"Your Majesty!" that man said.

With long, thick silver hair and violet eyes, his body was about 9 times the length of his head.

I couldn"t dismount alone, with my b.u.t.t restrained on the horse"s back, and I didn"t know what to answer. What would be the best answer to being called "Your Majesty"? Moreover, he was a super beauty at the prime of manhood at around thirty!

Since I"m lacking vocabulary and my CPU is running especially slow, I can"t adequately describe this man"s beauty. The average high school freshman wasn"t used to being around such beauties often, much less men who clearly weren"t j.a.panese like this man standing in front of me.

I clung to Lord Weller"s back for what I would say was the rest of the day. We finally arrived at a small-scale village with wooden buildings after I had my first grueling experience of riding horseback. There were about fifteen houses, and it might be called a neighborhood a.s.sociation[1] more than a village. From a different direction, armed soldiers returned to the entrance one by one from the forest a little further away. The scary thing was that "Fly, skeleton!" had followed our party without fail. I would have never thought it, but maybe he"s the mascot character of this theme park?

If that"s so then it was bad taste- well, an original innovation.

The soldiers crossed the center of the village, and when they came to a large (I would only say about 4LDK[2]) house, the door opened forcefully and a man rushed out.

The moment I saw his face I gave up on saying anything. He was handsome, more handsome, super handsome, and ultra some hand, I mean, handsome.[3] I would say his graceful expression makes his cleverness felt. What a smart-looking incredibly beautiful person! But such a dull expression.

In addition to being beautiful, his voice was a baritone that vibrated in your stomach. Adalbert from awhile ago was also fairly handsome but this person was so perfect that girls would faint as soon as they laid eyes on him. It wouldn"t only be girls in their late twenties who would faint. Mature women, and older women...well, ladies in general.

"Conrart, hurry and give His Majesty a hand..."

"Alright. Your Majesty, lean your body this way, and please dismount slowly, very slowly."

It seemed like Lord Weller"s name was Conrart. I was finally liberated from the horse, and both of my feet touched the flat ground. I still felt a little unsettled from going up and down.

"Ah, Your Majesty, thank goodness you"re safe! I, von Christ, have been anxiously waiting for this day when we could meet."

While he spoke in a dramatic manner, he knelt on the ground. I stepped back, startled. When I moved, suddenly my b.u.t.t hurt and I smacked my lips, and the beautiful man"s expression changed.

"Your Majesty, are you hurt somewhere?! Conrart, even though you were with him..."

"Your bottom hurts, doesn"t it, Your Majesty? Because this is your first time riding a horse."

Ne, wha. I was puzzled by his sweet smile. But, the beautiful man who introduced himself as von Christ wasn"t smiling.

"First time?! They don"t teach horse riding in their elementary schools? Why did s.h.i.+nou send His Majesty to that sort of world..."

"This isn"t the time to talk about that, Günter. Von Grantz reached him ahead of me."

"Adalbert! Your Majesty, did they do anything to you?!"

"...They threw stones and came towards me with hoes and plows but..."

"How horrible! Those humans...but, Your Majesty...our language, how..."

It seemed he wanted to ask how I understood their language. I limply waved my right hand, and tried not to smile.

"Not at all, you"re all very skilled at j.a.panese. You don"t have to worry so much about me understanding, or be so modest. I"m surprised by how fluently all the characters that have already appeared can speak. Awesome, bravo, viva the actor spirit! How many years have you been in j.a.pan? Which country are you from?"

Von Christ (family name) Günter (name) had a dubious face.

"Country...I"m..from here."

"You were born in j.a.pan?!"

At that time, Lord Weller said something shocking.

"Your Majesty, this isn"t j.a.pan."

"Ah, you see, I knew you weren"t born in j.a.pan, right? If that"s the case then this is... huh..."

What?

This isn"t j.a.pan?

Right now, did he just say this isn"t j.a.pan?

"Then, why is everyone speaking j.a.panese?"

"We aren"t."

At this time, I carefully looked over Lord Weller from the front for the first time. He had the stature of about a nineteen or twenty year old, and unlike the villagers his garments were functional. The khaki leather belt and boots looked like they were influenced by television and movies, and seemed to be a military uniform of a country somewhere.

He had rather short dark brown hair, and eyes that were hazel with silver speckles. An old scar was left next to his eyebrow. He didn"t just have scars there, but on both his hands and fingers as well. He placed one of those hands on my shoulder, and he purposely gazed down at me.

"This isn"t j.a.pan, Yuuri. Saying nothing of j.a.pan, this isn"t the world you were born in."

As I was being informed of something so shocking, I absentmindedly thought about something else. Ah, I understand this man. If someone asked me to to tell them about this guy, I"d probably be able to explain him pretty well for sure.

That is to say Lord Conrart Weller seemed to be like the person that the audience gives a standing ovation for when he unintentionally strikes a heroic pose in the center court of Wimbledon. But he isn"t blessed like that because of his facial features. When compared to Günter and Adalbert, he is plain, and he"s probably the type that could do various minor roles in Hollywood. But this person"s expression is the result of the life he"s lived up to now. It wasn"t G.o.d"s love or an artist"s mold, but his own lifestyle.

That"s what I would say about this guy, Conrad. I have a hunch I could tell someone that.

"Conrad...no, umm, Conrart."

"Eh? Ah, if you"re used to English, Conrad is easier to p.r.o.nounce. Some of my friends call me that, too."

"Have I met you somewhere before?"

After he thought for a moment, Conrad shook his head.

"No."

The man with silver hair and violet eyes was reaching a mature beauty.[4]

"Anyway, Your Majesty, we can"t talk in a place like this. It"s not a very clean place, but let"s please go inside."

While he said something selfish about another person"s house, Günter pushed my back. When I turned my head by chance, the residents of this village seemed to be glued to the cloudy windows of the simple wooden houses, eavesdropping on my situation.

The room had a warm heat stove, and it was a welcome environment for me since my uniform was still damp. Even though just a bit ago it was May in j.a.pan, where I am now, what month is it here?! I couldn"t tell if it"s west or east from the dirty window, but an orange light from the setting sun was s.h.i.+ning in.

I was half dried from getting flushed down the toilet in the park; if it was a j.a.panese house I"d quickly take a bath.

I took off my jacket that felt icky and damp, and stretched out near the fire. Günter seemed to be moved deeply by that.

"Your Majesty, do you usually wear black? How wonderful, how wonderfully suiting! Normally only people born as kings or very close to the king wear black. That n.o.ble black hair and those black eyes, certainly you are Our Majesty!"

"...Even if you say that, it"s just a uniform, a schoolboy"s uniform...besides, most j.a.panese people have black hair and black eyes when they"re born..."

Though, it changes with the color of the skin according to each stage of life. Like the so-called tanned look that was popular for awhile before Matsuzaki s.h.i.+geru. In my case my hair had finally grown out in the middle of my third year of junior high, after[5] I wasn"t a baseball team member. I was just starting to think about cutting it when summer vacation arrived.

"Uniform? Did you call this jacket a uniform? I see, this must be made by the most skilled craftsman especially for Your Majesty."

They"re actually ma.s.s produced in a factory. It was the most used thing among junior high school and high school boys country-wide in j.a.pan. Moreover, it was a little small for my present size because I"d been wearing it for three years.

"Your Majesty, you probably think that it"s cold, and even though it seems that way it"s spring in this country."

Conrad said that and took a position by the door. He seemed to take the role of lookout, folding his arms and resting his head against the wall as his sword leaned. He closed his eyes softly.

I uselessly moved my chair as close to the fire as possible, which was connected to a table of a rough rustic make that you could only find in folk craft shops in the recesses of the mountains. An unsteady lamp seemed to be in the mountain hut where an electric light would usually be hanging from the ceiling.

"...Creating minute details up to the season...hat an elaborate attraction..."

"It"s not an attraction."

I was corrected by Conrad as his eyes were closed.

"Even if you tell me that, I can"t believe it! Right now, inside of me, it"s either one: this is an elaborate money absorbing theme park attraction, two: this is one of those surprise shows that"s often on TV, or three: this will all turn out to be a dream. Which is it? Well, pick one. I hope it"s three."

Conrad didn"t answer, but in front of me Günter had a worried face, and after he muttered a word that he wasn"t familiar with he turned to me.

"Teper...surprise..? Please wait Your Majesty, and explain in order. Please be calm, and please do not test me with your foreign words."

"Ok, I"m calm. So much has happened that even if you say that you"re my mother, I"ll just clap my hands and laugh and call it an American joke." When I raised both my hands and gave up, I sat facing Günter, and he firmly leaned forward and began to talk.

"Then I will tell you. Your Majesty, eighteen years ago, Your Majesty"s spirit should have been born in this country. However, because of the post war chaos at that time, or fear that your Majesty"s life might have been targeted internally, s.h.i.+nou decided to send your soul to another world. So, according to the instructions of s.h.i.+nou, we took Your Majesty"s n.o.ble soul that hadn"t been born yet to Earth. Your mother and your father created Your Majesty" s body, and you"ve grown up in that world until today. However, while you should have originally been able to grow to adulthood safely in another world, you were summoned due to a situation..."

"Wait a minute, you"re being too polite for me to understand.[6] Can you be more conversational?!"

"Please don"t say such an unreasonable thing. Your Majesty is Your Majesty, we are just your va.s.sals."

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, my name is Yuuri, s.h.i.+buya Yuuri Harajuku Fuuri. I"ve called myself that for a long time. So, here is the development to now?! I was really supposed to be born in this country, but for whatever reason I was born and raised in another world. But because I have things to do, I was summoned here from j.a.pan. Did I get that all right?"

"How wonderful, you followed it. I admire your intelligence."

To my despair, Günter nodded deeply, happy from the bottom of his heart.

Narnia,[7] I mean, I see, this is the same old story. It"s in innumerable movies, and overused in anime and manga. Even though there"s a variation in quality, it"s in paperbacks and juvenile literature so often that it"s not possible to count anymore. It wasn"t anything original. However, it"s rare for a person to actually be dragged into it. Moreover, to get dragged into it from a public bathroom is extremely rare.

"And, I was pulled into a tunnel to another world from the bathroom toilet, and was dropped on that mountain path."

"That"s correct. By our calculations, you should have been able to be summoned inside our borders, and inside of our capital. However, perhaps due to some excess power, you were at a human village on the outskirts of our borders. It"s inexcusable, Your Majesty. Of the people distributed along the borders in case of emergency, it"s good that Conrart arrived in time. This land is part of our territory, so for the time being you don"t have to worry. Please be at ease."

"Even if you tell me to be at ease, this probably wouldn"t be an easy situation for you guys either. Are you sure I"m the person you"re searching for? When you think about the population of j.a.pan, isn"t it possible you mistook me for someone else? I"m of about average looks and intelligence, and I don"t have any unusual birthmarks-"

I didn"t have any evidence of any special birthmarks anywhere on my body. If anything I only have a faint scar on my left elbow from when I was a kid.

"But, umm, Günter, san, I do have a scar from rubbing against the artificial gra.s.s from playing baseball on my left arm. I don"t seem to have any natural marks on my body that are "proof of being a king"..."

His intellectual appearance collapsed for a moment and became sweet. If I put it well it"s like an actor answering pa.s.sionately; if I put it badly it"s like an owner talking about his cat.

"No, from the moment I first saw you I knew you were Our Majesty, I have no doubts about it! Since you have pure and n.o.ble black hair, and clear black eyes that aren"t cloudy, and you were born with such a beautiful color to your body, and furthermore, you were wearing pitch black clothes, I cannot think it"s anyone except you."

Geh, he said I was beautiful. Beautiful - maybe like him.

"Besides, it"s even more clear since you"re skilled in our language. What Adalbert did... to you was regrettable but...he drew out Your Majesty"s stored language from the depths of your soul. Every soul has acc.u.mulated memories of its various "lives" that it has lived up to then. Of course, usually that door isn"t opened, and people have to learn knowledge in their new "life". However, that man opened that door, and part of your sealed memories have been drawn out forcibly. Using the way of those savage, cowardly, and dishonorable humans!"

At the rough tone of the explanation, I asked timidly.

"...That seems rather convenient."

"Not at all! Though it"s good that only the part of the memory with your language skills was awakened, when I think of if unnecessary memories were revived. There isn"t a person who wants to know all of his soul"s travels."

There are a lot of people who want to know in j.a.pan. From beside the door, Conrad calmly interjected.

"But about that thought, we"re able to speak to His Majesty now thanks to that man"s art. It"s useless to worry about it until your veins pop out, Lord von Christ."

"...In order to teach Your Majesty about advanced n.o.ble language, I prepared the textbooks and rulers..."

His tone seemed sad from the bottom of his heart, but what worried me was what the rulers were for.[8] If they were for underlining text, no problem.

"At any rate, his stored language is evidence that His Majesty"s soul was the one in this world. My confidence has changed into conviction now."

"Oh Günter...I heard that somewhere..."

Apparently, they didn"t seem to have any doubts because they believed I was "Their Majesty".

But, usually in this type of scenario, a main character like a hero or savior or prince or princess solves the world"s problems peacefully, and it has a wonderful happy ending. A famous author once said: If the story didn"t have a happy ending it wouldn"t be liked.

"I get it. Maybe it"s impossible to believe, but in any case in order to finish this, I have to accept your offer, right? If that"s the case then let"s get this over with quickly. What is the mission that I was summoned for? What princess should I rescue? Where"s the dragon I need to slay?"

"Dragon? A ryuu?![9] We would never slay a ryuu, their kind have been over-hunted by humans and are almost extinct, and we protect them."

So in this world, dragons are at the top of the red list.[10]

There were several knocks on the wooden door, and with sword in hand, Conrad cautiously opened the door narrowly. Children that were about ten years old stood there, and they looked up at him and grinned from ear to ear.

"Yo."

"Conrad! Will you teach us to throw, we can"t aim well at all."

"And after that can you teach us how to hit, and how to finish?"

Though the parents weren"t leaving their houses out of fear of the soldiers, it seemed it wasn"t the same for the children. And to them, it wasn"t Lord Weller or Your Excellency; they just addressed him as someone older.

"You guys, it"s going to be pitch black soon, and we won"t be able to see anything."

"It"s still fine!"

"It"ll still be ok."

He looked in my direction worriedly, and he left the room after he bowed his head.

"...If the children like him, he must be a good guy, that person."

"Yes, he"s the number one soldier of our kingdom. He"s my prize pupil."

"You"re a teacher, umm, von Christ-san?"

"Please call me Günter. Of course, I am a teacher, and I"m also the adviser and a.s.sistant to Your Majesty."

"If you"re a teacher then can you explain this to me briefly? Günter, what am I supposed to do in this world? What kind of troublesome enemy do I have to defeat so I can go home?"

"Humans."

The firewood in the heater crackled and popped.

"...Humans...then, that is, what kind of person..."

"It"s not a person, Your Majesty. We will destroy all the humans who are hostile towards our country, and burn their countries. For that reason we need a leader, so Your Majesty"s power as a ruler is necessary."

Humans, destroy, and burn?

Destroy humans?!

I kicked the chair and ran to the back, but fell to the ground on my back. A fl.u.s.tered Günter rushed over to me.

"Are you ok, Your Majesty?"

"Uwah, wait! Did you say we should kill humans, Günter-san?! If that"s true I"ll be killed too! Because if you look at me I"m an ordinary human, no, wait, even when you say something like that, your face looks a bit human...you"re a human, too."

"No matter where I look, Your Majesty is a Mazoku[11] like us. No, more than that, you"re a being with n.o.ble black hair that should be respected! The chosen spirit was born into your dark body, that only Mazoku kings or people close to them have. However, your hair and eyes are both black, to appear as a human with both black..."

"Is a what like us?"

"Mazoku."

No way.

"...Then, what am I the king of?"

"You are the Maou."[12]

Maou.

Father, father, look, there"s a "Honyara"[13] over there, I"m scared.

A Hakushon Dai "Honyara"[14]

Formerly, Yokohama"s Dai "Honyara"

Huh, Hama"s Dai "Honyara", I have a feeling there"s something wrong with that answer.

To start with, what is a "honyara".[15]

I have a feeling they would curse, attack and kill humans, and be the boss of a terrible demon race.

Well, that is that, what am I the king of?

"Pull yourself together, You Majesty, please relax! Get a hold of yourself! You have become our hope, Your Majesty, the twenty-seventh Maou!"

Aah~, as I thought~, he"s still calling me this Maou~. But twenty-seven is a good number~, 27~.

My shoulders were gripped and I was shaken roughly. I completely escaped reality from the residue of the shock. But this person, he said that I have to become a demon and beat humans to death. I could never do such a stupid thing, why isn"t the enemy a slime or an evil sorcerer or a devil dragon or a big Maou, and, if I"m the Maou, then, am I on the bad guy"s side in this world?! Then there"s a human hero or savior somewhere, and the last boss that"s going to be defeated in the final dungeon is me?! d.a.m.n- if that"s the case I can"t end it by hitting reset two or three times, I"ll fight the hero with all my power! It won"t be possible for him to get to the ending if he"s not level 99, I"ll fight to the end or...hey, I can"t fight to the end, I"ll die, I"m the last boss. When I"m in a pinch I"m usually quick-witted! I"ll panic at the magic attacks of the enemy!

Aaah~ it"s a lie~, someone please tell me this isn"t true~!

"It"s not a lie, Your Majesty! You are truly the Maou. Congratulations, from today on you are the Maou!"

What is there to congratulate?!

Outside, the sky was turning purple, and the remaining half was orange.

Only the fire from the lamps that were shaking unreliably leaked from the windows of the houses. The children had cheerful voices, and were moving around with vague smiles.

"Your Majesty?"

"Uwah, stop it, don"t call me Your Majesty."

Conrad was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. Over by 3 steps there were some square pieces of wood, and next to that the ten year old children were standing around. Apparently, judging from the stick they were holding in both hands, it seemed to be a game that"s somewhere in between cricket and baseball. A piece of cloth was wound around the section of the strange, fat bat that was being gripped, there were two fielders behind the pitcher, and furthermore there wasn"t a catcher anywhere.

"I don"t know the rules of cricket, but who alternates next after one person hits it?"

"There are no alternates, this village only has five children."

Another was in the outfield. He was only a shadow because it was evening.

When the pitcher threw the something that looked like a ball, the batter made a dramatic miss. The ball hit the wall and rolled, Conrad picked it up and threw it back, and it progressed like so.

"You"ve struck out three times. Howell, take the place on the first base."

"Was that baseball?"

But, why would they have baseball in this sword and magic world... The child in the outfield ran up. The five children standing had good physiques and fair hair.

"Wait, wait, if this is baseball then why isn"t there a catcher? Shouldn"t you squat down?"

"It"s not fair if an adult joins."

"No, that"s not a problem, it"s not a problem. Well, let"s see, who is that outfielder. What is your name?"

"Brandon."

His voice was irritatingly hoa.r.s.e, he was definitely in the middle of his voice changing.

"Well then, Brandon, you be the catcher. Look, squat over there, and catch the b.a.l.l.s when they come. Aah, there aren"t any mitts or gloves?!"

"Your Majesty...no, Yuuri-sama, this is a village of refugees that fled in from the other side of the border. They don"t have a complete set of sports equipment."

The child shook free from my hand, and looks up at me with a frightened appearance.

"Your Majesty?! Conrad, did you call this person Your Majesty?! This is the scary person mother told me about?!"

"Brandon! This person will become our country"s king. He"s far from a scary person, he"s the one who will kindly be defending your village."

Don"t tell the children something I haven"t even thought about.

"King?!"

But the five children gathered...four boys and a girl, knelt in place and covered their faces. Some of the children pressed their foreheads to the ground. I wouldn"t say it looked like great respect.

"Please forgive us Your Highness, please don"t chop off our heads, or burn down our houses."

"Howell, you didn"t do anything wrong, so His Majesty has no reason to do such a thing. Look, Ema, raise your head."

"But the king... my father..."

As the girl recalled a painful memory, her voice rose and she cried. When several doors opened and mothers called out their names, the children all ran off towards their houses.

I picked up the ball at my feet. If the ball is this light and that was the pitcher, a mask and mitts might be unnecessary. The ball was a round leather bag softly stuffed with straw and sewn up, so it wasn"t possible for the person who threw it to predict how it would curve.

"When I was their age, I used to play baseball until it got dark. And when it was night I"d have games and television, and I didn"t have any free time to do homework."

"Children are like that in any country."

I stepped on the board that was subst.i.tuting for home base.

"Hey, Conrad."

"Yes?"

"Is it true that I"m the king? Furthermore, I"m the head Maou scary enough to silence a crying child?"

"It"s true. I"m not sure whether you"re the head or not, but you are genuinely His Majesty, the twenty-seventh ruler of s.h.i.+n Makoku."

"Then..I"ll be chopping off people"s heads too."

"It"s not like that! I should have said this is a village of refugees. If I remember correctly, the winter six years ago, they were oppressed because of a religious misunderstanding and all the men were executed. The women and children came to the national border seeking protection, and we lent them this land with almost no taxation on the condition that they can"t extend their farmland. It"s the foolish king in the country of humans that they"ve deserted that killed their men and burned down their houses. But then..."

Conrad bit his lip, and seemed to look down regretfully.

"...I want you to remember that not all humans are like that. Well, Your Majesty, let"s go inside. When it gets dark the temperature drops quickly. And Günter will lecture us."

The stars began to s.h.i.+ne. The moon was still low. The light leaking from the windows was dim and unreliable.

There was nothing else s.h.i.+ning. No neon signs or vending machines or convenience stores.

Where have I ended up?

"...What kind of trap have I fallen into?"

"But..this is your world."

Conrad smiled as he opened the door to the private house. Without any other source of light at dusk, even the light of the indoor lamp was like a searchlight turned sideways.

"Welcome home, Your Majesty."

This is the place where your soul should be.

Ah, what a different culture of food!

This thing called supper that I was given seemed like the leather of shoes that not even a dog would chew, dry bread that you could hit a nail with it even at normal temperatures, and some dried fruit that might have been better for the teeth if I licked it instead of biting it.

"This is food we carry for military use, so it"s dry like this."

Günter insisted across from me, and I practiced chewing each mouthful thirty times silently. Though I was hungry to death, I wouldn"t be able to swallow the dry meat if it wasn"t chewed thoroughly.

The number one soldier, Conrad, seemed to be loved by the children, so it seemed like he was at Brandon"s or Howell"s or Ema"s, or one of the other two children"s whose names I didn"t hear, house being treated to a meal.

"I want to go there too~"

"You can"t go. The citizens of that village are human, what would you do if some man-made food hurt your body?"

"I"m a human so it"s ok."

"No! How can you say that for certain when they planned such evil things? This Günter cannot let His Majesty"s life be exposed to danger at all!"

And then, ah, the bedding culture was different!

Of course, I believed I would be able to borrow the best bedroom in this house from the residents. Because they call me the Maou, it seemed like I should be allowed to rest my tired body on a soft futon. Though, judging from what I"ve seen of the world here, it might be a bed rather than a futon. However, my question was answered by Günter with a matter-of-fact face.

"Why? Hey, just a minute, why do I have a sleeping bag, when just a little while ago a soldier went into a room with a soft bed?! Well, am I really a king? Shouldn"t this sleeping bag have been dried properly in the sun before that?"

"If an insurgent breaks in targeting Your Majesty"s life, the soldier you saw awhile ago is a subst.i.tute for you. There is no attack from the window if you"re here, and because Conrart fortified it, the entrance is safe."

"Your Majesty, tomorrow we"ll be on horseback all day. Please take a long rest tonight and store your energy."

Even if he says to sleep soundly, there"s not even a window in this cramped, dusty back room that I"ve been shut up in, spread out on this outdoor, tawny sleeping bag with barely any cotton stuffing... The floor is hard and the camping sleeping bag is made especially for tough guys. To make matters worse, it"s my first experience being surrounded by handsome foreign men sleeping. Ah, sleeping like the "character of the river".[16] Even the king of a king game might have more freedom.

And then, ah, what a different culture of transportation!

In front of me, with my lack of sleep, five lively chestnut horses were drawn out. The early morning had perfectly clear air, and their snorting was hot and white.

"Horses again?!"

I was wearing my stiff school uniform, which had gotten wet and dried. I reached out my hand to the giant animal timidly. I was threatened with a "Uhihin"[17] and I withdrew.

"But since you"re Mazoku, can"t you use magic freely~?"

"Magic...you mean Majutsu?"[18]

"Yeah, that"s right, magic. Why not use it to go to the capital? Or up to the castle? You can go blistering speeds without galloping on a horse, with magic bashu~n and you can skip to the end."

Like the anywhere door,[19] or bamboo copter, or something convenient like that.

Günter cleared his throat unnaturally and said,

"Your Majesty, Majutsu isn"t for all purposes."

"Eh? From the television that I saw, witches and wizards only have to shake a staff and anything can be done, almost disregarding science."

"I don"t know who wrote the play or stage drama "Terebi", but that information is needlessly exaggerated. Majutsu is mostly useful for combat, and besides that, look, for extremely important circ.u.mstances, like summoning Your Majesty."

So television is different from reality. When I argued with him, "When you say it simply, it conserves energy." while being rubbed by a snout, Conrad said,

"Naturally, even if I, who doesn"t have a fragment of magical power, say so, it won"t be persuasive. Well, Your Majesty, will you ride with me or Günter? The horse-riding experience you mentioned yesterday..."

"I"ve barely even been on a merry-go-round."

"That"s right, you"ve only had a little experience on a carousel. It"d take at least three days to reach the capital with such limited experience, so please keep riding behind me. Their burden will increase, but if we switches horses at relay stops they"ll probably hold out."

"My b.u.t.t hasn"t even stopped hurting from yesterday yet...eh, how would you know what a carousel is?"

"Please be prepared. Today your front will probably also hurt."

The soldiers from earlier greeted them and left one by one. When I look up at the sky, it had the skeleton models just like yesterday. Of course, they"re above us. Are they still the mascot character, what was it called? Kotsumohibimaru? Mr. Calcium?

"How about Kohhi? Yahoo~, Kohhi~, thank you for carrying me yesterday. I don"t know if you"re the same one, there isn"t much difference."

I decided his name without permission, and waved my hand quietly. Then, his jaw made a clattering sound, and he repeatedly flapped his wings vigorously. It"s awfully grotesque. I instinctively asked the person in charge of education.

"Uwah, it"s mad! Is it possible for it to get mad?!"

"No, it was overcome with emotion when it was addressed by His Majesty"s voice. Because they don"t have the concept of "individuals", if you inform one of them you inform them as a whole. Because it"s easy to communicate with the entire bone tribe, it"s very useful on lookouts and scouts."

A lot of those words were hard to understand, but was he saying it"s one for everyone, and everyone for one?

"Well, Your Majesty, we go soon too."

Conrad held the bridle in his right hand, and held out his left hand to me to pull me up.

Only the door of one house was narrowly opened, with a frightened villager who had blond hair peeping without showing his face.

"Ah~ ah!"

Facing that direction, I called out.

"What a waste! If you practice with a slightly heavier and harder ball, you"ll become more skilled! And if the bat is cut more smoothly, and if the grip is thinner it should be easier to hit, and besides that..."

And still after that, don"t they need a catcher?

"You have to have a catcher, for baseball~!"

I saw his mother grab him, and she closed the door frantically.

"I visit this village every now and then."

I give him some momentum so he can pull me up.

"Through this heart-breaking experience, the children are doing their best to grow up."

"Ah."

I can"t even imagine my father being killed and my house being burnt down.

Günter had a discontent look on his face, but he struck the horse"s stomach as he pretended not to look.

And that was the start of my first day of h.e.l.l.

According to the G-shock that continued ticking away gallantly, running six hours from morning continuously, we transferred horses at places called relay spots about two times. At the third relay spot, in a village that was much larger than the villages before, the group tethered the horses to the outside fencing and took a rest at Günter"s signal.

"You"ve become very tired, haven"t you? A bit ago your mutterings became incomprehensible, Your Majesty."

Because it was forced to run with Conrad"s constant encouragement, I remembered the horse"s name. While I was tumbling off of that hazel mare, Nokantei, I begged in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

"Help me."

"Of course. When we"ve run halfway, I"ll do it for you."

"No, right now."

"Then for the time being, let"s replenish our calorie intake. In other words, lunch."

Although I should have descended to the ground, it entirely felt like riding a boat. To make matters worse, although it seemed to be the second month of spring, the sunlight was making me miss my refrigerator.

"I don"t have an appet.i.te. The nights are cold, noon is hot, and my throat is completely parched from dust, ah-"

I was presented with the object of my desire, and spontaneously reached out my hand and stopped panicking.

It looked like a shapeless gla.s.s that an amateur made on their first day in the cla.s.sroom. It was filled with cold water to the edges, and frost and drops of water clung to the outside. This is definitely what I wanted now.

"...Cold water..."

"Your Majesty!"

Günter came my way at a quick pace. At any rate, he"ll probably tell me not to eat or drink anything that was given to me by humans. But the girl holding out the tray of water to me was about ten year old, and her hair and eyes were violet. Everything other than that was the same color as a human, but, but...

"Are you a Mazoku?"

The girl nodded.

"Yes Your Majesty. If we can help His Majesty with the last drop that we possess, we"ll be happy."

If that"s true, then it"s fine. She"s a Mazoku, and I"m and the King of the Mazoku. I touched the gla.s.s with my fingers. As I thought, it"s painfully cold. The person in charge of education said something.

"Your Majesty, please wai..."

The water disappeared from my hands, and when I looked up at my side Conrad had taken the gla.s.s and put it to his mouth. After he drank a mouthful he returned it. Shortly he only whispers, "Leave a little."

When I drank and returned the gla.s.s with only a little water left, the girl seemed glad, and she bowed deeply and ran away. The cold sensation in my throat quickly spread to my chest, just like the pain you get in your forehead when you eat shaved ice, and for just an instant my feet stagger. Suddenly my head was clear, and the surrounding greenery looked more vivid.

"...It seems like I was really thirsty. Like when you get dehydrated from midsummer activities."

"Being able to give water to His Majesty will definitely be the pride of that girl"s life."

The man with the nice smile said something like that. But, I know scenes like this from historical plays. Just now he tasted it for poison. For my sake, he taste tested it.

The man in charge of education approached me with a seemingly shocked face.

"Your Majesty, even though I"ve told you not to eat anything other than what we"ve brought over and over..."

"But isn"t this a completely Mazoku village? And hey, the people living here even look like you, and there"s oddly a lot of beautiful men."

"While that may be true..."

Conrad unfastened the saddle on Nokantei, and lifted up the water to her like he would to a person.

"It didn"t taste strange, and in case there was anything at the bottom that didn"t melt, I had him leave the last mouthful. Even His Majesty isn"t slow to understand, he only wanted his first drink to be cold. After that he can endure everything, the water from the water bags or portable food."

"Conrart, you support the common people too much."

"So what?"

Conrad spoke with a knowing face.

"If we don"t support the people, then who will? Ah, of course..."

Nokantei chewed on his hair. Happily, and lovingly.

"If it would help His Majesty, without even mentioning my shoulder, I would give my hand or chest or even my life."

"...You don"t need to give your chest or life."

"Don"t say that."

"Lend me your Majutsu. It"s already a state of emergency for me, so use your magic to skip me there with a bafyu~n. I"ve had enough of horses, I"m already tired of horses."

"In regards to a bit about magic. At any rate, didn"t I tell you I have no magic power? The top magic user in our country, Günter, could help you."

He raised his eyebrows. Kyah~, Günter-sama"s grieving form was so cool, too.

"Your Majesty"s magic is several times more powerful than mine. At any rate, even G.o.ds are frightened when they speak of the power of the demon king."

"Wait a minute. I"m a human so I don"t have any magic power or spiritual power."

"Your, Ma, jes, ty, is, a, Ma, zo, ku!"

"But I"ve never seen a ghost, or hit the lotto, or seen through a girl"s bikini, or had a 10 yen coin move on a Kokkuri-san..."[20]

A confession. When I was in the fourth grade, I moved a ten yen coin on a Kokkuri-san myself after school. I was playing it with Nozawa, and he was so scared he cried, so I couldn"t tell him I did it. I"m not sure what was misunderstood, but Günter showed a smile of admiration.

"I would guess that"s an advanced ritual of a foreign country? Though I can"t understand its relation to Majutsu because of my ignorance...but it"s fine, Your Majesty. Magic power is the disposition of the soul. Even if you can"t use it now, everything in this world will become as you desire sooner or later."

Conrad, who doesn"t seem to have any magic power either, gently brushed his favorite horse"s muzzle slowly.

"Even though I cannot use it, I haven"t felt inconvenienced. Well, that is given a long term view on it. For the time being, though, I"m worried about you riding a horse alone."

"Alone, me?!"

Nokantei shook her head excitedly, and drops of leftover water on her nose scattered. This, me?!

"No, of course, it goes without saying that you won"t be going fast. It"s fine if it"s only after you enter the capital. Won"t it be pathetic if the citizens are disappointed? They demand a strong, sublime, absolute ruler, so you absolutely have to ride a horse alone, or it won"t be an impressive entry into the castle."

"Uwah...on this one?"

"No~. The best mare has been prepared~. I"ve raised her beloved daughter up to today, making every effort. Without a doubt she suits Your Majesty"s jet black."

My dream of a n.o.ble riding a white horse was smashed.

(Translated by Emeryl, originally posted on Onadoru Euphoria. Re-posted with permission.)