Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 6 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Entrusted Feelings (Fake) ~Lily’s POV~

What on earth am I doing...? I floated about within an endless darkness, cradling my knees and questioning myself. My master was fighting a do-or-die battle against Takaya Jun, the boy who’d abducted me. I was supposed to be protecting my master, but now he was exposed to great danger because of me.

Even my dear sisters had paid no heed to their injuries and thrown themselves into battle. Such was the situation, but I was the only one who couldn’t fight. I was helpless. I couldn’t overpower the magic chains binding my body. I would need at least as much strength as Gerbera to do so. I couldn’t do a thing.

Not a single thing...

How long had I spent in silent contemplation now? The concept of time likely didn’t exist here. This space felt like it existed just for me to worry, suffer, and wallow in my powerlessness all on my own.

“What’s wrong?”

A presence suddenly appeared, though I was supposed to be all alone. I raised my downcast eyes. There was a girl here now. There hadn’t been anyone in the darkness earlier, but now a girl floated right in front me, her flaxen hair fluttering about as if underwater. I looked at her face, the face that looked exactly like mine...and gave her a half-hearted smile.

“You’re late,” I told her.

“Huh? You’re not surprised?” she asked in astonishment.

“I thought you’d come.”

“You predicted this?”

“Yeah...”

It was clear this was a continuation of the strange dream I’d had not too long ago. At the same time, it was easy to tell that this was no simple dream.

“My master told me about what happened when he brought Shiran back from becoming a ghoul,” I said.

Back when my master saved Shiran’s heart, he’d seen a strange world. What I was experiencing now was exactly the phenomenon he’d described to me. I could pretty much guess why this was happening too. There was a magic connection between my master and I. It was the cause behind this.

Either I’d wandered into here through the mental path, which was the source of this entire space, or maybe the space itself was what we called the mental path. I didn’t know the specifics, but in any case, I was certain this wasn’t a meaningless dream. As such, this girl couldn’t be a mirage born of my mind.

“You’re...Mizushima Miho, right?” I asked with conviction. That set things in motion. “Hm?!”

My body burst into flames. At the same time, the girl also turned into a fiery blaze. In an instant, we became two shining beacons floating in the darkness. There was a difference between our flames, though. My body was a red fire, whereas hers was a pale blue. This seemed to definitively prove we were different beings, which stirred up dark emotions deep in my heart.

“Hmmm.”

The girl raised both her hands in front of her eyes, looking at the swaying blue fire they had become. She looked down at her fiery body, then back to me.

“I’m Mizushima Miho, huh? Why do you think so?”

She gave me a carefree smile. There was genuine interest in her eyes. She was always brimming with cheerful curiosity. That was the kind of girl she was, the kind anyone could come to like. As someone who wore her face, I knew her nature very well.

“This is normally a space only your master and his servants can come to, isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be strange for this ‘Mizushima Miho’ you speak of to be here?”

“Not at all,” I replied with a shake of my head. “Didn’t Takaya Jun say so? Mizushima Miho exists within me. If I can come here, it would make sense that she could too.”

I couldn’t deny what Takaya Jun had said. He could see the truth precisely because of his madness. Mizushima Miho certainly did exist within me. The fact that she had appeared before me like this was all the proof I needed. But what did that mean, exactly? It definitely had something to do with my special ability as a mimic slime.

“I always found it strange. My mimicry can replicate everything about my target. For example, I can even mimic the flaming breath of a firefang, something that would normally be impossible.”

I recalled the words Shiran had told my master during our journey from Fort Tilia to the trade city Serrata, on that first evening we spent in a reclamation village.

“A monster’s inherent abilities come from their particular flow of mana. For those who possess it, mana flows in a way that is unique to their species. No other monster can replicate that flow. That’s why no monster or human can reproduce a monster’s abilities. Normally, that is.”

Even a ghoul’s mana flowed differently from the human it used to be. That was why Shiran was concerned about my master’s mana, since it was the same as Gerbera’s. Back then, the two of them had overlooked something though. The one who’d been listening to their conversation was an exception to all this.

“I can use other monsters’ abilities that I shouldn’t be able to use. That means I’m replicating the mana flow unique to other species. But that’s usually impossible. So why can I do it?”

I couldn’t claim it was my specialty as a monster. Having said that, up until today, I’d never had an answer to this question. That only stood to reason, though. Even humans had no idea how their own bodies worked until they dissected the bodies of the dead and thoroughly investigated them. In short, this was the same. By touching upon Mizushima Miho’s existence like this, I started to understand what kind of creature I was for the very first time.

“Mana lies in the soul. That’s where it flows from. Each monster’s soul has its own peculiar shape, making the mana that flows out equally peculiar. Because of this, there are only two ways of changing your mana flow. One is changing the very nature of your soul, like a ghoul. The other...is gaining mana from an exterior source, like my master does with Gerbera.”

In his case, mana flowed from Gerbera’s soul into him using the mental path as a medium. But what about me? The Mizushima Miho in front of me was the very answer I sought.

“The true nature of my ability...is to collect souls.”

In all likelihood, what we called “souls” remained in a corpse for a while before dispersing into the air. In regions dense with mana, these residual souls probably changed in nature, affixed themselves to the corpse they came from, and turned them into ghouls. Back when my master touched Shiran’s body after she’d turned into a ghoul, he’d been able to successfully restore her heart because the soul in her body was still Shiran’s.

This could explain why monsters gained mana from killing each other and eating the fallen. The corpse still contained a residue of the soul, allowing the predator to directly absorb the mana that would normally disperse into the air.

Things were a little different for me, though. As a mimic slime, I didn’t absorb the souls I ate as mana; I stored a portion of them as they were within me. That was the true nature of a mimic slime’s predation. The mana flowing from those souls manifested the special abilities I mimicked. That was how I could replicate the unique mana flow of different species.

In that case, I could also explain the girl here with me. This was Mizushima Miho’s soul. It was good news for me.

“Mizushima Miho,” I said to the blue fire in front of me. “I’m sure I have to apologize to you. I mean, I practically hijacked your entire existence.”

She remained silent at this.

“So, I know it’s unreasonable to ask this of you...” I continued, “but there’s one thing I want you to do.”

“What is it?” she asked with a cock of her head.

“I want you to save my master.”

Her eyes widened. “Save Majima?”

“Mm. He’s fighting Takaya Jun right now.”

“I know, but...”

It seemed she understood the situation we were in, to a certain extent. It helped keep things brief.

“Takaya Jun already possessed a warrior’s enhanced abilities,” I said, “and now he’s even awakened to an inherent ability. Somehow, my master managed to ally himself with the Skanda, but the latent power Takaya drew out when they cornered him is clearly too much for them. At this rate, my master is sure to die soon...”

Currently, he was somehow hanging in there, but there was no telling how long his tightrope act could continue.

“That’s quite the absurd request,” the girl told me with a bitter smile.

“It’s not absurd.”

“It is. What can the dead Mizushima Miho do, anyway?”

“Plenty,” I said with certainty.

She looked at me quizzically as I slowly explained.

“There are many souls within me, including my own. However, it’s quite rare for any of them to maintain a form, let alone have a will separate from mine.”

“So...what of it?”

“You can’t tell? Two souls within me have wills. In other words, there’s no need for me to be me, right?”

Understanding and shock spread across the girl’s delicate features.

“You don’t mean...” she said.

“Mm. I’ll give you everything. Then you can go back to that world.”

By using my very being, Mizushima Miho could return to the physical realm. That was the hope I found in her existence.

“How about it? That should appeal to you.”

There was no way she could’ve predicted this. She kept silent for a while before saying anything.

“What do you plan on making Mizushima Miho do as a result of this?” she asked.

“Exactly as I said. I want you to save my master.”

“That’s impossible. Did you forget? Mizushima Miho died because she had no power. She can’t save Majima by returning.”

“Nope. That’s not true.” I shook my head. “I mean, you’re a visitor. You have extraordinary power hidden inside you.”

“There’s no point to such power if it remains hidden, is there now? You listening? Mizushima Miho never awakened to her cheat. She couldn’t awaken to it.”

“Because she didn’t have a wish deep in her soul?”

“Huh, so you do know,” she said, shrugging with a small sigh. “If it were so easy for people to awaken such powers, wouldn’t everyone have their own special abilities? But that isn’t the case. To put it frankly, the ones who activate their abilities right away are either simple idiots, true heroes, or monsters. The ones who activate them later are largely those who wish to escape absolute despair.”

She let out an even bigger sigh than before. Maybe she was recalling someone else. The blue flames surrounding her flickered as if to reveal her inner thoughts.

“Only a handful of people, the truly strong, obtained power through hope. Mizushima Miho wasn’t one of them. That’s why she died. It would have been different if she had been like you, with feelings so strong that you don’t mind throwing away your very existence for Majima’s sake.”

There was a tinge of envy in her voice. It brought an unexpected smile to my face.

“Ha ha. It’s no use in my case,” I said, shaking my head. “Or I suppose, it was no use.”

“You...”

“I tried my best, you know?”

My body only imitated that of a human. I didn’t need to sleep. I couldn’t even count how many times I’d spent entire evenings experimenting after my master had fallen asleep. I had tried, and tried, and tried, and failed in equal measure. Even with all that effort, I’d never managed to accomplish anything. So I had come to a certain realization.

“In the end, I’m just a fake. There are things I can never reach.”

I brought my hand up in front of my eyes. It was my hand, but it wasn’t. The same went for my face, my body, my hair, my legs—anything and everything about me was fake.

“No matter how much I concentrate on my feelings, I don’t have the right qualifications. I actually knew that from the very beginning...”

I’d known I was no good, but I’d wanted to try for my master. I’d tried my very best, but it would never be enough. That was all there was to it. Though cruel, the outcome was obvious.

“That’s why I’ll entrust it to the real thing.”

“Entrust?” the girl repeated quizzically. “But I already told you—”

“Mizushima Miho can’t fight? Nope. That’s not true.” I slowly shook my head. “I won’t leave your power hidden away.”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I’ll give you my everything,” I said with a smile. “That includes all of my feelings, of course.”

I would entrust all of my feelings, this maddening love I had, to the real thing.

“I’m giving up my very existence here. Don’t tell me my feelings aren’t going to be enough for you.”

The real Mizushima Miho’s feelings weren’t strong enough. The fake I was didn’t have the right qualifications. All we had to do was put these two together. It was extremely simple. I just had to resolve myself to go through with it. With this, all the conditions were in place to save my master.

“You want to save Majima that badly?” the girl in front of me asked. “You’ll lose everything about yourself, you know?”

“I don’t care,” I answered without hesitation.

Mizushima Miho was to return to the physical realm by using me as a sacrifice. Then, with the only thing I would leave behind as a key, my passionate feelings, she would unleash her power as a visitor. I would lose everything about myself, but I would manage to protect my precious master. This was the one and only thing a fake like me could accomplish. I had no regrets.

“Please, save my master.”

The girl clad in blue flames folded her finger up to her lips and thought it over for a while. But, in truth, she only ever had one choice.

“I understand.”

In the end, she nodded. Her smile gave me peace of mind. I felt rewarded for my resolve. I was convinced this would save my master. Nothing could possibly give me more relief.

“Come now. Eat me.”

That was why I urged her on with a tranquil heart.

“Nope, not gonna do it.”

But her words completely halted my thoughts.