Kyou kara Ma no Tsuku Jiyuugyou! Vol 8 Chapter 7

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      There is one more person than before.  To be precise, they lost one person and then gained two.  After safely carrying the box out of the temple, Stefan Fanberlain left.  The reason was, of course, the ball that was held a while ago.  If he did not quickly return and escort Cecilie, that beauty would be offended.

      Two of the men muttered ‘is that so?’ to Fanfan who was bursting with energy even when retreating from the battlefield.  The last person interjected ‘she’s beautiful, but not weak.’

      “… Aesthetic,” said Chevalier absentmindedly as he was lost in his imagination.

      “Ah, sorry.”

      “At any rate, good work everyone.  It must have been difficult to get the extremely dangerous box from the temple since security was stepped up for the tournament.”

      If someone leaves, someone comes.  After Fanfan left early, His Highness and Josak came running.  Muraken-san, the Twin Black Great Sage, was supposed to be far more knowledgeable about the evilest, worst weapon, the ‘End of the Wind,’ than they were.

      “Even so, this thing stinks.  Was it not being stored well?”  Murata asks.

      “Your Highness, tell us if you would.  How do you intend to bring this box back to the Great Demon Kingdom?  Things will change once we get out to sea, but it will take three days at top speed to get to the harbor.  If we go on land through Big Shimaron, I believe we will need some skillful camouflage, but…”

      For a while now, Dacascos was completely distracted by His Highness Muraken’s clothes.

      More importantly, was he planning on going to the ball dressed like that?

      “Uh, Your Highness, you know, in the meantime can you come back to the assembly hall?”

      Women’s clothes?  Or maybe it’s his own special technique that causes enemies to flinch back just by looking at him.

      “Yeah, leaving Shibuya and Lord von Bielefelt together will be a lot more fun~.”

      “Shh!  Get down!”  At the taciturn Chevalier’s warning, everyone simultaneously crouched down.  A group of soldiers ran down the muddy road up the slope.  “… It’s alright.  We weren’t seen.”

      With half of the continent being territories of Shimaron, finding an unmonitored route is impossible.

      “What did you say!?  Y-Your Highness, I’m making it perfectly clear, but the one who pocketed that silly statue was Lord Fanfan!  We absolutely do not think that Demon Kings of the past had an elephant head like that…”

      … The snowy wind grew more severe.

      “That reminds me, you said that the box was mistaken for a coffin near the exit, right?”

      The old man’s complaints continued on forever.

      “I believe that is also an excellent plan, but… will they honestly believe that?  No matter how idiotic the Shimaron soldiers are, eventually they will notice that something from the treasure room has gone missing.  If that happens and then we try to bring a coffin of a similar shape out of the country… even if it would be imprudent, they might check the contents of the box…”

      The four demons were at a loss for words.  There was only a paper-thin difference between the danger of that smart human and him, but the Great Sage was also a ruthlessly critical thinker!?

      Everyone present was immediately robbed of their strength.

      “Your Highness!  I have a question.”

      “Um, it’s a bit unrelated, but what is inside the box?  It doesn’t make a noise if I shake or kick it, but is it really empty?”

      “Wh-what does that…”

      “Then, Your Highness, if I may suggest something presumptuous.  How about we disguise it as part of the madam’s vast amount of luggage?  The amount of clothes chests she brought was quite considerate.  It will be like the saying ‘a tree in the forest, a bear in the sand.’”

      “Chevalier.”

      Everyone was dumbfounded.

      “According to what I’ve heard from you all, Fanfan was a businessman from birth, right?  That’s what I’m worried about.  If Big Shimaron had the ‘End of the Wind,’ then his business wouldn’t be necessary because of the power imbalance.  Therefore, he helped with its recovery.  Yeah, I get that.  The reasoning is solid.  However, if we entrust him with the box and have him hide it amongst Lady Celi’s luggage, I wonder what he’ll do.  It’s a rare box.  It’s one of only four ultimate weapons with a terrible power in the entire world.  And he is a businessman through and through.  He’s such a businessman that ‘business spirit’ is written on his heart.”

      “Right?” Before giving everyone a moment to stop, Murata placed a foot on the box.  “If I were from a genius business family, I’d secretly switch it out with a copy.  And then, I would sell it to countries that want to fight with large countries but don’t have enough military strength or countries that have money but not enough soldiers.  And then I wouldn’t have only taken over the market, I’d be set for life.  Businessmen never make pointless investments.  Oddly, I have a good nose for schemes for getting rich quick.  There are an endless amount of people who would be desperate to have this box.  Stefan Fanberlain is worthy of trust, but before that he is a businessman.  Therefore,” the heel of his foot bunches up the cloth a bit.  The pure white body gets wet with snow.  “I would not trust the box to Lady Celi.”

      They all crouch down at once.  Murata carefully reaches out his hand and readjusts the twisted cloth.  The white box will probably be very conspicuous in the dark.

      The human at the back of the line tripped in the snow and fell over and unluckily rolled down the slope.  He crashed into a cedar right in front of the demons and was passing out from the pain while hugging his knees.  The squad kept running and seemed to have abandoned their injured member.

      “Your Highness, he’ll see you.  Your Highness!”

      “Huh?  What are you going to do with a sock?”

      When he got closer to the young Shimaron soldier rolling about, Murata stuffed the sock into his mouth.  The one who panicked was the captain.

      “Alright, we found a corpse!  Mr. Dacky, run and get Flynn Gilbit as fast as you can!”

(1)    The ‘spirit of a rose’ (bara no sei / 薔薇の精) may or may not be a reference to a short ballet called Le Spectre de la Rose (the spirit of the rose) where a young girl comes home from her first ball, falls asleep, drops a rose she got as a souvenir on the floor, and then the spirit of the rose comes and dances with her while she’s still asleep...  That sentence was almost as bad as one of Conrad’s XD

      “Is it true?  Do you have Julia’s…”

      The hands he had placed on my shoulders suddenly grip tightly.  But, they immediately slacken and he apologizes in a low voice.

      “Like I said, I have no idea what you’re talking about.  Actually I want to ask questions.  Weren’t you unable to keep fighting!?  Why are you in a place like this completely alright?”

      I was completely stunned.  I had no ability to think calmly.

      There’s no one here now.  There’s no one here to help me.

      He’s definitely coming after me.

      When I came to a stop, I remembered his dirty arms and glittering blue eyes and all the hair on my body stands on end.

      “…!”

      Even though he was supposed to have been severely injured, his footsteps are fast and strong.  If it’s just for a little while longer I can run, but eventually the hallway will end and I’ll be cornered with no place to escape to.  My pursuer’s footsteps are rapidly getting closer.

      The footsteps of the silhouette against the light of the snow slow down and approach carefully.  It seems like he’s holding a light as the surroundings turned faintly yellow.  My neck started to hurt.  A heat spread from the injury that was stretched and felt like it was about to open.

      “Are you there?”

      “Hey, is someone there?  Give up and come out.”

      “I’m not anyone suspicious…”

      “Are you a guest at the ball?”

      It seems like he doesn’t notice that I am a victor in the tournament.  (1)

      “I was looking for the toilets, but I got lost.”

      “Is that so?  I apologize for startling you.  Thieves have apparently gotten into the treasure room and they’ve even mobilized our forces to look for them.”

      “Well, they’ll probably be caught real soon, but… A bathroom was provided right next to the staircase.  If you wandered all the way out here you must have been lonely.  Shall I escort you?”

      “Watch ou-!”

      A heavy sword swung down in the air vertically and a thick clang rang out when it hit the floor.

      It was Adalbert.

      I doubt he’ll give up just because I went up the stairs.

      For a little while, I leaned against the thick, engraved doors.  Until I catch my breath.  At least until I catch my breath.  Locked in the room, I breathe in a deep lungful of the moldy-smelling oxygen.

      The room seems to be fairly long, but there isn’t much distance between myself and a window.  The light from the moon and the snow is just barely shining through the small window that was high enough up on the wall to also be called a skylight.  The bookshelves taking up the entire wall were packed with truly old-looking books.

      I carefully step away from the entrance and approach the table in the center of the room.

      In the erratic light from the ceiling, I try reading the letters on the open page.  As usual, I can’t read it by sight.  I close my eyes and concentrate on the nerve endings in my fingertips as I try to feel the discrepancies in the paper quality.

      “… Weller…?”

Cont. – Gillesby, defeated after the battle at Present-day Big Shimaron eastern end of Sommers (Then, Zomarce).

      “… Changed the family name to Weller?  To Weller… Wait, if it used to be Belal, then why were His Majesty and His Bearded Highness whatever-generation both calling themselves Belal..?”

      And then, what is this special report?  Were they brought to the royal capital and and forced to have their name changed because of that?

      I remember the words that Conrad said in the middle of the arena.

      This was what he meant?  Although, I’m not sure if I’m understanding it properly or not.

      The doors burst open, hit the wall, and bounced back with the force.

      I met the gaze of the heavily breathing man and felt goosebumps pop up all over my body.

      Even women who swarmed around handsome, macho actors would run away after seeing Adalbert right now.  There was blood flowing from the injuries on his face and arms and his look of madness wasn’t lacking.  If you were being chased by a terminator near death, no matter how proud of your courage you were, you would run away barefoot if you had to.

      All I could do was run farther into the library.  Even though I knew that as things were, I would definitely get cornered.

      “Like I can believe that!”

      It was like a horror movie.

      What is this?  This is like a horror movie.  Am I Nancy being chased by Freddy?  Why is this happening to me!?

      “… Grantz?”

      “Von Grantz…?  Hey, Adalbert,” I call from what I estimate to be a safe distance.  There is no answer and no sign of movement.

      Was this misfortune of scattered books because of me?  The bookshelf might have fallen on top of him because I threw off its balance.   No, normally you could just step out of the way.  The person who couldn’t get out of the way of something that big was also at fault…

      Just a few hours ago, he was judged to be unable to continue fighting.  In other words, it was the proclamation that he was beaten until he was wiped out and his entire body was so injured that he couldn’t fight anymore.

      Or course, I was not at fault.  It was during a fight in an arena and he shouted that he was going to kill me and stuff.  No one had the right to blame me or make me feel bad about it.

      “Aww, damn it!  It’s like you’re pretending to be dead on purpose!”

      “Grantz!  Hey, Adalbert!”

      Don’t I know just how much torment this guy has put me through?  How much Adalbert von Grantz hates me?  That he’s someone who resents his country?  Wasn’t he in reality this guy that was now – really just until right now – chasing me around and scaring me?

      “This isn’t my fault.  It’s not my fault, okay?”

      “Cut it out.  Hey, this isn’t funny.  Don’t… don’t die in front of me…”

      I don’t want to experience that feeling ever again.

      I could see blood peeking out from where his clothes were ripped on his shoulder, but he only twitched a little bit.

      I place a hand on his back and try shaking him gently.  With his face still flat on the floor, I hear him let out a low groan.

      No, it’s not a relief.  Not a relief.  I hurriedly deny the sigh of relief I was about to give.  In this situation, it should be ‘damn, what an unlucky bastard’ – if you consider all the details up until now.

      He’s putting strength into his good arm and trying to lift his upper body.

      Realizing that it was impossible, he somehow managed to turn his head to the side.

      “Ah, what a rel-… Uwah, no, no!  It’s ‘you’re seriously an unlucky bastard.’  Wait here, I’ll go get someone.  I can’t move the bookshelf on my own.”

      “You’re the one who has to wait.”

      “Don’t run away.  I won’t… do anything.”

      Huh?

      Even if I rubbed it roughly with my palm, there was no longer an injury there.  There was just smooth and healthy skin.

      “In this land, using magic is difficult.  Even though exorcism can be easily used, magic requires quite a lot of power.”

      “You don’t have to.”

      Something must have been funny because Adalbert laughed.  Or rather, had a coughing fit.

      “Probably not.”

      “Then what do you want to do?”

      What’s with this guy?  I unconsciously let out a long sigh.

      “That’s fine.”

      “What’s funny?”

      You’re the one who’s strange.  You tried to slit my throat on the round stage just a few hours ago.  And now you healed the same injury so what is this change in mental states?

      That’s probably because my body is Made in Earth and is likely exceedingly close to a human’s.

      “Human?  Aren’t you a demon?”

      “That’s what I want to know.” Adalbert tried to lift the top half of his body.  A groan of pain slips past his lips.  “Please tell me.  Was your soul’s… previous owner… Julia?”

      “That’s right.”

      “… I’ve only heard her name, though.  I don’t know who my previous life was.  I mean, it’s a past life, right?  I’ve never really wanted to know about it.”

      “Then was what Lord Weller said a lie?”

      If I had time for self-discovery, it would be better to do three hundred practice swings.

      “Yeah.  It seems so.  By Conrad.”

      “Ah… so that was the truth…”

      I thought for a moment.

      A Lady von Wincott that cracked bad jokes and was a baseball girl.  If she was my previous life, was she like that?  I couldn’t even imagine it.

      Taking notice, I smiled.  Although, I might be told that this isn’t the time for what I was going to say.

      Adalbert furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

      “You and Conrad?”

      “I mean, you called Lord Weller ‘Conrad’… Even his brothers and mother call him Conrart in public… Well whatever.  If, and I mean if, okay?  This is if in a one in a million possibility that my past life was Miss Julia.”  I see.  This is what he felt like then.  The words that Murata spoke along with the pleasant vibration of the boat come to mind.  “Then what?  Is there something different about me?  What do you want to say to me?”

      “Even if it is, I’m Yuuri Shibuya and no one else.  Yuuri Shibuya who lived on Earth until right before 16, a high school student in Japan, the owner, captain, and catcher of a grass lot baseball team, and a Lion’s fan.  Learning who my past life was at this point is like empathizing with one more movie I’ve seen.  What do you want me to do?”  I sit down, hug my knees, and grab on to the tips of my shoes.  “Or are you going to start adding ‘Lord’ onto my name?”

      Adalbert stayed silent.

      “Hey now!  You’re alive, right?  You’re not going to die, are you!?  I’m going.  I’m going to go call someone.  Besides, three minutes passed a long time ago.  Cut it out!  Don’t die right in front of me!”

      I raise my head like I had been shot.  It was a voice I was familiar with and also one I longed for.

      But now I can’t talk to him amicably and I feel a lump in my throat that can’t possibly actually be there.

      He raises the light in his hand to the side of his face and shows me who he is.  His hair is strangely short for a Shimaron soldier.  The white, formal outfit he was wearing that had no unnecessary accessories and was simple in a military way looked much better on him than the uniform in the arena.

      Lord Conrart Weller laid his hand on the wet and dirty body and nodded at the pulse he found.  He runs his eyes over the scattered books and fallen bookshelf and then finally turns toward me.

      “No, I’m actually better than before.”

      “Ah, Grantz.  He can use exorcism… If your legs and back are also fine, would you help me?”

      “If you put in the effort, then perhaps.”

      “… Is the bone broken?”

      “It is broken.”

      The same part of my body aches even though it was someone else’s injury.  According to Lord Weller’s examination, being used to broken bones, his left arm was fractured and would be painful.

      “Was I really being shadowed? … I mean, he was completely different than before.  Even the way he was speaking was kind of normal.  It was like he wasn’t very villainous or something.”

      After cutting the leg of a chair with his sword, Lord Weller took off his shirt.  He started ripping the garment that I could tell was obviously of high quality even in the flickering light into several strips without hesitation. Using the angular and unwieldy chair leg as a splint, he secured the man’s leg.  Holding one end of the belt-like strips in his mouth, he wrapped it tightly so it wouldn’t come out of place.

      They’re moving.  As if everything was normal.

      The large scar on his side is probably the one from the fierce battle that Josak was talking about.  There was another fresh injury on his back.  It must have closed recently because the edges of the stitched up scar were detailed.

      “Even if you ask when, it is difficult to explain.”

      “I apologize if I hurt your feelings.”

      “Why are speaking so formally!?  Explain properly, how you survived.  Why did you disappear and why is your arm back to normal?  Why did you leave me… why are you suddenly working for Shimaron…”

      “I am not necessarily working for Shimaron.”

      Perhaps feeling cold, Conrad puts on the jacket he had cast off.  Now that I couldn’t see the bandage on his arm or the injury on his back, I honestly felt relieved.

      I suddenly became enraged.  I clench my powerless fist with the intention of somehow landing a good hit on him.  Lord Weller stood up straight and gave me his familiar smile.  It was a gentle expression that anyone would love and was steeped in good nature.

      It was the wrinkled jacket that he had thrown on the floor.  However, when he put it on it became a uniform.

      “Yes, I was.  I saw you dancing with a lady.  You were good.  It made me proud.  I was the one who taught you how to dance, after all.”

      Conrad’s silver-flecked, brown eyes narrowed as he smiled broader.

      I was hit with an icy thrill as if I had stuck my head into a snowdrift.  My eyelids, my nose, the lining of my throat, all of the soft parts hurt.

      “… You’re brainwashed, right?”

      “You’re being controlled, right!?  Or that Beard guy got a hold of some weakness and is threatening you so you have to work for him, right!?”

      “A feudal lord of a Shimaron territory seems to have suddenly collapsed.”

      “Go.  The lady is in a terrible state.”

      I held out my right hand, believing that his left hand would grasp back.  I thought I would try to gamble on one final possibility.

      Lord Weller slowly shook his head.

      My gamble failed.

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(2)    Pronunciation note!  The last ‘e’ in Garcione, Zomarce, and Page is not silent (kind of like the ‘eh’ in meh) and the ‘g’ in Paige is hard. So, pay geh.  Also, the ‘c’ in Zomarce is like the ‘c’s in Cecilie so it sounds like Zomartseh.  These humans with their complicated names!!  XD
(3)    So the original joke was Yuuri yelling ‘Matsuzakaaa!’ and then correcting himself to say ‘massakaaa which is like saying ‘nooo waaaay.’  Basically it was a pun on how the name Matsuzaka (referring to Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Seibu Lions) sounds similar to ‘masaka’ (no way!  It can’t be!  You don’t say!)  I looked through a list of other well-known players on the team and Hiroshi Ohshita was the only one I could think up a pun for~

Chapter end