Chapter 282, For External Publicity (3)

Translator: Hedge

Editor: Lizzz

 

There were so many words in this world.

 

And yet, even with all those many words at one’s disposal, there were things that remain difficult to express.

 

For instance, the feeling of watching with one’s own eyes as one’s younger brother employs his remarkably effective child-rearing methods to raise a future Mad King, who was neither someone existing in an entirely different world nor a wholly different person but simply someone who had not yet committed those acts, into a single tender pea.

 

Whatever could one call this.

 

He thought on it briefly, then gave up. Having acknowledged that he himself had not been entirely sane for a day or two, he decided for the time being to simply accept it all as it was. He already knew all too well that there were many things and many people in this world that defied understanding, and adding one more to that number was not so terribly difficult.

 

And yet.

 

“I wonder. I doubt he wanted the Arcus Tempus out of some petty personal sentiment. No matter how I think about it, I do find myself genuinely curious as to why King Plants did what he did. I realise it is rather late to say so, but if ever your memory should return, I do hope you will tell me as well. If it is not too much trouble.”

 

The man who had been killed by the hands of someone serving that Mad King conveyed his thoughts along with words full of consideration. And then…

 

“When your memory returns, please also be sure to tell me whether you threatened me into coming along or persuaded me. What I find most puzzling is how I came to accompany you at all, Prince Plants.”

 

That very man who had killed the one speaking, the truly Mad King who kept stoking his irritation by finding it just as unbelievable that he had employed that very man, muddied the point.

 

“Did you not say that a Mage cannot do what they do not wish to do? I should think you just did it on your own accord.”

 

And the man who had reportedly died in someone’s older brother’s stead so that that older brother might live just one day longer offered a very objective opinion.

 

“But what I cannot understand is how Your Highness simply stood by and let things come to that. What were the birds doing? Playing? What were you doing, Your Highness? Sleeping?”

 

And the person who had reportedly been held back at that someone’s side as he died blamed not the one who had made him die, but him.

 

How strange.

 

Unbelievably, the atmosphere was not unpleasant.

 

A serious debate was underway. Why had he done what he did back then?

 

He found himself equally at a loss for what word might describe this situation.

 

“…I think I ought to excuse myself.”

 

The very person who had been that ‘Mad King’, whether that was a mark of infamy, a notorious reputation, or a fair assessment, he could not say. Still, he sincerely requested that someone bring this debate to a close.

 

If he had known this was the sort of conversation that would unfold, he most likely would not have come at all. A person does not die from missing a single meal; he would sooner have gone without breakfast entirely.

 

“But why is Prince Kalian not here, Prince Plants?”

 

The blue-haired Mad Mage, who, having briefly lost the shared distinction of ‘Deputy Commander of Valkan’ following the dissolution of that rank, now had nothing in common with the other save that they both walked on two legs beneath the same sky and made use of language, and who could therefore no longer clamber up to that peculiar form of address, changed the subject.

 

Euria Seiren and Rachel Grace had been unable to attend on account of a prior engagement with the Head of Secritia’s Arcane Enclave. At Arsene’s question, he being present here precisely because he was not affiliated with the Arcane Enclave, Plants narrowed the corners of his eyes slightly.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

And regrettably, Plants did not know the reason either.

 

Not merely not knowing. Plants wanted to ask the same question as well. Who on earth had left him in this impossibly awkward combination of people, and where in the world had his younger brother gone?

 

“Ah, Prince Kalian is unable to attend.”

 

The news of his absence was delivered shortly after.

 

He looked into those violet eyes, seeking an explanation, and the reply came a moment late.

 

“He will be meeting with our father.”

 

The Half-Elf Swordsman with sea-coloured hair pinned up with a hairpin, who had been dipping a rasher of bacon into the yolk of a fried egg as though he had no intention whatsoever of joining their conversation, let out a quiet sigh.

 

Around the long table of the small banquet hall, the blue-haired Mage maintaining Silent, the Third Prince’s Knight, and the Second Prince all set down their forks and knives simultaneously.

 

It was because their thoughts had turned to King Debeullan, who, knowing full well that Chase had arranged this breakfast as a prior engagement and had already confirmed the attendance of an important guest, had summoned that guest away at his own pleasure, thus pushing Chase back down to the very bottom once more.

 

“There is nothing to worry about, so please do not concern yourselves and enjoy your meal, Prince Plants.”

 

Chase, who had been keeping up a pretence of indifference all this while, offered a small smile as if to say, ‘there is nothing to worry about’. Looking at that smile, he was suddenly reminded of Kalian from the day before, laughing carelessly with a face that bore not a trace of worry, and Plants spoke in a low voice.

 

“And who is it telling whom not to worry.”

 

Chase did not answer.

 

He looked down at his own plate, which had barely been touched, and simply smiled once more.

 

* * *

 

When sparring with an ordinary person, one does not enhance one’s body with Aura.

 

*Clang.*

 

There was a difference in skill, so there was no need to worry about being hurt by chance, and the moment Aura was contained within the body, one already possessed physical abilities far superior to ordinary people, so there was no need to deliberately enhance it further.

 

*Whoosh!*

*Claaang!*

 

And yet, at the stinging sensation that shot through her in that instant, she nearly wrapped her arm in Aura without thinking.

 

*Clang! Clang!*

 

No.

 

She ought to have done so.

 

It was decidedly heavier than the dark crimson blade she remembered from that dark dawn, the one that had come crashing down without a moment’s reprieve. She already knew far too well that the swordsmanship was different from the outset, and so was the sword, and therefore the weight of the blade could not possibly be the same.

 

And yet that weight was far more substantial than she had anticipated.

 

‘You’ll be quite surprised.’

 

[Yes. Exactly as those words had said, which made me truly surprised.]

 

[It is not as though I have never heard of her before, but I had never crossed blades with her, so I did not realise you meant I’d be surprised to this degree.]

 

‘You may look forward to it. I certainly am. I am also curious which of them will be first to set foot upon the path of the blade, my sword or my betrothed.’

 

‘That’s remarkable, is she?’

 

‘Yes. Perhaps… No, never mind.’

 

‘Why do you swallow your words.’

 

‘Forgive me. I cannot say it. My betrothed has threatened to kill me if I go about saying strange things. I intend to live for a very long time, you see.’

 

Even if someone were to set foot upon the path of the blade now, it would be difficult to do so earlier than the age of fifteen, when ‘Kalian’ had walked that path. However, as ‘Bern’ had actually set foot upon the path of the blade at twenty-one, Kalian had thought to mention that before stopping himself.

 

Perhaps, he had thought, the earliest age at which someone had walked the path of the blade might come to be moved forward yet again.

 

There was no way Shiona could have known of such thoughts. As she was recalling that conversation, which had ended somewhat inconclusively, owing to Kalian saying he could explain no further, a heavy blow came driving towards Shiona’s face.

 

*Whoosh!*

 

*Clang clang clang!*

 

With the crash of clashing blades, the sound of the bell dangling from the end of the hilt was swallowed up entirely. Shiona, who had been wondering whether it might be better to wrap her arm in Aura after all, firmed her grip on the slightly curved blade.

 

Whether it was a spar or actual combat, Shiona was a seasoned Swordswoman who rarely let her mind wander while facing an opponent. That such a thought had occurred to her nonetheless was because the level of skill before her far surpassed what she had expected.

 

*Clang! Clang!*

 

Shiona blocked the horizontal slash that came flying in as though intent on cutting her down along with the blade, and extended her arm with a satisfied smile. Dmirea evaded the flowing follow-up attack and snapped her hips to send in another strike.

 

*Clang!*

 

She blocked it. And even having blocked it, Dmirea did not withdraw her sword.

 

*Clang clang!*

 

A battle of strength, begun once more.

 

In the end, Shiona twisted her blade to deflect Dmirea’s attack. At that, Dmirea, as though she had been waiting for precisely this, struck upwards at Shiona’s sword. And then, while spinning, channelling the force loaded into the rising blade, she rotated a full turn and aimed for Shiona’s waist.

 

*Whoosh!*

*Clang!*

 

Shiona glanced aside the blade directed at her and leapt straight towards Dmirea. She thrust her sword toward Dmirea’s shoulder, which was momentarily exposed after the attack. The jingle of the bell rang out briefly before being swallowed up by another sound and fading away.

 

Dmirea moved her feet quickly to evade the attack and struck upwards at the silver blade that had been angled downward.

 

*Clang!*

 

And using the recoil, she forced her own descending sword into motion and thrust it towards Shiona’s side.

 

In the midst of a series of slashing attacks, a sudden thrust came. Shiona grinned and swung her own sword downward. A sharp sound followed, and this attack too was blocked.

 

*Jingle.*

 

And once more, the bell rang out.

 

*Clang clang clang! Clang! Clang!*

 

Sparks flew, and the sound of the two blades scraping against one another rang out.

 

Shiona blocked the slashing attack that came with added weight from another rotation of the body, and thrust her sword toward Dmirea’s wrist. When Dmirea twisted her blade to try and block it, Shiona’s sword curved inward.

 

The blade with the bent tip drew a literal rounded arc as it came thrusting in. Dmirea, who had twisted her grip to block the attack, straightened her blade again and struck upward.

 

*Clang!*

 

The sound of blades meeting rang out. She had certainly blocked it. And yet.

 

*Snip!*

 

The ends of Dmirea’s blonde hair were cut away and fell to the ground. The curve of the sword had exceeded what Dmirea had anticipated, and in the end Dmirea had surrendered a lock of hair near her neck.

 

Dmirea briefly recalled the strands that had been cut away by Kalian at some point. Oh how many had it been, and stepped back with a small smile.

 

“I concede.”

 

Shiona grinned.

 

She decided not to mention that at some point she had begun wrapping her arm in Aura, and gave a nod.

 

“Your strength is quite something, Lesser Duchess.”

 

Tall, and with firm muscle.

 

Not the burly, solid muscle of Sleiman. Rather, the sleek muscle like the legs of the black horse that used to carry that red-eyed Prince.

 

“For power that comes from muscles like that, the strength is unbelievable. You push force to an extent that could wreck your back and shoulders both if you are not careful, and yet your body’s balance holds well. A fine skill. One can tell you have practised and studied a great deal.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Dmirea inclined her head slightly toward Shiona in thanks. Without realising it, Shiona found herself recalling Kalian’s words and completed the thought he had swallowed.

 

“Perhaps, the day when the number of Sword Masters on the Continent of Shisterra, reduced when Evan died, comes to grow once more may not be so far off.”

 

Even upon receiving such extraordinary praise, Dmirea did not offer thanks again.

 

“Yes. I believe so.”

 

It was so obvious a thing that there was no need to even consider it.

 

Looking at such a Dmirea, a look of keen interest rose in Shiona’s eyes. Along with it rose a fierce determination to live to see, whenever that day might come, the blue heat blooming at the tip of that sword.

 

* * *

 

He suppressed the smile.

 

He did not even form the curve at the corners of his lips. He simply suppressed it.

 

The coffee was placed before Kalian. Knowing its meaning, he simply suppressed the smile rather than letting it show. Instead, he said what he did not suppress.

 

“I dislike coffee, so I shall not be drinking it.”

 

As though this were precisely the answer he had anticipated, Debeullan did not look surprised or displeased, and gave a nod.

 

“I see. Coffee has a sweet fragrance, yet a bitter taste.”

 

“Yes. Just as Your Majesty says.”

 

Coffee-brown eyes gazed at eyes red as a garden of Begonias.

 

Did Debeullan mean exactly what he said, that the fragrance is sweet and the taste is bitter? Or was there a hidden meaning behind his words? To try and gauge the concealed intent, Kalian added one more remark.

 

“Though it may be that I dislike it because it once contained poison.”

 

“That too is just as Your Majesty says.”

 

“Your words, too, are thus. There is poison in them.”

 

“Is that so.”

 

Debeullan gave a nod.

 

And lifted the very same coffee placed before Kalian and took a sip.

 

Watching this, Kalian felt a rather peculiar sensation. He pondered briefly as to what might have caused it, and then he understood.

 

A private audience.

 

For the first time in his life, he was in a private audience with Debeullan.

 

Debeullan, who would not share a cup of tea with Chase present and would not speak in an enclosed space with him. Debeullan, who had never had a private audience even with Bern without an Escort Knight present. Such a Debeullan was sitting across from him alone, exchanging words, it was only natural that he should feel a sense of strangeness.

 

Because he was the most dangerous and most suspect of all the foreigners who had come to this country, he had likely reasoned that meeting him alone was the safest arrangement. It was the same reason Plants, upon arriving here, had gone for a stroll alone without an Escort Knight.

 

“The more I see, the more astonished I am.”

 

“What is it that astonishes you?”

 

“A foreign Prince is presenting poison to a King’s face. Is that not a truly remarkable thing.”

 

“You need not consider it remarkable. Can it be as astonishing as having witnessed with one’s own two eyes a foreign King raising his own child steeped in poison.”

 

At those words, Debeullan did not suppress his laughter and let it out.

 

“That poison is truly sweet. There is pleasure in conversation with you.”

 

“I am glad it is to your liking.”

 

Kalian, sitting across from the man he could no longer call ‘father’, how much patience was he exercising right now, and did Debeullan have any notion of it?

 

[‘Do not hold back.’]

 

He found himself hoping, very sincerely, that he did as suggested.

 

What it was he was holding back in place of not holding back the poison on his tongue.

 

“My bird. No, that is not right. Ought I now to call her your bird. Your bird······”

 

“She is Eila. Not a bird.”

 

“Ah, yes. That was her name. The ending of that name changed somewhat, and I momentarily forgot.”

 

“You mean Brigit. It is a place of importance to me, which is why I gave her that name.”

 

“Is it a place of importance?”

 

The moment he heard this question from Debeullan, the words Plants had said the day before came to mind.

 

‘If my younger brother comes to meet Debeullan separately, I think it would be better to conceal nothing and speak plainly.’

 

‘Why do you think so.’

 

‘It shows. If you hide things. All of it.’

 

‘I see…’

 

‘When you meet him, just tell me what you barked. I will match it for you.’

 

‘Is that the role of an older brother sorting out the mess his younger sibling makes.’

 

‘Yes.’

 

He had lived his life heeding everything Chase said and had decided to heed nothing Randel said. And so it stood to reason that with Plants, who fell somewhere in between, he should listen selectively, filtering as he went.

 

As his older brother had declared: ‘do not shrink yourself before others trying to hide this and that, and bark well’ so bark he would.

 

“My mother is said to have spent her childhood there, and so it has become a place of importance to me as well. And it happened that a child who had been living in Secritia needed a surname, so I gave her the name of that place. There is no particular special reason, so you need not pay it any mind.”

 

“I see. That was something I did not know.”

 

“It is only natural that there are things you do not know. Just as I, too, did not know that a foreign King would take such an interest in me and in my people.”

 

“It would have been well had that interest ended with you and your people. But a curiosity about what I did not know keeps arising. Oh what is to be done about it.”

 

“You may simply continue to be curious. Would you stifle curiosity in a world so full of wondrous things. Whether about my people, or about me, or indeed about my brothers, you are welcome to be curious to your heart’s content. In any case…”

 

Kalian paused briefly and nudged the coffee cup before him slightly toward Debeullan. That which was nothing but poison to Kalian, he offered it to Debeullan.

 

“In any case, you will not have the occasion to be curious for very long. It is only fitting that I bear with you and show a measure of understanding, even if just for a little while.”

 

And along with those words, he continued to offer the poison on his tongue.

 

Like a snake.