Mismarca Koukoku Monogatari Vol 1 Chapter 1.2

5

“Seeing is believing...Let me show you the power of this machine. Someone untie my ropes for me.”

Lunas, staring in disblief, nodded her acquiescence, and the ropes binding Mahiro were quickly untied. He mounted the bike with an expert motion, and then turned just half his body to look at Pariel.

“Hey, Pariel.”

“Eh? Y-yes, Young master?”

“Have you heard of the story 'Run, Melos!'?” [TL Note: See here.]

……

“Wait, why are you looking at me with such a direct gaze? Are you planning to escape!? Are you planning to leave me behind and escape by yourself!? You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, get yourself down from there right now!!”

“Don't worry, don't worry, I'll be back, surely! Melos definitely came back for his friend!”

“Melos did actually go back for his friend, but you're obviously Mahi! Princess! Princess Lunas, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d definitely plans on leaving me behind and escaping! Tie him up again!”

The two started arguing and shouting.

At the actions of the two, not only did the surrounding knights start laughing, even Lunas let a burst of laughter.

“Haha, ahahaha! I get it I get it...hey, untie the other over there.”

At this, the young general raised a quiet protest.

“Princess. If you do that, then those two will...”

“That's exactly my intention.”

“The enemy will know of our movements, then.”

“So what of it? Mismarca's remaining force only consists of five hundred soldiers. I can handle them myself.”

Lunas said that. She then added.

“Besides, I'm interested in this youth. For the sake of his country's progress, he was willing to sacrifice his very life. Is that not very heroic of him?”

“I feel the same, but...”

“...Anyway, though it may be cruel, but regardless of what happens, this country will face its ruin tonight.”

Lunas said this with firm conviction in a voice that held no shreds of sympathy. What entered the ears of each person present was only the strict truth. Silence returned as the loud and rowdy atmosphere that was created by Mahiro's and Pariel's quarreling instantly vanished.

This meant that the army here was no reconnaissance force. The Empire truly planned an invasion with just these troops. With these troops, armed with what was boasted to be the best equipment on the continent, this was no simple bravado.

In the first place, Mismarca only had five hundred soldiers remaining. Pariel, as a swordsman, believed the princess when she said that she could handle everything by herself. During the expansion of the Empire in the south, she set an even more astounding record for herself. It was seriously said that she had the worth of a thousand knights.

“...Though, come to think of it, if we fight such a weak country that is Mismarca, then you probably will be forced to fight too. It would be a shame if I had to kill you.”

“When you go back, tell this to your cowardly prince. If before sunset he comes here and surrenders to us, then I will spare his life.”

The clever general let out a grimace at Lunas, who was enjoying herself. For her who was so blessed by heaven, this was probably her only shortcoming.

Mahiro replied.

“I understand. Then, we'll be off.”

Really, did he truly understand? A normal person wouldn't even be able to smile in this situation. Regardless, this was not the place to bring up such a moot point. They should hurry back to the castle and report this situation.

After being untied, Pariel went to sit behind Mahiro.

“Let's go back, Pariel. Edelweiss will be mad.”

Lunas, after hearing Edelweiss's name, suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Then we will take our leave, Princess Lunas. In memorial of today's meeting with you, let me show you the true power of this thing.”

Then-

“Ahh!?”

The bike's front wheel dangled in midair as it underwent a sudden, extreme burst of acceleration. This was a feat that could not be matched even by legendary horses. The bike flashed past the knights through a hole in their formation, leaving behind only a huge roar, and vanished into the trees in the forest.

“P-p-prince! What should we do!? At this rate Mismarca will...!”

“What to do!? Isn't that decided already!!”

The prince had a reliable smile on his face as he turned his body to look at Pariel.

“Prince...!?”

“I will now become the Chuck Yeager of the Middle Plains! Two hundred kilometers, here I come!!” [TL Note: Chuck Yeager was a US Army Air Force test pilot who was the first person to officially break the sound barrier.]

The bike was going even faster than when it was climbing up the slope.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh~~!!”

“How was it?”

Lunas asked. One of the knights that she sent to the base of the mountain to observe the bike reported to her excitedly.

“Yes, that bike...it was like that young man said, it was a totally abnormal speed...! By the time we reached the base of the mountain, we could only see a trail of dust and smoke, and they had already reached Mismarca!”

“Was that so? Hmm. Very impressive. Okay, you can leave now.”

After bowing, the knight left the tent.

Reiner held back a sigh, and asked Lunas.

“...Princess, do you really plan on waiting for him?”

“What of it? We will still depart at the agreed upon time. It would be alright if the prince shows up before that time.”

Lunas then scoffed.

“But, he won't be coming. Besides, it would be unpleasant to meet with that coward. He's probably the same as those idiot aristocrats that Father introduced anyway.”

“Luna-sama, please be mindful of your words.”

The maid standing behind Lunas interjected.

Lunas sighed in irritation.

“All in all, I like that young man called Mahi or something. His name was weird, but he was quite brave.”

“ “ … ” ”

No one had anything to say to that.

“...However, huh...”

Lunas suddenly stopped talking and gazed at the paper on top of the desk.

“What is it?”

“Hmm. It was so enjoyable watching those two that I forgot that Edelweiss was here. I might've just made a mistake.”

6

“...Ah!?”

When Pariel awoke, the bike was already inside the ash-colored warehouse. Mahiro was nowhere to be seen. She thought that she was still clinging tightly onto Mahiro, but she was the only one left here.

“Huh!? Huh!?”

It wasn't a dream. Somehow, it seems like that she was still alive. It was almost night by the time that she exited the warehouse.

“Prince!? Prince Mahiro!?”

Pariel walked towards the center of the castle, yellling out Mahiro's name and asking pa.s.serbys his whereabouts as she walked along. Well, even though he was an idiot prince, with the Imperial army this close by, even he wouldn't...

“Prince!”

Pariel headed to the cafeteria after asking some soldiers and maids. She found Mahiro sitting in his usual place, complaining about something.

“I...I'm such a chicken.”

He took another bite of his chicken legs.

“Chicken like this teriyaki chicken. Only a little bit more. Only a little bit more...and I could've reached the 200 kilometers an hour benchmark!”

“Don't say that, Prince...”

“Yeah, yeah, you already became the first person to reach 190 kilometers per hour in the Middle Plains.”

“Were you using the usual mountain for a boost of speed? It's already really dangerous to go a hundred kilos even on the flat plains!”

“Ahh, but still what a shame...”

Surrounding Mahiro, who was recounting his tale of glory, were those mechanics from the maintenance warehouse, as well as ordinary soldiers and maids...wait.

(...Why is everyone so relaxed?)

After all, the Imperial army was already right under their noses. If everyone knew this, then they wouldn't be here chatting and enjoying themselves with such a peaceful atmosphere.

(...Don't tell me that he was so engrossed in sharing his tale that he forgot to tell them...?!)

“Hey! Chef! Chef, my tankard is empty! Get me another one!”

Mahiro said, and then a reply came from within the kitchen.

“Prince, if you drink anymore, you'll poison your body, you know?”

“Then get me some dried fis.h.!.+ Make me something called dried j.a.panese anchovies! What I need the most now is calcium! I need some calcium to make sure that I won't crash into the ground when I go over two hundred kilos, and come back unharmed! I'll turn this failure into motivation for my next attempt, and with the calcium I can turn the handlebars all the way to maximum acceleration!”

The chef sighed lightly, and poured the tankard full of milk before Mahiro's vacant eyes, and then returned to the kitchen to make dinner.

“What are you doing Prince!?”

“Hmm? Pariel? Can't you see? We're having a consolation meeting here.”

“This isn't the time for that, isn't it!? Did you already forget about the Imperial army that we saw on the mountain!?”

The people around them, hearing these words, were startled.

Inspite of that.

“...What kind of dream did you see, Pariel?”

“Huh?! You're the one who's dreaming!!”

“Seriously, who's the one who fainted behind me, tearing up, drooling and who knows what else.”

“There weren't anything else! Only tears! And no that's not the point...”

The atmosphere around her suddenly chilled, and she was pierced by several icy stares.

“E-eh, huh...? But...”

“Listen, I'm not my father nor my brother. Do you think I would return alive if I rushed into such a dangerous place by myself?”

Mahiro wasn't acting as he normally did, seemingly neither lying nor joking. Well, even then, he shouldn't be saying something like this with such flair.

“E-eh? H-huh? Then I was really...dreaming?”

“Hey you, no matter how young you are, you're still a knight...don't joke around like that, you know? You almost scared us to death.”

“Yeah, even though Prince Mahiro is good at running away, if he met the Imperial army even he wouldn't come back alive.”

“We had a hard time pulling you off of the prince in the garage, you were holding him so tightly...”

“Come to think of it, maybe you're the reason that he couldn't reach 200 kilometers, with you riding behind him and all. How much do you weigh?”

“Actually, maybe it was the prince being kind enough not going full out out of concern for you.”

“If it's that then oh well. That's one of the prince's good points. That's why we can't bring ourselves to hate him even though he's always so stupid.”

“It's also the same for us maids and housekeepers.”

“Mhm, mhm. If we caught another guy peeping at us, we would charge him money, but if it's the prince, then all we would do is punch him two or three times and toss him into the Connolitto River, mm.”

Ahahahaha.

Aside from Mahiro who turned pale at the last remark, everyone else calmed down and relaxed.

“No, even with her, I should've been able to broken two hundred. I have no intention of using Pariel as an excuse! It was all because I lacked guts!”

The sun had fallen without them realizing it, and it was time for dinner. The majority of the people who just came to the cafeteria were here to hear about the recounting of the prince's challenge. Mahiro was gradually surrounded by a large number of people. There were people who offered comforting words, people who said that he'll do better next time, and even those who complained that they could hear the explosive noises of the bike from inside the castle. Because Mahiro had the freedom to do as he wanted today, Pariel was able to see how he gained the trust of his va.s.sals.

Seeing this was enough, Pariel thought. Despite his imperfections as a prince, Mahiro was still able to garner such loyalty from those around him. What he said about testing out the bike for the mechanics and their plans when they were caught by Lunas...now that she thought about it, it might actually be true. Unexpectedly, Mahiro might actually have the best interests of the country in mind.

Despite the festival mood here, Pariel had to hurry to report what happened earlier, so she was about leave from here.

“Anything wrong?”

“Ah? Edelweiss-sama! I have something to report! Something very important to report!!”

Pariel left the cafeteria with Edelweiss, who looked as she always did to some place where no one was around. There, Pariel related everything that happened today to Edelweiss.

“...So we should hurry and close the gates, and raise the defenses in the castle...”

“Is that the prince's command?”

“Huh? It's not, but...”

“Then there is no need for that.”

“Edelweiss-sama!”

Pariel didn't give up so easily.

“His Majesty has already informed me what happened when you two went into the mountains. The part about Princess Lunas, too.”

“T-then, why...everyone inside the castle, why are they so nonchalantly...?”

“His Majesty ordered me not to tell anyone else.”

Pariel didn't understand.

“Does....does he mean to surrender Mismarca to the Empire?”

Edelweiss didn't bat an eyebrow at this, but merely raised her index finger to her lips. It seems that Pariel was speaking a bit too loudly.

“Pariel, consider this. If you ever become a general, and receive orders to command your soldiers to attack a castle...”

Pariel thought that right now, it wasn't very likely for her to ever become a general.

“Y-yes...”

“What would you do if you found that your enemy wasn't prepared at all for battle, their defenses lacking, and their gates open?”

“...I would attack them before they finished preparing for battle.”

“Naturally.”

(Then why ask?)

This was something that even a child unfamiliar with warfare or swordsmans.h.i.+p could answer.

“But what would you think if your enemy didn't react even with your troops right in front of them, with no preparations for battle and with their gates even wide open?”

“Eh? Um. Then, I would...”

Hesitate. Feel that it was unbelievable. Suspect that there was a trap.

“Unless there was an idiot defending the country, anyone would feel the same.”

“Wait, but, there actually is an idiot defending this country right now!”

“Pariel. Don't say something like that about your master.”

You said it yourself! Ah, but this person's master was the king himself, so maybe it was okay that way. Must be good~.

“Then, conversely, if a well-known tactician was known to be defending the castle?”

“...It must be a trap then. But such a person...”

Pariel was half-finished with her sentence when Edelweiss pointed to herself.

7

“It's time.”

“No changes in the “rumor”?

“...What does this mean? Was that not reconnaissance, after all?”