Chapter 9 Including those on the other side of the gate, the number of guards easily exceeded two hundred. In all likelihood, it was but a women"s camp housing inmates who had violated the marriage laws.
"But why would they need such a strong defense?" wondered Conrad.
Crouching and sliding down the slope, he returned to his taciturn younger brother. Wolfram was leaning against a plant, frowning, his arms folded on his chest.
There were presumably a large amount of exorcists-stones in the area. These stones caused great pain to those who possessed strong magical power. Since Wolfram had earlier complained about headaches, Conrad himself was uncertain whether he could count on him in battle.
"You should better decide now if you can bear it or not," he turned to Wolfram. "I will not be able to cover you in battle."
"Who do you think I am? I can perfectly handle it myself!"
"Good to know."
Conrad had sent six men to help Gwendal break out of prison. He only had as few as fifteen men left to deal with two hundred guards. There was only one tactic to handle such an overpowering force: they had to raid the camp and cause as big a chaos as possible.
"Wolf ..."
"What? You"re getting on my nerves!"
"You"re leaning on a cactus."
Wolfram yelped and covered his mouth with both hands. Twenty to thirty thick spikes had pierced through his clothes.
"Why didn"t you tell me sooner, dammit!"
"I thought you knew."
Despite the tense situation, a wry smile slipped upon Conrad"s face. The figure in front of him, with folded arms and frown lines on his forehead, suddenly reminded him of his older brother.
"Are you still torturing yourself with that matter?" Asked Conrad.
"I don"t know what you"re talking about."
"Don"t pretend, now. You know what I mean. The matter regarding His Majesty and Gwen."
"That"s not what I"m thinking about at all!"
"Actually you don"t need to worry. You know they don"t get along well. If you do not trust His Majesty a little more, one day he will really have enough of you."
"But I"m not worried!"
"That"s fine then."
"Why do you understand him so well?" Wolfram asked quietly.
"Our King? I already knew and liked him, even before he was born, so to speak."
As he did not say more, Wolfram had to be content.
"But, why do we have to make matter worse to help this woman? Why do we have to care about such a person?" he grumbled.
"Nicola has given us information."
Without that piece of information, they might have never figured out the whereabouts of Yuri and Gwendal. Even if they could eventually, it would have taken much more time. After she had done them a big favor, they couldn"t refuse her request to be taken to the Great Demon Empire.
A soldier"s horse snorted peacefully and wagged his tail to chase insects away.
"Still! She is Gegenhuber"s mistress! Had it not been for him, you would have long since become Lord of Wincott"s Manor!"
"It"s not important."
"And what about Julia"s death? Is it also unimportant?"
"Wolfram ..."
At that moment, it occurred to Conrad that right after his birth, this brother of his, who looked exactly like their mother, had let no one but him hold him in his arms. Since then Conrad had been the one who took care of Wolfram each and everyday. Until the little boy learned that his second oldest brother was half-human. Thereafter, the immaculate Gwendal became Wolfram"s object of admiration and reverence.
Conrad shook his sword scabbard forcefully to rid it off the fine sand grains.
"That was a long time ago," he said. "Everything was a long time ago. Even if Huber had not caused things to unfold the way they did, Julia and I... I just can"t explain why he has fallen in love with a girl like Nicola."
Gegenhuber was in fact an outspoken hater of human race.
"Well, after all it was possible with you."
"Don"t change the subject!" Snapped Wolfram. "Have you forgiven Huber"s crime? Is that why you agree to take his wife to our country and ..."
"No, that"s not the reason."
Yuri would not have wanted otherwise. Although he had not heard from him personally, Conrad was convinced. Yuri would gladly take the women who loved the demons to his country.
Lord Weller let his thin sword slide back into the scabbard. He squinted his eyes to look at the faraway horizon behind the fence.
"I just want to fulfill the wishes of His Majesty," he said.
The setting sun became redder, the shadows longer. If they hadn"t needed the protection of darkness, Conrad would have liked to start the raid immediately.
"Let"s discuss our tactics again. I know it"s dangerous to move forward in groups of three, but we don"t have any other choice... What happened over there?"
An incoming message suddenly caused a commotion among the guards who posted outside the gate. Since the rock they were hiding behind provided a large enough cover, Conrad did not think that they had been discovered.
He could hear screams and explosions from the other side of the high fence. The soldiers who had been standing outside the fence rushed inside one after the other.
"Something has happened. Maybe a disturbance or a riot. I just hope that His Majesty is not in danger."
"It"s impossible..."
Wolfram pressed his left hand against his forehead, knelt down on the ground and lowered his head.
"A strong magic ... in a place full of exorcism forces ... That"s impossible ... "
"You feel something?"
"A magical force... strong and awful ... not to say nasty. Wait, I have felt something like this before..."
A nightmarish doomsday scenario flashed through Conrad and Wolfram"s minds. They both recalled Yuuri"s uproar on the pirate s.h.i.+p.
"Is it something to do with His Majesty..."
"Yes, that"s him."
To sneak secretly into the camp, Conrad and Wolfram robbed uniforms from a couple of wandering soldiers. The rest was a breeze: no one stood in their way, they were able to infiltrate undetected.
They ran to the other side of the low rock hill, in the direction where the screams and the furious roar came from.
"It is indeed..." Wolfram murmured dumbfounded. The sleeves of his uniform were too long for him.
Numerous mounds of earth, large and small, were scattered all over the area. Although there were no tombstones or flowers, these seemed to be graves.
His Majesty was standing in front of the graves, legs slightly apart, chest thrust out. He looked weary, but he had not suffered from any major injuries.
Conrad let out a sigh of relief. Wolfram looked as if he would have liked to run toward Yuuri and pull him into his arms. But to rashly interfere with Yuuri in this condition could bring more harm than good. Conrad couldn"t help thinking that he looked as majestic as his t.i.tle.
He had seen a similar sparkle in Yuri"s eyes before.
"Hey, something just flew out of his eyes," called Wolfram.
"Those must be his contact lenses."
Without the colored contacts, both Yuri"s eyes were jet black. Now that he had entered his Maou"s mode, there was nothing they could do but sit down and watch his performance.
The terrified women were all paralyzed. The soldiers and the guards tried to find the best way to attack, but Yuri"s defense seemed quite solid.
A mild tremor started, as if at any moment, a dragon would rise from the depths of the earth. At first they felt a swaying under their feet, then the vibration continued until it reached the core of their bodies.
"These women had unselfishly sacrificed themselves in the name of love! They boldly devoted themselves to their lovers! But instead of admiration, they earned violence! The authority punished them in heartless and inhuman way!"
Yuri spoke as if he was on the stage. He acted like an actor from one of his favorite old-time historical series.
"Both parties were involved in the intimate relations.h.i.+p between men and women. Nevertheless, only the weak has to bear all the blame!"
The tremors stopped - but only for a moment.
"No one can judge two lovers! Separate them? Make them swear to part from each other? These are the outdated deeds from the days of the geisha! No one in the world has the right to condemn them."
"Oh, His Majesty seems to have expanded his repertoire," Conrad muttered calmly.
Master Tricolor was standing behind Yuuri, eyes wide open in disbelief. He was so surprised by the transformation of his son"s "horse" that he even forgot to stroke his red beard.
"Violence, oppression, and misery prevail in this facility. Deprived of human dignity, the women had to bear even the utmost injustice: Their babies being buried alive! What a cruel tyranny! Even the devils from h.e.l.l would be appalled at these actions!"
Yuri raised his right arm to the sky and swung it down theatrically. His index finger pointed directly at Togrikol. He gave a brief yelp and fell to the ground.
"It is not my intention to destroy and to take life, but ... I have no choice, I will smite thee with my sword!"
There was only one catch: there was no sword in sight.
Then came an eerie rattle sound. All eyes turned toward the graves at once. The faint-hearted fainted, even braver men shrieked.
In the sunset, brown arms with curved fingers, like the claws of birds of prey, shot up from the graves and stroke with a reckless vengeance.
First one, then two, and finally, innumerable arms broke out of the graves, followed by bodies that rose out of the ground up to the chest or the hip.
Even Wolfram, who had been through a lot, stopped in mid air at the sight.
"They...They are corpses. Zombies. "
"The sentence should be executed!"
The bodies spread their arms and rocked back and forth like seaweed.
It was a creepy sight. Everywhere people were scrambling on top of each other, screaming and wailing. At Yuri"s feet, the word: "Justice" was drawn in the sand.
"No, they are not corpses," said Conrad. "Even if they looks the same, these are not human arms. It"s all just sand and earth. They are but clay figures. "
"Clay figures! But what do we do now ...? They made such a mess. I"ve never seen such a nasty magic before!"
"So you say every time."
The clay-zombies who had performed the seaweed-dance of the dead souls had melted and merged together, taking the shape of a giant human about the size of a G.o.dzilla. As the giant made one step forward, people scattered frantically in all directions. All were afraid of being crushed to death under its feet.
"Amazing! His Majesty has mastered the special-effects in the making of monster movies."
"Co. ..Co. ..Conrad, now is not the right time for praises!"
Even though children would usually love monster movies, the son of the head jailer was so frightened that he had soiled his pants.
"Arms forward, then sideways! Now comes the exercise for arms and legs! "
For some reason, Yuri"s commands sounded like an aerobics teacher"s instructions.
Every time the clay giant moved according to the instructions, it demolished a part of the mine. The mine openings were smashed beyond recognition, dust and dirt rising everywhere.
Togrikol, stricken by immeasurable horror, crawled away trying to escape.
"A devil! A messenger from h.e.l.l!"
"A messenger from h.e.l.l? Have you forgotten my face?"
When they heard "ultimate-mode" Yuuri"s lines, the soldiers and the majority of women fell to their knees, even though they had no idea who he was.
"So, how can we stop him ?"
"Me? Don"t ask me. Ahhhhhhh, it"s because it"s moving! The skin on its face is melting and falling off because it"s moving, but since it"s sand, it returns to the ground."
It has the ECO mark.
Suddenly the crowd broke apart to make way for a military horse coming through, galloping and snorting violently. As it went past the legs of the clay giant, its rider jumped out of the saddle toward Yuri. Without hesitation, the man came up to him and grabbed his collar with his left hand.
"Gwendal?" cried Wolfram, but Lord von Voltaire, covered with wounds all over, did not hear him.
"What is ... the point... of that ...?!" Gwendal yelled at Yuri. "How many people must you kill to be satisfied? Huh?"
"Who are you ...?"
"Listen, Yuuri! You must stop this right now. Return the monster to dust!"
Gwendal shook Yuuri back and forth violently, bringing some senses back to him.
"You selflessly put yourself in danger to stop me! What a daring courage! Given your brave heart, for now... I"ll retreat."
Yuri then collapsed to the ground, unconsciously.
(This translation was originally posted here. Please do not repost elsewhere.)