Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 8 - Chapter SS

Extra Story: The Dragon’s Friend ~Kei’s POV~

The situation I was currently in felt a little strange. I was just a child, just like any other you could find in this world. There was nothing special about me. If I had to pick one thing that made me stand out, it was the fact that I was the younger sister of the northern Woodlands’ strongest knight. This did, of course, mean that my sister was the special one, not me. In truth, while I was at Fort Tilia, how people treated me—be it good or bad—hadn’t actually been directed at me, but at my sister’s little sister.

The Alliance Knights were pretty much the only exception. My sister’s comrades had always treated me like any other child. To them, I was nothing more than a commonplace squire hoping to become a splendid knight. That was who I was, and I had no questions or qualms about it.

And right now, despite being just a commonplace girl, I was staying at a hidden settlement of dragons that nobody in the world knew of. I felt really out of place. Just maybe, if there was in fact something special about me, perhaps it was that fate had connected me to special people. My sister and Takahiro were two of them. However, even if I were to mention to them how great they were, both of them would tell me in unison, “I’m not special or anything.”

I didn’t know whether that was true. In all honesty, it didn’t matter to me either way. They were both so special to me. I loved them both dearly.

◆ ◆ ◆

“I-I’m spent...”

I threw myself to the ground, gasping for breath. After I practiced swinging my sword for a few hundred repetitions, tracing the correct form the entire time, my training session had come to an end. The path to knighthood was a daily accumulation of discipline. No laxity was permitted, and being at the dragons’ hidden settlement didn’t change what I had to do.

My body felt sluggish after pushing myself to my limit, but I also felt refreshed. I could’ve even gone to sleep like this. I couldn’t do that outdoors, of course. It would be poor manners, and I was also covered in sweat. I had to wipe myself off, or I could catch a cold. I understood that, but my eyelids felt so heavy.

“Hey.”

“Hyah?!”

A voice called out to me, startling me greatly. I opened my eyes wide and saw an upside-down girl with red hair looking down at me. She looked just about as surprised as I was.

“Wh-What’s wrong, Lobivia?” I asked her.

“That’s my line...” she replied. Her surprised expression faded, and she returned to her usual grouchy manner. “What’cha doing out here?”

“Umm... I was just, uh, a little tired, so I was taking a break.”

She’d asked me this rather dubiously, so I ended up brushing her question off with a smile. I couldn’t possibly say that I’d almost carelessly fallen asleep out here. That would be way too embarrassing. It was a good thing that she’d called out to me before I fell into a deep slumber. I’d nearly shown her a slovenly side of myself. I sighed in relief as Lobivia continued to stare at me.

“How careless,” Lobivia said. “You nap out here, and the dragons are gonna crush you. You’re tiny and all.”

“Mrgh. I’m not tiny.”

I pouted a little. I was, in fact, growing pretty well for my age. Even though mana enhanced my constitution, there was nothing better than having a good base physique. I wasn’t picky with food, and I didn’t stay up late at night. I put in a great amount of effort every single day.

“I mean, you’re pretty tiny yourself,” I said.

“I’ve probably been bigger than you since I was a baby.”

“I’m not talking about you as a dragon.”

I rose to my feet. Lobivia had a point. An enormous dragon could easily miss seeing me lying on the ground. Twice, I’d seen dragons wandering around the lake. They’d looked this way, probably because they were curious about the house Lobivia and Takahiro were staying in. Malvina had forbidden any contact, but there was no guarantee they wouldn’t come this way. It would be dangerous to remain on the ground for too long.

“Huh...?” Just then, I realized something. “Lobivia, did you maybe call out to me because you were worried?”

Her face turned red in the blink of an eye.

“Th-That ain’t it!” she exclaimed, arching her brows as if she were angry. Still, it was the only explanation I could think of. “The hell’re you smiling at?!”

“Hm? Uhhh, nothing?” I replied with a grin, feeling really happy for some reason.

Ever since we left Fort Tilia, I hadn’t been around anybody my age. Lobivia was a little smaller than me, and she could be pretty moody sometimes, but I knew from her interactions with Takahiro that she was a good girl. I thought it’d be nice if we could get along, which was why I’d been proactively trying to talk with her.

At first, she had run away from me, but little by little, she’d started responding. Nevertheless, Lobivia pretty much never started a conversation with me on her own. This might have been the first time. It was a step forward, even if only a small one.

Having said that, I didn’t think this was purely a result of my own efforts. I was sure that by coming back to this settlement, something had happened to change Lobivia’s mental state. Now that I thought about it, even though she’d been so down after talking to Malvina on our first day here, she’d cheerfully gone out with Lily the next morning to go hunting. It would make sense if something had happened to make her more open.

I naturally thought of Takahiro. I didn’t have any proof that he was involved, but I was pretty sure of it. Takahiro always had the most influence on his servants.

“Hee hee. Thank you for worrying about me,” I said.

“I’m telling you that ain’t it...”

Lobivia frowned, but that didn’t ruin my mood.

Perhaps feeling that she was getting nowhere with this, Lobivia changed the subject. “What’s got you so tired that you gotta take a break?”

“Hm? Exactly what it looks like. Sword training.”

I put down the wooden sword and shield I’d still been holding and stood up. Resilience was an important trait for knights. I’d only taken a short rest, but my sluggishness had largely gone away. Realizing that my sweat was starting to feel cold, I reached out for the towel I’d prepared earlier. I wiped myself down so that I wouldn’t get sick.

Lobivia looked at me as if she found something fishy. “So you like this stuff too...” she muttered, unamused. I wondered what she was getting at, but I understood immediately when she continued. “Takahiro does it day after day after day without ever getting bored too.”

“He does. Takahiro is serious...no, earnest.”

Being serious wasn’t enough to go as far as he did. The training regimen Takahiro imposed on himself was extremely harsh—especially the real-combat training he did with Gerbera. She was so madly in love with him, but during their training, she would ruthlessly beat down her precious master. That was what he wanted, after all.

Takahiro was far, far away from the great saviors in our legends. He didn’t want to be like them to begin with. He was trying to get stronger by fighting losing battles, struggling in pain, and standing to face his hardships. It was painful to watch. It was such a dangerous way of living that I couldn’t peel my eyes away from him.

Whenever I watched Takahiro, those opposing emotions warred within me. My heart throbbed when I looked at him. It wasn’t a bad feeling, but it was probably a different matter for Lobivia. I’d seen her watching Takahiro’s morning practice before. She’d looked very displeased at the time, just like she did now.

“Is it really that fun...? Don’t it just hurt?” she asked.

Her tone was aggressive, but it didn’t bother me. Lobivia just couldn’t stand watching Takahiro go through all that pain.

“It don’t make no sense,” she added.

“Hmm. I get where you’re coming from,” I replied casually.

Looking back on it, I’d never really given it much thought. Improving my sword skills, learning more magic, and honing my mind so I could make a contract with a spirit—all this training was obvious to me, so there was never a reason for me to question it.

“Moving about feels good, and it’s fun too,” I told her. “I’m also happy when I feel like I’m getting better. But like you said, there is some pain to it. Actually, that’s the majority of it. I mean, it’s training.”

“And you still do it?”

“Yup.”

I had no reason to hesitate, so I answered her with ease.

“You mean, ’cause of that? Being a knight or whatnot?” Lobivia asked.

“Hmm. Right. I’m for sure trying to get stronger so that I can become a full-fledged knight. But that’s not all...”

“It ain’t?”

I shook my head. “No... I don’t think so.”

As I formed the answer to Lobivia’s question, something in me became clearer.

“I kept trying harder and harder to become a splendid knight like my sister. But now I think it’s different. That isn’t all... I just want to try hard for the sake of those who are dear to me. I’m just a commonplace squire, so when it comes down to it, there’s pretty much nothing I can do, but I don’t believe that’s a reason for me to sit back and do nothing.”

I wasn’t special, but that didn’t mean it was okay for me to idle about.

“Takahiro’s circumstances are very serious. I want to put in as much effort as I can to find the tiniest thing I’m capable of. Takahiro is probably the same.”

It was because Takahiro was like that that I realized the same thing about myself. My sister and Takahiro were both special to me; I loved and admired them. I couldn’t possibly thank the heavens enough for having had the chance to meet them both.

“Huh...? Lobivia?” I said, realizing that she’d gone quiet. “What’s wrong?”

Lobivia pouted. Her sharp eyes were filled with vigor. It felt like she was pressuring me.

“Ummm?” I murmured in bewilderment.

She turned away from me and briskly marched forward. She picked up the wooden sword and shield I’d set aside and swung the sword once, then twice. She snorted and turned my way.

“Bring it on,” she muttered, her tail thudding against the ground as she pushed the wooden sword and shield into my hands.

My eyes darted about in confusion. “Huh? What?”

“Bring it.”

With that, Lobivia sprung backward away from me. She bent her knees and lowered her waist, placing one hand on the ground and taking a strangely low stance. She spread out her wings, which were still torn, and swayed her tail about to maintain her balance. She resembled a little girl, but there was no mistaking it. She’d assumed the combat posture of a beast—a dragon.

“H-Hang on a sec, Lobivia!”

I panicked. How had it suddenly come to a fight? I didn’t understand. Naturally, there was no way I could ready the sword and shield she’d handed to me.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Lobivia grimaced. The crease between her brows deepened. She genuinely did look angry. Had I said something to offend her? I thought back over our conversation, but nothing came to mind. As I did, Lobivia’s face turned redder and redder. Her gaze got even sharper. What was I to do? She was really angry. Well, that made sense. Something had made her angry enough to pick a fight. I couldn’t think of a reason, but that didn’t change the fact that she was upset.

I’d finally taken a step forward with her, but now, I might’ve taken a huge step back. I’d been so happy earlier, but now I felt a little like crying. Not that I could possibly cry. I wasn’t going to fight Lobivia. If I’d said something careless to offend her, then there was only one thing to do. I lowered my head.

“It’d be better to—”

“I’m so sorry! Huh?”

My apology overlapped with whatever Lobivia was trying to say. I raised my head and met her confused gaze.

“Why’re you apologizing?” she asked.

“Hwuh?” A strange sound came from my mouth.

“I just thought it’d be better to have an opponent...” Lobivia said.

My thoughts couldn’t keep up. Better to have an opponent? For what? Lobivia’s cheeks turned even redder. She clearly saw that I wasn’t understanding. I finally realized she’d been turning red due to embarrassment.

“That’s what Takahiro does. Training with Gerbera. If you do it like that... Oh, wait. I won’t be that harsh, but ain’t it better to have an opponent like that? So I... What?”

After explaining in a fluster, Lobivia gave me a dubious look.

“Oooh. I get it now.”

I lost all my strength and sank to the ground. I’d jumped to an entirely wrong conclusion; I’d been hasty like a fool. That was why Shiran always told me that I had to remain calm.

“Kei?”

I heard my name. I looked up and saw Lobivia peering down at me. She seemed somewhat worried. I noticed that it was the same situation as earlier. It was a little comical.

“Lobivia, you’re terrible at this,” I said to the bewildered girl as I stood up.

“Wha—?”

“Hee hee. But thank you for offering. I’m really happy.”

I wiped away the tears blurring my eyes and thanked her from the bottom of my heart. In the next instant, Lobivia quickly averted her eyes. Her face was redder than ever.

“Hmph.”

She was just as crabby as usual, but this was simply her being embarrassed.

“So? What’cha gonna do?” she asked.

This time, I didn’t misread her intent.

“Mhm! Let’s do it!”

“Whatever.”

Lobivia nodded curtly, but I could see the corners of her lips slightly curving upward. She wasn’t very honest with herself.

“Oh, but how should we do it?” I asked. “We should put on protection, right? We need to get you a weapon too.”

“You put it on. I don’t need it.”

“Really? It’ll be dangerous.”

“I’ll hurt you if I don’t use my hands. I’ve never used a weapon or nothing.”

“Um, I was talking about you.”

“If I let my scales out, that little stick won’t hurt at all. Well, you’re never gonna hit me, anyway.”

“Mrgh. Big words. My sister was the one who trained me, just so you know.”

We noisily chatted as I went to get my protective gear and came back. In the end, just as Lobivia had said, she thoroughly defeated me. I was a little daunted by her; it was if she were an adult training me like I was a child. Lobivia gradually became more accustomed to my movements and fought more precisely as we went on, so I got discouraged. Seeing me so vexed, Lobivia panicked, but after I explained I wasn’t angry, she looked relieved. When I told her, “Let’s do this again sometime,” she briefly looked happy, but then she huffed.

We returned to the house while conversing like village children talking about what game to play, and we found Takahiro and the others looking at us in astonishment. Hand in hand with Lobivia, I greeted them with a smile.