Chapter 10: Yandere Master Emma

Before she knew it, Emma was saying such things out loud.

The usual Emma would have been a little calmer.

At the very least, she shouldn’t be showing her raw desires out in the open like this… probably.

But the Emma of right now was still in a state of excitement.

Just a few minutes ago, she had been prepared to die before a divine beast.

When people face death, their awareness of being alive stimulates their primal instincts.

Yes… that’s why it was inevitable that Emma would reveal her desires so openly.

Probably…

We’ve known each other for ten years… and my daughter will be an adult soon, so why won’t you…?

With a strange glint in her eyes, Emma repeated these delirious words, her body writhing.

Just then.

A sound came from the bushes.

Emma gasped and scrambled to her feet.

No way… did the Fenrir come back…?

Tense, Emma reached for the sword at her hip.

“E-Emma-san!! You’re safe!”

But… what emerged from the bushes was a lone man.

He was a young male adventurer from Emma’s guild.

He had accompanied Emma on the search for the Fenrir, but fled in terror at the sound of its roar.

Afterward, however, ashamed of his own cowardice for abandoning Emma, he had mustered his courage and returned alone.

As he drew closer, legs trembling in fear of the Fenrir, he saw…

…that Emma was the only one there.

Furthermore, that same Emma was doing something… suspicious, all by herself.

The normally composed Emma, her beautiful face flushed, was wrapped in an alluring aura, her body—

“So… you’re the only one who came back?”

The man was staring blankly, his mind replaying the sight of Emma from moments ago.

When the man looked at Emma now, he saw the usual calm, intelligent… and strict Emma.

So that thing just now must have been my imagination… no, maybe a daydream.

The man tried to convince himself of it.

“Y-Y-Yes… I-I’m very sorry, a-about before, um…”

“That doesn’t matter anymore. The Fenrir is gone, and I’m safe.”

“What?! B-But the Fenrir was really here, wasn’t it?! How in the world…?! Did you fight it off by yourself, Emma-san?!”

“Of course not… even I am no match for a divine beast. Seeing it up close, I felt that all over again… Truly… I only survived thanks to him…”

“Um… ‘him’? This is embarrassing to admit, but I thought everyone, myself included, ran away terrified just from the Fenrir’s roar…”

“That’s… um…”

Emma hesitated.

It would be easy to talk about him… about Mikami Shuzo… right here.

In fact, Emma could passionately lecture for hours about how strong, how wonderful, how manly, and how dependable Mikami was.

And she constantly harbored the desire to proclaim Mikami’s greatness to everyone.

But… Emma held herself back.

He’s the type who hates to stand out…

That’s why he’s still stuck at F-Rank…

Besides… if everyone… if other women were to learn of his greatness…

It could turn into a repeat of the past.

Those detestable vixens who used to swarm around Mikami.

Fortunately, those women… the Moon Maidens… have now moved their operations to the Royal Capital and are S-Rank Adventurers.

They’ll probably never return to this town again.

Just as Emma planned.

Heh heh… now all that’s left is for him to marry me…

“Um… Emma-san… are… are you okay?”

“Hm? O-Oh… I’m fine. I was just thinking about him… n-no, I mean, I’m just a little tired from the Fenrir incident…”

“I-I see… i-if you say so…”

The man’s eyes darted around as he replied, his voice cracking.

“Right… in that case… let’s head back to town. It’s getting late… We can think about what to do next tomorrow.”

With that, Emma and the man left the area.

By the way, on the walk back to town, the man was terrified the entire time.

It wasn’t the Fenrir he was afraid of.

What he feared now was the beautiful woman walking in front of him… yes, Emma.

This was because he had noticed Emma’s bizarre behavior.

After all, she’d had a strange smile on her face for a while now.

And, for some unknown reason, she was clutching a filthy, worn-out man’s undershirt that gave off a terribly unpleasant odor, as if it were a treasure…

Come to think of it…

The man recalled what he had seen moments earlier.

Emma was holding that undershirt to her lips, with an ecstatic look on her face…

At that, he shook his head vigorously.

No… I must have seen it wrong.

It has to be.

The beautiful, always composed, incredibly strong Guild Master Emma, the one everyone admires…

There’s no way she’d make a face like that or do something like that.

But still… the way Emma is now…

Everyone has secrets.

Maybe Emma had one, too.

More than anything, it was probably better not to pry into that secret.

For the sake of his own life…

The man thought this as he snuck a glance at the profile of Emma, who was still smiling that strange smile.

And the words of Emma’s old moniker from her adventuring days, “Frenzied War Princess,” remained stuck in his mind.