He's still not coming back: Chapter 5
Day Seven after I started this randomly and now regret it immensely, afternoon. Life is like a thunderstorm.
“We’ve spotted the Shin Makoku fleet here to receive us!”
“Receive!?”
As the situation gets clearer, in contrast with Wolfram’s beaming smile, my face grows paler and paler.
“What do you mean, receive? Receive who? You?”
“What nonsense are you spouting? Of course it’s our country’s search team for His Majesty the maou.”
“Another search team? Wasn’t it just your lot, Wolf?”
“This is the second wave of searchers. Everyone’s worried for the maou’s safety, so people were continuously sent out searching non-stop, until we finally found you.”
“Eh—!? How many ships did you guys mobilize in the end! How could this happen—If this goes on, people will definitely call me the ‘Search King’!”
And not because I’m an expert at finding lost travelers, but because I’m an old hand at being searched for.
“Oh!”
“Mgh, what next?”
I hold my head, frustrated. Wolfram glances at me, and then puts his white hand over his eyes to determine the ships ahead of us,
“It’s not Yuuri’s flagship… That flag… It’s Brother!”
“It’s Gwendal!? Eeek—I’ll be scolded, I’ll definitely be scolded bad! There’s no need at all to use Gwendal’s ship, they should have just used my ship to receive us!”
Still being stared at by Günter, Murata’s expression is full of surprise,
“You’re way too carefree. If the one coming was your flagship, wouldn’t that be the same as announcing to the whole world that Shin Makoku’s king is currently out of the country?”
“I-is that so?”
“I can’t stand you. I bet that if it’s not a baseball competition, your brain will move at a speed three times slower. The way I see it, you should just wear that for the rest of your life—that thing, Jason’s mask.”
“What, do you think every day is Friday the thirteenth?”
The fleet is growing closer and closer, especially the small ship in the front which is particularly fast. It should be the high speed vessel we used before.
The fleet drops anchor at an extremely close distance from us. Although it would be best if the anchoring spot was outside of Shimaron territory, but that would take more than half a day’s time, so we can’t force it.
“Yuuri! Wolf!”
On a small boat coming from the high speed vessel leading the fleet, aside from a still frowning Lord von Voltaire, there’s another happy passenger.
“Greta!”
Before the boat lands on ‘Friends on the Sea’ properly, she has already rushed into my arms, so I’m glad I bathed yesterday. Greta’s brown hair, tied on each side of her head, bump directly into my chest above my heart, revealing the adorable swirls on her head. She seems to have grown a bit taller too.
“Greta, why are you here?”
“I’m here to u-use my abilities as Trap Lady!”
Judging from these circumstances, she has decided to set her future goal as Trap Lady. This way, it might actually be more peaceful than the Demon Sergeant or Poison Lady. After all, there are many types of ‘trap’, from love traps to word traps, not all of them are extremely dangerous.
“Actually, I’m here to change the Demon Sergeant’s heavy stone!”
“A-although I don’t really understand what you’re saying, but does that mean you still haven’t given up becoming Demon Sergeant? Papa’s a little disappointed.”
“No matter what decision Greta makes, I’ll support it to the end.”
Of course I’ll support her too, but…
“Brother!”
Seeing Lord von Voltaire subsequently board the ship, the third son says happily. Although he’s already at the ripe old age of eighty-two, seeing his brother appear still makes him feel secure. On the other hand, my voice is so hoarse that I can’t say anything, and even the excuse I make up sounds like a mess. Although it’s someone else’s brother, I still can’t beat his charisma.
“Gwendal! No, wait, uh—Lord von Voltaire, sorry you had to come out all this way to fetch me…”
“Thank goodness Your Majesty is safe and sound.”
“T-thanks for your concern.”
Lord von Voltaire is very aware of the influence he has. He cleverly attacks by showing me respect on the surface, but on the inside he’s indifferent, though he even bows his head to me.
“I was already very worried staying in the capital, and then I heard disturbing reports, so I got here as fast as I could.”
“Ah—There’s no need to be so respectful. When you talk like that, it makes me so uncomfortable that a cold sweat drenches my back.”
Although he’s glaring at me from top-down, but my uncontrollable actions overseas don’t seem to have angered him too much. If he were to find out more about the series of events in Seisakoku, he might totally lose it.
“It looks like the first search team, with Lord von Bielefeld in the center, has safely arrived.”
“That’s right. He performed brilliantly, and made me feel a lot more secure too. As his older brother, praise him properly, why don’t you.”
“There is nothing more comforting than this.”
The younger brother puffs out his chest adorably. No wonder, after all he did accomplish a feat worthy of praise.
“And then there’s… Oh, yeah, Lord Weller went off to perform his duty, and in the cabin… we have a casualty.”
Since Gwendal is looking around the deck, subtly looking for a certain figure, I have no choice but to put it like that, trying my best to avoid mentioning that name.
Because I really don’t know how to tell him.
Gurrier Josak is Lord von Voltaire’s subordinate, so even I know that I should tell him about that. But my brain is simple, so I can’t figure out how to say it.
Give me time, give me some time to calm down.
“Ah, let me introduce you, this is my friend, Murata Ken.”
“Hi! Nice to meet you, I’m Shibuya’s best friend Murata Ken—”
“Urk—I heard that Murata is a super impressive person in Shin Makoku, because he’s the reincarnation of Lord Daikenja.”
Murata steps back lightly, avoiding Günter who’s almost about to bite him, and points at his forehead with his finger,
“Although I have memories of Shin Makoku from a ve—ry long time ago, I am not Daikenja.”
Is it okay to be so lighthearted?
Lord von Voltaire creases his brow slightly, and bows as he says softly,
“Your Eminence.”
That line probably encompasses respect, welcome and loyalty, I bet.
But unlike Günter, Gwendal doesn’t react exaggeratedly, and of course he doesn’t squirt blood from his nose either. Besides, his personality isn’t too innocent, so maybe he doesn’t completely believe Murata’s words.
Until he believes it completely, he will never blindly follow—that’s the kind of man Gwendal is.”
“Oh, right, I also brought shinzoku weapons and samples of corpse soldiers. Although they’re far from being precious treasures, I still think Miss Anissina would be very happy about them.”
There aren’t any treasures, and we had taken away the weapons without asking too.
“Urk— And then there’s Shou Shimaron…”
“Wait a second.”
Gwendal stops me as I get increasingly excited,
“I am willing to hear you out, but please sit down first.”
Murata, Wolfram, Gwendal who just arrived, the still smitten Günter, and I gather in one corner of the dining hall, holding a debriefing after the Shou Shimaron – Seisakokku trip. Greta’s sitting on my knee, and there’s a cup of drinks in front of everyone.
Even though it’s dinner time now, we still chase away all the passengers. Although this might cause them some trouble, we have no choice but to ask them to compromise.
“How do you plan to deal with the Boxes?”
After I simply glossed over the tragic parts, Lord von Voltaire who had been listening quietly finally speaks up to ask the most important question.
“It’s no good for us to let it keep on causing trouble, so I currently have it on a ship. But to be honest, I don’t wish to bring it back to Shin Makoku.”
“Otherwise?”
“I plan on sinking it into the sea. It would be best if it’s a place where ships won’t pass by, and the deeper the better. Right?”
Murata narrows his eyes behind those glasses,
“I agree with doing that too.”
Gwendal mutters to himself under his breath, pushing his hair away from his dispirited face,
“Now, please tell me about the situation in Seisakoku.”
“Seisakoku—”
I glance at the other two to ask for help, but such a request is illogical to start with.
Because they had taken the shortest possible route to find me, so they had no chance at all to properly investigate Seisakoku. As for Murata, he only saw the inside of the pyramid and a portion of the dessert, so rather than asking him about the situation in Seisakoku, he might know more about the donuts in Boston.
“About—that—”
Greta’s a bit sleepy after her long voyage, so I put her on my knee and desperately try to think back. Since the incidents from the second half of the trip are imprinted too deeply in my mind, I can’t remember much at all about the tour Yelshi took us on. Thinking back carefully, it’s only been ten plus days from then until now, but my memory is blurred as though I’m looking at them through a fog, making it seems like those things happened several years ago.
“The climate isn’t good for agriculture, and I didn’t see any farms or factory areas either, so I think the main source of income for the country is the export of houseki. Saralegui said that they xould extract houseki there too, and most of Hazel’s companions aren’t in the capital area, so I’m guessing that there should be a large-scale mine somewhere in the dessert…”
“That’s right, and there are mostly women and children among the slave class.”
Murata’s inference helped me out. Thank you, friend.
“Then what should we do?”
“Ah? What to do? Are you talking about the houseki mines? What do you want to do? There’s no reason for us to compete with another country’s produce, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
His expression is saying ‘I can’t believe how inexperienced you are’.
“It’s likely that Shinzoku and humans could use houseki in their everyday lives just like Ms. Anissina’s ma-power. And most people in that country don’t want to start a war, so they won’t pose a threat to us, so how could I get in the way of their main manufacture? As long as it doesn’t pollute the environment, I can’t tell them ‘don’t mine the houseki’ or ‘don’t export them’.”
“Even though you’ve gone through such a harsh experience, your heart is as soft as ever.”
His fingertip lightly touches his forehead, as he frowns deeper and deeper,
“Other than environmental pollution, huh? I see, so that’s how it is.”
Gwendal nods his head in approval, looking as though he’s memorizing some words—Could it be that he’s figured out some brilliant negotiation method again?
“Ah, but I heard that there’s the trafficking of Shinzoku children who are good at houjutsu going on, that can’t be allowed, right? According to the principles of a civilized society, that should be forbidden, right? And there’s the problem with refugees, too, I think there should be someone to interfere and care for those people. Doesn’t this world have any human rights organizations?”
“I don’t think I’ve heard of any.”
“Oh dear—In that case, we have to take that into consideration as well, that won’t be easy to handle. But if you overreact on those issues, you’ll get negative reactions instead.”
“Shibuya, aren’t you getting that and those whale-protection organizations mixed up?”
“Of course not, be it whales or mermaids, I’m not getting any of them mixed up.”
Only when I say the words ‘mermaid’ do I remember something.
Speaking of mermaids… in other words, the Cropped Ponytail Nigel Weiss Maxine is still in Seisakoku, and is being treated as the accessory to the messiah Adalbert.
I suddenly feel nauseous. He once wanted to take Saralegui’s life, but nearly shot through Wolfram with an arrow. Although I don’t know how long it’ll last, theoretically I should punish him by having him live a life of terror beside the target of his attempted assassination.
But if he continues to impersonate a mermaid while looking like a bagworm, I don’t think he’ll get rescued that easily.
“Anyway, it’d be good to teach him a lesson.”
“Yuuri?”
“No, nothing, nothing at all… Speaking of which, I feel as though I get my personal feelings involved in my diplomatic dealings. I’m such a narrow-minded person, it’s so unsightly.”
“What personal feelings?”
Gwendal’s hearing sure is sharp.
“There’s nothing at all, really. But I think it should be okay to entrust the problem with the mermaid and the equestrian tribe to Adalbert.”
“What. On. Earth. Is. Happening!?”
Gwendal’s patience has reached its limit, and his voice gets calmer as it goes,
“Also, what’s the deal with Shou Shimaron and Seisakoku restoring diplomatic ties? Didn’t you lot leave the country precisely to prevent Shou Shimaron’s urgent diplomatic envoy?”
“About that—There are actually complicated reasons involved in that issue… Because the political scene in Seisakoku is changing drastically right now, we should still wait a while and see—”
“Even if you wanted to wait for the political situation in Seisakoku to stabilize before considering how to establish official diplomatic ties, you still need to have someone in charge of making contact.”
Wolfram’s words are like a double-edged sword. He knows I had retreated from Seisakoku without leaving behind anybody with ability.
“Ah, ah, ah! Gwendal, anyway that…”
“To be precise, we did leave some able people stationed there. Strictly speaking, muscleman Adalbert is the representative of the equestrian tribes. And although we instated her as the ambassador of faith there, but Madam Hazel is also a representative of the slave class. Even if two of out the three large powers are allies who passionately love the mazoku, neither counts as a representative of Shin Makoku—”
“Ah, ah, ah, Murata!”
“Since when did Grantz passionately love the mazoku?”
There is a vein throbbing visibly on Gwendal’s temple. But my support team doesn’t back down just because of that. Instead Wolfram dances along to Murata’s tune too,
“That’s true, I think so too. So now we need someone who can constantly report the situation and provide backup when needed. While intelligence is definitely important, we still need something like a special envoy with a pre-determined position.”
“Exactly. In that case, wouldn’t Josak be perfect for the job?”
There’s no way Lord von Voltaire failed to notice the heavy silence. When we said there’s a casualty in the cabin, he’s not just a normal casualty.
“About Gurrier…”
But before he can complete his sentence, there’s a drastic change in the situation on board. We hear footsteps rushing down the stairs and flying past the corridor. These are followed by a noise so loud and rough it’s as though the person outside wants to pull apart the lock, then the door to the dining room is pulled open— It’s Dacascos.
“Your Majesty! Gurrier!”
He takes the gazes of everyone on the room on himself, but Dacascos doesn’t cower, yelling,
“Gurrier’s gotten worse!”
When we reach there in a rush, Gisela is already crouching down to inspect the condition of the casualty lying on the ground. But it seems he can’t be moved carelessly, so Josak is still in the position he was when he hit the ground. Standing at the door, all we can see is Gisela’s crouching back. Why can’t Josak’s back be a little bit wider? Why can’t his arm be a little bit thicker?
“…Josak?”
There’s no response.
Captain Sizemore stands at the entrance, barring anyone from taking a step past him. But his arms hang limply by his side, and he keeps on murmuring quietly. It’s only when he notices us that he straightens up, and says as though making excuses,
“There isn’t anything sharp on the scene. Forget weapons, we can’t even see a broken chair or table leg…”
“What could he have used then?”
There’s no need to wait for a reply. One look at the demolished jalousie window and the glass shards all over the floor practically screams the answer out for all to hear.
“Lord Weller said that we had to watch him carefully once we approach Shin Makoku. Because he was worried that once Gurrier sees his homeland…”
Sizemore’s words falter,
“There’s a high chance he might attempt to kill himself…”
“Mn, I heard that too. But the problem is we’re nowhere near Shin Makoku yet! Why!? Why would Josak do something like this!”
Gisela hastily blocks me before I can continue rushing forward.
“Your Majesty, it’s best if you don’t get too close.”
“He’s still alive, right!?”
She cocks her head, her expression pained.
“He can be healed, right? Gisela, this is treatable, right!?”
I see a wooden shard embedded in his shoulder. It’s close to his throat, not his heart. Strangely, there’s not a single drop of blood in the room, and neither is there the smell of iron.
“Your Majesty, it’s as I said a few days ago. As long as he himself lacks the will to live, the effects of the healing majutsu…”
“Damn it!”
I kick the floorboards and hammer the door with my fists, but the patient still refuses to budge even a muscle.
“…Why is this happening… We haven’t seen Shin Makoku yet…”
“Isn’t he Lord von Voltaire’s subordinate?”
“Murata?”
Seeing my friend standing beside me suddenly, I jump back in shock. His complexion is pretty pale too.
“Isn’t that like going home?”
Only his tightly-bitten lips are bright red.
“What happened to Gurrier? What happened to him!?”
“He’s fine, it’s nothing. Don’t look, Greta, go back to your room now. Wolf, take Greta back to the room.”
I desperately try to stop Greta, but just then Gwendal walks past me without an ounce of hesitation in his footsteps.
“Gwendal, there’s a reason behind this…”
“Move aside.”
He doesn’t want to hear any explanations whatsoever. Pushing Gisela aside with a completely uncharacteristic roughness, he pulls out the wooden weapon, and throws Josak – who is finally bleeding -- over his shoulder while maintaining exactly the same expression.
“Gwendal, what are you doing!?”
“My subordinate has returned, what else is there?”
Gwendal glares at the people holding their breaths in the room—that is the cold gaze of when we first met.
“Move aside.”
By the time I finally recover my senses, Gwendal is already carrying his dying subordinate out of the room and onto the deck.
“Wait a sec, Gwendal! Wait a sec!”
I need to tell him, I need to properly explain how his subordinate ended up like this.
So I decide to chase Gwendal from behind. But standing in front of me is Günter, who has never moved from that spot, and Wolfram who returned after finally getting Greta to calm down and stay in the room.
“Please pardon this, Your Majesty.”
“What!?”
“I hope Your Majesty can allow him to return to the country ahead of you. I ask permission to move him to the high speed vessel I came on, in order to send him home.”
“Of course, there’s nothing to pardon at all, please do just that! Ah, that’s right, I want to go too, I don’t want to stay out of this!”
“Shibuya!”
My request is interrupted by my friend’s voice. Murata grabs my arm and points at the surface of the sea, “Look at that!”
On the ocean surface illuminated by the setting sun, there’s an exceedingly unnatural circle.
It’s a whirlpool.
The deep blue circle is completely different from the waves surrounding it, and there’s a mysteriously bright blue point in the circle of the vortex. Just looking at it makes you feel like you’re being pulled in. Murata murmurs,
“We can go back now.”
I see, back then an exit had formed on the ocean surface too. That’s why Conrad pushed me, because he noticed it.
“Oh~~ So it’s this kind of feeling.”
“Great timing. C’mon, Shibuya, let’s go back.”
“…I can’t go back yet.”
“Shibuya?”
“I’m the one who planted these seeds, and created this chance. I need to temporarily observe the situation in Seisakoku, and I want to settle the issue of the Boxes personally as well. And also…”
I grip my hands tightly. Although this fists are weak, I still hold them tightly. Even I don’t know why I do that. Anyway, I shake my head to refuse it further,
“I can’t go back yet.”
“What are you talking about? What about school? Baseball? Your team?”
“You know that those places will have their own activities, it’ll be fine.”
“But if you continue stalling, you’ll be treated as a missing person, y’know!”
“My brother will figure something out for me.”
I met Shouri at the bottom of the lake. He was probably there to save me, because we’re brothers. We’ve been together since the moment I was born, and he’s my only brother. I trust that he will help me.
“Murata, you go ahead by yourself.”
“What’s the point of me going back by myself!”
Murata grips my shoulder as he yells, his voice sounding like he’s about to cry,
“Didn’t I tell you? I told you to worry about yourself more! Even if your soul originated from here, your body still grew up on Earth. You’ve stayed here long enough. I bet you used up quite a lot of maryoku and energy when I wasn’t watching, right!? No matter what, you need to go back to store up on energy, you need to recharge. Otherwise, the overwork will wreck your body up!”
“I’m fine.”
“You bastard, how could I possibly want to go back by myself!”
A flash of light darts past those spectacle lenses.
“There’s no way I’d leave you behind and ignore you only to go back alone!”
“Murata.”
I have to comfort him, so I plaster my palm to his face.
But I only just manage to raise my hand up halfway. Forget touching his face, I can’t even reach his chin when suddenly I’m hit by a force of impact that feels like the rebound of a failed assassination, and my… our bodies are tossed into the air.
Having suddenly lost the pull of gravity, we fall down towards the center of the whirlpool headfirst, descending with an extremely slow speed. Our surroundings rise upwards slowly as though in slow motion.
The moment when I hit the whirlpool, I see Wolfram yelling, his expression taut from anxiety and excitement,
“Go! I’ll observe everything Seisakoku does for you, and I won’t hesitate to summon you if any emergency comes up! So go back to your parents’ side, and do whatever you can to prepare!”
He was probably prepared to die when he pushed us down.
You brothers don’t have to be this similar to each other, sheesh.
Before Lord von Voltaire can carry his subordinate back onto the high speed vessel, he personally witnesses the king and the sage falling into the sea from the deck. Nearby, Lord von Christ was too occupied trying to steady the small boat to see it happen. But when Günter hears someone calling his name and raises his head, he nearly falls down as someone stuffs something at him. Although he managed to get a grip on it, he is nevertheless rendered immobile.
“Wh-what!?”
Gurrier Josak is in his arms, and he should be pretty heavy.
The person who handed him to Günter says incessantly in the tone of an unreasonable order,
“I don’t care if he’s in suspended animation or whatever, no matter what he has to stay alive until I get back! You can do that, right, Günter!”
“I-if I keep him in a Snow Günter-like state, I should be able to…”
“Good, take him to Anissina. Listen carefully, you must never let him die. No matter what, never let him die!”
Gwendal raises his head to look at the deck, and starts yelling at his younger brother. He has yet to notice that Wolfram is the mastermind who pushed the king and his travelling companion overboard.
“What are you doing, Wolfram! Why don’t you save him!?”
“Brother, his situation is different, it’s not what you think!”
“How is it different!”
And then he takes off his heavy coat before jumping into the ocean, his long and slender figure quickly swallowed up by the receding whirlpool as everyone stares wide-eyed.
The man supporting his face with his hand as he slumps over lazily looks at the figure as it disappears into the blue whirlpool. “Oh dear, there goes an unexpected power into the fray.”
He’s not worried, he’s just looking at the waters near Shou Shimaron to kill time.
“Three people, huh… What will Yuuri do? This is his first time encountering something like this, right?”
Since they got an added companion, the chances that they’ll land where they were supposed to have decreased even further.
But to him, this is part of the fun too. It’ll just add a different sort of fun to it.
“But they have to successfully land somewhere decent too.”
“No.” Existing in a place with only himself, he corrects his own words,
“Somewhere interesting.”
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