Stranded with My Master
“Are you serious?”
“You should know the answer to that question better than anyone.”
In my inner monologue, I’d described my master as someone who should never gamble. You could gauge the depth of her feelings through the glint in her eyes. When she was sincere, they’d shine like flickering flames.
Except for the time she said she wanted to retire due to her disciple’s failure, or when she declared defeat, Scarlet’s red eyes always gleamed. Her words about taking a brief break from the Empire must have been sincere too—even knowing full well what kind of waves her departure would cause.
“Is it because of me, by any chance?”
“I can’t say your influence was zero. The world’s most diligent disciple chose to abandon his mission, after all. So I decided to follow your lead and set down my own heavy burden for a while.”
“I’ve seen plenty of disciples imitating their masters, but a master imitating her disciple? That’s a first.”
“That’s me, alright.”
She was the type to embrace anything that seemed worthwhile, regardless of status or position. During deployments, she’d complain that the rations were disgustingly bland and track down an imperial chef to learn cooking. She’d mimic a cat sunning itself and napping, or hone her throwing skills by watching kids chuck stones at a target drawn on a wall. She drew inspiration from everything in the world.
The spear she’s wielding now must have come from some random inspiration too.
What I’d learned from my master was swordsmanship and aura manipulation. Scarlet’s main weapon wasn’t the spear but the sword at her waist. Even with a secondary weapon, her proficiency hinted at raw talent. The epitome of versatility. Though she herself claimed the only thing she’d stuck with was swordsmanship—and even that had reached its limit. She’d gone so far as to openly envy me, her disciple, saying she saw no limits in my sword talent. A straight-arrow personality that left people bewildered in all sorts of ways.
“Even if I tried to talk you out of it, you wouldn’t listen, would you?”
“Then I’d have no choice but to drag you back to the palace as leader of the Red Lion Knight Order.”
“Mind if I ask one more thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why go out of your way to travel with me? If it’s just for a vacation, you could go alone.”
Scarlet pointed finger-guns at me—a reaction that I’d hit the nail on the head.
“You’ve gotten sharper while we’ve been apart. You’re right; it’s not just a vacation that’s making me tag along.”
“Then what is it?”
“Truth is, I came to console my disciple. When I heard you’d abandoned your mission, I thought you’d hit a wall and fallen into despair.”
“A wall?”
“Even with talent, hardships don’t vanish. I came to encourage my dejected disciple, but I was wrong.”
She glanced at Luna standing beside me and flashed a knowing smile. Maybe she thought I’d been off playing around with women. Thinking back to how Luna had wrung me out on the way to the Port City, it wasn’t entirely off-base, and I found myself scratching my cheek.
“Seeing you sound in body and mind puts me at ease.”
“So you’ll head back now?”
“Nah?”
Scarlet grinned brightly, her resolve to come along unshakable. With my master’s mind made up, there was nothing a disciple like me could do. Not that I had any intention of stopping her. Her leaving would be the Empire’s loss.
“I haven’t taken my vacation time yet. Come on, let’s go! The vice-captain’s probably tearing her hair out looking for me by now.”
“Didn’t you say it was a leave of absence?”
“I left the application on my desk. Didn’t get approval, but as captain, I don’t need to tiptoe around.”
“At this rate, the vice-captain’s probably already collapsed from shock.”
“Doesn’t matter. They’ll handle their roles just fine without me.”
It was undeniable that the Red Lion Knight Order remained strong even without its captain. But most of its prestige stemmed from Scarlet’s achievements—the symbolism would be gone without her. It wasn’t like my outright defection to another country; her return was uncertain. With us now aboard the ship to the Yudika Kingdom, it was fair to say the Empire’s military strength had dropped by half.
Who’s going to handle the demons now?
The Empire’s top two powerhouses were both gone. They’d extracted all sorts of concessions from other nations by claiming to represent humanity against the demon race—and now they were screwed. They could probably hold out by skillfully deploying the other knight orders. But the rotten higher-ups would keep treating soldiers like expendable tools. In the end, they’d realize no one was left to protect them and meet a pathetic demise.
“I’ve really gone and done something irreversible.”
“Yeah, but I figured you’d stubbornly cling to the end. Surprised you didn’t.”
“I decided to drop pointless stubbornness. Like vowing to achieve my goals no matter what it takes.”
“……You don’t sound like the disciple I know.”
Her sharp words made me flinch. She was right—I wasn’t the real Alvin. But if I lived preaching justice like the original Alvin, ruin was inevitable. I had no choice but to voice my convictions.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“No need to apologize. If anything, I’m relieved you’re finally thinking selfishly.”
“Really?”
“Know why I came looking for you? No matter the problem, you always bottle it up inside. You bulldoze through with a strong spirit, but I worried you’d break someday.”
Scarlet had Alvin’s personality pegged. She understood him far better than I did. Guess you can’t ignore years of master-disciple life. I’d have to keep up the act diligently to avoid blowing my cover as an outsider.
“That’s why I like this version of you, having set aside your mission. You look much better.”
“Glad to hear that—it eases my mind.”
“If anything, I should be sorry. I wanted to help you from the sidelines, but I couldn’t. Her Majesty has been acting strangely lately.”
“……”
Scarlet had vaguely noticed the Empress’s changes too. I knew what happened with Hella, but I stayed silent. Telling Scarlet wouldn’t do any good.
“Oh, Alvin. I’m heading back to the cabin. The seasickness is worse than I thought……”
“Yeah, go rest.”
Shortly after the ship set sail, Luna started suffering from seasickness. Back when I’d seen her diary, I thought she was superhuman, but she had this unexpected weakness. At least it meant no more getting wrung out by her on the ship.
“Your lover?”
“If you mean Luna, no, she’s not. We’re just close friends for now.”
“Is that so…?”
Scarlet reacted with keen interest the moment I answered.
“Speaking of which, what happened to that trio who tagged along on your journey?”
“If you mean my…… no, my comrades, I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Did they die?”
“No, they’re alive. Too alive, actually—that’s the problem.”
“Now you’ve got me even more curious about what went down.”
Scarlet gazed at me intently, eyes half-lidded, trying to read between the lines. I averted my eyes. I wanted to spill everything, but I couldn’t tell her my lovers had cheated and made me ditch the mission. It would tarnish the honor of the master who’d raised me as a knight.
“You won’t tell me even if I beg, huh.”
“Sorry.”
“Fine. At least I get how badly you wanted to leave the Empire—down to my bones.”
She turned to gaze at the vast sea. Maybe it was the rolling blue waves, but for a moment, the glint in her red eyes seemed to dim.
“Still just friends, huh……”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing.”
Scarlet left those meaningful words and turned away.
“Master?”
Five days passed since then. Scarlet never mentioned the Empire. She spent the time dragging me up to the deck for “training sessions” and sparring, acting every bit the typical master and disciple.
“Hah!”
“Oh? You blocked that one nicely.”
“I can’t keep falling for the same attacks forever.”
For me, who is still not fully accustomed to Alvin’s body, sparring with Scarlet was a huge boost to my skills. Just as I was getting the hang of it, her gaze shifted past my shoulder. She grinned wickedly.
“How about this?”
“What?!”
Suddenly, she drew her sword from her waist. Ching! I parried with my own blade, but the force sent me staggering back, teetering against the railing.
“You’ve got a long way to go!”
“Master, hold on!”
I called for a timeout in my precarious spot, but her spear was already airborne. I blocked the full-force throw with my sword, but my balance tipped backward. I plunged over the rail into the sea, saltwater flooding my mouth and nose.
“……!”
Struggling to breathe, I flailed toward the surface. No buoyancy came. Panicking, I felt a hand yank me up.
“Pwah! Cough! Cough!”
“You okay?”
“M-Master?”
“Sorry! I got too into it and messed up my control.”
“Cough! Cough! The ship……!”
The ship sailed on leisurely despite our fall. Had no one on board seen us? We had to catch up, but with seawater weighing me down, pursuing the moving vessel was impossible.
“Too late now.”
“What do we do? we're stranded in the middle of the ocean……”
A worst-case scenario. Amid it all, Scarlet calmly scanned around and pointed somewhere.
“There’s an island that way. Let’s head there.”
“Cough! Cough! An island?”
“Got any better ideas?”
Thankfully, the island wasn’t far from where we’d fallen. We swam desperately and washed up on the beach, collapsing in exhaustion.
“Hah……! Hah……! We made it!”
“Yeah, but we’re still castaways.”
“……Sorry.”
“No helping it. We just have to survive until another ship passes by.”
No storm, but we’d ended up stranded anyway. Experiencing something straight out of a comic or game left me stunned.
“It’s a decent-sized island, so scavenging supplies should be easy enough.”
“Think anyone lives here?”
“Who knows……”
“Hey! You guys over there!”
Just as I wondered if it was uninhabited, voices called from the nearby forest—contrary to my expectations.
Two men and two women emerged from the brush, all with sun-tanned skin. A blond man stood out especially. The other was black-haired and short-statured; the women were pretty but moved awkwardly.
“Over here! This way!”
They clutched their groins with both hands. But they couldn’t hide the white fluid trickling down their legs.
The moment I saw it, I knew exactly where we were. A frequent stage in NTR games. The Deserted Island.