MaruMA:Volume09:Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The crew starts running towards the helm and those who can’t escape in time jump directly into the sea.

Everyone’s pulling each other along as we climb up the slanting deck and grip the railings tightly. The cargo ship that was originally stopped beside us is speedily leaving in fear of being caught up in the calamity. Only the first few soldiers to jump across are now catching their breath on the other deck.

Just then, someone yells, “The boat’s sinking!”

“The boat’s sinking, quick, jump aboard!”

I wrap my arm around Wolfram’s waist, then hold my breath to prepare to jump.

“Your Majesty!”

“Günter, if we don’t get away soon, the boat’s gonna sink!”

The Special Ambassador with Full Authority, clad only on his underwear and with his hair a mess, shakes my shoulders with a spine-chilling expression, making me feel like even my dried-out brain juices are sloshing around in my skull.

“Your Majesty, please forgive my bringing up an unreasonable request at a time like this. I’m an ogre, a devil, and Covenant Castle is a palace of demons ! Logically speaking now I should be strongly advising Your Majesty, and trying to stop your actions, but even if later I am cursed by the people or punished accordingly, I do not mind… so…”

“W-w-w-w-what do you want to say, G-G-G-G-Gun…”

I’m begging you to stop shaking me. I desperately try to hold up my powerless neck.

“… Please do as Your Majesty wishes.”

Those violet eyes are darkened in anguish, but Günter immediately composes himself and points at the rapidly departing cargo ship.

He’s pointing at Lord Weller, who’s sticking his body out, and Saralegui, clinging to the mast tightly. They’re sandwiched in between the Shou Shimaron crew.

“Please go, Your Majesty. If you miss this opportunity to go to Seisakoku, there won’t be another!”

“But the boat… and you guys…”

“Captain Sizemore’s on his way, we’ll be fine!”

Wolfram roughly grabs my wrist and says simply, “Don’t worry so much, just go! And then you must return safely… Gurrier!”

Josak runs up to us, tossing away bucket of water and gripping a rope.

Just in case, he even tugs at the thing in his hand several times, replying as he tests its strength, “Here!”

“Protect Yuuri properly.”

“Yessir. Then, Your Majesty, plea~se pardon my rudeness.”

Before I can ask what he wants to do, Josak has already nimbly tucked me under his arm. Then he lifts his heels on the slanted deck and the next second we're above the ocean surface.

"Waa—! What are you- We're gonna fall~!"

But the waves pass under our feet like blue stripes. Right now the rope is wrapped around the mast of the cargo ship, which means to say that Josak wants to send me to that ship from this one. The skills I picked up while playing on outdoor obstacle courses as a kid have suddenly become a REAL Tarzan experience.

“Aaaaa—Aaaaa--- Aaaa—Waa—!”

“… This angle ain’t that good.”

Clicking your tongue near my ear at this point isn't going to do anything!

“Josak!”

Lord Weller rushes forward at an angle below us. With an urgent expression on his face, he throws his arms open wide.

“Hurry!”

In that moment the childhood playmates exchange a glance.

“Sorry, Young Master.”

Shin Makoku’s well-honed intelligence officer doesn’t even finish his sentence before he throws me into the air.

I wail with a long endnote, “This’s too much—” And then I fall towards the deck of the cargo ship. At first I thought I would crash into the deck so I curl myself up into a ball, but the impact I’m waiting for doesn’t come.

“Weird?”

Turns out Conrad, who had moved directly underneath me, had already caught me firmly.

“…Con…”

He very quickly puts me down, then carelessly pats away the soot on my clothes.

“Are you hurt?”

“…No.”

“That’s good.”

Having finally gotten here, Sizemore's ship is rescuing the people in the water, one by one. Seeing my friends in their ranks, I place a hand on my chest in relief.

As for Josak, who seems to have slammed into the mast, he's now sliding down the pole as he grasps it, out of breath. His nose and forehead are bright red and his orange hair is messy as flames.

“Ow ow oww, someone come help me.”

“Josak!”

I use my injured subordinate as an excuse, escaping from that suffocating space.

“Ah! Your Majesty, thank goodness you’re safe. On the other hand, it seems like Gurrier must ask Lady Cheri for whip-using pointers again!”

Over the mischievous Josak’s shoulders, I see the beautiful ship snapped into two.

Shou Shimaron's flagship, 'the Golden Salmon,' sinks while the sky and sea are engulfed in red flame and black smoke.

---

Saralegui sits on the deck despondently, covering his face with his slender fingers.

“I… I…”

The voice muffled in his palm is shaking with uncertainty.

“I know the opposing forces should have been immediately quieted down, after all Storob is an excellent soldier. And there’s still Shin Makoku’s warship for reinforcements. Even if we were to be ambushed and take some damage, there’s still an overwhelming difference in military power. Only...”

There are only two medium-sized ships following the cargo ship leaving the war port at full speed. Considering this is a long distance trip for the king of Shou Shimaron, it's a somewhat imperfect guard force.

“Only, the final outcome is that I ended up on this cargo ship, and now I’m heading to a place I've never been before without any trustworthy subordinates. What should I do now…”

“You’ll be fine.”

He is someone raised since young as royalty. Even if he’s an expert at governing the people, he might not be used to taking care of himself. Even I can only pat his shoulder or grip his hand to console him.

“Relax, Sara. There’ll be a way.”

“Yuuri, there’s one more even scarier thing!”

The hand that seems like it has never before lifted anything heavy grips my calloused hand tightly. He raises his face, expression tragic, and I realize that those eyes hidden behind the thin lenses are brimming with tears that may fall at any time.

“I nearly had you killed.”

“What does that mean?”

“I think the reason you… No, the reason your friend was targeted is probably because he was wearing my cloak.”

“So that’s what it was!”

After hearing him say that, everything makes sense. The man who was tied to the middle of the mast and shot Wolfram wouldn’t be able to see under the hood from that height. But that shooter had unhesitatingly loosed his arrow at Wolfram, not me. Who was it? What did Wolf say?

'Ki…nan…'

Kinan? Wolfram did say something like Kinan back then.

It’s a name I’ve never heard before, but that man wasn’t aiming for Lord von Bielefeld but the light blue cloak.

At the shiny cloak that the Shou Shimaron king, Saralegui, normally wore.

“Your friend took that arrow in the chest for me… I-if, back then the person wearing the cloak was Yuuri, whenever I think that it could’ve been you… I… When Storob called me over, I should’ve just asked him to board the ship with me. If only I’d never returned to land, and just stayed on ‘The Golden Salmon’. Or if I could’ve made it back on to the flagship in time, instead of being late… I shouldn’t have waited to switch ships after reaching the outer sea. It’d be fine if I’d just stayed on ‘the Golden Salmon’ like a good boy!”

“… But in that case, you would’ve been shot, Saralegui.” I gently put my arm around Saralegui’s shoulder as he sobs uncontrollably. “Because you don’t have the Poison Lady’s protection, you could’ve died if you weren’t careful.”

Since he doesn’t understand what I’m saying, he’s shocked there for a moment. But those unbidden tears still flow from his lost-looking eyes.

His shoulders, so slender they’re like a girl’s, are shaking unstoppably in guilt.

I think to myself, 'This is bad. This kid doesn't have the ability to protect himself. He's leading his people and governing his country as a king, but he doesn't have any skills to protect himself.'

“It’s okay, Sara. Wolfram is fine, and there aren’t any deep wounds either, so it’s really fine.”

“I regret it, I regret it so much. Why did I give you that cloak?”

“Wasn’t it because I looked cold? You were scared that the sea breeze and the sunlight were too strong, that’s why you kindly lent me your cloak. Thank you, I was really very happy.”

“Yuuri, you really are so kind. I just don’t know how to make it up… to your friend…”

Saralegui cups his face with his right hand and sobs for a while. Only when my fingertips are getting chilly in his grip do his tears stop flowing and those eyes staring out at the sea finally regain their old light. He uses his fingers, damp with tears, to push his pale golden hair behind his ear.

“There’s only one way I can atone.” He heaves a long sigh, then says in a soft but determined voice, “The only way I can make it up to you and your friend, Yuuri, is by leading this ship and delivering you safely to Seisakoku. That’s all I can do.”

“Saralegui.”

“The interactions upon reaching there are between Shin Makoku and Seisakoku, something I can’t help you with, but if it's paying attention to the flow of the current and navigating the sea according to the nautical map and the stars… I can deliver you to Seisakoku's port at the end of the sea.”

Releasing my hand, Saralegui stands facing me and wraps his arms around my waist, asking excitedly, “What do you think, Yuuri? Is doing that enough?”

“Actually, you… don’t have to mind so much.”

The boy king, now alone after losing his subordinates, rubs away the drying tears on his face and then focuses his gaze over my shoulder. It was an imploring look.

“Lord Weller.”

“Yes.”

The voice comes from directly behind me and I almost jump out of reflex.

“You said before that Dai Shimaron is like a parent to Shou Shimaron. As His Royal Highness Berard II’s appointed ambassador, you have the responsibility to report and oversee my country so we don’t do anything out of line, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“And also the responsibility to make sure Shou Shimaron’s rights are not infringed, as well as giving suitable assistance.”

The ambassador from Dai Shimaron nods in lieu of a reply, and waits for him to continue.

“I’m ready to head to Seisakoku with Yuuri. Therefore, I have to commandeer this unfamiliar ship, deal with the hardships of the ocean, and may even be in mortal danger.”

Lord Weller narrowed his pale brown eyes, predicting what the next line will be. The light dims in the silver stars there.

Saralegui speaks in a strong and challenging tone. He, who had just been on the edge of cliff, seems to have been saved from despair and gotten back onto his feet, his words showing glimpses of his strength.

“Will you protect me?”

The Dai Shimaron ambassador, whose fringe is billowing in the sea breeze, pauses for several seconds before nodding and saying, “I will protect you. To the best of my ability.”

---

I use the secret technique of finding the emergency exit in hotels and start wandering the deck of this other country’s ship. I give the hardworking Shimaron crew a sideways glance as I walk around to the back of the thick mast. When I sit down on a wooden box there, the damp sea breeze blows my hair into a mess.

I bend my body forward so much my head almost reaches my knees. I could only see the wooden floorboards.

“You’re just too mean, Young Master. If you want to go for a walk, you should’ve invited me, Gurrier, too!”

The joking tone and what looks like borrowed military boots approach me, and then he sits down so close to me that our thighs touch. His arm seems to wrap around me, landing on the back of my white kitchen uniform.”

"By the way, I don't think this is the case but..." He uses a rare solemn tone, speaking from a comfortable distance from my ear. "You're not thinking something lonely like you can take care of yourself on your own, are you?"

“No.”

I shake my head slowly.

If I had that confidence and corresponding ability, then I wouldn’t need to bother anyone.

“…I’m real hungry, so much so I can barely move, since I practically haven’t eaten anything since yesterday morning.”

Next to me, Josak’s body trembles as he laughs heartily.

“Aww, you poor thing! Humans will get hungry whenever, be it at weddings or funerals!”

He doesn’t forget to add ‘Of course, Mazoku too’.

That's why we can continue living on.

Luckily, we’re on sea.

Surely the waves can take away any sort of emotion.

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