The large door is roughly pushed open without even a knock, shocking the owner of the s.h.i.+p into looking up.

The pale golden hair that looks almost translucent is still sticking to his fair face.

“Yuuri?”

“Saralegui, do you know what you’ve done?!”

He just c.o.c.ks his head slightly, looking at me through the thin lens.

Slender fingers are spread across his knees, and there’s an undecorated bottle next to his chair.

“I’m putting on nail varnish. If you don’t mind using my things, please take some. It’s normal to get small wounds on trips, since this is different from the easy castle life, after all, so we have to be careful about cracked nails.”

“Cracked nails? I’m not a pitcher… That’s not what I’m talking about, Sara!”

“What are you so angry about, Yuuri? Have I done something to make you angry?”

“Those s.h.i.+nzokus…”

The person behind me, either Josak or Lord Weller, closes the door in time.

“How could you treat the s.h.i.+nzoku like that!”

I can’t stop thinking about what I just saw.

When we descended from the storage hold, those golden eyes had looked up in unison.

Under the illumination of the faint light, we made a rough headcount, there should be around a hundred adults there.

As for the girl we met on the deck, she was in a corner cutting the stolen food into tiny portions to share around. Although the people kept holding out their hands, indicating, ‘I want some too, I want some too’, the food she had hidden in her chest was clearly not enough.

But this didn’t cause a riot amongst them, and those who didn’t get any just looked disappointed and gave up.

As though they were long since used to a shortage of food.

Luckily, there weren’t any young children amongst them, but we can’t deport them back to their country just because they’re adults.

To make matters worse, they’re squeezed in a cold and damp cellar, there’s no need for them to make the trip home under such horrible conditions.

Forcefully sending people who had become refugees due to certain reasons home without any escort, really is a very cruel thing to do.

“What on earth were you thinking? Saralegui! Why didn’t you hide the s.h.i.+nzoku who had gone through so much to escape to Shou s.h.i.+maron, and why are you deporting back to Seisakoku instead?!”

Shou s.h.i.+maron’s boy king, Saralegui, replies with a look of confusion,

“Because they’re citizens of Seisakoku, isn’t sending them back to the country they grew up in the happiest thing for them?”

“But didn’t these people just escape from their country? And there were so many of them squeezed on such a tiny boat. Although they were reaching out for help, they aren’t just your average s.h.i.+pwrecked crew. They should be refugees, right? I saw something like this before, at the dock!”

But I don’t mention anything about incidentally saving two s.h.i.+nzoku children.

And the fact that I’m carrying the latter those fraternal twins – Zeda and Zisha-- gave me, is a matter of utmost secrecy.

“Refugees… Is that so? Maybe.”

I’m ticked off by his nonchalant reaction, punching the wall in my rage.

“If so! If that is so, isn’t it worse to deport them back? They were oppressed, and felt their lives were in danger, that’s why they dared to make a break for it! If you refuse to lend them a hand and send them back to Seisakoku instead, who knows what’ll happen to them!”

“Is that so?”

Saralegui puts his pointer finger on the bridge of his gla.s.ses, then pushes it upwards, his movements light as a feather.

The light red lips curve into an innocent smile.

“They were oppressed? How come I never heard of that, who did you hear it from, Yuuri?”

“I…”

Faced with his question, I’m at a loss for words.

Actually I didn’t hear it from anybody, it’s just I concluded it those people begging for help at the dock, and the two children we protected earlier.

I didn’t hear any special inside information, because we can’t understand each other, so even if I wanted to ask for the details, it is nearly impossible.

“So I didn’t hear it from anyone, actually I’m not too sure, either.”

To be precise, even if I wanted to make sure, I can’t.

“But isn’t it obvious just looking at them?”

By now I’m just being unreasonable, and suddenly I lose confidence in my own words.

I guessed that they must have been refugees, who ran for their lives away from their home country, hoping to find help in Shou s.h.i.+maron, and I worked under that belief since.

Even though I don’t understand their situation at all, and never confirmed the truth with the people involved, I made that decision on my own.

But Saralegui was different.

He’s been accepting the holistic education a ruler should have for seventeen years, and he understands the way of this world better than I do, too, so surely he should know more about the Seisakoku’s situation than I do.

And a rookie Maou like me is lecturing him.

“Yuuri’s so amazing.”

But the boy who’s already leading Shou s.h.i.+maron at seventeen years of age, blinks his long lashes a few times before he starts sighing.

He put his right palm on his chest, then he stacks his left hand over it lightly.

“You’re so impressive! Seeing into the depth of the matter from such a small detail. Yuuri, you seem like you really were born to be king.”

I never thought that person I was scolding would turn around and praise me, so now all I want to do is to dig a hole and hide in it.

“…Someone like that doesn’t exist.”

He narrows those eyes, whose color I still can’t identify, and shakes his head gracefully,

“I believe they do.”

It’s true, on the letter Zeda and Zisha gave me, there was nothing about seeking help.

All it said was that they wished to save someone or somewhere called Venera, and even the knowledgeable Lord von Christ Günter can’t decipher which it is.

Then I simply let my imagination run wild, concluding on my own accord that the s.h.i.+nzokus are refugees.

So I have no right to be praised.

Blissfully unaware of all that, Saralegui takes my hand and says excitedly,

“When we discovered them on the lifeboat, my men kept trying to ask them for the reason, but they just refused to say anything. That’s why I… decided that they must have met with an accident in the sea near the mainland, and were asking us for help, so I wanted to send them back home as soon as possible. Looks like I shouldn’t have done things based on intuition alone. Yuuri, please tell me, what should I do with them? What’s the appropriate way to solve this problem for them?”

“About that…”

A bitterness is welling up deep in my throat. It feels like someone is spying on the depths of my heart, making breathing more and more difficult. And throughout this all, he has never once let go of the hands wrapped around mine.

“…Let’s think about it together.”

I can only answer as such.

“How will your country respond to something like this?”

Saralegui suddenly leans his face in closer. Although the color of his eyes is undecipherable behind those lenses, they’re s.h.i.+ning brightly.

“Respond?”

“Yeah, refugees, there should be plenty of refugees escaping into s.h.i.+n Makoku from the neighboring countries, Yuuri! What is your country’s policy towards them? If it’s okay with you, can you tell me?”

“Our policy…”

The atmosphere right now doesn’t allow me to say ‘things like that are all left to Lord von Christ’ at all, much less the truth that ‘actually Günter will then toss them to Lord von Voltaire’.

When it comes to the details of s.h.i.+n Makoku, everyone around me is clearer than I am.

What is this?

Someone who calls himself king knows nothing about his own country?

That just means I’m a noob! Even if I’m scolded a million times, there’s nothing I can say against it.

“Come to think of it, I’m a living, breathing example.”

The spy who exists not only as a bodyguard, Josak then opens his mouth to help me out of this mess.

“See, since I have both mazoku and human blood, I’m deemed as worthless in the countries who believe that humanity is everything, but s.h.i.+n Makoku took me in. Right?”

His last ‘right?’ is aimed at someone, I don’t know who.

“And Young… His Majesty spends a lot of his time studying abroad, so it’s not easy for him to explain to you s.h.i.+n Makoku’s ways right now. Why don’t you talk about how the country you study in deals with it, aren’t you staying there for long periods of time so you can bring in the admirable qualities into our country?”

“Mn—Over there…”

Over there, that is, over on earth, how do we deal with it?

I was so certain that they were refugees, because I had witnessed them squeezed like sardines in a tiny boat asking for help. I had seen images like that several times before on TV.

Like people who reach civilization after crossing the Sahara, or people risking their lives, adrift on a rocky boat.

What happened to them later? What kind of fate was in store for them?

“If it’s other countries, they usually just accept the refugees. As for policies…”

America is known as the cultural melting pot and the country of immigrants, but immigrants and refugees are still different. As for j.a.pan…

I feel so guilty I just want to bow my head, and then sit on the ground and draw circles on the wooden floor.

“…Don’t ask me too constructive questions!”

Josak, I’m sorry, you helped me cover up but I wasted it.

“B-but, sending them back to Seisakoku before determining the truth, and having them travel so far under such conditions, is truly unforgivable. Making them ride over the car-pa.s.senger limit, and squeezing them into the bottom of a smelly s.h.i.+p… Wait, since it’s a s.h.i.+p, then I should say they are over the boat-pa.s.senger limit. And there are girls without an overcoat to wear in such cold weather, you should at least lend them clothes! And feed them three meals a day! Distribute food and blankets to everyone, those are basic human rights, right?!”

“Basic… human… rights?”

Saralegui echoes stutteringly, surely this is the first time he’s heard the term.

“But, Yuuri… they’re slaves!”

“Sl—”

I lost, I just can’t get across our cultural gap. The blood speeding up in my veins makes me feel dizzy.

In the lacking information room of my brain, any knowledge to do with slavery stops at ancient history.

The European countries in the Age of Discovery, black slaves brought over from the African continent for manual labour…

“You said slaves… Which century is it now? How long has slavery been abolished? No, wait! Warring, developing countries are still trafficking people to this day… c.r.a.p, it’s getting even more messed up!”

Due to the sudden increase in activity, my brain seems to be on the verge of overheating.

I fall backwards, the back of my head cras.h.i.+ng into Josak’s chest.

“Young Master, you can do it! Keep going, Young Master!”

I’m trying. But even though I’m putting my all into it, there’s a new obstacle every time, and in that instant I’m feeling a little dejected.

Geez, I can’t stand it! Why are there so many tough problems happening all the time in the alternate world?

“Sorry, Sara. The country I live in doesn’t have that sort of system, and I’ve never been to a country with slavery before, either, so what I’m saying might not be very convincing. But if they have to be treated cruelly just because they’re slaves, no matter how I think about, it just isn’t right!”

“No slaves? Really?”

Saralegui is genuinely surprised, pressing his beautiful fingers against his lips,

“Then who’s in charge of the sewage?”

“Ah—About that~”

I turn back, but Josak is looking off into the distance.

“Low-ranking soldiers.”

“Then what about the dangerous irrigation process, or mining works under harsh conditions?”

“Also the low-ranking soldiers. What, so s.h.i.+n Makoku’s low-ranking soldiers aren’t treated as humans~”

The previously silent Lord Weller interrupts Josak in a teasing tone.

“Stop sighing. Besides training, they still have a chance at promotion!”

“That’s true!”

From this exchange alone, you can tell the top-and-bottom relations.h.i.+p between the two.

“Anyway, Saralegui, this has nothing to do with slaves or the poor, status or wealth. Everyone is born equal… Though talking about this to you so suddenly is probably useless. To put it simply, you can’t let them starve without bread to eat, resorting to stealing from the kitchen to survive.”

“Eh, why don’t they have bread? Then…”

In my sixteen years of life, I never once thought I would personally hear this famous line.

And Sara says it so nonchalantly,

“Let them eat cake!”

I am completely and utterly defeated by those words, presenting an ‘orz’ pose, both my palms flat on the coa.r.s.e, splintered wooden floorboards.

It feels as though my world has suddenly gone pitch black, and there’s a lonely spotlight s.h.i.+ning down on me from the ceiling.

If I’m the noob king, then Saralegui should be the super X king, the type that believes in eating cake when there’s no bread.

He literally is Queen Marie Antoinette incarnate.

“Queen… Queen Marie.”

“Your Majesty, if you don’t mind, please use this.”

Josak bends down and hands me a lacy silk handkerchief.

“Thanks, Gurrier. I can barely stand it anymore, I’m so tired… Feel like sleeping… Eh, wait a sec! What’s with this tremor?”

A small tremor different from the movement of the waves, is transmitted throughout my body from my palms and knees on the ground.

Unlike the familiar rocking of a s.h.i.+p, this feels stronger, almost like the purr of an electrical motor.

“It’s a current!”

“It’s a giant squid!”

The owner of the s.h.i.+p, Shou s.h.i.+maron king Saralegui, and the experienced soldier, Josak, make their predictions at the same time.

Sara says with a solemn expression,

“Recently the ocean around Seisakoku has currents that change form according to the seasons, so there are only certain time frames throughout the year when they can cross the sea. We predicted that there should be a few more days for this year, and thought that we should be able to make it across these waters in time, but after all the sea is also a part of nature, perhaps the path of the current changed earlier than expected.”

I’m a bit dazed after listening to that, but it should be something like how, when the tide rises and falls, there are loud sounds at the bay caused by whirlpools.

And the tremor that I could only feel in my hands and feet before is now getting more and more intense, the whole s.h.i.+p shaking so badly it makes one wonder if there’s a submarine approaching.

The bottle on the table starts clattering. The liquid inside spills out.

“What’s the worst case scenario?”

“I’m not too sure, either, because I also only experienced this when I was an infant. But I heard that if you get pulled into the current, even the most experienced seamen will find it hard to get out; if it’s an inexperienced cargo s.h.i.+p helmsman, then we’ll never reach Seisakoku no matter what. And not just that, the chances of the s.h.i.+p sinking are also…”

“But the possibility of a big squid is not zero! The guy that has ten thick white tentacles, hard skin but tender flesh.”

The spy happily licks his lips, guessing ‘it should be a squid, right?’ as his hand even moves to his sword.

“I just happen to have a craving for squid tempura right now. I want to play the role of a young wife in the prime of her life who wants to challenge creative cooking perfectly, then chop off a leg or two. LET’S GO! b.l.o.o.d.y housewife!”

There’s some commotion outside the cabin.

When we open the door, we see that the crewmen, panicked with their first emergency situation, are scuttling all over the large deck.

“According to calculations, it shouldn’t be possible!”

I’m given a shock by the frustrated tone, turning my head to look sideways, and I see Saralegui biting his thin petal-like lips, probably regretting the mistake in his calculations.

“There are times in life when things don’t go your way, Sara, especially when you’re dealing with nature.”

“No matter what…”

He grips his pretty slender fingers tightly, the freshly manicured nails digging deep into his fair skin.

“I cannot tolerate anything not going according to plan!”

That’s a feeling of fury a king of failures like me has never experienced before.

Adalbert tosses the filthy rolled-up carpet onto the ground, and the caterpillar-like thing groans softly, lying there.

“Here, what you wanted.”

“I thank you on behalf of my father.”

“Torture him all you want, the guy doesn’t die easily.”

The next generation of the von Christ clan, Gisela, stands in the large captain’s quarters, her hands on her hips and her gaze cold as she looks down at the thing wrapped up in the carpet.

Although her face is pale and bloodless, she is actually in better shape than everyone else present.

Having just completed a long-term mission, aiding the restoration of Caloria, even though she didn’t get an acclimatization period and can’t use magic here, her body and soul are in top form.

As for her adopted father, Lord von Christ Günter, since he was nearly burned in a fire, and then he unfortunately fell into the sea, add that to the nausea brought on by the houryoku, and all three factors have finally defeated him, so he is currently collapsed in the adjacent room.

Lord von Bielefeld Wolfram, who had gone through the same, has already recovered and returned to normal life without any serious problems.

Seeing as he’s only eighty-two, youth seems to be on his side.

The place a certain few of s.h.i.+n Makoku’s most influential people are now gathered, is the drastic Sea Monk—Captain Sizemore’s ‘Friends on the Sea’.

During the political revolt at the Saralegui War Port, it was docked at the jetty directly opposite, and therefore was the first to receive the information and arrive at the scene.

Thanks to the efficiency and speed of ‘Friends on the Sea’ and its companions, Günter, who was thrown into the sea, and Wolfram, who was shot in the chest, were both successfully rescued.

No amount of praise would be enough to thank Captain Sizemore and his quick thinking in the middle of a crisis, just like there never seemed to be sufficient hair, no matter how he brushed, on his receding hairline.

Other than Wolfram and Gisela, who had rushed over from Caloria, there’s also Adalbert, leaning on the doorframe after he carried the caterpillar-thing over, so you could call this the worst combination ever.

Known as the third son of the ‘very similar three mazoku brothers’, Wolfram gets into a conflict with the traitor von Grantz Adalbert whenever they meet.

The cold and distant Adalbert can still control himself fairly well, but Wolfram looks like he’s ready to draw his sword and attack him at any moment.

If it weren’t for magician Gisela’s decisive ‘stay still or I’ll paralyze both of you’, blood would probably have long since been spilled.

On a side note, right now the ‘omnipresent Dakaskos’ is cowering in a corner of the room, trembling.

And outside the wide open door, there’s a group of people spectating at a certain distance, that’s the crew of ‘Friends on the Sea’.

And behind the wall of people, the nice man jumping up and down with what looks like a few baby bird feathers on his head, that would be Captain Sizemore.

“Oomph!”

The one sticking his head out of the carpet for a breath of fresh air, is the former Shou s.h.i.+maron model soldier, even known as Saralegui’s loyal dog—Nigel Weiss Maxine, also the man who made famous the cropped ponytail in Shou s.h.i.+maron.

Wolfram leans on the walking stick that was once Yuuri’s—‘Windpipe Number 1’, pointing at the man on the ground as he says,

“It’s him! This is the guy who attacked Yuuri and I, jari![1]”

Having just recovered, his voice is still very raspy, so much so that he can’t enunciate his words properly, evoking sympathy from everybody.

“Mmph, you’re the mazoku from… What’s happening here? Why was a mazoku wearing King Saralegui’s cloak? And standing at the place he usually stands?!”

“We were asking you! Do you know the repercussions of attacking an official amba.s.sadorial envoy like us, who had travelled so far across the sea?”

“No, I…”

“What was the situation, tell me!”

Squatting on her knees, Gisela approaches Maxine, lifting his face with her exceptionally pale hand.

Those gentle fingers she usually uses for healing, are now sunk deeply into his matted beard.

“Since Kinan got away, I guess we can only ask this guy’s body, Aiya, my mistake, what I meant was, this guy’s mouth. If I recall correctly, you’re Maxine, right? As members of the opposition force within the Shou s.h.i.+maron army, why did you shoot at our king? Even if your aim wasn’t His Majesty, but to a.s.sa.s.sinate the boy king Saralegui, what were you trying to accomplish? Right, don’t waste our time, come on and be honest now.”

The corners of her lips curve into a malevolent smile, which isn’t a good omen any day. The worker soldiers, who are used to her yells and torture on a daily basis, all straighten their backs and brace themselves for a bas.h.i.+ng.

It’s coming, it’s starting, anytime now, get ready!

“Hmph, I don’t care if you can get it out of me, I was just interrogated anyway.”

“…Interrogated, you say?”

The healer—Gisela raises her eyes, her powerful voice becoming very violent.

This is precisely our s.h.i.+n Makoku army medical team’s famous finis.h.i.+ng move—the Sergeant mode.

“Listen closely, human! We mazoku’s medical team will never accept an enquiry method as old and barbaric as torture! But to this day, humans are still endlessly interrogating as a means of gathering intelligence! Such as plucking nails, digging eyeb.a.l.l.s, and cutting off the honey mushroom downstairs! What’s wrong with you people? Why are you backing away? Don’t tell me you’re worried about your honey mushrooms down there?!”

The baby bird head jumping up and down behind the people wall, and the sparkly-headed kitchen apprentice Dakaskos, wave their right hands and heads in fervent denial.

“Listen up , you cowardly soldiers! We, the s.h.i.+n Makoku army medical team, will never use such prehistoric methods. From now on, healing must be done together with science and brains! Remember that, you horse-b.u.t.t head.”

Timid Maxine is almost scared out of his wits, going one on one with the force of the Sergeant mode.

“Let’s pretend I have here Lady von Karbelnikoff Anissina’s new prototype— MAjor Danger(*) Potion I and II[2]! Do you bunch of idiots think Lady von Karbelinikoff Anissina is scary?!”

“Scary, Sergeant!”

The soldiers outside reply loudly upon questioning, but as a matter of habit they all remain straight as rulers and don’t move an inch.

“Then between the Poison Lady Anissina and your officer, who is scarier?!”

“Sergeant, of course, Sergeant!”

“You bunch of concrete-brained a.s.s-kissers! At times like these you should compliment the enemy, who’d have thought that despite being so stiff and straight normally, you know how to sweet talk!”

“Yes! We will change, Sergeant!”

Gisela is sounding out her men, but the truth is she’s in a wonderful mood.

“You haven’t changed at all, huh, Sergeant…”

Adalbert says, rubbing his b.u.t.t-shaped chin.

Even Wolfram, who just recently got to know Gisela’s true form, is so scared of the Demon Sergeant’s intimidating aura that he’s backed up all the way to the wall.

Looks it’s best not to get on this tigress’ bad side.

“Right, back to business—”

Holding in her hand a long brown bottle, Gisela continues,

“This is the Poison Lady Anissina’s new drug.”

At the mention of the creator’s name, Maxine’s expression changes drastically.

“I-is it poison? You say it’s created by the Poison Lady, so it must be poison?!”

“Hmph!”

After what sounds like the yell of someone accustomed to using brute force, Gisela forces open Maxine’s jaw, stuffs the green Potion I inside, then she pushes the jaw joint back up, closing his mouth, setting the bones into place then grabs his head and shakes it forcefully.

“Since you refuse to spill, then I have no qualms using force to get you to confess! Right. Be honest with me, tell us your motives!”

“Hm-um-umph! Hm-um-umph! Mmph!”

Crop Pony is rocking forward, backward, left, right.

After Potion I is thoroughly shaken in Maxine’s mouth, light green bubbles start flowing down the cropped beard, symbolic of his military status.

And then Gisela pinches a horizontal long bottle, raising it high into the afternoon sun.

“After that, this seems to be the blood red Potion II. After drinking Potion I, if you drink Potion II within a certain timeframe…”

“Blergh—What happens if you drink that?! Bleergghh—If those two mix, will it be dangerous or not?! Or is Potion II the antidote? What the h.e.l.l is it? Blergh?!”

“If you want to know, hurry up and spill it! Might as well tell you, the manual says, ‘Anissina is composed half of gentleness’… Hmph!”

Gisela tosses the manual onto the ground.

“Gentleness—How is she gentle—”

Succ.u.mbing to the tense atmosphere, Dakaskos falls backwards like a log.

Although he didn’t take the MaChicken Danger Potion, but he’s foaming in the mouth and white in the eyes.

Even the cold onlooker, the only anti-mazoku Adalbert speaks up,

“Hey, before there are any more casualties, do yourself a favor and get out of this h.e.l.l, Maxine. Besides, it’s not as though you need to s.h.i.+eld anyone anymore, right?”

“S-s-s-shut your c.r.a.p! I, Nigel Weiss Maxine, will never succ.u.mb to such petty threats... What?!”

Victims start appearing in the wall of people outside.

Unable to withstand the terror of Gisela’s aura and etcetera, people start cras.h.i.+ng to the ground, one after another.

“Hey, Maxine. You have siblings too, right? Don’t make them too upset. Just pretend you’re doing it for your old mom who will cry for you, just confess to compensate for your crimes. After you confess, I’ll bring you some katsudon[3].”

The muscleman is actually the good cop taking the sentimental approach, what a surprising Adalbert.

“Well, we don’t mind either way! I kind of want to see how long it’ll take to break a spineless, stupid beard guy like you. Otherwise I might as well throw you into Caloria’s city area, the people there sure hate your guts. That way you’ll definitely get nerves thinner than a mosquito’s leg.”

…While Gisela is the threatening bad cop.

“Ah, come to think of it…”

Wolfram, who believed that ‘silence is golden’ and kept quiet until now, seems to have suddenly thought of something, raising his head.

“Recently Mother has suddenly been working very hard on her whipping techniques, muttering something about some beautiful mature woman warrior… Right, it was the ‘Beautiful Mature Woman Warrior Cheri, and now I’m going to get together and punish you’, something like that. And then there was ‘I really wanna play with that Mr Beard again’…”

“Eh—”

Looks like the threat of the Beautiful Mature Woman Warrior’s leather whip is more effective than the city he destroyed.

Maxine’s heavily scarred face is taut, his blood-shot eyes overflowing with tears again as he pleads,

“I-I’ll spill, I’ll spill, I’ll spill! I’ll say anything, just don’t let me see that gorgeous cheesy woman again!”

“Gorgeous che… You’re so rude! You should say she acts cute, acts cute!”

All the men present look diagonally downwards, thinking,

‘How come the person in question’s son is also so cruel with his words.’

“Although the reason is very weird, but as long as you sincerely want to confess. Then please tell us! Nigel Weiss Maxine, why did you want to a.s.sa.s.sinate His Majesty and His Excellency Wolfram?”

Crop Pony clears his throat before replying.

He purposely wanted to show off, but his beard was trembling.

“My target this time really wasn’t the mazoku brat. Although that double-black mazoku has gotten in my way several times, but this time he’s here with the special amba.s.sadorial envoy, and a.s.sa.s.sinating an official guest will damage our country’s reputation, so our target…”

The former Shou s.h.i.+maron soldier pauses suddenly, sighing a long and painful sigh before continuing,

“…was His Majesty Saralegui and his men. Actually I want to ask you, why was there a mazoku wearing His Majesty Saralegui’s clothes standing on that spot in the flags.h.i.+p?”

“You mean the light aqua blue cloak? I heard that Sara fellow gave it to Yuuri to block the sun and sea breeze, though later I took it anyway.”

Lord von Bielefeld’s good-looking brow creases, its depth not losing out to his older brother.

“Yuuri heard from someone that the spot behind the helmsman is best for looking at the scenery, saying something about standing there you can feel the true awe of leaving the bay, and saying the traditions of setting sail is where the essence of a voyage lies…”

“The one who told him was probably that Saralegui fellow, huh? That Shou s.h.i.+maron king let the black-haired brat wear his own clothes, then stand in his own favorite place… What a sneaky little brat! Looks like he knew long ago that there was someone out to a.s.sa.s.sinate him, meaning information on your rebellion motion has long since been leaked, Maxine.”

“The shooter was Kinan, I think.”

Back to being the female medical officer, Gisela says the name of a man who was once her adopted father’s subordinate.

Kinan had broken off from the team on the trip to Shou s.h.i.+maron, and was even suspected of stealing Lord Weller’s left arm.

“He was s.h.i.+n Makoku’s number one archer. Though he was fired from the army for certain reasons, he does indeed have the ability to shoot any target. And now we know the reason he headed for Shou s.h.i.+maron…”

“Wait, what? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Truth is, I just found out from Lord von Christ myself. Never mind what Kinan’s reasons were, the main thing is he’s betrayed the country, and he even took a dangerous item to Shou s.h.i.+maron. To the s.h.i.+maron army, there’s nothing luckier than that, because they had a usable p.a.w.n volunteer itself. You must have been really glad to find a suitable shooter, huh, Nigel Weiss Maxine?”

“That’s right.”

“Ecstatic?”

“Not to that extent.”

Looking at Maxine, who is starting to confess, Adalbert speaks up.

“But if he were a.s.sa.s.sinated while another king was visiting, wouldn’t that hurt Shou s.h.i.+maron’s image as well? If he can’t even control his own army, surely the other countries’ opinion of you would decrease greatly. If he got intel on the rebellion long ago, couldn’t he have prevented anything from happening? What’s more, the mastermind…”

As he speaks, he mercilessly uses the amphibious st.u.r.dy sole of his boots to kick the curled-up caterpillar-like body.

“Uu-ya!”

“…is this idiot over here? Hey, stop screaming like a sealion!”

“If he wanted to catch them all and eradicate the rebels in one fell swoop, he should have taken the chance to arrest them when they were in the middle of an actual operation. Normally, even if you get a lot of people, there will always be some others hiding underground. Since it’s a military faction, those who don’t partic.i.p.ate would be deemed as cowards, right? And… That really was Kinan, was it, Your Excellency Wolfram?”

The third son nods calmly, Gisela is so much better a speaker than he is, having her specialize in healing is such a waste.

“His plan of action is excellent. If the archer is a mazoku, and if His Majesty the Maou… Although I am extremely reluctant to say this… But should His Majesty the Maou tragically lose his life, they can announce to the other countries that it was due to the mazoku’s internal conflict. This way, not only can he preserve his life, he can also a.s.sa.s.sinate our king. If he succeeds, it won’t cause much of a discussion internationally, and if he fails, at least he can wipe out the opposition within the country, so whatever the outcome, it’s win-win for him. This is a sort of insurance policy, to calmly consider up to this point, it can be seen that from the beginning, Saralegui… to His Majesty…”

Gisela shakes her head several times, not aimed at anyone in particular, but out of admiration for the enemy’s intellect.

But Wolfram’s pale face has reddened completely.

“That brat still dares to act all innocent, approaching Yuuri…!”

“Please wait, Your Excellency Wolfram, where are you going?”

“I’m going to save Yuuri.”

“Where are you going to save him?”

“It doesn’t matter where! Right! It’s Seisakoku, I want to go to Seisakoku too! There’s no time to waste here! I have to save Yuuri! That guy can’t be without me.”

“Please calm down, Your Excellency.”

Although she’s aware that doing this is going against her station, but Gisela still grabs the previous Maou’s third son by the arm.

“Has milord forgotten? Seisakoku is the territory of the s.h.i.+nzoku, there’s a large gathering of people with powerful houryoku there. Just the ground itself is different from the continent governed by s.h.i.+n Makoku, and the land where the humans live now, you know? People with strong maryoku will only get in the way there.”

She is absolutely right.

Although his and Günter’s maryoku still count as strong, but once they’re within s.h.i.+maron borders, there’s nothing they can do.

But at the same time, he can’t just bite his nails and wait in safe place just because of that!

“Am I the kind of person who would listen to others like a good boy when faced with an objection?”

She shakes her head slowly. Her plait sways around on her back.

“No.”

“Since you know that, let go.”

“Before you rush out of this room alone, I believe there’s something else milord should do.”

At this moment, Dakaskos wakes and pushes himself up, rubbing his hairless scalp with his palm.

He pushes past the wall of people, finally seeing Captain Sizemore’s face, and the Crop Pony desperately wiggling his body rolled inside a filthy woolen carpet, trying to loosen the ropes, and then the solemn crewmen on duty announce in a loud voice, “There’s a small s.h.i.+p arriving.” Seems like the backup from Caloria is here.

Next door, however, there’s a huge and sudden crash, sending the walls with the same wood-pattern a-creaking, looks like Günter has fallen off his bed.

Wolfram suddenly remembers the people he has always respected, murmuring the new king’s name.

To relax his stiff fingers, he grasps his right hand twice, and says,

“a.s.semble a tracking team at once!

“No matter what, we cannot let His Majesty fall into Shou s.h.i.+maron hands!”