MaruMA:Volume16:Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The rooms are distributed to us from shortest to tallest.

From shortest to tallest, what a nostalgic term.

When I was in elementary and middle school, we used ‘from shortest to tallest’ a lot, but once I went to high school, it was replaced by the stiff-sounding ‘according to height’. I tend to be in the middle when it comes to height placements in the class, so even if it’s from shortest to tallest, I don’t find any particular problem in it.

That’s how it’s usually like.

“But if the rooms here are arranged from shortest to tallest, won’t that mean Gwen can’t stay with us!?”

Exactly.

My height is about the same as Murata’s, those few centimeters that can’t be differentiated with the naked eye almost within a margin of error, so we should end up in the same room, but it’s different for Gwen.

Although his voice is low, his body is actually very tall, belonging to an especially tall group even among the mazoku. If I were to compare myself to him, the difference would be like that of a telephone pole and a cicada, like an adult and a child. If we were lining up on the field, it would probably be the distance between the first to the one outside the school gate.

So when the prison guard with the belly sticking out says that outside the third heavily-guarded gate, I can’t help but exclaim loudly,

“Are you kidding me!?"

"This is no joke"

Murata, Gwendal and I get past the nightmarish zombie area safely, and pass through an area where the convicts are quieter too.

What’s strange is that the deeper we go into the jail, the more normal the soldiers’ and guards’ language gets. There aren’t any scary moe-style sentence endings anymore, or tones so respectful they make your knees weak.

In front of that third gate, that prison guard said that rooms are arranged from shortest to tallest, so that tall guy must share a room with someone else. He scratches his pot belly as he says that.

This is the ‘Who Is It Summoning Hell 1-Chome, Ah, Errand-Running 3-Chome Prison’ that would make even crying children shut up. When it comes to prisons, all I know from movies and TV is that they’re full of violence, taking sides and gangsters.

To be in this kind of place, and now to be separated from Lord von Voltaire. That would become really dangerous.

“I wonder, is this a Japanese-style stern surveillance prison, or an American-style super free-and-easy prison--?”

Murata sure sounds carefree, though.

“Although the Japanese style is restrictive, your personal safety is somewhat guaranteed; the American style is more loose, but it’s also more dangerous. You can really feel the FREEDOM. Ah, in South East Asia, there are even places where the whole village is a detention facility.”

“N-no matter what, the Japanese style is better, since I do love the island country.”

“I highly recommend South East Asia as well, where you have to earn your own food and living fees in the prison.”

“How? We don’t have any family members to visit and give us things.”

“Do you even have to ask? Of course we should do business in the prison. Leave that to me, I’ve already watched up to the fourth season of ‘Prison Break’. There are loads of other methods, but once we got it starting we can really make it big.”

I briefly dream of our making it big, while at the same time encouraging baseball as a sporting trend, just like ‘baseball in a fence’, wouldn’t that be interesting?

“No no no, forget it. We don’t plan on staying her for long anyway. We need to find the ‘black-haired’, and then ask them to speed up our trial, prove our innocence, and then leave this country.”

Although the prison guards are staring at me, the suspect (definitely not a convict) who daydreams one second and sighs the next, it’s not long before a short soldier brings in a man, and pushes him in front of us,

“Ah—here he is, here he is, the one who will be sharing a room with the tall guy is this…”

But before the prison guard can say his name, Gwen calls it out first,

“Chevalier, why are you here…”

Since I’ve travelled here so many times from Earth, and I’m getting to know more and more people of Shin Makoku, to me, Chevalier is a rather important existence.

After all, on the day when I first came to this world, I met him in that extravagant maou-designated bath. More precisely speaking, I met the previous maou, in other words the current Her retired Majesty Lady von Spitzberg Cäcilie, the woman warrior, in the bath.

Curly golden hair and clear blue eyes, a beautiful figure, a muscular body with no excess fat, this beautiful young man (though he could be a middle-aged man for all I know) who reminds people of Greek statues, he is the most beloved of the love hunter, Lady von Spitzberg Cäcilie. They always show up together, I could even say that wherever Lady Cheri is, he would be there too.

I met him before a few times in the bath, the coliseum, and in Dai Shimaron, so our relationship is about that close.

But it does feel very weird to see a familiar face in a faraway foreign land. Although I pull my senses back to reality in that instant, it still feels like I’m in the bath in Blood Pledge Castle, only the weather isn’t that hot, yet his top half is naked. Maybe he just wants to show off that body he’s so proud of.

Just then my old man’s words run through my mind—“You’d be threatened by a buff guy in leather too, y’know.”

But that’s his personal freedom, so to hell with it.

“On the other hand, Chevalier, why are you in a foreign prison like this? This is ‘Who Is It Summoning Hell 1-Chome, Ah, Errand-Running 3-Chome Prison’, y’know? If you hadn’t committed a crime, or were falsely accused like we were, logically speaking you shouldn’t show up in a place like this.”

“In that case, that means you are only here because you were framed?”

Although he’s not as muscular as Adalbert or Josak, his strong yet slender arms wrap around his chest as he nods his head, going “mm, mm, mm”. Even the golden curls plastered to his forehead shake in tandem.

“I thought so, since Your Majesty hates law-breaking so much, it should be impossible that you would do anything bad. Lady Cheri says that all the time too, she says she likes Your Majesty Yuuri’s overly straightforward personality. Ah, your sexy black hair and eyes are very beautiful too, of course, even she really worships them.”

“But of course, her cuteness is the real deal.”

Chevalier says with a smile. There are wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, which only makes him look even friendlier. But his features are too proper, looking at him is like looking at the plaster bust in art class.

“Unfortunately, however, I have also fallen to the point where I cannot meet Lady Cheri.”

“Ah, that’s right, Chevalier. What in the world did you do!? When were you sent to a place like this!?”

He said he would lead us, so we tail behind him, walking towards the innermost part of the prison. Still, where would this building that looks like an eel’s nest stretch to?

We are now walking down a corridor on the first floor, the ceiling stretching to the third floor above us. The second and third floors on either side of us are like balconies stretching outwards, lined by ordinary jail cells with continuous bars. I can’t tell how many room there are from our position, but this is basically a gigantic prison.

Even if they limit it to two or four people per room, how many people can they hold at the maximum?

And in the deepest recesses of this ‘Who Is It Summoning Hell 1-Chome, Ah, Errand-Running 3-Chome Prison’, it’s neither a Japanese-style stern surveillance prison, nor an American-style super free-and-easy prison, and of course it’s not kind in South East Asia where you only realize it’s a village after you walk in.

When the prison guard opens the third door, we are immediately rendered speechless.

The inside is sparkling.

And the walls aren’t pure white like in a hospital either, it’s a butter and lime color that emphasizes a family atmosphere. The floor underfoot isn’t concrete or spotted stone either, but cure ceramic dotted with small flowers. On the walls and ceiling of the third floor, there are even blue skies and white clouds painted like in a child’s room.

What an unexpectedly wholesome prison!

More precisely, it’s a modern and at the same time fantastical prison. It’s like the facilities you see introduced on the educational channel at 9.30pm. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were patchwork decorations by Nakajima Kathy in there as well.

When I first came here I was shocked to find out that the prison warden was a woman, so this must surely be Warden Ranatan’s preference. It looks like her taste is a lot like my mom’s.

And not only aren’t the inmates causing trouble, most of them are all smiles. I look around as I walk, and notice that the men on the benches or by the tables are either reading books or playing with string patterns, or holding a pale green teacup with one hand as they chat. Everyone’s expressions are very calm.

Sometimes there’s even a man or two who would wave and yell, ‘Hi~~ Mr Chevalier.’ Of course, they’re not leather-bound buff guys.

What an awesome prison! I really can’t figure it out, why would this paradise-like place be called Prison 1-Chome? Who on earth gave it this name?

Seeing our confused expression, Chevalier says softly as well,

“So you guys are shocked too, huh? Although I’ve only been here for about ten days, this really is a surprising prison.”

“Seriously—”

Murata ignores the multiple choice question and stares at the pictures on the ceiling, mouth gaping, before he grips the cloth with thick horizontal stripes on his shoulder,

“The only thing that could use some more work is the design of the inmates’ uniforms.”

“Be patient with it, at least the clothes are freshly laundered, that’s already very good.”

The distributed uniforms aren’t orange jumpsuits nor are they grey working clothes, but instead they’re very striking red and white horizontal stripes.

Murata and I are wearing wide prison uniforms just like everyone else, but Chevalier has pulled the top half down and tied them around his waist.

The worst off is Lord von Voltaire. Although he looks really good in clothes with deep colors and simple tailoring, the prison uniform with red and white horizontal stripes is unbearable on him. In the first few minutes, Murata and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Although their hair and eye colors are different, but the red color really brings out everyone else’s white skin. Speaking of which, since we entered this area, I haven’t seen anyone with copper skin like those fishermen. Could it be that men of the sea never do bad things?

“Since the inside is full of a warm family atmosphere, why is the entrance like a zombie area? And the facilities are really filthy too, the prisoners really loud, so much so that it feels really scary.”

“Ohh~~ The convicts there are on probation.”

“Probation?”

“That’s right.”

He walks ahead and looks back as he speaks, the muscles on his shoulder blade and back moving in tandem.

“The ones there are prisoners whose sentence is almost up, and are going to return to the outside world. They just have to stay there for three days then they can leave.”

“Eh? If they’re about to leave, why are they so rowdy?”

“Because they don’t want to leave.”

They don’t want to leave prison? Why would there be convicts that weird? Since they’ve been kept in this prison for so long, they should be dying to return to society where their friends and family are waiting.

“Well, after all staying in here is really comfortable—”

“The world outside is very harsh, that’s why they need to stay in a dirty cell for a few days, so they can adapt to the outside world.”

What kind of topsy-turvy mentality is this?

“Wait a sec—Ranatan said no one ever broke out of prison for the past two thousand years, that’s also because…”

“It must be that no one ever wanted to break out in the first place.”

“What is this, how could there be such a heavenly prison? It’s making me wonder whether jail is a good or bad thing—”

Only Lord von Voltaire’s expression is cold,

“To make the place where you imprison bad guys so comfortable, how ridiculous. Isn’t it far too unfair for bad guys to get better treatment than the people working hard in society outside?”

“You’re exactly right… But I’m really saved this time, to be honest I was always extremely nervous. Since I was put into prison even though I’m obviously innocent, I really didn’t know what to do.”

“You could say it’s our good luck, huh, and then? Was Chevalier falsely accused as well?”

“No, unfortunately, I can hardly clam to be wholly innocent, as the fact is I accidentally infringed into their territorial waters.”

“Infringing territorial waters--?”

I remember, I always hear this stuff in the television news, like when a suspicion boat infringes into Japanese territorial waters, and how the naval customs reacted excellently. But Chevalier should have been with Lady Cheri, since wherever Lady Cheri is, Chevalier would be there too.

I simply can’t imagine that Her Majesty the former queen Lady von Spitzberg Cäcilie would ride on a suspicious boat. Since she always takes a luxury liner, even if the patrol boats ask for her identity, she shouldn’t be held and investigated as long as she told them where she was from.

“Where you on some suspicious boat?”

“No no no, of course not! I was on the perfect little boat Lord Fanfan prepared for milady.”

“But you were arrested anyway?”

Chevalier scratches his messy golden curls lightly,

“That’s right, according to the navigation map I was looking it, we were supposed to be in public domain… Maybe we drifted into this country’s territory without me realizing it. Unfortunately, the one steering the wheel at the time wasn’t Lord Fanfan, but me instead.”

“So you were captured?”

“Yes, and now I await trial in here. I deeply apologize, as a citizen of Shin Makoku, I ended up committing a crime in a foreign country, how shameful of me.”

  “Br more careful next time.”

Gwendal’s voice turns a little unpleasant.

“I truly have nothing to say, Your Excellency. However, I am glad the person who has to take responsibility isn’t the ship’s owner, Lord Fanfan, but me instead. If Lord Fanfan was arrested on the spot, Lady Cheri would surely be heartbroken.”

“Chevalier…”

That is the best certification for a man who will give everything for love. Seeing his unregretful smile, we are in turn lost for words.

“To think you adore Lady Cheri that much.”

“That is only natural, milady to me is like a flower, the sea and the ocean.”

Gwendal stops dead in his tracks suddenly, groaning as though he swallowed a frog. Who knows whether Chevalier noticed it or not, but he continues with a dazzling smile at us,

“Because I live for her, this feeling of loving a person, it truly is wonderful!”

But to Lord von Voltaire, it doesn’t seem particularly wonderful.

Gwendal is standing in the middle without moving a muscle, biting down hard on his lip and gripping his fists tightly, glaring at the sky as though there’s some unseen enemy there.

Maybe he realized that his words hurt Gwendal, so Chevalier doesn’t go over to him, just lacing his fingers under his chin and looking at him.

Thinking an arena battle of love is about to commence, Murata and I whisper to each other excitedly… I mean, uneasily.

Now I finally understand how moms feel like when they’re looking forward to the afternoon drama series, I wonder, will someone yell, ‘You homewrecker!’ But they’re both men, and one of them is even the son of the main female character.

“Still—This doesn’t mean anything, does it? In the past she always had a lover in Mr Fanfan, so now all we got is another guy who has a crush on her.”

“The troubling part is that there’s another father candidate, isn’t it?”

“If they were to get married, it would be really awkward, wouldn’t it? Back when the owner of my soul was alive, there are some memories of mazoku not really caring about the formalities of marriage. But what’s wrong about their mother marrying someone else they know? The three of them are all adults now, after all.”

To think Murata would be that cool, if it was me I’d be really troubled. If my mother married someone I know very well—for example, if she decided to remarry to Conrad. Well, he is the person who named me after all, so it seems not much would change even if he became my dad?

I try to imagine that scene.

“…I-I can’t!”

If it ever comes to that, we’d probably beg for her to stop, crying. My father, my brother and I, all three of us would get on our knees if it meant stopping that from happening.

“True, that is hard to imagine in the Shibuya household—”

“No no, I really can’t accept it!”

And then the previous Maou’s oldest son starts mumbling something in a weak voice, so much so that we can’t hear it even though he’s three steps away from us. Seeing him like that from a side is actually slightly scary.

“What is he doing? Could he be that he’s cursing Chevalier? Or does he not want any more little brothers?”

“I see, so what he means that it’s enough until Lord von Bielefeld?”

“Should we tell him that there’s a chance he’ll get a little sister as well?”

“Ah—you’re right—For all we know, he may get an adorable little sister who calls him ‘Nii-chan’. And twins too, twins with completely different personalities! One is mature and gentle, the other one is competitive and tough.”

“I always thought only our Shouri would feel happy hearing things like that, to think Murata is quite well-versed in this area as well.”

“Oh dear—I just easily get passionate over something, and then I fall into it without knowing—”

I throw aside that unfortunate piece of imagination about my family, and try to imagine Gwendal as an older brother instead. That eldest son, carrying a chubby baby in his arms gently.

“…He looks really happy.”

“Ah, he’s turning around to look at Chevalier!”

Gwendal, who had previously been staring at the sky, turns around to face that man passionately in love with his mother, and holds his hands tightly.

“Waa—he finally seems to have recognized him as his mother’s boyfriend.”

Maybe he’s regained his sanity, for his voice turns back to that usual bass,

“I leave Mother in your hands, please take care of her.”

I bet we’re currently witnessing a special version of ‘Father, give me your daughter!’ But the one acting as the father is the son, and the daughter is his old lady, this difference is too much.

Even if that little skit is so unique, I’m still touched to tears. If I were to find myself in that position in the near future, what should I do? At that time, the fathers would be Wolf and me, and the daughter would be Greta.

Thinking that, I immediately understand Gwendal’s feelings deeply.

Chevalier, on the other hand, flashes him a smile as dazzling as the sun, grasping the hands of his beloved’s son back, and shaking it up and down with force,

“Relax, if you would accept such an immature me, please do leave milady to me! Although her heart is currently with Lord Fanfan, I am willing to keep on waiting.”

What a brave hunk.

“Such romantic words—”

“Oh, Aming—”

Murata says something that makes me suspect he lied about his age again, but since I understand him, it means I got a problem too. Still, that’s because Okamura Takako is Ishii Hiroo’s ex-wife.

Just then something seems to sparkle on Chevalier’s finger, something like the champion’s ring of the World Series. There aren’t any gems on it, so it looks like a normal ring to me, but Gwendal seems to tell what it is immediately.

“This is… an insignia, right? Why do you have such a precious thing on you even now?”

I heard the term insignia before. Back then Greta, claiming to be my illegitimate daughter, had used Gegenhuber’s insignia to get past the guards and into my room.

Although I was nearly assassinated and did sprain my foot, that item is now full of sentimental value, and it’s also the lucky item that led me to meet Greta.

But the mazoku’s insignia ring should only be found on previous maous and their heirs. As for Hube, the Grisela family has had many maous, so it's not surprising that they would have this ring.

“No, I usually hide it, or wear it around my neck on a string.”

“Oh—Let me see, what’s the diagram on it? An animal? Or a plant? Günter asked me what was on it before too, does this mean that someone in Chevalier’s family was a maou?”

“About that, Your Majesty, the truth is…”

He touches the back of his head awkwardly,

“It was me…”

“Oh, it was Chevalier, huh… What--!?”

I can’t help but yell out loud, Gwendal and I both so shocked our jaws nearly drop. As for Murata, he looks completely calm, his expression even saying, ‘something like that is actually very likely’.

“W-what did you just say, Chevalier?”

“You said you were the maou!?”

“That’s right, that’s what I said.”

“Eh, aren’t you Lady Cheri’s butler?”

The image of the previous maous in my mind is slowly dissolving. At the rate things are going, soon the image of the priestesses and Shinou will fall apart too. I get the feeling that’s not too far in the future.

“B-but, when we first met in Blood Pledge Castle, you were a very excellent back scrubber in the bath, and even after that you were always Lady Cheri’s, Her Majesty the Queen’s favorite servant, right? And yet now you’re telling me you’re the maou… When, where, and how did you become the maou!?”

“If you ask me where, of course that would be in Shin Makoku. As for when, I was the generation before milady, which makes me the 25th maou.”

We’re standing, unmoving, in the middle of the prison, dejected one second and shocked another. Other people watching us probably think we’re actors, and the prisoners who were standing around before are now approaching us with interest.

“T-then why don’t I know you?”

“That’s unsurprising, because only this insignia can prove that I was maou. Add that to the fact that unlike other maous, I don’t have a portrait, and the people who used to serve me in the castle had long since retired to the countryside, living the rest of their lives peacefully.”

By the staircases and corridors of Blood Pledge Castle, it is indeed true that we don’t have portraits of the 25th and 26th maous.

“That was because I upset the castle’s painter, I said that such a lifeless portrait can be done after I’m dead, and I think that line hurt his ego as an artist.”

I always thought it was because the portraits aren’t done yet, who knew something like that happened.

“And when I was in power, I ruled the ministers with a curtain between us.”

“You mean ruling from behind a curtain!?” What's up with this world?

There’s a cross-dressing masked lady leader, there’s also twins who are both boy kings of large countries, there’s even an obviously old uncle-aged His Majesty with a bowl cut and a cartoony voice, and even a prison warden who’s obviously auntie-aged and yet talks like a moe-character. Now we hot another king who ruled from behind the curtain, and who looks completely like a civilian.

And at the same time, he even fell in love with the beautiful queen who succeeded him, hiding his identity to be a servant by her side.

“Among the kings I met in the past, there are indeed some who meet guests from behind a curtain, but how are there kings in this world who complete their reign without even the domestic ministers and personal subordinates knowing his face!?”

It feels like a princess from the Heian period in Japan.

“Back then I was very shy.”

“Is this a problem you can solve with just ‘very shy’?”

Gwendal finally joins in the conversation again, saying so with an extremely unhappy expression.

Chevalier… No, His retired Majesty Chevalier gives a perplexed smile like a child being scolded,

“Ah, but of course I showed my face to a few people who were close to me, only those people resigned when I abdicated, and each of them left the castle. Also, don’t judge me by how I look now, I underwent body modification, so everything was changed from inside out, and I look completely different from what I used to. It’s precisely because I’m too different from when I was in power, that the castle painter who wanted to draw the portrait for Blood Pledge Castle met many difficulties. Add that to the fact that the painter may have been annoyed by my words back then, and finally he went underground as well.”

“Even if you look different, it shouldn’t be that different…”

But if it were Miss Anissina, performing cosmetic surgery with ma-powered devices should be a specialty of hers.

“Back then I swayed unsteadily when I walked, my face was pale and I was scrawny. If I walked by the beach shirtless, people would taunt me by calling me a ‘summer babe’.”

“That just means that you look really good in a bikini, y’know—”

Murata isn’t affected at all. Even if he has all sorts of memories of different experiences, this sort of calmness is still very precious. How I hope he would come to my team, and guide the players psychologically.

Since he insisted in going shirtless even when he was scrawny, does that mean he just naturally likes going nude? I’m terrified that he would say that when he was ruling behind the curtain, he was in fact completely naked. Could it be that he just likes taking it all off, and that’s why he ruled from behind a curtain?

“But it’s precisely because of her cuteness, that made the weak and helpless me change my mind.”

The nudist says forcefully,

“When Ulrike told me, ‘this is the candidate for the next maou’, and showed me the lady’s image in the crystal ball, I couldn’t help but sigh, ‘how could she be so lovable, so beautiful and so cute!’ I nearly fell backwards while spurting a nose-bleed. Now, I can slightly… No, I am the Chevalier that can rather understand Lord von Christ’s feelings.”

By now Gwendal’s brow has squeezed into a wrinkle that probably won’t disappear for his entire life, and my expression must be really stupid as well.

“After that I became Lady Cheri’s hostage, desperately gathering information about her every day. I used the little time I had left to investigate milady. Sometimes I would send someone to stand guard by her window, sometimes I would send someone to cover her bed with flower, or even fill her bath with blood-red wine… I used all the power I had to the very last drop, doing anything I can to get her fancy. Ah~~ The power of love is great.”

You’re basically a stalker, that’s not something a king should do.

“Shibuya, I was right, wasn’t I?”

“What. Do. You. Mean. Right?”

“I once said, ‘You’re a more impressive king that you imagine’.”

I’m starting to think that too, slightly.

“But I thought Chevalier was really young, even younger than Lady Cheri.”

“Hahaha, I’ll take that compliment.  The secret to my looking younger than my years, is probably wearing shoes without socks.”

Just then, as the current maou and novice to Shin Makoku history, I realized something big, “Wait a sec, if Lady Cheri were to marry Chevalier, wouldn’t that become a union between the previous queen and the previous previous king? Wouldn’t that be the greatest royal couple!?”

“No no no, I have already abandoned my position and my clan name, to live among the people. Now I am merely a man named Chevalier, you don’t have to be too formal around me, just call my name as usual!”

“Is that so? I got it, so from now on that’s how I’ll call you, named Chevalier.”

Gwendal speaks before we do, evidently confused.

“Mn, got it, named Chevalier.”

Murata is definitely doing it on purpose.

“But what does Lady Cheri think about something so important? Does she know?”

“She shouldn’t know, right? After all, we only spoke once at the crowning ceremony, and of course at the time I was behind a curtain as usual. But even so, I’m really worried that she would discover my true identity through my voice, that’s why I instinctively speak very little in front of her.”

“Come on—is that alright? Didn’t you occasionally get tied up in the whip of love?”

“It’s okay, because we’re not chasing the past, but the future.”

There’s no malice at all in his words, and when Chevalier answers so determinedly like that, he looks really innocent. To be a pretty boy, it may be very important to maintain that sort of mentality, which is why people like my old man can never do it.

I look at that man in love with some respect in my eyes, but suddenly a color I’m not used to flashes past my eyes. That’s the color I’m long since used to seeing in the mirror and on Earth, but in this world here, it’s the color only seen in a starless, moonless night sky.

“Was there something just now?”

“‘Something’?”

Maybe because the direction we’re facing is different, Murata doesn’t seem to see it, but something black, which is rare in this world, did flash past my line of vision.

“There was something blacl… No, that was a black haired person! A black-haired man ran over there!?”

“Oh, are you talking about 'Kami Kuro'?

As I listen to Chevalier’s voice coming from behind me, I search for the black-haired man instinctively. However, all I find is Murata and Gwendal following behind me.

“Please wait, you misunderstood, Your… Uh—You guys, it might shock you to hear this, but his black hair is fake.”

He chases up to us as he explains,

“That hair was purposely dyed, it’s obvious as soon as you look at the roots, because some are blonde and others brown. Here in ‘Who Is It Summoning Hell 1-Chome, Ah, Errand-Running 3-Chome Prison’, there are many people like that, it seems to be some sort of religion. Others call that religion The Sect of ‘Until That Day Comes’.

So that’s it, no wonder the people at the port or on the streets didn’t make a huge fuss over our black hair, because the people are used to seeing manmade black hair. They think Murata and my hair is dyed too, which is why they said we’re companions of the ‘black-haired’.

“Why would they want to purposely dye their hair black? Isn’t that unlucky?”

“Who knows, that’s all I know about that as well. After all, I’ve only been here awaiting trial for ten days.”

“If it’s a religion, that may have something to do with their doctrine.”

Murata is standing by my side in a second, about hand-holding distance away from me. But his tone is completely different than the calm one just now, maybe he saw something serious about this.

“Dyeing hair is a doctrine?”

“Mn, the truth is most religious doctrines have something to do with hair, like how most Buddhist monks need to shave their heads; Muslim women need to cover up their hair as well as their skin; and even Christians—you know it, haven’t you doodled them on your textbooks?”

“I know, it’s that bald spot in the middle.”

“That was shaved off in the middle, it’s not the same as natural balding. Anyway, many religions have some sort of restriction on hair.”

“But I didn’t doodle in any bald spots… Found him!”

Once again I spot the black-haired man running ahead quickly, and this time I don’t plan on losing him.

Even if his hair is dyed, he still may have other companions, and out of his companions, there may actually be a natural black-haired and black-eyed person, a mazoku with the same physical composition as us.

Back to Chapter 6

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