Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 6 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Two Possibilities

Kudou and I faced each other, both of us with monsters in tow. I had known we’d meet again one day, but I never imagined it would happen like this.

“It’s good to see you again, Senpai.”

Kudou greeted me like a close friend, a smile spread wide across his slender face. I didn’t say anything in return. Our relationship wasn’t one where we could just smile and have a chat.

He was the other monster tamer. We shared the same origin, but we walked different paths. I chose to use my ability to establish an emotional bond with monsters, whereas he chose to use his to subdue monsters into his service by collaring them. We were entirely incompatible.

The phrase “Misfortune never comes singly” came to mind. Things were already beyond my control, and now Kudou had shown himself. Perhaps he had appeared because of this. He had come to take advantage of my predicament.

“My Lord...”

Gerbera unreservedly gripped my hand, hard enough for it to hurt. It wasn’t very feminine, but it suited her and was rather reassuring.

“Thanks, Gerbera,” I said, letting the tension out of my body. “I’m fine now.”

“Mm.”

Now that I’d calmed down, I began thinking about what was going on. Seeing how Kudou had struck up a conversation, it didn’t seem like he was going to attack us right away. In that case, maybe we could simply pass him by.

Kudou cheerfully gazed at our joined hands, whereas I glared right back at him.

“Long time no see, Kudou.”

It had been about two months. He was the same as when we had parted...or possibly a little skinnier. Maybe my impression of him had merely changed because he was wearing the local clothing. Two months had also passed for him, after all.

I looked over to the monsters accompanying him. They had also changed a considerable amount. The doppelqueen Anton who had spawned this army of shadows wasn’t here, but the two-headed wolf Berta now had tentacles stretching out of her lower back.

Berta was a mutated species of the firefang, a beast native to the Depths. Was this degree of grotesque transformation a characteristic of this monster? Or was this a result of these monsters devouring each other in a practice Kudou had referred to as the “kudoku poison jar”?

“It looks like you’ve been rather busy,” I said.

Kudou smiled and nodded. “Yes, I suppose I have been. I have a goal to accomplish, after all.”

“A goal, huh?”

Repeating his words left a bitter taste in my mouth. His statement from two months ago came back to mind.

“I’m the Demon King. I’m not the one to save humanity. I’m the one to destroy it.”

He had been oppressed and tormented. He had lost all his dignity and, to top it all off, had been teetering on the verge of death. Having gained the ability to manipulate monsters, he considered himself the Demon King, a being meant to enact revenge on humanity. Strangely, those inhuman thoughts were the only things maintaining his sense of self. He could no longer live any other way.

Kudou had likely spent the last two months continuously working toward that goal. One such fruit of his labor stood before me in the form of his servants, who were the best among all those he manipulated.

“There are some here you have yet to meet, Senpai. Allow me to introduce you. This is the dirty sludge Caesar.”

Something green and muddy slithered out of Kudou’s sleeve. I had never seen this type of monster before. She didn’t seem to be native to this region. The fact that he’d gone out of the way to name her meant she was at least a rare monster.

“And this is the nightmare stalker Dora.”

Kudou urged the girl next to him to step forward.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Second King,” she said, taking a bow.

She was like a shadow. Her hair, skin, and eyes were all black. She resembled the army of doppelgangers behind Kudou, but unlike them, her features had more definition. Her appearance was clearly inhuman, but she was also the most human among Kudou’s servants.

“Dora is my mutant spawn.”

One of the doppelgangers took on the shape of a tall, sturdily built boy and spoke. It was Juumonji Tatsuya. This doppelganger was a terminal, so to speak, of the doppelqueen Anton, who could enact her will through it. Unlike the real Juumonji, the boy’s face was horribly robotic.

Anton placed her hand on Dora’s shoulder. “This thing doesn’t have a single ability as a doppelganger. It’s defective and can’t serve as my terminal. Instead, it’s highly skilled in combat... Perhaps it could even kill you in your current weakened state, White Spider.”

“Thank you for the courteous greeting. As a token of appreciation, would you like to put that to the test?”

Gerbera and Anton stared each other down as the air between them turned tense. Watching them, Berta raised one of her heads.

“Stop that, Anton. You stand before our king.”

“I know.”

Anton’s Juumonji-spawn shrugged and backed down. Gerbera let out a snort, and Dora closed her black eyes.

“It seems you’re all done with your greetings,” Kudou said, glancing at the brief squabble between our servants before looking at me. “I must apologize for not showing myself immediately despite your predicament, Senpai. The Skanda Iino Yuna is here, after all.”

Iino had chased me all the way here thinking I was Kudou’s accomplice. If she knew he was here, she would definitely knock him out—without mercy. He had only appeared now because Iino couldn’t move.

“Hang on... Why do you know about my predicament?” I asked. Things were starting to make sense, but I still found this rather strange. “How did you get here to begin with? Don’t tell me you had one of your monsters following me around all this time or something.”

“I’m no stalker.”

“I wonder about that...” Gerbera muttered quietly, but Kudou paid her no mind.

“I learned of your situation in Serrata. I heard some suspicious stories while gathering information there. I happened to get intel on the Skanda too, so I followed her trail. Luckily, she was using a horse instead of running on her own, so it wasn’t all that hard to tail her.”

“I see. So that’s what happened.”

I was convinced now, but one detail stuck out to me. One of the things Kudou had apparently been doing over the last two months was gathering information. Just like me, he had trouble moving around while in the company of monsters.

Still, he had a servant who could slip into human society. The doppelqueen Anton’s many spawns could imitate the outer appearance of humans. She didn’t need to predate a target before taking on its shape like Lily did. Considering how Anton could control her spawns remotely, she would be perfect for gathering information.

Maybe the reason Anton’s main body wasn’t here was because she was in the middle of doing just that. There was probably a maximum distance for her remote control, but it was still sufficient in her absence. Or perhaps all of Kudou’s strongest monsters, aside from those who were here, were with Anton performing some other task.

“I understand your story now,” I said, addressing the real issue at hand. “But why did you go out of your way to chase me down?”

“Oh? I do believe I already told you.”

I scowled at Kudou. He had, in fact, mentioned why he was here the moment he showed himself.

“You’ll lend me a hand to save Lily?”

“Yes. I came here to help you, Senpai,” Kudou said, smiling broadly. He paid no mind to my suspicions. “I heard what happened. Takaya abducted your precious slime, right? As long as you’re okay with it, I’ll lend you my servants to add to your forces.”

“Do you understand what that would mean...?”

Our opponent was a cheater, the warrior Takaya Jun. This wasn’t some mock battle; our lives would be at risk. It wasn’t a situation where he should just casually lend out his servants to me. However, Kudou easily consented.

“Of course. I don’t mind if you use them as your arms and legs against Takaya,” he said, not a hint of hesitation in his voice. “If you’re so inclined, you may even use them up and throw them away.”

He spoke as if he were talking about expendable goods. Or maybe he truly did see them as nothing more than disposable beings. The way he regarded his servants was totally different from how I regarded mine.

Back at Fort Tilia, Kudou had sacrificed hundreds of the monsters at his command. At the time, they were all normal monsters without wills, but he didn’t seem to view his special servants any differently.

If Lily and the others were precious gems to me, then Kudou’s servants were pebbles to him. He was content so long as he could throw them at his opponent and cause harm. There were pebbles for him to pick up everywhere. He didn’t really have to go looking for them. In that respect, I pitied Kudou’s servants. Having said that, I wasn’t able to show those girls any sympathy given the current situation.

“And...?” I started with a light shake of my head. “What do you want in return?”

Even if they were pebbles to him, he had spent the time gathering them together. He had no reason to hand them over free of charge. It was perfectly obvious that he’d want some kind of compensation. If so...

“Hmm, let’s see...” Kudou said, returning the mucky Caesar back up his sleeve. “Senpai, do you remember the proposal I gave last time?”

It was exactly what I thought it’d be. I’d seen this coming, but scowled nonetheless.

“So you’re saying I need to join forces with you to get your help?” I asked.

Kudou had made this proposal when we parted ways at Fort Tilia. I lived in harmony with my monsters, while Kudou subdued his. Although our stances were different...or perhaps because they were, our abilities perfectly complemented each other. One’s strengths covered for the other’s weaknesses. Together, maybe we could save this world from the rampant threat of the Woodlands, or destroy the world entirely. Of course Kudou would be fixated on me, given that.

In this case, his proposal wasn’t all that outrageous. He was offering to lend me his hand in return for mine—a truly fair exchange. I knew full well how powerful Kudou’s ability was. If I could borrow his strength, the probability of rescuing Lily would shoot up considerably.

However, joining hands with Kudou meant parting ways with humanity. I couldn’t possibly agree.

Before I could even answer him, Kudou spoke up, seeing through my thoughts. “Senpai, I don’t think this is all that bad a deal for you,” he said in a persuasive tone, remaining calm all the while. “It’s been about two months since you’ve been around human society here, right? You should’ve figured it out by now. Just who you should be joining forces with, I mean.”

I fell silent.

“Do you really plan to fight to the death over some monster?!”

Iino’s words echoed in my mind. From my perspective, they were cruel words. That wasn’t the true problem behind her statement, though. And Iino wasn’t the only one who thought that way.

Say you have two people. One gets captured and will die if left alone. However, if the other offers their life, the captive will be saved. Now say a friend of the captive learns of the situation. They won’t tell the other person to give up their life to save the captive. They simply can’t. No one would call the other person inhuman either, for not throwing away their own life.

However, say the person isn’t human. Then what? If offering the life of something inhuman—like a monster—would save the captive, wouldn’t the general consensus be different then? Now consider a world constantly threatened by monsters. Most would believe that the monster should be sacrificed.

In short, that was the situation I found myself in. The large majority of people would raise an eyebrow at someone willing to fight another person to the death for stealing their precious pet. One person’s treasure didn’t have the same value to everyone else. Living with monsters meant bearing the burden of such cognitive deviations and all the disadvantages that came with them.

“You dearly treasure your servants, so shouldn’t you be joining me?” Kudou asked.

There was a certain persuasiveness to his words, but he was wrong.

“What nonsense,” Gerbera answered immediately. Her words felt like salvation for my heart. “You walk down the path of bloody carnage. You will kill your enemies, your allies, and even yourself.” She paused, glaring into Kudou’s eyes. “Are you telling my lord to become like you? To treat us like disposable pawns?”

“I do think it would be much easier for him that way,” Kudou said. Gerbera’s interruption had been unexpected, but he immediately regained his footing. “As one of his servants, shouldn’t you sacrifice yourself for his happiness?”

“What a jest. Even if it’s easier that way, it isn’t the path to happiness,” Gerbera stated resolutely. “You’d do well not to make light of us. The man we fell for isn’t such a coward that he’d turn his back on happiness using a difficult situation as an excuse.”

“So you say, White Spider,” Anton said with a robot-like gaze as Gerbera raised her chin with pride. “Even you will find it too large a burden to fight a cheater with your body in that pitiful state. You’re all alone with a king who can do nothing. How will you save that slime?”

“Hmph. A pitiful state, you say? It may look that way to your rotten eyes,” Gerbera said, glancing down at her missing legs and scoffing, “but that’s a dangerous misunderstanding.”

As soon as she finished, a palpable torrent of bloodlust exploded from her slender body. Anton froze completely, as if Gerbera’s spider threads held her taut, unable to bear the pressure at all.

“I am strong as I am now,” Gerbera stated with a beautiful smile.

Even if she lost more of her greatest weapons—those vicious legs of hers—her condition was nowhere near pitiful.

“After all, I’ve just had my heart’s desire granted,” Gerbera continued. “I couldn’t possibly be in better shape. Allow me to tell you one more thing. I can draw out my strength precisely because my lord is with me. Do not run your mouth claiming he can do nothing as if you know anything. His value does not lie in such places.”

Anton couldn’t say a word.

“It seems you’re only skilled at spouting nonsense,” Gerbera added.

Anton’s mutated spawn Dora spoke in her mother’s stead. “Is the Great White Spider’s weapon not her talons, but her honeyed lips?”

Dora’s hands transformed into jet-black swords. She didn’t possess the abilities of a doppelganger, but instead, she could apparently manipulate her body to a certain extent.

Seeing Dora’s fighting spirit, Gerbera let out a sigh of admiration. “You’ve been made quite well for a being born of some underling who can do naught but tremble before me.”

“H-How dare you ridicule my mother!”

“I actually meant to praise you for turning out so well despite being treated like a failure. In our lord’s world, they have a saying that a great person may be born of perfectly ordinary parents.”

“You cur!”

Invisible sparks flew between them. Gerbera had become rather belligerent after Anton insulted me. At this rate, our conversation wouldn’t get anywhere. In the end, it was up to the two masters to stop them.

“Stop that, Dora. Who told you it was okay to fight?”

“Gerbera, you too.”

Gerbera turned back toward me and shrugged. In contrast, Dora fell to her knees, clutching her neck. Kudou had likely exercised his ability.

“Things have gotten rather out of hand, haven’t they?” Kudou said, lowering his gaze to the kneeling Dora before facing me. “Let’s start again.”

“Fine,” I replied with a nod. “Although, Gerbera already said pretty much everything I wanted to.”

“So you mean...” Kudou murmured, his eyes widening ever so slightly.

“Yeah. I share her opinion,” I declared.

There were parts of Gerbera’s statement that overestimated me here and there, but what she said came explicitly from her trust in me. As such, I wanted to answer her trust as her master... No, not as her master, but as the man she offered her heart to.

“I already told you before, anyway. I’m no Demon King. I’m their master.”

I couldn’t walk the same path as Kudou. I was meant to take a different path. So long as I couldn’t join hands with him, there was no way I could ever accept his offer. In a sense, this was the only way this could’ve turned out from the very beginning. The real problem started here with my refusal.

“If possible, I’d rather you let me pass peacefully,” I said.

If I was to rescue Lily, I’d probably have to battle Takaya. It would be best if I didn’t have to needlessly waste my energy here. Fortunately, thanks to Gerbera, we had managed to sufficiently demonstrate our combat potential, regardless of her injuries. If it came to a fight, Kudou would absolutely suffer major casualties. What’s more, there was nothing for him to gain, so there was no reason for him to quarrel with us. In terms of gains and losses, he had no choice but to back down. All that was left was the matter of his personal feelings.

“I see. Okay, off you go then...” Kudou said. But then he added, “Did you really think I’d back down like that?”

Berta, who had remained quiet all this time, began growling. Anton’s Juumonji-shaped spawn drew the sword at its waist. The dirty sludge Caesar oozed out from Kudou’s sleeve. Dora staggered back to her feet and once more turned her arms into swords. Watching them posture themselves for battle, I let out a sigh.

“Is that so? How unfortunate,” I said, readying my sword.

Asarina stretched out from my hand, baring her fangs. Gerbera cracked her knuckles and folded her legs, storing up strength to leap forth. I had wanted to avoid a battle, but now that it had come to this, there was no other way. I had to cut my way through.

I didn’t need to annihilate my opponents, though. Rather, to avoid exhausting ourselves meaninglessly, Gerbera could scatter them and use that opening to force an escape. It would work. We could do it.

Not to mimic Gerbera, but I was in such great shape that my earlier exhausted state seemed like it had been a lie. I’d even go as far as saying I was in tip-top condition. I felt like all the mana circulating through my body was more invigorated than usual. Perhaps this was just a temporary sense of omnipotence from the exaltation of exchanging my feelings with Gerbera. Still, emotional matters were unexpectedly difficult to make light of.

Our morale was sky high. We would break through Kudou’s servants and continue our pursuit of Lily. I stared down the obstacles standing before me...when I suddenly saw Kudou’s expression.

I was astonished. Kudou was looking at me with a faint smile and slightly knit brows. It was a little different from his usual smile, though. Not quite sadness. Not quite pity. Not quite envy. It was a complex expression made up of all three. I didn’t know what had caused him to make such a face. When I blinked, his usual smile was plastered back onto his face.

“Heh. Heh heh. Please don’t misunderstand me.”

Kudou’s smile didn’t betray his inner thoughts. He held both his hands in front of his chest before stretching out a palm toward me.

“This doesn’t mean I’ll fight you or anything, Senpai.”

“What...?”

Kudou turned away from me as I stood there in bewilderment, then addressed his own servants.

“All of you, stop this. He’s not an enemy.”

“My king, what are you saying?”

Berta remained poised to lunge at me at any moment, turning only one of her heads to Kudou in confusion. His other servants were just as perplexed. So was I.

“What’s the meaning of this?” I asked.

“It’s not all that complicated,” Kudou said with an indifferent shrug. “I just mean that I never said anything about withdrawing my offer just because you won’t join forces with me.”

I was completely flabbergasted.

“It’s unfortunate you won’t become my ally, but I don’t really mind. Just as I said before, I’ll lend you all of the troops I have present here.”

This was very much unexpected. Even Gerbera looked somewhat taken aback. I couldn’t grasp Kudou’s intentions at all. My confusion probably showed quite plainly on my face.

“There’s no need to be suspicious of me,” Kudou said with a chuckle. “There’s no caveat.”

“So you’re saying you’ll help me without expecting anything in return?”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Frankly, no.”

“Ha ha. Well, I suppose you see me as an enemy. It’s only natural you’d be suspicious.” Even when I clearly told him that I distrusted him, Kudou didn’t really seem to mind. “However, I don’t see you as my enemy.”

“What are you getting at...?”

“I’d hate for you to die over something so trivial,” Kudou elaborated, his grin widening. “I believe I mentioned this before. The only one I want to join forces with is the one who, in the same place, at the same time, in the same circumstances, awoke to the same power as me. Just you.”

There was a hint of zeal in his voice. It revealed a lunatic-like fixation on an inverted sense of values. Or maybe it was the very last remnant of humanity within him, coming in the form of empathy.

“You are wonderful,” Kudou continued passionately. “This is no exaggeration. You cannot die here. That’s why I still want to help you.”

“My Lord...?” Gerbera muttered. “Is this fellow perchance a good person?”

“You’re being naive,” I told her.

Not that it was strange she’d interpret it this way. Kudou just favored me too much. He wasn’t a good person by any metric, but his intent to help me seemed genuine.

Thinking back on it, he had done the same thing when he revealed his identity at Fort Tilia. He had offered me information I knew nothing about, asking if I would join forces with him. When I turned him down, he hadn’t attacked me in a frenzy, instead just backing down and leaving quietly.

Kudou’s attitude was both rational and sincere. There was nothing hidden behind it. It was impossible for him to be plotting something wicked. He didn’t have the ability to judge right from wrong, good from evil, and profit from loss. His sympathy for the one and only person who was the same as him simply turned into a fathomless fixation.

He was seriously trying to help, and when it came to saving Lily, the more forces we had on our side, the better. I exchanged looks with Gerbera, then we nodded to each other before turning back to Kudou.

“Fine. I’ll accept your help.”

◆ ◆ ◆

At the time, I couldn’t deny that I felt a hint of hope within me. Kudou had been in the same place as me, at the same time, in the same environment, and had awakened to the same power. I could’ve easily turned out the same as him. He was empathetic toward me, and that went both ways. Somewhere deep in my heart, I didn’t want to fight him.

However, our lives were at odds. At this rate, we would one day have to come to blows. It was a premonition. When that time came, it would be a desperate struggle for survival. I would have to lead my servants to kill Kudou. To avoid that, one of us had to change our ways. In other words, I would have to fall down to where Kudou was in life, or he would have to return to where I was.

If there was one person who could drag him back up here, then it was me. Kudou was so fixated on me that this unexpected encounter had given me the finest thread to connect to that future. That was what I believed.

Naturally, I already knew this was but the faintest of hopes. The possibility existed, but there was no way such a future would come to be. The fact that I knew this but still dwelled on these thoughts proved my weakness. However, I believed this was exactly what differentiated me from the one who had chosen the life of a Demon King.

◆ ◆ ◆

“My Lord,” Gerbera said, still quite wary of Kudou’s group but no longer postured for battle. “If we’re done talking, then we should get going immediately.”

“Yeah...”

Quite some time had passed. It was good that Kudou was cooperating with us instead of fighting, but that didn’t mean anything if we didn’t catch up to Takaya.

“Oh, about that. It should be fine,” Kudou said, ignoring our fears. He was hard to read, but right now he was clearly in a great mood. “I’ve already made arrangements on my end.”

I cocked my head as Kudou raised a finger.

“What do you mean? Explain.”

“Of course. Actually, I already sent some of the other troops over to where Takaya is.”

“Oh, I see. That’s why you don’t have many monsters with you now.”

Kudou nodded. “I haven’t finished replenishing my forces either. It’s not like I brought all of my pawns, but I do have thirty or so monsters out there chasing him. If their attack goes well, you might not even have to catch up to him.”

“Attack? Hey, Lily is fine, right?”

“There’s nothing to fear. At worst, they should still be stalling him.”

Thirty normal monsters. Even against a warrior armed with a magic weapon, they were enough of a threat to escalate the fight into a major battle depending on their approach. If they devoted themselves to stalling, they could buy a significant amount of time and exhaust him considerably.

“The fastest way to catch up to him is to ride Berta.”

“Oh?”

I looked over to the two-headed wolf. Unlike the small Ayame, her body was very large. It was entirely possible to ride her.

“Is that fine with you?” I asked Berta.

“Such is my king’s command. I don’t mind.”

Berta’s tentacles and tail waved about. She looked rather imposing, but when she acted like this, she looked kind of cute, much like a dog.

“Oh. But in that case, you’ll have to ride tandem with me,” Kudou added.

“Ugh,” Gerbera groaned, frowning for some reason.

I didn’t know whether she disliked the idea of me riding Berta or the idea of me riding with Kudou. Perhaps it was both. I felt sorry for her, but it was better I use everything at my disposal as much as possible to increase the chances of saving Lily.

“Use everything I can, huh?” I murmured to myself.

“What’s up, Senpai?”

“It’s nothing. Just talking to myself.”

After that, we had a short strategy meeting. Kudou looked dissatisfied with my proposed plan. Gerbera looked displeased as well. But after I convinced them, they both gave their consent.

Once we finished preparing, we began chasing Takaya.

Now then, let’s go get Lily back.