TL: Rinkage
Edited by: tjelliott
Chapter 18: I went to the castle
“Err…..Who is that?” [Youki]
This incident happened a few days after both Cecilia and Happiness had proven that Clayman and Sophia-san are a lovey-dovey married couple.
As I adjusted my clothing to prepare myself for another day of accepting guild requests, I heard a knock at the door.
Wondering who it was, I went outside to find a soldier clad in metallic armour, wearing a headpiece, and carrying a sword hanging at his waist.
“You must be Youki-sama. Nice to meet you. I’m Kite, a knight from the Kingdom of Clariness, in the third division.”
“Haa, nice meeting you too.” [Youki]
I bowed my head in response to the soldier’s polite greeting. He might have introduced himself as Kite but, what business could a knight from the castle have with me?……Could Duke have done something wrong? That speculation seemed entirely plausible to me.
But, judging from the exchange with the soldier earlier, I might be the one he was looking for. It appeared that he had wanted me to come along to the castle.……Come to think of it, Cecilia did mention that I might be paying a visit to the castle the other day.
It didn’t seem as though I could refuse it. Might I possibly have done something wrong to be put into this situation? Since I couldn’t recall anything, and it would be bad to decline the request, I reluctantly went along with him when I was told that a carriage had arrived to pick me up.
“…..Nn?” [Youki]
Upon leaving the inn, I noticed a familiar looking carriage waiting there. That carriage belongs to the Aquarain family. In other words…….
“Youki-san.” [Cecilia]
Once I got into the carriage, Cecilia was inside just as expected.
And……
“Long time Captain~” [Sheik]
For some reason, Sheik was inside the carriage too. Where did the dark atmosphere around him the other day disappeared to? He had bounced back to his former cheerful self that I knew once again. Celia-san deserved the credit for this. I’m glad he was back to his old self again.
“Captain~ Vice-Captain~ Hetare1 Captain~” [Sheik]
…….Actually, it might have been better for him to remain gloomy for a little longer. He became even more irritating the moment he got back on his feet. Even though the s.p.a.ce inside the carriage was tight, he climbed atop my head and started riding on me, frolicking around with an innocent looking smile.
“Hey, stop riding on my head!” [Youki]
“Don’t want to. Isn’t it fine since it’s comfortable up here~” [Sheik]
“There’s no way that’s possible! Hurry up and get down.” [Youki]
Cecilia appeared to be watching over us warmly as Sheik continued on with his childish antics, despite the complicated expression I was making on my face.
Could you please do something about Sheik instead? While we were having such exchange among ourselves, the carriage slowly departed to the castle.
*rattle rattle* I gazed at the scenery of the Imperial Capital which I was already familiar with through the window from the shaking carriage.
In the end, Sheik never budged.
Regardless of what I said to him, he remained obstinate and refused to get down so I had given up on persuading him.
I guess it’s fine. This scenario felt really nostalgic to me too.
He should be getting down once we reached Clariness Castle, I supposed. Speaking of which…….
“By the way, why was I summoned to the castle? Along with Sheik.” [Youki]
I pointed at Sheik atop my head. I had no recollection of being called over to the castle at all. It was the same in Sheik’s case too. Based on the conversation we had before we parted previously, Cecilia might have known something so I requested the explanation from her.
“Yes, I guess I should clarify it.” [Cecilia]
Cecilia nodded and began the explanation.
“Youki-san, the three of us went to Dagaz Village the last time, am I right?” [Cecilia]
“Yeah we did.” [Youki]
That incident was still fresh in my memory so I couldn’t have possibly forgotten about it.
“I remembered it clearly that only the elderly people came to me for the treatment at that time.” [Youki]
The ones who went over to Cecilia were mainly love-struck men while Sheik’s place was flooded with women with hearts in their eyes.
Come to think of it, there were quite a number of foolish villagers who were looking at Cecilia with erotic desire and made a pa.s.s at her, so I hid myself and casted magic on them as retribution. I kept that a secret from Cecilia and the village mayor. Since the bandits attacked the village on the same day I delivered the retribution, the unsettling feeling inside me disappeared and restored my peace of mind.
“A-Ahaha, I guess something like that did happen too. However—” [Cecilia]
“Come to think of it, Dagaz village was where we met Tiel-chan and that idiot Goyle too right?” [Sheik]
Sheik who was riding on my head suddenly cut into the conversation.
“What do you mean by idiot Goyle?” [Youki]
Gai would be angry if he were to hear this.……..No, I think Tiel-chan would be angrier.
“That’s because he is an idiot~” [Sheik]
Ahaha~ He suddenly burst into laughter. He might have recalled the incident that happened when Gai had dozed off in the ruins. Could you please not laugh when you’re riding on someone’s head?
“Certainly if anyone were to hear that story, they would feel the same way too….” [Youki]
Tiel-chan didn’t know of the episode that led Gai to becoming the village’s guardian deity. Although, even if she were to find out, I have a feeling that she would end up misinterpreting it and draw the wrong conclusion. “As expected of Guardian Deity-sama. He wasn’t able to go back because he had been protecting the village up till now.”
The impression I got when I first met her was that she was an intellectual literary girl who, has been in poor health yet has a calm state of mind in everything.
However, she would be uncontrollable once she starts talking about Gai or when they are together. That is something that we need to be careful of.
Gai didn’t seem to dislike it too in particular so nothing can be said about that situation.
“See? Aa~ it was really interesting, wasn’t it? Idiot Goyle~” [Sheik]
“Oioi….you’re laughing too much there. You’re being rude to Gai.” [Youki]
“Captain’s laughing too.” [Sheik]
“Ugh……” [Youki]
I couldn’t retort back at that remark.
Undeniably, I still find the story about Gai interesting regardless of how many times I hear it. Not only was Sheik my former subordinate, but I was also deceiving a child like him. On seeing so, Cecilia cut into our conversation without reservation.
“Erm~ Can I go on with the story now…….?” [Cecilia]
“”Ah!….”” [Youki & Sheik]
We ended up getting excited among ourselves, forgetting about the essential explanation that Cecilia was giving earlier.
Cecilia looked at us with a wry smile. Despite being the one who requested the explanation from her, I wound up derailing the subject and made a racket with Sheik. I’m seriously the worst.
“I’m sorry, Cecilia. Hey Sheik, you too.” [Youki]
“Cecilia onee-chan, sorry” [Sheik]
He got down from my head and sat himself in seiza so he could apologize. Of course, I was lowering my head too.
“It’s fine. Both of you, please raise your heads.” [Cecilia]
We lifted our heads up after being prompted by kind-hearted Cecilia. I’m glad she had forgiven us. I was planning to make another confession sooner or later so it wouldn’t be possible if she were to start hating me now.
I wonder when I can genuinely convey my feelings to her again. Although, that matter is currently unrelated to the subject in hand so I should focus in listening to Cecilia’s story this time.
“Then I’ll continue on. Pertaining to Dagaz Village, the treatment of the villagers and the subjugation of the bandits weren’t reported to the castle directly in particular. No one has actually witnessed the attack on Gai-san too so….…if these were somehow concealed then there wouldn’t be any problems.” [Cecilia]
If that’s the case then, the only other thing that happened in Dagaz Village was…..
“By chance, could it be about that hero who screwed around with us?” [Youki]
At the mention of that hero, Sheik trembled. It appears that Sheik still remembers him.
Even when the opponent was right before his eyes, he wasn’t able to save Gai and ended up losing in the one-sided fight.
He might have bounce back from his depression but his mental injury has yet to recover completely. I’ll gently pat his head.
“……….I’m fine Captain. I’m all right now.” [Sheik]
I had initially thought he was trembling as he was casting his gaze down, but, when he raised his face up, I realized that it was still the same Sheik with an innocent smile on his face.
My worries were apparently unwarranted as Sheik doesn’t seem to be bounded by his past any longer. I’m really glad I had left him to Celia-san.
“Sheik-kun, are you really alright?” [Cecilia]
Was Cecilia worried about Sheik too?
“Un. I have decided to be stronger so I will not lose to anyone anymore. So I’m fine…….Besides, I made a promise to Celia-san that I will splatter that guy once I become stronger.” [Sheik]
Sheik was making a seemingly dangerous vengeful oath with a pleasant smile over his face. Just how did Celia-san exchange that promise with Sheik? I am highly curious about it but, our conversation will derail once again if I were to ask him about it now. I endured it so Cecilia could continue with her explanation.
“…..It was just as what Youki-san has said. It’s the Gallis Empire’s Hero, Mirror. The fact that he had come to Clariness Kingdom to gather intelligence has to be reported to the castle.” [Cecilia]
“Well I guess that’s true.” [Youki]
In the worst-case scenario, if we have not reported the information about that guy, just like the Principle of Causality, it might somehow develop into a situation that leads to war.
Moreover, this also concerns the artificial demon’s weapon. There is also a possibility that they might be ma.s.s producing it. Considering Cecilia’s standpoint, she had no choice but to relay this information. The problem is……..
“How much have you informed them about us?” [Youki]
Since it has come to this, there would be various problems arising from that report. To start with, it would be about Gai who was a.s.saulted by Mirror, as well as me and Sheik. And, how we defeated that guy.
If she had informed them about the artificial demon sword (Magic Eater), then the likelihood of Cecilia whose const.i.tution is magic defeating him was really low. It would be bad to expose my real ident.i.ty at the same time too……..
“…..This is really a grave situation but, I’ll try to think of a way somehow. So, please be a.s.sured that I will be able to keep Sheik-kun and Youki-san’s ident.i.ty hidden.” [Cecilia]
Apparently she will try doing something about it one way or the other. Although, I wonder how she went about with the report. Cecilia handed me a written paper containing all the details that she has relayed to the castle so I tried reading it.
The particulars about Gai were not stated but the written details were mainly on how Cecilia, Sheik and I discovered Mirror, who was happily killing demons on his own volition when we were suppressing the bandits.
In addition, the person had already acknowledged it himself that the main reason he came to Clariness Kingdom was to gather intelligence. We ended up engaging him in a battle after that. Even though he had used various artificial demon weapons against us, we somehow managed to corner him to a river and he fell into the water in the midst of the fight.
“…..Will these be fine?” [Cecilia]
“Somehow….” [Youki]
There were a few parts in which facts and lies were blended together, making it look like a fine piece of work. Nonetheless, it was still rather dubious if we could deceive them with this so it felt scary.
Cecilia did say that she would manage it somehow but, will it be all right?
*shuffle shuffle* Probably a.s.suming that the complicated discussion was finally over, Sheik started climbing atop my head again and rode on me.
Well, I’ll just let him be this time. I am currently feeling anxious on what I should do once we reached the castle so it couldn’t be helped. Cecilia didn’t seem to know what will be awaiting us at the castle too.
In our present state of unease, we unknowingly arrived at our destination.
Rinkage’s Footnotes1. Hetare = good-for-nothing / loser / coward