Editing Rakuin no Monshou:The Little Fugitive (section)

=== Part 1 ===

“Lord Gil”

An intrepid-looking young man – no, his appearance was better called that of a boy’s – halted his steps as a voice called out.
His name was Orba.

He had been born in a nameless country village. And until a few months ago, he had been a gladiator, a slave forced to risk his life in combat for the amusement of the crowd.

He turned around even though he had been called by another person’s name, “Gil”. The location was the palace in Solon, the capital of the Imperial Dynasty of Mephius. Originally, given Orba’s social position, he should not have been able to even approach the palace gates, let alone set foot inside them.

Gil Mephius was the only child of his Imperial Majesty Emperor Guhl Mephius and was the crown prince and heir to the throne. Although Orba was a slave, by some twist of fate he and the crown prince looked like two peas in a pod. And so, a few months ago and on the orders of a certain noble, he had come to live at the palace in Gil’s stead.

Ostensibly he was doing so as a body-double but in the shadows, that noble planned to use him to control the country from behind the scenes. At the same time, Orba also had his own motives but for now, they were on hold.

The one who had called out to Orba as “Gil Mephius” was a young girl by the name of Vileena Owell whose platinum hair was swaying as she ran up to him. Fourteen years old. Some months earlier she had come to Mephius from the neighbouring country Garbera. She was Crown Prince Gil’s fiancée.

Mephius and Garbera had been in conflict for ten years. A feeling of war-weariness having started to spread throughout both countries, it was agreed that the two young people would be engaged as proof of the cessation of hostilities and of the alliance.

And thus we arrive at today, after they had eaten breakfast together.

After hurriedly paying his courtesies to the assembled imperial family and to his fiancée, Orba had rushed out to the palace corridor.

He was pressed for time. In two weeks, he would be leaving the capital at the head of an army and would make his way towards Apta, a fortress at the western edge of Mephius. He was to hold a western leader, Ax Bazgan, in check. Organising the troops, inspecting the equipment, making arrangements for the non-combatants – there was a lot he needed to do.

As he arrived in the corridor with his head full of plans, the princess lost no time in chasing after him.

''What the…''

Had he done something rude, Orba wondered bitterly. To reiterate, he was a man who had been a slave until a few months earlier. He was not used to the manners of imperial or royal families. Grumbling inwardly, he resigned himself to the coming scolding by the fourteen-year-old girl. Such was their relationship.

“Have you heard about Lady Flora?”

“Flora?” Hearing an unexpected name, Orba tilted his head a little.

Flora was a child of the emperor’s second wife from her first marriage, and as such was Gil’s younger step-sister to whom he was not related by blood. She was probably eleven or twelve years old. She had a shy personality and Orba himself had hardly spoken to her except for formal courtesies. She had no doubt also been at the breakfast table earlier but she left so weak an impression that no matter how much he wracked his brains, he couldn’t remember it.

As he was wondering if something had happened with Flora, what the princess from the neighbouring country was saying became increasingly incomprehensible.

“It seems that at the recent Founding Festival, one of the other countries presented a Schypa kitten as a congratulatory gift. Apparently, Lady Flora had been telling those closest to her for a long time that she wished for one so, at their own discretion, they secretly sent a messenger beforehand. She was overjoyed.”

“A cat.”

They were rare animals in Solon. And Schypa cats even more so. He had heard that they were a breed that only lived in the eastern part of the continent and that they were popular pets.

“But not long ago, when Lady Flora went to play with it in the garden and took her eyes off it for a moment, it ran away.”

“Oh.”

“Lady Flora has always been quiet but now she barely speaks all day she is so depressed. Your Highness must have seen it too just now. She barely touched her food. If this continues, sooner or later she will collapse.”

"That so."

Thinking that at any rate it didn’t look like he was going to be scolded, Orba made a noncommittal response.

"This is your little sister. What kind of reaction is "That so"?"

Vileena’s eyes immediately flared at the corners.

''Damn.''

Orba realised that this time, he had definitely messed up and been rude. Unbefitting of her lovely appearance and dainty frame, once this princess had decided that the other person was an “enemy”, she would press them without any mercy. That would be the case even if her own life was being threatened with a sword or a gun.

Orba felt exactly as though he had been caught in an enemy trap.

“A great many people will already be searching the palace anyway. It will be found soon. You don’t need to worry about it, Princess.”

“That is not the problem. Certainly, I have only just come from a foreign country. It is presumptuous of me to act as though I know anything and to barge in, but that person – Lady Flora, she looks as though she is always alone.”

For a moment, Vileena went off the offensive and quickly averted her eyes.

Orba realised that she had not only come to talk about the cat. As she herself had said, Vileena had only just come from a foreign country. Moreover, until very recently, Mephius and the princess’ native land Garbera had been long-time foes engaged in a bloody war.

Vileena had surely superimposed her own isolation and Flora’s situation. And so, she had come with a request for comfort from him, the older brother – in other words, she wanted him to look after Flora more. 

However,

''According to the chamberlain, Gil had a good relationship with his other step-sister, Ineli Mephius, but practically no one has ever seen him talk with Flora''.

Orba had been taught beforehand about what kind of relationship Gil had with the people who were socially close to him. Basically, that was so that he could play his part without raising any doubts – without there being any suspicion that Gil had been replaced by a sword slave.

Even as it was, since Prince Gil, who was known as a “fool” to those around him, had accomplished a series of heroic feats, he had heard that while on one hand he was being praised by those around him, there were also many who were voicing suspicion about his change.

“So,” having resigned himself to the fact that at this point he should act like Prince Gil, Orba responded in a somewhat fed up tone of voice. “Once the cat is found, Flora will cheer up soon enough. It’s nothing big. Right, more importantly, Princess, have you finished your preparations for leaving for Apta? I still have a few things that –”

“Indeed, given your position, Your Highness is busy. I know that and yet I held you back because of something foolish. My apologies.”

''Tsk''.

The reason why Orba immediately felt like clicking his tongue was because, although she courteously bowed her head, Vileena’s eyes were openly blazing with anger.




''Why are women like this?''

The afternoon of the same day, Orba had left his room in the palace about an hour before the sun set.

Incidentally, his right arm was in a sling since during the conflict a few days earlier he had received an injury that had fractured his collarbone.

''They think that everyone should give their situation priority''.

Vileena’s concerns were all well and good, but Orba had never held any kind feelings towards the aristocracy. Quite the opposite: from the bottom of his heart, he hated Mephian nobles so much that he wanted to take a sword and behead the whole lot of them as soon as possible.

The Mephian army had robbed Orba of his family and of everyone he knew from the village he had been born and raised in. One of his reasons for spending each day as the prince’s body-double was to get revenge on those with power.

''A kitten has disappeared? So she wants me to do something because the girl’s not eating?''

Completely ridiculous. If she didn’t want to eat, then don’t serve her food. Her stomach would get empty soon enough and then she wouldn’t go on about where-oh-where her kitten was.

“My, Your Highness. You look furious.”

Shique, an Imperial Guard, chuckled. They had known each other since their days as sword slaves. He knew the whole story about Orba playing the role of Mephius’ Crown Prince. As there were other people around, he deliberately called him “Your Highness”.

While they were watching the Imperial Guards training, the two of them were in the middle of deciding the troop formation.

“Did something happen?”

“Nothing.”

“You will have quarrelled with the princess again.”

“Nothing happened.”

Shique had keen intuition. Since Orba was about to look the other way, he forcefully grabbed his face with both hands.

“Now, now. If you make such a scary face, the soldiers will get nervous. Do smile.”

“Shut up. Let go.”

Shique had a face like a woman’s but as was to be expected from a former gladiator, he was strong.

“Ha, ha, ha. Your Highness is being shy.”

“Bastard, don’t fuck with –”

“Look, if you’re like that,” having suddenly brought his face closer, Shique whispered in his ear, “you will soon betray your true colours. You’re always calm on the battlefield but you’re not very good at handling emotions. Especially when it has anything to do with the princess. Always keep your senses strained, Orba. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be surprising even if your head was sliced off from behind. After all, this place is far scarier than the coliseum.”

Orba remained silent. Afterwards he shook free of Shique’s hands by force.

“Well, if you feel like relaxing your guard, you can always come to my room. I’ll listen to your complaining.”

“That’s like jumping naked into a dragon’s den.”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? More importantly, they’re here.”

Shique pointed. In a corner of the training grounds, there was a pavilion with an overhanging roof. Several men had turned up there.

As Orba approached, they respectfully bowed their heads. Just like Shique, they were acquaintances from when he was a gladiator but unlike Shique they didn’t know about him. For certain reasons, Orba had always worn a mask back then so they didn’t know his real face. They believed that the man who sat before them truly was Crown Prince Gil of the Imperial Dynasty of Mephius.

Gil was their benefactor. The gladiators belonging to the Tarkas Group had been falsely accused of attempting to assassinate the crown prince and had very nearly been executed. Perhaps on a whim, the crown prince had taken all of them, over a hundred gladiators, into service as his own Imperial Guards.

Gil, whose speech and conduct were unbecoming of a crown prince, had originally been called a ‘fool’ by those around him. Rumour had it that ignoring his position as heir to the throne, he played around all day and that he spent no time at all on martial arts or on study.

And yet, these past few months and since personally forming his Imperial Guards unit, he had for some reason started to distinguish himself remarkably. When Garbera’s renowned General Ryucown rose to action as the leader of the anti-Mephius faction, he killed him with only a few troops, including the Imperial Guards. Not only that, but when the treacherous vassal, Zaat Quark, had been going to rebel against the emperor during Mephius’ Founding Festival, he had foiled the scheme before it could be carried out.

Far from being a ‘fool’, Prince Gil was now the new hero of Mephius.

The Imperial Guards did not know that his real identity was a gladiator from the same Tarkas Group as they who had once been made to kill each other before the populace simply so that they could live one more day.

“Report,” Orba cast a glance at the men’s faces then spoke. “Ah, and it won’t do if you say that there’s nothing like last time. Whether there’s something or not is for me to decide. I’m sure I ordered you to just submit the information you collect, no matter how trivial it is.”

“Aye.”

Shique stifled a smile as he watched his former comrades lower their heads with a nervous expression. About sixty of the former sword slaves currently remained in his unit of Imperial Guards. Quite a few more swordsmen had asked to stay within the ranks but Orba had purposely selected several from among them and had separated them from the unit, assigning them instead to various parts of the imperial capital, Solon.

The purpose was to gather information.

Their pay was no less than that of the Imperial Guards and each of them lived as inhabitants of Solon. They didn’t do anything special. They went to work so as not to attract suspicion from their neighbours. Their job was to send Orba – no, Crown Prince Gil – information about the various things that happened in their daily lives.

Since all of them could write, they were summoned together about once every five days to submit written reports. Of course, most of it meant nothing to Orba. Things like the mother next-door apparently being pregnant again despite already having lots of children, or the cost of vegetables at the market having gone up, or, today again, a drunkard getting into a fight at his usual time.

Orba liked learning. He especially liked it when, reading a book, he came across worlds and information that he didn’t know and came in touch with different senses of values. But that alone wasn’t enough. Now after Zaat’s rebellion, what he particularly wanted was news that was fresh.

“This is?”

Orba picked out several of the documents and asked for a detailed verbal report. That day, what caught his attention was a complaint by a man who ran a certain tavern.

“It seems that once a month, when the miners who work in the mountains near Solon receive their pay, they make a point of stopping by that store. But last month and now this month too, they suddenly stopped going for some reason. He was moping over whether they had found another place they liked.”

“Hmm.”

Orba nodded convincingly but it wasn’t as though he was carefully scrutinizing all of the proffered information. However, with the news that they brought, he would form a faint picture in his mind and would sense the atmosphere of places that he couldn’t see with his own eyes. Orba believed that even from that alone, he could broaden his field of vision.

“Good, this time it was passable.”

When Orba set down the documents near to hand, the men looked relieved.

“Keep it up. Let me know if there is anything you need. I’ll have it prepared for you later.”

Just as they were about to leave,

“Wait,” Orba called out sharply to stop them.

Wondering what it was, their expressions once again tense, the men stood still but for some reason Gil Mephius seemed reluctant to speak.

“Your Highness,” just as Shique was about to prompt him,

“Cat.”

“A cat?”

“Cats… Do you know about them? Especially Schypa cats. They’re rare in Solon.”

“Yes…?”

“I want you to look for a cat. Snow white fur and heterochromatic eyes. Do you understand? It has one golden eye and one blue one. A ribbon was apparently tied to the tip of its tail but I don’t know if it will still be there or not. Its name is Nelwin but if you call it, I don’t know if it will answer to it.”

Orba spoke especially fast.

After the dubious-looking men had left, Orba quickly stood up. Before Shique could say anything,

“Call Gowen for me. I have to talk to him about the slaves that were added to the troops after the rebellion.”

“Truly,” Shique replied, fighting back laughter so hard that his eyes were twitching, “truly. Your Highness is very busy.”