Chapter 6 The methods of execution differ according to different places and people.
I think that, because the men ready to meet the end of their lives are standing on a hastily built wooden platform, facing the gallows and talking non-stop about their wills and how their property will be split. The crowds of spectators who can’t all fit into the square are also discussing the heirs to their clothes and the slippers on their feet, as well as their wives’ rights to remarry etcetera.
There’s a human businessman nearby, with a translator beside him duly translating everything. While I’m desperately looking for Jason and Freddy, I hear all about who the bed without a leg will be given to. That’s seriously enough, I don’t care who his bed goes to, it has nothing to do with me even if his wife wants to remarry to someone ten years younger.
As for the second man, he starts loudly airing his grievances with the current government. The Seisakoku translator beside me naturally doesn’t say that part, but the officials on the stage immediately stuff the man’s mouth with something. I think the human businessman has an idea what’s going on, too. When I look around at the women, their faces are all red and their brows furrowed.
Eh…? Could it be he was spewing dirty language?
The third man has guts.
His hands are tied behind him, and his expression doesn’t change even with a rope around his neck. According to human years he would probably be forty-something years old, so thin you could clearly see the bones in his throat and arms. But it could also be that he’s already sick, and so he can even face death without flinching.
Although it was built hastily, the wooden platform is still very tall and very st.u.r.dy. These pieces of wood are taller than everyone else, so no matter how the people below try to reach out, their hands can’t reach the people being executed. It’s about six tatami mats wide, so even if there are six men of different backgrounds on it, there’s still more than enough place.
Standing on the edge of the square, even further behind that most of the spectators, I stand on my tiptoes and try to look over their hands, desperately looking for Jason and Freddy, but I can’t see anyone that looks like them on the entire stage. There are only those three men from about thirty to forty years old, and the rest are uniformed officials.
“I don’t see them.”
I thought they would be sent here a little later so I look at the escort carriage, but the coverless carriage is empty. “That’s weird, I can’t see them anywhere.”
“Could it be a last minute cancellation?”
Josak has seen them before, but he can’t find them now either. Maybe the afternoon sun is too blindingly bright, because he raises a hand over his eyes. Since all we see is a sea of almost-white blonde hair, it’s unsurprising that he would find it piercing to the eyes.
“If those girls aren’t being executed…”
The words I almost say next, ‘that’s be great’, throw me into a panic. How could I think something so selfish and cruel! There are still three men about to be executed up there. If I only want to save the people I know, I’d be way too selfish, just thinking about it makes me hate myself.
“Now what, Young Master? Do we change our plans?”
There’s a familiar song from above, drowning out Josak’s question. The third man who didn’t have any last words suddenly starts singing. It’s the song that child who drew the star outside the palace and Hazel were humming. His voice is so loud it’s almost inexplicable how that came from such a frail body. Although I don’t understand the lyrics, the song permeates to every corner of the square, changing even the crowd’s expressions.
Some of them look at each other uneasily, while others scrutinize the people around them in suspicion. I don’t know what the lyrics mean, and why the people look so ruffled, but the voice of a slave due to die an unjust death has indeed messed up their hearts.
“I don’t want to change to plan, but…”
Time is of the essence here. If we wait until we can confirm if Jason and Freddy are here, we won’t be able to save the other three. Mr. Ajira and his relatives are also ready to cause a commotion and start the plan.
“Move faster…”
“Don’t worry, it hasn’t started yet. Shh! Don’t look back.”
“Vene… Grandma Hazel?”
The whispers coming from behind me are in English. Even if she lowers her voice and adopts a special way of talking, anyone from Earth would immediately know who it is.
“Before His Majesty the Emperor shows up, they won’t carry out the sentence. When the citizens and the people… not the slaves, of course, finish listening to His Majesty’s speech, that’s when the execution starts. They’ll be covered with a sack and hung—an old but effective method.”
Venera, also known as Hazel Graves, appears at my shoulder. My body is turned straight ahead, so I give her a sideways glance, and see that she’s wearing magnificent clothes completely different from yesterday, looking just like a rich old woman. That’s right, she doesn’t look like the leader of the slaves at all, instead she looks more like a normal citizen here to watch the show. Her smile is arrogant when she says,
“I have to put on an act to avoid suspicion, right? Why are you here, though, Your Majesty? Those two girls aren’t here, are they?”
“I was about to ask you why you’re here… Why did you overturn your decision this morning?”
“Early in the morning, Lord Weller came to convince me with empty hands.”
Empty hands!? Doesn’t he have a budget to use, why would he do that?
“He said he wanted my help. Actually he could have spent a ton to hire me, but instead he pleaded me with his head lowered. After hearing about it, my comrades decided to help out too. But I’ll say this ahead, ‘That man is rich, so take what you can take.’”
Venera says jokingly, even winking at me. Since the door to my memories was suddenly thrown open recently, I think to myself, how long has it been since someone sent me a flying kiss? Since I followed Dad to America for work, right? And how long has it been since she did that? But she looks really happy, so much so that even I can feel the excitement in her heart.
“Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not doing this out of pity, and I wasn’t moved by your pa.s.sion, and I’m definitely not doing it because I can’t stand to watch children die. It’s just that I heard what Little Bu… His Majesty said, and thought that Jason and Freddy may be useful in the future, so I changed my mind. For a group like us who can’t use houjutsu, a helper with strong houjutsu is unbelievably precious. And…”
The wrinkles at the corners of those eyes deepen.
“Basically, the other three are all my cute companions.”
“Is that—so—?”
I follow her beat. I understand why she has to purposely say that, but now that it’s come to this, there’s no reason for her to act to so cruel anymore.
“So that means you brought other helpers, huh…”
“Listen up, don’t look there! The vendor selling donuts, the guy selling sweets, the girl selling desserts are all with us.”
“W-why are they all sweet things?”
Suddenly, a completely different voice and song starts rustling up the crowd. Everyone raises their heads to look up, countless gazes fixed on the special path isolated with warning fences. They clench their fists and get ready to cheer, none of their expression bored, all of them excited, antic.i.p.ating, ecstatic.
“He’s here.”
There’s even a sort of antic.i.p.ation in Hazel’s voice, just none of that admiration and joy, more like the tension before a compet.i.tion. I thought he would arrive in a s.h.i.+ny gold carriage, but instead he takes me completely by surprise. The young Seisakoku emperor enters the scene on a movable throne. In other words, he’s the VVIP. If you put it in the traditional way, it’s like a shrine seat for the G.o.ds, if you say it more dreamily then it’s like a float in a parade at the seaside theme park. The young emperor sits on the second level, surrounded by flowers and gold, even waving his right hand in a way that makes people impatient.
“…I’ll hand it to you, as expected you’re on a different level from me.”
Even though the yells of ‘between fingers’ feels weird to me, but I still have to admire the other parts. Who would have thought that he could stay so calm sitting on top of a two-story high shrine pedestal, seems like his nerves really are made of something else.
Even if I have 2.0 vision, it’s still impossible for me to see clearly at this distance. But today Yels.h.i.+ seems to have tied his hair up behind his head, wearing light green clothes and a bright yellow belt. He waves at the excited people, speaking freely, replying to them with a happy expression. He seems a little different from how he was yesterday, but that could be because he has his official face and his personal expression.
There are two servants standing on either side of the emperor, and a large sack that looks suspicious no matter how you look at it behind the chair. If it’s that size, they could easily fit two growing children inside. I suddenly feel as though the sack is moving, surprising me into blinking my eyes. Is it just me? Or is the vibration of the shrine seat causing the sack to sway?
I rub my eyes and look again. What, so it really is just me… No, it’s moving again!
“d.a.m.n, if only we had the s.h.i.+n Makoku Bird-watching a.s.sociation’s recommended ma-powered binoculars, ‘Peeping Brat’!”
“The things that aren’t there when you need them are the ‘Queen’s Inventions’; the things that disappear when you want them are truly good men, Young Master. This is how men learn how to compromise and give up. And people call this ‘the rule of fine, whatever’.”
“To me I can’t just say fine, whatever and forget about it. Ah!”
In that moment I see long and white stick-like things underneath the sack, most likely their legs.
“Could it be that Jason and Freddy were late for some reason, so they were brought directly in the sack…”
“Bringing cute girls in a sack? Instead of Yels.h.i.+, that sounds more like something the previous Empress Alazon would do.”
A-la-zon?
“It’s the maze lady that was the previous empress, Yels.h.i.+’s mother. Just the sounds of it is really uncomfortable, huh? Feels as though it’s just one syllable different from something. But she is a cool and scary woman. During Alazon’s reign, my companions suffered cruel mistreatment. So when her son took over, all the slaves rejoiced.
Is she possessed by an evil genie or something?
“But that sack is moving.”
And just then, the operation began.
As expected, there was a small scale explosion near the west entrance to the square, exactly as we planned. With that signaling the beginning, there are many other small explosions in quick succession, and the people, at first excited to see their Emperor, start scurrying for safety in a panic. And we plan to take advantage of that chaos to approach the execution stage and release the captured slaves. Although it’s a simple and plain plan, it may have a higher chance of succeeding than the best-laid plans.
Hazel rushes over there too, keeping low. Josak and I are in change of fanning the flames, so we quietly light the dynamite in our pockets and toss them into the trees.
“What should we do, Josak! The sack behind the Emperor…”
“Could it be the girls?”
I nod my head hard at my subordinate’s overly direct words. Just in case, I ask him what I should do next. My body is prepared to rush forth anytime.
“What do I do next?”
“Wait here, don’t move.”
“I thought so, it’s just as I guessed. Then I’ll just stay here and not move!”
But I plan on waiting until Conrad, Hazel and the others rescue the three poor men, then do my best to move forward and peek at situation up front. If I’m sure the ones in the sack aren’t Jason and Freddy, then I can still make it back to position before the operation ends.
“Ooh, I just can’t stand you—Young Master. After this you will have to stand by me and get scolded by Lord Weller too, okay!”
It takes a lot of effort just to fight against the crowd and reach the shrine seat up front. I sneak one glance, and see a slave dressed in civilian clothing beating up officials and soldiers, finally taking off the rope from a man’s neck. Looks like everything’s going fine over there.
Even though they have a duty to protect the Emperor, there are only half the people there were protecting Yels.h.i.+’s VVIP seat. Maybe it’s because of the unexpected attack, maybe he sent his men to help the executioners. I can’t care about how I’m dressed anymore, crawling by the flower bed as I think, “Really, you guys, the criminals being broken free and an enemy stealthily approaching your Emperor, which is more serious?”
I just have to wind around the sides until I’m behind the obstructions, then it won’t be too hard to grab the shrine seat, but the problem is what comes after that. I start crawling upwards like a frog, grateful for the many decorations that all act as footholds for me. But I still have a little inkling of a thought, wis.h.i.+ng I was that certain red arachnid superhero. If so all I’d have to do is squirt silk from my palms, now how much easier would that be.
By the time I finally reach the second story, I take great care to make sure I’m not discovered, so all I dare do is peek around at eye-level. Now I can the soldier’s feet, and the sack in front of them.
I stare at the sack intently—It’s definitely moving. But it’s not so exaggerated that I can see the movement from afar, just a slight shaking. From the gaps in the sack I can see thin pale feet.
“…As I thought, it’s a person.”
“It couldn’t have been a lucky bag full of giant kitties, could it?”
Who knows?
Unlike me, the spy moves without hesitation.
Stealthily he jumps onto the second story, knocking down the soldiers then brutally beating down on them. And what he uses is the sword he was just complaining wouldn’t come out of the sheath easily.
Picking up the grey sack without wasting another second, he lifts it up with one ‘hah!’
That’s when His Majesty the Emperor finally stands from his seat, getting ready to yell, “Guards, we have a.s.sa.s.sins!” I hurriedly crawl over to the VVIP seat, trying to deal with Yels.h.i.+ since Josak’s hands are all busy.
Should I cover his mouth? Or limit his movement? c.r.a.p, I didn’t bring tape!
But not only doesn’t Yels.h.i.+ yell loudly, he even looks at me in my hat and says without hesitation,
“Hi, Yuuri.”
His smile is like a blossoming rose, and he covers his mouth with a green sleeve.
“You’re here, I just knew you would come.”
A cold sweat breaks out on my back.
That face, that voice, those deep golden eyes, those clothes and accessories are just like everyone else, but he is…
“Could it be?”
I force out a hoa.r.s.e sound, he is not Yels.h.i.+.
“You’re Saralegui?”
The young Emperor of Seisakoku, Yels.h.i.+, could never speak the common language so fluently.