Kyou kara Ma no Tsuku Jiyuugyou!

Just as I’m about to ask why there’s a light s.h.i.+ning from the right, the surroundings are instantly dyed red, overwhelming the darkness.

I whip around in shock. After all, after what happened yesterday, I thought it was flames.

“It’s the sunrise, dawn has broken.”

Saralegui says tiredly. I turn to face the sunlight, covering my eyes because the brightness is too intense.

“Yuuri, the one who really wants to cover his eyes is me. I can’t withstand light rays that are too intense.”

“In that case, you should bring sungla.s.ses with you.”

This is my first time greeting the sunrise in a desert.

Of course I have welcomed the morning in the desert before, but in the past I was either in a building, or in front of a campfire, and I was with protectors I could trust, so no matter what the surroundings were like, I never felt uneasy.

But standing in the middle of a road in the limitless desert, and with no companions nearby, moving ahead as I face the uneasy morning—this really is my first time.

The only ones with me are two horses and Saralegui.

“But you really are surprising.”

The swaying sound comes from somewhere to my left, at about the same height. If we just let the horses run at full speed, we would be able to reach our destination in within a day, but we’re both amateurs when it comes to riding, so we can allow the horses to advance slowly. After all, I’m not good at riding on my own, and with my vision still blurry, there’s no way I can run full tilt.

“Surprising?”

“That’s right, I’m truly very surprised. To think you could ride a horse on your own even when your eyes can’t see.”

“To me, you’re about the same. Always putting on an ‘I usually ride carriages’ look.”

The truth is, the same goes for me. Although I’ve practiced quite a few times in the city, but I’m still far from being able to ride freely and easily. Even if the horse is barely trotting, my b.u.t.t will still float above the saddle, and if it speeds up a bit, my body will keep knocking into the saddle. If I really wanted to let the horse go as fast as it can, I’ll probably be reduced to crying and hugging the horse’s neck.

“And your suggestion, too. I didn’t think you would suggest such a thing to me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Isn’t it true? After all just a few hours ago, your subordinates packed me in a sack, and stuffed me into a tool closet.”

“Hahaha~~” Saralegui laughs adorably, as though he’s completely forgotten why he was treated that way.

“To think we’re traveling alone like this again.”

“This little bit of distance doesn’t count as traveling, does it? It just takes a day to ride to the north-east equestrian tribe’s lands.”

“Traveling is traveling, an excursion is still an excursion until we’re back home.”

“Then bananas count as dessert, huh.”

I avoid the large amounts of yellow sand trying to fly into my eyes and mouth, as I grip the ropes tightly. In the vast desert, all I see is a sea of pure white. There’s a figure next to me that looks like Saralegui, but other than that I can’t differentiate the sky from the earth.

“And I didn’t think you would still rely on me.”

“I’m not relying on you, this is a deal. I don’t want to owe you anything, so didn’t I say I wanted to make a deal with you?”

“True, but I haven’t decided the conditions of the deal yet, so everything up till now is all you being one-sided, right?”

“Hurry up and decide.”

“About that…”

He obviously enjoys this situation. Be it deftly avoiding the surveillance to escape the room, stealing the horses and preparing to escape, or even when I discovered him, he never once looked panicked.

Actually back then if he truly wanted to escape, he could have easily beaten me and left. After all my eyes can’t see, and I don’t have the power to stop him, but for some reason he doesn’t do that, just laughs, “How did you know it was me, Yuuri? Don’t tell me you have a mind’s eye?”

Even when he was listening to my suggestion, he was completely unfazed. Only now does he say something about feeling surprised, but that’s just talk.

“Still, your suggestion is really something. Without a certain degree in exchange, I can’t simply agree, y’know.”

“I know.”

“After all, you want me to pretend to be Yels.h.i.+.”

“Since you guys are twins, it’s worth a shot, right?”

Since setting fires and fighting is all part of the Edo spirit, then a good ol’ switcheroo tactic would naturally require twins.

Saralegui and his little brother Yels.h.i.+, look absolutely identical from every angle. In the past when they swapped ident.i.ties, even Yels.h.i.+’s people in Yels.h.i.+urad couldn’t tell them apart. Besides, this is an isolated desert far from the capital, and no one has any experience serving the emperor of Seisakoku or the Shou s.h.i.+maron king at close distance.

So there’s no way we’ll be found out.

“If it’s the Emperor’s decree, the equestrian tribes would likely obey as well.”

“How should I put it? ‘This water source is mine, so stop fighting, you guys—’ or something like that?”

“Be a little more serious, would you? You are still the king of a country, at the end of the day.”

“Then why don’t you demonstrate for me, Your Majesty? You’re the king of a country too.”

The truth is, all we have to do is order the equestrian tribes with something like, “All the land in Seisakoku, including this lake, belongs to Emperor Yels.h.i.+, no one is allowed to intrude”. Those equestrian tribes fighting over the rights to the desert are also people of Seisakoku, they should listen to His Majesty the Emperor.

Although acting on our own without first consulting the Emperor himself, and in someone else’s country at that, makes me a little uncomfortable, but there’s nothing wrong with the content. That isn’t something we came up with, we’re just reaffirming something that’s a matter of fact.

While not interfering with the internal politics.

Although it does feel like we’re impersonating Master Mito Komon, thankfully our aim isn’t to eat and run.

This is the plan I spent all night coming up with. After all, it’s all my fault that the townspeople’s houses were razed to the ground, the streets flooded, and some people hurt. Everyone has suffered. I don’t think doing this can make up for anything, but it’s better than not doing anything at all.

So I discussed it over with Saralegui, about to make a run for it, and borrowed two horses, leaving the town before daylight.

The reason I didn’t bring guards with me, is so that our ident.i.ties won’t be discovered. If it were just me, I could still say that I’m a traveler from a distant country, or his companion. But to Saralegui, acting as his brother Yels.h.i.+, it’d be even more c.u.mbersome to have mazoku bodyguards.

As the s.h.i.+nzoku emperor, if Yels.h.i.+ had mazoku soldiers with him, it would be way too unnatural.

Once we meet the equestrian tribes, Saralegui will step up and state that he’s here to observe the royal tombs and the facilities in the north, only to have separated from his guards in the middle of the forest. As for me, I’ll be a follower whose eyes and throat were injured. Even if anyone suspects me, the follower with out-of-place looks, they wouldn’t go as far as to challenge His Majesty the Emperor.

“But this idea of yours sure is bold, asking me to impersonate my little brother to trick the equestrian tribes.”

“This isn’t trickery, it’s just reaffirming a fact. It’s a good thing for His Majesty the Emperor as well.”

“Who knows? If we were discovered, the one Yels.h.i.+ scolds would be me. Looks like I have to ask for an appropriate price in return.”

“Have you decided?”

“Mn—”

Saralegui seems to be fairly frustrated, muttering to himself. After a deliberate pause, the condition he finally comes up with for the deal is somehow very abstract.

“It should be life, right?”

“Life?”

“That’s right, life. If it was a certain someone’s life, I might be able to make the deal.”

Shocked, I can’t help but ask,

“Whose?”

“That depends.”

And then he laughs.

What idiotic idea is this obstinate boy king harboring now?

“Anyway, why don’t you guys stay in Shou s.h.i.+maron for a few days first. After that I’ll figure out how we’re going to play properly.”

“That’s why I’m asking you, who…”

But this will have to wait.

Because on the sand dune in front of us, there are a few swaying shadows.

“It’s the equestrian tribe.”

Saralegui says in a small voice.

“Sara, how many are there? Can you see? Do you know which tribe they’re from?”

“Four, five, six… Six of them, but I don’t know which tribe. That part is really very hard to differentiate, if only we could tell from the color of the clothes.”

They’re wearing hooded cloaks that float in the wind, and feel just like residents of a desert would. But the Seisakoku deserts aren’t hot, there’s foolproof insulation from the cold underneath that material flying in the wind. Apparently the cloaks aren’t just for decoration, sometimes they can be used as carpets, other times as tents, or even scarves.

It’s just that they don’t use different colors according to their different groups. Even if they’re from the same tribe, they can still wear white, or other non-colored material. It seems that anything pale-colored goes.

For some reason Saralegui looks exhilarated, grabbing my arm as he says,

“What to do, are we going to start fighting? Are you going to perform that kind of shocking magic from last night?”

"I won"t do something so reckless again."

“But at this rate we’ll be captured.”

“That will be even better for us. Rather than walking slowly like this, we can reach their base faster. Listen up, when we get to their place you must call yourself Yels.h.i.+, or there’s no guarantee they won’t suddenly come at us with knives.”

How rare it is, for my judgment to be so accurate.

Faced with Saralegui calling himself the Seisakoku emperor, the equestrian people don’t dare to do anything rash. Because those folks don’t if Saralegui is the real thing or a phony. Besides, for these people living in poverty far from the city, most of them go their entire lives without seeing the king’s true face even once.

Even if someone here has seen their country’s emperor before, the likelihood of them calling our bluff is really low. Because the boy king of Shou s.h.i.+maron and the young emperor of Seisakoku look exactly the same.

Those guys treat Yels.h.i.+… no, they treat Yels.h.i.+-impersonator Saralegui with a ton of respect. Sending water, even offering fruits to His Majesty the Emperor, exhausted and having barely escaped with his life. In order to not seem rude, they even let him ride an old horse, bringing him to their home.

A follower whose eyes and throat are hurt like me, is nothing more than cargo to them. And as ‘cargo’ means, I’m pushed onto a large horse that’s uncomfortable to ride, following the north-west equestrian people back to their home. Since my character has a wounded throat, I can’t complain or yell. Though even if I could speak, they wouldn’t understand my grievances.

The one that p.i.s.ses me off even more is Saralegui, who doesn’t utter a word at the treatment I’m receiving. If he was just a little bit better to his follower, he would at least say some nice things for me.

The place where the equestrian people live is fairly different from the oasis town.

There aren’t any buildings here, just a camp consisting of simple tents made from a frame and cloth. They should have some things to block the wind and the sand inside, but I can’t tell how they survive the chill of the nights. Compared to the town of bricks, all I can say is they live very simply.

But there are benefits of this, too. Once they get wind of an enemy attack, they can immediately pack up and move. Even if there was a fire, their homes wouldn’t be too badly damaged. Because only G.o.d can take away something that never existed in the first place.

It must be Saralegui’s first time seeing a camp of tents, his narration obviously rather excited,

“How shocking, Yuuri! It’s a bunch of tents! To think people could actually live in these things! This kind of s.p.a.ce is narrow and thin, you could hear everything from next door perfectly clearly too, there’s no secrecy whatsoever. Oh, right, have you stayed in this kind of house before?”

Although his non-stop ranting is annoying, but he is the master after all, and I’m the follower, so I can only keep listening to him obediently. A lot of j.a.panese high school boys have camping experience, so I’m not surprised by this collection of tents. This is just like him, that’s why I feel greenhouse flowers are so hard to deal with.

“There are over a hundred of them!”

Over a hundred… That is rather large scale.

By the time he says that, I’m also thrown onto the ground. Before this I was treated as cargo, and carried by six strong men. If they threw me just a little further ahead, at least there would be something that looks like a brown mattress. Thanks to them, the sandy ground breaks the skin on my chin.

Since I can’t see the afternoon sunlight, I deduce that I’m now in a tent. The man standing in front of me is saying something in a loud voice, and of course he’s not speaking in the common language. Saralegui replies, but he’s speaking in Seisakoku language, so I don’t understand that either.

d.a.m.n, this is so inconvenient. Doesn’t this camp have any translators!? Only now do I finally understand Mr Ajira’s importance.

“Where’s the person in charge here!?”

Saralegui suddenly uses the common language, and I can’t help but raise my head to look at him, thinking this is some sort of signal. Anyway his words tell me that the man in front of us isn’t the person in charge.

“Sara, there’s no need to talk to anyone who’s not the chief! Our final ace must only be shown at the most critical moment.”

“That’s strange, I thought you can’t talk?”

“Ah!”

c.r.a.p, I forget my throat was supposed to be hurt.

“How about we say you’re a teenager from a different country that I hired? Not only is that closer to our true relations.h.i.+p, it’s easier for you to act out too.”

“…I’m starting to understand what you think me as better and better.”

“Then let me explain, my follower. This man says just a few days ago he was still the top gun in this camp, but a few days ago the legendary messiah showed up, so he willingly suggested handing over the power to the messiah, only that man doesn’t seem to have accepted yet. Goodness~~ To think there are still legends of messiahs and all that.”

When I think of messiah legends, three super famous people pop up in my head. Other than them, I really can’t think of anyone else. That’s right, it’s those people from the messiah legend of the century—Kens.h.i.+ro and Amiba and Heart. All you can see are bulging muscles, muscles, muscles, as well as scattering tendons. Oh, right, and there’s another one called Raoh too[1].

“Mm, ha—”

“What’s the matter, Yuuri?”

“N-nothing.”

The extreme envy almost made me drool unconsciously.

“If so, let’s ask this chief and the person pretending to retire, who we should tell His Majesty the Emperor’s decree to.”

“Of course I’ve asked. In the end he said they’re drumming up stuff…”

“Drumming?”

Drumming, drumming, drumming… It couldn’t be the younger sister of a cat-shaped robot from the future[2], right? Then they must be drumming up resources. Could it be that the legendary messiah is preparing a feast?

“What I mean is they want to treat to me to dinner.”

“Eh, wait a sec. It should be ‘us’, right?”

“No—”

Sara slowly shakes his head and says,

“Apparently they’re going to have a banquet to welcome the Emperor of Seisakoku, His Majesty Yels.h.i.+. As for you, my follower, it seems you can’t attend.”

c.r.a.p, at this point of the plan, my part of a follower is having an opposite effect. From the start I should have set it as ‘a close bosom friend who for some reason is following the Shou s.h.i.+maron king’ instead.

  The sky suddenly becomes dark, so I know I’m in a tent.

As the saying goes, the autumn sun drops… No, the autumn sun sets quickly, but I never asked what season this country is currently undergoing, so I can’t confirm if the sun really did drop quickly.

Saralegui, impersonating the Emperor of Seisakoku Yels.h.i.+, is talking up a storm with the current chief as they walk to the large tent where the banquet will be held. On the other hand, I get the complete opposite treatment, some soldiers carrying me over their shoulders like when we arrived to another tent, as though I could be tossed into the sky at any time.

The people carrying me keep chanting, “Messiah, messiah.” This is the Seisakoku word I just learned.

“W-wait a sec, guys! What is up with this messiah legend? Why am I carried around like cargo? Is Amiba here to blow his flute!?”

They carry me to a tent full of fragrances, and throw me onto the ground just like before. this time there’s more than just a brown mat, my chin even touches oily fur.

The equestrian people are still yelling messiah, messiah.

They tie up my arms, and then tie the rope to the wooden furniture before leaving.

I feel around with my hands, looks like this is the leg of a table. There are four chairs around the rough and st.u.r.dy table, in other words, I’m tied in an unfamiliar room like a dog.

Maybe this is still slightly better than Saralegui, who was tied onto a bed last night. If there were handcuffs cuffed to the table, I could even play detective. There might even be a nice detective sending me pork chop rice. Hey—Yamada, bring the pork chop rice!

…Who the h.e.l.l am I playing detective with?

I turn my face to the right, where something seems to be moving on what looks like a bed. Looks like someone else got here first, but no matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem to be a person.

That thing is completely round in appearance, with nothing long and slender like a person’s limbs. Is it a caterpillar? Or a coc.o.o.n? But it’s too big. Besides, are there really oddb.a.l.l.s in the world that would treat a huge caterpillar as a pet? So worrying, that’s way too worrying.

Other than the bad visibility, this dark tent isn’t a comfortable place no matter how you look at it. I can’t see clearly, but since I got nothing better to do, I just keep staring at the top of the bed.

Maybe it’s just me, but I keep feeling as though that thing is getting smaller and smaller.

The owner of this room wakes up suddenly one morning, and finds he’s turned into a huge caterpillar… Are these non-scientific phenomena actually possible or not?

Because my mind is full of things like that, I don’t notice the footsteps crunching on the sand.

The thing that pulls me back to reality isn’t the sound of the men entering the tent, but the aroma that comes with them. That’s the smell of bread, fresh out of the oven, and meat roasted with a lot of herbs, and the slightly charred aroma of vegetables, drizzled with cheese then cooked until they melt in your mouth.

The smells fill the entire tent, moving me to a daze. To a malnourished brat like me who hasn’t anything decent in almost a week, this is murder to my eyes… No, murder to my nose.

“Hey!”

The man who seems to be the owner of the house makes a sound that scares me out of my wits, but that voice is very familiar. Problem is, I don’t know any equestrian people.

In other words, I’m hallucinating due to the hunger. Goodness, malnourishment is scary.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t answer, the man repeats once more,

“Why are you here?”

c.r.a.p, I really feel as though I know him. This voice that can travel so far even during a compet.i.tion is…

I raise my head, trying to get a better look at his face. But the tent is a bit dim during evening, plus my vision is still on holiday, so unlike during the day, I can’t even tell where he’s standing.

“You couldn’t be the muscle… Adalbert, could you?”

“Who else could it be. And where are you looking? Brat… Don’t tell me?”

I sense Adalbert holding his breath in his surprise.

“Don’t tell me you can’t see? How did it get to this?”

I want to know, too.