Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 2 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Small Path in the Forest
The next day, we began to follow the ghoul’s footprints.

Although it was meandering slightly, the Ghouls seem to have come straight from the northwest.

Even though Mimicking the Fire Fang’s sense of smell wasn’t as good as the real thing, we were still were able to follow them easily from the blood and the many tracks they left behind.

It’s looking like we were getting closer to humans, I felt like I needed to think about how to interact with the people here.

While sitting around the fire one night, I brought up the idea with the family.

“I think when we find people it should be Lily, Kato, and I who first make contact. Everyone else should hang back.”(Kajma)

Should I say “as expected?” Everyone started to raise their objections.

“What!? Milord, what does thou meanest by that!?”(Gerbera)

“Master will be in danger. Please, please permit us to accompany you”

“Even if you say that. There isn’t any helping it.  Besides Lily, you guys can’t hide that you’re monsters.”(Kajma)

I understand the objecting Rose and Gerbera’s feelings, even I don’t want to part with them.

But when having contact with humans, it’s my firm belief to lie about my ability. Since I don’t know what kind of reaction people will have with monsters.  I shouldn’t show off my power lightly. More so to the other transfers. This way it can be one of my hidden cards.

By the very nature of it, the people that I can bring are limited.

Because Asarina can’t detach from my left arm she has to come along and the only other one that I can bring is Lily.

At this point my family would surely understand my reasoning, whether they agree or not is another matter.

“Master should bring this mistress! Master might be in danger! One dost not seriously think one can carefreely walk through the forest, right!?”(Gerbera)

Gerbera is a little too excited, I could hear the sound of her spider legs.

I glance down at the lower part of the spider body.

“Even if you say that, I won’t be able to cheat. What exactly are you thinking?”(Kajma)

“This one thinks this one should tear off the bottom half, Tis only the upper part I doth not looketh different than a human’s!”()

“… that’s impossible…. What kind of horror movie is that?”(Kajma) (TL E: lol)

The most fundamental part wasn’t solved.

As expected even a white arachne wouldn’t survive without its lower half.

“B-But…”(Gerbera)

Did she realize she said something impossible? Gerbera raises a groan.

She has been very emotional today. She probably understands it with her head, but when her blood gets boiling she can’t think clearly.

Persuading her would probably take time.

Of all things Ayame who had been resting on the white spiders head gave a snort.

“kuu-!”()

Ayame who had been languidly lying on Gebrera’s head gets up and energetically Jumps off.

With everyone’s line of sight on her, she throws herself at Lily.

No, to say that she jumped would probably be a better choice of words.

Lily catches that small body immediately.

She struggles within Lily’s hands, escapes, and shoves her head down Lily’s shirt and crawls all the way in.

“W-wait, Ayame?”()

If she keeps sliding down her shirt she’ll eventually fall to the ground . Lily must have realized this since she started holding down the hem of her shirt.

While Ayame made noises and turned into a stored-in-bag state, she stuck out her head from Lily’s chest.

Her cute and round eyes reflected Gerbera.

Gebrera’s red eyes became wide.

“Thou art going in my stead?”(Gerbera)

When Gerbera asked, Ayame snorted to reply

Ayame looks at her with shining eyes as if saying “leave it to me”.  Apparently, she’s serious.

“……  You are the size of a palm. But, it still might not be possible to hide you under clothes. “(Kajma)

I unintentionally interrupted their conversation .

Actually part of Lily’s chest is now sticking out so much it looks fake.  Lily may have a great chest but it’s unreasonably big now.

But a place to hide the kit came from an unexpected place

“It might not be so, master.” (Lily)

As Lily said that she puts her hands underneath her shirt..

She holds Ayame with one hand and rolls up her shirt with the other.

Hear smoosh stomach and pretty naval were exposed. I could now see the bottom of two globes slightly poking out underneath the shirt, with no bra in sight. As I watched, her skin slowly lost its flesh color and turned into a clear liquid substance

“If I do this, ……”(Lily)

When Lily changed her stomach back into flesh there was a small indent there.  Lily put Ayame into the indent.

In my head I begin to applaud, it was like street magic. This method can hide the extra mass that is Ayame. It was the transportation method that only Lily, who was a slime, could do. It may be slightly tight, but Ayame should be able to endure it.

Ayame looked over at Gerbera as if to ask “How is it?”

Gerbera who still looked slightly doubtful put on a smile and walked over.

Because of Ayame’s behaviour, Gerbera seems to have regained her rationality.

Gerbera gently patted the area where Ayame’s head should be.

Ayame gives a snort at Gerbera’s fingertips.  Ayame is starting to appear very dependable.

A drop of water falls on the outstretched hand and I look up.

“Rain?”(Kajma)

The clouds are a dark color hanging above the trees.

This is bad.

   ＊＊＊

  We were making use of Lily’s sense of smell as we followed the ghouls tracks. The rain is going to wash out the scent of the ghouls. We are going to lose one of our clues.

Of course it’s rained since we moved from our first base. but, it hasn’t rained in awhile so I got careless.

Even if I took that into consideration there still wasn’t anything we could have done.

It would be regrettable to lose a clue that took so much effort to get. So we hurry on ahead.  

We encountered many monsters with different degrees of difficulty but quickly defeated them so we could be on our way quickly.

We have come all this way and still don’t really know where the ghouls are from.  In exchange we haven’t seen any fire fangs and magic puppets.

Around noon it began to rain very hard. It would be hard to track the ghouls on sense of smell alone.

But that wasn’t such a big problem anymore.

We found something interesting.

In an animal trail we found a boot print. It was trace of people.

While staying cautious we followed the game trail that was half buried in the grass.

We then found weapons, the same type the ghouls had, scattered around a wide area. There was also trampled shrubs and damaged trees. They were signs that there had been a battle here. We couldn’t find any of the soldier’s corpse laying around. It could be that the bodies were eaten or that the survivors carried them away. But in case of the latter wouldn’t they have carried away the weapons also.

Any ways this must be the path that person (Mr boot-print-san) was using. The trail must lead back to their home. We finally found a new clue.

But we still didn’t follow it haphazardly. We decided to stay in the forest and followed parallel to the trail. This way we can observe any people we find and avoid contact if we want.

By this time it has been over a week since we first made contact with the ghouls.

   ＊＊＊

The lighting is dim, even for being in the forest. It’s still early morning. I haven’t even had breakfast yet. Why am I getting up so early? It’s so I could train my body strengthening magic.

“――”

I was conscious of existence of the magic in the container, that is me.

The magic begins to muddily move through my body.

It lacks shape and is kinda ugly compared to the magic that Gerbera uses.

If Gerbera’s magic is like a torrent, mine is like mud that could be washed away by a stream.

Even then, if I flow my magic through my body like this, the effect should be obvious.

For example, right now my grip strength could probably rival a 2 meter tall body builder.

Still this is only the limits of a human, but my strength and stamina is steadily rising.

Even with that, just having strength is meaningless, there is still a need to learn how to control it.

“HA-”(Kajma)

I stepped in and swung my sword

This is really hard. I can just use strengthening magic, but if I think about it my hands and feet movements would just become clumsy and sluggish. For several days I was falling over while trying to run. It’s a memory I’d like to forget about.

The sword tore through the air. The speed of the sword has became reasonable even without magic enhancements  ….. unfortunately my arms don’t have the muscle memory yet, I’m only at the level where I can use a sword as if it was a club. Despite that, a deadly weapon is still a deadly weapon. It’s inherently dangerous to handle one poorly.

The spider leg that comes flying to counterattack me is stopped at the last second by the shield on my left arm.  The leg makes a tearing sound as it digs into the ground. Just like that my left arm went numb.

While I lose my concentration, my leg is tripped up. My back hits the ground hard. Recently i’ve been able to take a hit pretty well.

I catch my breath as I roll out of the way, a spider legs pierces through the place where I was a couple of seconds ago. Dangerous, the fight almost ended there.

I feel an impact on my chest. I let my guard down.

Gerbera has 8 legs, each of which work like independent creatures.  

My lung gets the air knocked out and crushed. The pain and oppressiveness attacks me at the same time and I nearly lose consciousness. The fall alone nearly kills me. After I have fallen it is hard to stand back up.

“N-not yet!”(Gerbera)

While staying in place, Gerbera attacks me again. The attack was so relaxed that Gerbera yawned as she dealt the blow. But it’s such a sharp blow that I can’t stop it unless I give it my full attention.

The attack doesn’t make it through but I can feel the fatigue building in my left arm every time the spider leg hits my shield. I’m laying against the ground my entire body aches in pain. Despite the pain, if I show any openings the spider leg will come in and knock me out. I eject the contents of my stomach, and nearly faint from the pain. This is about the same as my other training sessions.

“Ugu-!”(Kajma)

My fatigue has built up and I think my foot has finally broke. By mental strength alone I stay in place, my experience told me that I could still expect another attack. I force my left arm to stay up.

Asarina, the Vine that grows from my left hand, flew into the air like a whip. Asarina closes the distance in the blink of an eye. Every one out of ten times my luck shows, Gerbera jumps back successfully evading the vine. I feel dizzy from the lack of oxygen, But I wipe my sweat off and grasp my sword’s hilt again. I step forward.

“Ha-!”(Kajma)

-Flash-

My sword was hit free.

I can feel it leaving my hand.

“….Ha?”(Kajma)

I was stunned staring at empty space.

“Milord, the end’s finally here.”(Gerbera)

A light impact hit my back. I seemed to have been hit by one of her legs. Though this has happened so many times I didn’t need to see it. It was a familiar feeling already. With that my stance breaks. That small amount force was enough force to slam my face forward into the ground. I could only watch as the ground rapidly approached my face.

-Bang!-

“Uwaaa-!”(Kajma)

My idiotic scream resounded throughout the still dark forest.

As my joints ached, I turned my body with my weakened arms.

I’m tired, I look at the sky in the forest as I breathed raggedly.

“Are you ok, Milord?” (Gerbera)

The me, who turned over, looked towards her direction, she appeared with her white hair hanging and a gentle expression on her face.  She has an anxious expression on her face.

“I- I’m oka-! *coughs*!”(Kajima)

“Let’s first get your breathing under control.”(Lily)

Gerbera folded her legs and sat down next to me. I can feel the love flowing out of her human arms as she cradles my head.

Lily, who was watching us, came over.

She changed her lower form to the bed I use at night. With that form she lifts me up so I could lay on her.

After checking my body and healing me with magic she gave a contented nod.

“Ok, everythings is healed.”(Gerbera)

“Doing this every morning, sorry.”(Kajima)

“It’s okay.”

Lily’s upper body which sprouted out near my head, smiled and stared at my face. The me right now looks like I’m getting a lap pillow from Lily. Although it’s a different variant. The elasticity on the back of my head is of a girl’s thigh, but at the same time the cool feeling is that of a slime.

Since she transformed she wasn’t wearing anything on her lower body, although she looked like she was sitting in seiza her lower body was still that of a slime, from another’s point of view this might be a amazing position to be in.

(TL/N: seiza is the japanese formal sitting posture, commonly seen when drinking tea or in kendo matches.)

“Master does have some skill now.”(Lily)

“I only remember falling down pitifully though.”(Kajima)

“Didn’t the number of times you’ve fallen decreased?”(Lily)

“…”

“I’m joking, I’m joking. You’re progressing very smoothly master.”(Lily)

“Milord is getting stronger, thou art progressing faster than I first thought.”(Gerbera)

Making side glances at us, I could hear Gerbera’s leg moving. I can’t help but make a wry smile.

“To casually avoid those, even if you say that…”(Kajima)

Even if you say that I’ve gotten stronger. It doesn’t feel that way.

I let out a sigh, it is a natural thing

“I understood how to handle magical power ……  somehow”(Kajima)

When I fill my whole body with magic, my body starts to creak. The magic starts to move like sticky mud. I’m happy that, with help of Gerbera’s teaching, I’m able to achieve body strengthening magic. It’s probably like when a baby first learns how to walk.

――With this I can fight!

The feeling of excitement made me realise that, even though I am a 17 year old man, I still yearn for pure strength.

It was Gerbera who quickly brought an end to my excitement.

Battle training with her, in terms of using magic power in body strengthening magic nothing has really changed. I can’t even graze her with my sword, and even with Asarina I couldn’t bind her. Obviously holding back, I dodged her legs and got hit in the back, no matter how agitated I was it would immediately disappear.

“……”

“Master are you depressed?”(Lily)

As I remembered the state of training from this morning, lily wraps her hands around my cheeks.

To my feverish body, the feel of this chilly girl is pleasant.

It’s a bit depressing, it was definitely uncool.

When I answer, Lily comes around to peek at my eyes. There was a smile on her face.

“But, that face seems to be very happy”(Lily)

“….yeah, I guess.”(Kajima)

I return a nod. It’s a fact that when you don’t have talent it can feel hollow, but it’s also an enriching feeling.

In this world that has a mysterious power called magic, there’s nothing for an ordinary guy like me to do except go forward one step at a time.  I understood that, so I wasn’t seriously depressed.

It is a lucky thing that I can be in this dangerous world and still advance slowly.

Besides there’s someone watching me with a smile. It would be too greedy to wish for more than this

“Let’s have breakfast soon”(Kajima)

I give Lily’s cheeks a pat as I get up. Lily wipes the mud off of me. We don’t lack in the necessity of clothes thanks to Gerbera. But all the clothes made by her are white.

 Because the place I fell today was exceptionally bad, this time I was very dirty. I think it would be best if I changed before I ate.

I was glancing around while I thought about such things. What entered my view was a white-ish doll, and a girl wrapped in a blanket seated together.

“Oh, So you were also awake Kato-san?”(Kajima)

“Good morning, Kajima-Senpai.”(Kato

As I was approaching I called out to them. Kato released her palms from Roses upper arm, turned, and cordially bowed to me.

She is training to learn magic, just like I am, getting ready for the future. Though for her she is just touching the place where Rose uses magic to create magic tools. She is trying to feel the flow of magic

“Any progress?”(Kajima)

“It’s difficult. I’m inexperienced even if I can feel it, I still don’t know how to take in magic power.”(Kato)

Kato has a bitter expression.  For some reason it doesn’t seem to be going well for her.

“That’s inevitable didn’t you expect it to be difficult from the beginning?”(Kajima)

“Yes. But it’s been over a week and there hasn’t been any progress.”(Kato)

“That’s same for me.”(Kajima)

“ Kajima-senpai is able to move now. I was watching out of the corner of my eye and your movements are starting to look good.”(Kato)

Is that really true? No, she’s probably trying to comfort me, it is just social etiquette. If it was someone I was intimate with like Lily then maybe. But we aren’t that close yet.

The sense of distance could be something like “ a friends friend”. Or maybe even “ the friends father”.

Still we are talking better now compared to before.

“ Well if you need any help, as long as I’m around feel free to ask me and I will help Kato-san as much as I can.”(Kajima)

“Thank you.”(Kato)

It’s a compromise… though I don’t know how much I can help.

There was also a separate meaning. Kato-san had to learn it in a certain amount of time. We need to find humans, not just supplies. Once we do we will entrust Kato-san to them. We have already found traces of humans. Depending on the situation we may be parting soon. With her being a friend of Rose,  I’ve decided to treat her as nice as I can. I will try to repay her kindness to Rose by then. That is my current thoughts

“Can I have a bit of your time, master?”(Rose)

Because Rose called out to me, I snapped out of my own thoughts. I looked away from Kato-san to Rose.

“There is something I want to give you. I was working on it with Gerbera and finished it last night.”(Rose)

“!?, Really!?”(Kajima)

“Yes, would you check it?”(Rose)

Rose handed me a white cloth, carefully folded. I can see when I open it, it is a long sleeve undershirt.  I can see that the sewn cloth was made from Gerbera but it was integrated with Rose’s armor plates.  This is made with the pseudo-damascus steel, even though it is thin I can expect some good defence from it.

“This is good. Better than I expected.”(Kajima)

“Thank you very much.”(Rose)

I wanted this ready for when we encountered other humans.  I’m happy it was ready in time. I’m going to give it a trial run immediately.

“But before that, I think I should wash off my sweat first before I wear it.”(Kajima)

“That might be best.”(Rose)

Rose turned to Lily.

“Then would onee-sama prepare the bath. I will prepare the fire in the meantime.”(Rose)

“Alright, then would Gerbera help Rose with the preparations. Gerbera why are you being so restless?”(Lily)

Lily has a curious expression. Gerbera was getting impatient, and looking around restlessly without thinking.

“I can’t see Ayame.”(Gerbera)

“Now that you mention it…”(Kajima)

As I look around I can’t see the young fox.

Ayame had a very free and wild spirit about her. She can usually be seen playing within eye sight.

Though I think It’s a child’s job to play. Gerbera seems to be fairly worried.

“I surely thought that she was with Rose.”(Gerbera)

“No.  I thought elder sister Lily was keeping her occupied for me.”(Rose)

“I don’t know…oh?”(Lily)

The same time that Lily was speaking there was a rustle in the bushes.

Speak of the devil… Just as we were talking of Ayame she appears.

She won’t settle down even after she comes out from under the bush. Once she sees me, she runs straight to me

“What’s the matter?”(Kajima)

She bit the hem of my pants and began to pull me. I stare at the fox and can feel her excitement. She looks up at me with wide eyes, and appears startled.

“What did you find”(Kajima) (TL: Is Timmy stuck in the well?!)

Ayame stopped pulling on my clothes and let go.

Apparently that was the right answer.

Is Ayame’s sense of smell the same as Lily’s Mimicked fire fang sense?

While we were training she might have found something.

Something.

I could feel something. With a firm voice I give out instructions.

“Everyone get ready for departure. Be aware of your surrounding. Ayame is going to guide us.”(Kajima)

Breakfast is postponed. We left immediately to begin the search. Lily was right behind Ayame incase there was any problems. She can perceive the danger faster than anyone.

How many minutes have we walked?

Ayame stopped at Lilys feet and reported with a suppressed voice.

“I found it.”(Lily)

Here is the path that we had been traveling next to for the last couple of days. I hide in the shadow of the trees and look onto the path.

There! After a long time I can see it, the figure of a human.