Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 8 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Dragon Clan

“I thank you for making the long journey here. Well, take a seat.”

The carapace wyrm Malvina pointed her eye to a spot where a rug had been laid out. This didn’t look like something Rex, who was standing by Malvina’s side, had prepared himself. It was probably the work of the woman we met earlier.

I took a seat right in front of the eye looking down at us. From this angle, the dragon looked even more like a towering cliff. At her size, she was more of a kaiju than a monster. Though she was a resident of a fantasy world, she seemed like she’d be right at home in science fiction. I recalled the black kaiju from the FX movies that had become part of our national pop culture. She had wings, so she was more like a certain golden villain, though. Or maybe not. That one had three heads, so the impression it gave was a little different.

“It must be difficult to understand my words, so do forgive me. I struggle with transforming into a human form.”

“It’s fine. I don’t really mind,” I said, shaking my head.

Her voice was, in fact, somewhat difficult to make out, but it wasn’t to the point where we couldn’t have a conversation. Actually, considering how Thaddeus and the others couldn’t even speak unless they took human forms, Malvina was quite skilled.

“Hmm, how surprising,” Gerbera said.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Nothing much. It’s just that Malvina here,” she said cheerfully, “is stronger than me, at least in terms of mana capacity.”

This left me speechless.

“If it came to an actual battle,” Gerbera continued, “well, I don’t know who would win. I’d definitely be at a disadvantage. My threads wouldn’t be very useful. Hee hee. I never thought there’d be a monster stronger than me in this world.”

“Hmph. What are you even spouting? That’s my line,” Malvina replied with a snort. “I’m a dragon, and I’ve lived in this world since antiquity. I’m probably one of the oldest living monsters in the present day. I’ve been around for a long time, though not as long as the Misty Lodge. Despite that, with such a difference in body size, it’s impossible to tell which of us is stronger.”

Given that dragons were born with tremendous strength by nature, the Great White Spider of the Depths truly did stand out above all others. That said, this ancient dragon did, in fact, have the power to surpass her.

“The world is so vast...” I muttered.

“Indeed. I couldn’t agree more,” Malvina said. “To think the day would come when I would meet another human who doesn’t seem to fear me at all. I’ve had a long life.”

There was a hint of nostalgia in Malvina’s voice. I didn’t miss the “another” in her statement either. She was surely remembering some other human she’d met long ago.

Her enormous eyeball stared at me fixedly. Her gaze was filled with fathomless intelligence. That eye had watched the flow of time longer than any human could imagine. I felt like I could trust her far more than any thoughtless human. No matter how big she was or how sharp her fangs and claws were, I had no reason to fear her.

“At the very least, it seems there is worth in speaking with you,” she said. Something like a laugh came from deep within Malvina’s throat as she watched me stare right at her. After stirring slightly, she narrowed her eyes. “Now then, let us ask what you’ve come all the way out to this remote region for.”

“There are two reasons for my visit,” I answered, placing my hand on Lobivia’s small shoulder as she remained seated next to me. “The first is about Lobivia...Patricia. She says that she wants to leave this settlement. I’ve come to get your permission as the elder of Draconia.”

“I see.”

Malvina merely nodded along, while Rex’s expression grew more harsh. Well, that reaction seemed pretty typical of him.

“I’m sure you have objections,” I added. “If she is allowed to carelessly go in and out, it could expose the settlement’s existence. I think I understand your circumstances in this regard. If she comes back to the settlement periodically, then some sort of arrangement needs to be made. I came here to talk and find a compromise, taking all of this into consideration.”

“I see. And your other reason for coming?”

“I’ve heard that there was someone who could communicate with a monster’s heart before me. I was also told that you know the past and knew him very well. Malvina, I’ve come here to hear his tale.”

“I suppose there’s no need to ask why you know that. This is Misty’s doing, isn’t it?” The enormous dragon huffed from her nose. “What a meddlesome busybody.”

“She seems to love you all very much.”

“Stop that. My entire body is getting itchy. What do you plan on doing if the island sinks from me squirming about?” she said jokingly, perhaps trying to hide her embarrassment. “So? Where is Misty? It’s rather cold of her not to show herself.”

“Oh, dear. Please do excuse me.”

A voice came from a swirl of mist that emanated in front of Malvina’s eye. The mist then took on the shape of a woman smiling pleasantly.

“Long time no see, Malvina.”

The Misty Lodge Salvia floated in the air cheerfully. She brushed the golden-brown hair cascading down her large chest and narrowed her downturned eyes nostalgically.

“Hmph. It’s been a couple hundred years, Misty,” Malvina replied casually.

“The last time I came was around ten years after Carl was taken down, I suppose. Also, I go by Salvia now, so please do remember that. Not that I’ll tell you to call me that after all this time.”

“Aah, I heard that he bestowed you with a name. With that and the contract you formed, it seems you’ve fallen head over heels for this little boy.”

“That’s right. He and his servants are all such adorable children.”

Malvina spoke in a friendly tone, while Salvia giggled in an affable manner. I could sense through this short exchange how long they’d known each other. They were long-lived beings, and they’d surely gone through many, many things. The amount of time they’d spent talking with each other was likely immeasurable. Still, this meeting wasn’t something we’d prepared for their sake.

“Now then. Let’s leave this chat between neglected friends there, shall we?” Salvia said after a short while. “I feel bad for getting a little too caught up in our talks. After all, I’m not playing the leading role today.”

“You never play the leading role. Fickle like the wind, the bystander of mist... Well, I already know that you’d prefer that,” Malvina said, sounding sympathetic at the end. Then she turned to me once more. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Very well. First, shall we discuss the treatment of our little one here?”

Her behavior went from being open-minded to strict in an instant. The enormous cliff-like being before me seemed to have even more gravity now. I wasn’t overawed or anything, but I did feel a pressure deep in my stomach. Malvina was now facing us as the leader of Draconia. Nonetheless, I could sense her willingness to discuss things, unlike Rex.

“Lobivia,” I said, pushing the little girl’s shoulder lightly. “You should speak for yourself.”

“Mm.” I was a little worried, but Lobivia grasped my hand and replied in a far more reliable voice than I expected. “I want to leave the settlement, so I want your permission.”

“And what do you plan on doing by leaving?” Malvina asked bluntly. “Do you intend on living in the wilderness as a stray dragon?”

“No. I...want to go with Takahiro.”

Lobivia turned to me, and I nodded back to her. Lobivia broke into the slightest of smiles, but Malvina’s cross-examination didn’t falter in the least.

“Do you hate this settlement that much? Is that why you cause trouble for others?”

“It’s not,” Lobivia answered quickly and clearly. “It’s true I don’t want to be here, but that’s not the only reason.” Her hand clenched mine tightly before she declared, “I want to be with them. I don’t want to go with Takahiro because I want to run away from the settlement. I want to go with him, so I want to leave the settlement.”

I honestly thought she’d done more than enough by just stating her desire to leave. I was surprised she could express her hopes so openly like this. She was no longer the little girl who was simply scared and had no choice but to go on a rampage.

I was happy to hear that she wanted to come with us, but there was one person for whom that wasn’t enough.

“Don’t be stupid!” Rex roared, no longer able to endure this quietly. “Not only do you want to leave the settlement, but you want to go with a human?! Do you understand what you’re saying?!”

“Shut your trap!” Lobivia shouted back at him. “I already decided! Quit yammering from the goddamn sidelines!”

The two of them snarled at each other. In contrast, Malvina didn’t react. The ancient dragon directed a peaceful gaze at Lobivia.

“Malvina?” Salvia uttered suspiciously.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but she’d sounded apprehensive.

Before Salvia could say anything, Malvina stated, “I understand what you’re trying to say.” Lobivia looked up at her. “Do as you like.”

“Wh-Wha?!” Rex sputtered and then went silent.

Lobivia’s expression brightened up immensely. “Really?!” the little dragon exclaimed.

“Yes,” Malvina replied in a relaxed tone. “However, you are never allowed to return to the settlement.”

“Huh...?” Lobivia froze.

“Under no circumstance are you to interact with the people of the settlement either.”

“Wha...?”

“Why are you so surprised? Interactions with the outside world are not tolerated. This is the absolute law that I have imposed on the settlement. You wish to leave, so isn’t this obvious?”

“Th-That’s true... B-But...”

Lobivia tried to say something, but she could only open and close her mouth.

Malvina was correct, but her words were still merciless. The dragons of her clan were symbols of fear to Lobivia, but they were also her family. It was possible they could eventually reconcile. Somewhere deep down, she must’ve hoped that would happen.

“If you leave the settlement, then you are no more than a stranger to us, Lobivia.”

Lobivia had never expected to be rejected so plainly like this. Her face turned deathly pale, but in the next instant, she flushed to a dangerous degree.

“Oh?! Is that so?!” she screamed, shooting up to her feet. Her ability to snap in an instant was her strength, but it was also her weakness. “What a relief, you shitty old hag! Like hell I wanna see your stupid face again!”

Lobivia ran off without looking back.

“Lily...”

“Got it.”

Lobivia couldn’t be left on her own right now. Lily nodded back to me and ran after her. Their footsteps faded off into the distance.

“Kath. You stay,” Malvina said, stopping Kath from giving chase.

“What’s the meaning of this?!” Rex yelled, finally released from his stupor. The shock had frozen his thoughts, but once Lobivia left, he managed to come to grips with the situation. Even with his superhuman stature, he had to look up at the ancient dragon’s eye. He was as red as Lobivia had been.

“Exactly as I said,” Malvina replied bluntly. She lowered her eyelid as if to say there was nothing left to discuss.

“Are you fine with misfortune befalling Patricia?!”

Rex was enraged, but he was angry for Lobivia’s sake. He thought if she were to leave the settlement, she would be unhappy. That was why he’d acted so hostile toward me. He was hardheaded, but his feelings were genuine. As for why he went so far...

“Enough of that,” Malvina said. “She’s already a stranger to us.”

“Like hell she is!” Rex yelled, his giant fists trembling. “Patricia is my real sister! Isn’t that right, mother?!”

They were family, and this was none other than an expression of an all-too-common sentiment.

“Rex,” Malvina said, opening her eyelid. Her gaze was heartless. She had such a cold look about her it almost seemed fake. “If you have a problem with my policy, then you may also leave the settlement.”

“What...?”

She glared at Rex as he turned pale. The way his complexion changed so easily really highlighted his similarity to Lobivia.

“I...”

However, Rex didn’t throw a tantrum like Lobivia had. He might’ve been close to doing so, but he managed to endure by grinding his teeth.

“I’m going to go cool off...”

He turned on his heels and stomped off. Since he called himself the protector of this settlement, he had no other choice.

Now that the violent storm of emotions was gone, the first to speak was Salvia.

“Malvina... Couldn’t you have picked your words a little better?” Salvia said.

“It’s fine this way,” Malvina replied, sounding tired. “If possible, I’d even like Rex to leave the settlement.”

“You’re going to explain things to us, right?” I said, cutting into their conversation.

I never thought it would turn out this way. In that respect, I’d taken the situation too lightly, so I had a responsibility to properly grasp the situation.

“It’s simple,” Malvina said, lowering her gaze to me. “It’s because I believe it’ll be best this way.”

Though she was a powerful and ancient dragon, it looked to me like Malvina had aged in an instant, as if all the time she’d been alive was suddenly crushing down on her.

“I’m sure you were planning on bringing her back here every now and then,” Malvina continued, “but I can’t possibly allow her to return if she leaves. I can only protect this settlement by shutting it off from the world.”

“I fail to understand...” Gerbera muttered stiffly. “You possess more than enough power, do you not? Those living here are also plenty strong.” She gave Thaddeus and Kath a look before continuing. “What is there to fear so badly? What in the world happened to you? As long as you don’t tell us, we can’t possibly accept this.”

The sternness on her beautiful face was for Lobivia’s sake.

Seeing Gerbera like that, Malvina narrowed her eye in relief. “Well, I suppose it’s only fair I tell you. You came here to hear this to begin with. Shall we start from the very beginning? It all happened long, long ago.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Once upon a time, a human who could speak to a monster’s heart came to these lands. Much like the boy here, he was a visitor from another world. Your thinking is correct. Unlike Misty, I did not gain an ego all on my own. I was his servant. I’m sure you deduced this much already.”

“Well, it was a reasonable assumption,” I said with a nod. “My predecessor, then? What kind of man was he?”

“A good man. He might have resembled you a little. He was burly and manly.”

“That doesn’t sound like me at all,” I said, grimacing.

“Well, in terms of appearance, it doesn’t. Still, he treated me dearly. At first, he came as a savior to defeat me, but after a series of coincidences, I became his servant. I was lucky. I probably felt the same as your servants do now.”

“What kind of ability did he have, exactly?” Katou asked. “You said that he could speak to a monster’s heart, but you mean it in a different way from how Majima-senpai’s cheat works, right?”

“Why do you say that, Mana?” Rose asked, seated next to her. She cocked her head.

“Because Malvina said that he came as a savior to defeat her. If he had the same ability as Majima-senpai, he wouldn’t be considered a savior in this world. Besides, there are no tales among the church’s legends of a savior who could tame monsters.”

“What a clever girl,” Malvina said with admiration. “It’s as you say. His ability was different from the boy’s. He could transform into a dragon.”

“Meaning it’s the same type of cheat as Takaya’s...” Katou said.

Takaya was a first year student like Katou. We’d witnessed firsthand how a cheat could transform one’s entire body and way of life, so we could easily accept Malvina’s explanation as fact.

“I get it now. In that case, you really were lucky,” Katou added.

“What do you mean?” Rose inquired.

“Because unlike Majima-senpai, that man wouldn’t have been able to communicate with any monster but a dragon.”

“I see. That makes sense.”

A human who could turn into a dragon, and a dragon who possessed some amount of intelligence. Their encounter must have been fate. Now that I thought about it, the way Malvina had described him as “burly and manly” was likely because he could transform into a dragon. After all, to Malvina’s eyes, normal humans looked minuscule, so she wouldn’t have normally used those descriptors.

“There are in fact legends of a savior who could transform into a dragon,” Shiran said. “But I’ve never heard of him being able to speak with dragons...”

“The Holy Church passes down the legends, right?” Malvina replied. “They conceal any inconvenient truths. It was already well known that a savior who could transform into a dragon existed, so I suppose they couldn’t erase that portion.”

Malvina seemed irritated. The fabricated image of saviors. The cleanly collated legends. I’d felt this way about them before, so I didn’t doubt what she said in the least. Shiran looked a little dismayed, but she didn’t say anything.

“One who can transform into a dragon, and the dragon with whom he could communicate... I see. That’s why everyone in this settlement is a dragon,” Gerbera muttered in satisfaction. “That means the other dragons, including Thaddeus, also became his servants, right?”

“No, not quite,” Malvina said. “To be precise, those children are servants, but not.”

“What do you mean?” Gerbera asked, her brows knitting.

“It’s not all that complicated,” Malvina answered. Her next statement came out like it was nothing, but maybe, it was actually a bombshell. “That visitor was my husband, and Thaddeus and all the others are our children.”

“What...did you say...?” Gerbera asked, her red eyes wide with shock.

“I said he was my husband. That visitor was everyone’s father.”

Gerbera froze on the spot.

“You don’t look all that surprised,” Malvina said, lowering her gaze to me.

“Well, I’d considered it already.”

I’d had a vague idea of what exactly Thaddeus and the others were. Malvina and her husband’s relationship resembled the type I had with my servants, so I could see how it could have progressed to that stage. Besides, I’d asked Thaddeus before whether he was just a monster. Thaddeus had looked impressed by that because my words had prodded at the truth.

Furthermore, some of the things he’d mentioned stood out. He’d told me that, normally, monsters couldn’t hide among humans. That was true, but considering how he’d been doing exactly that, his statement seemed contradictory. In other words, he’d worded it that way because he wasn’t just a monster. He was also half-human. That explained why he could take a human form and easily slip into human society.

Gerbera hadn’t noticed anything, but Lily might’ve inferred this. Or, rather than a sound deduction, perhaps Lily saw it more as a hopeful possibility, which was why she empathized with Lobivia and Thaddeus—as did I. We felt compelled to because, in a sense, they were our future.

“Is that, um, really possible...?” Gerbera asked, coming to the same realization. She sounded hopeful.

I could sense something like a wry smile coming from Malvina.

“What a thing to ask... Though, in this case, I suppose it’s understandable. I’ve done it, after all.”

Gerbera was speechless. Her red eyes darted around.

“But let me tell you now. I don’t know if it’ll be the case for you,” Malvina added, clearly realizing what Gerbera was thinking about. “But there’s nothing to lose by knowing of a precedent.” The ancient dragon narrowed her eye, looking far off into the distance. “They were happy days. Aah. I would’ve traded anything for them to go on forever.”

The look in her eye was so gentle. She was definitely reminiscing about the good old days.

“But that is all in the past,” Malvina added gloomily, a shadow falling over her eye.

Sorrow enshrouded Thaddeus and Kath as well. Salvia had already hinted to me that things had ended in tragedy. That was why Salvia had wanted me to come here. She wanted me to hear their story and use their experience as a source of encouragement, and to make sure their tragedy wouldn’t end in vain. I also wanted to hear it because they were one of our possible futures.

“What happened?” I asked sincerely.

“Humans murdered my husband,” Malvina replied, her gloomy voice rumbling as if it was coming from the depths of the earth. “He was killed for being a dragon.”