Chapter 2The enemy really does hold back their soldiers as promised, not approaching even a step.
Not making any moves at all despite having so many pieces in hand, feels even scarier.
“But why don’t they attack us all in one go, and spend so much time exchanging hostages instead? They can win by numbers alone, or is there a reason they can’t make a move?”
“You have to ask?”
Hazel stares at the resurrection group on standby, as well as Josak, standing in the middle like a general, and says,
“Those guys are corpses, so they like the night. A long, long time ago, the undead could only move outside after dark. As long as there’s sunlight, their movements won’t be as agile as at night, right?”
I see, putting aside the viral disease plot point that’s spreading like wildfire these days, most zombie flicks take place at night. If we follow this principle, their movements should be as slow as the undead of the early eras. But we’ve gained quite a bit of experience from our previous battles, their movements are actually rather agile.
The sun will set soon.
Murata’s gla.s.ses, having fallen onto the ground, sparkle in the last rays of the sunset, the sky further away from the sun slowly turning purple. Even the sand, now dyed orange, will soon turn to dark grey, followed by the nightfall.
At that point we’ll be in their territory.
“Should we grab His Eminence while they’re still sluggish, and then make a break for the encampment following the way we came?”
Compared to the enemy side, our side moves a lot more, because Hazel’s friends who finally caught up and Mr Ajira are helping us collect dry gra.s.s. There are very few plants here on this dry land, and we really need some fuel for a fire.
Looking at the busy Seisakoku people, I reply to Wolfram’s question,
“Not a bad idea, this way we can get to somewhere safe and they can’t catch up.”
But as soon as the words leave my mouth I change my mind.
“No, it won’t work. If the sun just happens to set at that time, they will catch up with us. If we escape to the encampment, we’ll cause them to attack the equestrian tribe’s village.”
There are still children there, mothers, and elderly with no place in battle, I can’t drag them down with us.
“Then what do we do?”
“I haven’t figured it out yet.”
But we must make a decision in the short time before the sun sets. After all, I was the one who brought everyone here in the beginning, I just can’t say something like “Don’t ask me if anything happens”.
As for my advisor – Murata Ken, he’s currently suffering alone in a distant place.
Just thinking about how lonely and scared he must be right now, makes me jumpy and uneasy.
“d.a.m.n!”
I kick the deep grey sand, the tips of my toes hurting because the unfamiliar shoes. .h.i.t the hard ground. I hate myself for my uselessness, and keep experiencing that pain over and over again.
Maybe she can’t stand my embarra.s.sing att.i.tude anymore, Hazel crosses her arms over her chest and says to Conrad,
“It should at least be good news that the other side doesn’t have SHOOTERs, right?”
“They don’t have archers?”
“That’s right, just the fact that we don’t have enemies that attack long range is already very LUCKY.”
“It is indeed good news.”
Conrad and Hazel seem to be thinking about the same thing. If the resurrection group without muscles can pull a bow, that would be way against the rules.
“So it’s okay as long as we don’t get close to them?”
“For now at least, at the very least we don’t have to worry about snipers. Even if we fight seriously, it will only be melee battles, we just have to be careful of enemies within arms’ reach.”
“Since we don’t have to worry about arrows coming when our backs are turned, there’s also less risk when retreating.”
“Is that so? Is that the only good news?”
Hazel shakes her head of white hair, then nods,
“So sorry.”
Conrad touches the scar on his right eyebrow with his index and middle fingers, then puts down his right hand, rubbing his thigh with his fingers, as though wiping away blood on his hand.
“If we must resolve this peacefully, this will be a problem…”
“How is that possible, the enemy is long dead, right!?”
How could we resolve things peacefully faced with a troop of zombies.
“If we have no choice but to fight, Adalbert and I can probably take down quite a few, Wolfram should be okay too. Judging from the feeling I got last time we fought…”
Maybe because ‘fighting with zombies’ is an interesting thing, Conrad laughs lightly from deep within his throat,
“I understand their abilities very clearly. They slow down considerably as soon as you cut off their heads, so they’re not really a threat.”
“How many to how many? I don’t mean odds, but enemy numbers… I’m sorry to make you give a number.”
“It’s probably one to ten… or fifteen? To soldiers, this should be only natural.”
“I can take down twenty!”
“I understand mazokus don’t give up easily, but I want to hear the truth, without exaggeration. Sigh, there should be about two hundred zombies, huh? Add that to seven or eight human soldiers… and him. Our aim is to save Murata, and find a way to handle Josak… such as tying him up, or making him lose consciousness, basically to incapacitate him so he can’t resist. Can we do it?”
“Hey hey hey, this is completely different from what you said just now, right?”
Adalbert rushes out immediately upon hearing that. Because the great messiah pulled in the equestrian tribe for us, and also because of his persuasiveness plus Saralegui’s exaggerated translations, the desert equestrian people have quieted down considerably.
“Didn’t we say “grab His Eminence and then make a break for it!”? Why are we suddenly a.n.a.lyzing battle power? Are we changing battle plans?”
“We haven’t decided.”
“I say, Young Master—No, Your Majesty the Maou, how many men do you have? Even if the c.o.c.ky His Excellency the third son is very loyal, right now Lord Weller is the amba.s.sador from Dai s.h.i.+maron, right?”
I can only nod and admit to that.
“Sizemore may be an excellent soldier, but that eye-blinding man can’t even act as a meat s.h.i.+eld, can he? The only s.h.i.+ny thing is that head, rather than a warrior, he’s more like a miscellaneous man. And those thin, weak slaves, no matter what weapons they’re holding they can’t fool anyone, y’know. Who else do you have? Hah?”
“There’s still you, Grantz.”
“Is that so? There’s still me. Mn, I… What!? You included me in as well?”
“Didn’t you just say you want to fight?”
“I just wanted to cross swords with Gurrier!”
Maybe he completely didn’t expect this result, because Adalbert seems especially nervous, his white skin turning immediately red,
“Stop joking, aren’t you misunderstanding something? Not only am I after your life, I even left my hometown while it’s in the middle of rebuilding, I even left s.h.i.+n Makoku! How could I possibly listen to the Maou’s orders?”
“How unseemly, Adalbert. If you’re a mazoku, you should obediently obey the promise you made.”
“When did I ever promise anything!”
“You did. You said as long as I gave you a crate of expensive Bielefeld wine in exchange, you’ll willingly do anything I ask you to. That’s what you said on the s.h.i.+p.
Adalbert exclaims an ‘ah!’, his thick arm stopping in mid-air.
“O-on the boat?”
“Yup, that’s right.”
Maybe it’s just me, but it feels as though Adalbert’s powerful muscles shrivel quite a lot, looks like he’s a man who easily makes mistakes because of alcohol. Wolfram, too, uses poisonous words unbefitting his pretty face to add salt to the wound,
“Oh dear, don’t tell me you want to say you were drunk then? That can’t be possible, people call you the Grantz boss, how could you have gotten drunk on one barrel of wine? By the way, you also said you don’t sleep while hugging baby bears anymore.”
Hearing that unknown fact, I can’t help but mutter to Conrad,
“Hugging baby bears… Wine sure is scary—I better not touch it in my life!”
“Actually, it’s fine in moderate amounts, Your Majesty.”
Afterwards, according to my investigations, it seems there was never ‘a promise on the s.h.i.+p’. Wolf replies with a straight face, “I was just winging it.”
He even tells me, “He’s the man who betrayed s.h.i.+n Makoku, and stood on the humans’ side. I really hate my uncle and Grantz, rather than giving Adalbert wine, I’d rather pour the highest quality grape wine into the river.”
To think he could tell such a lie so easily, seems like he’s matured too.
“Then how many can you take on?”
“As long as I can defeat Gurrier, I’m happy!”
“Can you stop making a fuss? If you stay hung up on Gurrier any longer, I’ll tell my brother!”
I didn’t think bringing up Lord von Voltaire’s name would have any effect on Adalbert, who left s.h.i.+n Makoku to wander around. But the moment he said “I’ll tell my brother”, everyone can’t help but cower and apologize, why is that?
Even this muscleman can’t seem to handle the “Tell My Brother Strategy”. The word “Onii-chan” sure is powerful, that’s why I refuse to say it no matter what.
“If it’s me… Twenty-two of them.”
As I thought, they refuse to give in.
“So how many is that altogether? Uh—Fifteen, twenty, twenty-two, that’s seventy-five in total! Hm—That’s not even half of them, even if Captain Sizemore and all his men get here in time, we probably can’t handle even a hundred of them.”
“Yuuri, you still plan to…”
Wolfram tries to say something, but Lord Weller puts a hand on his shoulder, looking at him and shaking his head. As expected of brothers, they understand each other telepathically even without words.
Even if I see their brotherly camaraderie, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re at a disadvantage. Naively I think, “If I keep staring, will the enemy numbers decrease?” and turn my gaze to the enemy lines.
There isn’t any movement there, and it’s pin-drop silent.
This atmosphere, this silence, suddenly reminds me of a cemetery at night.
“I really hate this sort of silence.”
Hazel and Conrad raise their heads at almost the same time.
“Yesterday, too, waiting for something to happen like today, I know I have a bad temper but this feeling is even more annoying, and painful. Because the enemy is right in front of my eyes, my friend is right in front of my eyes, but…”
I can’t save him—I bury my face in between my knees, so no one can hear those words.
Adalbert rubs the decoration of his sword sheath, saying calmly,
“It is indeed rare for the king to appear at the frontlines himself.”
“Is that so?”
“Other than s.h.i.+nou, I heard there are only two others who went to the frontlines of their own volition.”
“Surely Yuuri will be praised by the poets in the future as a brave king, huh? Although in truth you’re such a noob.”
“Noob… That’s right, it’s because I’m a noob that I can’t stand this atmosphere.”
Wolfram leans back slightly and makes fun at me, but until now I can’t think of a decent strategy, so I don’t even have the energy to retort him.
“But once we start taking action we won’t have time to catch our breaths anymore, in any case it’s always like this before a battle. If the battle were extended, not only will both sides decide on a day of ceasefire, the villages nearby would even come over to sell food.”
“You bought food from the locals before!?”
“That’s right.”
“How could you be so careless, and what about the supply troops, have you thought about them?”
“You guys rarely come to the frontlines anyway.”
“Even so you can’t buy from the locals, what if you get poisoned?”
“The worst that could happen is we get stomachaches, it’s still better than starving as we wait for supplies. Besides, how can live mountain goats and sheep be poisonous? Don’t tell me they’ve been eating poisonous feed since they were born? If you had the time and energy to do that, wouldn’t it be more effective to attack the idiots camping out in the open with flaming arrows? But even I only came across such easy battles a few times back in the beginning.”
Adalbert pulls his sword out of its sheath and points it at the sky,
“Anyway, that was when I learned how to kill goats.”
The steel glitters with an ominous color under the twilight rays, giving one’s imagination a direct image.
“…No matter what I can’t do it.”
“I think most gourmets who enjoy meat can’t kill livestock either, shees.h.!.+ Just like a certain aristocrat who gets shocked out of his wits when you just toss a little goat at him, even yelling “Don’t torture the baby goaty!” That’s why whenever I want to throw something, I’ll grab Maxine.”
“Wait a sec, if you want to throw something you can throw a ball, right?”
The only sports involving throwing people around are judo and sumo wrestling, so throwing little goats is in fact animal abuse. If someone randomly picked up livestock not meant for eating and thrown them around, you’d scold him even if you’re not Gwendal. As long as that doesn’t count as local culture…
“Conrad.”
Something occurs to me, and I call out to the man who knows Earth very well.
“Have you been to Mongolia?”
“Mongolia?”
He muses over it for a moment, and then replies,
“If it’s in Afghan, I have indeed seen a strange sport over there. It was an intense compet.i.tion similar to polo, where people rode on horses and fought over goats or sheep.”
“Exactly, that’s the one! That sport that’s like acrobatics!”
Sitting on horseback and bending over to grab the goat from the ground, then protect it from enemy hands and return to base—that’s the sport that appears in my mind. As long as we send a few horses into the enemy lines at once, and use this method to grab Murata then run, we might be able to get past the enemies who consist mostly of foot soldiers.
Even if we can’t run towards the equestrian tribe’s encampment, if we investigated the geography here a bit more, we could avoid the east and head towards the sea, maybe we might be able to reach the search s.h.i.+ps.
But in that case we might have to hang in there for a few days… No, there’s a chance we could rendezvous with the other search teams on the way. If only things would go that smoothly.
Murata isn’t all that heavy either, the only question is if anyone can ride a galloping horse up to him at a hair’s breadth away and then reach out to grab him.
Of course, this job can’t go to Wolfram. He’d probably lose it if I told him directly, but the position required is very challenging, and you’d need to pull up a high school student with one hand. Therefore not only would you need good riding skills, you also need powerful arm strength.
I never considered myself from the start. I just learned how to ride a horse on my own, after all.
If we’re talking about arm strength, the only candidates left are Captain Sizemore and Adalbert, but at the same time I’m worried the captain’s stomach might get in the way, even if it doesn’t stick out that much—More importantly, I don’t know how his riding skills are like. Someone without brilliant riding skills wouldn’t be able to complete the mission.
Hazel Graves winks at me,
“If you’re talking about horse-riding, the experts are right there, y’know!”
I follow Hazel’s gaze and see an equestrian tribe member taking care of a horse, even caressing its neck sympathetically.
Oh yeah, the top horse-riding experts are right in front of us.
“They chased us here.”
So I immediately ask the messiah about them.
“Amongst the equestrian people, are there any you would call elites?”
“Hmm, if it’s nothing to do with liking mermaids and fighting power, I guess they’re pretty good.”
“If we ask them to ride horses, they should become even stronger, right?”
The legendary messiah rubs his perfect b.u.t.t-chin as he replies,
“They claim they were born on horseback. Though I don’t think any woman would give birth there.”
“But Yuuri, they’re chasing after me in order to get a ransom, y’know. Rather than soldiers, they’re more like debt collectors.”
“Debt collectors? If only they could collect it.”
“That’s right, they should be able to pull it off.”
“Yeah, it should be easy as pie, right?”
Seeing the way Conrad’s agreement lightens my mood, Saralegui interrupts from the side,
“Not bad, huh~~ Yuuri, you thought up a decent strategy, then allow me to translate it for you!”
“No need, I have no hopes for your translations.”
If it was just the meaning that got lost in translation then it’s still not too bad, but if you randomly add things on your own, even we might made out to be bad guys. Although we’re translating it from weird English to the Seisakoku language in a unique way, but it’s still better to ask Hazel for help.
However when it comes to convincing the equestrian people, Hazel Graves seems somewhat reluctant, completely unlike her usual style.
“The way I see it, this plan could work. And as long as we discuss it with them in detail, I believe the desert people would also be willing to help, then the only issue is the reward.”
“I see, we can use money!”
“That’s right, it’s okay if we pay the reward later too. Only, Your Majesty, if you ask me to tell them the strategy, I don’t think they will listen obediently.”
“Why?”
Hazel… now known as Venera, shows me a crooked, self-deprecating smile,
“Because I belong to the slave cla.s.s.”
“Eh? This isn’t the city full of conceited people.”
“Such prejudices are even stronger the more backwater the place is.”
“But wasn’t their att.i.tude perfectly normal before? The same goes for the people at the oasis!”
“That’s because we didn’t do anything to cross the line. They a.s.sume we’re docile slaves who serve His Majesty and PRINCE, as well as His Majesty Saralegui who looks like the perfect s.h.i.+nzoku city person, that’s why they weren’t harsh on us.”
Although he’s listening to a foreign language, Mr Ajira may have deduced what we’re talking about through our tone, lowering his head unhappily.
“But if lowly slaves speak to regular citizens as equals, that’s something else altogether. Because the desert tribes don’t belong to the slave cla.s.s, even if their lives aren’t as good as the city people, they have the important duty to protect the royal tombs, so they still count as citizens of Seisakoku… even though they don’t work that seriously. It’s just that this way, even if what I say is reasonable, they won’t agree. Because many of them think it’s unfeasible to agree to something suggested by a slave.”
“There’s no such thing, Hazel! No, Venera!”
Venera c.o.c.ks her head and shrugs helplessly, shaking her soft-looking hair,
“Even if it’s slightly hard to understand the common language, but I think it’s better if Your Majesty talked to them directly through Ajira’s translations, and it’s more practical too.”
“But the one who suggested asking the equestrian tribe for help isn’t me, it’s you. I can’t do something like stealing your credit.”
“My comrades and I won’t mind stuff like that.”
“That’s true, but…”
My sentence stops at ‘but’, I can’t continue.
Wolfram was watching our conversation from a side, and finally breaks the awkward moment,
“So all you need is position?”
With his hands on his hips, he tilts his upper body back, his tone sounding as though he understands the English we’re speaking.
“In that case, just make her our goodwill amba.s.sador. Won’t it be fine if you make this old woman Seisakoku’s goodwill amba.s.sador to Seisakoku right now?”
“That’s right!”
It’s just like j.a.panese celebs that go to Hawaii often, or eat so many Hawaiian beans they get such a t.i.tle. Although I don’t know what the conditions are, the situation now is dire, so as head of the country I’ll elect her as goodwill amba.s.sador, in order to get everyone’s understanding.
“That makes sense, even if they’re looking upon as slaves in this country, with a t.i.tle like amba.s.sador they’ll have the proper position to make their opinions heard. Looks you’re not just a pretty face, your brain is not bad either!”
Completely ignoring how Mr Ajira the translator is explaining things to the equestrian people, Saralegui tells us their conversation with an innocent smile,
“They’re saying the friend of the body double is pretty impressive—”
“C-c.r.a.p!”
“Really, Yuuri, you forgot the roles you set in the beginning? I’m playing Yels.h.i.+’s body double, and you’re my friend from a foreign country, right?”
“Waa—that’s right! The body double’s friend doesn’t have much right to say anything.”
At this important moment, my black eyes and hair have no effect at all. Although I really hate getting special treatment, it’s rather inconvenient to be treated as a normal person too. Wolfram looks at me, all dejected, in surprise.
“Why are you all depressed?”
“Nah—Although having people serve me makes me panic, but being completely overlooked makes me feel uncomfortable too. This reminds me of my life as a benchwarmer—”
“No matter what others say, they can’t change the fact that Yuuri is Yuuri, so why are you bothered about?”
“You’re right.”
What he’s saying is absolutely right, but he’s a pretty boy with a flawless background and looks, plus he’s naturally confident, so of course he can hold his head high and say that. I’m just a baseball boy from a normal family, even if he tells me righteously not to be scared, I still don’t know what to do.
“It is indeed very hard for you, since you’re still immature.”
“Mn? You’re not calling me a rookie anymore?”
He blinks his eyes, as emerald as the bottom of a clear lake, and says,
“Well—You’ve been on the throne for quite a while, after all.”
“Have I grown just a little bit as well?”
“I guess there’s a little change. But in the time you changed from a rookie to immature, you still couldn’t come up with a solution to convince the people. Sigh—Really, then allow me to do what little I can for Your Majesty.”
Wolfram rants away with a smile on his face, then takes out a roll of thin paper from his pocket. It’s a pale green slip with a smooth and s.h.i.+ny surface that makes it look really high cla.s.s. And then he reaches his hand into his chest hair… No no no, into the little wool pouch hanging in front of his chest, and pulls out stationary from inside.
Goodness, to think ‘Günter’s Protection’ has such a use too.
“Since your ident.i.ty is false, of course your authority is electing an official isn’t recognized. Alright, turn around!”
I don’t know what he writes on the pale green slip, and he doesn’t seem to be bothered by how uneven my back is, either, writing and signing his name fluidly. I don’t care what you’re doing, but that really is very ticklish.
“Wolf, what are you writing…”
“I elect you as the Bielefeld territory’s goodwill amba.s.sador to Seisakoku. See!”
“What?”
He waves the paper in front of my face. Having lived more than eighty years as an aristocratic heir, he seems used to homework like this, easily giving Venera a position.
“This is something we do commonly in the territory. Choose a suitable representative from amongst the people and honor them with a t.i.tle in public, so that uniting the people will henceforth be his job, and he doesn’t have to come to us for some of the small stuff too.”
“Is that so~~ To think you’re so used to these things.”
“Although I’m a soldier loyal to the Maou in the capital, my job when I’m back at my territory is more like an administrator.”
“Are you learning how to be a good leader? What mature thinking—”
Just in case, I add my signature to the slip too before handing it to Venera. Surprisingly, she seems very happy,
“I’ve never met the President in my life, but now I actually have the honor of receiving His Majesty the Maou’s very own signature.”
“I’m counting on you, Amba.s.sador. Ah—Also, can I ask you if we can use non-Seisakoku currency?” Just then, something in the corner of my vision moves.
“He’s waving!?”
Murata, who had been lying on the floor, raises his left hand and waves it lightly. I can’t help but grab someone’s clothes and yell,
“He’s waving, he’s waving! Murata, Murata--! Thank goodness, you’re still alive! You still have strength! Thank goodness… Thank goodness I can see you again!”
“To think you would get so excited over such a trivial thing.”
c.r.a.p, that’s Adalbert’s hand.
“Since he can survive all the way until just now, there’s no way he’ll die so easily.”
“Murata’s specialty is his brain, so his stamina is really bad, and it’s not like he had training like you.”
“In other words he’s really weak… But he looked really strong at the ‘World’s Strongest’ tournament. By the way, why isn’t he with you? You two double blacks should stay together like good boys, it’d be easier to protect you that way. It’s precisely because you separated that all these bothersome things happen.”
“A lot of things happened to us too, what’s why we came to this country separately.”
To be precise, this world.
How on earth did he come here though? Without relying on my power, he came to this land far, far away from s.h.i.+n Makoku all on his own. Could it be he used a third person’s power? Someone I don’t know brought him here?
If that’s true—
“If that’s so, why did they throw him into such a place…!”
Even if it was someone who brought Murata here, why did they throw him into the enemy lines alone and then wash their hands of him? That’s way too cruel, I can’t forgive that.
Murata raises his face that was plastered to the ground, clearing his throat to try and turn sound into words, but he fails several times until he finally manages to call my name,
“s.h.i.+buya.”
“I’m, here.”
“s.h.i.+buya, we sure met up in a nice place.”
“Please, how is this nice? This is the worst!”
“If we didn’t meet here, we might have met with something even worse.”
“That’s true, but… Can you speak? Did your wound open again!?”
Still lying on his belly, Murata struggles to pull his right hand out from underneath him, splaying his fingers open for me to see. His arm and shoulder aren’t curved at any strange angles, so it seems nothing was broken.
“My injuries aren’t as bad as they seem, I wouldn’t call them serious.”
“What about the blood!? Has it stopped?”
“I’m fine… I’m not hurt…… Also, don’t make that sound like you’re on the verge of tears.”
“But you look really badly injured, and you got wounds everywhere, I thought maybe you were dead…… I was worried, it’d be terrible if anything happened to you.”
“Mn, I am covered in wounds, but there’s nothing life-threatening, just light bruises and pulled muscles, is all.”
The break in his sentence is really unnatural, making me even more uneasy. He sighs forcefully, until I feel as though I can hear his breathing. Actually, it’s good that I can hear it.
“Murata?”
“Relax, I’m very much conscious. The reason I can’t move now isn’t because I’m injured… but because I’m tired. After all, before I came here, I underwent all sorts of trials and tribulations. Even if I was pulled out of the tombs, I suffered quite a bit in the process…”
“I’m asking you, how did you get here?”
“Forget about that for now, on the other hand I want to ask you what on earth happened here. Ah—Really, where are my gla.s.ses?”
He reaches out his uninjured right hand, picking up his dusty, sandy gla.s.ses. But it looks to me that both the frames and lenses are beyond repair, so he tsks angrily.
“”Don’t worry about your gla.s.ses, I have a spare here.”
“I don’t know why you would have a spare, but I’ll say thanks in advance, I’ll be borrowing it temporarily. I’ve decided! Once we get back to Earth I’m switching to contacts, otherwise I just can’t rest easy, since I can’t see your face like this.”
“Fine.”
I’ve already personally experienced how uneasy and scary it is to have something I could see previously suddenly disappear from my vision. At first it felt like the world disappeared without a trace, but in truth nothing changed, the only one that changed is myself. It’s just that it takes a rather long time to notice that.
“Relax, I’ll keep talking to you, so you know that I’m right here. But you need to voice out too, okay?”
“Actually, you don’t need to, talk to me. I have a lot of things to ask you, though.”
“What things?”
“Tell me, what happened to you here?”
Murata ignores the sand on the ground, shaking his head from left to right as he says,
“What changed in the time I’ve been chasing you? Have you been usurped?”
“No, I haven’t been usurped—I think.”
I turn back to look at Wolfram uneasily, and he nods with a perfectly solemn expression, so it seems the Ten Aristocrats haven’t abandoned me.
“If that’s so, then how did he become the enemy?”
He’s pointing at Josak. The man with hair the color of the setting sun stays silent, his head lowered and looking at Murata motionlessly.
My heart feels like someone’s twisting it in my chest. Thinking back to those days in the endless darkness, I suddenly find it hard to breathe as my windpipe constricts.
Why is he standing on that side? Why isn’t he standing by my side?
“Sorry… About that, I don’t know either.”
Wolfram whispers into my ear, “Could he have been controlled?” After all, Josak’s loyalty is well known, no matter how lightly he treats it, everything he does is for s.h.i.+n Makoku, so even if the truth is right in front of our eyes it’s hard for us to believe it.
Murata doesn’t notice my confusion, changing the topic immediately,
“Then what situation am I in…”
“What situation? Looks like I didn’t hear the deal made just now. Don’t worry, these people are just scared seeing an unfamiliar hair color, once they know you’re not dangerous, they should immediately let you go.”
I can’t tell Murata, weakened as he is now, that he’s currently a hostage. Murata clears his throat again, as though he has something to say, or maybe it’s just sand or dust in his throat.
“Murata, it’s okay for you to talk facing the ground, I can hear you no matter how soft your voice.”
I sprawl onto the ground and plaster my right cheek and ear onto the ground, the cool touch of the sand on my skin. The desert in this country is dry and cold, as I thought.
My friend says in a voice close to me,
“Technically that’s not possible, it’s not like this is a paper cup telephone.”
“I already said I can hear you even if you don’t speak so loudly.”
“Then I’ll say it now, I…”
“If you tell me to leave you and escape now, I’m breaking up with you! I won’t be your friend anymore!”
“Then that’s troublesome—”
As I expected, he was going to say that stupid line. Murata sighs,
“Then I might as well die and get it over with.”
“Don’t simply talk about dying or whatnot!”
“I’m not saying it simply.”
He takes a breath, and then lowers his voice,
“The truth is I have some important things to tell you secretly, but if I lower my voice you won’t be able to hear me.”
“Then say it in j.a.panese, Murata. If you use j.a.panese, only the two of us will understand it.”
“Ah—That’s right, use j.a.panese.”
Suggesting that we use j.a.panese under these circ.u.mstances, gives even me a strange feeling. But I’ve been using English with Hazel anyway, so of course I can use our mother tongue with Murata. We are j.a.panese people, born and bred, after all.
“The Box in the stone room…”
Just as Murata is about to continue, a ray of light pierces through the air. The sword that comes down brushes past the tip of his nose, and embeds itself into the hard ground.
My heart nearly stops from the shock. Both of us forget to breathe, not moving a single finger.
Josak, sitting on his horse, had attacked suddenly, trying to stop Murata from talking.
“Stop!”
Just saying that requires a lot of courage.
“Stop, Josak!”
“It’s okay, Yuuri, I’m fine.”
He seems to only want to scare Murata, without actually hurting him. Murata’s voice is very calm, and our conversation switches back to the common language.
“I’m fine.”
“R-really?”
“Really, but… I’m so tired, I want to rest a while. I’m not fainting, just taking a short nap to recover my strength.”
“It’s okay, go ahead and sleep, leave the rest of it to me.”
By the time you wake up, we’ll have gotten you back from those guys.
Having ended the conversation, I support myself with my palms on the sand and stand up, then I ask Wolfram to watch him for me, turning around purposefully. Only after taking a few steps do I realize that I’m covering my mouth with my right hand, so I immediately add my left hand too, then I leave everyone with my head lowered. I feel as though if I let go, I’ll sob out loud.
Five feet away, there are two mares with docile gazes wandering about, carefree. I stumble up to them, and they look at me in unison too, before turning their gazes away indifferently. Standing in between the two horses, I reach out to touch their warm sides.
Feeling the pulse underneath the skin.
Suddenly I feel nauseous, so I can’t help but crouch down between the horses. Pressure, it must be the pressure. This feeling is the same as when facing an important compet.i.tion, when I’m so nervous I could puke.
“Yuuri.”
My lowered gaze spots a pair of brown army boots, it’s Conrad. Why does he always appear at the perfect timing?
“Why… are you here…”
He touches my hand, plastering his palm against my bent arm,
“Because we can’t be seen here.”
“Can’t be seen? We really can’t be seen?”
“Yes.”
I grab Conrad’s right shoulder, putting my head on his chest, but I don’t allow myself to plaster my face there.
I clench my teeth and try to stop my body from shaking, forcefully steadying my feet. It feels as though a large hole has opened up under my feet, and I’m about to fall into an abyss whole. I take a deep breath so hard my lungs hurt, and then exhale loudly. I even take care not to increase my breathing at all times.
Hold back—This is my body, my emotions, I should be able to hold them back.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine… The one suffering isn’t me, it’s Murata.”
Conrad touches my lips with his thumb, the place he touches hurts a little.
“Your lip is cracked.”
There’s the taste of blood too, it’s not a superficial wound.
He pauses for quite some time before speaking again,
“I told Josak… Gurrier before, that if anything were to endanger you…”
“That’s enough!”
“At that time I would personally…”
“Don’t say anymore! Now isn’t the time to say those things, for all we know he’s been controlled, and we don’t know how he survived either! Maybe he’s just moving because of Yels.h.i.+’s houjutsu, when in fact he’s long…”
My vision goes suddenly black, and I feel dizzy too, so I grab onto his clothes with my fingers hurriedly. In order to support my body, Conrad hugs me tightly. His hair and face just manage to touch my ear.
He calls my name, and says in a tone as though comforting a child,
“I’m sorry, I didn’t say anything.”
“Conrad?”
“I’m the one who made you so upset.”
The arms holding me press hard and hurt my back.
“Not only did I make you worry, I even show up in the enemy’s uniform, I’m the one who made your feelings so complicated.”
So he’s repenting.
It’s all because of that adult’s pride, that’s why it hard to lower his head obediently and admit his mistakes, that’s why he never said it, until a moment like this comes and he can toss away his inhibitions, speaking out loudly.
“I made you suffer.”
“That’s right.”
I a.s.sume he’s crying, so I move the hand on his shoulder to lightly surround his neck,
“You disappeared from in front of my eyes without a word, making me worry like h.e.l.l and then you show up in a s.h.i.+maron uniform instead. At first I thought you would return to my side, but then you actually tell me I’m not the best king.”
“Yuuri.”
“And I worked so hard too, in order to make you recognize me as a good king, hoping you would feel I’m special.”
“You were, from the start.”
His voice reaches my ear, his breath mingling with the dry air and blowing into my heart.
“From the start, you were already a good king.”
“In that case why didn’t you say so? I’m not a kid anymore, if you just tell me the reason properly, I’ll understand. If you had just explained things clearly, I would have watched you leave with a smile.”
“I went to sow seeds.”
“Sow seeds?”
I repeat his words like an idiot, not understanding a thing.
“That’s right, just like what Venera is doing.”
The mares neigh at that moment, informing us of a change in our surroundings. Maybe Venera is convincing the equestrian people to make a move.
“Let’s go back.”
I sigh deeply, patting Conrad’s shoulder. If it weren’t for this chance today, I really don’t know how long I’d have to wait for him to confess everything.
“The sun is setting, now isn’t the time to be dejected. We need to get the hostage back.”
“Yeah.”
The protector’s warmth leaves me, making me feel in that instant like an uneasy chick left in the nest. But I already said so just now, I’m no longer a child, I have to work hard to become a good king.
In that case, I must first do what needs to be done.
No matter how much I want to close my eyes and run away, I still have to face reality. My vision is back, and this is what my eyes are for.
“Conrad.”
He replies with a nod.
“Can I make everything back to normal again?”
“Of course you can.” We’re walking back to where our companions are, step by step. Wolfram, Hazel and Adalbert are staring at me, if only my footsteps were more stable than when we came.
Before walking into the circle they made, I raise up my right hand first. This gesture means I want to say something, while at the same time stopping the others from moving.
“I’m sure you all saw that, the sword was right in front of Murata’s nose.”
All three of them reply “that’s right” in their respective voices.
“To be honest, I was scared to death then.”
“Me too.”
“Even if those guys seem to be indifferent to everything and take everything casually, the truth is they have a hostage in their hands. If it’s a simple plan like riding a horse to grab Murata back, the chances are it won’t be that easy to rescue him.”
“Maybe. But I’m of the same opinion, so it looks like there’s a need to come up with another plan.”
“But even if there’s another plan, there’s a limit to how effective it’ll be, right?”
That’s right, there is indeed a limit.
So I stand with my legs slightly apart, and say forcefully,
“Then let’s agree to exchange hostages.”