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Chapter 6: Regarding the Final Peace
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It hurt in a vague sort of way.
“……”
He opened his eyes and was greeted with a blinding light. He scrunched up his face.
It was… sunlight. Yes, the light of the sun.
Ryner squinted up at the sun’s bright rays, narrowing his eyes.
“…It’s… morning?”
He sat up slowly, then looked around. He was in his room in the cheap inn he was currently staying at. It had a bed, a wooden table, and a small wardrobe. The windows had thin curtains that were currently blowing with the gentle breeze. It looked like he’d forgotten to close the window before sleeping last night. It was open all the way, very rudely letting the sunlight attack him.
“……”
Ryner gazed out the window for quite some time. This was the second floor, so it wasn’t like there was a good view out there or anything… He was just zoning out.
He pressed a hand to his head. He had a little bit of a headache, and he was still half-asleep. It was especially bad because the sun had woken him up from the middle of a deep dream.
“…That sure was a nightmare,” Ryner mumbled and sighed.
It was a dream. A nightmare. Waking up from those was always the worst. His mind was slow to catch up to the fact that he was awake.
He couldn’t remember what he’d been doing yesterday before sleeping at all. He could remember… pulling all nighters working with Sion, then shuffling home half-asleep… And then he was attacked by a real weirdo… wait, no, was that part a dream?
He was seriously tired. He couldn’t tell what’d happened while he was awake and what happened while he was asleep. His memory was a mess right now.
“…It was a dream… Yeah. A dream,” he whispered. Then he felt a twinge of pain in his chest. “Ow.” He pressed his fingers against the place that was hurting - the left side of his chest, about where his heart was. It was a tight, itchy sort of pain.
He looked down at his chest.
“…Oh, shit… That wasn’t a dream?”
He was wearing his Magical Knight robe and armor, but his chestplate was weird. It looked like it’d melted right where his heart was, leaving a gaping hole in its protection.
“…You’ve gotta be kidding me…”
If he recalled correctly, the white armor was made with chaoeoh, which was a super high-quality metal forced specifically to protect their strongest magicians. There were lots of great things about it: it was light, strong so that it wouldn’t be pierced or twisted, and had a high melting point. Its high melting point was the most impressive thing about it - even Roland’s hottest spell couldn’t melt it. An exceptionally strong swordsman like Ferris could probably damage it, yeah, but melting it should be impossible.
And yet, his armor, which should be immune to heat…
“…It melted…”
Ryner fingered the edge of the hole in his armor.
“……”
He was at a loss for words. His half-asleep mind was racing at the sight of such an odd phenomenon.
“…I give,” he said.
Yeah, it was possible that there was another country with hotter spells than what Roland had. But if someone had casted one of those on him, then…
“…I’d have been burnt to a crisp…”
He supposed it was also possible that it did burn him to a crisp and now he was a ghost, but…
“…I’m probably still alive,” he said to himself. He held his hand up in front of his eyes, opening and closing it slowly. “Hm. Yeah, it doesn’t look like I’m a ghost.”
Not that he seriously believed in ghosts in the first place.
“What happened to me?” Ryner wondered.
He thought back to yesterday again. He’d been coming home from Sion’s. Two people who he didn’t know attacked him on the way. According to his memory, they were the cause of the hole in his armor. They’d done it simply. All it took was one knife. Though Ryner had been a little distracted by the blood spurting out of his chest at the time and hadn’t noticed the hole burnt in his armor at all…
Those two had accomplished an impossible feat. They’d melted a gaping hole in his armor without burning Ryner alive in the process… Also, he really should’ve died from that knife stabbing him right in the heart.
“……”
The wound had been fatal without a doubt. There was no way someone could live with as much blood loss as he had. He should have died.
“…So why am I alive?” Ryner said, confused. He stuck his fingers through the hole in his armor, feeling around inside. There was a hole in his shirt there, too, so his skin was exposed through it. But that much was obvious. It had to have hit his skin since he lost that much blood from it. But his skin wasn’t wounded. He’d lost all that blood, and yet… his skin wasn’t broken.
“……”
When he felt around at the place where he’d been pierced…
“…The hell is this?”
The skin where the knife had cut felt weird, like it was metal or something. And it was terribly cold. It was really only a small spot, but it was, undeniably, not his skin.
“Whoa whoa whoa. What the hell.”
Ryner quickly removed his armor and shirt, then looked down at his chest. There was an odd symbol there… like a letter, buried in his skin over his heart. A little black letter, the width of two of his fingers.
Ryner smiled bitterly. “Are you serious…”
Because he remembered those letters. He saw them in his dream. In his nightmare. In those letters that’d bound him, then strangled the monster.
“Then… that wasn’t a dream, was it? It was real…”
Impossible. That couldn’t be true. Because… there was no way that stuff could actually happen…
“…Is there?”
Ryner opened his eyes up wide. His cursed Alpha Stigma. The second he did, the scarlet pentagram in them rose up and shined brightly.
The Alpha Stigma monster had been in his dreamscape.
“…It wasn’t… a dream?” Ryner mumbled, tired.
It wasn’t a dream.
That monster. That world. That woman who he’d left, unable to save…
It wasn’t a dream…?
“…Uuh…”
Ryner pressed his hand to his chest. Because it really hurt. But it wasn’t because he was wounded. And it wasn’t because of the letter. Something just hurt, in the caverns of his chest. It hurt when he thought of that woman, who he’d seen eaten by the monster right before his eyes. It hurt so bad.
“…I give,” Ryner said, forcing himself to take slow breaths in and out.
He didn’t know anything. What was happening to him? Who was that woman? He should know her. He should definitely know her. But when he tried to remember, his head hurt.
“Ugh, shit! What’s with this…”
He moved his hand to his aching head. Trying to remember hurt. But he wanted to remember. He wanted to know who she was. But when he tried, it hurt so bad.
That voice had been the same. The voice of the man who’d stabbed him. It was somehow familiar, familiar enough to make his chest clench up with longing.
But he couldn’t remember, no matter how much he tried. It was like there was something getting in the way of him remembering, like someone had cursed him…
“…Hm?”
Ryner’s eyebrows shot up.
“…A curse… yeah, what if I was cursed?”
Then he thought back to inside the dream. No, maybe it wasn’t a dream, but anyway inside that weird, dream-like world, that woman said something.
He’d asked her who she was to him. And so she answered—
“I can’t answer that.”
So Ryner asked why not.
“…Because that’s the kind of contract this is.”
Contract. Contract…
“…Maybe I was cursed to have my memory sealed…?”
But what was the contract for then? Who was that woman? Why did his memories need sealed in the first place?
“……”
He couldn’t understand after all. The only thing he understood was that he was wrapped up in some hard-to-understand shit.
“…No, maybe I was born wrapped up in all this?” Ryner wondered to himself, smiling self-derisively.
That dream world… had been so red, as far as the eye could see. That was probably…
“…Inside me. That was probably inside my eyes… inside my Alpha Stigma…”
It was somewhere he’d always wanted to go. Somewhere he’d always been searching for. Because it was somewhere that would have clues to help him figure out what he was. But how had he ended up going there so suddenly?
“How’d I end up there?” Ryner wondered aloud. “Was it because I almost died?”
Ryner shook his head. No, that couldn’t be right. Because he’d been on the verge of death before, back when he was part of the Secret Elites in the old Roland… He’d messed up in his assassination duties and was seriously injuried in the past. He’d spent months living in the border between life and death. But he’d never gone to that place before. So that meant that him being on the verge of death wasn’t the culprit.
“……”
Ryner looked down, to the dark letters buried in his chest.
“…Did that guy who stabbed me help me find my way there?”
He felt like that was it. The woman in his dream made it sound like it, too. Because she’d thanked someone for upholding the contract and letting her and Ryner meet… And the guy she was grateful to was probably the same one who’d talked to him just before he passed out.
She’d even said his name. Right. He heard her say his name. If he recalled, it was…
“……”
His head hurt. He couldn’t think.
What was his name? What had she said?
“All I need are you and ____ to be happy.”
“I’m sorry… I couldn’t get us any more time… but even so, I’m happy… I want to thank ____… He upheld our contract and let me see you again…”
“…Uwah, they sure are thorough…”
His memory was gone. Erased. Only that name had been wiped from his mind, a clean mark against his otherwise clear memories.
Still, just because he couldn’t remember his name didn’t mean that he didn’t know anything about him. Judging by what that woman had said, he wasn’t Ryner’s enemy. But he’d still been cursed so that his thoughts cut off right at the moment where he was supposed to remember.
“…This is a pretty serious illness.” Ryner tapped his head, but it didn’t do anything to get it working. Then he lay back down in bed. He didn’t think he’d get anywhere from continuing to think like this.
“……”
Ryner stared up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes partway, tired. Doing so made the scarlet shine in his pupils fade a bit. His vision blurred the further his eyelids fell, but he continued to stare up at the blurry ceiling anyway.
“…He knows about me.”
Was he his ally? At the very least, he wasn’t wholly against Ryner. And those people, strange as they were, had managed to convey something to him.
He thought of something else the woman said.
“I’m… okay. You should hurry. Go deeper, to the door, and touch it before the Weaver of All Formulas appears…”
The Weaver of All Formulas? Not the Solver? That wasn’t him then, right? Then who was it? And what about that winged monster in there - that was the Alpha Stigma’s true body, right?
Ryner shook his head.
He wasn’t going to find any answers by thinking about that. So there was no need for him to. But that woman’s words…
“Go deeper, to the door, and touch it.”
Touch the door. That’s what she said to do. So Ryner touched it. And then he was shown something…
“…What was that?”
The man who cried and swung his sword. The goddesses screaming in agony. And the man pointing the sword at Ryner at the end of it all. The image reflected in his sword.
It was scary. It only lasted a moment, but the thing reflected in his sword wasn’t human at all. It was a demon. That was the most suitable word for it by far. It was a monster different from the red, winged monster.
Just looking at it had made Ryner freeze from fear. Tremors wracked his body, and he was filled with disgust. It had been shrouded by an ominous darkness.
But what did it mean? What was the point in showing him that?
“…What were they trying to convey to me?”
He couldn’t come up with an answer. Obviously, right? The situation was too extraordinary. He wasn’t given enough information. Even so, there was something he was supposed to get out of it all, right? What was it?
So Ryner focused all his energy and thought.
Erased memories. The letter carved into his chest. The pentagram bearing red monster. Sacrifice. Key. Door. Alpha. Seal. The woman eaten by the monster. The nostalgic voice of that man. The hole in his chest. The crying man, raising his sword up. The ugly demon reflected in the sword.
And then.
The Solver of All Formulas. The Weaver of All Formulas.
“…All… All Formulas… Formulas, huh…”
Ryner whispered to himself for quite some time as he stared up at the ceiling.
“…Hm.”
He blinked. His eyes got dry from staring at a hard problem for too long. So he closed his eyes. And stared into the darkness on the other side of his eyelids instead.
And slowly…
“…Whoa, I’m getting sleepy…”
He arrived at the same conclusion as always.
Wasn’t thinking kind of a pain in the ass anyway? Like, he was bound to get tired of thinking about something so difficult eventually… and being able to fall asleep the second after he closed his eyes was his biggest appeal.
So in summary—
“Nighty night~”
But just as he began to enter the world of dreams…
“Ryner!!” The familiar, clear voice of a woman he knew well sounded from the door as she pushed it open. “Wake up! It’s serious!”
“I’m not here~” Ryner said as he hid under the covers.
But it didn’t work. She came in and forced the covers off. “What are you saying! You’re right here!” She yelled.
“Ugh… and I was just about to take my long-awaited nap, too,” Ryner said. He sounded like death incarnate. He forced his sleepy eyes open to look up at the woman who’d stolen his covers.
She was a pretty blonde whose expression forgot to pack her emotions - his partner in crime, Ferris Eris. She spent every way acting in the most inconsiderate, selfish way possible, diabolically swinging her sword around and hitting him. Even now she was holding his beloved covers captive.
“…Whoa, actually…”
He was struck by a strange feeling. Like he was waking from a long dream.
“I like, totally feel like I just returned to reality when I saw you.”
It was like finally waking from that nightmare. But that meant…
Ferris threw his covers aside, then stole his pillow and threw that too. “Something important is happening but you’re still half-asleep… half-asleep… h, half dressed… Wh-where’s your shirt, you sex maniaaaaccc!!”
“Don’t point that at me! N-not the sword! Gyaaaah!!”
And so the same conclusion as always played out once more.
This wasn’t a nightmare. He’d woken up from his nightmare, only to be faced with the true demon he called reality… yeah, it was something like that.
“…Uuhh.” Ryner had been tossed off the bed, and was now looking up from his place on the floor. “Uuugh… You know it’s still morning, right?” He asked, looking up at the demon.
She averted her bright red face. “J-just hurry.”
“Huh? With what?”
“P-putting your clothes on, obviously!”
“Huh?” It was only then that Ryner realized what she was so worked up about. His shirt was still off. “Ahh… okay, yeah. Sorry about that.” He looked down at his chest. At the black letter buried in it. And covered the mark with his hand.
“……”
Judging by how flustered Ferris was about his shirt, she didn’t seem to have noticed the little letter. That was good.
He didn’t need to get Ferris wrapped up in this too. It was his problem. His problem…
He thought of his dream. Of all the things he didn’t understand in it.
“A-are you done yet?” Ferris asked.
“Oh, uh, not yet.”
“You’re taking too long!”
“Sorry, sorry. Wait a sec,” Ryner said. He kicked away his chest piece with the hole in it, then put on a fresh robe. Then he picked up his covers and pillow and put them back on the bed all nice and neat, then slipped back under the covers and closed his eyes. He activated his aforementioned special ability to fall asleep instantly…
“Hey, Ryner. Are you done yet?”
“……”
“…Hey.”
“……”
“Ryner.”
“………”
“Is putting on your shirt really that time consuming?”
“…………”
“Mm. Why aren’t you responding? Are you done? Can I turn around? Hey. Answer me.”
“……………”
“A-are you kidding? I’m going to turn around. Is that okay?”
“………………”
“I-it’s alright, isn’t it? I’m g-going to do it!”
“…………………”
“Farewell, Ryner.”
“Gkyah!?”
Ryner went flying right through the window from the force of her sword.
“…Huh? You’re kidding, right?”
By the way, his room was on the second floor.
Ryner looked down. The street was below him. “Seriously? I-I don’t have time to… gkyah!”
And so Ryner died.
The flame of his life…
Blew out.
But then the blonde demon jumped out through the same window and kicked his dead body!
“Gyhakaaaa!!”
“Are you awake yet?” Ferris asked.
“No, I’m dead…”
“Mm. You’ve awoken.”
“Like I said, I’m dead—”
“So let’s return to that important matter,” Ferris said.
“Huh!? Me falling from the second floor and dying wasn’t important!?”
“There’s nothing else for us to talk about…”
“…She’s ignoring me… Well, whatever… Y’know, I’d be really happy if you took your foot off my back before we got to business.”
“Hm.” Ferris nodded and stepped on him harder. “Get up, dimwit. It’s already past noon.”
“Huh? Really?” Ryner looked up at the sky. True, the sun was past its midpoint. The strength of its rays made him squint again. How long had he been lost inside his dream?
It’d been early morning when that monster and the man with the nostalgic voice attacked him. But it was noon now. So… had he been in his dream from morning to noon? Or had he been out for several days?
“Hey, Ferris.”
“What?”
“Did we eat dango together yesterday?”
“Mm. Is there something wrong with that?”
“No, nothing… as long as that’s the case.”
So he was killed this morning and woke up in the afternoon. And those guys who attacked him must’ve gone out of their way to bring him back to his inn, too.
“…Then they really aren’t my enemies,” Ryner mumbled.
“What are you talking about?” Ferris asked.
Ryner shrugged. “No, it’s nothing.”
“Mm? You’re hiding something from me?”
“No, it’s uh. It’s just about this dream I had earlier. It’s whatever.”
He was a shitty liar. But Ferris nodded in understanding. “I see. So you had another one of your dreams, the likes of which you can’t explain to other people because they’re far too terrible?”
“…You make it sound like it’s always been that way,” Ryner said, tired. “Leaving that aside, what’s your important problem?”
Ferris was as expressionless as always. But somewhere deep inside her expression, he could see that she was a little happy. It was a really small change. One that only Ryner, who was always with her, would notice… but anyway, the point was that she was happy.
That was all it took for Ryner to know what it’d be. It had to be about dango. Like maybe she found a delicious new dango shop, or maybe she had a ticket for some free dango or something. This expression of hers was pretty much always something related to dango.
“Hmm,” Ryner said. “Lemme guess. Dango agaaain?”
“Ngah!? How’d you know?”
“Bullseye,” Ryner said, a little exasperated. “Let’s see. You found a great new dango shop, so that meant you had to come wake me up and hit me, riiiight?”
Ferris shook her head. “No. You see, I’ve finished drawing up the Roland Empire Dango Map: Spring Edition. It’ll be available at bookstores starting next week. There are no dango shops that I don’t know about in this city.”
“Oh, really… Wait, spring edition? You have one for the other seasons too?”
Ferris nodded without hesitation. “Mm. I release one every season.”
“…You sure have been devoted to dango…”
“Mm. I know where all the best bean dango shops are, too,” Ferris said proudly.
“…What?” Ryner said.
“Mm. By the way, you might not have realized it, but I was making a pun because ‘been’ sounds like ‘bean.’”
“…Ahh… You’re explaining the joke…”
“Heheh, amazing, isn’t it!”
“…Y, yeah… Super amazing…”
“Heheheh.”
She seriously seemed happy about it. Ryner sighed. “Well, I’m happy that you brought me into this and all, but I’m still kinda tired, and after hearing about bean dango I’m getting hungry too.”
Ferris’ eyes opened wide. “Ohh! Let’s go get some delicious bean dango then!”
“Oh, sounds good~. Is the store nearby?” Ryner asked.
“Mm. It’s really close.”
“Then let’s talk about your important thing on the way there, yeah?”
“That’s fine. Follow me,” Ferris said, walking briskly towards her dango. It was like she’d completely forgotten about whatever was supposed to be important.
“…She forgot about it entirely in favor of dango?”
“Mm? Did you say something?”
“Nope, nothing.”
“Then let’s go! And don’t drag your feet!”
“Alrighty~”
Ryner followed her leisurely.
“……”
It was a nice and sunny day. The city was in full swing too. Maybe it was because the weather was so nice, but he couldn’t help but feel that there were more people than usual flitting in and out of shops and restaurants. The smell of grilled fish and meat was wafting out of the alleyway stores, giving the street a pleasant smell. He got hungrier and hungrier the more he walked through it…
“Augh, this is bad… My stomach’ll eat itself if I don’t distract myself before we reach the dango,” Ryner said to himself, pressing a hand to his growling stomach. “Hey, Ferris.”
“Hm?”
“Don’t you think it’s about time to talk about that important thing? It’s hard walking past all this food without a distraction.”
Ferris turned back, confused. “What do you mean?”
“You seriously forgot…?”
“Mgh?”
“I mean, you said you had something super important to talk about earlier?”
She thought for a long moment, then bopped her fist on her palm in sudden realization. “Ah, right!”
“You remembered?”
“I remembered.”
“Then talk.”
“Something terrible happened, Ryner!”
He resisted the urge to clip back that it couldn’t be that bad if she forgot all about it.
“You see, earlier when I was making my morning dango rounds…”
“You had dango this morning too?”
“Naturally.”
“That isn’t natural at all… I try not to criticise people, but you should really think about eating a more balanced d—”
She completely ignored him and talked over him instead. “And an incident occurred while I was doing my dango rounds.”
“…Incident?”
“Mm. An incident, right in front of my last stop in my dango rounds, Wynnit Dango—”
“Yeah.”
“And I—”
“Yeah.”
“…Seem to have fainted there rather suddenly.”
“Whoa!”
Ferris ignored that, too. “That’s not important, though… The real important part is afterwards. The incident that occurred after I woke up.”
“No no no wait. You don’t think suddenly fainting is important?” Ryner asked. “I mean, you fainted. You might be sick.”
Ferris shook her head. “No, I’m perfectly healthy.”
“Do perfetly healthy people faint?”
“…Hm. By coincidence, yes.”
“Like hell!” Ryner said. “Don’t you think your lifestyle’s to blame here? All you eat is dango!”
“Hm. True, I’ve gotten a bit addicted to red bean dango lately… I should try to eat a little more matcha dango too—”
“That’s not the fucking probleeeemmm!!” Ryner yelled. “Ugh, seriously. Dango’s cancelled. We’re going to eat vegetables today, Ferris. Vegetables!”
Ferris looked sad. “Uu…?”
“Make that face all you want, it’s not happening! Seriously… Look at you, fainting all of a sudden…”
He needed a break… Ryner moved his hand through his bedhead. So she suddenly fainted, huh… All sorts of health problems could cause that… The big one was that she could be anemic from eating an unbalanced diet, though. There was definitely room to improve there.
Ferris was staring at him, uneasy. “A-are you angry?”
“Of course I am!”
“…Why?”
“Because I’m worried!” Ryner said with a glare. “Like, I’d feel really bad if I learned that my partner in crime died because she ate too much dango.”
“…Mmh. But my experiment to test the theory that dango is the ultimate healthy food—”
“Do you seriously think thaaat! Ugh, that’s so obviously not true that you don’t need to test it! Overeating is bad no matter what you’re eating too much of.”
“B, but the bean dango…?”
“Not happening today!”
“…Awgh!?”
“Don’t ‘awgh’ me! Come on… This isn’t the time to be talking about food, it’s time to see the doctor. We’ll have Sion introduce us to the best doctor in the country.”
Ferris furrowed her eyebrows. “We’re going to the doctor?”
“Yeah.”
“I hate doctors.”
“What are you, five!?”
“B, but Ryner. Look how healthy I am,” Ferris said and moved her arms around to show him her complete range of motion.
Ryner glared, but was otherwise silent.
“Look, I’m not sick…”
“……”
“…Umm… so I…”
“……”
“…Uugh… I really don’t want to go to the doctor if possible,” Ferris said weakly.
“You have to go.”
“Mrmgh… But I’m healthy…”
“Yeah, but on the off chance that something’s really wrong,” Ryner insisted. But he felt a little scared saying that. Was it really such an off chance? She’d fainted without warning. Sure, she herself said that she was healthy, and anyone else would think she was more than just healthy seeing her swing that monster sword around. He couldn’t imagine that a girl like that had fainted from anemia.
So what caused it then?
“……”
Hundreds of horrible things flashed through Ryner’s mind. There were lots of horrible diseases that could make her faint suddenly. He shook his head to clear it.
“Let’s go to the castle and ask Sion… okay, Ferris?”
“…Mgh.”
She didn’t follow. “C’mon, don’t be like that,” Ryner said.
“…Mghmgh…”
Ryner smiled bitterly and held out his hand. “Geez. C’mon, let’s go. If the doctor clears you, then you can eat whatever you want. Okay?”
“…R, really?” Ferris asked, hope shining through her expression. Apparently she’d thought this meant that she’d never get to eat dango ever again. But that wasn’t the case.
Ryner nodded. “Yup, really really. So let’s go see the doctor.”
“…Mgh… Can’t be helped, then.”
They got to walking again. It was a bustling street filled with the smell of roasting fish and meat. Delicious smells were closing in on him.
“……”
He silenced his screaming stomach with a shove. “Hagh.”
“Wh, you, did you just laugh!?”
“No, no, I didn’t. I really didn’t!” Ryner insisted.
“Liar! I heard a ‘hah!’”
“No, that’s not…”
“I’ll kill you!” Ferris said.
“Don’t kill me!”
“Mgh… This is all your fault!” Ferris said. “My stomach had already decided on bean dango!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Man, I sure am hungry~”
And so the two slowly let go of their lunch plans, facing the royal castle instead.
---
His headache was terrible lately. It was intense enough to make him dizzy, enough that he periodically lost consciousness from it. His memories from around those times were fuzzy…
“……”
He pressed a hand to his aching head and looked up. His fuzzy vision slowly cleared. He was in the same place as always - his plain office with its desk and bookshelf and not much else. And his head hurt.
It was the same as all the other times he regained consciousness.
“…What was I just doing?” Sion mumbled to himself quietly so that no one else could hear.
He knew that he’d lost consciousness for a while because when he looked up at his desk, he saw an unfamiliar pile of paperwork. They hadn’t been there before. But his own handwriting covered the pages. In other words, he’d dealt with them while he was out of it.
But… all of them…?
“……”
Sion took a paper from the top of the tallest pile. It was about the problem surrounding a certain person. When he stared at it for a long time, he was able to recall. Yes, he’d made a decision regarding this, gave orders, and signed off on it already.
Yeah. He decided to do that. But he just couldn’t recall why.
“Again,” Sion groaned. “That guy again…”
He leaned back in his chair and sighed softly.
His symptoms were getting worse lately. He lost consciousness and then regained it later… but it was common for days to go by before he came to.
His body wasn’t unconscious while his mind was, though. He worked like normal, gave orders to his subordinates like normal, and talked with Ryner and the others like normal, too. And he recalled all the things that he needed to continue to live normally - for example, he remembered the documents that he went through when he was out as well as the orders he gave his subordinates. He could also remember what he talked about with Ryner and Ferris.
But he couldn’t remember what he himself had been thinking. He couldn’t recall how or why he behaved the way he did. All of those memories were fuzzy.
“…Have I… started being devoured?”
“……”
No answer.
Sion shrugged. He already knew about the side effects. Anyone who used the Sword would be slowly devoured, dirtied by the charm of power.
“…I have no intention of losing,” Sion said.
“…Heheh. Of course not, Sion. That’s why I chose you.” A voice seemed to answer from the empty air. It was Lucile Eris.
Sion stared in the voice’s general direction. “You’re not my ally.”
“I am.”
“…You’re not. You’re not an ally to me, but to the guy inside of me.”
“It’s the same thing. It’s all you.”
“…It’s all me, huh… Then why’s he trying to kill me?”
“……”
Lucile didn’t say anything.
But Sion knew. He knew that they were trying to erase him. “Seriously, who’s side are you on?” Sion asked.
“…You’re misunderstanding,” Lucile answered. “I truly am your ally. I worry so much… for you, for him. I obey both of your decisions.”
‘For you, for him.’
‘I worry so much… for you, for him.’
“You worry… for him,” Sion spat. “Ha. You worry for someone who would cut you down for how unnecessary you are? Don’t make me laugh.”
“……”
“…I…”
“……”
“…I’m going to save Ryner,” Sion said.
“…Heheh… fuah… ahahah,” Lucile suddenly laughed. “You’re as wonderful as always. That’s why I love being with you. You speak ill of him, all while lining up platitudes of your own… and moving forward exactly as you should. You’ve already dirtied your hands just so you can save Ryner… You already…”
“Shut up,” Sion said, his voice hoarse.
“…Callaud—”
“Shut—”
“Heeey, Sion! You in there~?” Someone suddenly called from outside the door. He had a lazy voice, like he was half-asleep.
“……”
Lucile’s presence that had filled the room until now disappeared abruptly, like fog clearing in the wind.
“Haah… hah hah…”
Lucile’s pressure had been crushing his chest, but now that it was gone, Sion could breathe. He rubbed his heart as he recovered his breath.
“Hey, c’mon, Sion. Aren’t you in there? If you’re not, then I’m gonna open the door up and go in myself~.”
“…Wait a sec,” Sion said. “I’m opening it now.”
Sion inhaled, then exhaled deeply, as if blowing out the darkness that’d accumulated in his lungs.
“……”
Then he smiled. It was a perfect smile that nobody could see through - all they saw was kindness radiating from it.
“I’m opening it now,” he repeated and stood. He unlocked the door and opened it, revealing the exact two he expected to see - Ryner, who looked as tired as always, and Ferris, who was as expressionless as always. “Hmm? Ryner, I thought you were going to catch up on your sleep for the next two days. You came back home pretty quickly. What happened?”
“Weeell, you seeee. This morning, Ferris here ate too much dango and fainted.”
“Huh? She fainted…? Is she okay?”
Ferris shook her head rapidly, flustered. “I-it isn’t the dango’s fault! It was just by chance. I-I fainted completely by chance.”
“Like I said, people don’t faint by chance!” Ryner said.
Sion nodded. “Ryner’s right… Do you feel off at all?”
“No, I’m healthy and full of energy,” Ferris said, her expression completely blank like always.
Sion and Ryner exchanged a look. “Or so she says,” Sion said quietly.
“What do you think, Sion?” Ryner asked.
“…Hmm.” Sion crossed his arms in thought. Suddenly fainting, huh… He was the same lately. It couldn’t be that these two figured that out and were trying to lead him into it, right…?
“By the way, does your head hurt or anything?” Ryner asked seriously.
Ferris shook her head.
“Are you dizzy at all?”
“No.”
“Nauseous?”
Ferris shook her head. “Really, I’m healthy. Overflowing with energy.”
Ryner ignored her claims and continued to question her. “Has this ever happened to you before?”
“No.”
“Then why’d you faint? Do you have any idea why it might’ve happened?”
Ferris crossed her arms and stared up at the ceiling. “Mmgh… I can’t recall what happened clearly now…”
It didn’t seem like they were trying to lead Sion on. Well, he already knew that these two weren’t the type for those games anyway. If they had something they wanted to say, they’d say it loud and clear.
“…If you fainted suddenly and can’t remember why, you could have hit your head,” Sion suggested. But he didn’t push it. Because Ferris wouldn’t hit her head out of clumsiness. She was of the Eris family, the Swordsman’s Clan. She couldn’t have lived in that environment without her abilities coming to surpass that of a human’s. Even if Sion snuck up and swung at her with all his might, she’d dodge with ease.
In other words, she wouldn’t have hit her head, and no one could have hit her head.
“Ferris, where did you faint?” Sion asked.
“In front of Wynnit Dango this morning,” Ryner answered.
“Wynnit Dango?”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t it possible that someone saw her faint then?” Sion asked.
Ryner nodded. “Apparently she went down when the old man who runs the shop went inside for a minute… Then when he came back out, he shook her awake. Umm, and then she was going on about something important—”
Ferris suddenly looked energetic. “Right! That’s what I’ve been wanting to say! The Dango God had a message for me in my dream!”
Sion tilted his head. “The Dango God?”
Ferris nodded enthusiastically. “Mm! The Dango God appeared before me while I was down and spoke. ‘I praise you for your valiant efforts day by day, and shall bestow upon you a prize!’ Yes, I’m finally being recognized for my daily efforts!”
Ryner sighed. “That was useless, thanks.”
“I-it isn’t!” Ferris insisted. “And I have proof of it!”
“Yeah, I know, I saw it earlier,” Ryner said.
“Y, you still don’t believe me, do you, fool! You should believe me if I show you a second time! It is the seal that proves that I am chosen by the Dango God!” Ferris unsheathed her sword, then held it up with pride. “Behold!!”
“……”
Even after a few seconds, Sion had no idea what he was supposed to be looking at.
“…Huh? Um, Ryner, is this supposed to be the conclusion to all this?”
“Look right there, down at the lower part of the blade by the handle.”
Sion’s eyes moved down across the sword towards where Ryner said. Lucile had once told him that it was a special sword made specifically for members of the Eris family, constructed with a special technique and alloy without relying on magic as part of its forging as so many weapons did, and so on and so on… Apparently its history was pretty detailed, but who cared about that now.
More importantly, his eyes focused on where Ryner said to look. There was a weird little something there - a small piece of paper… no, a sticker. It was a smiley face.
“…A smiley?”
“It is the Dango God’s royal vistage!”
Sion looked at Ryner at his side. “I know Ferris said so, but does the Dango God really make this face?”
“Like I’d know,” Ryner said.
Very reasonable answer.
Sion looked back to the sticker. It did look like a face. Like a face in the middle of a piece of dango. And its expression was one of contempt for humans, its lessers.
“So… so what about it?” Sion asked.
“The Dango God bestowed this mark upon my sword upon my waking!” Ferris said. Then she cradled her sword to her chest, hugging it lovingly.
“So anyway,” Ryner said, “The old man at Wynnit Dango believed Ferris’ story and said, ‘Amazing! The Dango God has finally acknowledged you, Lady Ferris!’”
“His faith in her is unwavering, huh?”
Ryner nodded.
Sion looked troubled, and spoke in hushed tones to Ryner. “So do you think Wynnit Dango’s owner put that sticker on her sword as a present?”
“…No, I don’t think so,” Ryner said. “I mean, if that was the case it’d mean that she fainted because he drugged her… but…”
Sion nodded. “Right. He wouldn’t do that. And if he did, then the Eris family wouldn’t take it quietly… which means…”
Could Iris have played a prank on her? She left the country in the morning for work, but she most likely spent last night with Ferris. But that’d mean that Ferris didn’t notice the sticker up until she woke up from fainting the next morning. But Ferris was an expert on her own sword. She would have never gone that long without noticing that it’d been tampered with. Someone had to have put that sticker there while she was out from fainting…
Ryner’s voice interrupted Sion’s thoughts. “It’s possible that Ferris put it there herself, too…”
“Hm? But if that was the case, then that would mean that Ferris drew it and stuck it on there, too, so she wouldn’t have necessarily needed to have fainted…”
It’d all just be lies.
Sion looked back to Ferris, who was giving her sword earnest respect as she carefully resheathed it. “Heheh… I had predicted this morning that something good would happen.”
“…Hmm.”
She really didn’t look like she was lying.
“What do you think?” Sion asked Ryner.
“Maybe she was messing around and put the sticker on her sword herself in front of Wynnit Dango, then fainted and her memories around there got fuzzy…?”
“Ah, so she put it there and then forgot about it… But…”
Bad thoughts crossed his mind. There were all sorts of illnesses that could cause her to faint, after all…
If a young woman like Ferris fainted out of the blue, it could happen again… And her memories from before she fainted were gone…
“But that’s…”
Sion and Ryner exchanged a glance. It looked like Ryner was thinking the same thing.
“That’s why we came here,” Ryner said. “Sion, you ought to know a good doctor.”
Sion nodded, then turned towards the door. “Lobitt!” He called loudly. Lobitt was his messenger.
The door opened.
“……”
But it wasn’t Lobitt. It was a teenager a bit older than Lobitt was - he was about eighteen years old, but his baby face made him look younger. He had an agreeable expression, wavy blond hair, and big blue eyes.
“…Calne?”
It was Major General Calne Kaiwel. He was a hero of the revolution, right up there with Claugh Klom, and a comrade of Sion’s since when he was in the military too. Claugh was his right-hand man and Calne was his left.
“Umm, sorry, Sir Sion,” Calne said. “If you’re looking for Lobitt, I’m having him deliver a love letter to a nobleman’s wife right now… Should I call him back?”
“…A love letter?” Sion asked.
Calne smiled brightly. “Yes! You see, I recently met this beautiful woman in her forties. It lit the fires of love within my heart!”
“You still haven’t been cured, huh?”
For some reason, Calne was always aiding middle-aged noblewomen in committing adultery. Sion had been hoping that assigning Fiole Folkal’s sister, Eslina Folkal, to be his secretary would help him calm down, but…
“…Eslina’s going to find out again and—”
“Ah-ah-ah!! You wouldn’t tell on me like Claugh, right?”
“No, but… Don’t do things that’d make her cry, alright? I mean, Eslina probably likes y—”
Before Sion could finish, Calne noticed Ferris inside the room. “Oh! If it isn’t Miss Ferris! It’s been too long. You’re as beautiful as always!” Calne said, then walked into the room, kneel before her, and took her hand.
“…Mm? What are you doing?”
“Declaring allegiance to your beauty with a kiss, naturally,” Calne said, then moved to lightly kiss her hand.
“……”
Sion looked at Ryner, at his expression, as if he was hoping to see jealousy.
“……”
But Ryner was yawning through it.
A little disappointed, Sion looked back over to Calne and Ferris.
Ferris moved her hand away before Calne’s lips could touch it. “Hmph. I’m not so easy that I’d accept a kiss from an unfamiliar man,” she said.
Calne clicked his tongue. “Man oh man. Rejected. And she even says she doesn’t know me… How many times have we seen each other now…?”
“Mm? Really? I have no memory of it…”
Calne laughed. “Well, you were a bit off then.”
“Off?”
“Yes. I mean, that’s when Sir Ryner disappeared, and you were really flus—”
Ferris unsheathed her sword in a flash, still proudly wearing the dango face. “Wh-what are you saying!?” She pressed the sword to Calne’s neck.
Sion couldn’t help but smile. Wasn’t acting like that a clear admission of guilt on its own?
Calne was right. Ferris had been off then, upset by Ryner’s disappearance. And now Ryner was bringing Ferris here, worried that she was sick.
“……”
Sion smiled. Despite what those two said, it looked like they were pretty close. He’d like it if this ended with them dating…
Sion looked back at Ryner, who had absolutely no interest in any of what was happening now. It looked like the ending Sion was picturing wasn’t going to happen. Calne and Eslina were like that too…
Calne’s voice had gone high-pitched with the sword at his neck. “Uh, um, umm, it was a j-joke… just a joke!”
“Th-then think more carefully before you start joking around,” Ferris said and resheathed her sword.
“I-I’m sorry,” Calne said. He touched his neck to confirm that the sword hadn’t cut him, then laughed nervously. “I thought I was a goner. You sure are lucky, Sir Ryner. Not just a beautiful woman, but also a strong woman has fallen in l—”
“Aah!?” This time Ryner and Ferris both raised their voices.
“Huh? Am I wrong?” Calne asked. “I thought you two were dati—”
“You’ve misunderstood,” Ferris interrupted. “How could you think this man, a pervert of times passed with not a shred of motivation, and me, the lovely Ferris who is blessed with the ultimate world-ending beauty, could possibly be in love!”
“Yeah!” Ryner agreed. “She might look pretty, but her personality’s horribaaaaaaaaaaaaauughh!??!!”
Ryner spun three times from Ferris’ attack before he finally fell to the ground. “Guha…”
“…So who has a horrible personality?” Ferris asked.
“I got the wrong person. I’m sorry,” Ryner said.
Sion was used to seeing them in action, but this was Calne’s first time. He watched in shock, opening his mouth several times before finally finding the words he wanted to say. “S-Sir Ryner, are you injured?”
No response.
Sion smiled wryly. “This happens all the time. Come on, Ryner. Are you okay?”
“…Uuh… I seriously feel like I’m gonna die.”
Apparently he was going to die. Sion nodded. “Yeah, he’s fine.”
“Th-that doesn’t look like fine to me,” Calne objected. “Excluding muscle-brains like Claugh, people die if they’re knocked around like that…”
“Uwah! Uwaah! Finally, someone genuine around here!” Ryner said, his voice filled with emotion. “C’mon, tell these two again! The heinous king and berserk girl need to hear it—”
“Really, though,” Calne said while Ryner was still talking. “You guys must trust each other a lot to tell these life-and-death jokes… You’re lying about not being lovers, aren’t y—”
“Aaaaaahhh!?” Ryner and Ferris raised their voices in disagreement again.
“Wh-wh-what foolishness. Why would I like this per—”
They were just going to repeat themselves, so Sion cut in. “Okay, Ferris, I’ll explain things to Calne later… The doctor is more important now, right?”
Ryner stood up from the floor quickly. “Right! Let’s stop messing around and get to the doctor’s already. C’mon, Sion, introduce us to someone quickly.”
“…Um, Ferris, are you ill?” Calne asked.
“No, I’m energetic and healthy—”
“About that. We might not know the cause, but… there’s a small chance that something’s really wrong, right? So that’s why we came here to get Sion to show us a good doctor.”
“I see,” Calne said, then glanced back at Sion. “So that’s why you were calling for Lobitt.”
Sion nodded. “Yeah. But Lobitt’s not here right now, so I’ll need to take these two myself…”
“No no no,” Calne said, flustered. “You don’t need to do that. I can do it, so… um, w-wait here for a minute!” Calne said, then poked his head out the door. “Heeey, Eslina!”
…No response.
Calne tilted his head, then looked back in the room to check the clock. “That’s weird. She promised she’d be here soon.” So he stuck his head back out to try again. “Eslina, where are you?”
“……I’m here! I was just heading over!” Eslina yelled back from quite a distance.
Calne nodded, satisfied, then turned back to face them. “Actually, this was my meeting place with her.”
“Really flaunting your status meeting girls in front of the king’s office, aren’t you?” Sion asked.
“Right? Eheheh.”
Calne laughed without a care in the world…
“S-sorry I’m late,” Eslina said, then opened the office door. She had pretty shoulder-length amber hair and wore a plain and sensible white dress.
Sion smiled as he met her eyes, which so very resembled her late brother’s. “You seem well, Eslina.”
“Ah. I apologize for not greeting you until now, Your Majesty.” She bowed perfectly. One wouldn’t think that she was only fourteen from how polite she was, but that was just proof of how wonderfully her brother had raised her. In comparison…
Sion stared at Eslina’s boss. He never even said hi, and was only ever causing problems but sleeping with married noblewomen. When he wanted to meet a girl, he used Sion’s office as the meeting place. Was it really okay to let him be around Eslina? He was a terrible influence.
Sion sighed deeply.
“Ah! Ah!! What was that sigh for!?” Calne asked. “I’m as polite as can be, bowing just as perfectly when I’m with a noble wife, you know!”
Eslina’s tone went dark. “Hmm. Calne, what did you just say about noble wives?”
“……Ah.” Calne’s cheerful expression suddenly faded, as if Eslina had blown the fire in his heart out herself. “N, no, it’s like… I mean, I was just joking…?”
“Hmm.”
“R-really.”
“W-well, it doesn’t really matter,” Eslina said. “I mean, it’s not like we’re together or anything…”
“But you’re mad at me anyway! Even though it seriously has nothing to do with you, and I should be able to have a good time with older women if I want. It’s none of your business.”
Sion really wanted to stop him before he could finish that. But when he looked at Calne’s expression, all he could do was sigh. Again.
Calne was smiling childishly. Innocently. And his eyes were perfectly calm, the kind that was carefully calculating his next move rather than speaking thoughtlessly.
Sion had seen him make that expression many times before on the battlefield. That was the face he made when, after being thrown into a horrible situation, he found a way out.
Calne was a smoothtalker, after all. A ladies’ man. A carefree and worthless guy wouldn’t be his left-hand man. He wouldn’t be on Claugh’s level of fame. He’d been brains in the revolution.
And now.
Calne was faced with Eslina. He’d just said that he liked other women and had no interest in her. Why?
“Aren’t you just trying to get in the way of other people’s romances?” Calne asked.
Eslina looked like she was going to cry. “N-no, I… I won’t get in the way! I just want you to do your work, too! You invite women over all day even when you’re supposed to be working, and you shouldn’t!”
“But that’s my job—”
“No, it isn’t!”
Sion looked up at the ceiling and whispered to the other side. “It looks like Calne will stop himself from pursuing Eslina forever, Fiole.”
“……”
Of course nobody responded.
Fiole had been close to Calne, age-wise, and they had gotten on fairly well. And pursing the sister of a dead friend…
“……”
Sion wouldn’t have done it either, he didn’t think. So it was hard to argue with Calne. Even though Fiole would probably be happy to trust Calne with his sister. He was the type who was always trying to marry her off to his friends, after all… But who exactly had he wanted to marry her, again?
He couldn’t remember. Sion searched his memories.
And then, in the very depths of his mind, he remembered.
“Hahaha. But I’m sure there are plenty of kids who genuinely yearn for you, Lord Astal. If you weren’t king, but had some other title instead, I think I’d ask you to marry my little sister.”
Sion pressed his hand to his forehead. “I’ve just remembered something terrible,” he whispered.
He was grateful to Eslina for falling in love with Calne instead of him.
“……”
Because… there was no way he’d be able to answer to anyone’s feelings. Because he was already…
Sion shook his head. That didn’t matter now. Eslina liked Calne instead of him, after all. And he felt that Calne could make her happy. He’d been friends with her brother, so falling in love with his sister after his death… huh?
“…Love’s tricky, isn’t it?” Sion whispered to Ryner and Ferris as Calne and Eslina fought in a way that made it hard to tell if they liked or hated each other.
“Hm? What’d you say?”
“Nothing.”
“This is whatever, so hurry up and introduce us to a doctor already… If you don’t, she’ll start going on about her stupid nightly dango tours and try to get out of it again.”
“S-stupid!?” Ferris sputtered. “Do you have any idea how much my nightly dango tours contribute to world peace!?”
“Like I’d know that.”
“Ngh! This is proof that you’re a worthless man!”
“Now, now, let’s get along,” Sion said. “Otherwise this will end the same as always…”
Honestly, it didn’t sound like a conversation between lovers or one with sexual chemistry at all… Sion sighed, then looked back to Calne.
“Anyway, why don’t you take Ferris to the doc—”
Sion blinked. There was a click on his hand. When he looked down, he saw that Calne had put it in handcuffs.
“Hm? What kind of joke is this?” Sion asked.
Calne ignored him. Because his focus was on cuffing Ryner with the other side of the handcuffs.
Click.
“Aahn? What’s this supposed to be?” Ryner asked.
Calne and Eslina exchanged a look, then grinned. “Preparations for the health exam are in order! Sir Sion, Sir Ryner, Lady Ferris, please get along well for your hospitalization~!”
“Huh? Hospitalization?” Sion asked.
“Why me?” Ryner asked.
Calne smiled like a mischievous kid. “I mean, Sir Sion works himself to the bone day after day, not eating and not sleeping, until he collapses. Then when he gets up again he does it all over again! I’m at my limit here! I’m hospitalizing you! You’re going to get a good rest, and the doctor will take a good look at you while you’re there and make sure you stay sane! Eslina and I have been preparing for today for a long time, and now that we’re all ready, Lady Ferris is sick too. Talk about two birds with one stone!”
“B-but I still have work—”
“That’s where the handcuffs come in,” Calne said. “I conveniently left the keys in the hospital, so you three had better come with~!”
“Hey, wait,” Ryner said. “Sion’s disease is practically incurable. He’s gonna need at least ten years in the hospital for that, and I completely agree that you should do it. But why me?”
Calne’s face blanked. “Might as well?”
“That’s stupiddd!!!”
“Oh, come on. What’s the harm in letting a doctor check you over just to be sure? I prepared lots of sexy nurses—”
“No, seriously, I don’t need any of that.”
“The beds are super comfy, since they’re suited to hosting Sir Sion?”
“…Ohhh?”
“The pillows are also made of the finest down.”
“Hmhmhm!?”
“You can forget about work and just nap all day throughout your stay?”
“My my my my my… You’re good. I like, really want to go to the hospital now,” Ryner said.
“Right? So I’m going to need you to go to the hospital with Sir Sion and keep him from thinking about work and infect him with your laidback virus, okay?”
“Oh, that’s what I’m best at.”
“Then it’s settled,” Calne said.
“No, no, no. It’s not,” Sion insisted. “I still have piles of papers that I have to get through—”
Ryner tugged his arm, pulling Sion with him. “Now, now. Stop being selfish. Act more like Ferris.”
Sion tried to pull away, but Ryner raised his cuffed hand up.
“C’mon, don’t resist.”
“I’m not going to let you do this,” Sion said. He took a defensive posture.
And so the two started to compare their strength with tug-of-war.
“Guh!”
“You ass!”
They scowled at each other as they forced all their strength into their arms.
“I w-won’t go!” Sion said.
“There’s no point in working yourself so hard that you collapse, though!” Ryner argued as he pushed.
Sion pushed back. “Y, you just want to sleep with a feather pillow!”
“Yeah, w-well I bet you just don’t wanna go ‘cause you’re scared of needles!”
“Ggh!”
“Mrmgh.”
Their strengths were evenly matched. No… could he do it? Could he win? Sion began to feel that he was a little stronger. Bit by bit, he pushed closer.
“…Ggh.”
Sion thought back to the far-off past. Back when he was a student at the special royal military academy. Back to around when he met Ryner. Back to before his friends there all died.
They’d gone to a tavern to celebrate, and somehow they got to arm wrestling pretty seriously. But Ryner didn’t have any motivation to do it, so Kiefer got mad at him until he actually tried.
Then Sion and Ryner arm wrestled. It was a pretty good match. Neither of them moved much even after a few minutes of it. But in the end… Sion came out victorious.
“……”
But he shouldn’t have, really.
Ryner was an outstanding person even among the Hidden Elites. He was called Roland’s strongest magician. An honest fight with Ryner should not result in Sion’s victory. But he still won.
And now, in the present day.
“……”
Sion put some muscle into it, and in turn, Ryner slowly gave in.
“…As if,” Sion said and suddenly gave up.
Ryner smiled meanly. “Wow, you tired?”
Sion shrugged. “I don’t feel good winning against someone who isn’t trying…”
“Huh? I’m trying.”
“Liar.”
“No, really… My muscles are only as big as they’ve ever been,” Ryner said. He looked at his own arm, then at Sion’s. “But like… haven’t you gotten a little weaker? You’re weaker than two years ago.”
“Hm?” Sion looked at his arm, too. It didn’t look any different, but maybe he had gotten weaker. Well… what could he expect? He spent every day here working on his piles of papers without ever seeing the frontlines. He narrowed his eyes, then sighed. “Alright, from now on I’ll find a little time to train.”
“No, that’s not it!” Calne said, defeated. “Just stop adding stuff to your plate. It’s already overflowing. We’re asking you to do less, not more.”
Sion smiled. “But if you admit me to the hospital, my work will pile u—”
“Eslina and I will take care of it,” Calne said. “Please take your time and rest up. We’re begging you.” He bowed earnestly, a serious expression on his pace.
“……”
He couldn’t very well continue to refuse at that point.
“…Uurgh… Fine,” Sion said. “I can stand to go for a day…”
“A week,” Calne insisted.
“…Huh?”
“We’ve made preparations for you to spend a week at the hospital, sir.”
“…What!? No, that’s too much. I don’t have the time—”
“You don’t! Take a look around the world, why don’t you. I’m sure of it - there’s no other king who works himself to exhaustion like you do.”
“B, but a week—”
“No buts!” Calne said. “We’ve already decided to have you stay a week. This is a plan we’ve been working on for the past two months. It’s too late to make any changes now!”
“T-two months?” Sion asked. “Really?”
Eslina shot him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry… I was dreaming of my brother nightly. He always told me, ‘Make Sir Sion rest! Make him take a break!’ So I told Sir Calne, and…”
“…And so you guys planned this?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Calne, on the other hand, looked happy. “No, Eslina, don’t apologize! Sir Sion is in the wrong for not even knowing what the word ‘rest’ means! It’s his fault that Fiole in heaven is worried!”
Sion couldn’t help but recall the time when Fiole was alive. He told him - nagged, even - to rest every single day…
“…Uuh…”
Sion grimaced.
“I see you’ve accepted your fate!” Calne said, pleased. “We’ll have you rest up real good~!” He turned to Ryner. “Now, Ryner, bring him here.”
“Okay~!” Ryner said and tugged him by their shared handcuffs.
Sion resisted, but…
“……”
Only for a moment.
Because the instant Ryner’s hand brushed his, he did something and twisted his arms, then hoisted him up, legs over his shoulders.
“There we go,” Ryner said.
“…You really were going easy on me,” Sion said from his place on Ryner’s shoulder.
Ryner averted his eyes. “That wasn’t brute force, it was a technique. I’m only as strong as you are.”
“Liar.”
“Aw, who cares if it’s a lie or not…”
“Could you take him and keep him from working now?” Calne asked. “He’s heavy. I can help if you need.” He smiled sweetly. “Eslina, you grab him by the legs. Ryner, you keep his shoulders down. I’ll keep his waist in place.”
“Wait,” Sion said. “I’ll go easy, so let me down—”
“No, no,” Calne said happily. “You’re a patient, so you need to take it easy. Patient transport will handle this one.”
They began to move with Sion apprehended, held up like some kind of shrine. “Um, this is kind of embarrassing…”
Nobody listened. They just carried him on out of his office.
Ferris, who had at some point began preparations for a personal dango party in the corner of the room, waved them off. “Mm. Enjoy healing.”
“Hey!” Ryner and Sion said in unison.
“You’re the sickest one here, aren’t you!” Ryner said. “The hell are you doing staying in there!”
“Ah! You can’t eat that dango!” Sion said. “You might have fainted from eating too much of it, after all…”
“B-but I’ve already become someone who will die without dango—”
“You won’t!” Ryner and Sion yelled.
“Ugh,” Ryner said. “Okay, Sion. Set the bomb off.”
Bomb…?
At first, Sion didn’t know what Ryner meant and tilted his head in confusion. But then it hit him. “Ah… that.”
“Yeah, that.”
“Alright.”
“Do it, bully king!”
Sion raised a finger… and set the bomb off! “If you don’t do as I say, then I’ll have Wynnit Dango cease operations starting tomorrow!”
“Augh!?” Ferris groaned. Her expression instantly turned to despair.
It happened amazingly fast.
She glared. “Y, you bastard…”
Sion smiled. “Ohh? You’re still going to fight it? Okay, then. Calne, go to Wynnit at once and have them cease all op—”
“Waaiiittt!!” Ferris screamed.
Ryner looked ridiculously happy with it. “Wow, this… feels great. My grudge that’s built up over the months is clearing up beautifully…”
Ferris, on the other hand, was shaking with anger. “Y-you bastards… Y-you’ll regret this later…”
“Hear that, Sion?” Ryner asked.
“Mm. Alright. I’ll start up an extra special tax for every dango shop in Roland—”
“Gyaaahh!!”
Once again, the effect was instantaneous.
“D, demon!” Ferris said.
For some reason, Ryner turned to Sion, too. “Demon!”
“Huh? Why am I the only one…? Oh, whatever. If you don’t want those things to happen, Ferris, then you need to come to the hospital with us.”
“Uuh…”
Ferris drug her feet, but she still tore herself from her dango party and followed them out the door.
With that, they were all admitted to the hospital… but the mountain of papers waiting on his desk was burned into the back of Sion’s eyelids.
He heaved a deep sigh.
---
