Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 6 - Chapter SS1

Extra Story 2: My Relationship With Him ~Iino Yuna’s POV~

“It’s just not healing...” I let out a small sigh, unable to bear my boredom.

There was a bandage wrapped around my outstretched leg.

After catching up to Majima Takahiro’s party, I fought them...and by some twist of fate, I’d ended up in a joint struggle with them. A day had passed since then. The wound I’d suffered at Katou’s hand still hadn’t healed.

My body was sturdier than average. My frame was strong enough to support my outlandish speed. But I wasn’t just a fast runner. My natural recovery speed was also faster than the norm. This was why I thought my own body was abnormal.

Despite this, Katou’s knife had cut deep enough that my body couldn’t heal itself easily. In this case, it should’ve been the knife’s sharp edge that terrified me, but if pushed to say it, I was far more scared of the wielder’s tenacity. In truth, I’d seen her in my dreams last night. I was scared she would show up again tonight.

“My apologies, madam,” said Kei, the girl who had been casting healing magic on me. She looked troubled.

“Huh? What about?”

“It’s taking a long time for you to recover because my abilities are insufficient.”

So she said, but Kei’s healing magic wasn’t bad at all. I probably would’ve recovered completely by now with grade 3 healing magic, but I’d heard grade 2 healing magic was what the average specialist used. Considering her age, she was actually quite skilled. She was doing very well, going as far as taking breaks whenever her mana ran out, then continuing right away when she could.

“Kei, I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I said in as light a tone as I could. “I’m grateful you’re treating me at all.”

Not to borrow somebody else’s words, but I could’ve been abandoned in the middle of the mountain with my wounds as they were. I shuddered at the thought. I couldn’t thank Kei enough.

“Actually, I think you could afford to act a little more self-important,” I added.

“I-I can’t possibly do that!” Kei yelled, waving her hands about in a fluster and closing her eyes. “That would be far too disrespectful.”

I couldn’t suppress my twitching smile. There was a wall between Kei and me, one difficult to surmount. It was perfectly natural, since I was revered as a savior in this world. The reason it itched at my mind now was because I’d seen how close she looked with Majima whenever they talked.

It wasn’t just Majima either. Kei also spoke with Katou like a normal girl. None of the locals had ever treated me like that. I’d never seen them treating any other visitors that way either. We were heroes here. That was all we could be. Something inside my head kept telling me this.

Maybe that was why a younger girl humbling herself before me, but not before Majima and Katou...made me realize how wrong that felt.

“Madam, um... You’re not going to hurt Takahiro anymore, right?” Kei asked.

It felt even more wrong when she said such a thing with that courageous expression of hers.

“Kei,” a reproachful voice said, cutting into our conversation. “Yuna has promised not to suddenly attack us after she’s healed. It’s rude to doubt her.”

“S-Sorry, Shiran.”

“There’s no use in apologizing to me. Please forgive Kei’s discourtesy, madam,” Shiran said, her tone grave.

Next to her, Kei also lowered her head in a deep bow.

“Oh, um, don’t worry about it. You don’t need to apologize...” I said, waving my arms in front of me.

My arms then fell to my sides, pulled down by gravity. Their stiff attitudes toward me created a divide between us.

“I’m going for a walk,” I said with a small sigh.

I stumbled my way to my feet as Kei widened her eyes.

“Huh? Are you all right, madam?” she asked.

“I can’t run yet, but I can at least walk around slowly.”

“But what if a monster shows up?”

“Not a problem at all. Even if I can’t use my legs, I can still fend off any monsters.”

My slender sword hung off my waist, and I also had Takaya’s blade. Fort Ebenus had lent it to him, so I had decided to take responsibility and return it to them. Normally, it would be faster for me to run and hit my enemy than use some kind of long-distance attack, but as I was now, it was just about right for me.

“Be careful, madam.”

Turning my back to her stiff and formal voice, one that felt like it maintained the unsurpassable distance between us, I walked off.

◆ ◆ ◆

I walked along the riverside with my eyes to the ground. This was rehabilitation, in a sense. I could feel all the stress that had accumulated from being immobilized melting away. The Kitrus Mountains were actually a danger zone where monsters lived, but that wasn’t really a problem for me. It would’ve felt great to dash through the wind, but unfortunately I couldn’t do that right now.

It was the right choice to come out here for a change of pace. In addition to moving my body around, I felt liberated just from being on my own. Though I had promised that I wouldn’t fight them anymore, Majima, his servants, and his travel companions were all still wary of me. It was uncomfortable being around them.

“Although, it makes sense that they’re like that...” I mumbled to myself.

Yes. It made perfect sense. This wasn’t just because I’d been their enemy at one point in time. Even now, there was something about Majima Takahiro that remained stuck in my mind. That was where the problem lay.

Of course, I didn’t think of him as some inhuman beast. Majima wasn’t a bad person. The reason I felt strange about it was, in a sense, because of the affection they all showed him. His servants were a given, but Shiran deeply trusted him, and Kei was genuinely attached to him. There was so much intimacy to their relationships that it shocked me. If Majima was in fact a villain, those elven girls, who each had such a pristine character, wouldn’t have formed such a bond with him.

Above all else, I’d seen with my own eyes how Majima risked his life for his servants. After spending some time around him, I could easily imagine him desperately fighting in the same manner during the attack on Fort Tilia. At the very least, he wasn’t the type to commit a crime to fulfill some selfish desire. That was an undeniable truth.

However, at the same time, one thing remained in the corner of my mind. To be brief, I still couldn’t forgive him. The girls by his side probably sensed this too. That was why they were wary of me.

“Do you need something?” I said, bringing my dragging footsteps to a halt and turning around. A transparent girl stood before me. I felt my face twist a bit. In a way, she was exactly what I’d been thinking about. “You followed me, Lily?”

My voice was stiff. I felt a desire to reject her that I couldn’t wipe away. It was the monster who’d stolen the late Mizushima Miho’s form. Unlike when I first met her, I could tell she was a monster at a glance due to the aftereffects of the battle with Takaya. She was wholly a slime in the shape of a girl. Having said that, she was still modeled after Mizushima Miho. That single truth pricked at my heart.

Back in my own world, I’d been acquainted with Mizushima Miho. She hadn’t been part of my friend group, and we hadn’t been close enough to go out together on weekends, but we’d chatted every now and then at school. Whenever I remembered her, I found I couldn’t accept the monster before me.

“Did you have something to say to me?” I asked curtly.

I wasn’t going to hide my attitude. This way, I could convey my displeasure. However, the girl showed no signs of shrinking back.

“Nope. I didn’t have anything to say,” she said, a slightly troubled smile taking shape on her transparent features.

“So why did you follow me?”

I glared at her suspiciously, and then her smile changed. It was only the slightest change...but a definitive one.

“I mean, it looks like you’re not going to forgive Majima. I thought there was no choice but for me to come out. That’s all.”

Her words were incomprehensible, and I scowled at her. I thought she was making fun of me, so my tone grew rather thorny.

“What do you—”

In the middle of asking, I sensed something out of place and stopped. She had just said “Majima.” Did his servant Lily ever refer to him by name? Besides...she’d said, “there was no choice but for me to come out?” Who? Come out of where? Her wording didn’t make sense.

She stared at me, looking serious. The discomfort swelling within me came out of my mouth in the form of a question.

“Who are you?”

The girl before me was...different. A certain conviction began forming in my mind.

“I wonder? Who indeed?”

An impish giggle tickled my ear. It was a different girl’s voice, one very similar to Lily’s. I’d heard it before. Her smile drew my eyes toward her. How strange. This slimy representation of a girl felt far closer to the real Mizushima Miho than Lily’s perfect mimicry. In other words...

“It can’t be... Are you Mizushima? The real one?” I asked.

“Bingo,” she answered ever so casually. She was acting just as I remembered her.

“No way... You’re kidding me...” I murmured in a daze.

“I guess it’s normal to be shocked. I mean, I never thought it’d turn out like this myself,” she said, nodding repeatedly in agreement. “They say you never know what life has in store for you, but there’s gotta be a limit, right?”

It really was Mizushima. Having said that, I still found it hard to believe.

“What on earth ha—”

“Oh, sorry. Actually, I don’t really have that much time to chat,” Mizushima said, cutting me off apologetically. “I mean, I came out like this using mimicry, but I can’t maintain it all that long. Things might be different after I get used to it, but right now...you know.”

Mizushima’s sudden appearance shocked me, but apparently there were drawbacks. Given the limited time, we couldn’t talk about whatever we wanted.

“Do you mind if I get my business out of the way before my concentration breaks?” she asked.

“Your business? What is it?”

Even in all the confusion, I urged her forward. There was a lot I didn’t understand, but since she didn’t have the time, I had to give up on getting answers. I had to hear what she wanted to say.

Seeing that I was ready to listen, Mizushima gave me a satisfied nod and cut to the chase.

“I’d like to get rid of the tension between you and Majima.”

“What? Why would you...?” I said, bewildered by the unexpected statement.

Mizushima thought it over for a bit, trying to find the words to convince me.

“Hmmm. I mean, you got mad at Majima for my sake, right? Seeing you two get along so poorly because of that troubles me, you know?”

“How?”

“Um, how do I put this... I’m happy you got angry on my behalf, but I’m actually satisfied with my current circumstances.”

This confession overturned the very foundation of all of my assumptions.

“Satisfied? Huh? You’re not angry?”

“Nope.”

I didn’t really mean to ask, but she confirmed it with ease. It was as if she’d never really worried about it, like the answer was perfectly obvious to her. She didn’t seem intent on going into more detail, perhaps because of the lack of time, so I had no idea what had brought her to that conclusion. Nevertheless, I could tell she was being truthful.

“Sooo... There’s no reason for you to be angry at Majima, Iino.”

This was quite the shock. It completely changed my stance on Majima Takahiro. I couldn’t tell whether Mizushima realized this as she continued with a smile.

“Iino, I’d like for you to get along with him.”

“G-Get along?”

“Yup. You’re both so serious, so I think you’re actually pretty compatible.”

She had said it so casually, but the idea was outrageous. Or not. Maybe it wasn’t outrageous? I couldn’t tell anymore. My mind was a mess.

“How about it?” she asked.

“I don’t really know...”

I couldn’t find the words I wanted to say to her. I remained silent for a good ten seconds, when rustling leaves broke the awkward silence, causing my body to jolt.

“Oh, there you are, Lily,” Majima said as he came out of the thickets.

A girl with gray hair and a mask, probably serving as his guard, stood behind him.

“Huh. You were with Iino?” he said.

“Yup,” Lily answered.

The two of them started talking as if nothing had happened.

“What were you two up to?” he asked her.

“Hmmm. Nothing serious.”

The girl was no longer Mizushima Miho. Maybe she withdrew when Majima showed up. Or maybe she ran out of time.

“I saw Iino walk off, so I was a little worried and followed her,” Lily said.

“Um, Lily, you’re much weaker right now than she is, so I’d prefer if you kept still.”

“’Kaaaay.”

Lily then turned my way. Making sure her face was at an angle where nobody else could see her, she mouthed, “It’s a secret.” Which girl was she now? Even though I didn’t know the answer, I nodded back to her, when I suddenly met Majima’s eyes.

“You too, Iino,” he said.

“Huh? ‘Me too’ what?”

“I know you don’t consider this place dangerous, but you’re still injured. You shouldn’t wander around carelessly on your own.”

He was grimacing, but he was just worried about me.

“Huh? Uhh...”

I was at a loss for words because of what Mizushima had just told me. Her words still rang in my ears.

Me? Get along...with Majima? If Mizushima was actually satisfied with her circumstances, then there was no reason for me to be hostile toward Majima.

Furthermore, I needed to reconsider my stance on Majima Takahiro. What kind of man was he, exactly? The way he staked his life to protect what was dear to him was praiseworthy. His resolute expression when he came to ask me to fight Takaya by his side was still burned into my mind. His serious personality was something I actually favored, and just maybe, parts of him reminded me of my strict dad.

However, at the same time, the thought of getting along with Majima made me terribly tense. I didn’t know why, exactly... I didn’t...but maybe that was natural. Either way, he’d said so many harsh things to me. I’d also said a whole lot to him. He’d openly told me that he hated me, anyway. And he’d called me a dumbass...twice.

I suddenly felt angrier than before and frowned.

“What’s up?” Majima asked curiously.

“Nothing.”

“What’s got you so pissed?”

I glared at Majima as he made a face like I wasn’t making any sense.

“I just happen to hate you too,” I said.

“That came out of nowhere...”

I walked by Majima as he grumbled. I pretended not to notice Lily’s know-it-all smile, dragging my injured leg and leaving them behind.

I doubt I’ll ever get along with Majima.

Actually, it’s impossible.

It definitely won’t happen.

Like hell I’ll let it happen.

Who’s the dumbass here?

I hate him too.

What a hateful guy.

I hate him!

That was how I felt about Majima Takahiro. As such, I never wanted him to look down on me and call me a dumbass again.