Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Volume 7.5

by Takehaya

  Alaia’s allies all reminded Koutarou of people he knew, but there didn’t seem to be an analog for Yurika.

  “Well, I guess that would be like her...”

  Koutarou smiled wryly. Yurika was truly a hapless girl, so her being the only one not present would, in its own way, be just like her.

  “What’s wrong, Blue Knight?”

  “Seeing everyone here just reminded me of my friends in my hometown.”

  “I see. People you love?”

  “Yes.”

  Koutarou humbly nodded.

  That’s right. Right now I can definitely say that I do.

  Koutarou was a little surprised at the firmness of his answer. And with that, his urge to return home as fast as possible grew even stronger.

  “More than me?”

  “Of course I adore you the most, Princess Charl.”

  In reality, Koutarou loved the friends in his “hometown” more than Charl, who he had just met. But he would feel bad breaking young Charl’s heart by telling her that, so made the adult decision to tell her a white lie.

  “Well said, Blue Knight! You have my praise!”

  Still riding on Koutarou’s back, Charl cackled. As Koutarou glanced at her face, he noticed a horse out of the corner of his eye. It was Alaia’s steed. After she had fallen off, it had come back here on its own.

  A horse. Of course it’s a horse...

  Koutarou stared at the horse. Although it was certainly a horse, it looked slightly different than ones he was used to seeing on Earth. The body was a similar shape and size, but it had a horn and its mane and hooves were different. Horses on Forthorthe looked more like unicorns. And as Koutarou stared at it, the horse stirred and moved away as if to escape Koutarou’s gaze. Its gestures were quite distinct.

  “It couldn’t be... right?”

  “What is it, Blue Knight?”

  “That horse...”

  “What about it?”

  It looked like Yurika. But swallowing back those words, Koutarou approached the horse with Charl still on his back.

  “This horse is my sister’s. It’s very smart. Even if it gets separated from my sister, it comes back on its own.”

  “If Yurika ever got separated from us, she’d get lost and never make it back.”

  “Did you say something?”

  “This horse has very lovely mane.”

  “It does, right?”

  Charl strengthened her grip around Koutarou and cheerfully boasted about her sister’s mount. Since Charl and Alaia would often ride the horse together, it was her favorite too.

  “Neigh!”

  When Koutarou approached, the horse whinnied and turned its head away. Seeing that only furthered Koutarou’s suspicions.

  Man, Yurika... Just like always, you have no luck whatsoever.

  To Koutarou, the horse turning its head away like that gave off much the same impression Yurika did while she was acting as the horse’s rear in the play and failed at something.

  “No matter how good you were at playing the part, ending up a horse is just too much...”

  Koutarou muttered to himself while pityingly admiring the animal. There was a girl here that reminded him of everyone back home, except Yurika... who was a horse. Koutarou couldn’t help feeling sorry for her and her extremely bad luck.

  But in spite of all Koutarou’s compassion for his roommate, something unexpected happened. Shortly after Koutarou finished mumbling to himself, the horse took off at full speed as if trying to escape.

  “What’s going on? Nobody did anything to startle it.”

  “Ah, look out!”

  But in the settled darkness of the night, the horse tripped not long after running off. That wasn’t the end to the surprises, however. When the horse crashed into the ground, its body was wreathed in white smoke. And once the smoke cleared, what was left wasn’t a horse, but a lone girl wearing a dark robe and holding a large staff.

  “Yurika?!”

  The costume was cut of plain black cloth. The staff was roughly hewn like it had been hand-carved from a tree branch. But together, this was definitely the appearance of a magical girl, not too dissimilar from Yurika when she was cosplaying.

  “A magician?! Your Highness, get back!”

  “Okay.”

  Koutarou was just surprised that a girl like Yurika had appeared, but Flair’s reaction was different. She quickly put herself between the girl and Alaia, and warned the group to stay alert.

  “It’s an enemy spy! Veltlion, I’ll leave Her Highness and the others to you!”

  “I got it!”

  Despite his astonishment, as soon as Koutarou heard the words “enemy spy,” the urgency of the situation set in on him and he snapped back to his senses. Even though this girl looked like Yurika, she could still be their enemy. The threat of danger was very real.

  “Clan, keep an eye on our surroundings!”

  “I already am!”

  Flair dashed past Koutarou. After Koutarou retreated back to Alaia, he let down Charl from his back.

  “Kuh!”

  “You’re not getting away!”

  The girl in black stood up and tried to run, but it seemed she’d been quite hurt in the fall, and she was slow to move. Because of that, by the time she went to make a break for it, Flair was already right in front of her.

  “Gather, spirits of the—”

  “You’re too slow!”

  The girl quickly pointed her staff at Flair, but Flair was ahead of her. She effortlessly drew her sword from its sheath, and with a firm step forward, knocked the staff out of the girl’s hand.

  “That’s enough!”

  Flair’s sword stopped just at the girl’s throat. Flair wanted her to know that if she moved a finger or said a word, she would be killed. And the message was received. The girl froze and stopped herself mid-sentence.

  “An enemy spy... and a magician at that?”

  This would make Koutarou’s second meeting with a real magician.

  The masterminds behind the coup d’etat were Forthorthe’s minister of finance, Maxfern, and the head of the court magicians, Grevanas.

  Forthorthe was a warrior culture society, so even if someone had a great deal of talent or skill, without the title of a knight, it afforded them no prestige. Not even as a minister or the head of the court magicians. In Forthorthe, those who didn’t stand to fight on the front lines in battle could never gain the same reputation and standing of those who did. Maxfern and Grevanas conspired to usurp the imperial throne because they couldn’t stand that system.

  At first they had tried to steal it with machinations of their own design. They fabricated a case against the emperor, alleging misuse of the country’s funds. They claimed the emperor was prioritizing giving land and money to royalty. Using his position as a minister, Maxfern schemed to make the accusations as convincing as possible and planted the seeds of rebellion in the hearts of the established knights. But in reality, Maxfern and Grevanas were the ones siphoning the funds.

  Their next ploy was widespread bribery using the large sums of money they had embezzled combined with profits from selling alchemy techniques to foreign countries. They successfully had many established knights under their thumb that way, and they weren’t all just knights blinded by the money either. The established knights that had been sent into poverty because of Maxfern’s schemes had no choice but to accept the bribes in order to keep managing their territories.

  They then set up a trap for the established knights that remained loyal to the throne and wouldn’t accept bribes. Between injustice, rebellion, murder, and other intrigue, they used any means necessary to pin guilt on the established knights and reduce their numbers.

  And now that this had been carrying on for over a decade, most bands of knights obeyed Maxfern, leaving only a handful still loyal to the royal families. With the numbers in their favor, Maxfern and Grevanas decided that trickery was no longer necessary to achieve their goals, and they finally openly t
ook action against the throne.

  They “uncovered” a case and used it to denounce the emperor. They then murdered the emperor and empress and accused Alaia of the crime. They tried to have her arrested in order to effectively bar her from her position as princess.

  At the time the murders took place, Alaia was being visited by Fauna, her old classmate, and Flair. Charl had joined them as well. Suddenly, Mary—who had witnessed the murder of the emperor and empress—burst into the room, exclaiming Alaia and the others needed to flee.

  Since Maxfern had already seized the palace, escape was incredibly difficult. However, through the guidance of Maxfern’s niece Lidith and some of the alchemists, they were able to make it out. At that time, most of the alchemists were already under Maxfern’s thumb, but there were still a few that were loyal to the royal families.

  Once the girls escaped the palace, Alaia and her cohort decided to flee north to Pardomshiha territory. The Pardomshiha family had strong ties to the royal families, and their lands were Flair’s homeland. Alaia’s plan was to flee there to rally her allies before making her return.

  However, pursuers were right on their tail as soon as they fled the palace, so their journey was perilous from the very start. Flair was their only capable fighter since the other five girls were all frail. They had never even held weapons before. In contrast, their pursuers were elites of Forthorthe’s army and court magicians. Their goal was Alaia’s capture, or if that proved too difficult, her murder. That the girls had made it so close to the Mastir checkpoint while avoiding their pursuers was proof of Flair’s loyalty and hard work.

  However, there were only two ways to get through the mountains to the Mastir checkpoint, and it was in the mountain pass that their pursuers had finally caught up to them. Although Alaia and the girls had each somehow escaped, they were all scattered. Shortly after that, Koutarou had found Alaia running from the men who’d chased her down.

  “That was when Layous-sama appeared.”

  “I see. So it was under such dire circumstances...”

  Alaia’s story more or less followed Theia’s script. Although minor details were different, the events were largely happening the way they did in the play. Koutarou stopped eating to think about what that meant for them. The meal Mary had prepared was delicious, but there was a great deal on his mind.

  If we’re following the play, that means that after we get attacked by brigands, we’ll make it to the checkpoint, but...

  The red flames of the fire lit up Koutarou’s face.

  “If we keep pressing forward like this, we’ll almost certainly get ambushed by the army...”

  Unable to gather his thoughts, Koutarou sighed slightly. He was concerned about the differences between the current situation and the script Theia had written. As things were now, it was sounding like the Blue Knight would end up fighting the army. But according to Theia’s script, they were attacked by bandits. Yurika had even played one. And right after that was the famous checkpoint scene, so having to fight both bandits and the army didn’t seem right.

  Did Theia omit the fight with the army? Or is this because history’s changed...?

  For some reason, Theia’s version of the story had the Blue Knight fighting brigands and not the army. But because the reason for that that wasn’t very clear, Koutarou wasn’t sure on how he should proceed.

  “Clan, what actually happened after this according to history?”

  Troubled, Koutarou whispered to Clan sitting next to him to try and get some answers. Clan, however, shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

  “I’m not very informed about all of the details. I only know what I’ve seen in plays and movies.”

  The Blue Knight was a legend in Forthorthe, but Clan was no historian. Her knowledge on the subject mostly came from popular culture. Theia might have known better, but she was two thousand years away right now.

  “Listen, Veltlion, it would be reckless to continue forward knowing there’s an ambush. And since a spy has slipped into our ranks, it’s obvious that an ambush is in the cards.”

  Flair identified the heart of the matter as she pointed over her shoulder. Not too far behind her was the magical girl in black tied to a tree with rope. She was currently struggling to escape her bonds, but she was tied up well enough that she couldn’t slip out.

  If I told Yurika, she’d definitely be happy...

  Surprisingly, the girl was an actual magician. Before they managed to restrain her, she had used several minor spells in resistance. But since her staff—which amplified her mana—had been taken away from her, the spells hadn’t done any real damage. Even so, just learning that magic really existed was a shock for Koutarou and Clan. There were magicians in the play, of course, but they had both just assumed that was a fantastical embellishment.

  “Well, it’s not like she would have had that many chances to transform herself and sneak in as the princess’s horse.”

  After the group scattered and the magician had lost sight of Alaia, she tracked down Charl and the others instead to observe them. After meeting up with them, she continued to pretend to be a horse so she could wait for her chance to capture Alaia, but she was passing information on to her allies all the while. That’s what Koutarou had come up with, and he didn’t see any way he could be wrong. She’d just mistaken Koutarou’s interest in her as a sign she’d been found out. She’d panicked and tried to escape, but that led to her being captured instead. If that hadn’t happened, it wasn’t hard to imagine that Alaia’s journey would have come to an abrupt and unfortunate end shortly thereafter. After the group had subdued the magical girl, however, they moved away from the waterfall and deeper into the forest.

  “If we keep going, it’s almost certain we’ll fall into the trap that’s already been laid for us.”

  “That’s rough...”

  The gears of Koutarou’s mind began turning again after what Flair said. Alaia’s party mostly consisted of normal girls that couldn’t defend themselves. Koutarou’s fighting capabilities were considerable thanks to his armor, but he had almost no real experience. Clan was in a similar situation. That meant the only proper soldier among them was Flair. If they clashed with the Forthorthian army as they were now, protecting the girls would be next to impossible.

  “Lady Pardomshiha, wouldn’t taking a detour be the only option we have?”

  Clan finally broke her silence. Playing her role as a servant, she had left the talking to Koutarou up until now, but she suddenly muscled her way into the conversation.

  “Clan?” Koutarou asked, a little surprised.

  “I’ll let you in on the details later,” she whispered back to him.

  She left Koutarou in the dark, but rather than alleviating his confusion, she continued her conversation with Flair.

  “If we take a detour from the highway and cross the mountain instead, we’ll be able to avoid the army. The terrain will be difficult to traverse, but it’s better than walking into a trap.”

  “Hmm... If we can do it before they expand their search area once they notice they’ve lost contact with their mole, it might be worth trying.”

  Flair agreed with Clan and made up her mind.

  “At daybreak tomorrow, we’ll take a detour from the highway and cross the mountain towards the Mastir checkpoint. Everyone rest easy for the night.”

  And so their path forward was decided, and Alaia and her party were given a moment’s respite.

  Koutarou tossed a piece of wood into the fire to keep it from going out. It popped and crackled as it ignited, and the fire grew slightly larger. Although there was a chance it could give their location away to the enemy, the fire was necessary to keep them warm and to ward off any animals that might attack them in the night. Fortunately, Flair had picked a good spot for their camp. Their risk of being discovered was diminished because the fire was largely concealed by the dense tree cover around them.

  “So how does it look?”

  “Just wait a minute..
. Um...”

  Clan was sitting next to Koutarou. It was now past midnight, and they were the only two still awake. The other girls were sleeping on the other side of the fire, covered by blankets. Once they’d decided on what to do tomorrow, Alaia and her party went to sleep to rest up for the coming journey. The group would take turns keeping watch and keeping the fire alive throughout the night. Just after midnight was Koutarou and Clan’s turn.

  “It looks okay. There are no large animals or people in the area.”

  Using her observation device, Clan watched over their surroundings. She let out a small sigh of relief when the results indicated there was no sign of danger. The campsite Flair had picked was safe.

  “I see. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  As she responded to Koutarou, Clan couldn’t help but think what a strange turn of events things had taken.

  The Blue Knight act is one thing, but to think I’m cooperating with this man...

  Just half a day ago, Clan had frantically been trying to kill Koutarou. But through some twist of fate, they had been put in a situation where they had to work together. And now they were even talking to one another in a friendly manner. To Clan, it was just so utterly bizarre.

  “By the way, Clan, why’d you say that before?”

  “What?”

  Clan emerged from her thoughts when Koutarou asked her that. But since her mind had been on something completely different, she wasn’t sure what he was talking about at first.

  “You know, when you suggested to Flair-san that we should take a detour from the highway?”

  Koutarou said “Flair” and not “Lady Pardomshiha” because he felt like he could speak freely when it was just him and Clan. In their current situation, she was really the only person he could be himself around.

  “Ah, so that’s what you meant.”

  “Yeah. I was sure you’d stay quiet so we wouldn’t change history.”

  “It’s really the opposite, Veltlion.”

  Clan felt a similar openness around Koutarou, and she’d dropped all formalities with him. Oddly enough, they’d found themselves in a situation where they were most comfortable around each other, despite being enemies.