Chapter 5

Prev List Next

Chapter 5

By the time I finally catch up to those brothers, I’m already panting for breath. Add that to the cold sweat on my brow from the pain in my stomach, and I’m the furthest thing from being calm and collected.

Maybe it’s because I’m too much of a mess, Conrad and Wolfram both reach out their hands to try and help me up, but I don’t need their kindness right now.

“Did I ask you two to do this?”

Maybe he didn’t expect me to ask so suddenly, because Wolfram seems to be frozen in shock.

“Whose idea was it?”

“Your Majesty.”

Conrad wanted to interrupt, but Wolfram gets there first, replying,

“It was mine.”

“You’re far too insolent!”

Before I even finish saying the words, I’ve already pulled him by the clothes on his chest. I don’t hold back at all, our faces almost colliding. His eyes look different than usual, because of the illumination from the torch.

“What does it mean when you hit my stomach, huh? You want to divorce? Or remarry?”

“It’s to show my love and respect…”

“Spare me the c.r.a.p!”

I took a punch to the stomach for nothing, and it’s been hurting ever since then all the way until now. If I don’t force myself to stand with my back straight, I’d probably be holding my stomach and crouching on the ground by now. If it weren’t for Yels.h.i.+ watching from the side, I’d have done that long ago.

To be honest, I really want to hit him hard over the head, but exerting myself now will only make the pain worse. That’s why I thought of admonis.h.i.+ng him in public.

“I’ll remember this, and make you pay!”

I brush off Conrad’s hand, trying to support me, and say with my back turned to them,

“Go back, both of you!”

“But Your Majesty…”

“Didn’t you hear me?”

The two fall silent.

I face Yels.h.i.+ once more, walking towards him step by step,

“Your Majesty Yels.h.i.+, I’m coming over now. That’s right, I don’t have any guns on me.”

Just like the cops on TV, I raise my hands up high to show I’m not carrying any weapons. This is my first time becoming a hostage of my own will too, so I really don’t know what to do.

“That’s not right, is it!?”

Murata starts yelling again. He’s sprawled on the ground and trying his hardest to stand. I want to tell him not to force himself, but I also wish he’d get here faster, get back to our side faster!

He raises his head to look at Yels.h.i.+ diagonally behind him,

“Aren’t you exchanging with your older brother!? Why is it suddenly s.h.i.+buya, why must you pull Yuuri into this? You brothers should settle your arguments on your own! That’s what everybody else does!”

“Relax, Murata. Everything will go according to the original plan. Your Majesty Yels.h.i.+!”

d.a.m.n, although I want to sound commanding, I just can’t exert any force with my stomach.

“Everything goes according to the original deal, exchanging me with the hostage. But the hostage in question cannot walk on his own, please have someone come with him.”

My finger points at Josak, on horseback, but his gaze is still trained on the sky. He looks completely unconcerned with me and Murata, or even his current master Yels.h.i.+, acting as though his soul isn’t home.

“You really want him? He’s an elite soldier, you know?”

“I know.”

I know better than anyone.

Yels.h.i.+ gives an order in a few short words, and Josak gets off the horse to grab Murata’s right hand. But his rough actions make me feel like screaming.

Stop, don’t be so rough! That’s Murata there, aren’t you two really close!? There’s no need to treat Murata like that, is there!? Besides, I thought you don’t understand Seisakoku at all? Didn’t you say you don’t understand their language whatsoever?

But he’s still dragging (our) friend[1] towards Conrad’s direction, and I desperately swallow the words I want to scream. Nevertheless, some of that anger I can’t control still turns to words,

“Now that it’s come to this, you shouldn’t need any elite soldiers, should you, Yels.h.i.+? Yor Majesty has a ton of guys who aren’t scared of dying with you, or could it be…”

When I’m angry, I just want to say something to rile them up, just like an elementary school student.

“Maybe they’re not unafraid of dying, but simply unfortunate people who were abandoned? In that sense they’re rather like you, Your Majesty Yels.h.i.+.”

What a perfect performance of a sore loser.

But Yels.h.i.+ reacts to these sour-grape words, and so the blood vessels in my left pinky are affected as well, so much so I nearly yell ‘ouch’. I seem to see red light scattering in front of my eyes, so I look around hurriedly, but all I find are the moonlight and some torches s.h.i.+ning down lightly on Yels.h.i.+, the horses, and the resurrected group.

On the other hand, the red light is moving towards my brain instead. There are even images like drawings or photos flas.h.i.+ng by. I can’t describe it very well, but it feels a lot like taking pictures with a camera while standing in the middle of countless grey bottles.

What were those images?

But before I can figure out the answer, the images have already vanished from my brain. Maybe it’s because Yels.h.i.+ isn’t as agitated anymore, so the thoughts transmitted through the ring are cut short as well.

Josak is probably showing his regular caution unconsciously, stopping ten steps away from Conrad and releasing Murata, who he had been dragging all the way here, then retreating quickly as they reach out to catch Murata.

Operation Capture Gurrier has failed.

I don’t have the time to regret it before my wrist is grabbed by Yels.h.i.+, on horseback, and I’m taken back to their base.

We couldn’t see that clearly from our base after all, so I didn’t expect to see a large open s.p.a.ce in the middle of Yels.h.i.+’s camp. It’s practically like a j.a.panese warring period army base there, and there’s everything the lord could need during his stay. There are even two s.h.i.+nzoku soldiers holding up torches, so it’s a lot brighter than outside the lines.

There are two ‘thrones’ much more extravagant than folding chairs in front of the tombs, and there’s someone sitting in one of them.

That person is wearing formal clothes made of high quality ebony-colored cloth, the collar almost covering the chin, as well as sleeves and gloves covering the arms, so there’s not a single inch of skin exposed. Those white hands… No, white gloves are holding a thick book, with the same leather cover as Günter’s diary.

Rather than looking at her face, my gaze is attracted to the fearsome object in front of the chair.

Faced with the reunion I wouldn’t have wanted in a million years, my pulse speeds up, as though someone has a tight grasp on my heart.

“Why would it be in a place like this…”

That is the familiar wooden box I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to, the one I had seen a few times before—once in Caloria, once in s.h.i.+maron.

The Box that has the soushu with terrifying power sealed inside, will only bring disasters unto people. The only thing inside is unpredictability, without any hope whatsoever; it is something hard to grasp.

The reason Murata used j.a.panese was to tell me about this.

“What do you plan to do by bringing the Box to this sort of place?”

My voice is exceptionally calm. So that’s it, since the Box is here, it’s only natural that we can’t let Lord Weller get near it. But from the way Murata was shouting desperately, it seems to be related to Wolfram as well, though this is the first time I’ve heard about this myself.

Although the size is about the same, it looks drier than the previous two, and there are a lot of scratches on the surface of the wooden box. And compared to the simplicity of the past ones, it has really extravagant decorations. I was wondering why its position seems rather high, and it turns out it was placed on a trolley. This way they could pull it along with horses, which is indeed very convenient.

I don’t know where it was dug out from, but the surface of the Box is covered with shards of stone and dust. The place where it left the earth… is probably the place Hazel Graves arrived in this world after being blasted here.

Yels.h.i.+ revels in it, caressing the dusty surface of the Box with his white palm,

“This is Mother’s precious Box.”

I’m taken by shock, could it be that he knows the power of this wooden box and its reason for existing?

“Mother always said, this is the Box of miracles.”

“Forget miracles, it’s the Box of disasters.”

When Yels.h.i.+ mentioned ‘Mother’, he glanced at the person in formal clothes sitting on the chair. In that case, that person is none other than Yels.h.i.+’s mother, Alazon, huh? But her son is talking to a stranger beside her, and she’s still unmoving as stone, could she be asleep?

“This is the Box of miracles that can bestow life.”

“I already said it’s not nearly something as good as that! Throw it away, throw it away immediately! Otherwise yet another place would… I don’t want to say anything unlucky, in any case just put it back where you found it.”

Yels.h.i.+ denies it strongly, creasing his shaped brows. Does he seriously think that’s a Box of miracles, does he really believe it will do something as peaceful as bestowing life? Too bad I can’t tell from his expression, and besides, my persuasion skills aren’t good enough to bring out his true feelings.

And I don’t know the Seisakoku language either, the only reason I can communicate with Yels.h.i.+ is because the other side knows the common language.

In that case, there’s only one way to find out his true thoughts. Although it’ll hurt a lot, it’s the most practical method.

“Oh—So it’s the Box of hope, huh? You sure love peace, huh, Your Majesty Yels.h.i.+. But your older brother sure understood perfectly well what power it has, y’know! Looks like your brother Saralegui is one step above you.”

I have to do my best to make him angry, rile him up, get his emotions agitated.

“Saralegui doesn’t know.”

On the surface, it looks like he replied very calmly, but the roiling emotions in his heart prove otherwise, yelling out something completely different.

(No way, there’s no way!)

If he doesn’t take my words to heart, that would be the end of that, but Yels.h.i.+ is successfully riled up by my amateurish methods. He probably isn’t that used to being looked down on, huh? When the voice of his heart reaches my brain, my pinky is pinched tightly as well.

(He dared say that d.a.m.ned guy is smart? There’s no such thing at all!)

How could he say something like ‘d.a.m.ned’?

“It’s precisely because he’s too perfect that he was sent to your father’s country, right? He was really smart since he was young, and it was highly likely that he would threaten your position.”

He c.o.c.ks his head adorably, as though he doesn’t understand at all, but his inner thoughts are extremely agitated.

(There’s no way, it’s impossible! I asked so many times, when I asked, crying, “Why did you send Saralegui to another country?”, Mother would tell me everything, she told me!)

I resist with everything I have, refusing to look down no matter how much my stomach and pinky hurt. Just thinking that I can’t let Yels.h.i.+ sense anything amiss makes me afraid to move even an inch without thinking it through first.

If he were to find out this ring’s effects and control his own emotions, I won’t have any way to find out what he’s thinking. Once I think that, all I can do is grip my choked pinky tightly. I press my palm on my lap, staring at Yels.h.i.+ quietly, my tightly clenched teeth even creaking.

(Apparently it’s so he won’t die. What did she mean by not letting him die, how stupid. I heard the maids say, he didn’t have any signs of life from the moment he was born, he was dead when he was born! Before Mother carried him down the funeral path to this tomb, before the G.o.ds and our ancestors in heaven bestowed him with life, Saralegui wasn’t breathing at all.)

I can’t help but think of the dream I had in the underground tunnel. A young woman who looked like a mother crying and praying with a baby in her arms, praying that this child would be saved no matter what she had to do, even saying things like why would you steal the son I finally managed to get from my hands.

Did she mean Saralegui?

(Mother always said that Saralegui’s life comes from the Box. If it weren’t for that Box, my older brother would have died long ago. Afterwards the shadow of death slowly enveloped him, so she sent Saralegui back to Shou s.h.i.+maron together with Father. She was scared the Box would take away the life it gave, so she sent Brother to another country, definitely not because he’s smarter than me. Idiot, the one who knows nothing about the Box is you.)

You keep on getting worked up, before I find out everything to do with the Box, you can laugh at me and insult me all you want.

(This time the Box will surely also bestow life again, and give weakened Mother a brand new life.)

“Don’t you agree, Mother?”

Yels.h.i.+ says to the woman in formal clothes, pulling up her veil happily with his fingers,

“Mother, the king of s.h.i.+n Makoku came to greet you.”

“She’s long dead.”

Murata clears his throat and says,

“Long dead, that’s just a corpse. No, it’s not even a corpse, it’s become a mummy. Yels.h.i.+ has always been living with his mother’s remains.”

“But would the s.h.i.+nzoku allow such-- such disrespectful behavior!?”

Morally upright Lord von Bielefeld reacts first, creasing his brow with an expression of disgust.

“I don’t understand s.h.i.+nzoku religion at all.”

“Well, religiously speaking, it’s not like there’s no such thing.”

Hazel Graves speaks up as she throws the precious fuel into the fire. It seems as though she knew about the term ‘mummy’ from the start, could it be that the p.r.o.nunciation is very similar in English and the common language? Murata tries to compare the two languages, and realizes that there are no similarities at all.

“In Central and South America, there are those who feed and offer incense to the mummies, or even live with them. In the past I went to villages where they greeted or talked to mummies like usual. Rather than a G.o.d, it’s more like they treat him as head of the family. There’s been this culture of living with the dead since a long, long time ago."

Then she adds with a shrug,

“It’s fine once you get used to it. Besides, in that trip I wasn’t looking for the ancient secret chambers the mummy was protecting, but a crystal football.”

“Hazel, you didn’t call me for that trip.”

Murata is also shocked with the words he said without thinking, but he immediately warns himself—not me, I’m not the French doctor.

Hazel is out of the loop, her expression full of surprise as she stares at the boy she met for the first time,

“Have you seen me somewhere before?”

“No, this is our first time meeting each other, I’m just slightly nostalgic, that’s all. Anyway, Yels.h.i.+ is living with his mummified mother, and he believes that his mother Alazon is still alive.”

He takes a few gulps of the water someone else gave him, and coughs a few times before saying,

“Because she can speak.”

“Speak!?”

Wolfram seems to really interested in this. Feeling the heat from the fire, Murata thinks how warm this place is while he worries for his friend who is heading for somewhere cold. He must think of something, and the sooner the better. He doesn’t want to let him stay by those guys’ side for even a second.

“It’s not like she really can speak, it’s just Yels.h.i.+’s personal thoughts. He can sense the strong will left on the corpse, and decided that his mother is speaking, when in fact it’s only the residual thoughts left on the corpse. At times like this, I feel that people with supernatural powers, like ESP or super senses, are just a pain.”

“That’s right, I think Germany did some research in that area.”

“To me, Esper Ito[2] is more than enough when it comes to supernatural powers, or at least he’s way better than that guy.”

But on this land where bone-statics are often used to their full extent, it’s hard to deny supernatural powers even if you wanted to.

“On the other hand, when on earth will the special forces team get here? I can’t wait to get some strong reinforcements so we can get Yuuri back.”

“Sizemore and Dacascos have already gone out scouting, and Yuuri ordered them to take the next course of action immediately if they don’t find anything.”

“You should be calling him Your Majesty, Lord Weller.”

Conrad hears that but brushes it off with a vague answer.

“But what is the next course of action? Does anyone know?”

“Since they’re supposed to keep going in the same direction, maybe it’s to head for the secret port. Otherwise…”

“Alright, Lord von Bielefeld, you tell me what else is in that direction in a while. Then right now, your orders are to meet with the special forces team, and launch a surprise attack when the sun comes up. If the zombie army moves in the night, follow them and find out what they’re up to. Am I right?”

“It seems that way for now.”

“What is this, to think Yuu-chan’s plan is so well thought out, and also unexpectedly cautious. But he is king, after all, and he’s a catcher to boot, so it’s not surprising he’s so detailed.”

Conrad is somewhat anxious, and asks in a tone that says he can’t hold it in anymore,

“Your Eminence, do you really plan on letting that guy go on his own?”

Speaking of which, Adalbert has been nowhere to be seen since just now, and he’s not mixing with the equestrian people either.

“Do you still have to ask? It’s too dangerous to send you or Lord von Bielefeld, and we don’t know when the Box will open, releasing those guys. And that Box just has to be ‘Inferno on the Tundra’, too. If anyone from the Bielefeld family were to get close to it, nothing good will come from that.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, someone in the Bielfeld family is the Key.”

The two mazoku princes both hold their breaths in surprise.

“It may not necessarily be you, but there is a Key somewhere in your clan. As for that Box… in other words, ‘Inferno on the Tundra’, it’s still stuck in the cave now, so there’s nothing much to worry about as long as the Key doesn’t approach it—though that’s only as long as it’s not disturbed.”

“Why would someone in Wolfram’s clan be the Key?”

“Mn, in truth I didn’t need to wait until we found the Box to tell you about this. Because that was decided long in the distant past, apparently the four Keys to the Boxes sealing the soushu were each handed to trustworthy clans who fought the soushus bravely. Three went to the mazoku and one to humans, von Bielefeld and Weller being two of them. Ah—back then they were called Belar? The memory’s too old, so I’m a little confused. Is it Weller or Mohenja-Daro?”

“What about the other two? Don’t tell me one is Voltaire?”

“That’s right.”

Worried about his oldest brother, the third son puts his hand on his forehead, lowering his head as he mutters.

“And the last one?”

“Wincott.”

“Wincott!?”

Conrad looks very uneasy as he murmurs to himself. According to Murata’s observations, he has a very deep connection to the von Wincott family.”

“That’s right, they tend to be a kind and compa.s.sionate, yet at the same time brave and proud family. And they really hate things that break the rules, too, they won’t tolerate everything regardless of good or bad. Although I don’t know what their descendants are like… Anyway, there will definitely be someone holding the Key in these four families, that’s why I warned you not to approach the Boxes no matter what. As for Yuuri… As long as the other side doesn’t mess around, he can’t open the seal on his own.”

He says the last bit vaguely, so the others can’t understand what he’s talking about.

“Hearing the equestrian people’s panicked voices, Venera and Conrad walk towards the back. They’re probably just temporarily nervous because they can’t see their messiah and mermaid.

Left alone with Murata, Wolfram murmurs,

“I heard that the Key rests in one part of the body…”

“Mn, that’s right.”

“Weller’s is the left arm… Brother and I…”

“So what if you know? Besides, the Key isn’t necessarily you. You can’t tell who the Key is from the outside, y’know! If you want to know no matter what, then go investigate the birth dates. If you weren’t born when someone in the clan died, the chances of you inheriting the Key are really low. Although I think the mazoku don’t place much emphasis on birthdays, right?”

“That is true. Wait, do you mean it’s reincarnation?”

“Could we call it reincarnation…”

Murata sags his shoulders, feeling irritated with Wolfram’s stubborn insistence on getting to the bottom of things. In his heart he’s thinking, “I’m a patient, you know, you tell me to rest then ask me a ton of questions. And right now the most important thing is saving Yuuri. Besides, I never once thought you guys would actually hand Yuuri over so easily, at least you should resist a bit, right? No matter how obedient you are of his orders, you should still see the situation, right?” It’s just that no matter how he curses them in his heart, he can’t change the fact that he’s helpless.

Right now there’s no way to solve this seeming stalemate either.

“The problem is in the soul. Think about it, what method is there to make sure every generation has something that important? It’s to hide it in the soul, otherwise there’s no better way to pa.s.s it down the generations. In the von Bielefeld family, there should be one person who owns a soul that’s been used over and over again since their ancestor’s time. It may be your father, or your uncle, or someone who married out of the family, or it could be some distant relative who doesn’t have the Bielefeld last name now, or might not even be in this world right now. Anyway, that person with the same soul has the Key in one part of their body before they are born.”

“So it’s all in the soul!?”

“That’s right, isn’t it the same with maryoku? That is also buried somewhere deep in the soul. Otherwise let me ask you again, do you think there’s any other method?”

Lord Weller, who was talking with the equestrian people, turns around and says loudly,

“Your Eminence, it’s not good for your body if you force yourself, you’ll make His Majesty worry.”

“Oh dear, the only person present who has no right to tell me off is you, Lord Weller. Don’t forget who it was that made my Yuu-chan worry so much—”

“If that someone is me, that is far too flattering.”

Hazel can’t understand a word they’re saying, and yet she laughs with her arms across her chest,

“You guys are just like little teenage girls.”

No matter how you look at it, that is not a compliment.

Although it does need life, it’s already far too late for this body.

It’s hard for me say that as I watch Yels.h.i.+ talk to the mummified remains in front of me, even bringing his ear up to it and then laughing from deep within his throat,

“Listen, she replied.”

“…Who?”

“Mother.”

Of course Alazon’s decayed body can’t speak.

“The only one talking just now was you, that person is already…”

“No, she spoke.”

Yels.h.i.+ raises his pretty brows. By the time I realize ‘I p.i.s.sed him off’, the pain has already gotten more intense, a lot like I’m being poked by a bunch of needles. But I haven’t forgotten that when the ring hurts me, Yels.h.i.+’s thoughts reach my mind as well. Of course, it’s the same now.

He turns back and says again to his mother,

(Please forgive his rudeness…)

The next second I immediately unleash a scream, my whole body moving back and away from them. I know my face is getting paler and paler, my mouth gaping like a koi from the extreme fear.

I heard Alazon’s voice.

In reality Alazon hadn’t spoken, and her voice didn’t reach my ears either. It’s just the voice Yels.h.i.+ heard reaching my mind through his thoughts.

In those short couple of seconds, one word was repeated again and again at a speed normal people could never manage. This is what Alazon said:

KeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKeyKey.

This is really too unbelievable.

“Yels.h.i.+, this person is dead! She can’t possibly speak, once a person becomes a mummy like this, there’s no way they could still be alive!”

The second after I yell, my gaze meets Alazon, and a chill runs down my spine. No, she’s not glaring at me, it’s just that her eyeb.a.l.l.s are fixed forward.

Although Alazon looks like a properly-made mummy, her eyeb.a.l.l.s are still intact. Of course they’re completely different from a live person’s, the humors are completely murky. I really want to ask Murata what they must do to a body to make it this way.

But right now Murata is in a safe place with my comrades, so that’s the most comforting news in these past few hours.

“Besides, if Alazon really is still alive as you say, why would she say ‘Key’!?”

(She’s alive, Mother is still alive!)

Even if he’s screaming like that in his heart, on the surface he’s still looking at me with a smile. How on earth did he train up that poker face? I really want to ask him for his secrets.

(Although she’s a little weak now, she just has to get life from the Box, and Mother will return to her original healthy body!)

“I already said this body… isn’t something so good as to bestow life, in fact it’s a terrifying Box that brings disasters. But you can’t open it without a Key anyway.”

“Key?”

Yels.h.i.+ smiles. When I know how cunning and manipulative his older brother is, I feel as though his smile looks like an angel. But no matter what, don’t fall for it—the pain darting from my finger to my back makes me shake my heavy head.

Don’t fall for it. Even if he has a gentle, honest face, this is the man that controls the dead and Josak, the one who put Murata through so much suffering, even now…

“There’s a Key.”

Golden eyes reflect the swaying light of the torch, and my hand is gripped tightly, until I couldn’t break free even if I wanted to.

He seems to know that I’m now suffering from pain from my stomach, my head, and the pain caused by the ring.

Jump up↑ There’s no p.r.o.noun here, which is normal for j.a.panese but doesn’t work in English. Meaning Yuuri could be referring to Murata as ‘my’ friend or ‘your’ friend, maybe also ‘our’.Jump up↑ Esper Ito is a j.a.panese comedian who uses supernatural abilities as a running gag. (#.Vx70nfl97IV
)

Prev List Next