MaruMA:Volume10:Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When I roughly open the door without knocking, the head of the owner of the ship snaps up. The pale golden hair that looks almost translucent is still sticking to his fair face.

“Yuuri?”

“Saralegui, do you know what you’re doing?!”

He just cocks his head slightly, looking at me through the thin lenses. Slender fingers are spread across his lap and there’s an undecorated bottle next to his chair.

“I’m putting on nail varnish. If you don’t mind using my things, please take some. It’s normal to get small wounds on trips, since this is different from the easy castle life, after all, so we have to be careful about cracked nails.”

“A nail-strengthening MANICURE? No, I'm not a PITCHER… That's not what I'm talking about, Sara!”

“What are you so angry about, Yuuri? Have I done something to make you angry?”

“Those shinzoku!”

The person behind me, either Josak or Lord Weller, closes the door just in time.

“How could you treat the shinzoku like that!”

I can’t stop thinking about what I just saw.

When we descended from the storage hold, those golden eyes had looked up in unison. Even by the rough count under the dim light, there were at least a hundred adults there. As for the girl we met on the deck, she was in a corner cutting the stolen food into tiny portions to share around. Although the people kept holding out their hands, indicating, 'I want some too, I want some too', the food she had hidden in her chest was clearly not enough. Even so, they didn't get particularly rowdy and those who didn't get any just looked sad and gave up. They're used to it. To there not being enough food.

Luckily, there weren't any young children amongst them, but we can't deport them back to their country just because they're adults. To make matters worse, squeezed in a cold and damp cellar, they're making the trip home under such horrible conditions.

Forcefully sending people who had become refugees due to certain reasons home without any protection really is a very cruel thing to do.

“What were you thinking, Saralegui! Why didn't you hide the shinzoku who managed to escape to Shou Shimaron and why are you deporting them back to Seisakoku instead?!”

Shou Shimaron’s boy king, Saralegui, appears to not understand my anger at all.

“Because they’re citizens of Seisakoku. Isn’t sending them back to the country they grew up in the happiest thing for them?”

“But those people ran away from their country! And there were so many of them squeezed on such a tiny boat. Although they were reaching out for help, they aren't just your average shipwrecked crew. They're refugees, right? I saw it too. I was there at the dock then!”

It's a secret that I happened to take custody of two shinzoku children by coincidence. And the fact that I'm carrying the letter those fraternal twins, Zeta and Zuusha, gave me is a matter of utmost secrecy.

“Refugees… Is that so? That may be right.”

Ticked off by his nonchalant reaction, I punch the wall in my rage.

“If so! If that is so, isn't it bad to deport them back? People flee their country because they're being persecuted or their lives were in danger. You have no idea what will happen to them if you send them back to Seisakoku without helping them!”

“Is that so?”

Saralegui puts his pointer finger on the bridge of his glasses then lightly pushes it upwards as if he was handling a feather. His light red lips curve into an innocent smile.

“They were oppressed? I didn't know. Who did you hear that from, Yuuri?”

“… No, I…”

Faced with his question, I’m at a loss for words. I didn’t hear it from anybody. I just concluded it from watching those people begging for help at the dock and the two children we protected earlier. I didn’t hear any explanations because we can’t understand each other, so even if I wanted to ask for the details, it was nearly impossible.

“No, I haven't confirmed that, really.”

Even if I had tried to, it would have been impossible.

“But isn’t it obvious just looking at them?”

I've already made an excuse. Suddenly I lose confidence. I thought that they must have been refugees who left their home country in order to survive looking for protection in Shou Shimaron. I believed that as if it was obvious. I decided that all on my own without confirming the truth with the people involved even though I hardly knew anything about them.

But Saralegui was different.

He's a human who has been been diligently receiving education as a ruler for seventeen years and he understands the affairs of this world far better than someone like me. He's likely far more knowledgeable about the situation in Seisakoku than us as well. And a rookie maou like me is standing in front of someone like him and trying to lecture him.

"You're amazing, huh?"

But the boy who's already leading Shou Shimaron at the young age of seventeen blinks his long lashes a few times before sighing. He puts his right palm on his chest, then he places his left hand over it lightly.

"You really are amazing. Your eyes see into the depth of the matter from such a small detail. Yuuri, you seem like you really were born to be king."

After being praised by the person I arbitrarily criticized after falling into a rage, I felt as if I had sunk into the floor up to my knees.

“… There's no way… someone like that exists.”

He narrows those eyes, whose color I still can’t identify, and shakes his head gracefully.

“I've decided that's how it is.”

It's true that on the letter Zeta and Zuusha gave me there was nothing about seeking help for themselves. All we could decipher, even with the brains of the knowledgeable Lord von Christ, was that they wanted someone or somewhere called Venera saved therefore that was their hope. Then I simply let my imagination run wild, concluding on my own accord that the shinzoku were refugees.

I have no right to be praised.

Unaware of all that, Saralegui takes my hand and says excitedly, “When they were discovered on the lifeboat, no matter how much my men questioned them it seems they didn't say anything. They didn't trust them, huh? That's why I… decided that they must have met with an accident on the sea near the mainland and were asking us for help, so I wanted to send them back home as soon as possible. Looks like I shouldn't have done things based on intuition. Yuuri, I want you to tell me, what should I do with them? What's the best thing for them?”

“About that…”

A bitterness is welling up deep in my throat. It feels like someone is spying on the depths of my heart, making breathing more and more difficult. My hand is still being held.

“… Let’s think about it together.”

I can only answer as such.

“How does your country respond to something like this?”

Saralegui suddenly leans his face in closer. Although the color of his eyes is undecipherable behind those lenses, they’re shining brightly.

“Respond?”

“To refugees. There are plenty of people in Shin Makoku as well who escaped hardships from neighboring countries, right? Yuuri, what is your country's policy? I'd like you to tell me if that's alright.”

“Our policy…”

The atmosphere right now doesn’t allow me to say ‘things like that are all left to Lord von Christ’ at all, much less the truth that ‘actually Günter will then toss them to Lord von Voltaire’. When it comes to the details of Shin Makoku, everyone around me is clearer than I am.

What is this? Someone who calls himself king knows nothing about his own country. When it comes to how much of a rookie I am, even if I'm scolded a million times there's nothing I can say against it.

“Come to think of it, I’m a living, breathing example.”

Josak came to my rescue as if to say that the meaning of life for a guard of the inner circle isn't just providing physical protection.

“See, I have both bloods, mazoku and human, and I was picked up while I was groveling in a country somewhere with a human supremacy doctrine. Right?”

I don't know who the 'right?' at the end was aimed at.

“And Young-… Your Majesty spent a lot of time studying abroad so it's not easy for you to quickly explain Shin Makoku's customs, right? How was it where you studied? You lived a lo~ng time over there in order to bring in their admirable qualities into our country, didn't you?”

“Hmm, over there…”

Over there, that is, over on Earth, how do we deal with it? I had decided what their circumstances were because I had witnessed people squeezed like sardines in a tiny boat asking for help before. I had seen images like that several times on TV. Like people who reach camp after crossing the desert and people risking their lives making a journey on a boat about to fall apart. What happens to them afterwards? What kind of fate was in store for them?

“If it's other countries, I feel like they they accept them, but when you ask about policies…”

America is known as the cultural melting pot and the country of immigrants, but immigrants and refugees are different. As for Japan…

I want to stare at my feet. I want to sit down on the ground and draw circles on the wooden floor with my finger.

“… I don't… hear much talk about constructive things."

Josak, I'm really sorry I couldn't make use of your kindness.

“B-but, I think that sending them back to Seisakoku because you didn't know their circumstances and then having them make a long journey under such conditions is unforgivable. Packing them in OVER the car-passenger limit in the salty smelling bottom of the ship… Ah, since it's a ship, it's a boat-passenger limit? And there was a girl without a coat even though it's this cold. You should at least lend them clothes. And feed them in the morning and night! Distribute food and blankets to everyone, aren't those basic human rights?!”

“Basic… human rights…?”

Saralegui echoes stuttering. It's as if this is the first time he’s heard the term.

“But Yuuri, they’re slaves.”

“Sl—…”

That's it. I can’t deal with this cultural gap. The blood suddenly speeds up in my veins, making me feel dizzy.

In my meager mental archives, any knowledge having to do with slavery stops at historical data. The European countries in the Age of Discovery forcefully brought people from the African continent, treated them like they were nothing, and used them for manual labor…

“You said slaves… What year is it now? How long has it been since slavery was abolished? No, wait! Warring, developing countries are still trafficking people to this day… Crap, it’s getting even more messed up!”

Due to my brain activity increasing too much, it's about to OVERHEAT. I shakily fall backwards. The back of my head hit Josak's chest.

“Young Master, you can do it! Keep going, Young Master!”

I'm trying. But even though I'm putting my all into it, there are constantly new obstacles so I instantaneously feel a little dejected. Geez, why do alternate worlds keep bringing up these difficult issues?

“Sorry, Sara. The country I live in doesn't have that sort of system and I've never been to a country with slavery before, either, so what I'm saying might not be very convincing, but I feel that no matter how you look at it, treating them cruelly just because they're slaves isn't right."

"No slaves? Really?!" Saralegui said, genuinely surprised. His beautiful fingers are pressed against his lips. "Then who's in charge of the sewage?"

"Ah, about that~" Josak is looking off into the distance when I turn around. "Low-ranking soldiers."

"Then what about the dangerous irrigation processes or mining operations under harsh conditions?"

"Also the low-ranking soldiers. What, so Shin Makoku's low-ranking soldiers are treated as less than human then~."

The previously silent Lord Weller interrupts Josak in an unpleasant tone.

"Stop lamenting. You were trained and promoted."

"That is true."

It's an exchange that hints at their hierarchical relationship at the time.

“Anyway, Saralegui, this has nothing to do with slaves or the poor or the differences in status and wealth, humans have the right to live equally as humans-… Though talking about this to you so suddenly is probably useless. To put it simply, you can't force them to live in conditions where they have to steal from the kitchen because you're not even giving them bread when they're hungry."

"Eh, why? They don't have bread? Then…"

In my sixteen years of life, I never once thought I would personally hear this famous line. And Sara says it nonchalantly.

“Let them eat cake!”

I fall to my knees on the floor. The splintered wood touches both of my palms. It feels as though my world has suddenly gone pitch black and there's a lonely spotlight shining down only on me from the ceiling.

If I'm a rookie maou, then Saralegui is a super-king. The type that believes in eating cake when there's no bread. He literally is Queen Marie Antoinette incarnate.

"Que-… Queen Marie."

“Your Majesty, if you don’t mind, please use this.”

Josak bends down and hands me a lacy handkerchief.

“Thanks, Gurrier, I’m so tired … Feel like sleeping… Eh, wait a sec! What’s with this tremor?”

I felt a small tremor different from the movement of the waves through my palms and knees on the floorboards. It's not the gentle rocking of an ocean journey that I've gotten completely used to. It's a 'rocking' that feels stronger, like an electrical motor.

"It's an ocean current."

“It’s a giant octopus!”

The owner of the ship, Shou Shimaron king Saralegui, and the VETERAN soldier, Josak, make their predictions at the same time.

Sara hardens his expression and begins to explain.

“The ocean around Seisakoku has currents that change form according to the seasons, so there are only certain time frames throughout the year when they can cross the sea. We predicted that there were only a few more days for this year and thought that we should be able to make it across these waters in time, but after all the sea is also a part of nature. Perhaps the path of the current changed earlier than expected.”

I don't really understand, but maybe it's like the tides in a whirlpool. And the tremor that I could only feel in my hands and feet before is now getting more and more intense, the whole ship shaking so badly it makes one wonder if there’s a submarine approaching. The bottle on the table starts clattering and the liquid inside spills out.

“What’s the worst case scenario?”

“I can't say for sure. Even I only experienced this when I was an infant. However, I heard that it's over if you get pulled into the current and even the most experienced sailors will find it next to impossible to escape. If it's an inexperienced cargo ship helmsman, then we'll never reach Seisakoku no matter how hard we struggle. And not just that, the chances of the ship sinking are also…”

“But the possibility it's a big octopus is not gone! The guy that has ten thick white tentacles, hard skin but tender flesh.”

That's not an octopus anymore. The spy quite happily licks his lips and puts his hand on the sword at his waist.

"This is perfect. What I want to eat most right now is octopus tempura. I'll become a young wife who wants to try creative cooking, then chop off a leg or two. LET'S GO! Bloodthirsty housewife!"

"The impact of you saying that in an apron isn't quite right."

There's an abrupt commotion outside the cabin. When we open the door, we see that the crewmen, panicked with their first emergency situation, are scuttling all over the large deck.

"... Based on the number of days, we shouldn't have run into it yet."

Startled by the uncharacteristically hateful voice, I turn my head to look next to me and see Saralegui biting his thin petal-like lips. He must have been incredibly annoyed that his calculations were just a bit off.

"There are times in life when things don't go your way, Sara, especially when you're dealing with nature."

"No matter what…!"

He grips his pretty slender fingers tightly, the freshly manicured nails digging deep into his fair skin.

"I cannot tolerate anything not going according to plan."

That’s a feeling of fury a king of failures like me has never experienced before.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※

Adalbert tosses a filthy rolled-up carpet onto the ground. A soft moan escapes from the caterpillar-like package.

“Here, what you wanted.”

“I thank you on behalf of my father.”

“Torture him all you want．He won't die no matter what.”

In the large captain's quarters, the next generation of the von Christ clan, Gisela, places her hands on her hips and looks down with a cold gaze at the thing wrapped up in the carpet. Although her face is bloodless and has a sickly color, out of all the people in the room, she is the healthiest. Since she had just completed the long-term mission of aiding the restoration of Caloria, even though she can't use maryoku on account of the location, her body and soul are in top form.

As for her adopted father, Lord von Christ Günter, since he was nearly burned in a fire, and then he unfortunately fell into the sea, add that to the nausea brought on by the houryoku, and all three factors have finally defeated him, so he is currently collapsed in the adjacent room.

Lord von Bielefeld Wolfram, who had gone through the same, has already recovered and returned to normal life without any serious problems.

Seeing as he’s only eighty-two, youth seems to be on his side.

The place a certain few of Shin Makoku’s most influential people are now gathered, is the drastic Sea Monk—Captain Sizemore’s ‘Friends on the Sea’.

During the political revolt at the Saralegui War Port, it was docked at the jetty directly opposite, and therefore was the first to receive the information and arrive at the scene.

Thanks to the efficiency and speed of ‘Friends on the Sea’ and its companions, Günter, who was thrown into the sea, and Wolfram, who was shot in the chest, were both successfully rescued.

No amount of praise would be enough to thank Captain Sizemore and his quick thinking in the middle of a crisis, just like there never seemed to be sufficient hair, no matter how he brushed, on his receding hairline.

Other than Wolfram and Gisela, who had rushed over from Caloria, there’s also Adalbert, leaning on the doorframe after he carried the caterpillar-thing over, so you could call this the worst combination ever.

Known as the third son of the ‘very similar three mazoku brothers’, Wolfram gets into a conflict with the traitor von Grantz Adalbert whenever they meet.

The cold and distant Adalbert can still control himself fairly well, but Wolfram looks like he’s ready to draw his sword and attack him at any moment.

If it weren’t for magician Gisela’s decisive ‘stay still or I’ll paralyze both of you’, blood would probably have long since been spilled.

On a side note, right now the ‘omnipresent Dakaskos’ is cowering in a corner of the room, trembling.

And outside the wide open door, there’s a group of people spectating at a certain distance, that’s the crew of ‘Friends on the Sea’.

And behind the wall of people, the nice man jumping up and down with what looks like a few baby bird feathers on his head, that would be Captain Sizemore.

“Oomph!”

The one sticking his head out of the carpet for a breath of fresh air, is the former Shou Shimaron model soldier, even known as Saralegui’s loyal dog—Nigel Weiss Maxine, also the man who made famous the cropped ponytail in Shou Shimaron.

Wolfram leans on the walking stick that was once Yuuri’s—‘Windpipe Number 1’, pointing at the man on the ground as he says,

“It’s him! This is the guy who attacked Yuuri and I, jari!”

Having just recovered, his voice is still very raspy, so much so that he can’t enunciate his words properly, evoking sympathy from everybody.

“Mmph, you’re the mazoku from… What’s happening here? Why was a mazoku wearing King Saralegui’s cloak? And standing at the place he usually stands?!”

“We were asking you! Do you know the repercussions of attacking an official ambassadorial envoy like us, who had travelled so far across the sea?”

“No, I…”

“What was the situation, tell me!”

Squatting on her knees, Gisela approaches Maxine, lifting his face with her exceptionally pale hand.

Those gentle fingers she usually uses for healing, are now sunk deeply into his matted beard.

“Since Kinan got away, I guess we can only ask this guy’s body, Aiya, my mistake, what I meant was, this guy’s mouth. If I recall correctly, you’re Maxine, right? As members of the opposition force within the Shou Shimaron army, why did you shoot at our king? Even if your aim wasn’t His Majesty, but to assassinate the boy king Saralegui, what were you trying to accomplish? Right, don’t waste our time, come on and be honest now.”

The corners of her lips curve into a malevolent smile, which isn’t a good omen any day. The worker soldiers, who are used to her yells and torture on a daily basis, all straighten their backs and brace themselves for a bashing.

It’s coming, it’s starting, anytime now, get ready!

“Hmph, I don’t care if you can get it out of me, I was just interrogated anyway.”

“…Interrogated, you say?”

The healer—Gisela raises her eyes, her powerful voice becoming very violent.

This is precisely our Shin Makoku army medical team’s famous finishing move—the Sergeant mode.

“Listen closely, human! We mazoku’s medical team will never accept an enquiry method as old and barbaric as torture! But to this day, humans are still endlessly interrogating as a means of gathering intelligence! Such as plucking nails, digging eyeballs, and cutting off the honey mushroom downstairs! What’s wrong with you people? Why are you backing away? Don’t tell me you’re worried about your honey mushrooms down there?!”

The baby bird head jumping up and down behind the people wall, and the sparkly-headed kitchen apprentice Dakaskos, wave their right hands and heads in fervent denial.

“Listen up , you cowardly soldiers! We, the Shin Makoku army medical team, will never use such prehistoric methods. From now on, healing must be done together with science and brains! Remember that, you horse-butt head.”

Timid Maxine is almost scared out of his wits, going one on one with the force of the Sergeant mode.

“Let’s pretend I have here Lady von Karbelnikoff Anissina’s new prototype— MAjor Danger(*) Potion I and II! Do you bunch of idiots think Lady von Karbelinikoff Anissina is scary?!”

“Scary, Sergeant!”

The soldiers outside reply loudly upon questioning, but as a matter of habit they all remain straight as rulers and don’t move an inch.

“Then between the Poison Lady Anissina and your officer, who is scarier?!”

“Sergeant, of course, Sergeant!”

“You bunch of concrete-brained ass-kissers! At times like these you should compliment the enemy, who’d have thought that despite being so stiff and straight normally, you know how to sweet talk!”

“Yes! We will change, Sergeant!”

Gisela is sounding out her men, but the truth is she’s in a wonderful mood.

“You haven’t changed at all, huh, Sergeant…”

Adalbert says, rubbing his butt-shaped chin.

Even Wolfram, who just recently got to know Gisela’s true form, is so scared of the Demon Sergeant’s intimidating aura that he’s backed up all the way to the wall.

Looks it’s best not to get on this tigress’ bad side.

“Right, back to business—”

Holding in her hand a long brown bottle, Gisela continues,

“This is the Poison Lady Anissina’s new drug.”

At the mention of the creator’s name, Maxine’s expression changes drastically.

“I-is it poison? You say it’s created by the Poison Lady, so it must be poison?!”

“Hmph!”

After what sounds like the yell of someone accustomed to using brute force, Gisela forces open Maxine’s jaw, stuffs the green Potion I inside, then she pushes the jaw joint back up, closing his mouth, setting the bones into place then grabs his head and shakes it forcefully.

“Since you refuse to spill, then I have no qualms using force to get you to confess! Right. Be honest with me, tell us your motives!”

“Hm-um-umph! Hm-um-umph! Mmph!”

Crop Pony is rocking forward, backward, left, right.

After Potion I is thoroughly shaken in Maxine’s mouth, light green bubbles start flowing down the cropped beard, symbolic of his military status.

And then Gisela pinches a horizontal long bottle, raising it high into the afternoon sun.

“After that, this seems to be the blood red Potion II. After drinking Potion I, if you drink Potion II within a certain timeframe…”

“Blergh—What happens if you drink that?! Bleergghh—If those two mix, will it be dangerous or not?! Or is Potion II the antidote? What the hell is it? Blergh?!”

“If you want to know, hurry up and spill it! Might as well tell you, the manual says, ‘Anissina is composed half of gentleness’… Hmph!”

Gisela tosses the manual onto the ground.

“Gentleness—How is she gentle—”

Succumbing to the tense atmosphere, Dakaskos falls backwards like a log.

Although he didn’t take the MaChicken Danger Potion, but he’s foaming in the mouth and white in the eyes.

Even the cold onlooker, the only anti-mazoku Adalbert speaks up,

“Hey, before there are any more casualties, do yourself a favor and get out of this hell, Maxine. Besides, it’s not as though you need to shield anyone anymore, right?”

“S-s-s-shut your crap! I, Nigel Weiss Maxine, will never succumb to such petty threats... What?!”

Victims start appearing in the wall of people outside.

Unable to withstand the terror of Gisela’s aura and etcetera, people start crashing to the ground, one after another.

“Hey, Maxine. You have siblings too, right? Don’t make them too upset. Just pretend you’re doing it for your old mom who will cry for you, just confess to compensate for your crimes. After you confess, I’ll bring you some katsudon.”

The muscleman is actually the good cop taking the sentimental approach, what a surprising Adalbert.

“Well, we don’t mind either way! I kind of want to see how long it’ll take to break a spineless, stupid beard guy like you. Otherwise I might as well throw you into Caloria’s city area, the people there sure hate your guts. That way you’ll definitely get nerves thinner than a mosquito’s leg.”

…While Gisela is the threatening bad cop.

“Ah, come to think of it…”

Wolfram, who believed that ‘silence is golden’ and kept quiet until now, seems to have suddenly thought of something, raising his head.

“Recently Mother has suddenly been working very hard on her whipping techniques, muttering something about some beautiful mature woman warrior… Right, it was the ‘Beautiful Mature Woman Warrior Cheri, and now I’m going to get together and punish you’, something like that. And then there was ‘I really wanna play with that Mr Beard again’…”

“Eh—”

Looks like the threat of the Beautiful Mature Woman Warrior’s leather whip is more effective than the city he destroyed.

Maxine’s heavily scarred face is taut, his blood-shot eyes overflowing with tears again as he pleads,

“I-I’ll spill, I’ll spill, I’ll spill! I’ll say anything, just don’t let me see that gorgeous cheesy woman again!”

“Gorgeous che… You’re so rude! You should say she acts cute, acts cute!”

All the men present look diagonally downwards, thinking,

‘How come the person in question’s son is also so cruel with his words.’

“Although the reason is very weird, but as long as you sincerely want to confess. Then please tell us! Nigel Weiss Maxine, why did you want to assassinate His Majesty and His Excellency Wolfram?”

Crop Pony clears his throat before replying.

He purposely wanted to show off, but his beard was trembling.

“My target this time really wasn’t the mazoku brat. Although that double-black mazoku has gotten in my way several times, but this time he’s here with the special ambassadorial envoy, and assassinating an official guest will damage our country’s reputation, so our target…”

The former Shou Shimaron soldier pauses suddenly, sighing a long and painful sigh before continuing,

“…was His Majesty Saralegui and his men. Actually I want to ask you, why was there a mazoku wearing His Majesty Saralegui’s clothes standing on that spot in the flagship?”

“You mean the light aqua blue cloak? I heard that Sara fellow gave it to Yuuri to block the sun and sea breeze, though later I took it anyway.”

Lord von Bielefeld’s good-looking brow creases, its depth not losing out to his older brother.

“Yuuri heard from someone that the spot behind the helmsman is best for looking at the scenery, saying something about standing there you can feel the true awe of leaving the bay, and saying the traditions of setting sail is where the essence of a voyage lies…”

“The one who told him was probably that Saralegui fellow, huh? That Shou Shimaron king let the black-haired brat wear his own clothes, then stand in his own favorite place… What a sneaky little brat! Looks like he knew long ago that there was someone out to assassinate him, meaning information on your rebellion motion has long since been leaked, Maxine.”

“The shooter was Kinan, I think.”

Back to being the female medical officer, Gisela says the name of a man who was once her adopted father’s subordinate.

Kinan had broken off from the team on the trip to Shou Shimaron, and was even suspected of stealing Lord Weller’s left arm.

“He was Shin Makoku’s number one archer. Though he was fired from the army for certain reasons, he does indeed have the ability to shoot any target. And now we know the reason he headed for Shou Shimaron…”

“Wait, what? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Truth is, I just found out from Lord von Christ myself. Never mind what Kinan’s reasons were, the main thing is he’s betrayed the country, and he even took a dangerous item to Shou Shimaron. To the Shimaron army, there’s nothing luckier than that, because they had a usable pawn volunteer itself. You must have been really glad to find a suitable shooter, huh, Nigel Weiss Maxine?”

“That’s right.”

“Ecstatic?”

“Not to that extent.”

Looking at Maxine, who is starting to confess, Adalbert speaks up.

“But if he were assassinated while another king was visiting, wouldn’t that hurt Shou Shimaron’s image as well? If he can’t even control his own army, surely the other countries’ opinion of you would decrease greatly. If he got intel on the rebellion long ago, couldn’t he have prevented anything from happening? What’s more, the mastermind…”

As he speaks, he mercilessly uses the amphibious sturdy sole of his boots to kick the curled-up caterpillar-like body.

“Uu-ya!”

“…is this idiot over here? Hey, stop screaming like a sealion!”

“If he wanted to catch them all and eradicate the rebels in one fell swoop, he should have taken the chance to arrest them when they were in the middle of an actual operation. Normally, even if you get a lot of people, there will always be some others hiding underground. Since it’s a military faction, those who don’t participate would be deemed as cowards, right? And… That really was Kinan, was it, Your Excellency Wolfram?”

The third son nods calmly, Gisela is so much better a speaker than he is, having her specialize in healing is such a waste.

“His plan of action is excellent. If the archer is a mazoku, and if His Majesty the Maou… Although I am extremely reluctant to say this… But should His Majesty the Maou tragically lose his life, they can announce to the other countries that it was due to the mazoku’s internal conflict. This way, not only can he preserve his life, he can also assassinate our king. If he succeeds, it won’t cause much of a discussion internationally, and if he fails, at least he can wipe out the opposition within the country, so whatever the outcome, it’s win-win for him. This is a sort of insurance policy, to calmly consider up to this point, it can be seen that from the beginning, Saralegui… to His Majesty…”

Gisela shakes her head several times, not aimed at anyone in particular, but out of admiration for the enemy’s intellect.

But Wolfram’s pale face has reddened completely.

“That brat still dares to act all innocent, approaching Yuuri…!”

“Please wait, Your Excellency Wolfram, where are you going?”

“I’m going to save Yuuri.”

“Where are you going to save him?”

“It doesn’t matter where! Right! It’s Seisakoku, I want to go to Seisakoku too! There’s no time to waste here! I have to save Yuuri! That guy can’t be without me.”

“Please calm down, Your Excellency.”

Although she’s aware that doing this is going against her station, but Gisela still grabs the previous Maou’s third son by the arm.

“Has milord forgotten? Seisakoku is the territory of the shinzoku, there’s a large gathering of people with powerful houryoku there. Just the ground itself is different from the continent governed by Shin Makoku, and the land where the humans live now, you know? People with strong maryoku will only get in the way there.”

She is absolutely right.

Although his and Günter’s maryoku still count as strong, but once they’re within Shimaron borders, there’s nothing they can do.

But at the same time, he can’t just bite his nails and wait in safe place just because of that!

“Am I the kind of person who would listen to others like a good boy when faced with an objection?”

She shakes her head slowly. Her plait sways around on her back.

“No.”

“Since you know that, let go.”

“Before you rush out of this room alone, I believe there’s something else milord should do.”

At this moment, Dakaskos wakes and pushes himself up, rubbing his hairless scalp with his palm.

He pushes past the wall of people, finally seeing Captain Sizemore’s face, and the Crop Pony desperately wiggling his body rolled inside a filthy woolen carpet, trying to loosen the ropes, and then the solemn crewmen on duty announce in a loud voice, “There’s a small ship arriving.” Seems like the backup from Caloria is here.

Next door, however, there’s a huge and sudden crash, sending the walls with the same wood-pattern a-creaking, looks like Günter has fallen off his bed.

Wolfram suddenly remembers the people he has always respected, murmuring the new king’s name.

To relax his stiff fingers, he grasps his right hand twice, and says,

“Assemble a tracking team at once!

“No matter what, we cannot let His Majesty fall into Shou Shimaron hands!”

Back to Chapter 3

Return to MA Series

Forward to Chapter 5