MaruMA:Volume07:Chapter 10

Chapter 10

After the Small Shimaron team competing against us was no longer in sight, the sheep started to increase their speed.

“There’s someone coming?! Are they catching up with us?!”

Murata, sprawled on the loading rack, was shouting, “I can only see a blur of red! And it’s very probable that they’re going to catch up. Eh? Those aren’t horses…woah…..my god! It’s a man-powered carriage! A man-powered carriage!”

“The macho men?!”

Muscles, musclemen, the team of macho men, that’s the Nagoya style of training muscles. Twelve very developed macho men were pushing forward amidst the snow. I could see team rising from their flushed half-naked bodies.

However, the sight of their grim and determined expressions would make people want to avoid them.

“They’re so barbaric, why aren’t they wearing any shoes?”

“No, Wolf, that's not the problem, that's not the problem.”

Team Macho Men's carriage had sleighs attached to the bottom so they would be able to travel faster on a wet muddy road covered with traces of rapidly melting snow. If our speed were to reduce by even a fraction, it was highly possible they could catch up with us.”

“We’re rounding a bend, Young Masters! Hold on tight! Even if you complain after getting shaken off, this carriage won’t be assuming any responsibility!”

“Hold on to where…. Gah, I bit my tongue!”

We made a 90 degree turn around that last bend at such a super high speed that the back portion of our carriage almost disintegrated. I never thought that I would get the chance to experience zero gravity onboard a tank pulled by livestock. The huge stadium was visible a few hundred meters ahead; the bright brown walls made it look like a baseball stadium from afar.

Based on the excited expressions on the civilians along the roadside, we weren’t far from the finish line. However, just like when we had first landed in East Nilzon, they had their pinkies up while shouting. Children who were restrained by their mothers to prevent them from running onto the road were waving yellow flags with all their might.

“This is so exhilarating! It feels like we're marathon runners.”

“Yuuri, don’t tell me you think they’re here to welcome and encourage us…. That’s impossible. Even for a wimpy and naive guy like you.”

“Huh?”

Just when Wolf was calmly telling me this, a white spherical object brushed past my cheek and smashed against the hood of the carriage. Light-yellow, semi-transparent liquid flowed out.

It was a rotten egg.

“You've got to be kidding me! Why are they hassling us so much? Normally you would cheer on the opposing country as well, wouldn't you?”

“Don’t forget, this isn’t The Great Demon Kingdom, it’s Shimaron, and this is the capital Lambert! All these people want is to see Big and Small Shimaron against each other in the finals, they don’t care about any of the other contestants.”

“Or rather, they consider them obstacles.” Murata was fanning his right hand in front of his nose because of the pungent stink of the rotten egg. “If another country wins for some reason, they want them to be beaten down immediately. Shibuya, this is an away game. In baseball terms, we’re the visiting team.”

“….Even if we're visitors then they should just quietly watch the enemy's offense. If this was Pa League, that is. Isn't that just common courtesy?”

“Honestly, Shibuya, you’re too full of sportsmanship.”

“If you take the sportsman out of sportsmanship, you end up with a bunch of beasts.”

“The Beast is actually quite cute nowadays! Don’t you often see him on variety shows?”

“So what then, Young Masters? Have you reached a decision? Do you want to win or not?”

“Of course!”

This was the reason we had come this far. After Josak had made an ‘ok’ gesture with his hand, he swung the whip towards the side of the driver’s seat. T-Zou reacted quickly to this and cried out sharply to her team-mates.

"Nmou!"

The sound she made reminded me of my mother.

Run, Seep, the seep have run! This sounded a bit like Osamu Dazai.

When we reached the final stretch of the racecourse, we saw the massive stone walls of the city ahead. There was an oval-arched entrance in the middle of the whole stretch of brown wall. In our process of getting there, the stuff the people threw at us was really rather rich in variety. Other than eggs and fruit, we also had to duck to avoid seaweed and ripe tomatoes.

“Ah ~ now I remember, The Tomatina Festival! The owner of my soul five lives ago was a baker in Spain!”

“Grandpa Murata of Muraken's family, please don’t reminisce about the past at a time like this…”

T-Zou and the rest of Mary’s Little Lambs were charging at full speed towards the entrance to the city. Suddenly, the snow on the ground had vanished and the sleigh made a harsh grinding noise against the stony ground. The sheep had rushed straight onto the dark streets in the city due to their acceleration and were now performing some emergency braking. When the brakes finally started to work, the people’s angry cries had gotten far away.

Heavy barriers had been released down over the entrance and the gates firmly locked. The musclemen team directly behind us crashed into the gates head on with a dull thump.

“Good job, machos! But that looked pretty painful.”

“This isn’t the time to pity others! They won't wait for us.”

“Huh? But we got here in first place….”

When I looked down, I realized that ‘So Light It's Like a Dream’ was now surrounded by more than ten soldiers from Big Shimaron. Although the weather was freezing cold, every single one of them still managed to keep their hair light and floating. They were reluctantly informing us of our placing in the race.

“You’ve won the ‘speed’ event and thus have qualified for the finals. Get down from the carriage and stand erect, every one of you!”

“We’d have gotten down without all the yelling. Jeez, what kind of referees are these? So rude! Is this the way to behave towards the winning team? I might report this to the International Judicial Committee!”

“Forget it, maybe they’re just local volunteers.”

Once we had gone under the shelter of the roof and were no longer in the snow, my nausea returned. This felt like the early symptoms of a cold. If I don’t get some hot herbal soup later, I’ll be plagued by a fever tonight. It’s strange that the colder the weather gets, the better I feel. Had I been a polar bear or a penguin in my previous life?

“….anyway, I, I might have gotten ‘sheepsick’…”

“What.are.you.saying.the.finals.are.being.held.right.now!”

Wolfram looked rather dizzy and shaken himself as he stood up. It's hard to say that he's in good shape.

“Huh? We can't rest a bit? We just got here you know? This isn’t a triathlon. The home team might be fine just waiting at the stadium, but we’ve been camping out for the last few days. We’re exhausted now.”

“That's what they want.”

Josak, who was the first to leap down from the driver’s seat, extended his right hand to me. Do I really look that bad?

“They can't mess up and let us win. They have to inconvenience us as much as possible and then decisively beat us down. After all, if the winners are from a colony, they have no idea what they might ask for.”

We had only one wish.

Give back the box! Return the box!

I think that Big Shimaron won’t be expecting representatives from Caloria to make such a request.

“Move faster! We’ve already announced to the audience that the winning team from the 'knowledge' and 'speed' events has arrived. If you waste time like this, the twenty thousand people in the audience might go on strike... no, you can’t make His Majesty wait!”

A man who looked like the leader within that group of yellow and brown uniforms was shouting out orders loudly. The ‘His Majesty’ he had mentioned was of course not me, but was the leader in this country. Murata frowned slightly and snorted quietly so they wouldn't hear.

However, if the stadium really is packed with more than twenty thousand people, then the atmosphere there would be more hectic than The Seibu Dome on a weekday. Can we battle calmly under the scrutiny of all these people? I massaged my aching limbs as we were hurried along a windowless corridor. This was the so-called backstage, a room that resembled a temporary resting room for participants. I was summoned to approach some youths lined up in three rows. I could feel Josak’s watchful eyes from behind. If we're thinking about safety, I'd like to wait for Sizemore and the others. Although they were progressing along with us, they had followed a completely different route. Plus we couldn’t predict their time of arrival so our guardians were reduced to one and Josak’s burden has been increased.

The closer we got to the entrance for the participants, the louder and wilder the atmosphere in the stadium. The area above our heads probably also consisted of seats for the audience and an earth-shattering vibration seemed to be traveling along the ceiling. The people were probably stamping on the floor in impatience since we had yet to appear. The rhythmic vibrations shook the walls and I could even feel a vibration under my feet.

The locker room resembled an open area typical of major league baseball stadiums as there were no doors or partitions. There was a whole array of dangerous objects on the long table in the middle of the room.

“On no, we should change quickly….although I’m not that confident of my abs at this moment, there’s no time to worry about that.”

Strangely, the Shimaron soldiers started to panic when they saw me loosening my buttons without any hesitation.

“Wait a minute, participant! What’re you doing?!”

“Huh? The audience and referees are all men anyway! It’s no use protesting even if I’m embarrassed or hesitant, isn’t it? Since the rules stated that we males have to compete naked….”

“Don't be ridiculous! This is a competition held in front of His Majesty!”

“Shibuya, this isn’t the ancient Olympics.”

“This is why people say you don't have any modesty.”

Murata had furrowed his eyebrows in shock, while Wolfram was refastening all my buttons with his usual indignation.

“Listen to me carefully, demon nobles aren’t allowed to reveal themselves in public. Stripping is reserved for emergency situations!”

“Emergency? What…? Anyway, sexual harassment can’t possibly occur between members of the same gender. Then let me wear a uniform or a jacket.”

As we were representing a colony, we’d have to march into the stadium with dignity. If we had all that heavy winter clothing on, all those fans wouldn’t take a second glimpse at us. I'm not sure anyone will be cheering on Caloria, however.

“The clothes you have on are fine! Just select your weapons quickly!”

The Shimaron soldiers doubling as workers in this competition were pointing towards that massive pile of murder weapons at the middle of the room. Under the bright illumination of the fire torches, every single weapon was glinting with a dull copper glow.

“I have my own sword. As if I would use an enemy country's weapon.”

“That won’t do. Those are the rules…”

“Hey, hey," The man who probably had the most potential in this competition was wielding an axe in his hands while speaking in a cold tone. “Don't tell me that you plan on giving us inferior weapons so we’ll lose within a few seconds?”

The color of the soldiers’ faces changed.

“Watch your tongue, you colonial lowlife! These are all weapons that His Majesty kindly prepared for all of you lower class citizens since you don’t have any proper weapons! Every single one of them is a high quality creation made by famous blacksmiths in our kingdom-”

“They aren't really much to be proud of. Well, I suppose they're average.”

Josak interrupted them as he held a sword up to the light. He swung around a long and heavy steel axe above his head over and over again so the soldiers around him were forced to back off.

Although Murata wasn’t one of the competitors, he was inspecting the weapons one by one.

“Since this was decided by the committee, then there’s nothing we can do about it. If we lose our qualifications for this competition by raising a meaningless objection here, then that really would be a double loss. Seeing that all the weapons here are sorted according to size and type, it wouldn’t be that bad to select weapons from amongst them. What are you going to use, Shibuya? Unfortunately there aren't any guns. And I wanted to teach you the gun kata.”

“Is that….a new gundam?”

I’d never really held weapons. But that doesn't mean I'm a hand to hand fighter either so I haven't had any practice with fighting with my fists and knees.

Even back in that hubbub with the duel with Wolfram, it was Conrad who had selected a light and convenient weapon for me. After that, my ‘weapons’ had been a trick cane that flowers popped out of and a demon sword whose personality changed with its owner. I've never had anything to do with proper weapons.

On the contrary, it was the third son who had dealt with weapons for more than twenty-four thousand days who felt my arm then said, “Your arm muscles are in okay shape. How about a bow? Didn’t you mention before that you were good at locking in someone who's running and then closing in for the kill?”

“That's completely different than killing a runner. Anyway what I had meant wasn’t really attacking the runner with a real weapon, it was tracking a runner with your eyes and throwing a ball.”

The soldiers said that bows were prohibited. Makes sense. If they allowed projectile weapons then an assassin might target the king.

“Then what about the spear? Try holding it.”

He hands me a dull metal rod. This was a weight I couldn’t hold with just one hand, so I placed the end of the long weapon on my right shoulder. My three companions all sighed in unison.

“You look like you're going out to work the field…”

I've obeyed the gun and sword law so there's no way there's a weapon here that I'm accustomed to. If I’d known such a day would come, I wouldn’t have worked so hard at playing baseball, and joined the kendo or archery club. If I couldn't then maybe the spear club or the staff club or the lumberjack club... the sickle and chain club might have been interesting too. I tried the grips on the lined up weapons one by one. Then Wolfram drew out a narrow sword and showed it to me.

“Judging by length, this is fine. In any case, you won't need to fight. You're just here to fill our quota.”

“Oh, really?”

“Of course. If it's bad enough that you have to fight, sending out a Flying Skeleton with a sword would be better. We can’t just watch you endanger yourself like that! If we get two victories we'll win so I'll fight through two people.”

Josak, standing behind him, was mouthing silently, 'Reliable words from a funny face.' I want the prince to share some of his confidence with me.

“Huh?”

I had found a hilt that felt familiar to me and I couldn’t stop myself from cheering out loud.

“What about this? This’ll do great! Hey, ma'am, listen to me! This feels almost exactly like a metal baseball bat!”

Of course it weighed more than a wooden or even limited edition baseball bat, but the familiar texture and ice-cold feel of it was an irresistible temptation to me.

“Your Majesty, that… is that really what you want?”

However, Wolfram and Josak had objections against its appearance.

“Although we're keeping it a secret, you’re still the Demon King! What sort of noble figure wields a club!? You're going to bring shame to the previous Demon Kings!”

It's more of a metal rod than a club. And there were even protruding objects on its surface. This weapon is the weapon you see the ogres holding every year around the Setsubun season. However, no matter if I grabbed it with both hands or stood in an open stance and tried swinging it, my movements felt smooth and natural. Also, after several trial swings, it didn’t slide out of my hands.

“Mm, this feels right. Let's not be concerned about how it looks. I want to use this for my daily practice.”

Contrary to the other two who had gloomy expressions on their faces, Murata was laughing with his hand covering his mouth and seemed happy.

“What does it matter? There’ve been heroes who defeated their sworn enemies using oars. Maybe a miracle will happen.”

“A miracle! Please happen! If there isn’t a huge miracle, I really don’t feel like

I can win.”

We arrived at the entrance to the stadium after being hurried along by the harried-looking soldiers. We climbed the slippery stone steps and stand in front of the heavy doors. When I reached out and pushed the cold iron doors open, the loud resonating cheers cascaded down on me like an avalanche.

“Whoa!”

I hurriedly blocked the door with my back.

“What is it, Yuuri?”

“F-fifty thousand!”

Oh no, this isn’t a weekday at The Seibu Dome. Based on the number of audience, their enthusiasm and their animosity towards the opponents, this was more like the grand finals held at The Fukuoka Dome. Also, the seats were taken up by dirty men and their booing cries were really rather scary.

“…let’s go back to the resting room and hold another pre-battle meeting.”

“What’re you talking about? There’s no time for us to be scared.”

“Relax, Shibuya! Just try to think of the audience as potatoes.”

“Potatoes don’t yell like that!”

“Well then, Your Majesty, think of them as pink-eared poison rabbits. Their calls are really quite loud.”

The mental image of a pink rabbit shaking its hips appeared in my mind.

The two demons grabbed me from both sides and led me to the door. Murata quickly pulled the door open.

Loud, earth-shattering shouts and countless orange-ish lights greeted us. Everywhere I looked, I could see torches that lit up the stadium so that it seemed as bright as day. Only now did I realize that it was already night time. Just as I step into the resting area that was connected to the entrance, I felt heated glares and a rush of cold air. This place was like the benches in a baseball stadium so they shouldn't be able to see us all that well from the audience. Even so, the audience’s gaze was seeking out their enemy and creeping in.

“Shibuya, your mask.”

I quickly pulled off the goggles and with my woolen hat still on, I put on the shiny silvery mask. There must be at least one person in this trio to represent the colony. That’s right, I’m here right now not as Yuuri Shibuya, but as the leader of Caloria, Norman Gilbit.

“I thought it was cold. This isn't a dome, huh?"

There was no roof over the stadium. I could see white particles drifting down in the dark sky from where the light of the torches couldn't reach. But then again, I feel like having a roof on an arena would be extremely tacky.

It seems the passion from the audience couldn’t melt the snow and it was piled up fairly high on the ground.

I raised my head and looked up at the darkened sky.

The number of stars in the sky seemed to have increased.

“That’s so strange.”

“Hm?”

“I think my cold is getting better by getting snowed on… though that can't be true. Standing in the cold wouldn't make you better, it would just make you worse. There's no way you'd recover like that.”

The ache at the back of my head, the difficulty breathing, the nausea, the ache in my limbs, the chills and even the stuffiness in my chest had disappeared mysteriously.

“I must have been a polar bear in my past life. Shame I wasn’t a white lion.”

“That’s because snow is impartial to all kingdoms.” Murata placed his hand on my back as he murmured what seemed like a deep response. “The snow doesn’t contain any element that obeys thaumaturgy. They’re clouds that have drifted over from other continents so no matter where the snow falls it will be neutral.”

“… What's that? What does that mean?”

“I think you’re a ‘dog-type’ person, right?”

Do you mean that I’m the type that would rather run about happily in the backyard, instead of curling up in the kotatsu?

The stadium was built in an oval shape rather like an athletic field and was encircled by high-rising seats for the audience. To the north was a building of a similar color scheme with the stadium. It was rather too luxurious to be a management office.

“Is that a hotel? Like in Disney Sea.”

“I don’t know. It might be a shrine. The kind where they sacrifice the noble spirits of warriors to the gods.”

They die?! That’s so unlucky!

There was a resting area for the team from the host country directly opposite us and it was at a great distance away. I couldn’t make out any silhouettes in that darkened room, so I couldn’t be sure about the physique of the competitors. “Tch! They were rushing us along, but our opponents get to take their own sweet time.”

“We have to make sure we don't end up like Kojirou getting annoyed by them making us wait so long.”

Ending up like Kojirou... Rather than a taiga drama, Mito Koumon would be more suitable for this situation.

The worker who had led us here raised his hand and stopped us from continuing our conversation. He had a strangely docile expression on his face.

“Be quiet! His Majesty is about to make his appearance.”

About 70% of the audience had already stood up and were now facing the north. A shiny box-like seat was silently being lowered down from the roof of that building. The band started to play and the whole stadium seemed to resonate with the singing of a male choir. However, listening carefully, I discovered that the singing was actually coming from the audience from the north; the others were just singing a few random lines. This happens in every baseball stadium as well.

Murata was muttering, “The real threat might not be this kingdom.”

I was trying to listen to what he might say next, but all I could hear was that soldier muttering, “His Highness…?”

It seems like the person in the golden gondola that had been lowered was not the king, but a prince. Maybe he was appearing in place of his busy father? Or maybe His Majesty was ill in bed. He was the ruler of a large kingdom, but he would have his own personal troubles.

Although he was so far away I couldn’t see his face clearly, just looking at the prince’s clothing was a sight worth seeing.

“Ko-Kobayashi Sachiko…”

Or maybe Mikawa Kenichi.

I never thought I would see something like the Kouhaku Uta Gassen in a kingdom so far away. His Highness was decorated with white, gold and yellow feathers. It was like a festival for a human-sized ostrich. It was really in poor taste… but the luxurious decorations did manage to attract everyone’s attention. The gondola which had delivered His Highness to his seat was raised back up at a speed much greater than how it had been lowered.

“Ah, the gondola flew away!”

“That’s from Simon and Garfunkel!”

“I've decided I'm not going to ask how old you are anymore.”

This decision of mine was really rather smart.

When the ceremony ended, our opponents finally appeared. Compared to our resting area which was brightly illuminated by torches, the opponents’ resting area was shrouded in darkness. Although I couldn’t make out their appearances or gender, I could see their general builds.

All three of them were tall. All three of them had broad shoulders. All three of them had long legs. All three of them had the ideal build for an athlete.

“Ugh, damn it! Why are all three of them so manly?” (Yuuri)

“Why are you crying over that?”

“Well in the first place, if we're going by faces we've already won. Except for Josak.”

“Hey, that's rude, Your Majesty. If we’re going by breasts, I've already won.”

“Aw, I feel like we're a comedy trio.”

It was a pile of inferiority complexes. I had already lost psychologically before the competition had even started.

Two men who looked like they were referees trudged through the snow to the center of the stadium. Both of them had beautiful brown hair. They were typical Shimaron soldiers. Facing us, they raised one finger. It probably meant that the first round in the competition was about to start.

“That's right, we have to figure out our order. Who wants to go first? I think that sending out our weakest member first to tire out our opponents is a good plan.”

“You’re last.”

“Your Majesty is last.”

Although the words were different, they meant the exact same thing.

Murata, however, raised a very unique example.

“Shibuya, don’t you read a lot of sports manga? In judo or kendo, they usually send out their weaker sempai last. As long as the stronger opponents are defeated first, there won't be any need for it to go on to the last match.”

“So it's pretty much already been decided that I'm the weakest...”

“Of course.”

Even if it's public knowledge, can't you say it more nicely? You're treating the king this way? The demons really are all for equality.

“Even if it's just to test their abilities, I shou-”

“I’ll go.”

Everyone fell silent at this declaration.

“If by some chance I fail, Gurrier is next. It won't come to you.”

“… Alright,” Josak said with a laugh as he nodded. No one cared about my opinion. However, I was more concerned about what Wolfram had just said rather than me being left out.

If by some chance I fail.

Before now, I couldn't imagine him considering the possibility that he might lose. That being said, he wasn't exactly trembling before the enemy and he was his usual fully confident self. I wonder who taught the third son, unrivalled in his pride, humility.

“Wolf.”

I grabbed the sword he had leaned against the wall. The weapon he had chosen was much heavier than it looked, and the hilt was so large it was difficult to grip.

“Oh, from the King himself.”

“Stop joking around. Are you okay with such a heavy weapon?”

“Heavy? I purposely chose the weapon that most closely resembled mine.”

After Lord von Bielefelt carefully accepted the sword from me, he drew the shining silver sword. He then unhesitatingly thrust its brown and undecorated scabbard against my chest.

“This is for Your Majesty.”

“What…?”

“Don’t worry. It's just to urge me on.”

He put one foot on the stairs in order to enter the snow-filled stadium. Instantly, the noisy shouts turned into cheers and the atmosphere was now even wilder than before. The opponent’s representative had also appeared. I couldn't tell if he was good-looking or not because he was so far way, but he was standing with one foot on the stairs with something hanging out of his mouth.

“Oh hey, he has his hair tied up in a ponytail! This is a sight we usually see in ramen shops.”

Murata was casually giving his opinion, but I couldn't be so easygoing. The man had on a yellow and brown army uniform so it seems that the first opponent was just an ordinary soldier from Shimaron. However, the problem was the unique blades he carried on both of his sides.

“A dual wielder!"

Those blades were a unique curved shape and the length looked about the same as ours. With the scabbard he had handed me still clutched to my chest, I pull on Wolfram's sleeve. My tone of voice has done a complete 180.

“This is bad, it’s Musashi! It’s Musashi! Our opponents are sponsored by the NHK!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hey, maybe it's better if Josak went first. That dual wielder looks pretty strong and you, uh... you and me... we've tied before.”

He furrowed his eyebrows and raised his chin as if to say 'this again?'

“So because you and I had a fight that ended up like that, you have doubts about my skill.”

“No, I didn’t, that's not-”

“You think I didn’t go easy on you in the slightest back then?”

“Uh...”

Only he would know that. Of course, I was a complete novice and at that time I was an extremely rare, Twin Black human. If he had injured me it would have been a big deal so he might have taken that into consideration.

“I'll tell you.”

His green eyes slightly narrowed, and he smiled in a way unlike a pretty boy.

“I didn’t go easy on you. That was definitely your win. However I did refrain from using dirty and effective tactics like in real battle. Don't worry. At the moment, of course, I have no intention of being so kind. I don't see a reason to show my opponent any honor.”

After bringing his face close to say that, Wolfram turned his back on me. The fact that he had suddenly admitted that I had won actually made me feel like I had suddenly been attacked.

“… What… What was that all of a sudden?”

“Aren’t you going to put that down?”

Murata was pointing at the scabbard.

“Didn’t I tell you? Lord von Bielefelt is not weak.”

“But his opponent has dual wield! It's really worrying.”

“Just because you have two bats doesn't mean you'll hit a home run, right? Projectile weapons are the ones that benefit from multiples. Have a little faith in him. More importantly, you can put that scabbard down.”

“… No, I’m fine.”

Not wanting to put something on the ground that he had entrusted to me, I dumbfoundedly watched Wolfram's back. The soldier from Shimaron from the bench on the other side reached the middle of the stadium at almost the same time as he did. I suddenly felt someone looking at me, and my skin started to prickle nervously.

I feel a warm gaze free of hostility from the northern stands.

“Am I imagining things? I feel like I know someone. There's no way I have any friends in the audience.”

“Maybe it’s a young and lovely girl from Shimaron who’s attracted to you or Lord von Bielefelt?”

“I'd be happy if that were the case. But Flynn said that women weren't allowed in the World's Best.”

“Ah, that's right! Then a cool and strong man from Shimaron?”

“That doesn’t make me feel happy at all.”

Imagining a long-haired muscleman holding a bouquet, my head is suddenly occupied by a pro-wrestling broadcast.

Return to MA Series

Forward to Chapter 11