Chapter 5

After Wolfram, Saralegui and I escaped from the dining room, we follow Hazel to the lakeside. In order to hide from the equestrian tribes, we advance with our backs bent. As for places without buildings, we creep forward.

When we come across houses facing the lake, we knock on the windows and doors, if there are residents inside we advise them to leave, even helping children escape through the windows. But Wolfram and I cant speak the Seisakoku language, and we dont think Saralegui will help, so the only one in charge of talking is Hazel.

There are also families who refuse to escape, thats when she gets to flaunt her speaking skills.

After all she has plenty of life experience, so naturally her powers of persuasion are exceptional. As a veteran adventurer cum treasure hunter, Hazel Graves was once trapped in the royal tombs, and attacked by crocodiles and tigers in the forest, and surrounded by armed forces, and even had a gun pointed at her head.

She just has to tell those townspeople how dangerous and scary it is to be surrounded by soldiers, and most of them would immediately run out.

But thankfully the north-north-west equestrian tribe and the north-east equestrian tribe (what a mess) dont start fighting on the bank of the lake, the main warzone is in the large streets and small alleys. Mostly theyll fight one round with their archenemies first, then only break open the doors and threaten the residents.

In other words, we can do whatever we want to the defenseless townspeople later, the important thing now is beating the enemy.

We tell the townspeople not to exit through the door, and escape from the windows facing the lake instead, and then skirt around the lakeside to leave town from the south. That route has a lower chance of bumping into the equestrian tribes.

There isnt a moon or stars tonight, so although they wont be noticed by the enemy, its also very hard to advance without a light. Especially since my eyes are completely useless, its no different from being in the darkness, but at this moment Eyes Wide Open-kun surprisingly comes in handy.

Saralegui has night vision several times better than most people.

Oh, yeah, come to think of it Yuuri cant see.

Thats right, come to think of it you can see, huh

Theres no need to be that jealous, sheesh.

He laughs like a bird from deep within his throat,

In that case, Ill always hold your hand.

No need, I mean I politely refuse!

Okotowarishimasu[1]? Are you talking about the days where only men have a privilege when watching the performances? But compared to having a special price, Id rather have softer and more comfortable seats. But now isnt time to watch the show Alright, dont be shy with me.

Before he finishes his words, Saralegui is already grabbing my right hand forcefully, and I instantly feel a cutting pain.

Ow!

The wound under the cloth in place of a bandage hasnt healed and starts hurting now, I can only clench my teeth and bear with it. Because my pride doesnt allow me to cry out in any way in front of Saralegui.

Instead its Wolfram behind me that growls. If it were the normal him, hed have let his fists do the talking ages ago. Although he really wants to, right now all he can do is bear with it.

When it comes to Saralegui, as well as the temporary truce with Conradwhich means with the Dai Shimaron ambassador, Ive told Wolf everything without hiding a thing, and he knows what kind of a person the Shou Shimaron king is too. But since its safer to let Saralegui hold my hand, he can only open one eye and close the other now.

Although his personality is very emotional, recently when it comes to any critical moments, he will show the bravery to resist his impulses. After all, hes a man more suited than me to be the Maou.

Yuuri, stop.

Wait a sec.

At the same time Sara stops me, Hazel, who is walking in front, gets us to stop too, tsking bitterly,

Those fellas are fighting not far away, theres about seven or eight of them. There arent any more buildings to hide behind up ahead, well definitely get discovered.

What do we do now?

Be more careful, lets take a short detour. After a while we can meet up with Lord Weller and the rest.

Hazel asks everyone to purposely choose an area with many buildings and thats hard to notice from the streets, and advance through there. Because the space between houses is narrow, they cant rush immediately at us even if they notice us.

You said there are at least fifty riders?

Thats right.

Thats at least a hundred people trying to kill each other How did it get to this?

Because the north-east equestrian people couldnt resist anymore and went for the first strike. They probably want to monopolize the water source, thats why they sent people over so hurriedly, right? Thank goodness its only the scouting group, if it were their main forces, it wouldnt be this sort of little scuffle here.

Something of this degree is still called a little scuffle, huh.

Although right now I can only rely on my hearing, I can still hear the cries, curses, and clashes of weapons from our surroundings. Since the fighting and killing is happening on the other end of the civilian residences, they cant hear the sounds from nearby, and instead we hear most of the noises. This is the same principle as how its easier to see the whole picture if you take one step back.

When Im listening to all the voices, I suddenly have the sensation of turning around in circles on the spot. But the one turning isnt my body, but the air around me, spinning 360 degrees like a donut, when in fact I havent moved at all.

Tragic cries pierce my ears through the spinning. Thats not weak weeping, but desperate shouts for help, probably from the houses nearby.

Someones crying Its a child, a child is crying.

Because crying is what they do.

Not like that!

I feel impatient towards the calm demeanor of someone used to this, so I touch Hazels back, even grabbing her shoulder to make her stop walking.

Thats not crying out of fear, it should be more dangerous Ah~~ How should I describe this? They need help, someone is crying and shouting, they need the help of an adult.

Your Majesty, this isnt an orphanage, there wont be just kids, they should have their parents by their side.

Could it be their mother died?

I tell Wolfram the same thing, that theres a child crying, and we need to save them.

Hazel says, What is it? As though comforting me, Wolfram pats my neck gently, completely indulging my rash behavior.

Ill go look.

Im coming too.

No, you stay here! If anything happens to you, I wont be able to face His Majesty Shinou.

After he breaks the window and charges in, theres no reaction for a long time, while instead my heart beats so loudly even I can hear it. Suddenly theres a loud explosion, numbing both my sense of sight and sound.

My previously dark vision instantly brightens, and its all orange. Not only cant I feel the cold from before, my face and arms are enveloped by the approaching heat.

What on earth happened?

Wolf! Wolfram!

Im here!

A body heavier than usual jumps out of the window, hes probably carrying a child, followed tightly by a weeping woman.

Is there no one else, Wolfram? It couldnt be twins, could it!?

I want to save

After that there are two more explosions. This time its not just the heat, there are also small bits of sand flying everywhere.

Flames

As I was saying! Its those guys setting things on fire, and the fires spreading very quickly. The houses nearby are all burning, Im afraid we will be surrounded by the fire in no time.

But arent those brick houses? Technically they shouldnt burn so quickly

Thats right, your eyes cant see

His voice suddenly lowers.

Maybe thats better for you.

What? What happened?

I grab Wolframs hand, hoping to get an answer out of him. But theres a warm body between us, and I know hes carrying a quietly shaking child.

What on earth happened? Dont tell me its not a normal fire?

A fire is a fire, its not normal or abnormal. Anyway we have to leave here immediately, or its a matter of time before were forced into the boiling lake.

Although Wolfram doesnt elaborate, but using my ears and skin, I can also feel that this fire is different from normal. Not only do the piercing screams increase, the hot air in contact with my face and neck is rather intense as well, as though Im standing under the high summer sun. The sounds of explosions in all directions tell me the fire is spreading everywhere.

The streets are burning.

Saralegui says happily,

Since Yuuri cant see, let me describe it to you. The streets are burning, and the fire is spreading at a very high speed. The flames are just like a snake of fire, continuously extending and moving. How wonderful~~ Its my first time seeing this kind of fire, too, its very abnormal indeed.

When you say abnormal

Saraleguis voice becomes two, crashing down on my eardrums.

I mean this shouldnt be a normal fire. Yuuri, you should know that a fire started by majutsu and houjutsu, is different from an average fire. Be it the strength, the spreading, or the method of putting out the fire, theyll all be different. Did you know? Just a bit of water wont be enough to stop this fire.

I remember when there was a huge forest fire near the country borders, I heard something like this before. Gwendal and Wolfram even said, no matter how much water you use, you cant put out a fire started by houjutsu.

One of the equestrian tribes has quite a few shinzokus who can use offensive houjutsu, it must be they forced the shinzoku to do something so filthy.

Hazel grits her teeth bitterly, but her words are eventually drowned out by a womans screams. But Saralegui is still clapping his hands, saying in a tone as though he discovered some rare flower,

Goodness, even people are burning.

What did you say?

I said even people are burning.

People

Wolfram wants to grab me, now unresponsive, but maybe he misjudged the distance, because only his fingers brush past me, he couldnt pull my body.

A wailing woman runs past me at a very close distance, quickly followed by a loud splash. After she passes, the screams and odor of burning hair still lingerthats the odor of protein charred to a crisp.

My legs move faster than my brain, and I give chase. The woman runs into the lake and soaks her body in the water, trying to put out the fire in her hair, but even though the water is waist-deep, I can still hear her screams, I know the fire hasnt been extinguished.

The fire hasnt been extinguished.

My orange vision turn bright red, the depths of my nose hurts as though I breathed in seawater.

I feel dizzy.

It feels as though someones yelling my name, but the distance is too far for me to tell whose voice it is, and so I cant answer.

At the same time I hear another murmuring voice. The bright red vision slowly fades, finally turning colorless, its practically like Im surrounded by white, a world without darkness.

The murmurs slowly become words, the white space slowly become a figure.

That person is definitely angry, and for all I know, extremely upset.

What should I do? Should I stop here?

No, I wont stop. I want to do what I should do, at the time I need to do it.

No matter the consequences.

My will I hope you understand.

Because this is my life, I decide how to use it.

Thats right, this is my life.

I decide how to use it.