Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 3 - Chapter 18

Monster no Goshujin-sama: Volume 3 Chapter 18: Standoff On the Riverbank

Previous chapter:
Idaten-chan was defeated.

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“……That, was rather close”

Sitting down on the riverbank, I murmured quietly.
In front of me, is a rapidly flowing mountain stream. It’s the same as the one that was flowing at the bottom of the cliffs at the mountain path we were using earlier.

I was caught in the landslide created by Gerbera, and although I wasn’t injured, I lost my footing, and fell into the river flowing below.
The flow of the river was fast, I was swept for quite a long distance. Even though I luckily didn’t die, to return back to where we originally were, will take quite some time.

As I sighed, I could hear the crackling sound of a bonfire in my ears.
It was a fire to dry my wet clothes.

Feeling its heat on my naked upper body, I pulled my gaze back from the mountain stream.
Around the bonfire, there were three other people. I called out to one of them.

“……Kato-san”

At my call, Kato-san turned to me.
She too, was only wearing underwear on her upper body. Her slender shoulders, the lines of her rounded back and her held-in knees, as well as her wet and shiny white flanks were all exposed, making it a bit troubling to look at her.

However, this was a situation where I should look her in the face and talk to her properly.
I fixed my view point onto her face as much as possible.

“What is it, senpai?”
“Please stop being so reckless”

When the cliff collapsed, the one in the most danger, was none other than Kato-san.

Putting aside me and my family, for her who can’t control her magic power well, it wouldn’t have been strange if she had died in that landslide.

I’m sure that she acted because she had a good chance of succeeding, but when I think that something could have gone wrong, I shudder.

“But, in that situation……”

Kato-san started to say something, but she stopped when she saw my face.

“……No. I understand. I will be as careful as I can”
“That reply, doesn’t reassure me at all though……”
“Fufu. My apologies”

The corners of Kato-san’s mouth rose. It was a modest, but lovely smile.

“Thank you very much for your concern”
“……Aah”

Even though I try to look at only her face as much as possible, I can’t completely eliminate her shoulders and below from my sight.

When Kato-san slightly stirs, my eyes can catch her modest bulges compared to Lily, pressing softly against the knees she was holding.

I hurriedly looked away from her.

……I shouldn’t look at her that way.
I understand that, but I am also a man. I can’t look, not even for a moment.

I mean, to be half naked together and not react, is biologically impossible.

And if you’re as cute as Kato-san, even more so.
I’ve lost my prejudice against her, and the only thing I think that I blundered at, may be this. While I thought it was weird, it was still overall a good thing though……

“Master”

I was grateful that someone else had called out, pulling my attention elsewhere..

“Are you cold? Should you require more fire, I shall go collect more firewood”
“It’s fine”

The owner of that voice, was Rose.
A masked woman with drenched dull silver hair, was looking at us. She doesn’t need to worry about catching a cold, so her clothes were still on.

But, the fabric of her clothes sticking to her hard mannequin body, had a strange freshness. Perhaps it was because Rose was defenseless, or perhaps it was the lingering bit of womanly feel I felt from Kato-san.1

I let out a sigh, and turned my attention back to her.
Then, I noticed the cracks that ran under Rose’s transparent clothes, which had become wrinkles and appeared on her clothes. It was the damage she received from when she was hit by Iino. It was painful to look at.

“You too, is your body alright?”
“Combat is possible. However, the damage will inevitably have effects”
“Well, that can’t be helped”
“I would like to replace a few parts, but my luggage has been scattered all over along with the car so……I hope that I could at least recover the bag magic tool alone. All of my spare bodies parts including spare parts, had been placed into it”
“I’m sorry, Rose-san. Because it was an emergency, I didn’t think that far……”

Kato-san, who was the person who intentionally caused the cliff to collapse, shrunk back.
Rose shook her head.

“No. Don’t worry about it. What is lost, can be made once again. Regarding the bag magic tool, a rather large portion of its analysis has been completed, so I think that I will soon be able to make it by myself. Moreover……the one at fault, is not Mana”
“……what. Do you mean I’m at fault?”

The last one who was around the bonfire, gave out a discontent voice.

Iino Yuna. A girl with a cheat and the nickname [idaten].
However, she has currently lost her prided speed.

Sitting down with both of her legs thrown forward, on her left was bloodstained cloth wrapped around her thigh, and on her right her ankle was fixed crudely using cloth and wooden branches.

“Wait, Majima! Don’t stare at me so intently!”

Noticing my gaze, Iino raised her beautiful eyebrows.2

Incidentally, Iino was also in her underwear.
I didn’t think that a cheat could catch cold, but she took them off since it was uncomfortable to stay wet.

“……Rest assured in that I’m not interested in your naked body”
“Wha!?”

Although her chest was small, Iino was a beauty. I thought that she was slender and beautiful.
However, when she was in her underwear, I didn’t feel strange or anything. As for why that was, I didn’t care.

Well, naturally, it was natural.

Although we were all around the bonfire all the same, needless to say, Iino was an enemy.
The current situation, could be called a strange stalemate.

[Idaten] has currently lost her prided legs, but that doesn’t mean, that she can be handled by me and Rose. We would get the tables turned on us even if we were to attack her.

Iino on the other hand, can’t attack us with that injury. Just in case, to some amount, we were keeping a distance, as well as keeping our vigilance.
In addition, even if she caught us, if she can’t walk then she can’t bring us back. It was fortunate that Iino was a vanguard type that doesn’t know recovery magic.

As for why something like this was happening, mostly, it was due to Kato-san.

At that moment, in that situation where she was about to get caught in the landslide, Kato-san used an imitation flash magic stone.
With a timing that didn’t even give her free time to think, and moreover because it was a surprise attack from an opponent she wasn’t vigilant against, Iino was completely blinded.

Although, others that were there, were, as you would expect, also restricted in their actions.

But, some were able to move without any problems.
One was Rose. Another was Asarina.

Neither of the two girls, see the world through their eyes. Naturally, getting blinded and such isn’t a hindrance to them.
When I think about it, perhaps it was because Kato-san trusted Rose when taking this property into consideration, that she gave Gerbera such an absurd strategy.

‘If it’s Rose, I’m sure she will save me,’ or so.

In fact, Rose had moved to protect her from the falling debris.
I instructed Asarina, to retrieve Kato-san and Rose.

At that time, Iino getting involved, could be said to have been some sort of an inevitability.

That was because Kato-san, when she tangled herself with Iino who had charged forward when she lost her sight, stabbed the knife she was holding into her thigh.

As expected of a knife made by Rose. Even though it was aimed at a defenseless area, it had succeeded in inflicting proper damage onto even [idaten]’s body. Iino’s other leg, because she was distracted by the pain, seemed to have also had a joint hurt when she was caught in the collapse.

Or, should I say it as, Kato-san has quite the ways?
Against enemies, she really is merciless. However, if she hadn’t done this, Iino’s fighting ability couldn’t have been reduced, so her decision could be said as correct.

“By the way senpai. What shall we do from now?”
“Let’s see……”

As Kato-san asked me, I folded my arms and thought for a moment.

“First, we’ll meet up with Lily and the others I guess”

We had gotten separated from everyone who wasn’t here.
In the scene I saw right before I was blinded by the light, the ones at the back of the mountain path, Silane and Kei, as well as Gerbera, weren’t caught in the landslide due to their position.

This, was because Gerbera had thrown the car into the cliff face forwards from them.

Also, once I understood Kato-san’s intention, I threw the nearby Ayame towards Gerbera’s direction. From there, I’m sure that Gerbera retrieved her.
Even though it was on the spur of the moment, it was something quite rough. Around now, Ayame is probably puffed up in anger. I’ll have to appease her later.

The unlucky one, was Lily.
As you know, when she’s mimicking, she is pulled into her target’s body structure. The blinding should’ve been perfectly effective, and in addition, she was caught in the landslide.

To that extent, it wasn’t any serious danger to Lily’s body as a monster, but she seemed to have been swept off alone by the river. Through the pass, I could feel her coming towards us.

“Let’s wait for Lily and the others to come here. Especially, since Lily has the nose of a wolf. Rather than wandering away from here and searching for them clumsily, it’s better to let them find us. Then, we can just meet up with Gerbera again”

Gerbera, who seems to have started pursuing us immediately, was moving quite slowly. It was probably because in addition to only vaguely knowing her way in this pass, she had lost most of her legs.

On the other side, there were also Silane and Kei, but Silane, now an undead monster, can’t use recovery magic, and Kei’s magic ability, is probably not strong enough to heal Gerbera’s fallen legs. As expected, our meet up will be after Lily’s.

“After that, what will we do?”
“It’ll be the same as before. We’ll go back onto the mountain path, and head for Akel”
“Wait a second, Majima. You, are you trying to escape?”

There, Iino inserted herself into the conversation.
I casted a doubting look towards her, but she glared at me as if she didn’t care about it.

“Return to the empire with me”

Since earlier, Iino had been like this the entire time.

To be honest, it’s bothersome. But, that doesn’t mean, I can just ignore her.
As for me, there wasn’t any reason to actively fight with Iino. Rather, I don’t want to be involved with her, so when I can get away from her, I want to quickly run away.
Even so, I was sitting around a bonfire with Iino like this, to gather information. If we don’t exchange words, then I won’t be able to draw out the information I could draw out.

Although, at any rate, our words had become forbidding.

“Even if I’m told to return to the empire. If the person who suddenly attacked me to me to do so, the no way I can just follow along with a ‘yes yes’”

Iino’s expression turned grim.

“……Wait a sec. The one who took the first piece, was you”
“Was me? What are you talking about. And also, don’t call them pieces. You’re the one who turned hostile”
“And yet, you guys suddenly attacked without warning?”
“Suddenly, I was about to be killed by a street slasher. It was natural for Lily and the others to fight back”
“St, street slasher!? What the heck’s with that! I wasn’t going to kill you!”

We couldn’t get on the same page at all.
As we glared at each other, I heard the pan sound of a clap.

“For the time being, why don’t we share the situation with each other?”

It was Kato-san.
By listening to her quiet voice, the blood that had been rising to my head cooled off a little.

That’s when, I realized that I wasn’t in control of my emotions.

I took a deep breath.
Let’s calm down a little.

I’m angry and uncomfortable about the fact that Lily and the fact others were hurt.
However, if I lose my calm, we won’t be able to have a discussion, and no information will be obtained.

Let’s cool down a little, and think about what Iino said earlier.

Iino thought that I was one of the people who attacked Fort Tillia, and chased after me.
She was only trying to catch me, not kill me.

I see. From Iino’s point of view, she was chasing the suspect, and when she pointed her suspicion onto us, we got upset and attacked3……she might have that impression.

Of course, we have our own side of the story.

But, even Iino must have something to say.
……Well, in the first place, it began with Iino’s misunderstanding, but if we place that aside, it wasn’t not partly an unfortunate misunderstanding.
I, relaxed my shoulders.

“……Got it”

Kato-san, watched to see me unconsciously lower my raised body back down, and this time turned her cool gaze to Iino.

“Iino-san too. You thought something was strange didn’t you?”
“That’s……”
“At least, regarding senpai’s family being manipulated puppets, you understand that that is wrong, yes? Be it Gerbera-san, or Lily-san, I’m sure that they were desperately trying to protect senpai from you. Did they appear like manipulated puppets to you?”

Iino tightened her mouth sullenly.
While in the middle of combat with Gerbera, she seemed to have some doubts. Kato-san’s pinpoint, seems to have accurately captured the sense of discomfort that Iino had felt.

“Also, Rose-san is right here. I won’t let you call her a puppet without a will”

At the end, to Kato-san, who said that with an unusual drive, Iino gave out a ‘uguu’ groan.

“……Got it”

While showing some reluctance, Iino also backed down.
Thus, we had set up an opportunity for discussion.

Author Notes:
◆Thank you for your patience.
It’s the first appearance of Kato-san’s sexy scene huh.
It seems to be Iino’s too though.

(TN: The author says more, but it’s just old information about volume release dates and next chapter updates, so I won’t put it in)

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Not sure how to TL (おれのなかに、加藤さんに女を感じた余韻が残っている部分もあるのかもしれない).
(柳眉) Could also mean “willow eyebrows” (as in the color), but all the translations I could find said beautiful eyebrows though.
A more direct translation for (逆上して) would be more so like “we turned our faces upside down,” as in the mouth and eyebrows.