MaruMA:Volume06:Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lord von Bielefeld Wolfram unsheathed his sword and ran towards the stern. What was pelting down from above wasn't rainwater, but seawater. The ship tilted strongly to the port side and the passengers slipped and slid on the wet deck, tumbling back and forth.

"Hurry! Anyone unarmed get below deck! Hold on and stay calm!" roared a voice.

Wolfram had experienced sea voyages affected by catastrophes before. For example, a ship he was on was boarded by pirates and he had been treated like a slave, and another time he and Yuuri were mistaken for a married couple who abused their child.

"But this is the first time I've come across an attack by giant squid!"

Wolfram lunged with his sword and hacked at the gray squid arm that had wrapped itself around the stern. It was as thick as a hundred year old tree trunk; a single sucker was bigger than a toilet bowl in the castle.

The people around him had all armed themselves with diverse cutting tools and fought against this enormous piece of seafood. A mercenary wielded a sword in each hand and one adventurer had an axe. The head cook swung his giant knife and his two colleagues stabbed with butcher knives and iron skewers. A quiet guy fought grimly with an exceptionally sharp sword.

"Cuts through everything from frozen food to fresh squid! Cuts through everything from frozen food to fresh squid!"

The ones fighting while chanting in lively voices are some ladies who like mail-order catalogs. Even the women were competently putting their backs into it. Only the younger women still in cooking training were hesitant wondering if they should cut into the squid with their engraved knives or not.

"We've almost got it! Just keep at it! The squid is dangerous, but it's also important for our provisions!"

He'd seen tons of signs saying 'Danger: Squid frequent this part of the sea' 'We are now hunting squid,' but he never thought that he'd actually encounter one.

With just one tentacle latched on, this large ship was swaying so violently that it seemed like it would sink at any moment. If it used its body as well, the human side would undoubtedly lose.

"I did it! I'm so happy!" one of the young women shouted. "Teacher! It's the first time I've dismembered a squid!"

At the same time as the elated woman called out, the monster disappeared back into the deep sea. It left its severed seventh tentacle behind on the flooded deck with the broken mast.

The people left the deck loudly bragging about their own heroic deeds with fresh pieces of meat as souvenirs. There would be plentiful squid for dinner.

"Would the ladies and gentlemen who sustained only light injuries please come to me under your own power! If you have a head injury, please wait quietly where you are until I come to you!"

The Angel of the Battlefield, Lady von Christ Gisela, was calling out to the injured inside the cabins, as danger was finally averted. The men who had accompanied her were walking around to check how many people were injured and where they were.

Lord von Bielefeld, who'd finished his job, wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to talk to his older companion.

"Gise-"

"Hey, you lazy asses!" she yelled. "What are you doing moving so damn slowly!? The wounded aren't gonna wait!"

G-Gisela?

Wolfram stood frozen with his hand extended, staring blankly at his old acquaintance.

"Hey you there! What did you learn in training?! What've you got legs for?!"

"Sergeant! They're for transporting the wounded!"

"If you've got time to answer, get back to work! Don't dawdle around! Run, you turtle! Now Miss, let me see your forehead. It's okay, there won't even be a scar... Oh, Your Excellency!" When Gisela noticed him, her voice completely changed and she smiled. "You did a great job. There's still a piece of sucker stuck to your face."

"This might be out of nowhere, but Gisela... was your rank a sergeant?"

"Oh no, Your Excellency. I can't say I've been much help, but since I've served for so many years I have been awarded an officer's rank... Um, why do you ask?"

"Oh, no it's nothing. Forget it."

"Sergeant is Lady's Gisela's nickname, Your Excellency," the bald Dacascos explained, completely out of breath. He'd come running from the ship's cargo area. "Your Excellency might not know... but... she always treats... her subordinates like that."

Wolfram hadn't known that.

Dark green eyes that shone with compassion, an expression full of motherly love, healing hands. Who would have guessed that this talented healer with the cold, pale fingers could transform into a devilish Sergeant? Although Wolfram had known Gisela since childhood, he had never once noticed that trait in her. He almost felt betrayed.

"I-I have to tell Yuuri about this," he stammered.

"Dacascos, we don't have time for meaningless chatter. Are there wounded below?"

"No, Sergeant. The worst injuries below are just small scrapes. However, um, I can't find Keenan anywhere."

"What did you say? How long has he been missing? Maybe the squid caught him and dragged him into the sea?... Although if it's him, I find that hard to imagine..."

Wolfram knew what she meant. Keenan was the man with the unfriendly, sanpaku eyes. Wolfram had also imagined him to be the strongest fighter among the four.

"That's, well, his possessions aren't in his bunk. Keenan's clothes, bow, sword, and of course his quiver are all gone."

Now that he thinks about it, Keenan had never let the thick, sturdy quiver out of his grasp.

"What about the lifeboats?"

Because Wolfram had cut in so suddenly, Dacascos answers on reflex.

"No, with a ship like this, I don't how many lifeboats there were to begin wit- Eh, eh, what!? How far is it to shore?! That isn't a distance you can row all by yourself!"

"It would be impossible if he was alone."

"But wait, Wolfram. Why would Keenan need to sneak away? I can't think of a reason," Gisela wondered.

There are many possible reasons.

However, his goal is unknown.

---

He was on the edge of falling into complete exhaustion from listening to reports and then giving further orders.

News came in in an endless stream, but useful news was near nonexistent. His responses were all, "Continue the search."

The advance guard had finally arrived in Shimaron, but it was a land that was more than ten times as wide as Shin Makoku. If they kept searching blindly, the chances of catching up with him are fairly low. If the search area was reduced even by a fraction, the chances of success would go up that much.

Lord von Voltaire Gwendal threw a white card into the fire and watched it go up in flames. Despite the fact that his long legs were crossed with his toes pointed towards the fire, he didn't feel an ounce of warmth in his body.

Winter is starting over there. Was he equipped to handle the cold?

People liked him, regardless of race, and luckily he was raised as a commoner. He wouldn't feel pained to live amongst townsfolk. That was the only consolation.

There are many who are ruled by meaningless pride amongst those those who only knew life amongst the nobility. If they were tossed into the middle of the humans they considered enemies, even if they were offered a helping hand they would reject it all the more.

Yuuri had no hesitation when it came to dealing with humans. As long as he continued that way and honestly accepted good will, at least Gwendal wouldn't have to worry that the boy might freeze. Thinking back on his past deeds, Yuuri might actually be helping someone else.

"... Where is he?" Gwendal muttered irritably, once he'd convinced himself he was alone in his office.

Does he know the value and danger associated with being a twin black? Is he managing to properly hide his hair and eyes? Does he know about the relationship between us and the two Shimaron states? How much had the tutor taught him?

Now that things had turned out like this, he had begun to regret leaving Yuuri's advising and tutelage to Lord von Christ. He should have been more involved. Better yet, he should have taken care of all of it.

Swift steps reverberated through the hall and they slowed as they approached Gwendal's door. Everyone including the soldiers tried not to waste a single second. They wanted to find the king as soon as possible.

"May I enter, Your Excellency?"

"I've said I don't care if you come running. Don't pretend to be calm."

"... Yes, sir."

The color of his collar pin identified the soldier as a palace guard, but Gwendal didn't recognize his face. Did he belong to a different sector? The gaunt soldier stepped up to the desk and held out two pieces of paper with his gaze lowered.

"I have a report. This afternoon, we received these two messages from a civilian news handler in the city, not from one of our outposts."

"A civilian news handler?"

"Yes, sir. It's a correspondence organization by the name of 'Fly, Fly, White Dove Carrier Service.' Doves are sent out with correspondence, and the fees are calculated according to the respective distances traveled. It's a well thought out operation."

"I know that."

There was a large difference in the speed and security of civilian operations in comparison to the military communication networks of the individual nations.

However, 'Fly, Fly, White Dove Carrier Service' had the advantage of having branches around the world. Because it was a civilian business organization, it didn't matter if they were based in enemy countries or not. They form a contract with the leader of the land and if they come to an agreement on fees, they build an office. In the last few years, the demand had risen continually and today, it was safe to assume that this company had an office in every important city.

The workers were very familiar with the flight paths of their doves and the animals were exchanged at countless intermediate stations so that the messages could reach any city in the world. As a rule, they did not discriminate against their customers. They didn't care if they were human or mazoku as long as they were a paying customer.

"The doves were changed eight times since Shou Shimaron? This message is from Caloria... Caloria?"

The writing on one of the messages was difficult to decipher because of the wind and rain. It wasn't illegible, but the ink in the spot where it looked like it had been signed was completely blurred out. It said that the king was sighted with one companion in the autonomous region of Caloria in the colonial territory of Shou Shimaron. In addition, it contained a question.

'Ah, His Majesty is as adorable as ever, but why has he been allowed to travel without any protection whatsoever? I request an explanation.'

The second letter had been sent from the Shou Shimaron mainland. This one had been sent a day later and the letters looked like they were almost thrown at the page.

'... Isn't it a little too dangerous for two children to travel alone?'

The sender's name wasn't written explicitly, but a symbol at the bottom right corner was familiar to Gwendal.

Lord von Grantz Adalbert. The man who'd betrayed the mazoku and abandoned his country.

"He had contact with Adalbert?!"

"Eh!? But isn't that extremely dangerous?"

The letters were addressed to 'Conrart Weller.' It was a human-like way of addressing him. The two of them probably hadn't heard of Conrart's tragic situation.

Gwendal was more concerned about the phrase 'two children' than the sender. Was the boy traveling with someone about his own age, or was his companion possibly even younger than he was? This was Yuuri, so he might have taken in a small human and ended up caring for them. That would be nothing new.

There was so little information in these messages that they had the opposite effect of making him worry even more, but according to the first letter, he knew that Yuuri had at least passed through Caloria.

There aren't many places he could go from the autonomous region of Caloria. Since it was under the control of Shou Shimaron, it would be difficult to go to Dai Shimaron.

Lord von Voltaire stood, his boots echoing against the floor, and spread a map out on the desk with a sweeping motion. In the middle of the heavily annotated continent sat the autonomous region of Caloria. It was the only place unmarked, almost as if it was forgotten.

"An announcement to all troops on their way to Shou Shimaron. Immediately upon arrival, all paths to Caloria must be monitored! Also, from the territory of the Plainsmen all the way to the bordering districts, we cannot allow even the smallest clue to slip through our fingers!"

After the soldier left in a hurry, Gwendal let his eyes wander over the messages a second time. This time he didn't throw them in the fireplace, but rather tucked them safely away in an inner pocket of his jacket.

Von Grantz Adalbert was a dangerous man, yet he had gone to the trouble of sending this message so that probably meant that he didn't intend to harm Yuuri at this time.

If so, it would have been a big help if he had simply caught Yuuri and protected him until we arrived.

"... That would be asking too much."

After derisively whispering to himself, he left the warm, lonely room.

---

Lady von Karbelnikoff Anissina's tailor-made laboratory was located in the basement of Blood Pledge Castle.

Since it was prepared for her in great haste, various parts of the laboratory were hurriedly thrown together. However, if the noise protection was not flawless, the castle's inhabitants would toss and turn in their sleep because of nightly screams. For this reason, the door was especially thick and heavy. As soon as one opened it, one was inundated with noise as if assaulted by crashing waves.

"Nooooo~! She's going to kill meeee~!"

It was not peaceful.

After Gwendal pressed the door shut with his back, he looked for the source of the screams.

There was a child he wasn't familiar with crying and yelling, latched onto the knees of an older woman. She didn't want to go against Lady von Karbelnikoff's instructions, but she didn't want her young charge to be tormented, so the nanny just looked around, lost.

With an unconcerned smile on her face, Greta stepped up to the child and spoke to him. It had been a while since she smiled. Maybe her instincts as an older sister had kindled now that a smaller child stood before her.

"You look very young, how old might you be? Three?" Greta asked.

"... Twelve."

"Eh, no way! Twelve?! You're older than me?!"

"The physical development of mazoku children varies significantly," Anissina explained. "However, this boy is about average. Ah, Gwendal, you're just in time!"

When Anissina caught sight of her childhood friend, the veteran guinea pig, she set off towards him with loud footsteps. Her red hair, bound in a pony tail, was fiery today as always her light blue eyes that resembled the summer sky were clear.

"I shall introduce you. For the time being, he has come to help me with my experiment. This is the next in line of the von Wincott family, Lindsey. In reference to his familial relations, he is Susanna Julia's nephew. Currently, the living member of the von Wincott family with the strongest blood is him. Likely, I can clearly see the full effects of the Wincott poison! Ah, the reason his blood is strong is not because he has been eating nothing but meat."

Now that's she's started talking, Gwendal can't bring up the 'Fly, Fly, White Dove Carrier Service' news anymore. Oh well, even if he did bring it up at this time, he would have to suffer through her endlessly prattling on about the homing instincts of doves.

He could just secretly show it to Greta later. Since she was so worried about her father, having even this little bit of information on his whereabouts would cheer her up.

Although the laboratory was located in the basement, Okiku Günter had been left on the sill of a window through which light shone and she was dead silent with half-opened eyes. If Gwendal strained his ears, he could hear strange breathy noises coming from the doll's body: "Bssssst, bssssst."

"What's that?"

"She's sleeping. Okiku sleeps standing up," Greta answered while sitting down in the light.

The doll's half-open eyes seemed more like they would appear in nightmares than on a doll's face. But in any case, these experiments were all for getting back her body so was it okay that the heroine was sleeping?

When Anissina advanced towards the child, von Wincott Lindsey cried even louder than before. His light brown hair was long like a girl's clung to his cheeks because of his tears. He screeched with an unnaturally shrill voice that caused the nanny to hurriedly rub his back with her hand.

"Waaaaaah, that's the Poison Lady Anissinaaaa~!"

"... What did you say? Twelve years old and still scared of Poison Lady Anissina?"

"But she rips the guts out of children and eats them!"

To think she would end up this hated by children just because she had made herself the main character. Gwendal observed his childhood playmate's back, which was bristling with vitality. Even today, she was full of drive.

It seemed that she was overjoyed to terrorize children as the Poison Lady Anissina.

Lady Anissina propped her hands on her hips and commanded in a forceful voice, "Be quiet! Otherwise I will shave your head and peel off your scalp!"

"Waaaaah! She's scary~!" Lindsey sobbed, burying his face between the legs of his nanny.

Anissina bent over him. "Do you not want to know what would happen next?"

For a moment, the child's wails cut off. Timidly, Lindsey lifted his head and focused his frightened gaze on Anissina. "Wh-what would happen?"

"Then I would cut open your skull with a saw!"

"Waaaaah! That would hurt~~!"

It was all the more terrifying hearing those words come from her mouth because she looked like she would actually do it. She had never done it to a living person, but she did already have practice using her magic-driven saw on corpses.

The child took a moment to imagine the pain and then raised his head and asked, "... And what would happen then?"

"Then the sawed-off top of your skull would be popped off and your brain would be pickled in salt!"

"Waaaaaaaah! Salty! ... And then?"

Anissina was a masterful storyteller.

By the time he had heard Poison Lady Anissina's third addition, von Wincott Lindsey's tears had stopped. To a human's eyes, he looked like he was still three years old, but since he was a mazoku, his age was over twelve. He was the descendent of the Wincotts that the humans were looking for. Despite that, since he was was still a child, Anissina's experiment with him couldn't be very severe.

So she started with a simple test. Since she wanted to see whether the Wincott poison really functioned as described in The Handbook of Murder by Poison, she brought Lindsey before Snow Günter.

Since the poison had half-spread through Snow Günter's body, a perfect reaction could not be expected, but this child's commands would surely work.

Pushed forward by his nanny, Lindsey unconsciously stretched his hand towards Snow Günter.

"Huh?"

Snow Günter jumped up like he had some sort of spring mechanism. His body swayed to and fro because he had put too much power into it.

"Awet - order - pleas!"

"Waaaaah..."

Immediately, tears returned to the child's eyes. A tall super beauty had suddenly stood up and had begun speaking to him in abbreviated words. Anyone would be surprised. Unfortunately, Snow Günter was also still naked. For this reason, tears also appeared in the eyes of the nanny - tears of joy.

"This will listen to what I tell it?" Lindsey asked.

"It seems so. How fantastic! So the Handbook of Murder by Poison was right. Anyone brought to a half-death state by the Wincott Poison pledges their loyalty to the Wincotts."

"Hey, may I give him a command?"

"You may. But do not make him do impossible things."

Von Wincott Lindsey began with a harmless attempt, "Sing!" And then, Snow Günter hummed an avant-garde melody to those in attendance. Unfortunately, this brought to light his tone-deafness, which he had successfully kept secret up to now.

Seized by overconfidence, Lindsey felt like he'd suddenly been made king and gave a very audacious command, "Snow Günter! Defeat the Poison Lady Anissina!"

"Under - stud."

Gwendal did not even have time to think about how bad that was. The super beauty grabbed onto the small woman half his size with awkward movements. His speed was admirable considering he'd been lying in ice up to now to preserve his body.

Gwendal tried to throw himself between them to protect his childhood friend. However, since he was a step too late, the husk being controlled by the Wincott poison was grasping the Anissina's collar. With this large difference in size and grip strength coming at her, even the Red Devil Anissina couldn't-

"I will not go easy on you!"

Anissina crossed both arms in front of her chest and pulled apart with all her strength and threw off Snow Günter's hands Using her petiteness to her advantage, she moved right up to his chest and punched him in the chin from directly below. She threw a high, roundhouse kick at the neck of the pale, puppeted body.

This kick catapulted her opponent all the way to the back corner of the room.

"Awesome! Brilliant! The Poison Lady Anissina is the strongest!"

The child, not having learned anything about moral or ethics yet, did an innocent dance of joy.

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