Kyou kara Ma no Tsuku Jiyuugyou! Vol 4 Chapter 9

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Hi!  Here's chapter 9~  No pictures in this chapter, but considering it's a fairly serious chapter, not all that surprising.

Chapter 9

      In my mind, Moeyo Dragons is playing over and over again.

      “Uh… ugh, Eiji Bandou is, Makoto Nonomura is…”  (1)

      Light reaches my optic nerves and even the underside of my eyelids turn white.  Bearing my pain and opening my eyes, I see that right above me are shining golden hair and lake’s bottom green blinking down at me.  If only he was a girl, I’d deal with his attitude and go out with him.

      Rolling across the grass three times, I distance myself from Wolfram’s lap.  My limbs are heavy and my throat is parched and there is an unbearable ache in the back of my head.  Propping myself up with my arms behind me, I look up at the sky and take a deep breath.

      “It’s a lack of sleep.”

      “Wipe your face; there’s still some drool on it.  After using that much magic, usually you would rest a long time, but today you haven’t even slept for half that.  Headaches and nausea are a given.”

      With a slow and cautious gait, Greta brings me water.  Pressing the wooden cup to my mouth, she looks at me with concern.  No one would believe that she tried to kill me a few days ago.

      “No… hey, that’s kind of weird.  I do remember.  Even though usually I completely-pon forget it all.”

      It’s only a vague memory like my view was obstructed by silk curtains, but it was like someone shot a short film and I was watching my own back.

      I started having some wishful thinking like, lions and eagles and water buffalo and Neptune are all strong, but I would like to hold back on the seagulls and the swallows and the koi fish.

      “A woman’s voice?  Who’s this woman?”

      “But, I can’t be the only one resting.  Someone has to help Izura and Nina.”

      Hurriedly supporting me as I stood up, Greta presses Windpipe No. 1 into my hands.  A cane isn’t all that dependable on ground covered by tall grass.  Checking the time on the digital analog on my wrist, I see it’s just past two in the afternoon.  It hasn’t even been an hour since the race.

      “Where’s the doctor?  How come there’s no doctor?”

      “In a blaze that intense, it’s amazing no one died.”

      “… Yuuri?”

      “That’s Yuuri’s voice, isn’t it?”

      Her blonde hair and sun tanned skin are all black.  It’s the color that the girls hate the most, the unlucky and evil color black.  And it’s not just soot.  The eyes looking up at me are cloudy.

      “Hey, did you see Nina?  We were together part of the way, but I can’t see anymore.”

      “I’m glad.  Yuuri, if you find Nina can you heal her like yesterday?  Her cold hasn’t healed completely and if she gets a fever again I’d feel really bad for her.”

      “Hey, before that, your…”

      “Your Majesty!”

      I hear a voice from over my shoulder.

      “Don’t yell at me.  He’s the one getting up and walking around.”

      “I said it before right?  I mastered how to use Heal.  It might just be for peace of mind, but I can heal some of the light injuries…”

      Are you kidding?

      “You’re not going to say the same thing as with Hube, are you!?  Besides, Izura saved me and I don’t think of her as an enemy.”

      “I’m fine!  I said I was fine!”

      But even so, with this terrible scene in front of me, there’s no way I’d be able to just go to sleep.  If there was nothing I could do I might hug my knees and watch, but I have power now.  Even if it’s just by a little bit, I’ve got enough power to ease the pain of others.

      “And then if you collapse who is going to heal you!?  No matter how powerful the magic you have, you need to know your limits.  If you excessively use that power without knowing them, the worst case scenario is that you’ll lose your life!  You can’t abuse your body and soul again after using power you’re not used to.”

      In a voice she just barely got out, Izura calls my name.  She tells me that she’s not in that much pain and that I should rest.

      Greta is walking around looking at everyone’s face, searching for Nina.  She’s doing what she can to ease at least one of Izura’s worries.

      I’ve never cried before besides when I was frustrated.

      Right behind my ear, Lord Weller asked something of me.  It wasn’t a question, but a distressed utterance.

      So slowly that even I got impatient with myself, I shake my head.

      Am I losing control of my body, or am I leaning against him?

      Because, that’s the ‘Yuuri Shibuya’ I want to be.

      “If I let go of you, you wouldn’t be able to stand.”

      On the edges of my blurred vision, a vivid red jumped into view.  Worrying that another fire started, I use all my strength to lift my head.  It wasn’t fire.

      It’s a flaming woman.

      “Anissina?  Why are you here?”

      She grabs my chin as I stand baffled and roughly lifts it up to meet my gaze.

      I’ve met dozens of nobles, but someone this unreserved is bizarre.  I can’t say I’m getting any cold feelings from her overly brisk way of talking, but I’m not seeing any ill will or depravity in her intelligent light blue eyes either.  What’s lying there is curiosity and the love of the pursuit.  It’s a strong feeling of believing in herself.

      “Self-loathing!  A worthless emotion, but Gwendal sometimes uses that expression.  It is an escape route that men use all the time!”

      “Anissina, now’s not the time to-“

      She’s not even trying to listen to what people are saying.

      “Like I said, Anissina, now’s not-”

      Eh!?

      “Ah, Your Majesty, I had heard from Lady Celi that you have powerful magic.  Then why are you just standing around?  Is this not a perfect opportunity to test your abilities?  You can just fly through healing a hundred people.  Now let us start with you, right in front of us.”

      “Where does it hurt?”

      “Well, I do not know.  Let us focus on the blisters on your arms and legs as they are at most risk of getting infected.  If it is because of the trauma of fire and smoke, vision will usually return, but even if it does not, it is not such a horrible thing.”

      “… A friend of mine was not blessed with vision at birth, however just by a light touch of her fingertips, she could read anything.  You should become like that too.  That is if your vision does not return, however.”

      “Then you should learn starting now.  Not being able to read and write is inconvenient, is it not?”

      I’m slowly lowered to the ground and I lay a hand on Izura’s hair as she hides her face in Anissina’s lap.  Anissina doesn’t wait for or expect a response as she holds the girl’s wrist.

      “That is true.  Even in the country I was raised in we were told something similar.  Men should act like men and women should act like women.  However the amusing part is that they do not tell us what sort of woman we should act like.  The result is that everyone does whatever and the question of which way is ‘right’ hasn’t been answered in over 2000 years.”

      Greta comes running out of breath with her cheeks reddened from the cold wind.

      The woman who was part of The Great Demon Kingdom’s Three Great Witches gently rubbed Izura’s fingers.

      “Anissina, His Majesty is very tired…”

      Except for her, there aren’t any women who would be able to pull off that broadly grinning laugh.

      Anissina von Karbelnikoff straightened up and moved to the next patient.  Perhaps thinking she could help, Greta trots after her.

      “… She’s kinda… really great… Miss Anissina.”

      “Mr. Mitsuemon!”

      “How are you feeling?  Oh but I was impressed, Mr. Mitsuemon.  Compared to your technique last time, the slightly mischievous part completely disappeared and it was all the more splendid.  I wonder if it’s because you’ve born a splendid daughter and you’ve become aware of yourself as a parent.”

      “But, about your daughter…”

      He strokes his moustache and sits down next to me for my own benefit as I wouldn’t have been able to stand.  He crosses his legs on top of the grass without worrying about getting grass stains.

      So he wouldn’t be able to work there if he was distracted by those dangerous swimsuits.  I desperately try and force my brain, which is on the edge of becoming just a sea of cotton, to remember.

      I tell the now blinking girl next to me that I’m not talking about her.

      For a moment, Hyscliff’s face becomes serious.  His light brown eyebrows come together and a short hum comes out from his lips under his moustache.

      “Abandoned country… eh!?”

      In place of me who was tired and whose mind was in shock, Conrad continued the conversation.  It’s times like this where having a trustworthy subordinate comes in handy.  Because, he’s perfect for everything except for making jokes.

      “… The princess was an openhearted person so she was very popular in the country.  So, everyone wanted to name their children ‘Izura’ if they had a daughter.”

      “Then wait, how come Greta was in Svelera?  Did she become the adopted daughter of her uncle and his wife?  Then she wouldn’t have to say she was my hidden child… ah, I’m going to have to get acknowledgement from her former parents!”

      Hyscliff looks around for the flashy red hair and then lowers his gaze to the child running around after her.

      “That… I wonder if Greta knows.”

      Hyscliff raised his face and broke the following long silence.  He had a tone of voice that signified he personally believed this to be the best course of action.

      “What do you mean, so suddenly?”

      “As a hostage?  Are you telling me to hand over Greta as a hostage again?”

      “It won’t be as a hostage.  I am proposing a student exchange from The Great Demon Kingdom to Cavalcade.  Of course, as a parent I would like nothing more than for her to become Beatrice’s good friend as a classmate, but overlooking that, what she would gain would not be trivial.  I am aware of the rudeness of this assumption, however… I believe that it is difficult for one to learn everything about the world from simply the teachings of the demons…”

      “Of course, it is also hard to raise a personality with impartial judgment with only the education we humans provide.  That is why I would like your daughter to learn in both countries and become mediator between them.”

      Even if I ask for the right advice, Wolfram just gets angry and Conrad says shortly in his usual manner that I should decide.

      The face of the girl who came running back at top speed looked healthier than anyone else’s here.  She was purer than anyone and full of life and endless possibilities.

      “Greta, will you go with Mr. Hyscliff?”

      She is unable to understand the sudden proposal and her eyes widen as if she was suddenly attacked.

      “… Why?”

      “No!”

      Greta is clenching her tiny fist and with shaking lips, makes an objection.

      “No I’m not, Greta.”

      “I said it’s not the same!”

      Wondering when she learned how to speak so un-cutely, I stop in surprise.  But the one who spoke was Wolfram as he kicked at the ground in exasperation. (4)

      “Wolf, this isn’t about you-”

      Ah, he said something he shouldn’t have said.  But let’s ignore that for the moment.

      “I’m doing this with your benefit in mind.”

      We weren’t listening.  Greta was crying and I was enduring it.

      Damn it, if I make a kid cry, it makes it look like I’m doing something bad!  And if my daughter cries, it makes me want to cry too!

      “… Am I going to be baldy’s child?”

      “… Am I going to be shaved bald too?”

      “That’s stupid, Greta.  You’re my hidden child, right!?  I’m not gonna let you become a child of Mr. Shiny!”

      “Even if we’re far apart, you’re still my child and even if it’s not together, a family is still a family, right?”

      “Even if you go somewhere no one’s been before, you can proudly say that ‘I am the daughter of Yuuri Shibuya of The Great Demon Kingdom’ in a loud voice.  If you want to come back, you can just come back whenever you want.  If you want to see me, you can come see me whenever you want.  Until you reach the age when you graduate from childhood, you can even think about me and cry a little.”

      A small, flexible and warm body jumps on me who was unable to stand.  I tried to pet her instant noodle hair, but I don’t have the spare strength to lift my arms anymore and all I could do was feel the hot tears of the girl who had buried her face in my shoulder.

      Bent at the waist, an old man with a twisted headband comes pulling a food cart from across the street.  As I’m about to fall asleep with a child wrapped around my neck, the man sees me and calls out.

      “… The last thing I ate with my mother was fresh hinomokou, too.”

      Several tired workers head towards the food cart.  Even the onlookers who have gotten a chill simultaneously start digging around in their pockets for small change to get some hot food.

      “What are you doing?  You're a shopkeeper who’s got no sense for making a profit.”

      Conrad stands lightly and went over to get some noodles or challenge the man.  Greta and I ate last night, but there was a girl who ran away without eating a single bite.

      “What?”

      “Can you see?”

      “I’m glad.  Hey, are you and Nina going to go back to your country?”

      She wipes her hands off on her lap and lightly slaps her own face.  At first glance, the action seems to be to like she’s trying to liven herself up and saying, ‘cheer up.’

      Even if it’s not together, a family is still a family, right?

(1)    Holy crap these paragraphs.  They were just so full of completely related, footnote-able stuff I’m making this a multi-part footnote.   And they were also short enough so you wouldn’t go WTF!? for too long ^-^  However if you ever encounter something that makes you go WTF and I have, for some reason, not footnoted it, your safest bet is to think baseball!  XD

Ce League is short for Central League, and it’s one of the two professional baseball leagues in Japan.  Yuuri has mentioned that he’s a fan of the Pa League (Pacific League).  After the league championships, the winning teams from each league play against each other so it’s safe to say that the leagues are in direct competition with each other.

Makoto Nonomura is also on the above show.

(2)    Rokkou Oroshi is the theme song for the Hanshin Tigers.  So much baseball!  My mind can’t take it XD

(4)    I realize there’s nothing ‘un-cute’ about ‘it is the same’ in English, but in Japanese, it was said in a very boyish way (which is how Wolfram speaks all the time).  The boyishness doesn’t translate at all, though.  Sorry? o.o

Chapter end