Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 7 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Fox and the Wolf’s Evening Part 1 ~Ayame’s POV~

I’m going to protect everyone! As I thought that, I snuck off in the middle of the night. Following the moonlight, I ran through the many bushes covering the mountain.

This would normally be bedtime, but I’d gotten plenty of sleep earlier riding on top of Gerbera’s belly. Everything was ready. I wasn’t tired at all. Sorry, that was a bit of a lie. I was a little tired. But I had plenty of energy. My plan was perfect.

The reason I was sneaking away in the night was to expose a certain villain’s schemes. I sniffed at the air to track my prey. I was all alone in the darkness, but it wasn’t scary at all. Sorry, that was another lie.

My enemy was enormous and terrifying. I mean, she was huge and had two heads. When I saw her the other day, there were all these slithering and wriggling things too. So scary. Just remembering it made me tremble.

Still, I couldn’t cower in fear. I had to do my best to protect everyone. I was the only one who could. I mean, my master wasn’t really on guard against her. Lily and Gerbera imitated his behavior.

Come on! She’s dangerous! She’s scary! I let out an indignant huff. I knew. I remembered that first time we met her. It was back when I was hiding in Lily’s belly so that we could go to some place or other. A ton of monsters attacked, and I didn’t really know what was going on, but it was a big disaster. And then she showed up.

The moment I heard a growl, the metal people fell to the floor. I tried to protect Kei, just as my master had asked me to, but I got slapped aside by a foreleg right away. Lily healed me, but the pain had my tail and ears all tight for a while.

She’s dangerous! I was the only one who knew that. I was the only one who could protect everyone. That thought made my heart burn. I cheered myself on, suppressing the terror and the trembling, and continued running through the mountain.

Every night, she wandered off somewhere on her own to do something. She was definitely up to no good. I had no idea what exactly it was, but she was obviously scheming some sort of unthinkable evil. I had to expose her.

She’s close... I’m almost there. I carefully snuck my way through a bush. My tiny body was great at times like these. It was also convenient for petting. My master wouldn’t be able to carry me around if I got bigger.

Wait. No. Stop. I have to focus. Okay! I made sure not to reveal myself through my scent and took a peek at the scene on the other side of the bush. And right there was my prey, the bloodstained figure of the villainous wolf.

An enormous monster lay on the ground, the wolf’s snout poking around inside its belly. I could hear the sound of bones breaking and muscles tearing. It was so shocking my mind blanked. I probably shouldn’t have done that.

“Who’s there?”

One of the wolf’s heads snapped up and turned my way, dragging entrails along with it. Meat splattered about, wetting the ground with dark blood. I panted in fear, my breath feeling as hot as the flames of hell, as the rotten scent of death washed over me.

Six burning eyes glared at me. I met all of them...and figured this was where I was going to die.

“You’re...”

She tried to say something, but I didn’t hear any of it. I only heard dribbling at my feet, and then all strength left my body.

“Kuu...”

Everything went black.

◆ ◆ ◆

I felt like I’d had a bad dream. I opened my eyes, and immediately realized something was wrong. I couldn’t sense everyone else nearby. Did something happen? I tried to remember, when a voice suddenly called out to me.

“You’re awake.”

She was right next to me—the two-headed gray wolf, Berta. I yelped, nearly fainting a second time. A giant wolf head was close enough to eat me up with just the slightest stretch of the neck.

Scary! So, so scary! My tail curled up between my legs. I had failed. I couldn’t beat her on my own. I’d known I had to stay unseen before I started this. I was going to die now. She was going to eat me. If I got eaten, I couldn’t see everyone anymore. I didn’t want that.

Master... Gerbera... I let out a whine as their two faces came to mind, but they weren’t here with me. I’m lonely... I’m scared...

“If you’re up, then go back already.”

Berta said something as she watched me tremble on the ground.

I’m going to be eaten... Noooo... Wait. What?

“Get going already. That big spider will worry again if she notices.”

[Huh...?] I muttered. Did I mishear her? [You’re not going to kill me?]

“Why the hell would I kill the likes of you?”

Uuuh? Hmmm? This is different from what I’d expected!

[Why not?] I asked.

“I just told you. I have no reason to.”

Hmmm? I cocked my head, and Berta looked down at me in exasperation.

“Why did you go out of your way to chase me if you’re so scared that you wet yourself?”

[I-I didn’t pee!]

How rude! I started growling in defiance. Berta didn’t really seem to care.

“You did. This is the second time. Remember the first time? After the battle with the Mad Beast, I came out to meet all of you, and you yelped, wet yourself, and fainted.”

[Y-Y-Y-Y-You’ve got it wrong! You’re wrong!]

Why say such a thing?! I finally, FINALLY, FORGOT! Because of that, all of my memories from the time were gone. When morning came, I’d found myself lying in Kei’s arms with Lily and Gerbera nearby. It had been a terrible defeat, so I’d tried to wipe it from my mind. And yet! And yet...! Hnnnngh! I shot to my feet and stared Berta down.

[M-More importantly! You’ve been sneaking out at night and doing something! You can’t change the subject on me!]

“You’re the one trying to change the damn subject here...” Berta answered, exasperated as ever and turning her heads. “Whatever. I was just getting food.”

She didn’t appear to be panicking. It was as if she was just telling the honest truth.

[Food...?]

I turned to look in the same direction, spotting the dead, half-eaten monster. I hadn’t realized due to the shock earlier. This was a type of monster we’d started seeing once we entered these mountains. If I remembered right...

[That thing my master calls a lesser salamander?]

“Hmm. You’ve seen one before?”

[Mhm. Gerbera, like, gave it a big tug with her threads, then it went wham!]

“You make it sound so damn simple. It isn’t a weak monster. At the very least, it’s among the strongest in the Kitrus Mountains.” Berta paused to shake one of her heads. “I suppose from that spider’s perspective, all of the monsters in the mountains are the same.”

Hm? Did she just praise Gerbera? She did, right? Eheh heh... Yup, Gerbera’s amazing. Eheh heh... She could be somewhat careless, but I was very proud she was my big sister. Berta was free to praise her to the moon.

[Ah, hang on,] I said, suddenly coming back to my senses, [we’re talking about your evil schemes here!]

She’d almost managed to deceive me there.

“And I’m telling you there’s none of that going on.”

You can’t trick me! my eyes told her as I glared her way. Berta narrowed her eyes and looked back at me.

“Hmm, I see. I suppose this is my fault.”

[Hwuh? S-So you really are up to no good!]

“No. I’m thinking of how I once wounded you during a surprise attack. It’s natural for you to be suspicious of me.”

[Ummm?]

“First, I believe it’s proper to provide you with an apology regarding that incident. Fortunately, the relationship between my king and yours has settled down, for the time being. It is best to apologize when given the chance.”

Berta’s tail casually waved about in the air.

“Sorry for hurting you,” she continued. “It was unavoidable, seeing that it was my king’s command, but I do feel bad about it. Please forgive me.”

Did she really just apologize? Does she really feel sorry? I continued glaring at her, but she did nothing more than quietly return my gaze.

Hmm... It feels true? Actually, she seems kinda lonely? She doesn’t like hurting people? She doesn’t like being hated? That was what it felt like to me. So what was I to do? What would my master do?

Mrrgh! I hate thinking about complicated things!

[If you’re seriously sorry, then I’ll forgive you,] I said.

“Thank you.”

She’d said it quietly, but she’d sounded just a little happy. I also wagged my tail about, just a little happy myself.

[Huh? But in that case, what are you doing here?] I asked.

“I already told you. I’m having a meal. Hunting, so to speak.”

[I can tell by looking at that.] I shot a quick glance over to the dead lesser salamander. [But you vanish every night, right? Do you always hunt at night?]

Berta was a bad monster. That was what I’d thought, but the reason I’d doubted her was because her nightly disappearing act was suspicious. I didn’t doubt her anymore, but I still had questions.

[Are you that hungry? Is dinner not enough?]

“That’s not it.”

[So why?]

Berta thought it over for a bit, then said, “To become stronger.” It was a simple answer, and she said it earnestly. “My king discovered the law of killing beings who possess mana and eating them to gain even more mana... This is the quickest path to getting stronger. As my king’s pawn, I have to become stronger.”

[That’s why you go out hunting every night?]

“That’s right.”

I see. She’s always with us during the day, so she can’t go hunting, huh?

“Have I cleared up your suspicions?” she asked.

[Yup.]

“That’s good,” she said. The relief in her voice didn’t sound like a lie. “Then go back. That worrywart of a spider will be furious at this rate.”

[Mm. Okay.]

“Oh, wait a moment. I’ll take you back. It’s considerably dangerous on your own.”

Berta got up off the ground.

Mrrgh. Treating me like a kid? Everyone treated me like a child. Even Gerbera. I can fight too! Uhhh... I’m the weakest of my master’s servants, though...

“Give me a minute to clean this up,” Berta said, going back to the dead monster.

[Ah. Wait for me.] I called her to a stop before she got back to work. [Hey, hey, Berta? Can I eat too?]

“Hm? Are you hungry?”

[Umm, not really?]

“Then why?”

[I also want to get stronger, I think. Eating monsters will make me stronger, right? I want to be useful to my master too.]

“I see.” It looked like Berta’s eyes became a little kinder. “Fine. Do as you like.”

[Really?!]

Yay! I wagged my great poofy tail around as a show of thanks. Just maybe, Berta was a really nice monster. I’m not being enticed by food, okay?!

I mean, even though she was treating me like a child, she said she would take me back as if it were the obvious thing to do. Now that I thought about it, I’d heard that Berta obeyed her master absolutely. Maybe there were times she had to do things she didn’t want to do. In that case, maybe the Berta who injured me wasn’t the real Berta.

So what was the real Berta like? My curiosity about her began bubbling up. I was a curious monster by nature. If I saw something sparkling in front of me, I was the type to jump in before thinking of anything else. I’d been totally scared of her before this, so I’d never talked to her. Now that I had, I was curious.

[Hey, Berta?]

“What?” Berta replied bluntly, but I didn’t find her scary anymore. “Get eating already.”

[Mm, I will...] The two of us continued talking while eating the dead monster. [Berta, you got stronger by killing and eating, right?]

“What about it?”

[Is that how you got that form I saw?]

I thought she would deflect my question, but Berta turned one of her heads my way.

“So you did see me.”

[Well, I guess?]

I cocked my head to the side. By “that form,” I meant what I’d seen right before I lost consciousness earlier. Despite passing out, my memories were still intact. When I’d peeked through the bushes at Berta, six eyes had turned to look at me. Berta didn’t have just one wolf head, meaning she didn’t have just two eyes. But with two heads, she should’ve had four eyes. In which case, the remaining two were...

“If you’ve already seen it, I suppose there’s no point in cramping myself in here any longer,” Berta muttered quietly.

Her back made an amazing squishy noise. Something like a white rod covered in icky stuff pierced out through her fur. Stretched out toward the sky, it looked much like a human arm.