蘇りの魔王(Yomigaeri no Maou) – Chapter 23

Chapter 23 – Royal Capital Desielt＊

After a 7 year time-skip and a few chapters…
Short Recap: http://pastebin.com/9QYzKAtA

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“You can see it now, Ojisama!”

Said Iris turning to face him, after peering out from the canopy of the carriage.
Her red eyes sparkled from the light of the midday sun, and her silver hair floated about in the wind.

It had been a few days since they left the ashen stone walls of that city, and Luru and Iris were headed to the royal capital.

They could see it not too far away, a much larger, and more colourful and metropolitan town compared to Finále.
It was unmistakably the royal capital, and was the first metropolis that Luru and Iris had laid their eyes upon since coming to this era.

Finále turned out to be a town where all sightseeing could be finished in a day, and they departed from it as a matter of course, so it felt like they left without really seeing anything.

This time the desire to properly have a look about throbbed in his heart.

“Everybody is in that city, huh… Gran, Yuumis, Rusty, Mii, Yuuri… Everybody…”

Muttered Luru as he felt deeply moved for some reason at the sight of the city in the distance.
When he did, Iris nodded and said,

“Indeed. Normally Otousama would be there as well, but he is still on holiday in the village… We will probably meet him here one day as well, won’t we?”

“Otousan, huh? …Well, he works for the royal palace, so he probably won’t come into contact with adventurers like us, though. We can probably meet him on a day off, though.”

And like that, their horse carriage arrived at the city.
They arrived at a city gate that was incomparably larger than Finále’s, and it was hard to even imagine how much effort was needed to open and close it.

“The gate opens and closes with a Magus Tool, you know.”

Said the coachman in reply.
Indeed, now that they looked at it closely, they could see lines of mana in some configuration inside the gates.
The configuration was simple, but when you considered that all it needed to do was open and close the gates, it was plenty.
However, the efficiency was extremely bad, and probably even a magician of Yuumi’s class would be quite exhausted after just opening and closing it.
When they asked about it, it turns out that it was created just a little while after the founding of the country, and this was the limit of the technology in the day.
In modern times when Magus Machines were starting to appear on the market, they might have been able to create something a little better, but the reason they didn’t do so was because of the budget, as well as the historical significance of the gate.
They didn’t want to destroy the gate with its noble history, in other words.
And actually, because it was a Magus Tool that only needed to be opened in the the morning, and closed at night, they didn’t really feel the need to replace it.

Luru and the other two chatted about this while waiting in the line before the gates.
There were a great many people and carriages lined up before the city gates, and it didn’t seem that they would be able to enter in just a few minutes.

“Today seems more packed than usual, huh… I wonder if something happened.”

Said the coachman, as he tilted her head.
Then, a woman who seemed to be a resident of the city was about to pass by them, when the coach called out to her.

“Could you spare a little time, perhaps?”

The woman turned to face him.
Looking closely, she was wearing armour made from monster fur, and at her hip hung a rapier.
It seems that she was an adventurer woman.
She frowned a little at being accosted, but it wasn’t as though she was particularly unhappy about it.
Tilting her head, she asked,

“What is it?”

Her voice held power that came from the depths of her stomach, and it was intense enough that you felt a little shocked at suddenly being spoken to.
It wasn’t as though she was a battle maniac, but it seems that she really was the type that liked strength.

“Ahh, I just had a little question, you see… It’s quite crowded today, so I was wondering if something was going on.”

Being told this, the woman looked at the line and nodded in assent.

“Ahh… They probably came to see that.”

“That?”

The coachman tilted his head in confusion.
Luru was curious as well, and started listening in on the conversation.
Just what on earth was that?

The woman continued.

“Just recently, a low class, but still rather large fire dragon was subdued, you see. They’re carrying the corpse in and holding a dismantling performance. And pretty flashily too; they’re doing it in the central plaza, and even normal guests are invited, you see.”

At her words, the coachman’s eyes widened in shock.

“A fire dragon!? That’s quite amazing… Even in the whole wide capital, I didn’t think there were many who could do something like that. I wonder if the capital is filled with more talent than I expected.”

Said the coachman, with interest.
However, the woman shook her head at his words.

“No, it’s as you say. Those who can do such a thing are pretty rare… But if it’s the top class adventurers, that’s a different story. After all, there are quite a few capable people in Desielt right now. In particular, the guys at the Seekers of the Ages{Elam Kupidor} are quite the popular topic these days. The clan leader Gran, and the subleader Yuumis are quite the thing, but the newcomers are doing pretty well too, you see. I’m quite looking forward to their growth… Well, the ones who killed the fire dragon were Gran and Yuumis though.”

Said the woman, looking somewhat delighted.

“Hehh, I see… Thank you. I understand perfectly now. Sorry for taking up your time. It’s not much, but this is my thanks.”

Said the coachman, before taking the woman’s hand, and dropping a silver coin in it.
The woman’s eyes widened a little and she said,

“…How rare. You’re a travelling merchant, aren’t you? Merchants who do this kind of thing are pretty rare these days, but…”

“I think relationships are important.”

“Hohoh[-impressed sound-]… I see. Got it. I’m Himeros of the Nuns{Manaka}. Remember me. If you ever need an adventurer for something, I’ll take it up.”

“Ohh, thank you for that… Well then, see you again someday.”

“Yeah, see you again… You kids in the back, too.”

With that, the woman, Himeros, headed towards inside the city with a smile on her face.

After they couldn’t see her anymore, Luru said to Iris,

“…Gran and everybody sure have been keeping at it, huh.”

“Yes… It seems so. However, I do feel a little bit that if this congestion was because of them, I’d have preferred if they had done it yesterday, or tomorrow…”

While looking at the line that seemed to go on forever, Iris said, and sighed.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Welcome to Royal Capital Desielt!”

The line before them leading into the city was finally dealt with, and by the time they heard these words from the guard soldier, the day was already darkening, and the madder red sun could be seen in the distance.
Whilst the carriage advanced along the main street of the capital, Luru was thinking that it was a shame that the day would end with just finding an inn.

“Even though I was thinking that we’d finally get to sightsee in a human city…”

Sighed Luru, to which Iris smiled and replied,

“If you think about it carefully, we demons have never set foot in a human city, have we? …In those days, they were properly protected with a holy barrier, and if you were going to enter, somebody small like me would have had to be prepared to be vaporised, but…”

“It was the same for me. After all, barriers like what Yuumis used are no comparison with the barriers the humans used in the old days, huh… To begin with, even the fundamentals were different, so I guess that much is obvious though.”

In the past, large human cities would unfailingly be clad in a holy barrier.
However, they hadn’t seen such a thing in this era even once.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t as though they couldn’t see the remaining vestiges of it, but if it were things of a scale that could annihilate an ancient demon, then they hadn’t seen one even once.

“…The demon race has declined, as have the humans. Just where on earth did the glorious civilisation that drove us to the brink disappear to…?”

Muttered Iris, as she gazed into the distance.
Luru held the same question in his heart.
Though they couldn’t match the demon race when it came to Magus Machines, having said that, had they used all of their technology, the humans had once possessed even the ability to produce weapons powerful enough to destroy the demon king.
Though this was the case, that technology could now even be said to be non-existent, and they held nothing but primitive technology that you could feel a type of peacefulness from.
It was mysterious.

However, right now Luru and Iris held not even a hint that could lead them to an answer.

“I wonder if we’ll find out if we research it… Should we head to the library tomorrow?”

Muttered Luru, as he thought back on the past.
Iris however, spoke as though to butt into Luru’s train of thought.

“No, perhaps we should become adventurers first… Ah, but perhaps Gran-san and Yuumis-san’s clan comes before that…”

“Ah, now that you mention it, that’s right.”

Now that she mentioned it, he realised that he had completely forgotten, and suddenly smiled.

“Gran-san and Yuumis-san, and Rusty and the others as well would be sad if they found out you forgot, Ojisama.”

Said Iris, and Luru replied in a lonesome voice,

“I wonder about that. Don’t they seem to be having a surprising amount of fun…?”

Iris seemed a little shocked at that expression, and then spoke with a smile.

“…Could it be that you’re feeling lonely, Ojisama? From what we heard, it seems that they are doing quite well, after all.”

Iris’ guess was dead on, and pouting, Luru replied,

“…I mean, they subdued a fire dragon, you know. We were left aside… It’s really envious.”

“The ones who killed the fire dragon were Gran-san and Yuumis-san though… Huhu…”

After saying that, Iris laughed, and Luru tilted his head in confusion.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No, it is just that… Ojisama, you were quite cute.”

“Eh…?”

“My apologies… I do not often see you acting like this, so I felt it fresh… The Ojisama that I knew was the head of the demon race, and always exuded a mighty and dignified charisma, and was always completely looked up to… You were such an immensely popular leader. However… Right. I’m sure it was because father often saw this cute side of you… that he was able to act in such a manner around you.”

Iris spoke, as though suddenly realising something.
Because her prediction was more or less on the mark, Luru knit his eyebrows together.

“That guy played with me since a long time ago, after all…”

“I am sure that he knew that you were somebody fun to tease…”

Bacchus.
Certainly Luru felt that they had such a relationship.
The fact that in this era Bacchus had become known as an apostle of the church, or a saint of the church or something, sort of felt like it was a prank on Luru.
But well, he probably wouldn’t go that far to tease Luru…
There was probably some meaning to him being worshipped like that.
And this was something that Luru wanted to investigate…

So thought Luru.

“We’re almost at the inn.”

While they were deep in conversation, it seems that they had almost reached the inn they would be staying at.
Tomorrow, the coachman would be departing from the capital, and this time would be headed to villages in the opposite direction to Luru’s to commence his travelling merchant job, so today would be the last time they would be together.
From tomorrow, they would have to find an inn by themselves.
Thinking this, certainly, rather than the library or whatever, it was more important to look for Gran and the others, or register as adventurers first.
While considering this calmly, he once again realised his festive mood.

They arrived at the inn, and whilst alighting from the carriage, Luru spoke to Iris.

“Tomorrow, first of all, let’s head to Gran and the others.”

And upon hearing this, Iris nodded and replied,

“I ‘m looking forward to meeting Mii and Yuuri.”

The reason that Luru didn’t tsukkomi with a ‘No Rusty?’ was not really because he had forgotten about him again.

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akaneiro　茜色（あかねいろ） is always in the dictionary as ‘madder red’. However, though sunsets are said to be akaneiro in Japanese, sunsets are of course not madder red at all. This makes me wonder just who on earth decided that 茜色 was madder red, as I’m sure there are plenty of other colours that suit this better. Could it just be a poetic thing? That sunsets aren’t actually madder red, but Japanese people are just used to the concept of ‘a madder red sunset’ and just say it as a phrase, no matter if it’s actually vermillion or orange? I’m not sure. At least when it comes to things outside of sunsets, certainly 茜色 things are often madder red, but… Anyway, the point is that the sunset that they see may or may not be madder red. It may perhaps just be a stock phrase, and the true colour of the subset may actually have been orange or some other colour. I am aware that this has no real relevance to the plot.

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huhuhu is a chuckling sound. Indeed, chuckling actually does sort of sound like ‘huhuhu‘. I am unsure why English laughter is limited to hahaha, hehehe, and hohoho but I have decided this is not a matter of ‘weeaboo or not’, but simply the fact that English laughter sounds are dreadfully lacking. You may have seen this written as ‘fufufu’ in other media.

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‘somebody fun to tease…‘ からかいがいがある means that there’s merit in teasing them, i.e. you’ll get a rise, or a cute reaction out of them. Thus, からかいがいのある人 refers to such a person.

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/Chapter 23 END