding to begin with.

“Who said that? Of course I have a lousy opinion of him,” I replied, narrowing my eyes. Iino looked thoroughly confused. “What’s so surprising about that? I’m still human. Piss me off and I’ll hold a grudge. It’s normal. You may have forgotten this, but I’ve got a grudge against you for punching me, just so you know.”

“Ugh... B-But, why then?”

“It’s simple. Getting Lily back is a hundred times more important.”

With our current forces, we stood a chance against a single warrior, depending on our tactics. If done well, we could even defeat him. However, what mattered was retrieving Lily. So long as we didn’t know what could happen, I wanted to have the Skanda’s cooperation. Being so weak, I didn’t have the luxury to worry about the root of all evil here.

“I don’t have any intention of losing what’s precious to me. What about you, Iino?”

“Huh? M-Me?”

“Yeah. What do you want to do? What’s precious to you? Give it some thought, then let me know.”

I had nothing else to say. Just as I’d told her, I’d come here to offer her a proposal. The decision was hers to make. She had to be the one to determine what was important to her.

“I...” she started, letting go of my collar and closing her eyes as if searching her soul. After a short moment, she gave me her answer. “I don’t want Takaya to die. I don’t want him to kill anyone either.”

Iino raised her head. I could see her unyielding spirit. Her resolute eyes reflected my image. It was a little strange to consider, but this was the first time we’d seen eye to eye.

“I won’t kill anyone. I’m the same as you in that I won’t yield on some things,” she said in a firm tone, her fist clenched in front of her heart. “Okay, Majima. I’ll help you.”

“It’s decided then.”

I was acting to save Lily. Iino was acting to stop Takaya. Our goals were different, and we were in no way friends, but our paths were the same. That made it possible for us to join forces. Our united front was now established.

“Okay, let’s put together a plan,” I said.

“Right.” She didn’t object and honestly nodded along. “Oh. Hey, Majima, before that, can I ask you something?”

Now that things were settled, there wasn’t much meaning to idle chatter. Having said that, it could end up weighing on her mind during the battle with Takaya if left at large.

“Ask whatever you want, but try to keep it short,” I told her.

“Sure. Umm, you came here because you believed I would agree to your proposal, right?”

“That’s not the only reason...but yeah, that’s true.”

“Why were you so sure?”

Unlike before, there was no hostility or suspicion in her voice. She was asking purely out of curiosity. Perhaps that was what took me by surprise.

“Oh... Because...”

“Because?”

I scratched the back of my neck as Iino cocked her head. Honestly speaking, I didn’t really want to tell her. Still, I’d said she could ask anything she wanted to. It would be insincere not to tell her. I let out a big sigh, then answered her question.

“Because you’re definitely right. About not wanting anybody to die, I mean. It’s the right thing to do.”

She stared at me in silence.

“You’d never betray those feelings. That’s what I believed,” I added.

In the end, Iino Yuna was a truly virtuous person, an embodiment of justice. She was such a softhearted fool that she’d run all the way to a remote location despite there being nothing in it for her. I didn’t doubt that her personality came from her innate goodness. That was the reason I’d proposed to join forces.

“You’re lacking here and there, but you’re a righteous soul. That’s why I... Huh? What’s up?” I asked, suddenly frowning.

“Huh? Oh, I mean...” Iino was pressing her hands against her red cheeks. She didn’t notice when my expression turned even more bitter. “I-It’s a little embarrassing to hear you suddenly say that. I was under the impression you hated me...”

“I do hate you.”

“Huh?”

“Just so you know, I wasn’t praising you or anything,” I added, leaving her utterly astonished. “I said you’re lacking here and there, didn’t I? Now’s as good a time as any, so let me get this off my chest. You should put more thought into things before taking action, dumbass.”

“D-Dumbass?!”

“You’re not going to get it until someone hammers it into that thick skull of yours. Nobody can keep up with your speed as it is. Stand still and think things over once in a while, dumbass.”

“A-Again?!”

Katou, still supporting Rose’s body in her lap, shot a glance over to Iino, then exchanged looks with me.

“Sorry to interrupt while you’re in the middle of talking, but...” she said.

“It’s fine. We’re done here,” I replied.

“I still have things to say though,” Iino complained.

I ignored her protests and urged Katou to continue. “What is it?”

“About the plan to save Lily, umm...”

“Oh right, we have to put together a plan. Could you give me some advice, Katou?”

Katou looked slightly shocked by my request, but she immediately smiled. “Y-Yes! Of course!”

“Thanks, you’re a big help.”

“Huh? Wait a sec, Majima. You’re asking this girl for advice?” Iino asked incredulously.

“Yeah, that’s right. I mentioned that getting your help was only one reason for me coming back here, didn’t I? With the forces we have available now, it’ll be hard to save Lily and secure Takaya. Katou’s help is a necessity.”

“You sure do trust her. She’s not a monster or anything, is she?”

“I get what you’re saying, but she’s not. Katou is a bona fide human. It’s true that I put as much trust in her as I do my servants, though.”

“Senpai...”

Katou gasped. Her cheeks turned a little red, and her eyes got a little misty as she looked at me with passion. Her reaction was somewhat exaggerated, but it looked like she was delighted to hear my praise. I felt happy about this too.

I turned the conversation back to Iino. “I can guarantee her abilities. Your wounds should pretty much tell you everything you need to know, anyway.”

“That’s true,” Iino said, rubbing her injured leg. “That’s exactly why I’m a little worried, though.” She looked a little bitter about it.

After glancing at Iino, Katou uttered, “Iino is pretty much the only one who can block Takaya’s earth magic from the front, so how about we use her as a shield and charge in?”

“What do you take me for?!” Iino shrieked.

“I’m joking,” Katou casually admitted, then shook her head. “Well, it’s not an entirely bad idea, but it’s a bit of a waste. Iino’s strength really should be used at the critical moment to take down Takaya.”

“So it’s not a bad idea... Hey, Majima, is this really going to be okay?” Iino asked me.

I shrugged. If Katou were to tell me it was necessary, I wasn’t opposed to Operation Skanda Shield, but it was kinder not to mention that.

◆ ◆ ◆

After I got Iino on board, we all shared what information we had regarding the current status of my injured servants, the abilities of Kudou’s servants I’d borrowed, and details on Takaya Jun. With that, we quickly put together a plan. In the end, we didn’t go with Operation Skanda Shield. Iino looked quite relieved.

We quickly gave chase. Luckily, we managed to catch up to Takaya before he cleared the Kitrus Mountains. Having said that, we couldn’t just launch ourselves at him; we needed to wait until Gerbera and Anton’s spawns reached their designated locations. We kept a sufficient distance from Takaya as he took a break, waiting things out on pins and needles.

“My king’s advance troops seem to have failed,” Berta said as we waited. “Unfortunately, Takaya Jun isn’t injured.”

“You can tell? I can’t even see him from here,” I said.

“We’re downwind from him...”

She could apparently gauge the situation by smell. I heard Kudou had sent around thirty monsters ahead of us. There were enough of them that they could possibly have killed Takaya with a successful surprise attack, but it turned out he was completely unharmed. They had failed in the worst way possible. Or perhaps Kudou underestimated the strength of a warrior too much.

“It reeks of blood,” Berta muttered. “It seems there are no survivors.”

“Berta...”

“Don’t worry, Second King. There is no camaraderie among us.”

One of Berta’s heads turned my way. I couldn’t sense any emotion in her indifferent tone.

“Those were mindless pawns. There’s no way to feel comradery with them. Also...regardless of my ego, I am merely another pawn for my king,” she said, her tail wagging behind her. “It’s my king’s command. You may order us to our death, if you wish.”

“Hey, Majima... This is kinda hard to listen to,” Iino said, grimacing while sitting on Berta’s back. With her injured leg, she had to stay up there even while we were waiting. “It’s like watching a pet puppy wag its tail even though its owner is abusing it.”

“That’s a little unexpected. Do you like dogs?” I asked.

“I’d hardly call it unexpected. My friend bought a lot of them, so I went to play with them all the time. If she saw Berta, she might snap.”

“What does ‘pet’ mean, woman?” Berta asked, turning a head up to look at Iino.

Surprisingly, she seemed interested in our conversation. The two of them started chatting, and I went over our contingency plans with Katou and Rose. Some time passed before one of Anton’s spawns informed us that preparations were complete.

“Master. Best of fortune to you,” Rose said, seeing me off as I straddled Berta and got moving, the desire to save Lily burning in my heart.

◆ ◆ ◆

At the climax of the battle, our trump card crushed Takaya Jun.

“Sorry, Takaya. I won’t let anyone die here,” Iino swore to him.

She wouldn’t let Takaya die, and she wouldn’t let him kill me. That was why she’d come here. She gradually lowered the tip of her slender blade. The movement was agonizingly sluggish, as if she couldn’t endure the weight of the red liquid soaking it. Iino had cut down dozens of monsters to date, but this was presumably her first experience cutting a human. Punching and kicking someone was just an extension of a simple brawl. The vividness of cutting someone with a real blade was on an entirely different level. It carried a far heavier psychological burden, especially for someone like Iino. However, punching wouldn’t have been enough to stop Takaya as he was now.

I supported Iino’s body from behind as I looked down at Takaya kneeling. The laceration across his chest was deep. There was a large puddle of blood on the ground. It wasn’t a fatal wound, yet it was impossible for him to continue fighting.

It wouldn’t have been strange for a normal warrior to be down for the count after Gerbera crushed their right arm. If Iino weren’t here, I’d probably be a lump of minced meat by now. We really had teetered on the edge in this battle.

“In any case, why did Takaya mention Todo...?” Iino muttered as I let her go.

I set her aside and stood up. “Lily...”

She was sprawled on the ground and groaning. When Takaya got cut, he had thrown Lily onto the hard ground. Normally, this would be nothing to her, but because of the manashackles wrapped around her body, her physique was substantially weakened. I suppressed my soaring spirits and took a step forward.

“...yet...”

Just then, I heard Lily squeeze out her voice.

“Not...yet...”

“Huh...?”

I froze. It wasn’t that I understood what she was saying. A horrible premonition numbed my body.

“It’s...not over...yet!” Lily screamed.

It’s not over? What isn’t? The moment I started thinking about it, a chill ran down my spine.

“G-Gaaargh...”

A creepy voice hung in the air, making meaningless noises.

“G-G-G-Gaaah...”

It was coming from Takaya, who wasn’t supposed to have the strength to fight anymore. His body trembled as if he had the shakes, his head hung low.

“Gah... Grr... Argh...”

He grasped his face with his left hand. Enormous blood vessels protruded from his head. His nails gouged out his skin. It didn’t seem like he could even feel pain.

“G-Gargh... Graaaaaaah!”

Takaya screamed at the ground with an inhuman howl. An explosive amount of mana burst from his body. The mana changed into a dark light and wrapped around his ragged clothing. It was like the light itself was eating him.

A moment later, I learned that this was exactly what was happening. In but a second, the light vanished along with Takaya Jun. In his place was a single beast. It was about two meters tall, and its entire body was covered in bristles the color of a raging blaze. Its eyes popped out, now a cloudy yellow. Unevenly sized fangs jutted from its jaws, dripping with sticky drool.

The hideous fusion of man and beast arched back and howled madly at the sky. A shock ran through my skin. I felt a sense of oppression that I’d never experienced in the Woodlands. It felt like it could crush my very being.

“Ta...kaya...?” Iino barely wrung out, bringing me back from my stupefied state. “Are you...Takaya?”

Looking closer, the beast was wearing Takaya’s tattered uniform. It was hard to tell because of its red fur, but there were deep wounds on its chest and right arm that were still spilling blood. This was definitely Takaya Jun.

This phenomenon wasn’t entirely unknown to me. Back in the Colony, there was a cheater in the exploration team who could transform, Jinguuji Tomoya. He was nicknamed the Dragon. I’d heard he could change into an enormous divine-looking dragon at will.

At a glance, Takaya’s cheat had turned him into a mad beast. Since he hadn’t shown any signs of activating it until now, it could be that he couldn’t control it by his own volition. Unlike mine, which was always active, this one only took form during emergencies.

During a crisis, Takaya gained a massive amount of power in exchange for losing all sense of reason. Maybe the reason his clothes were a tattered mess wasn’t merely because of his forced march through the Woodlands, but because of the way his body swelled when he transformed.

With such a hidden ace up his sleeve, it was easy to see how he had totally annihilated Kudou’s thirty monsters. I should’ve paid more attention to Kudou’s assertion that we wouldn’t need to catch up if things went well. Takaya wasn’t unharmed because Kudou had miscalculated, or because the raid had been carried out poorly. In fact, Kudou’s monsters had done too well. As a result, Takaya had awakened the beast within and destroyed them.

We’d repeated the same mistake here. Still, it was strange. Takaya was supposed to be a run-of-the-mill warrior. At the very least, everyone thought of him that way. In other words, he’d spent that one month in the Colony behaving like a warrior.

It was possible he’d been hiding his ability, but he’d had no reason to do so when Mizushima Miho was still alive. That made it more likely that he’d acquired this ability after the Colony’s destruction.

Both Kudou and I had only gained our ability to tame monsters some time after arriving in this world. So perhaps it was possible for a cheater who’d already awakened as a warrior to gain an inherent ability later.

Some suitable trigger was, of course, necessary for that to happen. Thinking of how few people possessed special abilities, this must’ve been a rare case. It had to be something as intense as what Kudou and I had gone through. In Takaya’s case, this must’ve been the knowledge of Mizushima Miho’s death. If so, it made perfect sense.

The powers we’d been granted as visitors were a reflection of a wish we each held deep within our souls. As such, Takaya Jun wished to become a mad beast. He wished to become a mindless brute. The childhood friend he’d staked his life to protect had been murdered. All he desired was strength. At the same time, he prayed that he could forget everything. If so, this was the real incarnation of Takaya Jun’s despair.

“Graaaaawr!”

In the next instant, the mindless beast’s huge arm swung mercilessly toward me.