6
Several days had passed since Cecils’s arrival at the Juukulius household, all without major incident. That was to say, there were no commotions or outbursts worth genuinely worrying over; it didn’t include the minor fracases Cecils tended to cause around the estate.
Cecils Segmund was every bit the man his reputation made him out to be. Despite standing at the very top of Volakia’s military hierarchy, he had none of the dignity that might be expected of such a revered personage, nor any humility with which to balance his title. He was always, completely and unapologetically, himself.
The swordsman was familiar with the maids and serving girls, and as Julius had requested, he frequently entertained Joshua in conversation. His words and actions were quite abrupt at times, but the utter lack of malice in them left no one in the household with a bad word to say about him. Such was how he seemed after several days.
“There is no way that’s true. I can’t believe how gullible you are, Julius.”
“That’s quite a harsh evaluation, I’d say.” The purple-haired knight smiled drily at Ferris, who sputtered as the two walked down the hall of the knights’ barracks. He had just filled the cat-boy in on everything that had happened in the past few days. Ferris now seemed convinced that Julius was swallowing the enemy’s sweet talk hook, line and sinker. Even so, he had bowed to his friend’s request and resisted any temptation to reveal Cecils’s presence—indicating perhaps that the demi-human had a soft spot as well.
“I guess it’ll be only another two or three more days till Reinhard gets back… But do you really expect him to fight this guy?”
“I intend to act as their intermediary. I do expect Master Cecils will honor his word to return to his home once he gets what he came here for. Until he achieves his objective, there’s no telling what he might do.”
“Even if he went on a rampage, Reinhard’s the only one who could stop him anyway… He’s a dangerous customer. But are you really sure about this, Julius? Mew don’t feel like you’re selling Reinhard out?”
“ ” Julius didn’t have an answer to that.
“I mean, you’re keeping this a secret from him and everything… I know it’s because we don’t have a way to talk to him, but you’re really going to just drop Volakia’s strongest fighter on him when he gets back? It’s obvious he’s going to think you two are in league.”
“In league with Master Cecils… Yes, I suppose it might well look like that.” Julius nodded, forced to reconsider his own actions from this unexpected angle. He had understood all along, of course, that this course of action could cast his loyalty to the kingdom into doubt. But why had he never considered that it could look like an act of betrayal against Reinhard? Most likely because…
“I never once imagined that Master Cecils might actually win.”
“Yikes…” Ferris frowned; Julius’s words were obviously heartfelt. His ears drooped. “Didn’t expect that. Aren’t mew afraid you’re giving Reinhard too much credit, Julius? Not just to assume he’d win, but to never even consider another possibility?”
“…When you put it that way, I suppose you may be right.”
He was concealing a Divine General in his house and trying to secretly arrange a duel with the Sword Saint. Despite these rather underhanded dealings, Julius truly never intended for anything bad to befall Reinhard, for he trusted him implicitly. The spirit mage believed with utter conviction that the red-haired swordsman would never mistake his intentions.
“But what about you, Ferris? Are you suggesting you can picture Reinhard being defeated?”
“Ferri can’t do it, but his assumptions are completely different than yours.”
“ ” Julius furrowed his brow in thought, taken off guard by the depth of Ferris’s response. Before he could query him further, though, the demi-human looked at the magic time crystal on the wall of the passageway. “It’s time,” he said, pointing to the crystal’s changing color. “The captain wanted to see us. We’d better get going—we can talk later.”
Julius was loath to leave the subject behind, but he knew what his priorities had to be. He and Ferris hurried to the innermost chamber of the barracks, the captain’s office.
“Come in.” There was a soft voice that greeted them when the duo announced their presence with a knock on the door. They obediently entered and found themselves facing a knight who looked so rough and uneven that he could have passed for a boulder. Short green hair framed his angular face, and his armor barely contained his muscles. This was Marcus Gildark.
“Julius Juukulius reporting, sir.”
“And Ferri’s here, too—ahem, sir.”
“Felix Argyle, you mean. How many times do I have to tell you? Use your full name when reporting.” With that gruff reminder, Marcus jerked his head, motioning for the two knights to enter. They stood in front of his desk as he instructed them. Ferris fixed Marcus with his yellow eyes and said, “What can we help you with, Captain? Ferri’s very busy, you know.”
“You could stand to learn how to conduct yourself a bit more like a knight… Ahh, never mind. Felix, you’re not the only one who’s busy. I’ve got my hands full, too. Guess I don’t know if they’re as full as yours, having to work on behalf of Duchess Karsten to prepare for the selection.”
“…What’s that? I’m afraid Ferri doesn’t quite understand what mew’re saying, sir.”
“I mean your little side business as a healer. I don’t care what you do with that power as long as it doesn’t get in the way of your official duties. Even if you do go a little crazy trying to earn the duchess more supporters.”
“Hey! You knew I was trying to put you off the scent just now!” Ferris didn’t take kindly to Marcus seeing through his dissuasion, but the captain shrugged away the objection. He slumped his shoulders; the demi-human knew how ruthless the senior knight could be. “Yeah, yeah, that’s what I’m doing, and believe me, I’m working hard at it. So please don’t give me a bunch more to do as a royal knight.”
“I’m afraid I can’t take that into consideration. You are, officially, assigned to the royal knights. If you choose to use your free time to assist the duchess, that’s your prerogative, but when I need you, you’ll work for the knights, and you won’t cut any corners. Understood?”
“Boo,” Ferris replied, blowing a raspberry. Marcus ignored the impudent gesture and turned to Julius. As he did, the captain’s gaze became almost overwhelming. It was the kind of look that could crack a man with a guilty conscience.
“With the royal selection so close, the strain is getting to be too much in certain parts of the country. Here in the castle town, we’re hearing rumors about the demise of His Majesty, and others that even claim the entire royal family succumbed to illness. I’m sure you’ve heard of them, Julius.”
“ ”
The topic Marcus brought up had nothing to do with Cecils. Of course not. If word of that Volakian’s presence had gotten this far, Julius had no intention of trying to deny it. He would confess to everything, knowing perfectly well the punishment it would bring down on his own head. Julius’s desire to grant Cecils the rematch he wanted was, in the end, simply a personal fixation. A desire, one might say, for something he himself did not have. A longing to touch the hem of the cloak that belonged to someone who lived life according to his own principles so unabashedly…
“Julius?”
“…Pardon me, sir. As you say, captain, rumors are spreading in the marketplace. Many fear for the future of the monarchy. It pains me to say it, but your concerns may be completely correct.”
“If the people’s peace of mind could be bought with one royal guard uniform, it would be worth the price. But it’s more dire than that.”
Though it had taken Julius a beat too long to respond, Marcus seemed unbothered, only casting his gaze downward. Indeed, it had been the captain’s orders that saw the guards making more frequent patrols of the capital. It had borne some fruit; public order was up, and the people seemed calmer.
“But that isn’t everything,” the captain added, as if reading Julius’s thoughts. That was his line in the sand.
This leader of the royal guard, the man who stood at the top of the kingdom’s hierarchy of knights, was the very embodiment of what people thought a knight should be. He was a friend to the downtrodden and always did his utmost to protect others. Thus, even if the man did all he could possibly do, he would regret anything that had been left undone. Even if no one criticized or blamed the captain, it was his own ideals that judged the man most harshly. He was not always an easy person to live with, least of all to himself. That was the way of Marcus Gildark.
“There’s been a lot of foolish grumbling. The royal guard is to continue to secure the capital, while the rest of the knight corps applies itself to other parts of the nation.”
“So we’re to continue on as we’ve been doing, sir?”
“I wouldn’t call you here just to tell you nothing’s changed. As Felix says, we’re busy.” Marcus, putting his own feelings aside to keep the conversation moving, placed a paper on his desk and slid it toward them. It appeared to be some sort of report. “This came from one of the checkpoints on the border between the kingdom and the empire.”
“…!” Ferris almost gagged.
As for Julius, he took the paper with no visible reaction. “Thank you, sir.” The spirit mage ran his eyes over the report. It made no reference to Cecils. Instead, it indicated that permission to enter the country had been granted to some messengers from the empire.
“Two envoys from Volakia have entered Lugunica.”
“Huh, s-so that’s it. Envoys, sure, of course. Envoys from the empire… Wait, what?! What are they here for?” Ferris’s face went through several swift changes as he realized this had nothing to do with Cecils’s unauthorized entry.
“Excellent question,” Marcus said, looking at him sourly. “I’m sorry to do this to you after you went all the way to the empire and back just the other day, but we’re involved with the imperials again. If I had my way, I would bring the entire strength of the royal guard to bear on this issue, but unfortunately, there’s no one else I can deploy right now.”
“Wait, wait, wait, that’s not reassuring! Don’t tell me you’re planning to send Ferri and Julius alone to meet a threat you want the entire guard for?! That’s nuts!”
Ferris’s relief that this had nothing to do with Cecils quickly vanished, and he began to lose his composure. Julius, frankly, agreed with him. This was too much for the two of them alone. But “involvement with the empire” couldn’t be ignored, either.
“Last time was nuts, too, but Reinhard helped us pull it off somehow, see? You just got the wrong guys. How about you have Ferri do something else and let Reinhard handle this instead—that sound okay?”
“Quibbling won’t get you anywhere. I can’t assign someone who isn’t here. And anyway, don’t get ahead of yourselves. I’m not saying the two of you will have to face down the entire might of the Volakian Empire by yourselves.”
“But we know a fight is brewing, and that’s enough for me to know that you’ve got the wrong guy!”
“Whether a fight is on the horizon depends on you two. And I’m counting on you to see that one isn’t.” Ferris, clutching his head, stumbled backward. Julius caught hold of him, and the captain merely shrugged. “My orders for you this time are simple. Accompany the envoys and help them do what they’ve come here to do. Then get them out of here with as little fanfare as possible. That’ll be all.”
“In other words, roughly a mirror image of the position we were in before, sir,” Julius summarized, still holding fast to Ferris, whose eyes were brimming.
It had been a month now since Julius and the others had gone to the empire as emissaries themselves. Now just a few weeks later, the roles were reversed. It was hard not to feel there was something more at work here. Especially considering the distinct possibility that everything that had happened during their visit to the empire had been orchestrated by the emperor.
“We understand we’re to meet and accompany the emissaries from Volakia, sir. But what have they come here to do?”
“I think it’ll be easiest to ask them yourselves. Summon them here and—”
“That won’t be necessary.” A new voice seemed to slither into the ears of the three knights, and Marcus’s face grew hard. The captain was looking at a tall, slim figure who was leaning against the office door.
“Many pardons,” the figure said, raising their hand as Julius and Ferris puzzled over when they had arrived, “but I’m afraid I overheard some of what you were saying. My ears are rather too good, if I may say so.” The man laughed, but it sounded strange, almost like a cough. He had a most unusual presence, with white hair, pale skin, and a white coat that covered his entire body. Collectively, it gave the impression that all the color had drained out of him. Even his very presence seemed ambiguous, as if he might not have actually been there. The man looked back and forth between Julius and Ferris, who stood at attention. “May I assume these two will be the good knights who shall accompany me?”
“…Yes, this is them. Julius, Felix. This is one of the emissaries from the Volakian Empire, Master Chisha Gold.”
“An utmost pleasure to meet you.” With impeccable politeness, the man—Chisha Gold—wore a colorless smile and bowed his head.
“Master Chisha—if memory serves, I believe you’re one of the Nine Divine Generals, are you not?”
“So I am. Though only the fourth among them.”
“Whatever you’re here for, it must be a pretty big deal to bring a general on a foreign visit, right?” Ferris was bent on not showing that he was aware that Chisha’s colleague, Cecils, had already entered the country without permission.
“Indeed,” Chisha said, his lips splitting into a grin. “We would hate for you to think that the Nine Divine Generals are mere errand runners for the empire, but the current concern could hardly be left to just anyone. Thus, I have come.”
“Wow, talk about an introduction that gives you a bad feeling about things,” Ferris commented, frowning. Julius felt the same storm of anxiety in his heart, the same sense as the cat-boy that this was no small matter. It was something important enough to drag a high-ranking general from the empire and demand the cooperation of the royal guard. It must have been something that touched deeply on the relationship between the two countries.
“So are you gonna let us in on the big secret? Master Chisha, why’re you here?”
“I request your cooperation in securing a certain person.”
“A certain person,” Julius repeated. Chisha’s portentous manner only made his concern grow. And then, as if in time with the ringing of the alarm bells in his mind, Chisha went on:
“It so happens that a certain character from the empire has made an unofficial visit to the kingdom. I am here to force him to come back home… Or if necessary, dispose of him.”
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