Kyou kara Ma no Tsuku Jiyuugyou! Vol 7 Chapter 8

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So I know this took longer than usual but I’m hoping that how incredibly interesting this chapter is makes up for that! (even though everyone is literally just sitting around a campfire the entire chapter XD)

Mini-warning!  There are some gory things mentioned in this chapter that might gross some people out.  It doesn’t just jump out at you though; you totally see it coming.

The illustration for this chapter is from Portrait of a Demon King.  That being said, I couldn't help but notice that everyone's position in the illustration is the opposite of where they were described to be in the text :)

      The sheep have travelled to a far away desert.

      The way to the finals in the royal capital of Big Shimaron, Lambert, isn’t actually a desert.  It is a rough landscape with hard yellow earth and scarce grasses.  There is a road covered with wheel tracks made for carriages, but since there are rocks and deep ruts and even vegetation covering it depending on the area, it’s not a road that we can drive down carefree.  A moment’s negligence can result in a wheel popping off or some other accident.  The leader of Team ‘Seep’ T-Zou was courageous, but the ones riding were under more stress than the ones running.

      The sheep have short sleep cycles and they grouped together in fours and fives to hunker down.

      “It seems like none of our comrades are nearby,” Josak said as he came back to the fireside and sat opposite of me.  It was just a mere thirty minutes ago that he’d went to take his turn as lookout.  He’s an experienced soldier so he can keep surveillance on our surroundings by himself.  The novices can just go to sleep.

      “Yeah, I’ve just, I’ve been thinking about what’s going to happen next.  At any rate, I never imagined that sheep would have no sense of direction.  They’re all sleeping happily right now, though.”

      His orange hair, combed back carelessly, looks bright red in the light of the flames.

      “That’s true, but His Excellency is considered a soldier as well.  He might have been mostly put in charge of logistical support, but he has some experience with camping out.  I’m more concerned about Your Majesty and His Highness.  If anything happens to either of you, I might end up burned at the stake or being dismembered.”

      “Pink-eared poison rabbits appear in these lands.  You look at them and think ‘Oh!  They’re so pink and cute!’ and reach a hand out to them and then they chomp down with their big mouths.”

      Shimaron Quest has finally begun. It seems like the reason their ears and mouths are pink is ‘so they can hear and eat a lot.’  That’s all well and good, but don’t leave out ‘-ra.’ (1)

      “I’ll consider it.”

      “But you know, those Dugalds are unrivalled on the seas, but when you throw them on land they turn into amateurs.  Sizemore can still get around on the field, but… honestly, why did His Animal-Loving Excellency send those guys to search for Your Majesty?  Does he really have no faith in me?”

      “That’s right.  He’s been sending me pigeons ever since I got in contact with you.  If it was my Commander here and not me, His Knitting Excellency would probably have had more faith, huh?  Well, for the moment it’s best to have as many guards as possible.  We are talking about Your Majesty, His Highness and the other Young Master after all.”

      “You should be~”

      There is no better acknowledgment than that.

      And there it is: an expression used only in The Great Demon Kingdom.  Normally, people would say ‘foolhardy.’ (2)

      “… Well, I decided to abide by whatever bizarreness you set out on.”

      “By my Commander… by Lord Weller?  No, no, not at all.  Even without being instructed, the majority of the demons feel that way.”

      I wanted something warm so I poured some hot water from the kettle into a cup.  When I moved to drink it as is, Josak fished out a tea bag for me from the food bag.

      “Well, yes.  Although, now he’s got a quiet personality and is relatively harmless.  Way back when, he was an intimidating and terrifying man.”

      Josak gave a look of surprise as he took my cup away.  “You’ve heard.  That’s right, The Young Lion of Luttenberg.  His father took up residence there after all.  Or perhaps I should say the area was a region where a lot of humans lived near the western border of The Great Demon Kingdom.  It’s the name of that place.  Originally the people who lived there… I wonder if it’s alright to talk about this.  Your big sister would just hate to get in trouble later~”

      “I’d like to hear it, if possible.  If you do get in trouble, I can pretend I heard it from Wolf.”

      As he handed the cup now filled with black tea back to me, the orange-haired man gazed out into the expanding darkness.

      “Kept?  What, was it some sort of facility?”

      Josak places his own cup of tea on the ground and lifts his face, illuminated by the flames.

      “I thought it would be unfair if I were the only one who didn’t take a turn as lookout.”

      “Were you talking about an internment camp?”

      “No, I want to hear.  The owners of my soul haven’t lived in this world for a long time.  Shibuya, there were similar situations in America during World War II.  I’m sure you know already, but people of Japanese descent were gathered together and held captive in a harsh environment.  It was said to be for their safety, but frankly it was because no one knew when they were going to betray the country.”

      Josak puts new tea leaves in the pot in order to make tea for Murata as well.  The national traits of my kingdom must be somewhat refined for there to be a tea set in an ultra-lightweight military tank.

      “I see, he was Lord Weller,” Murata said.

      “An exile!?”  Wolfram reacted to my voice as he leaned on my shoulder and almost woke up.  However, his drowsiness soon took over and he instantly closed his eyes.  “Whoops… Conrad’s father was exiled?  In other words, he was someone who had committed some atrocious crime?”

      Viva Free Love!  The result of that wonderful love murmurs some inaudible gibberish in his sleep.

      “It’s a society I can’t imagine in modern Japan… although there’s definitely some phony celebrities here,” Murata said as he narrowed his eyes and moaned.  I guess he's remembering something from somewhere in his distant memories of a hierarchical society.

      In Japanese that would be ‘eat out of the same pot.’

      “No Your Majesty, it wasn’t!”  Josak vehemently denied this, interrupting my admiration.  It’s strange for him to be this serious.  However, when he repeated those words, there was another emotion mixed in.  “That absolutely wasn’t it.”

      “… Yeah, definitely.  Because in a way, it’s a disgrace to the kingdom.”

      “You know that the demons were at war until the ceasefire around twenty years ago, right?  You heard that from Teacher GüGüGü or the former Crown Prince, right?”

      “Then what about the danger of losing the war?”

      I hadn’t thought about it.  Ever since the first time I came to this world I’ve been screaming that I’m against war.  Abandon war, pacifism, I’ve constantly emphasized those ideological thoughts.  But war is something I’ve never experienced and have never known its pain.  Cruelty, heartlessness, tragedy, I didn’t come to know of all these evils with my own body.  I’ve only been taught solely through lessons and textbooks that war is evil.

      I believe that is right.  Of course, I am confident of that.

      “That means it looked like you were about to lose?  The Great Demon Kingdom?”

      There is a winner and a victor in nearly all wars.  Of course, Japan has also suffered defeat.  But somehow, it’s hard to put in words, but I couldn’t see myself accepting the reality that my country – and the country I govern, at that – would be about to lose.

      And yet, the man in front of me has survived an actual battleground.  No, not just him.  Many of the demons I’ve met since coming to this world have lived through that time.  Günter and Gwendal and Miss Anissina and Conrad who’s not here.

      “I just can’t imagine it… It was only twenty years ago, yeah?  I wasn’t born yet, but my older brother was in my mom’s stomach.  It’s so recent, but… to think my own country was about to lose.”

      Josak stared at the now cold contents of his cup.  The image of the moon floated on its surface.

      There was a strong hatred mixed in with his voice.  The image of the moon swayed on the surface of the red liquid.

      “What did he say?”

      I’m not good with words I don’t hear often.  Fealty?  Is that something important to everyday life?  This isn’t the feudal era.

      “He had doubts about the fealty of those with human blood to the kingdom, The True King, and to the Demon King.”

      “Yes, it was the same.  The same.  They thought that since half of the blood of the enemy was running through their veins, there was the possibility they would betray… damn it!”

      “So what if we have human blood!?  So our oath to live as demons can be swayed by something like that!?  So we’ll betray our country, the land we love, our fellow countrymen and our trusted companions just because we have enemy blood!?  But Stuffel used those words.  It was the perfect opportunity for him as well.  He could reduce the number of people who could take away some of his status and authority by at least one… I apologize, Your Majesty, Your Highness.  I lost my composure.”

      When Josak continued, his voice had become calm again.

      “That’s…”

      I desperately tried to calm the trembling of my body in order to not wake up Wolfram.

      With a look that seemed as if he might smile gently, Josak's flame-colored eyelashes pressed together.

      “What was especially tragic was that the new recruits we had sought to protect by ordering them to retreat early had been drawn into another skirmish, but… Anyway, there were next to none in the battalion who were able to return in good health… Even Lord Weller had sustained injuries so severe he couldn’t move and he had half given up on life and ordered the few survivors to return without him.”

      “We lost many, but we defended Arnold in the southwest to the last and prevented the enemy from advancing.  Using this opportunity, The Great Demon Kingdom made a comeback and the tides turned in the Grantz and Karbelnikoff territories.  We didn’t pursue the enemy into their territory, but in naval battles the Dugald family and Roberski’s fleet of unsinkable battleships used their power to corner the Shimaron forces.  The reason we eventually reached a ceasefire was because we won at Arnold.  We believe that.  In fact, with the sheer amount of honor from that military achievement, Lord Weller gained a social status equal to the ten noble families.  It was this that Stuffel had not desired and it had been approved with unanimous acceptance at a special conference.  He had set out to get rid of the threat to his political power and had instead bestowed upon him an unshakeable position.  However, it seems like my Commander had no interest in social class.  Not that I ever asked him personally, but it seems there was something even more important that had happened.”

      The weight from my shoulder had lifted.  When I turn my head, there was intelligence and strength shining in Wolfram’s eyes.

      “… Julia had died.  And ever since then, Conrart has never attempted to return to military service."

      “Of course.  There’s no way I’d be able to sleep peacefully with all that fearful trembling.  You really are a coward if a story has you scared.”

      Now that he was facing the younger brother of the person caught up in all of that, Josak’s expression softened.  Now he really has to pay attention to what he can and cannot say.

      Like a scene in a movie, I imagined an image tinged with red.  A national hero in near jeopardy brings to mind flames and the scent of blood.  Josak Gurrier held back his tone with a slightly self-derisive look.

      Forever.

      “But…” without thinking of the situation, I murmur to the fire.  “But I don’t like that Conrad.”

      “Uh, did I say something inappropriate!?”

      “Huh?”

      “It’s snow.”

      “Hm, it would be hard even for horses to run in the snow.  Sheep seem to be strong against the cold, but I hope it doesn’t pile up on the road.”

      It happened when we all sluggishly stood up to get into the vehicle to keep from getting wet.

      “Uwah!”

      The sheep stand one by one, eyes wide open.  Their eyes are shining a fiery red and showed that it was a bad situation.

      Their fluffy wool lost its form and was plastered down their bodies.  The 100% Wool poofs had turned into what looked like greasy, swept back, old man hair.  The snow falling on them slipped right off and went straight to the ground.

      “So sheep are strong against bad weather.  And then there’s the time.  Are they nocturnal?” Murata asked as he looked up at the sky.  He checked the position of the stars and then grabbed my arm to look at my digital analog just to make sure.  It’s just before 3am.

      “What place were we in right now?” Josak asks.

      “Shibuya, do you know how to go in the dark?”

      Muraemon dug through the cargo area of the tank and pulled out a tube the size of his fist.  Tada! (6)

      Toll Free: 0120-Shimaron Soldiers Have Long Hair. (7)

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(2)    The word for ‘foolhardy’ in Japanese is ‘chototsumoushin’ which literally translated means ‘a wild boar charging madly ahead.’  Josak swaps out the ‘wild boar’ part (cho) with ‘sheep’ (hitsuji) and then Yuuri comments on that in his head, “Normally, people would use ‘wild boar’ there.”

(4)    Linguistic note!  And not on the saucepan thing because that’s fairly self explanatory~  The word for inseparable here (kusare en) has the connotation that the inseparability wasn’t desired.  In fact, the literal English translation means something along the lines of ‘rotten destiny.’ So, you kind of get the feeling they got off to a bad start.

(6)    Yuuri is comparing Murata to Doraemon, which is this blue cat from the future in a manga of the same name.  He has all these wacky gadgets, kind of like Inspector Gadget.

And there is chapter 8!  So the reason I love this chapter – besides how interesting the information is – is because Josak’s backstory is the first we get to hear that’s significantly different than the anime version.  In the anime, Josak and his mother were thrown into that ‘village’ where his mother got sick and died then Dunheely and Conrad came and saved them all and a friendship was formed.  But here Josak’s mother abandoned him, Josak got sent to the village alone, and he and Conrad didn’t even interact with each other until they were assigned to the same military unit later on in life.  And then there's the fact that we actually get to hear some info on the war.  It's like it's been this huge secret up until now. (Also, Dunheely has got to be the strangest name in this entire series)

Chapter end