Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 9 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Accident

Shiran had gone out of her way to find targets for us, so we couldn’t let this opportunity pass by because we were too slow to act. We followed her guidance and quickly got moving. Fortunately, our targets hadn’t strayed much from where Shiran had discovered them.

“Lily, please take care of things from here,” Shiran said.

“Got it.”

Lily nodded and took the lead. Rose and I followed behind her, distancing ourselves from the elves. Far in front of us, we discerned three azure hares. There were fewer than last time. It didn’t seem like we’d have any problems taking them out.

Just as always, Lily shot a glance our way.

Just as always, I nodded and dashed forward with Rose.

Just as always, the suppression was going smoothly.

But this was the Woodlands. One never knew what could happen given even a single second in this den of evil. Right as I sensed Lily’s mana building up behind me, when the azure hares noticed us...

“What?!”

Leah’s panicked voice struck my ears. I turned around on reflex, but I couldn’t see well through the trees. I could spot a few of the elves, but not Leah herself. Still, her voice reached me.

“A-Another monster?!”

That was enough for me to understand the situation. Leah had the ability to detect enemies using a spirit, and she’d sensed another monster approaching, independent of our targets.

I could feel the panic spreading among the elves. The abrupt event made them restless. According to our strategy meeting, we were to avoid unforeseen encounters with monsters as much as possible, and if not for the horrible timing, we would’ve withdrawn with all haste. We’d actually done so multiple times over the last four days.

But this time, that wouldn’t fly. The azure hares we’d marked as our targets already knew we were here. If we ran, they would naturally give chase. We’d inevitably slowed down because of the sudden turn of events, so we couldn’t avoid battle.

In that case, we would have to engage the other incoming enemy at the same time. We could possibly take them all out, but it was likely we’d suffer casualties among the elves. That was to say nothing of attracting even more monsters if we moved too slow.

I managed to process all this in an instant because I’d considered the possibility already. We’d prepared for this, so we shouldn’t have any problems dealing with it.

“Keep going, Lily!” I yelled.

“Do not falter! Ready your bows!”

My voice overlapped with Shiran’s orders. We were addressing different people, but our judgments had been the same. The vanguard was to continue attacking our targets while the rearguard pinned down the incoming monster and bought time. With that, we could quickly exterminate the azure hares and return to the group. We’d expected an accidental event like this, and believed that we had the ability to overcome it. So long as we kept our cool, we could handle it. At the very least, this development didn’t bother Lily, Rose, or Shiran.

“Roger that!”

Lily promptly activated her wind magic. The gale stopped the azure hares in their tracks. Rose and I charged in without hesitation and smoothly struck down an enemy each. The remaining hare activated magic of its own, aiming for Rose. Once I confirmed this, I turned on my heel. Rose could defeat the remaining azure hare by herself, so it was more prudent for me to head back to the elves.

Lily had also come to the same conclusion. We ran toward the elves and caught sight of their backs. It hadn’t even been ten seconds, but the new enemy had already appeared. Beyond the elves, I saw an injured azure hare smash through the thickets, and behind it was an enormous bear covered in red fur.

“Graaawr!”

The bear roared as crimson flames burst from its body. It was my first time seeing one, but it was definitely a ruby bear, the monster we’d heard about whose numbers were damaging the region. We’d apparently come across one that had been hunting azure hares itself. No matter how careful we were, accidents could still happen. However, it was precisely because we were careful that we could cope with such incidents.

“Loose!”

At Shiran’s command, the elves loosed their arrows as one. The barrage rained down on the three azure hares ahead of the bear, slowing them down. One beat later, Kei deployed a glyph.

“Here I go!”

She calmly aimed and fired an ice spear, splendidly piercing the chest of the azure hare that had been struck by the most arrows. In that time, Lily reached the elves.

“Please take over, Lily!”

Leaving things here to us, Shiran charged the enemy. Her target was the ruby bear. They were known as the most powerful monsters in this region, so she knew that the villagers would be in danger if it got too close. Shiran challenged the enormous beast head-on as she slowed its momentum with water magic.

Meanwhile, the remaining azure hares marked the elves as their enemies. They fired water bullets, but Lily moved in to intercept with her black spear.

“Yaaah!”

The wind magic wreathed around the tip of her weapon easily shattered the two bullets.

“You won’t get past me!”

Lily twirled her favorite spear, the haft whistling through the air. It wasn’t like the monsters could understand her, but they could still read her intent. The two hares decided to keep their distance from her. That was when I charged in.

“Ooooh!”

We couldn’t waste any time. We had to eliminate these enemies as quickly as possible. Fortunately, with Lily guarding them, there was no need to worry about the elves’ safety. I could concentrate entirely on the enemies before me.

Realizing that I was closing in on their flank, the closest azure hare leapt to try and escape my attack, but I could still reach it. I stepped in deep and lowered my stance, then sprang up with an upward slash. The tip of my blade split its torso. That was one down.

“Gh?!”

Immediately after, the other azure hare attacked me. It was aiming for the opening I’d presented when striking. The blue stones in its body glowed, and a water bullet took shape at point-blank range. I didn’t have time to pull my sword back, so I had no choice but to defend. At this range, if I took a shot to my shield, it would knock me off balance. That could lead to a follow-up attack I wouldn’t be able to block.

“Oooh!”

I knew this, so daringly took a step forward. At the same time, I swung my shield-bearing arm. Then, for one instant, I unleashed my mana at full throttle. I drew up the power deep within me that I’d attained in the life-and-death struggle against the Mad Beast. A torrent of mana ran through my left arm with so much force that had someone else of my level tried it, they wouldn’t have been able to withstand it. By doing so, I manifested the Great White Spider’s tyranny.

“Haaah!”

I forced the power, which seemed like it could tear my body apart from the inside out, under control and slammed my shield into the enemy. The water bullet struck my shield and broke apart like a harmless droplet. The azure hare on the other side fell with no resistance. Everything was over with a single blow.

Having smashed all in its path, my left arm came to a stop.

“Phew...”

I let out a long sigh, straightened myself back up, and checked for injuries. When I’d last used this power, it pretty much exhausted all of my stamina and mana. This time wasn’t so bad. Because of my training, I could now use the Great White Spider’s tyranny for a single instant, making it a practical battle tactic.

Regardless, I still grimaced, though for an entirely different reason. I’d used about a third of Gerbera’s monstrous strength. With Asarina’s assistance, it was closer to two thirds. This was my current limit. A throbbing pain also crept up my left arm. I couldn’t use it multiple times in the middle of a fight like this. It was better now that it didn’t take me out of things entirely, but I would need to consider how and when to use it.

In any case, after I quickly confirmed that I was okay, I looked over to the remaining battle. The fight between Shiran and the ruby bear was just about over.

“Graaawr!”

The ruby bear was now covered in wounds, all of which had occurred during the short time I hadn’t been watching.

“Haaah!”

In contrast, Shiran was unscathed. Even now, she easily blocked the powerful arm bearing down on her with her shield. She had enough skill and raw strength to take on a bear attack without budging an inch. A ruby bear was supposed to be able to utterly crush its enemies with just the tip of its paw, but with Shiran’s power, its unreasonable superhuman strength meant nothing. Still, that wasn’t all there was to a ruby bear.

The truly troublesome part of dealing with one was that flames blazing from its fur would burn any nearby enemies. However, it couldn’t use that ability properly right now because a veil of water was wrapped around the fire it emitted, keeping it suppressed.

The water veil was a type of debilitation magic meant specifically for fire monsters. I’d heard of it before, but this was my first time seeing it. Once cast, the user couldn’t use any other magic while its effects were active. If a mage couldn’t use any other magic, they couldn’t do anything else to a weakened enemy. A swordsman could use this tactic along with their sword, but a portion of their attention had to remain focused on something other than fighting the enemy.

There weren’t that many people who could use magic to begin with, so with all its limitations, very few people bothered with learning debilitation magic.

In this case, Leah’s contracted spirit was the one using it. A spirit could perform any magic its contractor could, so despite its limited applications, debilitation magic was more than adequate in this situation.

“Haaah!”

No longer able to resist, the ruby bear could do nothing as Shiran thrust her sword into its throat. The blade went clean through its thick muscles, severing the beast’s life in an instant. Blood spurted from its wound, spraying over Shiran’s head. That was the last vain struggle the ruby bear could offer. Its enormous body fell back with a thud, spraying blood all the while.

A cheer broke out among the elves. I’d readied myself to step in and help if needed, but after I made sure it was over, I lowered my sword and sighed in relief. Things had gotten a little frightening there, but it all ended without any injuries. We managed to get through it safely.

“Master.”

Judging that there was no more danger, Lily jogged up to me, away from the elves she’d been protecting. Rose was also behind her.

“Are you hurt?” Lily asked.

“I’m fine.”

I nearly relaxed, but then I remembered we were still in the Woodlands. I made sure to remain vigilant as I continued.

“My arm just hurts a little... Oh, you can heal me later.” Just as Lily started using healing magic, I told her not to worry about it, then gave out my orders. “Are both of you okay? Good, let’s withdraw then.”

This battle had lasted twice as long as any of our previous fights, and we’d made quite a bit of noise. If we stayed too long, a swarm might show up. We’d managed up until now with little danger because we’d only been acting from an advantageous position with energy to spare, and that was the reason we’d been able to deal with this unexpected situation. We had to remain cautious. We couldn’t forget that.

“I don’t think we can bring the ruby bear’s corpse with us...” I said. “You two retrieve the azure hares.”

“Roger that.”

“Very well.”

Lily and Rose knew what to do next. Now for the elves. It would be better for Shiran to give them orders rather than me. With that in mind, I turned toward her, then raised an eyebrow. After splendidly defeating the ruby bear, she hadn’t budged at all.

“Shiran?”

Was something wrong? Her characteristic white armor was dyed red, but that was only because she’d gotten sprayed by the ruby bear’s blood. She didn’t have any injuries that I knew of, yet she wasn’t moving. Her eye was fixed on the sword in her hand. The other elves also started to realize something was amiss.

As we all watched, Shiran started swaying unsteadily.

“Shiran?!”

Her sword tumbled to the ground as she fell to her knees.

“Wh-What’s wrong?!”

The elves shouted in panic as I ran up to Shiran in a fluster. My feet made sticky splashing noises on the blood-soaked ground. The smell of blood was so thick it could trigger vomiting, and it was combined with an animal stench. I ignored all of this and supported Shiran’s shoulders.

“Takahiro...”

Her voice had a delirious ring to it. I could tell that wasn’t all, though. I looked at Shiran’s face to see how she was, then felt a chill run down my spine.

“Taka...hiro...”

It wasn’t like anything really happened. Shiran’s single blue eye merely reflected my image. She wasn’t glaring or anything. She actually looked more as though she was in a daze. And yet I froze up as if something unthinkable was before me. I didn’t know the reason for it. I couldn’t explain it in any other way than that my body had reacted on instinct. I remained frozen like this for several seconds.

“No... It’s nothing, Takahiro.”

Shiran’s voice struck my ear, suddenly bringing me back to my senses. Her expression now looked dignified.

“I’m sorry for worrying you.”

Her voice was steady again. This was the usual Shiran. That strange feeling was gone as if it hadn’t been there at all.

“Aah, this is...a little unpleasant,” Shiran muttered, looking down at her body covered in blood. “Could you step back, Takahiro? You’ll get wet.”

A glyph formed in her hand, and a ball of water took shape above her head. I stood there in a daze, but one beat later, I took a step back. At the same time, the water fell.

Water splashed over Shiran’s head and spread across the ground. Even if it didn’t wash away the blood staining her clothes, it still washed off the majority on her armor. This weakened the thick odor in the air a bit.

“That’s better,” Shiran said, shaking some water off her head and standing back up.

Her movements were as steady as always. I continued staring at her, feeling like I’d been bewitched. Just then, Leah stumbled over, a pale Kei by her side.

“A-Are you all right, Shiran?” Leah asked.

“Shiran!”

“Auntie, Kei... Yes, I’m fine,” Shiran insisted, turning to them with a wry smile. “I just felt a little sick from the stench of blood.”

“A-Are you sure?” Kei asked in bewilderment.

“Sorry for worrying you,” Shiran said as she bowed.

“It’s fine. There’s no need for that,” Leah replied, a huge smile on her face. “Aah, thank goodness. I thought my heart was going to stop.”

She looked truly relieved, but I just couldn’t feel the same. I stared at Shiran as she reached for her fallen sword. Was she pushing herself too far? Nothing about her seemed to suggest that, though.

“Are you really okay?” I asked.

“Yes. It’s just as I said,” she answered, acting the same as always. “Let’s move, Takahiro. We must prepare ourselves for our next target.”

There was nothing wrong with her proposal either, but...

“No. Let’s call it a day,” I told her, shaking my head.

“Takahiro? If this is about my condition, I really am fine.”

“No. It’s better we stop if there is even the tiniest thing to be worried about,” I said, then turned to Leah. “We completed a good portion of our original objective already. I don’t think there’s any need to push ourselves further. How about it?”

“That’s...certainly true.”

Leah hesitated for a moment, but because of my strong tone, she quickly nodded.

Having gained the consent of the villagers’ representative, I looked back to Shiran.

“Takahiro...”

She protested with her eye, but I shook my head again.

“With what just happened, we might be more exhausted than we think. We should call it a day.”

“Very well...” Shiran murmured as she lowered her gaze. She could see that I had no intention of backing down. “Let us return to the village.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Was I too overbearing?” I quietly muttered.

We were back in the house we were borrowing during our stay in the village. We’d returned earlier than planned, so I’d given the ones who’d stayed behind a brief explanation of what had happened.

I was sitting cross-legged, and Ayame was lying in my lap, snoring. Asarina, who also had to stay cramped up and hidden while we were outside, was enjoying freedom in her own way. She loosely coiled around my left arm and sat her Venus-flytrap-like head on my shoulder, asking me to play with her. I was humoring her when Lobivia, who kept stealing glances at Asarina and Ayame, curiously spoke up.

“But, Takahiro, Shiran looked kinda sick, yeah?” she asked, tugging on the hem of my clothes. “You weren’t really wrong or nothing.”

“I agree,” Gerbera added. She was nestled up at my side as I leaned back on one of her legs. “There was that issue Lily brought up a little while ago... Remember? About the nighttime patrols. Shiran has a habit of pushing herself too much. Sometimes you have to be somewhat overbearing to get her to stop.” Gerbera paused there, looking a little baffled. “Actually, isn’t that why you cut things short and returned?”

“That’s true...” I said with an ambiguous nod.

Lobivia and Gerbera were right. There wasn’t much I could do for Shiran. She was a noble knight, reliable to the core. Pushing herself too hard was the one and only flaw among her many virtues.

Worrying about her was about all I could do. That was why I’d decided to do so as much as possible. That was how I’d acted until today and how I would continue to act in the future.

I was doing what I could. At least, that was supposed to be the case. So why did I feel a strange lingering discomfort deep in my chest? Something about this made me feel like I was mistaking one thing for another.

I recalled the inexplicable sensation I’d felt when I looked at Shiran’s face while she was kneeling on the ground. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Why had I ended today’s activities to begin with? It wasn’t because I’d thought that Shiran had pushed herself too hard. I’d spoken before I’d even considered that. My mouth had moved on instinct, telling me I had to do so. That was the reason I’d been so overbearing. I’d felt more danger than consideration. Still, I couldn’t identify why that was. I could do nothing but linger over this hazy sensation.

What exactly was it? I would come to understand that evening, when I discovered Shiran after she’d slipped out of her house.