Monster no Goshujin-sama

44. The Battle of Kamihiko Tsuki

"See you, Captain. Today in this corner."

Alone in a blurry, dark, wide aisle, Kanahiko Tachigi had put a pendant on his palm and was talking towards it.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but it's like time."

"... Okay, Kanahiko."

From the pendant, I heard a woman responding.

See you next time.

It was a magic tool for distance communication, loaned by the Cathedral Church.

Naturally, permission is required when using and all conversations are heard.

It means we're only allowed to have a conversation without barriers.

Nevertheless, even if I could just listen to my loved ones, it was an irreplaceable moment for Kanahiko Tachigi.

This was one thread that would connect me with my loved ones.

… but also a well made prop to make the chain connected to the neck aware.

Watch your body, though.

"Ha ha. Absolutely."

"... really, take care of yourself."

I heard some anxiety seeping through the words I cared about repeatedly.

I feel a lot weaker, and Kanahiko Tachigi feels pain in that fact.

……

Everything was decided, that day.

I was remembering naturally the helpless taste of her crying.

Until that day, the boy wanted to be a knight protecting his precious woman.

While I didn't think it was Gala, I was seriously putting in a lot of effort.

... but the wish of such a boy was destroyed by no complete skin.

The only thing left in the wreckage was disappointment in the helpless self.

Kanahiko Tachigi is a cunt who can't protect every woman she falls in love with.

Come on, you couldn't have been a knight.

That's what I was reminded of.

...... but.

Still.

Even though I thought I was like that, there was still something I couldn't give away.

That was why Kanahiko Tsuki was here.

After a short conversation using tools, he squeezed his pendant.

"... Captain. I will protect you. Protect what matters. If that's what you're doing, it's not hard."

For that reason alone, it was no exaggeration to say that there had been days in the past few months.

Since arriving in Imperial Capital and taking a loved one hostage, Kamihiko Tachigi has just continued to work for the Cathedral Church.

As well as going on a dangerous monster crusade, he was sometimes driven out by incidents like fake brave riots.

In all of that, he continued to contribute actively from himself.

From the side, he would have seemed desperate to get into power.

Rather, it was natural because he even acted like that.

But he was doing so only for what mattered.

As I told my best friend, Takahiro Mashima, I had no intention of getting the priorities wrong.

That's exactly how Kanahiko Tachigi spent the past few months.

In other words, in order to protect what is more important, he has always continued to trump things of lower priority.

I have consciously been forced to make brutal choices that this can be thrown away.

That first candidate was Takahiro Mashima.

He had no choice but to do so when he was forced to take a woman, a benefactor and a thinker, hostage and kill her best friend.

That was the decision.

It was stipulated.

... was no joke.

Don't be ridiculous.

Is that acceptable?

Indeed, Kanahiko Tsuki is a pitiful man who could not satisfactorily protect one important woman.

It's not worth living, Cass.

But not scum like betraying your best friend.

Kanahiko Takashima will never betray Takahiro Mashima.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So, yeah.

It was a priority.

He threw away something else to protect something that could never be truncated.

Something that, if it were meant to be, should never be truncated.

For him, a subject of disappointment that no longer has value.

A wreck of a former wish, broken off as not worth living.

It was, in other words, every human being named Kanahiko Tachigi.

Kanahiko Tachigi can't reject a plan aimed at his best friend more than he has taken a mistress hostage.

However, I could also say that this would be in a position to efficiently disrupt that plan from the inside out if we changed our view.

In short, all you have to do is be a bug in the lion who does everything possible to disrupt it more than that while joining the plan without losing his hand.

… Of course, this is like an easy example.

It's hard work to make it go well, and if you can, you can't just do it.

But I didn't hesitate.

I can't believe his life, because he was truncating from calculation at the very beginning.

Thus began the battle of Kamihiko Tsuki.

In order to interfere with the plan, it was necessary to take an unquestionable position, whatever it was.

He threw down his pride and behaved as a despicable traitor to the powerful.

If asked, I went on a monster crusade with my life at stake.

I was dying many times, but I was able to get the position I needed.

It also became a human running dog who made an important woman cry.

This was the toughest.

Tied to his collar and waved his tail as he was torn apart from his dignity as a person.

- Why does Master Tsuki always laugh?

When was it that Eliner, the watchman, asked me?

Honestly, it's been a long time since my daily senses were lost.

Humiliation, thoughtlessness, anger.

Hiding everything beneath his nagging smile, he indulged.

In the sludge, it was like soaking up to the tip of my head.

That, too, was' the end 'today.

"... you did what you could"

In his mouth alone, Kanahiko Tsuki snapped.

Various arrangements were made for the day, some of which went well.

Takahiro Mashima and his companions desperately fought against the assaulting enemy, and so many humans helped them, including Yuna Iino and Gordon, but even the boy was undoubtedly one of them.

"... and failed."

It was when I ambushed Takahiro Mashima.

Kanahiko Tsuki couldn't have done more than join the plan.

As a matter of fact, the original assumption was not supposed to cause injury.

Instead, he believed that poking a gap and succeeding in abridging Kato Vegetables - no matter, ensuring her safety - was the line that would end the ambush without any suspicion from the Cathedral Church.

During the day before, I measured my best friend's combat ability properly, and I ambushed him at a manageable time.

But unexpectedly, the ambush went well.

It was a huge failure.

This also meant that there was so much unexpected.

"... at all. Why don't you doubt it? It would be suspicious to see each other in such a convenient way."

They're not supposed to be transferring together.

It's obviously strange to see you here.

I'm just glad you're up for it.

Takahiro Mashima could have easily responded if he was even slightly alert.

Yet the ambush went well.

There is no room for misunderstanding as to what that means.

Takahiro Mashima did not suspect Kanahiko Tachigi on that occasion.