vivarina

Just be warned that the characterizations of some people are very different from what was shown in the anime. Yuuri, for instance, does have a darker side and is not as naïve or sweet-tempered all the time. In this chapter he was a bit pervy…

Novel 8 starts after Yuuri is rescued by Wolfram from the cliff, they’re in Caloria after Maxine opened the box. The story is from Yuuri’s point of view, unless stated otherwise. Also note that the novels are starting to really differ from the anime after this, as season 2 of the anime is not based on the novels, but written by the animators themselves….

And… my translation is definitely not perfect, sorry. Most of the problems in that are regarding translations of names that never appeared in the anime, so… maybe someone can help me? Also, there might be mistakes I made, so anyone who has read the novel, in fact, anyone who notices any mistakes, please tell me…

Novel 8: Chapter 1

I only learned how to cycle at a not so young age.

The location was the park, my bicycle was a child’s bike without training wheels. On the blue body of the bike, which had cartoons all over it, were baseball stickers that my father had insisted that I paste.

“Promise me, you won’t let go!”

My father half squatting and gripping the bike rack nodded to me.

“Don’t worry! Yuu-chan, I definitely won’t let go, even if I do I’ll tell you first.”

 Let’s make a pinky promise.

I started pedaling the heavy bike pedals with my legs, which were s.h.i.+vering because I was so nervous and excited. Every time I completed a cycle on the pedals, the breeze of early spring blew gently against my face, my short bangs flapping against my forehead. Father’s footsteps gained momentum, I knew he was jogging along while supporting my bike. When I couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore, I was filled with excitement, the pedals seemed to be half their original weight.

I finally learned how to cycle! But looking back at the distance I covered, it was only a few hundred meters.

Filled with a childish sense of pride, I looked back at my father who (I thought) was standing a long distance away.

“I finally learned how to cycle…..huh?!”

Father was still gripping my bike rack, red in the face and panting.

“See, daddy… did keep… his promise…didn’t let go…right?”

Every time I remembered this incident I would feel so ashamed.

….Honestly, most people would release their hold along the way, right?

I think the expression on my face was not exactly pleasant right now.

Although it was now winter, wearing this iron mask was suffocating.

“Poof! And it makes it hard for me to breathe!”

Bearing the pain of my eyelashes being pulled (along with the mask), I plucked the mask off my face forcefully. Air rushed in through my nostrils, helping my overheated face to cool down.

“Really…I have to hand it to Fluurin and Norman Gilbert, wearing this mask for so many years.”

“Maybe it’s because they haven"t been running around like we’re doing now.”

After getting off our horses at the intersection, we could only walk to get to the harbor. The stone slabs covering the road were cracked and uneven, we could see collapsed buildings and overflowing drains everywhere along the b.u.mpy road. Not only that, citizens who had lost all hope were sitting anywhere they wanted to along the road, children who were trying to find their parents or food were crying out agitatedly while running through the streets, so that it was impossible for horses to get through this area.

We must not touch those four boxes – because Small s.h.i.+maron used the wrong key to open The End of the Earth, part of the sealed unknown force became uncontrolled, causing ma.s.sive damage to the Midwest section of the land, including Caloria.

The strong Fluurin Gilbert never shed a tear, she just spent all her efforts on patrolling and comforting the citizens. After getting back to her family estate, she started shouting orders to her soldiers to distribute water and food among the citizens immediately. Even I, wearing the mask of Norman Gilbert, joined in on her efforts.

Fluurin, gritting her teeth and dragging her tired body along, did her best to fulfill her duties as the wife of the regent of the land. Despite her fever and stomach pain that prevented her from getting up from the chair, she still summoned all the rulers of the counties to gather in the meeting room, and according to her promise divided the rations equally among the all the counties of Caloria.

But just relying on the rations in the estate would not be enough to satisfy the hunger of all the people.

I never thought that Caloria, after regaining peace through much difficulty, would be almost totally destroyed like this.

I forced Fluurin, who was now completely unable to move (due to her pain) to remain in her room, and made my way to the Gilbert business harbor. The harbor, originally so full of life and thronging with people, had been destroyed so much that there was no trace of its original splendor, the remains of the beautiful stone slabs were in pieces all over the place. There were several deep and wide ditches across the land, causing the peaceful farmlands of the inland to be flooded by seawater, and the earth and gra.s.s to wither up.

The kindly citizens of a few days ago had turned into violent rebels who robbed the collapsed shops; the originally peaceful neighbors would attack each other over fighting for water wells; hungry children, with no more energy left to cry, would be sitting with dull expressions on the ground.

This kingdom had been lacking in young people originally, both manpower and rations were now seriously lacking.

The women, children and old folk, forced to endure the cold without shelter, were s.h.i.+vering, only the cargo s.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed at the harbor had lights on in the evening.

Some people, trying to get the citizens to gather around, were shouting with all their might at the depressed people. However, a loud-voiced man was standing at the corner of the street, shouting, “It’s the end of the world!”

“He might be right you know…”

“What’re you talking about? The end of the world? Don’t be silly, he’s not Nostradamus.”

I was just going to answer Murata’s opinion, but my tone had become sharp without my noticing. This was the first time I had seen such destruction, and my palms were sweating. No, not just my palms, the sweat pouring from my neck and back were taking away my body heat, making me s.h.i.+ver.

“…We must find a way to help.”

We have to find someone else for that.

“Darn it, but I really don’t know what to do….although I’ve been living in 关东, and have put effort while partic.i.p.ating in drills (for disasters), but once I really face them, I still don’t know what to do….”

“We should thank television, s.h.i.+buya.”

I stared blankly at Murata, thinking, “What should I say at a moment like this?” But my friend, with his dyed blond hair and wearing his colored contact lenses, was smiling serenely while gazing at the other end of the harbor.

“Aren’t there usually news reports on tv about disasters and refugee camps? Even if this the first time for you, you should know what to do.”

He was right, in the past I did see a lot of similar scenes. Like on the news, doc.u.mentaries, movies or dramas.

“But just relying on those is not enough right? I’m not the type of person to just watch baseball and cartoons (so I know that its not enough). By the way, I’m a good kid that watches tv in good lighting and at a distance of over 2 meters, you know.”

My secretive friend c.o.c.ked his head slightly and narrowed his eyes.

“This is a world without television or radio, yeah, that does make me feel so familiar with it.” (I think Murata is actually mocking Yuuri who seems stuck back on Earth when considering rescue efforts)

“And there’re also no vehicles… wait, Murata, what’re you…. argh, just forget it.”

Whether Murata has SKY PERFECT TV is not important right now, what was important was whether I had knowledge on dealing with situations like this. (SKY PERFECT TV is a cable channel in j.a.pan which broadcasts various programmes on sports, entertainment etc. Yuuri means that Murata could have gained knowledge on rescue efforts through watching it). Although I had never dealt with disasters before, I could just do what I had seen others do before (on tv). This reminded me of the day I first pitched a baseball, after standing by and watching my brother and father practicing for so long.

 “Food… no, water is the most important thing. Gather all those who still have energy left and divide them to all the areas to help… then set up a tent for food preparation. Hm... seems like we still need to set up a headquarters dealing with any unexpected situation, Is there a United Nations or Red Cross society here?”

“You’re doing this upon your own insistence.”

That’s right.

I gripped my silver-colored mask tightly. At this moment Wolfram and Dakaskos returned from the few s.h.i.+ps that had not sank. Yozak, in his white ap.r.o.n, was with them. He probably wants to be a white angel (nurse). He was leading a strange man, who had his arms full of sacks of goods. Upon seeing me, the man dropped all of them at once. His slightly aged face had an expression similar to bursting into tears of happiness.

“Thank goodness you’re alright!”

He ran past Wolfram and Dakaskos towards me, kneeling down at my feet.

“Aah! Wh... what is this?”

“Thank G.o.d you’re alright….”

The man, bowing his head while his eyes filled with tears, had very little hair on his head. With the weak suns.h.i.+ne s.h.i.+ning on him, he looked just like St Francis Xavier.

“Just as I thought, that was a s.h.i.+p from our own kingdom. Although resembling a cargo s.h.i.+p on the outside, all the crew are soldiers under the orders of this man. This is Captain Saismoya.”

The third son of the ex-Maou was kicking at the hemp cloth sacks while speaking, with an expression of disgust on his face. He probably was not pleased at being overtaken by the captain.

He is an angelic-looking bishounen with a head of s.h.i.+ning golden hair and emerald green eyes that reminded me of a lake. However, after knowing him for a few days I discovered his true nature, he is actually a stubborn brat that likes to make snide comments….. that was what I thought anyway! But lately Wolfram von Bielefeld had been somehow different from the person I first met. The three brothers originally had no similarities between them. However, lately I could see the similarities of Wolfram’s eldest brother, who was constantly frowning, and his second brother, who had thick skin, in him. If I had to be more definite, he would be a cool-looking and fas.h.i.+onable bishounen?

My… my G.o.d! I can’t compare with him in looks.

“The other s.h.i.+ps in the original fleet will arrive in two or three days. I never thought that my eldest brother, usually so calm, would send out a quarter of the navy after receiving the letter delivered by the Kohi.”

“A quarter? Why?”

“THIS… IS… ALL… TO… FIND… YOU!”

Wolfram gritted his teeth while spitting out the words one by one, his furious face approaching me.

“Don’t you understand your own situation?! You disappeared from the kingdom without a clue under dangerous circ.u.mstances!”

“S...s… sorry.”

“You’re hopeless. Now Gunter has become like that, and Conrad….”

He stopped speaking for a moment, then started again, avoiding my eyes. Maybe he was hoping that Conrad’s situation was not as bad as it seemed.

“Anyway, the rest of the s.h.i.+ps will be arriving soon. The Duchars’ s.h.i.+p will probably be out in the sea by tomorrow, they’re the best in naval war, and their s.h.i.+p is fast beyond belief, because there’s a Karbelnikov’s speeding device installed on it. Boarding that s.h.i.+p will the safest way to get back home.”

“Back home? Who?”

“Do I need to explain? Of course I mean everyone! Although maybe we can’t ALL get on the same s.h.i.+p!”

“Everyone? I can’t go back yet! I can’t just abandon all these people and leave by myself. Caloria is devastated, and all this business of the boxes have me worried, and Conrad’s arm….”

Every time I thought back about what happened to Weller-kyo, I would have to stop breathing and speaking. It’s not that I haven’t dealt with all that I feel, it’s actually that I didn’t dare to deal with it.

“…. I can’t go back without dealing with all this…. Although I’m just masquerading, but now I AM Norman Gilbert. All the people here believe that I’m the leader here, leaders have to be at disaster areas to lend support, this is important to maintain the people’s hopes and willpower. And also umm… does the term morale exist here? And the speed of rebuilding will be different?”

A speechless Wolfram pulled my ear, saying, “How many times do I have to tell you?! Are you a fool?”

The feeling I got (from what he said) was more like “ARE… YOU… AN…. IDIOT?!”

“What responsibilities do you have towards this land? Is this your kingdom? Are they your people? If you insist on helping them, you can just leave a medical team and rations for them! We have experienced soldiers to help as well, if we could just find more people to repair the roads…”

“Oh yes! You’re right! Gisela is a healer, if we could just use all the manpower here, the rescue efforts would be so much easier!”

“Yuuri! That wasn’t what I meant!”

Wolfram glared at me. His tone had changed completely. Maybe he hadn’t noticed, but the way he frowned looked exactly like his eldest brother.

“Captain Saismoya, are there rations and water on your s.h.i.+p?”

“Rations?”

Maybe my question was too unexpected, St.Francis Xavier had resumed his normal voice.

“In preparation for any unexpected events, we more or less have some…”

 “That’s great! Can you distribute them immediately among the people? Please do it fairly, give all that we have, and ask them to queue up while receiving the rations. Wait, are all the crew of the s.h.i.+p soldiers from our kingdom?”

“Of course. They’re prepared to sacrifice their lives for you upon a word from you, Heika. And they were selected by His Exellency Gwendal, they’re soldiers most resembling humans, so if you want them to spy on our enemies there should be no problem either.”

His soldier’s pride made him stand up erect inadvertently. Probably he was believes fully in his underlings’ capabilities.

“That’s even better! That means they’re qualified to be voluntary rescue teams?”

“Vol… what’s their mission?”

“It’s not a mission! It’s voluntary, so it’s up to whether they want to or not. This is great, Murata, it’s up to you to select suitable people! Next we need temporary shelters and portable toilets. Oh! It would be even better if we had diapers and milk powder for the babies. Although now we have Gisela and her team healing people all around the place, it would be better if their medical team is bigger, and they also need medicines and medical supplies. Aah! Darn it, it’s not enough! Rations, materials, manpower... they’re all not enough!”

“Why don’t you make a wish?”

Murata grabbed the long, thin white object hanging in front of my chest. It was a paper cutter I had bought from a young boy in a 考柏菲shop near the隆卡巴river.Although the paper cutter cuts paper, it doesn’t cut 裁林家纸子(裁林家纸子is the surname of an acting couple that specialize in stand-up comedy, famous for taking candid shots of each other. Yuuri is making a joke here as paper and 裁林家纸子have the same p.r.o.nunciation in j.a.panese). This paper cutter is a cultural relic made from the bones of an unidentified being.

“Make a wish on it.”

“If a cultural relic can grant my wish, we won’t be needing temples or shrines!”

“It’s not a relic! It’s so obviously part of a Kohi.”

“What?!”

I almost dropped the light and dry blade.

“If that’s true, this is human bone? ! It’s human?!”

“It’s not human, it’s Kohi. Or it might be Kodi, which gather in flocks to lend emotional support, and can communicate through thinking. If they’re lucky they even become spies. Hence our Mazoku soldiers will always bring tablets along to communicate with them. Those troops that started out late learned about your whereabouts because of them. But I didn’t rely on the Kohi, I found you all by my own efforts…”

“Wow, I see that they’re really good poets, who would’ve thought, looking at them…”

Murata made a really off-topic comment, cutting off Wolfram’s bragging. I was staring at the object in my hand, and decided to try again.

“I said I wanted food, medicines, temporary shelters, milk powder and…”

“Just in case, why don’t we try this?”

In front of everyone, a bird flew out from the front of Yozak’s chest. It was a beautiful white dove which had its wings shut.

 “Wow, that’s so like Mr. Maric!” (Mr. Maric is a famous magician in j.a.pan)

“Hey, that’s not nice! Heika, I’m Yozak!”

“Come to think of it, this is the first time I saw a dove fly out from someone’s chest. Tokyo’s Magic Robinson would be so envious…”

Influenced by my friend’s (Murata) envy, I s.h.i.+fted my eyes down, and discovered that Yozak’s right chest had gone flat. It seems like he used doves to pad up his chest…

Suddenly, Captain Saismoya turned back to stare at the medium sized s.h.i.+p that had just entered the harbor, then resuming his original tough navy voice, “I was wondering why there were such disturbing sounds of waves lapping (onto sh.o.r.e). Seems like s.h.i.+maron’s communications boat just entered the harbor.”

“Oh? Then they’re after us?! They sent out soldiers to get us?”

About ten days ago, we were still in Small s.h.i.+maron being treated as experiment samples. But Maxine, the ‘dog’ of the king of Small s.h.i.+maron, Saralegi, had used the wrong key to open the box, causing part of the unknown force to lose control and leading to a ma.s.sive earthquake in the land. We managed to escape during the chaos, preparing ourselves for death any time while making our way here.

However, judging from the destruction there, Small s.h.i.+maron could not have sent soldiers to get us, and Maxine was not supposed to know that I was a king.

“That’s Big s.h.i.+maron’s flag. I can never forget the war on the SarafianSea, they used an underhanded night attack, thank goodness we managed to gather up our forces and burned up all those countless and hateful flags! Just thinking about the burning flags of the enemy s.h.i.+ps all over the glowing red sea, even now it makes me s.h.i.+ver with excitement….. aah, Heika, I’m so sorry! Seeing those hateful Big s.h.i.+maron s.h.i.+ps make me lose myself.”

It seems like he is very easily excited.

“Fluurin Gilbert has always been on the side of Big s.h.i.+maron, so there probably won’t be any trouble. However, why have they sent people over during this hectic time?”

“They have a green triangular flag, so it means they’re amba.s.sadors visiting various kingdoms. Yuuri, remember, even if we’re at war we never attack representatives, amba.s.sadors are neutral, so everyone at sea is prohibited from attacking them.”

“Oh I see, so the Searex colors of their flag means ‘no attacking’” (Searex is a baseball team of the 湘南district in j.a.pan).  

The medium sized s.h.i.+p slid smoothly into the harbor mouth, its light green triangular flag flapping underneath their yellow national flag. Maybe due to the expertise of the person steering the s.h.i.+p, their craft deftly avoided all the sunken s.h.i.+ps at the harbor to reach sh.o.r.e.

 Two very slim youths stepped elegantly down from the s.h.i.+p. They first reached out with their toes, followed by their heels, just like a bride stepping out on a red carpet.

“Aren’t you supposed to hide your face? At least cover up your hair and eyes.”

I only noticed after Murata reminded me. I quickly pulled on Norman Gilbert’s silver-colored mask, strapping on the leather strap at the back of my head.

I must meet amba.s.sadors from human countries in the role of Caloria’s appointed leader.

I just don’t know if they were aware that the original leader Norman Gilbert had pa.s.sed away. But as Fluurin was resting now, only I, ‘the man in the iron mask’, can represent Caloria in greeting amba.s.sadors.

Yozak and Saismoya moved to either side of me. As Wolfram was a startlingly conspicuous bishounen in this human part of the world, I pushed him behind me with my elbow, then also made sure that Murata was behind me.

The two slim men floated towards me as if they were on clouds, then greeted me civilly. From their unenthusiastic tone and gestures, this was just a formality (for them). But what made me tongue-tied was not their att.i.tude, but the difference between our appearances.

“Wh… what beautiful hair….”

According to logic, a man would not be happy to hear someone praising his hair. However….

“Thank you for your praise, long hair is the pride of us soldiers of Big s.h.i.+maron, we nourish it everyday with egg yolk oil.”

It turns out that there are men who feel happy after praise like this.

At this moment Murata behind me interjected, “Please dial the toll-free number 0120-78641438.” (0120 is the code for all toll free numbers inj.a.pan, 0120-78641438 has the same p.r.o.nunciation as ‘s.h.i.+maron’s soldiers have long hair’ in j.a.panese)

Hey, there is also the ponytail hairstyle (in s.h.i.+maron)!

I just never thought that ponytails would be the norm in Small s.h.i.+maron, while Big s.h.i.+maron would have long floating hair as the main hairstyle, seems like Big and Small s.h.i.+maron do have a difference. The places are not the same, the styles are not the same, even the water flowvolume is different.

The two amba.s.sadors, in the main colors of yellow and brown, had slightly curling light brown hair that reached the middle of their backs. Every hair was thick, soft and light. If there were a battle in the forest on a rainy day, it might not be to their advantage.

Both of them had reddish-brown eyes that were merely presentable but lacked character.

“Are you the appointed leader of this colony of s.h.i.+maron – Norman Gilbert?”

I could only mumble my answer, in a tone that was neither too high nor low. The man on the right, the one in charge of explanations, irked me when he said ‘colony of s.h.i.+maron’, this was supposed to be Small s.h.i.+maron’s colony.

“The disaster this time seems to have brought you great damage. We representing s.h.i.+maron wish with all our hearts that you can recover soon.”

“Th.. thank you.”

Upon hearing such a polite and formal tone, I, who had grown up in a normal family (and unacquainted with grand situations), did not know how to respond.

“Today we came especially to inform all Calorians of the opening ceremony of Big s.h.i.+maron’s annual elimination Olympics that celebrate intelligence, speed and skill! It’s the gathering of the best talents under the sun.”

“Huh?”

The amba.s.sador was not annoyed at my response which had slipped out unwittingly; instead he repeated again, “It’s the opening ceremony of Big s.h.i.+maron’s annual elimination Olympics that celebrate intelligence, speed and skill! A gathering of the best talents under the sun.”

This sounded like a swimming compet.i.tion like those they organize for celebrities, and most partic.i.p.ants would be female, I wonder if there would be any unintentional breast revealing?

“Hopefully under the leaders.h.i.+p of Gilbert the regent (of Caloria), skilled contestants can be found to represent Caloria the colony of s.h.i.+maron in this event.”

“What’re you talking about?! It’s not as easy as just opening a letter….”

But the duo with the floating hair had handed me a roll of rough paper after their speech, then turned and went back the way they had come. Maybe they were anxious to get to the other countries.

“… What did he say, what elimination contest did he mean?”

“Ten times.”

Murata was scratching his chin in awe.

“What ten times?”

“They number of times they mentioned s.h.i.+maron! If we include what they said in their farewell speech then it’ll have exceeded ten times.”

“Even if you calculate so precisely, there won’t be anyone to test you on that, you know.”

“Hmph, that’s the way most humans act.”

Wolfram, who I had pushed behind myself, was commenting scornfully.

“They kept repeating ‘Big s.h.i.+maron’ to remind you that this (Caloria) is their colony. I never thought that they would resort to such underhanded measures to emphasise their power.”

“Wolf, as an ex-prince you shouldn’t express yourself in such an ungentlemanly way, should you?”

“Don’t the people back there (in s.h.i.+n Makoku) do the same thing (as the amba.s.sadors of Big s.h.i.+maron)?”

Murata’s casual remark was completely innocent, but it sent a chill down my spine.

“That tactic (the tactic used by the amba.s.sadors) might be simple, but it it’s also effective (in instilling a sense of their power), right?” (this is still Murata speaking)

“….Hmph!”

The striking and angelic-looking bishounen was obviously losing his temper. Even if he didn’t speak, just standing next to him I could feel his temperature rising and his blood starting to boil.

“Yuuri!”

“Aah! Wh.. what is it?”

“You aren’t still thinking all that nonsense (of remaining in Caloria) are you? Listen to me clearly, You’re going back to s.h.i.+n Makoku this instant! You aren’t obligated to attend a ceremony for humans! You’re a king really lacking in self consciousness! There isn’t anything that can make me more ashamed to be from the same kingdom as you than this!”

“Don’t pick on me only! Come on, don’t just vent your anger on me!”

Wolfram, who had a high sense of self-pride, hadn’t reacted to Murata’s remarks. Although I couldn’t be sure, there seemed to be a mutual understanding between them. No matter how sharp Murata’s remarks were, the third son (of the ex-Maou) would only vent his anger on me. According to my private observations, they would even purposely avoid each others’ eyes.

Although Yozak and Murata had met at the Gilbert family estate, but Yozak had greeted him in a way unfamiliar to me, and he had adjusted himself to this world at an unusually quick speed, this seemed incredible to me.

Murata, who are you… who are you really?

But I choked back the questions that came to me.

If I asked my friend this question, then I would have to disclose all my secrets to him as well. If I suddenly proclaimed myself (to Murata) as the Maou, he would not believe me, just like any normal human being. And if I let him know that I was engaged to an 82-year old bishounen, I simply did not dare to gauge his reaction. If he went back to j.a.pan and spread this around, then I could lose any hope of ever getting a girlfriend, it would be a fate too horrible for me.

To reach this rosy future (Please! You HAVE to come), I would just have to contain my curiosity.

“Alright, no matter you want to partic.i.p.ate or not….”

I unrolled the roll of paper that had been forced on me while talking in a voice that did not belong to ‘the man in the iron mask’. It was the voice of the wimpy and clueless Maou that was trying his best even when he’s stuck in a foreign country.

“Caloria’s real leader is Fluurin, this time we should ask for her opinion right?”

“There’s no need to ask, after all we’re going back.”

“What’s the matter with him? He’s not small anymore, how come he misses home so much?”

Aah… that j.a.panese boy’s thoughtless remark was starting to make Wolfram’s blood boil again.

But if Murata found out his real age, he would definitely be so shocked that his gla.s.ses fell off.

Well, the above is my first attempt at translating these novels. Hope I made the meanings clear.

关东, 裁林家纸子, 隆卡巴etc are names in he Chinese translation that I wasn’t able to translate into English. Since kanji and Chinese characters are similar, maybe someone who knows kanji can help? Or maybe someone who’s read the novels can help?

Kodi and Saismoya are guesses on my part, as Kohi is骨飞, so… I guessed骨地is Kodi. Saismoya is the p.r.o.nunciation I got from the Chinese version. Someone please tell me if I’m wrong ^^.

Also, I forgot what they called the arena event in Big s.h.i.+maron… can someone tell me the actual term they used?

And can anyone tell me the full names of Anissina, Yozak, Maxine? I need them in future translations. Also, what’s the name of the doll Gunter’s soul(?) is transferred into after he was poisoned? And what’s the name of the book written by Anissina?

Sorry for all these questions, my translation is not perfect, but it’s the best I can do now…