DAR Vol. 6 Chapter 24 Part 1

Chapter 24 – Crisis in the Royal Capital’s Sea

The woman who called herself Scarlet smiled warmly.

She was dazzlingly beautiful. Even Roa, who was ordinarily indifferent to such things, found himself catching his breath.

If what she said was true, then she was Prince Dietrich’s mother… in other words, the Queen. She possessed not only beauty, but also the commanding presence befitting someone of royal station.

The sailors around her were not prostrating themselves, but they were clearly gazing at her with fervent admiration. Was it because of this nation’s free-spirited temperament that they did not bow before their queen, or had the thought simply never occurred to them? Even Captain Sabas and the Sword Saint merely stood there, eyes wide, staring at her with undisguised intensity.

Her vivid scarlet dress, cut daringly low, fluttered in the sea breeze like a roaring flame.

Her platinum hair, cropped to about shoulder length—unusually short for a noblewoman—matched her eyes in color.

Her skin was so fair it almost seemed translucent.

She was slender, and her chest was modest, but the lean musculature of her body looked even more provocative than a fuller figure would have. Her crimson lips curved into a gentle smile for Roa.

She looked to be around Dietrich’s age, perhaps a little older, yet there was something elusive about her, as though her age could not be pinned down.

“Um…”

“P… Pigyaaaaaaaaaah!!”

The instant Roa tried to answer the Queen, a shriek rang out. Roa and the twin magic wolves, Roo and Phi, turned around at the sound.

“Uncle Gry?!”

That voice was unmistakably Uncle Gry’s, who had been following along behind Roa and the others.

But before Roa and the others could fully turn around, Roa’s body was yanked backward.

“Eh?!”

<What?>

<What happened?!>

At the same instant as Roa cried out in surprise, the twin magic wolves also raised confused voices. Their bodies had been dragged along with Roa’s.

It was Uncle Gry’s magic.

Without giving them any chance to protest, Uncle Gry pulled Roa and the twins to him, wrapped his wings tightly around their entire bodies, and kicked off the floor to take flight.

But he did not succeed…

“Oh my. Screaming and running away the moment you see my face? You are as rude as ever, Gryphon.”

Queen Scarlet gave a light wave of her hand, and Uncle Gry’s body, just as he was about to launch into the air, was slammed down onto the deck of the ship.

A heavy thud rang out. The deck caved in deeply, and splinters of wood flew everywhere.

As though something were pinning him down from above, Uncle Gry collapsed there and stopped moving.

<…You…>

Moving only his neck, Uncle Gry glared at her with undisguised resentment. But Queen Scarlet, standing at the end of that gaze, merely returned a delighted smile.

“There is no need to run. I have no intention of doing anything to you. At least, not as long as you remain Roa’s familiar.”

<Like hell! You said sweet things while trying to kill me without a second thought! Over and over again!!>

Uncle Gry desperately struggled, trying to throw off whatever was restraining him. But some unseen force had him pinned in place, and would not permit even the slightest movement.

“My, what little faith you have. I was only punishing a naughty boy, that is all. You troublesome Gryphon who loved mischievous pranks. If you do nothing bad, I will do nothing to you.”

<I am a good boy!!>

“You are still saying such absurd things. You have not changed a bit. I do not know whether I should be pleased or saddened by that.”

As Queen Scarlet’s smile deepened, she swept her platinum eyes across the area.

Around her, Captain Sabas and the sailors, along with Dietrich and Kristoff, were all bewildered by the sudden turn of events. All they could do was watch the woman and the Gryphon in breathless silence.

Most of those present could not hear Uncle Gry’s voice.

Only Dietrich and Kristoff could understand the exchange. To everyone else, Queen Scarlet’s lines must have sounded like she was talking to herself, and her actions must have seemed suspicious in the extreme.

“…I would rather not let my darlings see too much of this. Sleep.”

The moment Queen Scarlet murmured those words, the sailors dropped where they stood like puppets with their strings cut.

Then they lay down as they were, and fell asleep.

The Sword Saint and Captain Sabas resisted, but only for a few moments. A handful of seconds later, even they could no longer endure it. They sank to their knees and fell asleep as well.

“Wha… what the hell?”

No one answered Dietrich’s bewildered question.

The only ones left awake were Dietrich, Kristoff, and Uncle Gry. Roa and the twins, still securely tucked away beneath Uncle Gry’s wings, were probably safe as well.

“Now then, let us talk a little, um…”

<I am Uncle Gry!>

Asked that while sprawled on the ground and stared down at, Uncle Gry declared his own name.

“I see. So they gave you another interesting name. Very well then, Uncle Gry. I will ease up on the restraints a little, but do not run. If you run again, I will crush you together with your precious Roa, understood?”

“You bitch!!”

The one who reacted to Queen Scarlet’s words was not Uncle Gry, but Dietrich.

“If you lay a hand on Roa, I won’t let you get away with it!”

With a desperate look on his face, Dietrich charged at the Queen.

But just before the final step, it was as if an invisible wall blocked his path. He could no longer move forward, and his motions gradually slowed as though weights were being hung from his body.

In the end, just like Uncle Gry, he was forced down by some unseen pressure from above. One knee hit the deck, and he was left frozen there, gazing up at Queen Scarlet.

Seeing that, Kristoff must have felt awkward being the only one still standing. Silently, he lowered himself of his own accord to one knee, bowed his head, and assumed the posture of a loyal retainer.

The only one left standing was Queen Scarlet.

While the men lay scattered around her, she remained there in complete composure.

“Honestly now, little boy, do not get so worked up. It was only a little joke. Really, why is it that the men around me are always so hot-blooded? It is exhausting.”

“Because you piss everyone off!! Why are you even here?! Stay in the castle!”

Dietrich continued to glare fiercely at Queen Scarlet despite her exasperated tone.

“What dreadful language to use with your mother. I wish you would finally grow out of this rebellious phase. You are still such a child, no matter how much time passes. Be quiet for a bit.”

Queen Scarlet looked down smiling at Dietrich, whose face had turned bright red with fury. Then she snapped her fingers, and his mouth would no longer open, as though it had been sewn shut.

Dietrich struggled to force it open, but only muffled groans emerged. And yet, for some reason, Queen Scarlet’s eyes as she looked down at him were gentle.

“It seems this ship was about to play a dangerous little prank on my kingdom. So I asked Emilia and Cornelia to apprehend it… but before they could, some officials, eager for glory, started a forced inspection, and the ship escaped.”

Perhaps in answer to Dietrich’s earlier question, the Queen began explaining why she was here.

Apparently, the duty that had pulled Emilia away from watching Dietrich was to apprehend the very ship Roa and the others were now aboard.

And yet, despite all that, the officials’ blunder had let it get away. Emilia was probably panicking at the harbor even now.

“So then, I had no choice but to come out myself. I could hardly let them escape, and besides, there was no one else free enough and capable enough to catch up. But it seems I was too late.”

For a mere illegal vessel, it was astonishingly free-spirited of a Queen to take action personally.

In any other nation, a queen going out alone would cause a tremendous uproar. It was only permissible because she possessed that kind of strength.

Once Queen Scarlet finished saying that, she turned her eyes away from Dietrich as if the explanation were over.

Then she faced Uncle Gry again.

“Now then, Uncle Gry, let us continue our little talk… but before that, release Roa and the twins. Under those stuffy wings of yours, they are going to suffocate.”

<My wings are not stuffy! I am quite confident in how pleasant they feel to the touch!!>

“They are stuffy. The only time your feathers were ever soft was when you were a chick. Now then, let them out. And do not pretend to release them only to start rampaging, all right?”

<The brat and the twins are here. If they got caught in the crossfire, that would be a problem. There is no way I could cut loose against a monster woman like you…>

Uncle Gry spoke through gritted frustration.

He too was glaring at Queen Scarlet with eyes sharp enough to kill.

But, as Uncle Gry himself had said, if he started rampaging against Queen Scarlet here, Roa and the twins might be caught up in it as well. He could not accept it, but now that his attempt to flee had failed, he had no choice but to remain still.

Even with Dietrich and Uncle Gry both glaring murderous intent at her, Queen Scarlet merely kept that soft smile on her face.

If anything, she almost seemed to be enjoying their hostility. That likely came from the confidence of knowing she could suppress both of them if they tried anything.

Before long, perhaps because the force with which Uncle Gry was holding them had weakened, Roa and the twins crawled out from beneath his wings. After poking his head out and looking around, Roa tilted it in confusion.

“…What happened?”

<This woman…>

“Nothing at all.”

Before Uncle Gry could answer, Queen Scarlet cut in with playful cheer.

<Liar! This woman slammed me out of the air!!>

Uncle Gry immediately protested. He was still lying where he had fallen.

The restraints had been loosened enough for him to release Roa and the twins from beneath his wings, but he still seemed unable to move his body, pinned down by magic.

Roa and the twins fully crawled out from under his wings and stood up, though they were slightly frightened by Queen Scarlet standing before them.

Roa was one thing, but even the normally spirited twins had gone timid. Their tails, which had been perked up energetically only moments before, now drooped so low they looked ready to tuck between their hind legs, and not a word came from them.

They had probably sensed the gulf in power between themselves and the Queen. Still, perhaps because they understood she was not openly hostile, they made no growls at all and stayed quietly at Roa’s sides.

“Uncle Gry was the one in the wrong for trying to run away, was he not? I did not do anything bad.”

<That is a lie! You burned me!>

“That was long ago. And I only half-roasted you.”

<Even half-roasted, being burned still kills you, you know!!?>

“But you are alive, are you not? You are much too dramatic.”

<I am alive because of the brat! After that, I was unable to use magic for years! I, who had once been called the fastest in the skies, could do little more than wobble along through the air! Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?>

“If you had such magnificent wings, then relying entirely on magic was your own fault, was it not? And that was punishment for you. Do not forget that, you troublesome Gryphon. You destroyed one of our ports, and many of my people were killed or wounded. We had a terrible time because of you.”

<I… I have forgotten all of that! More importantly, why are you here in a place like this?!>

“This is my country. It has been for a very long time.”

<The Queen of this place was supposed to be some pirate woman called Scarlet!>

“That is me. I introduced myself, did I not? You truly are as self-centered and deaf to others as ever, you magic beast.”

<That was not your name! And you were no pirate either!>

“Jobs and names are easy things to change, you know? You too are Uncle Gry now, Roa’s familiar, are you not?”

“Um…”

Roa cut into the argument between Queen Scarlet and Uncle Gry. Kristoff’s eyes flew wide in surprise at that, and then he quietly looked away.

There was probably no one here besides Roa who could interrupt a conversation between those two.

Not even the twin magic wolves could do more than tuck their tails and watch the exchange unfold.

On one side stood a queen overflowing with oppressive majesty. On the other was a high-ranking magic beast feared by all.

Ordinarily, neither was the sort of existence one could even approach.

Every now and then, Roa became astonishingly bad at reading the room. Usually when his curiosity triumphed over his reason.

“Why are you able to talk to each other so normally? You can hear Uncle Gry’s voice, right?”

Frankly speaking, of all the information revealed in the earlier exchange between the Queen and Uncle Gry, this was probably the least important detail imaginable. Even Kristoff was staring at Roa as though to say there were far more pressing things to ask.

But Roa could not help fixating on it.

Normally, Uncle Gry’s voice could only be heard by someone who had formed a familiar contract with him.

And yet members of Nostalgia, starting with Dietrich, as well as Coralde, had all been able to hear him despite having made no such contract. That was a highly unusual exception.

Roa had investigated all sorts of possibilities in hopes of unraveling that mystery. So far, however, he had not found even the faintest clue.

But here stood Queen Scarlet, conversing with Uncle Gry as naturally as breathing, despite not being his familiar.

This might finally solve the mystery…

The thought left Roa unable to keep himself from asking.

<Because this woman is a monster!!>

Uncle Gry spat the words out.

“My, how rude. Calling me a monster. I would rather not hear that from a magic beast.”

Even so, Queen Scarlet’s smile never faltered. Apparently, she was quite used to verbal abuse.

<This woman has been able to hear my voice since long ago. I know not the reason. That is all! We are leaving, brat!!>

Even while still pinned down by magic, Uncle Gry’s attitude remained unchanged. Desperate to get away from here as quickly as possible, he struggled to crawl out from under the influence of Queen Scarlet’s spell.

“There is a little trick to speaking with a magic beast you have not formed a familiar contract with. Fundamentally, humans cannot converse with magic beasts because the quality of their magic power is different at its root. Once a familiar contract is formed, your magic power mingles, which makes communication possible. So all you have to do is sense the magic power of the magic beast you want to speak with and adjust your own magic power to match it. Magic control is difficult, of course, but I think you will be able to do it eventually, Roa.”

<I have never met another human besides this woman who could do such a thing! She is simply an absurd, unnatural monster!>

“That is not true at all. If I am a monster, then so are you, Roa. You have done things even I cannot manage, have you not?”

“Huh?”

With the topic abruptly turning to him, Roa faltered.

<…So it was the brat after all.>

“Oh? So you had already guessed?”

<I had vaguely suspected as much… but surely one would think such a thing impossible, would one not? It is far too outrageous.>

Queen Scarlet and Uncle Gry seemed satisfied, but Roa could not follow the conversation at all. Being forced to listen to people discuss something about himself that he himself did not understand made him knit his brows in deep frustration.

“My, Roa. You have that look on your face that says none of this makes sense.”

Queen Scarlet slowly approached him, bent her knees slightly to bring herself to eye level with him, and ran a finger across the crease between his brows as though smoothing it away. Roa could feel the chill of her fingertip against his forehead.

“I am saying that you are special, Roa, though it seems to be unconscious. You are relaying Uncle Gry’s and the twins’ voices, and letting whomever you want hear them.”

“Eh…?”

<If this woman says so, then there can be no mistake. She is the greatest mage of the present age, capable of using magic powerful enough to subdue even me. There is no one more versed in magic than she is. Her personality is abysmal, of course!!>

Uncle Gry put particular emphasis on the part about her abysmal personality.

“…Me?”

“Yes, though I believe you are doing it unconsciously.”

<Unconscious magic is often more powerful. The magic that magic beasts use by instinct is, in its own way, unconscious magic as well. Magic is constructed by assembling a spell formula in one’s mind, but putting that process into words is difficult. And it is precisely within the part that cannot be verbalized that the essence resides. That is why the magic used in magic tools is degraded.>

Uncle Gry added that explanation, but Roa still seemed unconvinced. Being told that the cause of something he had long wondered about lay within himself was not something he could accept all at once.

Queen Scarlet looked at him gently.

“The magic you use in alchemy is often something you do unconsciously, without thinking much about it too, is it not? That is probably why you can make the supreme grade magic recovery potions. If you ever learn to do consciously what you are now doing unconsciously, you may become a mage for the ages. You could even become stronger than I am. After all, you can simply use the magic power of that Gryphon over there who hoards it like an idiot.”

Queen Scarlet said it with effortless ease.

But when Roa heard those words, his expression clouded.

“What is wrong?”

“…”

Queen Scarlet peered into his face, but Roa quietly averted his eyes.

<He is probably thinking that using my magic power would not count as his own strength, and therefore is unacceptable. That is the kind of brat he is.>

“…That seems rather deeply ingrained.”

The Queen likely understood Roa’s circumstances. She merely let that observation fall in a quiet murmur.

<The brat is simply pigheaded! No matter how much I tell him, he refuses to accept it!! And yet, as his familiar, my strength is his strength as well!>

“Pigheaded… The two of you really are alike.”

Queen Scarlet said it in exasperation, though apparently lacking any awareness that she herself was stubborn as well, because both Roa and Uncle Gry tilted their heads.

“This is a matter of Roa’s disposition, so it is not something that can be fixed overnight. It would probably be better to leave that to my Dietrich and the others. They seem to be having a good influence on each other. Is that all right, little boy?”

“What are you trying to make Roa do?!”

The instant Queen Scarlet addressed him, Dietrich’s mouth became movable again. At the same moment, he shouted.

“Nothing at all. I only want him to stay close with all of you, just as he has been.”

“Liar! You are trying to pull Roa into your fold and make him work for the sake of the kingdom!”

Dietrich did not believe a word Queen Scarlet said. That, too, seemed to run deep.